Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

16 February, 2007   comments: (0) Wonderful Plan?   A Huguenot's Story - Part 5 On the twenty-third of May 1687, we entered the hospital at Valence, presided over by La Rapine. After the soldiers had delivered us into his custody, they placed in his hands a packet of letters from the parliament of Grenoble. When he had read them, he made us all stand before him in a row, and said, "Here are the letters ordering the liberation of 22 prisoners who were sent to me not long ago. They have done their duty, and if you do the same you will soon get out." Then he loaded us with promises and threats, but seeing that they had no effect, he sent one of us to the dungeon, saying "You shall have 100 blows, you beggar". "Let her clothes be taken from her, and give the dog some old rags". The men were put into the men's hall, and the rest of us were sent to the kitchen. One of my companions complained to me of great thirst. The workers at the hospital heard her speaking and said, "What! Are you daring to talk here? Do you not know that Huguenots like you are neither to talk nor to look at each other?" Then we were searched from head to foot, and called before La Rapine to have our names written down, and afterwards we were lead to the women's hall. In the evening I was sent out into the garden to walk for exercise, under the guard of a woman who persecuted me without ceasing. In a little while, she said "Come, do you not hear the bell?" I asked her where she wished me to go. "To the chapel", she replied, "to hear the prayer that Monsieur la Rapine will offer up". I refused to go, and then three or four girls came and dragged me into the kitchen, where the governess of the hospital, Soeur Marie, was. She attacked me with blows and kicks, and sent for a stick, which she broke on me saying, "Dog! Beggar! Huguenot! Do you refuse to go to church?" She took off my headwear in order to pull my hair, but found none. I was dragged by the arms and carried to the chapel in spite of my resistance and of the tears which I shed, not only on account of the blows, but also because I was compelled to go into the temple of idols. That night I was given a reasonably good bed, but I could neither undress myself nor move a limb, I was so bruised. Thus ended my first day at the hospital. The next morning we had to get up at half-past four, and although a blow that I had received to the neck made me unable to raise my head, I was obliged to work. At six o'clock I was again taken to chapel against my will by two girls, and when I protested saying that I was of the Reformed religion, they answered: "It is the rule of the hospital. All others go, even those who have not recanted, and nobody makes such a fuss over it as you do. Do you wish to be knocked down and beaten again as you were yesterday?" In the evening La Rapine sent for six of us, and for about 20 or 30 Papists. He made us stand before him, and then addressed us as follows: "You are a set of obstinate rebels against God and the king. If you do not recant you shall be beaten to death. I will make you come over, generation of vipers. I know my trade, you beggars. I know better how to make you obey than any man in the kingdom. This hospital was not built for you; but you have been sent here to conform to the rules of this place. You shall be the scum and offscouring of the hospital, you shall sweep and scrub from morning until night; and if you fail in your work you shall have a hundred stripes. After that I will throw you in the dungeon, where you shall die of starvation, and it will be impossible for you to bear up under the blows. At the very most you may linger for 30 or 40 days. We know all about it, because we have done this again and again. After your death, your bodies will be thrown out on a dunghill, and the king will have got rid of a few bad subjects; and those who pass by will say, 'There lies a dead dog, miserable in this life, damned in the life to come.' This is what you have to expect, dogs! Beggars! This will be your portion." Then he turned to the papist servants of the hospital and said: "I give you orders to look after these Huguenots. Make them sweep, scrub, and scour from morning until night, from top to bottom of the hospital, and do not spare them. If they are refractory, let me know at once all that they say and do. If you delay to report to me, you shall have 100 stripes". I have no doubt that this account would be considered exaggerated, were it not that several honorable persons who, by the grace of God, both suffered with me and also survived, have testified to the truth of all I have here written. The next day I was moved for the third time to a room which was so infested with vermin, that in the morning I felt as if I had been scourged. I lay on straw with only a quilt to cover me. In the night the Papists used to come to see if I had dared to get up to pray, for even that was forbidden; and if I had been found on my knees I would have been beaten. We were obliged to work on Sundays and were not allowed to wash our linen, so that we were tormented with vermin. The bread which was given us was so black and sour, that for three or four days I could not bring myself to eat it. The story continues on the next page . . . The above is part of my multi-part series of posts based on the trials of a 21 year old woman named Blanche Gamond, who was one of the many persecuted Christians in 17th century France. Her true story is told in the book Stories of The Huguenots, which I am posting excerpts of. If you are just tuning in, you can get caught up by starting on part 1. Learn more about the French Huguenots on Wikipedia or in a book that I highly recommended called Sketches From Church History. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.576   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism