The Rebellion in the Cevennes. Ludwig Tieck

may occur to me, and yet can you contemplate it with composure, that destruction threatens this our church, and does she not in the most gracious manner fulfil all the desires and yearnings of our hearts? I feel ever incensed, when many priests urge so strenuously the necessity of good works, virtue and morality; Heathens can teach us that, and our very reason exacts it from us; however much these must be respected, it is the progressive development and formation of the miraculous that I perceive in history which always so powerfully affect my heart. In the distance lies the first miracle dark and indistinct; but veiled entirely in love. The gift of prophecy was not withdrawn after the apostles; saints and martyrs followed in the steps of the departed, and fulfilled that which the former predicted, the mystery of love is interminable, and can only be explained by a new mystery. That the explanation of the holy sacrament should be sanctioned by decrees of the church, disturbs me not, while to the worldly only it appears a mere temporal event; for in the insignificant germ lie already concealed the blossom and sweetness of the fruit, which become ripe only by that which we call time. Thus it happened that at a later period the forebodings of the soul were fulfilled, and she, who had given birth to the Saviour was worshipped as heavenly; festivals were celebrated in her honour. Thus the prophetic song from the mouth of one prophet descends through all ages, and is never silent, even to futurity. Festival follows festival, temples and images follow statues, posterity will turn with deep emotion to the love of the present, as we enraptured trace the past, only through this mutability, through this re-echoing of the Eternal Word is the truth made manifest to me, through this alone am I convinced that it went forth in former times, by this means, that it apparently changes, as the leaf into the blossom, the flower into the fruit, and the fruit yields again the seed of the flower, it is a permanent, an eternal truth; through this endless, this inexhaustible abundance, resembling an ocean of love, by anticipating each individual sense, by quenching every desire, by satisfying the hungry: by this only it becomes something simple, authentic and independent, and I abhor the interpretations of those innovators, who would treat these miraculous events as a tale, who venture to call our mass with its symbols, lights, temples, pomp, and music idolatry, and by thus warring against the most sacred things, according to the feelings of my heart, they war against God himself, and they must be rooted out and destroyed like noxious, venemous reptiles."

      "I understand you, my son, and would willingly believe you in the right, for in fact you have only been declaring my own sentiments on this subject. If such are your feelings and this be your faith, there should be no further strife not only between us, but any one else. If you feel that Christianity in its various forms, rejects no want, no desire, that it is permitted to every mind to worship according to its own light, but in the spirit of truth, the Eternal Being, then those meek hearts, that shrink affrighted from this parade and song, from this splendour of the temple and from the artificial culture of religious mystery, will not be excluded from the community. Those, who like the disciple John and the apostles of Jesus, visit the wilderness of Jordan, and there in the dreariness of the mountains and in holy solitude willingly listen to the Eternal Word, and are anxious to erect there their church like the hut at Bethlehem, lest their fervid imaginations might be overwhelmed with the splendour and sculptured beauty of the statues, and thereby forget their salvation and their God. These people here are likewise true Christians, my son, whatever our priests may say to you about it, and the Father will not reject them. There arose long since in our Cevennes, and in the valleys of the Albigences, a simple faith, a peaceful retreat, far from the pomp and ambiguity of the episcopal and popish church. It may be, that for the good of mankind, for religion, education, and liberty, it was expedient in those earlier ages, that the Bishop of Rome should declare himself the head-shepherd and lay the foundation of a spiritual kingdom; but, that the christian church in later times has declined on that account, admits of no doubt. The bishops and priests were now no longer simple teachers of the word and imitators of the apostles, but they became the head-servants of their spiritual master, who in the disputes of the times was compelled to think first of himself and of his own power, while he assigned to religion that only which was not detrimental to it; therefore it resulted, that when the quiet inhabitants of Alby assembled in their wooded valleys, resolving to free themselves from the abuses, the arbitrary dogmas, as well as from the corruptions of the priests, they were persecuted as heretics, who sought to overturn the papal chair, and therefore Christianity itself. Had there been then, as there was formerly, a free independent church of bishops, these enlightened minds would have found protection and peace, they would have been allowed to assemble in their houses of prayer with their priests, and serve God in what manner they thought it their duty to do, instead of which, crusades were preached against them and their innocent blood, which has been so inhumanly shed, still cries up to heaven. Even if the papal hierarchy and Christianity had not been one and the same thing, there would still have arisen in our mountains great preachers and reformers of the church. When the papal authority began to totter, such teachers as these spread themselves among our mountains and Calvin's disciples found minds, which had been long prepared to receive his doctrines. This form of faith is here as natural and holy as yours may be in other parts, and he only could resolve on extirpating them by persecution, who misunderstands the beautiful and tolerating spirit of Christianity, indeed it appears to me, that he must be entirely inimical to this religion of love. Since Luther and Calvin, a civil war has raged through every province for nearly a century; dearly was this cherished liberty to be paid for, of which the popes and bishops have so unjustly robbed mankind. A light shone in the midst of this gloom, our fourth Henry stepped forward and extended the olive-branch of peace over all his dominions. By the edict of Nantes liberty of conscience was ensured by a royal oath, and by the unanimous consent of the parliament, and confirmed by all the states and provinces: his successor renewed this oath, and our ruler, Louis XIV, could not be recognised king, before he agreed to reign over Evangelical as well as Roman Catholic subjects: thus was the oath which he took for himself and his posterity ratified to us; he has reigned many years with happiness and renown, but now in his old age, surrounded by ambitious and superstitious minds, now that his bright star has long set, now that his country is impoverished and exhausted; that his armies are defeated; that enemies threaten his frontiers, and even his very capital,--now that Germany, England, and Holland, here in the neighbourhood, Savoy, menace us with the most dire misfortune,--now his conscience awakes, he thinks to be able to conquer heaven and fortune, by suffering Catholic subjects only to call him king. He sends with inconceivable blindness--converting ministers into these mountains; and threats, compulsion, massacre and pillage are the exhortations employed towards this unfortunate people; now we have witnessed these horrors in our very neighbourhood; however zealous you may be for your party, my son, I know that your humane heart has been agonised more than once by these proceedings. Suddenly--could he do it, ask yourself if he might? the king revokes that edict and voluntarily absolves himself from his oath, without at the same time consulting that of his predecessors, of the parliament, and of all the states in the kingdom; he himself destroys, in his religious madness, that which binds him to the citizen, that attaches the subject to him, the sacred palladium, the undefilable is profaned and annihilated, and the wretched inhabitants are yielded a prey to wrath, to murder, and to the fearful frenzy of the bloodthirsty; the peaceful weaver, the shepherd, the honest labourer, who was but yesterday a devout Christian, a respected citizen, a good subject, is through the revocation of the edict, without any fault of his own, now a rebel, an outlaw, for whom the wheel and the stake are prepared; against whom all, even the most savage and disgraceful cruelty is permitted; his temples are closed and demolished; his priests are exiled and murdered; he is ignorant of his offence, he only feels his misfortune: in the deepest recesses of the soul that spirit is aroused which remembers its eternal and imperishable rights, and again war and murder rage; fury excites fury, life becomes cheap, martyrdom a pleasure; and if there be evil foes, they look with a scornful and fiendish laugh from the summits of the mountains down on this hideous massacre, where the very last traces of love, godly fear, and humility are covered with reeking blood. Do you mean that it is thus I must be a Christian, in order to justify the cruelty of my party; or to be a good subject, must I lend a hand to these executioners of the Marshal? In this case, indeed, is our respect for the king, as well as our worship of God infinitely different."

      Edmond had listened to this long harangue of his father, without testifying any signs of impatience; at length said he, sighing deeply: "We are standing then on two opposite shores, a wide stream between us; I understand your meaning so little, that I even