Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I to Edict of Nantes - James Aitken Wylie

as they rested at mid-day, were wont to sing on the
harvest-fields of Meaux. The light of that daybreak
continued to wax till the morning had passed
into ahnost noon-day. But with the war came an
arrest of this most auspicious progress. Piety
decayed on the battle-field, and the evangelization
began to retrograde. "Before the wars" says Felice,
"proselytism was conducted on a large scale, and
embraced whole cities and provinces; peace and
freedom allowed of this; afterwards proselytes
were few in number, and obtained with difficulty,
now many corpses were there heaped up as barriers
between the two communions; how many bitter
enemies, and cruel remembrances, watched around
the two camps to forbid approach."[6] Still, if the
root of that once noble vine which stretched its
branches on the one side to the Pyrenees, and on
the other to the English sea, is still in the soil of
France, we owe it to the heroes of the Huguenot
wars. Different circumstances demand the display
of different graces. Psalms and hymns became the
first Protestants of France. Strong cries to God,
trust in his arm, and strivings unto blood formed
the worship of the Huguenots. They were martyrs,
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