over in silence. You visited him on his death-bed, or rather his bed of life; and I remember the testimony you bore when you came away from his chamber: 'I came to edify and console a sick person; but he has edified and consoled me.' He was the same as you then saw him, throughout his very long and severe sickness; being always resigned, patient, and most cheerfully committing his soul into the hands of his Saviour and his God. He was naturally passionate, but the grace of God raised him so far above himself, that he became of all men the most patient in the acute and violent pains which he suf fered. The dear man becoming paralytic on one side, I used frequently to carry him from one bed to another, to give him ease; and he was so much pleased with the little attentions I showed him, that he could not endure me to be out of his sight. The paralysis ending in apoplexy, he lay four days and nights in the agonies of death, yet directing his eyes towards heaven, with the expression of one in holy raptures; and giving us to understand, when he was roused from his lethargic slumbers by caustics, that the desire of his heart, as well as of his lips, was only towards God. I praise God, the God of my fathers, for the spirit of meekness bestowed upon his servant, the patience granted him in the torments of his disease, and the sincere piety that was implanted in his heart. And as long as I live I will bless the Lord God of all flesh, the Father of spirits, that he granted me the favour to be present at that event, which, though terrible to the reprobate, is sweet and full of consolation to his children; and that at the moment when he took the soul of his servant to himself, he put these words into my mouth, which I pronounced with a loud voice, Lord Jesus, receive his spirit into thy hands!' May the blessed Jesus put them again into my heart and mouth, at the last moment of my life, and say to my inmost soul, Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord: I am thy Saviour.' I cannot live, much less die, without God. Neither the world nor the devil can ever separate me from him. I shall be faithful unto death.'

"Mons. Le Febvre was well educated. He was sent to Geneva in 1663, where he went through a course of philosophy; and afterwards to Orleans, to study law, where he took his degrees; after which he went to Paris, and having shown his testimonials to Mons. Talon, the attorney-general, he was enrolled an advocate in the court of parliament. As it is intended, however, only to record his

martyrdom, and the circumstances immediately connected with it, nothing will be said of his youth, nor of his conduct in the family and in the world, except that it was always correct and prudent. He stayed some time in Paris, and then returned to Provins. Being employed by the Marchioness of St. André Monbrun, he went a journey to Poitou and Saintonge, to arrange her affairs. While in that country, he was summoned before the intendant of Rochfort, upon false information concerning his religion; and although he was ill with a fever, he made his appearance, and was acquitted. From thence he went to Paris, just at the time when the edict of Nantes was revoked; which obliged him to set off immediately for Burgundy, to give the Marchioness a statement of her affairs, and then to make preparation to escape to a foreign land. A letter which he wrote from Marseilles, in 1686, relating what passed in this lady's house, and the treatment she received, is worth inserting in this place, for its account of what befel him before his flight, and of the persecutions that took place in that quarter:

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Nothing could be more surprising than the delivery of your letter to me, at a time when I am more watched, and kept closer, than ever. No one dares come near nor speak to me. Those who ask to see me are refused admission into the galley; and all my letters are withheld, and carried to the intendant at Marseilles. The galley-slaves may be released from the great chain by paying a small sum of money; but that indulgence is absolutely denied me. am not suffered to read nor write. Yet, with all these obstacles, your consolations have reached me; and notwithstanding the vigilance of my keepers, I have read your most feeling and consoling letter with inexpressible delight. The affection and charity which pervade it have filled my heart with love and gratitude; and in reading some passages, I have had a foretaste of the eternal joys of the redeemed an anticipation of the glory that is reserved for us in heaven. I am deeply affected, most revered father, (permit me so to call you, since I had the honour to be your pupil and son in Jesus Christ,) and feel that God, who made use of your ministry to form true faith in my heart, now employs the same means to establish me in the faith, and confirm me in my holy resolution to die a thousand times rather than abandon the hope of so great a salvation. Wearied and disgusted with the voice of strangers, my soul rejoiced with great joy at the voice of my dear pastor. The tears you draw from

my eyes only nourish my secret joy, and increase my inward peace. Faithful minister of Jesus Christ, well do you discharge the duties of a good pastor, and great will be your reward in heaven! I owe you a full and free communication, and earnestly desire to perform that duty, hoping that the success which has attended this beginning may be continued until the end.

"There are no communications now between the illustrious Mons. de Marolles and myself. After we had been a few days together, he was declared an invalid, and as such removed to a hospital-galley; but I have since been informed he is on board an armed galley. I do not know the reason of the change. That noble champion appeared in the metropolis as a burning and shining light; but I am only smoking flax, upon whom our God, who makes choice of weak things to confound the mighty, has looked with infinite compassion. So far am I, my dearest pastor, from the perfection you impute to me, that I shall endeavour to tell you all my fears, my troubles, the extreme weakness of my faith, my sufferings, and the great mercies that God has bestowed upon me. I shall not relate every incident that befel me; but shall confine myself to speaking of the state of mind I was in, when God rooted up the plants he had planted in the place where I lived, of my condition when I was arrested, and of our heavenly Father's blessing on my feeble beginning.

"The spirit of alarm and weakness reigned in the provinces which I had just left when I had the honour of seeing you at Paris. I expected to find more stedfastness in the capital; but alas consternation was spread over all that great city; and I was obliged to leave it. O mournful remembrance! It had pleased God completely to break down the hedge of defence, with which he had surrounded his church. You gave me your blessing; and I left you and my dear relatives in great anguish of spirit. We were grieved for the afflictions of Joseph;' and I may add, that from that day until I was condemned to the galleys, I was oppressed with continual sorrow in my heart.

every side. Persons the most eminent for piety were overcome by the violence of temptation. Trembling seized me; and I said in my grief, If the cedars fall, what will become of the bulrush?' The Marchioness, who thought herself safe from the storm, was attacked in her turn by Monsieur Harlai, a counsellor of state, and the intendant of Burgoyne; who wrote her a letter from Parai-le-moineau, full of civilities, indeed, but urgent and very decided. 'You must renounce your religion,' said he, or make up your mind to lose your property and your liberty, and perhaps even to undergo personal sufferings.' Such being the miserable choice she was to make, she resolved to request time, making no promises, however, in her first answer. But the intendant would allow only fifteen days' delay; and he delivered his orders in so express and firm a manner, that the Marchioness of St. André and the Marquis and Marchioness of Monbrun, seeing no way of escape, determined to seek some relaxation in the terms of union. For this purpose, they had a deed of union drawn up on the Grenoble and Lyons plan, which Monsieur Monchanin de Monceau took to Dijon, with a letter, before the expiration of the fifteen days. But it was in vain. The intendant would make no concessions, but repeated his former menaces, and told Monsieur Monchanin that he would send a dozen archers to arrest me. The Bishop of Autun also appeared highly incensed against me. They had heard that I had been a journey into Poitou to encourage my brethren, and that I still frequently went into the provinces of Nivernois and Berri, with the same design. Monsieur Monchanin attempted to defend me by saying that I was not an evil disposed person, and that if to be attached to one's religion was a crime every man was criminal. But as he enlarged on the cruelties that were practised upon us, the intendant interrupted him, and said, 'Of what do you complain? You have not yet resisted unto blood.' These words, I would observe by the way, have made a great impression upon me since. They are St. Paul's, and are written in the twelfth chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews; but they were certainly not spoken in the same spirit and with the same intention on this occasion, but rather in the spirit of Julian the apostate, who replied to the complaints of the Christians he persecuted, You ought to bear it, because your Master foretold you it would come to pass." Assuredly it was not the spirit of God who inspired the intendant with these

has pronounced truths and uttered prophecies unwittingly, like that Jewish pontiff, when he said, in reference to the death of Jesus Christ, upon which the perfidious council had resolved, 'Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient that one man die for the people.'

"Monsieur Le Febvre was immediately discovered to be a person whose talents would be employed in consoling and encouraging his afflicted brethren. He was therefore placed in close confinement, and all his motions were narrowly watched, to prevent him from corresponding with them.

"In a letter of the 12th of May, he

describes his state in these words :

Nothing can exceed the cruelty of the treatment I receive. The weaker I be come, the more they endeavour to aggravate the miseries of the prison. For

several weeks no one has been allowed to enter my dungeon; and if one spot could be found where the air was more infected than another, I was placed there. Yet the love of the truth prevails in my soul; for God, who knows my heart and the purity of my motives, supports me by his grace. He fights against me, but he also fights for me. My weapons are tears and prayers. My faith is weak, and I am a great sinner; but the god of all goodness, the refuge of the afflicted, the only hope of the wretched, who does not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed, will have pity upon me, and on the extreme weakness of my faith. He will not suffer me to be put to confusion, because I hope in his promise, that with the temptation he will make a way to escape. I will not let him go

until he bless me.'

"Though he was now in so distressed a condition, he refused a supply of money which one of his relations sent him, saying that those things which had been taken from him ought, in justice, to be restored, and that he was about to be fixed to the chain. I am ranked with criminals,' he added, and treated as a wicked character; but God will have pity upon me. He has never forsaken me. I am in a place where the air is very offensive; and I eat such food as would have poisoned me at another time; yet, even here, I find sweetness and consolations beyond all my expectations.'

"The way in which he was treated was painful, he said, to his body, but his soul was abundantly comforted. It was a medicine prepared by the hand of One who could not mistake, and was salutary in proportion to its bitterness."

The strongest efforts were made during his imprisonment at Bėsançon, both by persuasion and terror, to induce him to conform to Popery. Speaking of his persecutors, he says:-" I feel great compassion for them, and sincerely pity them. They think to render God service; but he shows me, by the light of his word and his grace, that their zeal is blind, and that they are fighting against God and his truth." To intimidate him, the Superior of the Jesuits at Bésançon brought him word from the intendant that he was to be sent to join the galley-slave chain (or gang) on the following Monday. He learned also that his dear sister, who had persevered, like himself, through much persecution, was sent to a distant convent. Holy Father!" he exclaimed,

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keep us in thy name. Here is the faith and patience of the saints." Accounts were also brought to him of many of his fellow Protestants being condemned to the galleys for life. He mentions a lawyer from Montauban, who had left behind him his wife and younger children; the eldest about fourteen or fifteen years of age, being placed in the hospital at Bésançon to be instructed in the Romish religion. One old man was sick and dying when he was condemned, and was therefore exempt from the dungeon and fetters, but had only a handful of straw for his bed.

From Bésançon he was conducted to the gaol of Dijon, where he arrived on the 30th of May, 1686, excessively bruised by his irons, and the jolting of the waggon. He says, in a letter from his new prison,

"I have almost lost the use of my limbs. I am in great pain all over my body; and if the Lord had not sent me some relief at Aussone, I should not have been brought alive to Dijon. At Aussone my fetters were taken off, and I was set on horseback; but before that,