A Curious History

...even to the point of feigning not to read our letter; so naturally humble, mild-mannered, and submissive is this man in all his conduct. The author is being deeply ironic here, as the following sentences describe Labadie's supporters as a violent mob. The ClassisA regional governing body in Reformed church structure, consisting of ministers and elders from a specific district., seeing that there was no proper way to maintain order with people who—through their insults, murmurs, and threats—were playing the part of "Knights of Terror," was once again forced to abandon the place of their assembly. As the Deputies were leaving the premises, one of the most formidable mutineers of the gang that had besieged them, and through which they had to pass, had the insolence to say to the Moderator as he exited, "if justice were done to you all, your heads would be cut off"; for Labadie had so thoroughly turned the brains of these poor WalloonsFrench-speaking Protestants from the Southern Netherlands and border regions who formed their own congregations in the Dutch Republic. that they perhaps believed they would have made a sacrifice to God by beating to death half a dozen Ministers of the Classis.

The official minutes original: "Les Verbaux" drawn up in this Classis prove the difficulties the Deputies faced in dealing with these stiff-necked people, who disrupted affairs in every way they could—faking absences, declining summons, and creating every imaginable difficulty to prevent the execution of the sentence from the last Synod of NaerdenA general assembly of the Walloon churches held in the town of Naarden.. Labadie was then malicious enough to spread a rumor that he was only suspended for having accused Mr. Wolzogue's book of heterodoxy, thus using a pretext as a cause. He was extra-

vagant enough that, rejecting the order of our Synods and our Classes, he requested Commissioners from the Classis of Walcheren to examine Mr. Wolzogue's book, and begged them to take notice of the proceedings of the Synod of Naerden and the Classis of Middelburg against him and his followers. But the Classis of Walcheren was more prudent and better advised; for it declared in its response that it had no right to involve itself in anything, except to oblige Labadie and his ConsistoryThe governing body of an individual local church, made up of the minister and elders. to submit to the Synod, the Classis, and the Ecclesiastical order, as is right. Nevertheless, he knew how to lobby the Gentlemen Burgomasters of the city, and even the Noble and Powerful Estates of the Province of Zeeland The sovereign governing body of the province., so effectively that the Classis could hardly execute the orders of the Synod without it costing much time, and without the need to very often keep the doors of the TempleA term commonly used by French Protestants (Huguenots and Walloons) to refer to their church buildings, distinguishing them from Catholic "churches." closed. This saw the faithful deprived of the consolation of hearing the holy word of God preached there, to the great scandal of the whole city; until finally, the judgment of the Estates of Zeeland intervened, which in some way confirmed the decrees of the Synod of Naerden, and allowed Labadie and his followers to represent their grievances at the following Synod of Dordrecht.

Until then, there had only been a simple suspension of all functions of the...