Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/77

 Rh of Saintes, they continued to furnish the same liberal supply during the whole time that the poor people were imprisoned. Manna was not more abundant in the wilderness than food in the prison.

The beds were ranged along one side of the large common room, apart from the papists. In the evening, when I went to prayer as usual, they all knelt around me, and God, who has, promised a favorable answer to the prayer of faith, answered ours by pouring into our hearts a holy joy and peace which cannot be described. Those only can understand it who have tasted for themselves.

I soon found the advantage of the plan of praying loud which I had adopted; for when attempts would be made to undermine the simple faith of these poor people, and they would be puzzled with doctrinal arguments they were unable to answer, they would speak amongst themselves of their difficulties, and as I walked up and down the large room, I listened to what they were saying, and when the hour for prayer arrived, I availed myself of what I had overheard, and I used to frame a petition in such a way as to furnish them with an answer. I would pray that if the enemies of the Lord should ask me such and such questions, and make use of such and such arguments, I might receive the promised aid of the Holy Spirit, and be ready to answer in such and such a manner for the faith that was in me. I thus contrived to baffle all the arts of the Bishop's Chaplain, and to prepare the people for his daily visits to them.

The Bishop himself and many other papists came to see them, and were unceasing in their efforts to make some of them fall, but thanks be to God, it was all in vain. This went on for about three weeks, and then they began to think