Note 382 — CCC.—To the French Church in London.[382]

To the brethren of ..., without any further indication. The name of the Polish nobleman, John A Lasco, moderator of the Congregation of Foreign Protestants at London, informs us to what Church this letter was addressed.

The Reformed Church of London, next to that of Strasbourg the oldest of the refugee churches, was formed during the first years of the reign of Edward VI., obtained a legal recognition in 1550, had for ministers Francis Péruçel, called La Rivière, and Richard Vanville, and as moderator an illustrious foreign nobleman, devoted to the cause of religious reform, John A Lasco or Laski. Dispersed in 1553, under the intolerant reign of Mary, it reconstituted itself under the reparative reign of Elizabeth, and reckoned in the list of its pastors one of the most distinguished ministers of Geneva, Nicolas des Gallars. In its early commencement, that Church, which has been perpetuated to our own day, and to which the greater part of the French Churches of England, of Scotland, and even of America, owe their origin and their organization, was troubled by theological disputes, which made the intervention of Calvin needful.