ors, they were elected by the congregation;
and the reason for their election was their known ability, zeal, and
piety.

The elder was always present at the assemblies, though the minister
was absent. He prevented the members from succumbing to temptation and
falling away; he censured scandal; he kept up the flame of religious
zeal, and encouraged the failing and helpless; he distributed amongst
the poorest the collections made and intrusted to him by the Church.

We have said that part of the duty of the elders was to censure
scandal amongst the members. If their conduct was not considered
becoming the Christian life, they were not visited by the pastors and
were not allowed to attend the assemblies, until they had declared
their determination to lead a better life. What a punishment for
infraction of discipline! to be debarred attending an assembly, for
being present at which, the pastor, if detected, might be hanged, and
the penitent member sent to the galleys for life![54]

[Footnote 54: C. Coquerel, "Eglise du Desert," i. 105.]

The elders summoned the assemblies. They gave the word to a few
friends, and these spread the notice about amongst the rest. The news
soon became known, and in the course of a day or two, the members of
the congregation, though living perhaps in distant villages, would be
duly informed of the time and place of the intended meeting. It was
usually held at night,--in some secret place--in a cave, a hollow in
the woods, a ravine, or an abandoned farmstead.

Men, women, and even children were taken thither, after one, two, or
sometimes three leagues' walking. The meetings were always full of
danger, for spies were lurking about. Catholic priests were constant
informers; and soldiers were never far distant. But besides the
difficulties of spies and soldiers, the meetings were often dispersed
by the rain in summer, or by the snow in winter.

After the Camisard war, and before the appearance of Court, these
meetings rarely numbered more than a hundred persons. But Court and
his fellow-pastors often held meetings at which more than two thousand
people were present. On one occasion, not less than four thousand
persons attended an assembly in Lower Languedoc.

When the meetings were held by day, they were carefully guarded and
watched by sentinels on the look-out, especially in those places near
which garrisons were stationed. The fleetest of the young men were
chosen for this purpos