Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 16 - Section III
III. Rev. Daniel Chamier.
One of the greatest men of the French Protestant Church was Daniel Chamier, Professor of Theology in the University of Montauban, who, when Louis XIII. besieged Montauban, was struck by a cannon-ball, and died 17th October 1621, aged fifty-seven.
His great-grandson, Daniel Chamier, a refugee first at Neufchatel, and then (from 1691 to 1698,) in England, was son of Daniel and grandson of Adrien, both pasteurs of Montelimart. He was first cousin of an Antoine Chamier (who, being taken prisoner in the civil wars at the age of twenty-eight, was broken alive upon the wheel in 1683 before his father’s house), and of an Adrien Chamier, another refugee who, in order to perfect his acquaintance with the English language, that he might be ordained to the ministry in the Established Church, went to Essex for a short sojourn, but died there; both of these lamented young men were sons of Jacques Chamier, Advocate and Doctor of Laws. Daniel’s father was, during his own father’s lifetime, the Pasteur of Beaumont, and married in 1659 Madeleine Tronchin of Geneva; his children were born at Beaumont, the eldest being Daniel, born nth January 1661; the death of Adrien, the head of their family (aged eighty), led to their removal to Montelimar in 1670. The pastoral charge had passed from father to son since the days of the famous professor; and there is still a domain named Chamier on the Dieu-le-Fit road, two kilometres from Montelimar. Young Daniel’s manuscript, engrossed in a family register, gives a concise account of his life, beginning with his entrance upon his tenth year. I quote the concluding portion:—
“In November 1685 I came to Neufchatel, where I resided till 26th March 1691. There, on the 3rd June 1686, I received ordination. There I was married on the 9th December 1689. I had a son there on the 22nd October 1690. I set out thence with my wife, my mother, my two sisters, and my son, the 26th March 1691, and I arrived in England on the 26th May of the same year. I was forthwith associated with Messieurs Pégorier, Lions, Contet, Verchères, and Lombard, to serve their three churches, and I was received by the three consistories in June 1691. In 1691 the Walloon Church of the City of London resolved to elect a minister in room of M. Gravisset, who had asked leave to resign; the candidates were myself and M. Blanc, who was chosen by a majority, the decisive votes having been secured by M. Testas, my relative. On Wednesday, October 5th, at six p.m., my wife gave birth to a son. He was baptised on Wednesday November 9th, being presented by my cousin, Daniel Lions, and by Madame Bourdeaus, and was named Adrien, after my grandfather. M. Contet baptised him, alter having preached on the words, Notre conversation est de bourgeois des cieux (Phil. iii. 20). In the end of 1692 my colleagues and I exerted ourselves to get a temple built, larger and better situated than the one in Glasshouse Street, and we found a site near the quarry of Leicesterfields, where an architect erected for us an edifice 64 feet in length and 40 in breadth. We ceased to preach in the Glasshouse Street Church on Sunday, 9th April 1693, and I formally closed it. The following Saturday, Easter Eve, 15th April 1693, I officiated at the opening and the dedication of the temple of Leicesterfields, where there was a prodigious flow of people. Some months after this M. Contet died of consumption; soon after M. Contet’s death M. Lombard left us without leave, to go to Holland. M. Coulan arrived from Holland in October to take the place of M. Lombard. On the day after Christmas my eldest son was seized with fever and vomiting; the fever lasted seventeen days, it was not very violent, but he was always very lethargic. On Thursday night, 11th January 1694, between nine and ten o’clock, God took him from this world, his age being three years, two months, and twenty-one days, and he having given beautiful hopes of every kind. He was handsome in person, had a tender and caressing heart, and showed vivacity, judgment, and a good memory. In March I took up house in the neighbourhood of the quarry of Montmouth, where, on the 2nd April I lost my second son, Adrien, who died of fits caused by teething, and lasting for twenty-four hours. He was eighteen months old, and he was a very beautiful boy. In the month of May M. Coulan was elected a pastor in our three churches, and we reduced the number of our pastors to five; but the last comer did not survive long; he preached on Sunday morning, 9th September, and died on the Thursday following of a very slight fever, which gave no indication of the approach of death. In his place we chose MM. Rival and Lamothe of Guienne, who were elected by the three consistories on Monday, 24th September. On Sunday, 14th October, between one and two p.m., my wife gave birth to a daughter; she was baptised on Thursday the 25th, and was presented for baptism by M. Pierre De Malacare and Madame Jeanne Crommelin, and Madelaine Chamier, my sister; she was named Jeanne Madelaine. On Monday, 21st November 1696, God gave me a son, born at half-past eight a.m., named Daniel, presented by M. Testas and Mademoiselle Lions.”
The Rev. Daniel Chamier’s wife was a daughter of Pasteur Huet of Neufchatel. His sisters were Madeleine Chamier, (born 16th November 1662, died in London, 19th March 1745) and Jeanne Chamier (born 26th August 1667, died in Edinburgh 7th March 1729). Madeleine wrote a brief history of the family, addressed to her brother’s eldest surviving son, Daniel Chamier, Esq. In it she says:—
“Your father, my dear nephew, married in 1689 Mademoiselle Huet, daughter of a minister of the gospel, a man of superior mind and sought after by all the able men of his time. From this marriage sprang a son, born 22nd October 1690, who was presented for baptism by M. Osterwold, a worthy pastor of Neufchatel, and by M. Chambrier (banneret) and Madame Sudre, the godmothers were Madame Saudot and Mademoiselle de Montmollin. On the 21st May 1691 my eldest brother and his wife, with my mother, my sister, and me, and my little nephew (who was only a few months old and died at the age of three years), took refuge in England to escape the persecution of the Protestants at the period of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. My brother, Daniel, had several more children, a son named Adrien, a daughter named Madeleine (those two died very young); in 1696 a son named Daniel (who is yourself, my dear nephew); in 1697 a son named John; in 1698 another son named Robert, who came into the world some months after the death of his father — a mournful event which had occurred on the 15th July 1698.
“That was the day your father died of a malignant fever. He had great sweatings. His brain was attacked, but he spoke of nothing but good things during his illness, which lasted fifteen days. All the world regretted him; there were fullya thousand persons at his funeral, and his memory is blessed yet. On the day of his seizure he preached at the Calvinist Church of Leicesterfields, which he himself had consecrated, and of which he was minister. His text was Psalm xxxii. 6. He preached with much power, saying that a sinner should not delay to seek God till the day of adversity or the end of his life; that we knew not at what time Cod would summon us — perhaps (he added) among those now hearing me there are some who are soon to die — perhaps I who am speaking shall be of that number. After the service, he received the judicial declaration of contrition from seven persons who had professed in France to be New Catholics. He then visited a sick man with whom he prayed; it would seem that he was infected by this man, as both died of the same fever. His mother conversed with him to the last moment with great fortitude and piety, keeping herself up during that great affliction with much resolution, for very tenderly did she love her son. This dear mother, on the 2nd December 1708, was attacked with inflammation of the lungs, which passed into a kind of dropsy. God took her to Himself, after great suffering, on Friday 14th January 1709. God grant that we may profit by her good example and exhortations. She was buried in the same place as my late father, in the parish of St. James’s, London, on the 17th January. The pall was borne by six ministers.”
The Rev. Daniel Chamier died at the early age of thirty-seven. Quick says that he was a young man of rare parts, and that he adorned his name and family.
*⁎* The above biography is abridged from (1) “Memoir of Daniel Chamier,” London, 1852; and from (2) Daniel Chamier, avec de nombreux documents, per Charles Read, Paris, 1858; from which books and from other sources I have to compile an account of the Refugee Family of Chamier in another chapter.