Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 10 - Section II
II. The Pasteurs Bertheau, Father and Son.
A refugee family is thus enumerated in one of the lists of naturalisations, René Bertheau (clerk), Martha his wife, Charles their son, and Martha their daughter. The father had been a minister at Montpellier. The date of naturalisation was 15th April 1687 (List xiii.); but they probably came to England sooner, as the venerable refugee was made a Doctor of Divinity in Oxford in 1686. The following is Anthony Wood’s memorandum:— “November 18th, 1686. René Bertheau, late minister of the Reformed Church in the University of Montpellier, in France, was created D.D. by virtue of the letters of the Chancellor of the University, who had a little before received letters of recommendation in his behalf from the Lord High Treasurer of England (Laurence Hyde, Earl of Rochester), as “a man of great reputation in his own country, and very eminent both for learning and piety,” &c.
The daughter Martha was married in 1691 to Lieutenant Claude Mercier, a cavalry officer, and their son became the representative of the family. The high reputation of the son, the Rev. Charles Bertheau, may be inferred from his receiving a place in the Biographia Britannica. I copy the article:—
“Charles Bertheau, an eminent and ingenious French Protestant divine, long resident in the city of London, was born in the year 1660 at Montpellier, where his father was minister. He studied philosophy and divinity partly in France, and partly in Holland, and was admitted a minister in the Synod held in Vigan in 1681, being then only twenty-one years of age. He was, the next year, chosen pastor to the church at Montpellier; but he did not make any long stay in that city; for he was soon after promoted to be one of the ministers of the church of Paris which met at Charenton. He continued in that station about two years; and though he was yet in very early life, he discharged the pastoral duties, to which he was called, in a manner greatly to his reputation. But when Louis XIV. thought proper, by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to drive his Protestant subjects out of France — an act equally repugnant to justice, humanity, and the dictates of sound policy — Mr. Bertheau found himself obliged to quit his native country. He accordingly came to England in 1685, and the following year was chosen one of the ministers of the Walloon Church, in Threadneedle Street, in the city of London, where he discharged the duties of the pastoral office for about forty-four years, in such a manner as procured very general applause. He died on the 25th December 1732, in the seventy-third year of his age, exceedingly regretted by his congregation, and by all who had the pleasure of being acquainted with him. He possessed considerable abilities, was distinguished for his good sense and sound judgment, and had (we are informed) so retentive a memory that it might be said he never forgot anything of what he saw, read, or heard. He understood ecclesiastical history perfectly well, and might always be consulted upon that subject with safety; for he would at any time name the persons, and even the most minute circumstances of time and place, relating to the events upon which he was consulted. He was a very eloquent preacher, though it is intimated that there was somewhat unfavourable in his appearance. Two volumes of his sermons have been printed in French; the first volume was published in 1712; it was reprinted at Amsterdam in 1730, two sermons being then added to the volume. The second volume was published then also.”
To the above, I add that, in 1735, a third volume of Mr. Bertheau’s sermons was published, containing Expository Discourses on several detached sections of Calvin’s Catechism. All the three volumes abound with solid instruction, imparted with affectionate earnestness, and in a very decided yet candid tone. The Gentleman’s Magazine announces: — “Died, 25th Dec, 1732, Rev. Charles Bertheau, a native of Montpelier, and late minister of the French Church in Threadneedle Street, to the poor of which he has left £400, and £1000 to his nephew.”