YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

THE

CHURCHES OF THE HUGUENOTS.

THE

dffmrjta of tk Jfopprte

AND THE

RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF FRANCE

Rev. A. F. BEARD, D.D.,
American Church, Paris.

— ENi«3—

PARIS :
PRINTED BY T. SYMONDS, 90, RUE ROCHECHOUART.

THE >
CHURCHES OF THE HUGUENOTS

AND THE

RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF FRANCE.

There are special times and places which accentuate themselves
in their demands for Christian attention. There are signal oppor
tunities when God's providences and promises are seen to be work
ing together, when the All-wise Omnipotence draws the bolts of
hindrance, when causes are combining to influence minds and to
open the domain of inquiry, when, in short, God's clock of time
strikes the hour of special opportunity. Then the Church of
Christ finds itself confronted by problems of new promise and
grandeur. Such times and places are strategic for Christ. To see
the open door and to enter in is the wisdom of the wise. Without
doubt, such an opportunity now presents itself in France. Many
are the appeals in this land for Christian attention. The French
are a people of interest. Their qualities of mind, their susceptibi
lity to great suggestions, their quick apprehension of ideas, the
irresistible fascination which seizes them when under great
impulses, their ardor and enthusiasm, are characteristics which
command consideration. They are confessedly a people of genius
in art and architecture. They have music and form and color.
In many ways they are brilliant. Their literature sparkles with
epigrams. They crystallize volumes in sententious sentences.

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They communicate earnestly what they think and feel. They
have a spirit of aggression. They have never failed to put their
stamp upon the times and things with which they have to do.
The nation holds rank in the family of nations. It has numer
ical and commercial power. Its influence reaches far. Whatever
touches France touches Europe, Asia, Africa, and the islands of
the sea. All of this intensifies the claim upon the attention of
those who believe that the world belongs to Christ.
The questions which are presenting themselves to this people at
the present time, in respect to the correction of ancient errors in
government, in education, and in religion, together with the
condition of the popular mind, make this claim upon Christian
regard special and urgent.
We have long known that France needed the gospel. But to
what degree does France feel her need? We are hearing of a
new religious movement in France. What is its character, extent,
and true significance? The desire to know the facts more accu
rately, to measure their hopefulness and unhopefulness, is evident
in the manifold inquiries which are unceasingly made of those who
are in a position to study the problem carefully and to give the
conclusion of experience. But an intelligent view cannot be a
hasty one.- Even when the elements of careful study and candid
personal observation are duly considered there will be opinions.
It is difficult even in the United States, where church work has
the organization of time, and statistics are as free as water, to take
exact inventories of the religious condition. The vital statistics of
piety do not all. get into the columns of figures, nor do we write
in numbers the forces of sin. Some magnify hopes, others inten
sify hindrances. Some see degeneracy, others progress. One be
wails, another sings. Much more in France one question leads to
many. The present is deeply rooted in history, and cannot be cut
off and considered alone. Many of the religious problems are
complex. Religious liberty is recent. Organizations for gospel
aggression are tentative. Statistics are necessarily meagre.
Much is in the experimental stage. The very name of religion
must be emptied and refilled with new meanings. There are so
cial and political influences. Those, therefore, who run through
France in a fortnight, or who spend a few weeks in Paris— which,

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religiously, is not 'France— may speak with more confidence than
knowledge. Impressions are not facts. A view which shall not
lean to inclination, which shall take account of the present in
its inheritances- and its modifications, which shall be broad in its
scope and true in its conclusions, must be considerate.
A brief outline of modifying history may assist us.
History tells us how ancient Gaul became merged in the general
destinies of Rome, and how the new Frankish nation — peculiar
compound of Teuton and Celt, with their mixed qualities — made
a thousand years of experiences in these bonds and bondages a
most sadly interesting illustration of the continuance of an original
stamp. When the spirit of the Reformation was in Europe multitudes
received the word with gladness. France promised to be the
leading Protestant nation. The " new religion" spread so rapidly
that there was not a corner in the kingdom which had not its
incipient Protestant churches. Persecutions at once began, and
to resist these, the Protestants confederated under the name of •
Huguenots (1560). In this compact they grew strong. In 1 561
the alarmed Cardinal de Sainte-Croix wrote to the Pope, " The
kingdom is already half Huguenot. " This was exaggeration ; but
notwithstanding intolerable persecutions the Huguenot ranks
multiplied. The dreadful massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day in
1572 indicates the fury of the purpose to exterminate the rising
faith. Sixteen years afterwards, when the Huguenot churches
were numbered, it was found that not less than two thousand
churches dedicated to the reformed worship were braving the fury
of this deadly purpose to destroy them. Seventy years then passed,
until, in the gracious providence of God, this tenacious fidelity was
rewarded by the consent of the government to the right of
existence for Protestant faith. The celebrated Edict of Nantes
(1598) decreed with a few restrictions universal liberty and equality
to religious profession and worship. The reformers made the most
of this until Cardinal Richelieu (1624) declared the Huguenot
power too great, and proposed to destroy it. This purpose he
pursued undeviatingly, using all the forces at his command, until
it ended in the famous siege of La Rochelle (1628), which city,
after a heroic defense of fifteen months, in which one half of the

population had perished from hunger, surrendered, leaving the
Protestant cause in abject prostration.
In the reign of Louis XIV, (1685) it was found that the Prot
estants had been slowly but steadily recuperating, and were again
gathering strength. Madame Maintenon (the strange grand
daughter of the Protestant historian D'Aubigne) goaded the king
to yet another effort for their extermination. Her wicked influence
was too potent. He began by excluding the Huguenots from all
public functions, from the liberal professions, from the universities,
and from various branches of commerce and industry. He
dragonnaded soldiers upon them, and incited their cruelties. He
ended by revoking the Edict of Nantes — the spirit of which had
long been violated — and annulled for ever the religious liberties
of Protestants, ordering all their churches to be leveled with the
ground, prohibiting their worship, and exiling their pastors within
fifteen days. Their children must be baptized by Roman Catholic
priests and strictly educated as members of the Papal Church.
> Now came another period of deaths and dungeons. Whole
districts were laid desolate. Horrible tortures and outrages of
every kind followed the decree. All Protestant schools were
closed, their universities of Saumur, Montauban, Nimes and Sedan
were destroyed, and their professors scattered. Their books were
burned. The army, as if led by the Furies, was employed for years
in hunting Huguenots. The history reads as if diabolism were let
loose. Nevertheless, a poor remnant of the Huguenots remained.
In their oppressed and dangerous life, they worshipped by night
in forests, in caves among the hills, in the mountains, and in
whatever places would keep their secrets of fealty to their religious
faith. Louis XIV died on the first of September, 1715. Two weeks
previously Antoine Court, a name ever to be honored as the
restorer of the Reformed Church, braved death, and convened the
Protestant churches in the first synod that had met for thirty
years. This synod, which numbered nine members, there in the
depths of the forest, concealed from all but God, reorganized the
churches in consistories, synods, and assemblies, under the name
of the " Church of the Desert." They decided that the discipline
and the faith for which they had contended should stand and be

— 9 —
maintained. Three hundred unhoused churches were soon num
bered in this organization. Extemporized and unroofed theological
schools did not lack for students. They lived in accepted poverty.
They held their synods, disguised as shepherds and peasants, and
when detected in the night they fled from rock to rock, by the
light of the flames which were consuming their houses. They
were diven in the depths of winter to the shelterless recesses of
the mountains. Fathers arrested went to the galleys for life,
mothers to sleep on the bare bricks of dungeon floors. Children
were taken from families, and were lost to them. When there
might have been quietness and rest from these cruelties with the
denial of their holy convictions, they preferred torture with con
science. They would not lie to God. The records overflow with
such illustrations of the possible stability and tenacity of character
in this people when they are depeened and steadied by the gospel.
But in the nation this was a century of political depravity,
religious hypocrisy, and moral decay. Once again, in 1787,
Louis XVI in an edict recognized the right of Protestants to live
in France, to be born, married and buried according to law. This
tardy concession was too late to prevent the approaching day of
judgment. The Papal religion which had taken the sword was
now put to the sword by those whom it had educated in its school
of horrors. The nation which would not have the God of the
Huguenot's Bible beheld at last a poor shameless creature in the
form of a woman led through the streets of Paris in the character
of the "Goddess of Reason, " and infidelity, the legitimate child of
an inhuman religion, wrote over the cemeteries, " There is no
God. " Thus the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes recognized
its offspring in the bloody revolution of 1789.
In 1 801 Napoleon the First made his famous religious Con
cordat,— a cunning scheme of political ambition,— which both
reestablished the Roman Catholic Church in subserviency to the
State and gave Protestantism the right of recognized existence
with the intent of its subserviency. This came to the fragment
which remained now in extreme weakness as to numbers and with
out much spiritual energy. A repressed life with absence of
aggressive activities had chilled the faith. Under these conditions
there had crept in a rationalistic sentiment which gradually threat-

10

ened to. defeat what persecution could not destroy. It was a
philosophic and rationalistic spirit which settled upon many of the
churches like a blight. This was not "Radicalism," which is a
recent phase of the religious question which has but a relatively
small minority of ministers and churches, and which has in itself
the principles of its own dissolution. The rationalism here spoken
of was reverent and exemplary. It did not cease to pray, but it
prayed to God as "the Supreme Being."
In the monarchy of Louis XVIII, sixty years ago, a most pre
cious revival of spiritual religion, which had its beginning among
the Wesleyans in Normandy, made itself felt with great power
throughout the Huguenot churches. A remarkable movement
and return to evangelical life developed itself for a score of years,
in which religious quickening multitudes disavowed their philoso
phic speculations and consecrated themselves to faith in Christ,
while many were converted from Romanism, among whom were
the parents of 'some of the most devoted of the present Christian
pastors of France. It was at this time that the father of the
celebrated De Pressense renounced Romanism.
The^ product of this revival was the missionary spirit, which
immediately began to incarnate itself. Louis-Philippe, chiefly
under the influeuce of the Protestant historian Guizot, his prime
minister, granted additional legal rights for Protestant schools,
and a restricted liberty of propagandism. This was an hour of
new hope.
In 1833, in this reign, was organized the first misssionary society
for Protestants in France, — the " Societe Evangelique, " since
honorably known under the secretary-directorship of the lamented
Dr. George Fisch, who was himself converted in the revival
mentioned. This only French society for missions for two years
was a valiant pioneer. It was a " union of evangelical denomi
nations. "
Following this, came the special organization of the "Reformed
Churches of France," named the " Societe Protestante d' Evan
gelisation de Bordeaux," (in 1835), the bureau of which was soon
removed to Paris under the name of the " Societe Centrale." It
then had a budget of three hundred dollars a year, and supported '
three missionaries and -eight stations.- This- was the beginning of

— II —

the missionary work of the churches which had been reorganized
by Antoine Court in the deserts in 1715.
The bright hope of the Protestants was soon clouded. Politi
cal changes engrossed the minds of the people. Then came the
. second Republic, and following it the second Empire. The air was
full of political ideas. They were exploding. The thoughts of
' the time were distracted. Missionary work could not make head
way, and evangelical effort was crippled. The internal life of the
churches soon felt this, and Rationalism took a new grip. Minis
ters again began to pray to the " Creator. "
When the times morally compelled an enlarged liberty — in the
last Empire— those who were steadfast in faith took new courage.
The missionary spirit revived and with it evangelical life, so that
in the third Republic, under the administration of Thiers — when
the Huguenot churches were granted their first official synod since
1661 — they were found to number more than seven hundred
churches, and about nine hundred thousand nominal Protestants, in
a population of thirty-seven millions. Alsatia, with three hundred
thousand Protestants, had been lost to France in their enumeration
but not in their influence.
This synod took account of doctrinal beliefs, and discovered a
wide divergence of religious convictions. Nearly two thirds, how
ever, were holding firmly to the discipline and faith of the
Reformed Church, while a very persistent third contended for a
system of Christian ethics, and opposed any formulated statements
of belief. This question divided the churches. Remaining classi
fied by the State as one, the separation was distinctly defined.
Those who were what "is commonly called evangelical" declined
to be held, in any other than a nominal relationship, as one under
the government; and in administration, as in spirit, withdrew from
all cooperation with those who called themselves "liberals," except
in such directions as do not touch the question of faith and its
development. Meanwhile the government, whose duty it is to convoke the
synods, now declines to call the churches together in view of this
division. Hence no other legally "official" synod has met, but the
-synods "unofficial/' which are regularly held by the evangelical
churches, answer every purpose. Their " authority rests in the

— 12

reason of it." Three "general," and twenty-one "local," synods
comprehend about six hundred congregations of evangelical
churches ; less than two hundred churches, whose ministers at least
are liberal, not meeting with them. At these synodal meetings
the material and spiritual progesss'of the churches is reported,
and the various missionary enterprises, which are entirely in the
hands of evangelical forces, are reviewed. The last reports show
much spiritual development, a large gain in laical energy, and
many genuine revivals within the churches.
The spirit of the ministry is fraternal, observant, determined,
patient, and hopeful. Of the nine hundred Protestant pastors
and ministers in France, the Reformed Church of France has
seven hundred and six, of whom more than five hundred are in
pronounced evangelical fellowship. The , remainder include the
"Free" churches, the Wesleyan, Baptist, and others, which are
evangelical ; the Lutheran, also which are partly evangelical.
The membership of communicants is variously estimated.
Financially, these churches are weak. Their history explains
this. Their church edifices are extremely plain. Not a carpeted
church may be found among them all. The singing of the worship
is congregational and voluntary. It is somewhat sad in strain, as
if it carried the memory of their struggles and sorrows. With
new hope, however, new songs of joy are introducing themselves,
and with these many hymns of a revival character, which fact
indicates the gracious work going on within the churches. New
editions of hymn-books are presenting their claims for attention.
In France this is not yet a curse. All pastors are compelled by
the government to take the degree of Bachelor of Arts previous to
their ordination, and that which was originally intended for a
restriction, and which does not apply to the Romish Church, has
happened for the furtherance of the gospel in furnishing the
churches with a well-educated ministry.
Their salaries are most meagre. The large number receive
$360 a year from the State, which is not greatly augmented by
the people, whose taxes, in part for this purpose, are heavy. The
salary of an eloquent leading pastor, in the expensive city of
Lyons, is $840 a year The pastors of Paris receive $800 a year
from the State, except those who, from Free Church principles,

— 13 —
decline this aid. It need not be said that these pastors include
many large minds, and very much resolute self-denial and needed
consecration. The importance of their theological seminaries is keenly recog
nized, (i) The professors are equal and devoted to their places and
their day, but are driven to most laborious additions to their
professional duties to eke out a lamentably small support. The
faculty of the Protestant Theological Seminary under the govern
ment at Paris is not free from the rationalistic element in the
person of one or two of its members. Hence this institution is
not sustained by the evangelical portion of the churches.
The hindrance of "Rationalism" among the French pastors
has been, and is, deeply felt, but in some respects it has been
.exaggerated. In the first place, while there is one legal recognition of all
Protestants by the State, the separation is as thoroughly complete
as it could be in our ,own land. Then, also, the missionary enter
prises, ¦ benevolences, aggressions, and sacrifices, all have their
spring in the evangelical body, and are in their control. Ration- N
alism has, moreover, in France, "advanced" to "Radicalism,"
which the more speedily overthrows itself. Lacking motive for
existence, lacking justification for sacrifices, and lacking sacrifice,
its stronger forces are constantly withdrawing from the ministry
as a divine calling. It has not consecration, and has poor pay.
Its leaders may now be found among librarians, inspectors of
public schools, and in various grades of government offices. Two
are in the more congenial sittings of the parliament. The strength
of this religious " Radicalism," which in its affinity with the
natural propensity of the unregenerate human mind, is also its
weakness. It cannot recruit its clergy, while evangelical can
didates for the evangelical theological schools multply. Many
students whose hearts are quickened with Christian desire for

(i) The Huguenot Society in London on the 200th anniversary of the Edict
of Nantes (October 1885) made a graceful tribute to the memory of a heroic
ancestry by beginning a fund for the establishment of the Huguenot scholarships
in the Theological Seminary of Montauban. American scholarships to this
valuable seminary would permanently aid Evangelistic truth in France.

— 14 —
their country are compelled to forego their purpose to enter the
ministry through lack of a little aid. That such a Radicalism
is a hindrance to evangelical forces in France is certainly true, as
it would be anywhere, but this constitutes no reason why our
brethren in Christ, who are wholly separate from these in spirit
and in work, should not the more have our cordial help, which
they need. If Demas forsakes Paul, the apostle is still the servant
of God. We do not give comfort to Rationalism when we send
succor and sympathy to those who are faithfully and successfully
contending against it.
There are two great facts with which these churches of the
Huguenots have to do. First, Infidelity. This is the legitimate
child of a superstitious faith which has been false to human needs.
Hence " Free-thinkers " in France ; but they are not thinkers.
While they oppose religion in every form, they have nothing to
offer in its place, and the people will not rest content with denials.
The French are constitutionally positive. The strength of infidel
ity in France is chiefly in its voice. It vociferates, but the people
feel that it is " impuissant. " Its widely heralded councils are
small. Their advertised mass meetings are less respectable in
numbers than such gatherings are in the United States. They
could scarcely be less respectable in quality. The most dangerous
infidelity in France is that which is least pronounced. It does not
oppose religion. The faith which it has seen, and the only religion
which it knowns, it scorns. It calls itself "Free thought," but this
is only a name. It is simply nothing. The religious sense is
deadened, the moral sense feels this, and the character is material
istic. It says, " Let us eat, drink, and be merry." The thought
upon religion, so far as there is thought, is agnostic. " We do not
know, why should we care?"
And yet all this is not beyond the power of God. While old
ideas are sinking, and new questions are rapidly rising, there is,
even among these classes, a wonderful readiness to listen and to
discuss. There is a remarkable spirit of hearing in the land.
Many are not so indifferent but that curiosity and the general
atmosphere of inquiry move them to listen to the promises of a
" new religion," and to whatever can be said for it. Some notable
exponents of Christian faith have come through the deepest quag-

— 15 —
mires of infidelity, and many are saying, "This I know, that
whereas I was blind now I see." The leaders of infidelity are
both bitter and intolerant, but they represent little. The forces
of Christianity are courageously active and earnest, but their possi-
tive recruits from this large agnostic element are relatively small.
A few years ago there was a marked tendency to Protestantism on
the part of many influential persons, who thought that they saw
in it a great and stable power for their country ; but when it was
more fully seen that it was an earnest faith, and could only be a
political force as it became a saving faith, the proffered sympathy
ceased. It left Protestantism to itself as a religion. The most
which can be said for this part of France is, that the door is
invitingly open wide.
The second great fact with which these Huguenot churches have
to do is Romanism. It remains a great power, and will so remain
for some period of time, because decay is slow. That it has many
true Christians under its care may not be denied, but as a system
it has proved itself false to man. That it has lost its prestige in
France, and the confidence of the great majority of the people,
is plainly evident. That it unconsciously fortifies infidelity is
demonstrated in the existing facts. But it is rooted in the cen
turies, and roots have great significance. It has millions of
mothers at its confessionals. Women are the last to leave their
church. This means long self-perpetuation by its educational
system. At the same time, there is a very large fraction among
those who yet call themselves Romanists over whom the church
has lost its power. Many from these attend Protestant meetings,
and are reading the gospel and religious tracts, and inquiring with
a singular absence of religious bigotry. French Romanists are far
more accessible than those of other lands. Without disguising
the difficulties that come in the exchange of faiths, or exaggerating
the hopefulness, the condition is full of interest. Here, also, the
door is wide open, and eager inquirers are coming through it with
utmost sincerity. There are no legal material hindrances. The
greatest difficulty which now appears is to rouse people from
indifference, — to meet the deadness of conscience, and to reach
the insensibility to sin. All this state of things is the heritage of
the past. The power to overcome it is not of man.

- lb —
To those problems of religious life in France the Huguenot
churches are earnestly addressing themselves. They are efficiently
and economically organized for this. Their " Bible Society," •
which in 1871 distributed sixteen thousand copies of the Bible,
last year (1883) distributed forty thousand.
The " Societe Evangelique" has planted one hundred and sixty-
three stations for the regular preaching of the gospel. Thousands
have found light in its light. As a " union " society, it especially
represents the " voluntary principle" in churches. Its receipts for
the first two years of its existence were $360. It now dispenses
about $20,000 yearly. ;
The "Societe Centrale" the organization of the "Reformed \
Church of France," which began with three missionaries, employs
now one hundred and fifty,(i) with three hundred and forty-five
missionary stations, forty-five of which have been added within
four years. It has planted eighty new churches in the last twelve
years. French Protestantism contributes annually for Christian
worship and Christian works in France over four millions
of francs. Eighty years ago it had no works, and gave nothing.
This is very much for those who give, and whose missionary
training and opportunity are recent. It is not much, however,
for the religious destitution of thirty-seven millions of souls.
Not more than one-fourth of the missionary funds used in
France comes from abroad, not including in this statement the
popular evangelistic missions, popularly known as the "McAll
Mission." This wonderful mission is strongly organized and
ably directed. It deserves all the Christian sympathy which
it receives, and more. As a close observer of its work, long
associated in its workings, I can testify to the economy of its
administration, to its fidelity to the truth, to its devotion in
service, to its broad scope, and to the effectiveness of its results.
Its usefulness cannot be measured.
The "Mission Interieure" is comparatively recent as to its
(1) About fifty of these missionaries are "auxiliary" to the seven hundred and
six pastors before mentioned, and must be added in our account of Protestant
forces. A number of school-masters, also, evangelize, on Thursdays and Sundays.
They are a strength in the ranks.

— i7 —
origin, and has for its object a preparatory evangelism to open the
door for the societies engaged in permanent occupation. It
efficiently fills its place, and addresses many thousands every
year who for the first time have heard . the proclamation of the
gospel by other than the priests. The " Union des Eglises
Evangeliques Libres de France " is a missionary organization
doing an excellent work, principally in the South of France.
It is the "Free Church" Society of France, representing 33
churches. It has been greatly blessed of late with revivals of
religion. The "Evangelical Society of Geneva" has a number
of stations in the south and south-east of France.
During the past ten years the Protestant Christians of France
have multiplied their printing presses, and have doubled the circu
lation of their reading. Seventy-three Protestant religious papers
are published in the French language.
In respect to schools. The attitude of the government on the
whole makes for Protestantism. The government favoring Deism
requires religious neutrality. This at least breaks the Papal
power, which for centuries had time and opportunity to show
what it could and would do, and which left to the Republic its
legacy of thirty-seven millions of people, thirty-six and nine-tenths
per centum of whom could neither read nor write. At that time
10,000,000 of francs was the government aid to primary education.
In 1882, 25,000,000 of francs was expended for this, and for all
phases of instruction 114,353,941 francs. This is a wonderful gain.
Five years will substantially educate a generation. The impor
tance of this fact cannot be overestimated. It means a new
France, and it shows us that this is not an ancient country in
decadence like Spain.
The Protestants are guarding with care the religious education
of the children and youth of the schools. The churches have an
important society to foster primary secular schools, and in them
are earnestly providing for religious instruction? Each Thursday
is a " rest day," the forenoon of which is commonly used in
religious instruction, while these thus taught are collected in the
churches once in a month on Thursday forenoon, and are
catechized by the pastors. Thus whatever the intent of the
government in disallowing any religious instruction, the result is

— -18 —
to enlarge and quicken Christian zeal to secure for the youth of
the Protestant families a sound religious education.
The Sunday-school system, which lately had scarcely an exist
ence in France, is being earnestly developed with the aid of the
"International" scheme of Bible lessons. These schools, however,
sadly need a suitable literature, which most schools have not the
means to obtain, and which indeed but to a limited degree could
be found. The churches in their freedom and self-development
are thus called to many new forms of service, to many responsi
bilities arid sacrifices, which more favored brethren in other lands
may wisely remember. There is a serious demand for good
religious reading for young and old.
The view of the situation then is this : The impress of the
original stamp upon the nation was strong. The inheritors of
centuries of confirmed customs will not see past influences anni
hilated in a generation. It must be faith, and patience which shall
inherit the promises, At the same time, religion in France has
a different meaning from the Protestant meaning. The original
stamp has never reached the heart. Religion has been rather an
exterior form than an interior conviction. It has been a political
and state force under the claims of a divine sanction. It has not
exalted the needy, nor been a blessing to the poor. There is,
therefore, no inclination to Romanism now, beyond that which
comes by the momentum of unthinking habit. But this unthink
ing habit is passing away. Those who never read before are
reading. Those who never thought are trying to think. If the
logic is not always good, it is altogether natural. The wonder is
that it is no worse. If Romanism finds a reaction in atheism and
in various forms of infidelity and socialistic philosophies, why
should it not ? It may not be altogether ill-omened. The
pendulum of thought will swing towards a true faith. Atheism
has no arguments, infidelity no satisfactions. They offer nothing.
The French are human and have warm hearts. They have quick
sensibilities. Being positive, they dislike cold negations. They
are full of inquiry, and that which has arguments, and promises
satisfaction, which is found to make for good homes, domestic
virtue, and national prosperity, does not, and will not, lack a
hearing. Let it be" remembered that Paris is not France, and the,

— 19 —
French are emphatically a people of homes and of loving families.
They are not deaf to these appeals of a true gospel. While many
of the upper classes are yet citadeled in conservatism and in
ancient forms ; and while trade and commerce dislike changes,
and fear that which may break the power of feudalism and caste ;
and while millions of mothers think that to renounce Romanism
means renouncing heaven ; the fact remains that the mediaeval
ages have taken their final departure. The strange and manifold
reactions of French history have yet, in the resultant, furnished a
most impressive opportunity for Christian faith. The element
which hates the very name of Rome as that of an oppressor and
an enemy is large. That which laughs it to scorn is large. Those
who remain loyal to it are everywhere running against inter
rogation points. Questions like flocks of pigeons fly through the
air. In this condition of things, if Protestantism must indeed
overcome many prejudices and win its way among those educated
to distrust that which bears the name of religion, it yet does not
suffer hate ; it has the respect which sincerity begets ; and it
goes to those who love questions, saying, " Ask, and we will
answer." That is a great advance from the time when Rome
summoned kingdoms, and the only doubtful States were England
and Sweden. When France first began to ask for the pure gospel,
Rome had crowns at her feet. No sovereigns are now in her
councils. France, her last hope in Europe, through her Protestant
children, is now scattering a free Bible over the land. While
millions are as ignorant of its contents as they are who live in
the jungles of India, the gospel is increasingly preached to all
classes, and with sincere fidelity. The political upheavals have
been God's plowshares, to turn up the furrows for the seed of his
kingdom. The blood of the martyrs has made the soil rich for the
harvester. As a government — whether or not the Republic shall remain —
the people will remain. The eagle is out of its shell. It will not
be again in its former confines. A fleet of ships is in the acorn.
Those who criticise the French Republic do this disregarding
history. , The surprise should be that it does so well. Times of
transition are of necessity times of anxiety. The monarchies of
Europe seem to be interested to foment distrust of republican

institutions among them, and of all movements which relate to
these. The sister Republic of the United States should have hope
and not fear. The more because God is in providence. The
people to a marvelous extent are breaking with the past not
unwisely. While confirmed customs are losing their confirmations,
we may not exaggerate the attendant conditions. The old in
fluences yield like the thick ice of a river in the spring-time.
That which has been very solid needs but the atmospheric changes
when all the streams behind it and the little rills hurry it on and
away. If the ice may crack with the frictions, and the waters may
unduly rise with the floods, this is temporary ; we know that
summer is coming.
Taking account, therefore, of these things, of the past and the
present, we may say without fear of question, that France never
had a like opportunity to receive the gospel, and the Christian
world never had a more inviting field.
If Romanism dies slowly, it is yet in decline. If atheism puts
forth strength, it has not the strength of God. If past influences
have in some directions deadened conscience, and paralyzed the
sensibility to the fact and nature of sin, if Christianity, has been
discredited in France, it is the same in all lands which have been
blighted with Romanism. Sin blights all lands. It is the gospel
which renews, purifies, and saves. If God can save Turkey and
China, He can save France. Many indeed are the glorious names
which tell us that the heart and head of this nation make most
excellent soil for the gospel. It has shown us this people tena
cious, constant, stable, strong, and great. The gospel is all that is
needed to deepen French character and to make the nation a firm
and strong power for Christ. We know well that it would be an
aggressive power. In our missionary enterprises we should esti
mate nations, not by numbers, but by weight ; we should measure
conditions and influences. In the problem of winning the world
to Christ, forty millions of people in France would outweigh an
hundred millions in Turkey. A million dollars expended to save
France would outweigh many times more used in Spain or Austria.
It is the doors of an influential and forth-putting nation which
have swung at last wide open. In its world-wide bearings, we who
pray for the conversion of the world cannot afford to wait. It is

21 —

an elect time for a strategic power. The problem is unique.
These churches prepared by the discipline of suffering can furnish
organized forces intent upon possessing the land. They have the
consciousness that the mission of God is upon them. In their
history, nationality, faith, and feeling, they are the ones to press
the evangelization of France. They may receive impulse and help
from without. They are ready to take lessons from larger mis
sionary experience. They welcome sympathy in foreign laborers
with gratitude and love, but they themselves, through their own
missionary societies, agencies, and permanent institutions and
churches, are the ones to meet this great and divine call. From
their own race and their own ranks they must call their own
teachers and preachers, and we may have no confidence in any
methods or movements for the permanent powers which must do
this deep and continuous work, which have not the organized
forces of the faithful Huguenot churches behind them. It is most
hopeful that in their numerical and financial weakness they do not
shrink from this. Their courage is admirable. Some would call it
optimistic. Some do call it chimerical. It is neither. It is faith
in God's omnipotence working through human weakness. Their
tragic and faithful past, their earnest and needful present, arid
their most hopeful future appeal to them. To help this Chris
tianity in France in a most generous and in a systematic way is
both the dictate of a grateful love, and the wisdom of a Christian
fidelity to the commanding call of Providence. Christian America
is doing nobly many things. It may be questioned if our country,
which has reason to remember how good saving help was in a
critical struggle for our national life, could do a worthier or
grander work than to return saving help for the spiritual life of a
people which now needs to feel our heart as we felt it aforetime.

NOTE

The sketch of the " Religious Condition of France " was written in
the year 1884 for the Andover Review.
It is now reprinted in view of repeated requests on the part of
American Christians, who, in visiting France, are inquiring for " exact
facts," both for the guidance of their sympathies and of their benevo
lences. I think there has been no other statement respecting the life and
activities of the Churches of the Huguenots published in a condensed
form which gives the outlines of past history with the main points of
present organization and accomplishment. At least I am so frequently
asked for the facts which are set forth in this pamphlet, that upon my
departure, from the interests which have occupied me in France, and
which seem to me very large and important, I have yielded to an
influential solicitation to send forth the brochure upon a new mission.
May it help to dissipate some errors and some incredulities. I have found
little occasion to change the conclusions formed two years ago. They
were carefully formed.
On the other hand, a continued residence, a much larger personal
observation, with increased knowledge of the country and of the people,
have confirmed me as to the hopefulness of France as a field of great
possible conquest for Christ, and have deepened my convictions that
" now is an accepted time."
I am not unaware that there. are pessimistic views of France and of its
religious prospects, both from within its religious borders, and from with
out. Within, there are those who prefer "the palmy days of the Empire."

— *3 —
They forget in the distance whatever in the Empire was not "palmy,"
and there was very much ! There are those who have no sympathy
with the glory of the common man and woman. They regret the re
moval of social stratifications. The rising of a people to an idea of human
rights, the assertion of all sorts of theories in the breaking away fom ideas
previously held, the incidental evils of a process of unsettling and re
settling of questions and conditions is not pleasant. The levelling-up of
the many is not comfortable to the few. All transitions have their trials,
hence views from within which are not hopeful ; predictions of coming
disaster and prophecies of recurring " instability." The reply to all this is,
that the state of society is not good, which exalts the few ; that while
there is much which may be criticised justly in the taking on of other ideas
of life, and in shaping new institutions — a going too far, or a lack of
restraint — yet all this may be an accompaniment to the tune, " The
morning light is breaking," and that Providence is not moving towards
the middle ages. The mountains must come down as the table lands
move up. The " palmy days " were not in the past. We will wait.
There are pessimistic views of France and its religious prospects from
without. A late issue of the Contemporary Review of England discusses
the " Influence of Religion upon National Life," and is not ashamed to
print from a contributor words like these : " Turn your eyes on France,
which a century ago solemnly installed concupiscence — aptly typified by
the Goddess of Reason — in the place of conscience, and elevated the dumb
buzzard idol, Man in the .abstract, and his fictitious rights, in the place of
the living God,, and the duties binding upon us because He is what He is :
look at France, I sa}', if you would see an example of the hell which a
people prepares for itself when it maketh and loveth a lie. I know the
country well ;. and every time I visit it I discern terrible evidence of
ever -increasing degeneracy. The man seems to be disappearing. There
is a return to the simious type. The eye speaks of nothing but dull
esuriency. The whole face is prurient. The voice has lost the virile ring
and has become shrill, gibberish, baboon-like. Go into the Chamber of
Deputies,(i) the chosen and too true representatives of the people. The
looks, the gestures, the cries, remind you irresistibly of the monkey-house
in Regent's-park."
(i) The French Chamber of Deputies is the most orderly and the best conducted legislative
body I have ever seen. The Deputies do not sit with their hats on, nor give and take personal
abuse as I have often witnessed in the British House of Couimons. Whoever will speak, ascends
the Tribune, speaks from it, and is respectfully heard, as one is not likely to be heard in the United
States House of Representatives. Such brutal slanderous nonsense as the above utterance is from
one who thinks he knows and does not. Unfortunately many are afflicted with this evil. To
really know the French well, is to respect them for their qualities and characteristics, however
much we may be quick to note errors of their history past or present.

A member of the last British Parliament (I regret to say a native of
the United States) within a few days uses the following words : — " At
this moment Atheism is triumphant in the French Republic. Twenty
Ministers have chased each other from office in fifteen years. France has
gone through eight violent Revolutions within a century, and the
French Budget is now over £130,000,000. The ultimate end of Radi
calism is Republicanism and Atheism, and the outcome of moral ruin
and national decay."
If these views generally obtained, no doubt they would influence our
opinions upon the hopefulness of Christian work in France. We might,
as some would have us, do, withdraw religious sympathy from a nation
where hope is extinct, and concentrate our foreign missionary endeavors
upon the Cape of Good Hope.
But these impressions, which unhappily are not confined to England,
are not those of Christian England. This testifies to the hopefulness of
Christian activities in France most nobly and characteristically ; and the
grand man, Rev. R. W. McAll, who loves France and believes in its
people, is a much truer type and worthier representative both of the faith
and of the statesmanship of that great nation whose glory is in its
Christianity. For one I do not hesitate to say that unchristian life is bad in all
lands, and I do not think that life without the love and fear of God is
a whit worse in France than ii is in England, or that the morals are
more corrupt here than corrupt morals are elsewhere. We must remember
also that in the present form of government, evils which seem to be
very great are not worse than they were in time past, but are less
concealed. There is more light thrown on what is, and on what is done.
There is free public criticism, and what seems to some .degeneracy, is
rather exposure. Governments which do not report to the people may
be filled with dead men's bones and all uncleanness, while corrupt
practices cannot be successfully hidden away in a Republic. The
Atheism of France probably is less than it was when it was more latent
in the Empire. I see in the special readiness to listen to the word of
God everywhere in France, a sign which is full of hope.
The optimistic view may not be absolutely a true one, but there are
reasons for thinking it far truer than that which sees no light. A
little pamphlet has just been published under the title, "What the Re
public has Done in the last Ten Years." Some of the facts are worth
noting : — "A vast system of internal improvements has been carried out
within the last ten years, increasing the number of kilometres of high
ways by more than 100,000 ; and the canals have been multiplied
ten-fold. At the same time that it has carried on this vast system of

— 2-5 —
internal improvement, the taxes have been decreased by 253,000,000 of
francs since 1876, and this notwithstanding the fact that the Empire left
the Republic about thirteen milliards to pay off. Since 1875 nearly 10,000
kilometres of railway have been added to the country's routes, and this,
although it would be but a small matter in the United States, is con
sidered a great progress here. The receipts of the great/railways, which
in 1875 amounted to but 839,000,000 of francs, in 1884 amounted to
1,300,000,000. Much is said concerning the decline of commerce under the
Republic, but in 1867 the country exported for 2,829,900,000 francs, and
in 1884 for 3,400,000,000 francs. In 1869 the number of letters circu
lated through the post amounted to 300,000,000; in 1884 to 600,000,000 ;
printed documents in 1869, 280,000,000 ; in 1884, 700,000,000 ; tele
grams in 1869, not quite 5,000,000 ; in 1884, 25,000,000 ; telegraph lines
established in 1869, 41,000 kilometres ; in- 1884, 75,000 kilometres.
The most striking fact of all is the immense sum of money which the
country has managed to spend for public instruction in spite of the heavy
charges upon it, because of the need of keeping up the standing army,
Just as the Empire did. Under the first Empire, the budget of public
instruction was exactly o francs o centimes ; in 1850 it had got up to
21,000,000 of francs; but in 1869, after twelve or thirteen years of empire,
it had not gone more than 200,000 francs further. Yet in 1874, when
France had been half ruined by the war, the country was expending
36,000,000, and in 1885 the budget had been increased to one hundred
and fifty-three millions. The Republic has thus augmented the moneys
spent in educating the people at the rate of nearly nine millions of francs
per year, and this progress seems likely to be kept up for many years. It
has built 16,000 new school houses, repaired 10,000 more, and brought the
number of scholars in the public schools up from three and one-half
millions in 1869 to 4,421,272 in 1884. For the construction of school
houses and additional salaries of teachers it has expended from 1878 to
1885 542,600,000 francs. In addition to this it has increased the valid
forces of the country, making every man under the age of fifty a soldier
(from 1,350,000 to 1,800,000), all of whom have some military training,
and can be mobilized in less than a month. The war budget of the
country is 750,000,000 francs,- or 200,000,000 more than Germany feels
called upon to expend, and the Navy of the country has been increased
from 360 ships of war in 1869 to 419 in 1885. In the words of M. Brisson :
" She came into the world without' frontiers, without army, without
fortresses, without cannon, without rifles, without credit, without schools.
She has had to create everything which she has not been obliged to do
Over. At the outset of her career she had to find eleven milliards of
francs for war expenses, and for the rebuilding of her material of defence.

— 26 —
She had to remake her whole eastern frontier and the whole system of
the Paris fortifications. She had to remould the national army. She has
done for all the beneficent institutions of the country more than any
Government had ever done before in France. She has established com
pulsory and gratuitous education ; and has begun the higher education of
women. In short, this Republic, so calumniated by her monarchical
adversaries, has in reality liquidated, paid off and bought up the greater
parts of the follies of the old Monarchy."
This is a more sanguine look, and I am confident it has truer values.
A Republic with such antecedents as France has, and such internal and
external difficulties, is not to be judged absolutely.
A Republican Government can continue for a long time, however, only
where the people prove to be capable of self-government. Atheism must
be uncertain and unstable. There are no elements of permanence in it.
Nevertheless, there is a degree of Christian faith and a power of expres
sion in France which, if they may not wholly prevent many national
penalties, may yet preserve the present form of government.
If the Republic continues, the separation of the Church and State is
not far away. This will throw many extra burdens upon the few
Christians who are now the representatives of the Protestant faith.
Even should the Republic not continue, probably there never will
come a time when this wonderful Work of God, which has taken a new
impulse of life with a divine energy, can be stayed.
At all events, those who believe in the kingdom of Christ may safely
proceed to develope the Christian enterprises which we have in our
hands, assured that Christian faith will not only bring forth fruit in the
renewal of souls, but will be also the most vigorous reinforcement of all
that is good and saving to a very influential nation.
It may seem to some that a sketch of the religious condition of France
is incomplete without some account of the " Gallican Church." There
were once hopes in this direction. The verdict of time, however, has been
pronounced, and the " Gallican Church " is like the snakes in Ireland.
My conclusion is, that the providential resurrection of Protestant and
Evangelical faith in France is moving steadily on with the will of God.
Many evils float along in the current of that divine Providence, but they
are not the power.
The kingdom of Christ in France, at last freed from the State and freed
from superstitions, will prove both its vitality and conquering force. It
will not exist by the favor of any form of Government, and will continue
under whatever form of Government, though its successes and its
vigorous life may be modified by the political condition of the country.

I commend to those to whom this little sketch of the " Huguenot
Churches of France" may come, the facts that it contains, and the
Societies which, in their work, condition, and. opportunities, must be
saying — at least during this generation of men — to all who are highly
favored in in the Gospel, " Come over and help us."
Paris, "Thanksgiving Day."
Nov. 26, 1885.

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