Lyons

When Mr. M’All planted his first station in Belleville, in 1872, he little thought “whereunto this would grow.”

That it should widen and oversioread Paris was not likely; at least for many a day. That it should go beyond Paris and penetrate the provinces was still less likely. At least there was no prospect of such enlargements. That these extensions should be invited by the inhabitants themselves, and that calls for help should come from districts, both in and out of Paris, where no efforts had previously been put forth, and no preparations made: — these were things not calculated upon in a land where truth had been trodden down so long and so terribly.

These, however, are just the unlikelihoods that the Paris Mission has to record.

“I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour,” is often enough found true; but “other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours” is not always exemplified, or, at least, is not always traceable. Yet, possibly, this may be a far more invariable and constant law of the kingdom than we think. History may not be able to tell us of the previous labourers; but they may have been in the field, and done their work, unknown to any but the great Sower Himself.

At any rate, it would be hasty to say of France that there had been no previous sowing, or no preparation of soil, because we have not been able to discover these. “One soweth and another reapeth “■ is one of the Divine principles which we find always operating directly or indirectly; showing itself unexpectedly in all ages; leading those who believe it into researches out of the common beat to find out the real ancestry of great movements; and often rewarding these believing searchers with rare discoveries. And, of such surprises, all history, but especially church history, is full.

To inquire into the verification of this law in France is not my object; but I do not doubt that the careful researches of a sympathetic church historian would bring many things to light in illustration of

the Divine purpose and procedure, in connection

with that simple proverb, quoted above, to which the

Master has so explicitly set His seal. Possibly the

history of Lyons, even more than that of Paris,

would be found to exhibit the truth and constancy

of this peculiar law; and I would now devote a few

pages to Mr. M’All’s work in that city; a work

which, as yet, is only in its infancy. It was begun

in October, 1878, and is still vigorously carried on.

Lyons, from the early centuries of the Christian

Church, has been pre-eminently a city of martyrs.

But never did persecution rage so terribly as towards

the close of the sixteenth century, at the time of the

St. Bartholomew massacre. The cruelties of paganism

were quite overshadowed by the savage brutalities

of Popery. The priesthood and the instruments of

its blind and bloody rage seemed to be devils, not

men. The woes of Lyons have never been written;

nor, indeed, can be; so complete was the havoc which

swept away its best and bravest and holiest in the

great year of blood. In 1572 the streets of Lyons ran

red with Huguenot blood, shed by the orders of the

king. The Rhone was empurpled; its course was

obstructed by corpses; the fish died; and the

stench was abominable. At the lowest estimate,

1300 were butchered, men, women, and children, in that one city, among whom was the musician Guadimel, the composer of the tunes to the psalms of Marot and Beza. Three hundred had been carried to the archbishop’s palace, under the pretence of protection, and there they were murdered. “The heretics, writes their murderer Mandelot, were taken calmly and quietly, one by one, like so many cattle; it was a wonderful spectacle to see the greater part of them, lying with their throats cut in the piazza, naked as the beasts; in less than two days not a soul remained alive, not a single individual could save himself’“”-

Since then there has been always a remnant of true Christians in the city; but it has been small. Faith has all but died out; and the town is divided between atheism and ultramontanism: the former predominating and manifesting itself in revolution and violence.

To this city Mr. M’AU was invited about a year ago; and at last, towards the end of autumn, he went to organise a similar work to that in Paris. In the course of a few weeks he succeeded in starting four stations. Returning to Paris, he was followed by Mr. Dodds for two months; on whose return to the metropolis, Mr. Horace Noel took up the work; the French pastors heartily co-operating.

* Smedley’s “Reformed Religion in France,” vol. ii., p. 33.

Mr. M* All’s narrative of this undertaking is brief; too brief. We wish it had been more minnte: —

“Our long-clierished project of founding a work like that of Paris in Lyons, with its 350,000 inhabitants, is at length realised. Occasional expressions of desire that we should make the attempt had reached us from Christians in Lyons itself and more recently, the Committee of the Evangelical Continental Society has encouraged us by the offer of a handsome grant towards preliminary expenses.

“Believing that the right moment had arrived, three of our number set forth on this interesting errand in the beginning of November. Our excellent coadjutor, M. Eouilly, preceded us as pioneer. It is well known that in Lyons, often styled the Rome of France, ultramontane intolerance reigns side by side with scepticism and atheism in all their dark forms. In spite of difficulties thence arising, we were enabled within a few days to open three stations, and a fourth has since been added. The four rooms contain over 600 sittings. They are in the midst of densely-peopled working-class districts — La Guillotiere, La Croix Rousse, Les Brotteaux, and Vaise.

“Through the intervention of the British Vice-Consul and the Prefect of the Rhone, the needful authorisation was at once accorded by the Minister of the Interior. The first meeting was held on Sunday evening, Nov. 17, at La Guillotiere, a quarter possessing an unenviable celebrity for revolutionary lawlessness. It was an hour not to be forgotten. With what feelings of mingled thankfulness and responsibility did we see the people gather round us in that humble room! A deputation from the Lyons Young Men’s Christian Association aided us much at the door, in singing, &c. The presence of Him whose message of love we had come to announce was felt among us. At the close, many warmly expressed their gratitude for our having come to them. One ouvrier, in particular, said, with tears, * Never in my life have I heard the truth thus explained; my conscience answers to it; this is what I want.’

“The excellent im&Unrs of Lyons snrroiindecl us, and spoke to the people with great earnestness and power. M. Ruben Saillens, our former helper (now of Marseilles), also aided us in these opening services. The affectionate welcome accorded to lis alike by pastors and laymen was deeply touching, and they are prepared to render constant assistance in carrying out the meetings. It will, however, be necessary to secure the residence of a permanent director for the branch mission. We have addressed a pressing appeal, seconded by our Lyons friends, to a gentleman in Switzerland, eminently qualified for the position, and we trust that ere this report issues from the press, his consent will be obtained. Meanwhile, our valued friend, the Rev. R. S. Ashton, and our colleague, the Rev. G. T. Dodds, have rendered essential service in taking temporarily the management. Our faithful coadjutor, the Rev. Horace Noel, is prepared to succeed Mr. Dodds for a time. Most ]Drobably the director will need the stated aid of at least one young evangelist, as those on the spot who can give their help are not numerous. The sustentation of this assistant, with the rental and maintenance of so many new mission-rooms, &c. &c., will require largely-increased contributions.

“The meetings at Lyons have, thus far, been very fully attended, and various significant incidents have occurred. At La Guillotire, an ouvrier, stoker of a furnace, who had come, at first, with black face, appeared afterwards clean and in his best clothes. He said, ‘It is now my delight, while watching my furnace, to think over what I have heard in the meetings.’ One of the policemen in attendance to keep order in the street, said, ‘I much j)refer to be placed here rather than at the door of the theatre: here, all is quietness and order, there, all is noise and folly. I can hear enough from outside to know that what you speak is the true religion; I must bring my old woman [meaning his wife] that she may hear it too.’ On other occasions, the policemen have recommended the bystanders to enter, explaining the meaning of ’ morale ’ and ‘V amour de Jesus- Christ,’’ on our little papers of invitation.”

A little further on in the same report, Mr. Dodds gives some incidents of the work which took place under his own eye: —

“The following is a literal translation of the exact words spoken bj’- a stoker (or furnace-blower), on occasion of the first meeting at Lyons: — ‘I knew always that there is something here [laying his hand on his heart] which cannot die, but never before had this been so well explained to me; I shall think of it during the week, and that will help me to heat my furnace.’ He came the next meeting-night with clean face, and is a regular and most interested attendant.

“A man on his way to a newly-opened theatre close by

stepped into our room at. He remained the whole time.

This occurs frequently.

“At the door of, a man said, ‘Ah, if what we have

heard this evening were believed and practised, there would be peace and happiness here.’

“The pohceman at the door at, reported that there

was already a marked improvement in the quarter; the people, he said, were quieter.

“At, a freethinker has come since the opening. He

used to say that his philosophy was ’ quite sufiicient for him; now he confesses that something more is needed, has begun to read the Bible and also to attend a place of worship.

“Another young man, previously almost entirely ignorant of the Bible, has been led to the Young Men’s Christian Association, and is seeking to possess a complete copy of the Scriptures.

“One of the hearers at speaks of the great light which

has entered into her soul. Here are her words, — ‘How happy one ia when possessing the Saviour Jesus Christ.’”

Of the Lyons work M. St. Hilaire thus writes his impressions to Mr. M’All; and the statements of the venerable and illustrious Professor are of great importance as conveying a Frenchman’s impressions of the value of the work in a city which he knows so well: —

“Respecting your enterprise at Lyons, yet in its infiancy, your report also tells us something, perhaps rather too briefly, and I would congratulate you on having added to your Paris work this new field of effort. For years it was my habitude to spend my vacations at Lyons, and it was in the dear Chajpelle Evangdique in the Bue Lanterne, and by means of its then pastor, Mr. Fisch, that I was led to the Gospel. I am entitled, then, to call the good town of Lyons my spiritual native country. One thing I can say to you with certitude, — that nowhere could there be found a race more receptive, more religiously susceptible than the people of the Lyonnais. Too long held down under the ultramontane yoke, this yoke commences to gall them; but at Lyons, as throughout the entire Catholic world, there is only one door by which to emerge from it, that of infidelity. You, dear brother, have indicated to them another, and I thank you for it in the name of all the Christians of Lyons, who will rejoice to aid you in your work.

“And now, dear and respected brother, let me express to you my joy to see extending to some of our largest cities, first to Lyons, to Marseille, Bordeaux, &c., the blessings of this work of regeneration by the Gospel, restricted hitherto to our capital. As for politics, arts, literature, luxury, pleasure, Paris has become the focus of them all; but the Gospel has its citizen-rights everywhere, for it belongs to no country exclusively, or, if it has one, it is heaven! For whom has it been given above all 1 — for the poor, the obscure, the disinherited of the earth. Among them it was that Jesus commenced His mission. He spoke their language in those ravishing parables which the people instinctively understands not so much by the intellect as by the heart. May, then, the Angel of the Apocalypse, * carrying in His hands the everlasting Gospel,’ pass, at length, throughout our beloved France, visiting not the cities only, but our humblest hamlets!”

A few extracts from private letters will not be unacceptable. Perhaps, though brief, they may prove even more interesting than the published report. One Christian friend, writing to another regarding a matter in which the hearts of both are warmly engaged, notes down little things which would otherwise be forgotten, and gives views of the work which he might not think of giving in a report.

Mr. M’All thus gives his own first impressions

of the new enterprise, in a letter dated Lyons,

15th November, 1878: —

“Knowing your warm interest in our enterprise in Lyons, I am anxious to let you know something of our first steps towards obtaining centres of meeting in this great city. You can well understand that the first steps in such a case are very arduous; and we have had many journeyings to and fro- in rain and mist and mud, seeking localities in the various working-class quarters. You are aware that Lyons is often styled the ‘■ Kome ’ of France, and that, while infidelity has a widespread hold upon a large part of the population, intolerance reigns supreme with the residue, including a very large majority of the wealthy and influential. Hence localities in the central parts of the town were, in general, refused to us; but we have found a different disposition in the faubourgs, and there have been willingly received as tenants. We have now four populous localities among the ouvriers in view, — La Guillotiere, Les Brotteaux, La Croix Rousse, and Vaise. Pray that blessing may attend the planting of Christ’s standard in the heart of these teeming populations. To-day the authorisation has reached us from the Ministre de I’lntrieur at Paris. “We are most kindly and warmly welcomed by the pastors and evangelical Christians here, as well as by the Young Men’s Christian Society, who gave us a little soiree this week, and, with one accord, promised their hearty co-operation. The popish bigotry here is beyond expression. Many of the landlords, themselves indifferent to all religion, dare not let their places to us for fear of their neighbours; and large employers are, we learn, forbidding their workmen to enter a Protestant place of worship. We must be careful to avoid controversy, and go to the people with the pure and direct utterances of the life-giving Gospel.”

Mr. Dodds, who succeeded Mr. M’All at these stations, and carried on the work for two months, thus writes from Lyons in December, 1878: —

“Already there are signs of life here; and some have been deeply touched in the meetings. At one, a furnace-blower turned up with a very black face; next night he came washed and clean, and said to one of the speakers, ‘This is the truth; I feel something here [touching his heart] which tells me so; and all the day, as I blow my furnace, and poke the fire, I am thinking of these things.’ It was a strange feeling that I experienced on Sunday evening at Vaise, when I spoke to the people. I felt that the well-known words, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour,’ and ‘God so loved the world,’ &c., were being heard for the first time by many, if not by all. How fresh were these words, how real and deep; and how truly I felt that they were spoken for man. We have crowded meetings, and attentive listeners.”

And again in 3rd January, 1879: —

“It has been a keen pleasure to me here to break up the ground; perhaps even more so than at Paris, the work has been distinctively one of evangelisation. The people seem extremely ignorant, and the Gospel is new altogether to them. When St. Paul’s words are thought to be Plato’s, and the ordinary meanings of Bible words are not even imagined, one could hardly have a field more unprepared, except that that in itself is a preparation. I was at Vaise last night. The meeting was crowded, people pressing as close to me at the desk as was possible or quite conducive to bodily comfort. I have had a good deal of trouble there in the earlier meetings, there have been noise and shouting, and occasionally the necessity to expel some young men. Two gardiens are stationed at the door. Last night there was no noise, but most earnest attention,

while M. L spoke on Paul’s Neiv- Yearns wish for them:

‘My heart’s desire is that you may be saved.’ He might have gone on much longer as far as attention was concerned; but I like to have plenty of singing; and we had ‘Tell me the old, old Story’ and ‘Look and Live’ and ‘Safe in the arms of Jesus.’ They are fond of the hymns, and join with all their heart, though there is sometimes more sound than melody. Afterwards I spoke to them of Paul’s conversion, dwelling on the difference between a sinner unsaved and a sinner pardoned. I read to them from 2 Cor. xi., the list of Paul’s sufferings, to show them what a change there was in that man, and what he had willingly endured for Christ’s sake, and to convert men to God. We have had much encouragement at Vaise. A man with visage black as coal kindly collects the hymn-books for me at the end. He appears to be deeply interested. A woman comes steadily, who listens with tears in her eyes. She is in the employ of some Jesuits, and persists in coming in spite of their efforts to prevent her. The other evening she said, ‘Oh! how happy one is when possessing the Saviour! ‘Now, there

246 The White Fields of Fra7Lce.

are oftener smiles than tears on her face. The policemen at the door tell me that there is quite a change already in the quarter. Some might doubt the truth of this, in so short a time, but they spoke from what they had experienced. They would do anything to help us, and are glad to come into the room and listen when they can.

“At the reunion of Les Brotteaux we have more mixture of classes, people of better position attending. The room holds

165, and is sometimes inconveniently filled. M. P tells

me of an infidel who used to boast that his philosophy was enough for him, a very intelligent man; he began to come at

the opening, and is never absent. He asked M. P to

marry him, accepted a Bible with thankfulness, and now not only brings his wife, but often several friends with him. I trust his heart is touched, and that he may be yet made a Christian helper at Lyons, for we need such greatly. He tells me also of a young man who never went to church, and had a habit of swearing whenever he opened his lips. Now he never

misses an evening, and, strange to say, his sister tells M. P

that he has completely given up his bad habit. By attending at this meeting, a young Koman Catholic has been led to come to the Young Men’s Christian Association. There are some fine young men in that union; they are distributed among our meetings, to stand at the door and be otherwise helpful..,.

“I want you to engage praying friends at home in special prayer for the pastors and teachers of France.”

The work now going on in Lyons will lead many back to the earlier days of the Church in that city. The history of the Christian Church in Lyons remains yet to be written, and would form one of the most romantic narratives, — one of the most wonderful “monographs” that could be written.

Miscellaiuous: Past and Present, 247

We do not know any other city in the world which furnishes such successions of the rise and fall, — yet the fall and rise also, — of Christian truth and life, — such a story of martyrdom from the second century to the present day.’” And before closing the present sketch of the present work, we make the following extract from a little-known work entitled “The Progress of the Reformation on the Continent,” and published some forty-two years ago by the Rev. J. Hartley, British Chaplain at Geneva and Tours. The story ought not to be forgotten in connection with Lyons, and with the beloved Adolphe Monod: —

“I have myself visited no Church in France, on which so evident a blessing appeared to rest, as that of Mons. Adolphe Monod at Lyons. This zealous minister of Christ had been excluded from the National Protestant Church of that city, in consequence of the Arian and worldly principles which had infected it; but, as is so frequently the case, persecution promoted rather than retarded the progress of the Gospel. Mons. Monod opened a second Protestant Church at Lyons, and when I visited it in 1834, 1 found the place of public assembly crowded to excess, and one hundred and ten persons, all of them consist-

* Several of the provincial towns in France have memories like those of Lyons, though not so old; Tours and Amboise, for instance. At the latter of these places, shortly before the Bartholomew massacre, 1200 Protestants were put to death, — either hanged or flung into the Loire. The terrace is still pointed out where the king, with the Guises and Mary Queen of Scots, gazed with delight upon the butchery of 1200 Protestants.

ent Christian communicants. One-lialf of the latter were converts from the Church of Rome.

“As instances of individual conversion are always interesting, and tend to afford a better idea of the state of religion in any country, I shall conclude this chapter by a narrative of the kind, related to me by the very person to whom it occurred. He is a gentleman of considerable influence in one of the departments of France, being connected by marriage with the family of one of Napoleon’s Field Marshals, and having been member of the Chamber of Deputies.

“Travelling in the Vosges Mountains, he lost his way. He descended from his carriage, and entered into a house to make inquiries. How little do we know, what important, what eternal consequence may follow, from events which appear to us altogether accidental and trifling! The house which Mons. had entered was the dwelling of the pastor who had succeeded Oberlin at the Ban de la Roche; and he appears to be one who has inherited not merely the office, but also the piety of his revered predecessor. This good man, with all the zeal and earnestness which has distinguished so many of our French

brethren, instantly addressed Mons. on the high interests

of eternity, charging him most faithfully to give them

his serious and immediate attention. Mons. waa

thunderstruck; never in his life had he met with such an occurrence. Born and educated amidst the fury of the French Revolution, religion had been a subject of all others most unthought of by him, most unknown, most neglected. Such however was the impression produced by the worthy pastor’s exhortation, that no sooner had he returned to his home than he instantly sent to procure a copy of the Scriptures in the town adjacent to his residence. Failing to procure one here, he sent to Paris and obtained one from thence. Now he commenced to study the sacred volume with diligence. He called on the Protestant pastor who was nearest to him. But here, alas! was one of the rationalist school, who advised him not to think of quitting the Cliiirch of Rome, and who gave him to understand that evangelical doctrines were nothing but Methodism and folly! Mons., however, was too deeply-affected by the realities of the eternal future, to be checked by such awful delusion in his search of immortality. He called shortly afterwards at Lyons on Mons. Monod, and by the Divine blessing on their intercourse soon became enlightened on the great doctrines of the Gospel, and is now, with his Lady, a bold and zealous follower of Jesus Christ, devoting his time, his influence, and all his powers to the cause and glory of that Saviour who has revealed to him so graciously His Divine power and mercy!”

Thus both the past and present of France are full of a spiritual interest, of which few in our day are aware. There is “no dearth nor barren land” in its history, were it searched into and read aright. Dr. Merle D’Aubigne has done not a little in this romantic field. But much more remains to be done. The religious annals of that land must be written for the benefit of Europe. “Eldest daughter” of Kome she has been; and, “like mother like daughter,” may be said of her; “she- wolf of France,” as the old poet calls her, twin-sister to the ravening wolf of Kome, she has drunk the blood of saints without number. But never, like Asia Minor or like Africa, or even like Spain, has she been left without a remnant in her hills and valleys. The priesthood of the Pope ravaged the fold of Christ, but, age after age, among her people, flocks were gathered, and fed in deserts and valleys, in dens and caves of the earth.

Christians have taken their idea of France from the Revolution of the last century. They have forgotten, or have never read, all that went before; and they have looked upon that era of human rage as stamping her national character and sealing her doom. They forget that, revolting as the deeds were, the priesthood had well earned their share of awful retribution; and they forget also that in the mysterious providence of God, that atheistic outburst arrested the persecutions against Protestants, and put an end to the horrid cruelties perpetrated by Roman murderers, — to whom the rack, the wheel, the dungeon, the rope, the sword, were the daily instruments for the conversion of heretics. Those who have read Bungener’s agonising but stirring story of these times, called “■ The Jesuits in France,” will understand what we mean. The atheists of France cried shame upon the deeds of the priesthood, and protested against the torture of Protestants. The unbelieving philosopher had more of humanity than the priest or the bishop.

Good men also forget that God has always had a people in that land; and that, in studying its annals, even in its worst days, we are sure to light upon, here and there, some remnants of faith, however small and

Miscellaneous: Past and Prese7it. 25 i

feeble. A German pastor, some forty years ago, after darkly picturing the condition of Ins country, — its irreligion, unbelief, and blasphemy, — yet adds, that here and there he had come upon bright specimens of faith where he least expected it, summing up with this beautiful illustration: “When I walk through my parish I seem to pass through the shaft of a rich mine, where a stroke of the mattock on the right or left may every moment discover to me a new vein of precious metal.”

Perhaps, in reference to the present condition of France, this quotation may convey an exaggerated picture. But as to the past, I think it does not. The more the old annals are searched, the more will the truth of it be confirmed; and I am not unwilling to believe that even in regard to the present century it may to a certain extent be true. The sudden uprise of inquiry everywhere, and the eager thirst for some better religion than has hitherto been given to the nation, indicate the hidden existence of a state of feeling which, if not directly religious, is certainly a groping after faith, and a dissatisfaction with unbelief and superstition. It is something for evangelists to work upon; it is something to cheer and stimulate all Christian men in their efforts to send the Bible abroad, and to make known the grace of the cross, not only to the ouvriers of the cities, but to the peasantry of the provinces,”^

At the risk of almost unduly prolonging our Lyons narrative, we feel constrained to give the following interesting and remarkable letter from a Swiss professor; all the more because it contains some peculiar remarks on the English strangers who venture to intrude their barbarous tongue upon a French audience, and specially on the refined ouvriers of Lyons, who showed their appreciation of the beauties of their own dialect in rather a noisy way. The scene so graphically described may be a warning to us Northern barbarians not to force ourselves on such an audience, and a hint also to the conductors of these reunions not to ask us thus to expose the uncouth ruggedness of our island accents before the civilised world. Our Swiss critic should remember that we are, what we have always been, since the days of Virgil, —

* Both Mr. M’All and Mr. Dodds have returned to their work in Paris, but the Lyons Mission is now efficiently carried on by M. Bernard de Watteville, in association with the Protestant pastors. This gentleman was formerly a banker in Berne, and became a pastor of the Free Church {Eglise Libre) of Neuchatel, having studied under Professor Godet. After six months’ residence at Lyons, he has consented to become director of the Lyons branch. He is a man of prayer, and a devoted missionary, having given up good worldly prospects, and, along with his wife, giving himself up to-Christian work. He receives no salary from the Mission.

Miscellaiieoits: Past and Present. 253

“Penitus toto divisi orbe Britanni.” Oivilisation has gone past us, away to the polished South; and we really cannot help our unrounded accents. Our language is doubtless a relic of the Middle Ages. We must not boast of it, yet it has done good service to the world: —

“Neuchatel, ^ik April, 1879.

“Having come home from Lyons, where I have just passed a fortnight, I hasten to fulfil my promise, and send you an iiccount of the Mission to the “Workmen of Lyons, which Mr. M’All began about four or five months ago, and which he very recently entrusted to our friend M. de Watteville. Ordained as minister of the Holy Gospel in October, 1878, at La Chauxde-Fonds, M. de Watteville did not hesitate to respond to Mr. M’AU’s appeal, in which he saw a call from God, and he has occupied his post since the 31st of January.

“Four stations are at present open and already going on with entire success. These are Vaise, La Guillotiere, La Croix Bousse, and Les Brotteaux. The quarter of Les Brotteaux is largely inhabited by Protestants, and the people who come to this station, the district being inhabited largely by Protestants, present a more cultivated aspect, and are less strangers to our way of working. The first three stations are situated in districts inhabited by ouvriers, more or less famed for insubordination and their degraded life. At La Guillotiere it is not safe to walk about after eleven o’clock in the evening, as a pastor of the city said to me. La Croix Rousse is the Belleville of Lyons, the centre of revolution and atheism. It is the ’ mountain of work ’ (montagne du travail), the ’ city of the future ’ (cit6 de I’avenir), which Michelet opposes in one of his works to the steep and rocky Fourvire, which faces it, and which is indeed the ’ citadel of ultramontanism and of the past.’ This antithesis well expresses the moral and religious state of the second town in France. Clericalism and ultramontanism among the privileged classes; horror of all authority, social and religious, among the others, and no middle class between these two, if it he not the Protestants, who number about 15,000 souls. The horror which the ouvriers of La Croix Kousse have for anything connected with Roman Catholicism is so great, that it would suffice to be suspected of having some connection with the priests to be at once classed among the enemies of the people. I was told the other day that to say Saint Peter and Saint John, instead of summarily calling them Peter and John, was enough to excite their prejudices. Happily they have learned to call us by the good name of ‘Evangeliques,’’ by which term they indicate our opposition to the Catholics; this is the name generally given by them to the Protestants. The population of Lyons is less interesting than that of Paris. Among the higher classes there is abundant pride and disdain, — and that is the case everywhere, — and plenty of ignorance, coarseness of manners, and dirt among the people: the merchants and shopkeepers are well known for their cupidity. Lyons, although two rivers flow through it, passes, rightly or wrongly, for one of the dirtiest towns in France. The advantages of the south are not to be found there, and there are many of its inconveniences. Other customs, and the food they eat, betray their southern origin. You will learn with pleasure that since 1871 the name of Swiss has enjoyed a good reputation. It is enough to be announced as Swiss to the audience of workmen to perceive at once signs of approbation in the assembly.

“By being present at these meetings, I was able to assure myself of the difference which exists between the Lyonnese and Parisians. Those who attend Mr. M’All’s meetings at Paris are too often condemned to hear English speakers who address them in their own tongue, or in a French, after their own fashion. It is a weakness of these sons of Albion, so great in other respects, to imagine that everywhere they are indispensable, and that there is something essential wanting if they are absent, or inactive, or silent.

“And so all the English friends who pass through Paris do not fail to claim the inedioulgence of the Paris ouvriers, in the reunions. In their opinion this is not only a duty, but a right. Is it not a fact that they support the work? That, however, which has often struck me is to see the wonderful goodwill with which they endure the cacophonies which come from the lips of the strangers. Here and there one may remark a slight smile, but laughter — never. A stranger, they told me, enjoys immunities which are refused to a native. At Lyons the people have some progress to make before they reach this height of culture. One evening an Englishman wished to speak at Vaise, at the same time excusing himself for not being able to speak ’ our beautiful French tongue,” notre belle langue frangaise.’ M. de Watteville was to translate his speech. But hardly had the first accents of that strange and barbaric tongue fallen on the ears of the people, than a loud burst of laughter was the answer received. In vain the president asked for silence, and claimed the observance of the rules of hospitality, for the second sentence was hardly begun, but it met with the same result; and this, although the speaker said that he was going to speak of the Russo-Turkish war. The Englishman had to withdraw his speech, which he did with much good grace and good-humour.

“One would think that after such a scene discipline is rather difl&cult to enforce in these meetings. ‘I would say, not at all; and, indeed, much progress has been made during the past few weeks. At the beginning of the Mission our friends were followed, when they left the meeting, by a troop of mischievous fellows, who mocked, shouted, or ran after them. I can say that this habit has already completely disappeared. In the hall itself a quiet reproof from the j)resident is sufficient to obtain order, silence, and respect, when, for example, some noisy fellows amuse themselves by disturbing the singing.

M. de Watteville makes it a rule to put no one out of the meeting, except when it is absolutely necessary. There is always a policeman at the entrance, a precaution which was judged to be necessary by the pastors of Lyons when the work began, which, however, is not considered necessary at Paris. It would be a pity to suppress the custom, now that it exists, besides, it is an excellent means of evangelising the police. The other day the gendarme on duty came at the end of the meeting to ask a New Testament.

“At the beginning of the Mission the men liked to enter with their hats on, and the policeman thought it his duty to snatch them violently off their heads in the name of public decency. M. de Watteville has put an end to this hard method of keeping order, and now the gentleness of the president, and the heat of the crowded room, as La Fontaine says,

‘Does more than violence and anger,’

They have yet to learn, it is true, that they must not take their neighbours’ hymn-books, nor snatch from them the tracts that please them. Let us hope, as we now lend them books from a small library, that the temptation to take away what is not their own will be less strong.

“I have been often struck by the attention with which these people, literally gathered in from the great thoroughfares and streets, listen to the addresses, spoken, as you know, without any attempt at eloquence. The rules of oratory are here exactly the same as at Paris: to begin by catching the attention by comparisons, stories, sometimes even by a trifling amusing remark to reach the heart and conscience, taking up no more time than fifteen or twenty minutes. That is all the homiletic of our meetings.

“I have been told that often people are seen to go out during the meeting, to walk thoughtfully on the pavement for a few minutes and then come in again. I have seen some go out and immediately return with a friend. Here and there a good lady crosses herself: the singing of hymns takes the place of the bell.* As long as the harmonium is quiet, and the people have not begun to sing one of the not very classical but spirited and catching hymns in Mr. M’All’s collection, many empty chairs are to be seen, those who are present being occupied in reading tracts, or turning over the pages of 11 Ami de la Maison. One can see the passers-by standing at the door, not sure if they shall enter; and with our little printed invitation in their hand, others read it as they walk away. But as soon as the singing is heard in the street, crowds enter, and each hymn that is sung draws new listeners. Those who go out have their places immediately filled, so that we have always the pleasure of seeing the hall filled during the second half of the hour.

“The mission-halls are four in number, and were all formerly shops: the smallest hold from 100 to 130 persons, the largest from 200 to 220.

“At Lyons, as at Paris, these meetings are designated by order ’ reunions morales;’ and their character answers well to the name. Everything that looks like public worship in a church is avoided: a short prayer closes the meeting, but it would not do thus to commence. Prayer is offered, unseen by men, in the hearts of those who are to speak, and our friends have more than once made proof in their experience of the fact that there is an intimate and necessary correspondence between this act of prayer and the success, greater or less, of the meeting.

“That which is needed, as at Paris, is workers. The pastors of the two churches, — National and Free, — manifest their sympathy for the work without exception, and lend their aid, as far as their duties permit. Several laymen of piety, and well fitted for the work, have given their aid; but all this help is

* “Referring to the bell, which is rung each time the host is elevated during the performance of mass.”

S not enough for actual needs, and this poverty of helpers renders the extension of the work impossible at present; though this will soon become a moral necessity.

“Our friends cannot do more without impairing their health, and thus all will be lost, for no one has yet appeared, even in the distance, to take their place. Every evening is occupied without exception, and this cannot go on long. Besides, they have established several meetings for children similar to those existing in Paris. M. de Watteville must, therefore, soon have a properly-qualified colleague, and thus be able to found new stations, and find a little time of rest, most necessary for himself and his devoted partner. That which increases the fatigue of those who direct this work, is that after half-past nine in the evenings the omnibuses cease to go, and our friends must return on foot to their home, in all weathers, sometimes a considerable distance, and after an evening’s work fatiguing for both.

“The relations of M. de Watteville with the pastors of the city are most cordial. As at Paris, the work is entirely unconnected with any denomination, as it was from the beginning. The time will come, I believe, when it will be necessary to consider what to do with those persons who have been gained to the cause of the Gospel by means of these meetings, and the most simple thing, and most practical, will be to recommend them to go to some evangelical church. There must soon also be, as at Paris, lady visitors, who will find their way into the families, and water the seed sown in the meetings. But all that will come about in time: our friends are decided not to hurry, and will follow the leadings of Providence, rather than go before them.

“I shall be asked, Is there yet any fruit of this Mission? and I answer, Yes. Several persons, we know, have been touched by the words which they have heard. Have there yet been any conversions “? I do not know. Let us remember that the work is only beginning. Two facts, however, may be given as significant. In the neiglibonrhood of the station of La Croix Eousse, the Free Church has opened a chapel; and since these meetings were established, the audience has tripled itseK. While I was at Lyons, M. de Pressens6 gave several conferences on ‘Materialism’ in the Free Church, which is seated for from 1200 to 1500 persons. It was filled, they told me, by people who had never been there before, and the members of the church could not find room.

“I have, then, brought away from Lyons an excellent impression of the work just begun; and ever since I have been putting to myself this question, How comes it that the evangelisation of the ouvriers, which succeeds so well in two places, so far separated from each other as Paris and Lyons, has so often failed with us? Is it the case that the type of meetings, imagined and created by Mr. M’All, and which has so well succeeded in France, is the only method suitable to be adopted in every other country for the working-classes ] Perhaps; but after all, what a charm must be broken, what fatal prejudices must be dissipated, before we can hope to see the Gospel, or even la morale, listened to at Neuchatel by those whom we call the working-classes. I leave this problem to your readers; it has not yet been solved by me.

“Meanwhile, let us be grateful to God for having placed one of the former students of our college, now one of our ordained ministers, over a work which we cannot accomplish here. Let us be thankful also that God has given him the gifts necessary to carry on successfully such an enterprise. I cannot better sum up a most sincere opinion of what I have seen and heard, than by saying, Our friend is fitted for the work, and it suits

him well.

“A. Gretillat,

“Professor in the Free Church College of Neuchdtd,

and Colleague of Professor Godet.^’

Here I had meant the Lyons narrative to close; but, after writing the above, I obtained from Mr.

Dodds the following letter of M. de Watteville,

which brings down the story of the work in that city

to the present summer. It is one of no common

interest, and is dated ‘’Lyons, 30th May, 1879 “: —

“You ask me for news of our meetings at Lyons, — our little (jMites) meetings, as they like to call them here. And first of all, let me say that I feel glad that they are small; every work which is destined to increase should have a small beginning, and ought to be like the grain of mustard-seed, to which Jesus Christ compares the kingdom of God. A little seed cast among the working men of Lyons, — such has been the modest meeting-place opened by Mr. M’AU on the 17th of November, 1878, in La Guillotire. It is worth while remarking that this is the first of our mission-halls which we are about to quit, and begin anew not far off. We hope to open this new ‘salle’ about the end of June. It is larger, better ventilated, lighted with gas, and will not fail to attract the working-classes of the district. The number of regular attendants at this meeting is a proof of the deep interest with which these workmen, — their hands black with coal, their faces bronzed by the heat of the furnaces at which they work, — listen to our evangelistic addresses. Every Sunday morning we gather together a few children, and address them, striving to suit our words to their understanding, chiefly by the use of illustrations. Close to our mission-hall in this quarter, in a miserable garret, is a working woman, poor and alone. Our meetings have opened up new horizons for her. Her husband has forsaken her, and she is obliged to work, gaining her daily bread by means of her needle. In spite of her many trials, this honest and sunple heart preserves an exhaustless source of poetry and a charm which is all her own, — which, too, has fitted her to understand and feel the attractive power of the

Gospel. Wishing to let us know what thoughts rose in her heart at the first meeting which she attended, she showed us the letter which she had written to her mother, a poor peasant in Bourgogne, telling her of the happiness which she had found.

“‘■ I must tell you, dear mother,’ she wrote, * that some gentlemen have opened a hall in the Place de la Croix; anyone goes there who likes, and there is nothing to pay. They sing such beautiful songs, and speak of Jesus: it is so good to love Jesus; Jesus loves that which is good, — the sun, the birds, the flowers: He loves our happiness. 0 God! bless my dear mother, and the gentlemen who come and speak to us; you must pardon me for saying “Thou” * to God, but the gentlemen in the meeting pray in this way, and now I cannot do otherwise.’

“Spite of the bad reputation which this quarter possesses, our meetings have never been troubled. It is true that we reach only a small part of the vast Guillotire, where the houses are more scattered than in the centre of the town. It will be necessary to open another ‘salle’ on the boundaries of Les Brotteaux (the next district), for from our ’ salle ’ in La Guillotiere to that in the Avenue de jSToailles the distance is nearly a mile and a-half.

“At Les Brotteaux we have to do with a very mixed audience; many a great lady from among the Protestants thinks it no shame to sit side by side with women who must work to gain their daily bread. One of our acquaintances in such a class of society said to us, one day, that she met there the coachmen and ’ concierges ’ of her friends!

“Quite close to our hall is the ‘Theatre des Folies Bergre.’ Every evening they light a shining row of transparent and many-coloured shining gas-jets, beside which our more modest light is not an unsuccessful rival. On a dark evening it lights

* “It is the Roman Catholic habit to say ‘you.’”

up the words, ‘Reunion Morale,’ which is the * sign ’ of our quiet little ’ boutique.’ * ‘Wisdom crieth without: she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the opening of the gates.’ Many souls that have gone astray, and are seeking on the broad way of sin to satisfy the cravings of the flesh, have stopped before our door and listened to our aypeals for a few moments. Others have only read the text,t ‘Jesus says, Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.’ By this means many young men, — clerks and message-boys, — have been attracted by the sound of our hymns. At first they came to laugh and mock; now they have become more serious, and at the end of the meeting on Monday evening, we generally gather them together to practise a few hymns. A choir of about fifteen persons has been formed under our kind organist, Madame Coste, and the hymns, sung in four parts, give a great attractive power to our meetings.

“Testimonies precious and encouraging to us, from attendants who have got good at this meeting are not wanting. One evening, during the past winter, a gentleman of striking appearance, waited patiently till the crowd had withdrawn to speak to me; he said that he had come in ’ by chance,’ not having the least idea what was going on within, and that he was very glad to have heard the addresses. ‘I am a Roman and Apostolical Catholic,’ he cried out, ’ but I sympathise heartily with your work.’ A lady, dressed in mourning, a Catholic, and belonging to a noble family, had continued to attend our meeting for some time, accompanied by her two servants. Her reserved and almost haughty manner kept us at a distance. One evening, however, at the end of a very striking address,

* “The room was formerly a shop.”

+ “It is a banner-text hung on the wall opposite the door. We are obliged to put ‘Jesus says,’ as mistakes and misapprehensions as to our objects often occur.”

the ice broke, and turning towards us, her eyes filled with tears: * Thank you,’ she said, warmly shaking our hand, ’ what a privilege to hear words like these; this is the first year that I have come to your meetings, but I shall always attend, for they do me good.’ Before leaving for the country this lady expressed to us her great regret that she could no longer be present, and her hope to find us there on her return next winter.

“Two young workmen came in one evening as they passed along the street. They were heard to say one to another as they went ont, ‘We came in to get warm, but here we have heard something very good; and then, it is so clear, one understands everything that these men say. We must come back: I like that better than the ball! ’

“From my windows, dear Sir, I see rising before me the hill of La Croix Rousse, having on its steep declivities many rows of houses, which one would easily mistake for the walls of a fortress, — but if La Croix Rousse is a fortress, it is so, not in the literal but figurative sense. Fortress of infidelity it is indeed, but also mountain of labour (‘montagne de travail’), as the people call it. To the west, on the other side of the Saone, stands Fourviere, with its churches and convents, opposite to the ’ mountain of labour,’ the fortress of ultramontanism and superstition of the grossest kind. At present they are building on it a memorial cathedral to the Virgin of Fourviere, who kept the attacking German armies at a distance at the time of the war, built of the grandest and most costly materials that can be found. Nowhere, as at Lyons, does one see these two citadels of Satan, superstition and infidelity, so opposed one to the other. But they will not long remain thus, and will meet some day, — are they not sisters? The people of La Croix Rousse havejust passed through a painful crisis, happily of short duration. The strike did not assume the proportions which were expected. But the want of work did not make itself less felt, and there is everywhere trouble and suffering.

“Our ’ salle ’ at La Croix Eousse holds more than two hundred chairs, and our friends tell us that were it double or three times as large it would be as well filled as it is now. How great is the attractive power of the Gospel. What an influence does it exercise to convince, to reprove, and to convert. A man of the worst character, and of a very bad reputation, dared to utter threats against our meeting. Instead of doing what he threatened, he has now become a regular attendant. One of our friends, a pastor, who was seeking one of his parishioners, on the fifth floor of a house in La Croix Eousse, entered bymistake a garret, where was lying upon a pallet a poor old man, ill, and in extreme destitution. * You must feel very lonely,* he said, ’ without family and without friends.” Oh, I am not alone,’ replied the poor workman. ‘That is true,’ said the pastor; * for God is with you.” Yes,’ said the old man, ‘God is with me, and also Jesus Christ. T do not belong to any religion. I don’t know of anything else but Jesus Christ. When I was well, I used to go always to the meeting in the Kue de Cuire; it is there that I heard about Jesus Christ, and now that I am too ill to attend, — well, I am not alone; Jesus; Christ is with me.’

“We leave La Croix Eousse and its factories, whose noisy hum is heard even in the streets, its intelligent, honest, and laborious population, and descending the hill by the ’ ficelle,’’ a railway, the carriages of which are drawn up and let down by a rope, we go to take the ’ mouche ’ (i.e., ’ fly ‘) on the quay of the River Saone. The ’ mouches ’ are pretty little boats, which steam up and down between Perrache and Vaise. One day when going to Vaise in one of these boats, — very convenient when it rains, which is often the case at Lyons, whose climate, I am told, is rather like that of your country, — finding myself, I say, one day in the cabin of the ’ mouche,’ a workman, with a pleasant expression on his face, came u) to me and said, * Monsieur, I have seen you at the meeting.” At what meeting, please ]” Oh, at the meeting in the Eue de

Cuire.” Good, and do you go there often?” Well, when I have time, I hear there something good, and it costs nothing.’ That which strikes these men most of all, accustomed as they are to pay for everything, even to the very chairs in the churches, is to find that there are people in the world who offer them something for nothing. Often here we see persons, who, when entering our rooms for the first time, hesitate before they sit down. Even when we print on our bills of invitation, the words, ‘Entry free,’ in large letters, they don’t believe their eyes. Are there not many people at Lyons and elsewhere, — perhaps even in Scotland, — who do the same, and who cannot believe in the free grace of the love of Jesus Christ? Let us take to heart that word of the Gospel, ‘Freely ye have received, freely give.’

“Our little mission-hall at Vaise is bright and well situated, but too small; the atmosphere is stifling; and what is to be done? Change our hall! Yes; but halls are not too abundant in this little ’ faubourg.’ We must wait for some better occasion. We have at Vaise two audiences, one on Sundays and another on a week-day. On Sunday they are staid people, for the most part, fathers and mothers, and some passers-by, quiet, attentive, and sympathetic. On Thursday we are invaded by a band of noisy and rude young men, who give us, as people say, * du fil a reborder.’ “^ One of our friends unceremoniously calls them ’ the Papuans of the mission,’ However, though they are a little savage, our young men at Vaise have souls to save as well as others. After all, good-humour, a little brightness, a kind word, do more to soften them than the severity with which one is often tempted to treat them, when they make a disturbance during the addresses, or disturb the singing by sounds without a name. ‘Patience and time,’ La Fontaine has well said, ’ do more than violence and anger.’ What is better still is that love, with which the love of Him who came

* Intranslateable. It means, “plenty of work to do.”

not to hecal the whole but those that are sick ought to inspire us. It would be wrong of us not to recognise that there is already a little improvement in the conduct of these savages, and we do not despair of seeing them some day more civilised and more pious.

“Now Ave are about to return home, but as the mouches ’ cease to ply from an early hour of the evening, we must go home on foot. The fantastic glimmer of the lights, that burn here and there on the hills that surround our road, accompanies us all the way, and makes us think of those gnomes of the fairy tales who flit about at night with torches to give them light. As for ourselves, we like to repeat this line from one of your English hymns, —

“* Lord, if I may, I’ll serve another day.’”

There may be great things in store for Lyons yet, in spite of ultramontane opposition and atheistic contempt. The “martyrs of Lyons and Vienne,” among the noblest of the noble army of martyrs, speak from the second century to the nineteenth, and remind us of the great things done there of old. The Gospel then came from the East; now it comes from the North. Some of the seven churches, perhaps Smyrna, whose merchants traded with Lyons, sent the living Word to France in the early centuries; the Christians of England are endeavouring to send it again in these last days; and perhaps there may yet be granted to Lyons true ministers of Christ, such as Irenaeus and Pothinus, Alexander and Attalus; or true martyrs, such as Blandina and Ponticus.