The Third Year and Its Incidents
THUS writes a modern author some fifty years ago: — “One should conquer the world, not to enthrone a name but an idea; for ideas exist for ever; amid the wreck of creeds, the crash of empires, French revolutions, English reforms, Catholicism in agony, Protestantism in convulsions, discordant Europe demands the key-note which none can sound.”
The enthronisation of an “idea “might be no better than that of a” name,” — unless the idea “were worth enthroning, — in other words, unless it were Divine. What Europe wants is certainly a “key-note;” but we are not prepared to add “which none can sound.” It has often been sounded; and Europe has treated it as the idle wind. It is now sounded again, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. That key-note came forth from the cross 1800 years ago; and it is still as definite as ever, — “Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” It was this key-note which “discordant” Paris demanded; and it is this that is now sounding through its boulevards and faubourgs, touching the hearts of thousands.
The good news of one who, while He hates the sin, loves the sinner, and has no pleasure in his death; who spared not His Son that He might spare even the worst criminal that breathes the air, not of France only, but of the earth; who sends down from His throne His free absolution to every one who believeth, independent of Church or priesthood, and without regard either to merit or money; — this is the key-note which has been sounded in Paris, and which hundreds are recognising as the one great “idea” which “exists for ever,” and by the reception of which the discordant elements of broken humanity are to be re-knit in abiding gladness.
The third year’s report (1874) shows us how all this is beginning to be realised, and how the Gospel is continuing to tell. Paris is learning, not only that there is a God and a Christ; but that “God is love,” and that this Christ is “the Saviour of the world.”
A striking letter of the Sorbonne Professor, M. Rosseeuw St. Hilaire, prefaces the report; and this document is too valuable not to be preserved entire. It is dated “Paris, 10th Deer,, 1874,” and runs thus: —
“Like the Rev. Thomas Binney, I am happy to be called to record my testimony in favour of a work with which every Christian in France ought to account it a privilege to associate himself, in rendering to its excellent founder, the Rev. R. AV. M^AU, the tribute of gratitude and affection. As a humble but devoted fellow-labourer, during more than a year in this blessed work, to which it has pleased God to grant a success surpassing all that we had ventured to hope for, it is possible that I am so placed as to be able more fully than many others to appreciate the ever-growing sympathy with which simple gospel appeals are received among our people, a people so easy to attract, so difficult to hold steadfast. That which astonishes me in this work, which no one could have ventured to imagine jDOSsible before our disasters, but which has found hearts prepared to respond to its appeals, is not its success, nor its extension, but its permanence. Not that we delude ourselves by building too much upon the results already reahsed. While seeing these listeners so intent, so sympathetic, drinking in so eagerly the words addressed to them, we have need often to remember that, among all these grains, so largely spread, a large xortion will be stifled among the thorns or trodden under foot by the passers-by. What have we to do with that? We are sowers, not reapers. A large number of these grains have, beyond doubt, fallen into the good’ ground. Shall we the less praise our Lord if it shall be given to others to enter into our labours, and there, where we have sown in tears, to reap with songs of triumph %
“Our excellent brother, Mr. M’All, has laid before his brethren in Britain, with courageous frankness, the ever-increasing exigences of his work. These needs increase with the success. Can we be surprised at this, or shall we complain of it?
“Side by side with ‘ces bons anglais,’ as the people style them in our suburbs, there is need also of Frenchmen, to speak from a closer acquaintance with them, to a French auditory. In addition to the one or two evangelists sustained by this English mission, and who fulfil their work with devotion and success, there is need also for volunteers from among the laity; for the pastors of Paris are too much pre-engaged to take a part regularly in this work, which has, however, their entire sympathy. There is need for, at least, one such helper for each station; and we are, in all, three — I say it with shame and grief — three in this vast city; and of these three, two, including the writer, are now, through having spoken beyond their strength, forced to be silent. This state of things cannot go onward. With the eleventh station, which has just been opened, the need for further aid, especially paid and regular, makes itself felt more and more every day. The Lord sent recently to Mr. M’All two most valuable and devoted auxiliaries, who could replace the two volunteers laid aside by illness, but, in order that their time and strength might be wholly given to the work, it would be necessary to provide them with the means of support; and the present state of the mission fund does not allow of this.
“Hence, as a French Christian, quite ready to return to the duties of this admirable work so soon as God permits me, I venture to address myself to my dear brethren, the Christians of Britain, whose liberality I have many times proved, in order to urge them to put forth a new effort to sustain this work, which has a place in their hearts and in their prayers. God grants us success. Do you, then, dear brethren, give us the material help we need, and you will thus be workers together with God in this work, which spreads from day to day. This will form an additional link between our two countries, which political events might, in a measure, estrange, but which faith in Christ would unite. It is to you that we already owe our Revival of 1830, which came from London to Paris by way of
Geneva, in wMcli city the excellent Robert Haldane was the means of introducing it. May it be that we shall owe, on this occasion, to Britain, thanks to the courageous initiative of our dear brother, Mr. M’All, a second Revival, at once more deep and more durable, which shall live after all those who initiated it have passed away!”
After stating that the numbers in regular attendance at the adult meetings have averaged 2000 per week, and at the juvenile gatherings five or six hundred, Mr. M’All gives us some curious bits of intelligence as to the increasing appreciation of his meetings on the part of the authorities; and this after a strict official inquiry. I confess that the following paragraph is to me singularly satisfactory, and I am persuaded that every reader of it will think along with me in this: —
“We have not been without anxieties. From the beginning, we have sought most carefully to avoid all religious controversy, as required by our authorisation from the Government. Yet, during the spring, an attempt was made to represent us as having ‘departed from this rule. The result was a strict official scrutiny of all our meetings ;.but the inquiry was conducted with the utmost courtesy, and led to a most satisfactory issue. One officer said, ‘I admire your large announcements [the calico signs indicating our mission-rooms]. You bid every one welcome to know what you are doing. There cannot be too many such places: you will render good service to Paris by multiplying them as much as possible.’ In another instance, a Commissaire de Police, in whose district we were about to open a station, said, ‘I have just seen my brotherofficer at M [a distant part of the town where we had been at work more than two years], and he told me everything respecting your good work. I shall rejoice to aid you to the utmost of my ability.’ The words of another Commissaire, only a few days ago, were truly striking: ‘Your undertaking has my entire sympathy, and I heartily wish you success. You will find it very difficult, the ouvriers are so little disposed to care for what is good. Still, amidst so vast a population, some, happily, are open to better influences. You cannot do all the good you would desire, I am sure. God will do the rest. You will always find me ready to aid you in any way within my power.’”
Into several of the details of this report I need not enter. They all indicate progress. New stations opened, and old ones enlarged; new workers brought into the field; Sabbath schools established; weekly prayer meetings set on foot; the zealous co-operation of the professors and students of the Ecole Preparatoire de Theologie; number of sittings raised from 1056 to 1610; soldiers’ meetings; efforts to reach the students of the University of Paris by means of special services; pecuniary aid from societies and private friends, and specially the Missionary Association of the American Chapel; plans for the occupation of new districts; — these are some of the cheering news which the report contains; but on which we cannot dwell. Not only are Bible classes set a-going; but classes (six in number) for teaching English to the workmen; so that there is not any branch of missionary work, either among old or young, which has not been considered and carried out.
All kinds of workmen, skilled and unskilled, are coming under the influence of the Bible; and the Scripture “portions “distributed in the halls are producing their genuine results. A journeyman of Belleville who had received these portions thus writes to Mr. M’All from Marseilles in January, 1874: — ‘’I did my very utmost to make myself religious, but I did not know or understand the love of Jesus Christ for sinners. Since I have experienced the blessedness of going to Jesus I am no longer the same man as before. Oh that all who attend your meetings might be penetrated by a sense of the blessedness that is to be found in going to Jesus. I tlianh God for the unsioeaJmhle goodness which He has shoiun to so on any of my fellowluorkmen who have learned in your meetings to know Jesus Christy His divine Son.” The testimony which this workman gives as to the numbers of ouvriers who have been impressed is very remarkable. He writes as one who knew the facts, and had come in contact with the converts: and who can speak of the genuineness of the change wrought in them. His letter thus gives the idea of a much larger circle being impressed than could be known to Mr. M’All and his fellow-labourers; io8 TJie White Fields of France.
and the one sentence which I have italicised contains a piece of good news whose value it is not easy to over-estimate: for it shows that the Mission is not one of show, or talk, or bustle, but a truly evangelical enterprise accomplishing a spiritual end. The above sentence in the painter’s letter is all the more remarkable, because when he first went to Mr. M’All’s Belleville room he said that he had been told that the society was one for providing work for the unemployed. The true aim of the Mission was explained to him, and he was led no longer to “labour for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endure th unto everlasting life.” He came for the earthly; he found the heavenly; though destitute, he asked no pecuniary relief; and when a small sum was given him to pay the entrance fee of a workman’s registration society, he returned it as soon as he had got work.
The young soldier already mentioned has had trials to undergo from family opposition; but he thus writes, as one who has found his portion in Christ: —” It was only in Paris when I met you on my way, and heard you speak at Grenelle, that I found what my soul had long been seeking; and I resolved this very evening to write and tell you of my joy. I thank the Lord for having put you in my way to show me the truth, and I pray Him to
The Third Year and its Incideitts. 109
give you the satisfaction of seeing other stray sheep return to the fold.”
A young married woman came to La Chapelle to purchase a large-sized Bible, that she and her family might read the Word with ease. They were poor, and the price was beyond their means. A kind English visitor made them a gift of one. A few weeks passed, and the wife, at the close of a meeting, asked an interview with Mr. M’All. Speaking to the friends engaged in the work, she said, “It is to you that I am indebted for the knowledge of my Saviour; and my husband thinks with me. Oh, the gift of that precious Book! I assure you we have made a good use of it: we read it together every day.” This worthy couple have given up Sunday work. No easy step for a Paris ouvrier. Soon after the wife was taken ill, and taken to the hospital. While there she took every occasion to speak a word for Christ to her fellow-sufferers, so that one of them, at least, was led to become a diligent reader of the Bible. Soon after her husband wrote a beautiful letter to Mr. M’All, and makes the following statement, which shows most forcibly the spiritual benefits of the Mission as having for its object nothing less than deliverance from darkness into light: “I am so thoroughly convinced that if you had not come to Paris I should still have been in darkness, that it was impossible for me not to respond to your touching appeal yesterday evening.” He had been asked to give his testimony at the Annual Social Meeting at La Chapelle. ‘’ Gladly would I have spoken, but my emotion was so intense that I could only weep. I know that I am nothing in myself; but I know also that I can do all things through Christ. Would that I could make all young men who are about to marry understand that by taking the Bible as their household book, they will have peace in their daily life, and the peace of God in the soul. I wish that I could be useful to you in a work so great, so good, so noble, that you have commenced in this unhappy town of Paris. After our disasters, the people were full of mutual hatred; but through your efforts we have been regenerated, and have gained knowledge of the salvation which is by grace. We know that Christ has done all things for us, so that our life should be a testimony of gratitude and love for the benefits we have received from our Saviour. We rejoice to know that we are not the only ones whom the Lord has taken out of darkness to make them children of light. You cannot see all the fruits of your labours; but we see them, and God sees them.” The room in the Boulevard Ornano he regards as his birthplace; and the first meeting there his birthday.
or at least as the turning-point in his spiritual history. At another time he said: “My anniversary will soon be here [the day of his coming to the first meeting]; and I shall bring you such a lovely bouquet of flowers on that day,” — meaning the love and gratitude of his heart to God; and as he spoke he made a circle with his arms as if to gather up within it a multitude of flowers.
In such a Mission it is not the great outline of work that really exhibits its character; nor the full statistics of numbers, names, places; nor the list of subscriptions; nor the references to kind and generous friends. The true illustrations are the incidents which are occurring from day to day; the little questions put or remarks made, by those who have been gathered in, or are but inquiring the way. The speeches at public meetings or anniversaries often, we confess, weary us, especially when the speaker substitutes general declamation or well-meant appeal for facts. But when a man gets up who has been upon the spot; who knows his subject well; who has facts at his finger ends without number, — then we are all ear and eye. It is the facts and incidents that we watch for; and it is on them that we found our judgment as to the worthiness of the cause. Little details or casual words or trivial conversations, which at the time perhaps hardly made an impression; when related simply and without painting, in their proper connection, are the irresistible eloquence that brings the reader or the hearer into truest sympathy with the work pleaded for. It is on this account that I give, almost in full, the following pages of the report, asking special attention to them. I am not trying to make up a book by copying extracts to fill vacant pages. I am rather abridging and condensing. But I should be doing injustice to the cause I advocate if I did not print in full such incidents as the following“‘: —” More than two years ago, an old man formerly in the French
* I add in a note the following paragraph regarding the periodicals supplied by generous friends: —
“Could the zealous promoters of the religious magazines L’Ami de la Maison, L’Ami de la Jeunesse, &c., be witnesses of the great interest and pleasure awakened when these publications are lent to the people to read on entering our rooms, before the meetings begin, they would be greatly encouraged. Omnibus conductors also, the keepers of bureaux, &c,, on receiving one of the numbers of the admirably conducted Amide la Maison,’’ have repeatedly, at the end of a ride, pointed out passages which had struck them with admiration. In various directions, these men look out for us, hoping for some small addition to their store of these publications. It would be impossible to over-estimate the benefit which, under God, the very wide circulation of such a magazine would produce. Copies of the * Almanack des Publications Populaires,^ supplied to us by the Society of Friends, have also been received everywhere with marked eagerness. The committees of the Religious Tract Society, the Socit des Livres Religieux de Toulouse, the Socidtd des Traits Religieux de Paris, and others who have supplied books for our lending libraries, may rest assured that the volumes thus kindly suppHed have fallen into the hands of a large number of attentive readers.”
marine service, commenced attendance at the Boulevard Ornano. He was then gloomy and dejected, and dissatisfied with his small earnings. He has been a most diligent hearer ever since. Not long ago, one of our friends remarked to him, ‘You seem quite contented and cheerful now.” Yes,’ said he, ‘I am as merry as a lark.” How comes that? Is it that you have a better employ, so as to gain more money ]” Oh no,’ he replied, ‘I am in the very same place, and do not gain a centime more. But since I came to the meetings I have found peace of mind; now I am content, everything goes well with me.’
“After a recent service at the Boulevard Ornano, at which Pastor Theodore Monod had spoken, a young ouvrier, who often walks from the village of Pantin (several miles distant) to attend the meeting, warmly expressed to us his thankfulness and joy. Some Christian ladies who stood by said, ‘Mr. M’All, you do not know what this young man does when he gets home. His old, infirm mother lives with him, and he tries to repeat to her as much as possible of what he has heard.’ This was a striking testimony concerning one who, until a few months ago, when he commenced attendance at our room in his own neighbourhood, was ignorant of the nature of the Gospel.
“At our Faubourg St. Antoine station, we had remarked the deep attention of an ouvrier and his wife. We learned from them that they had received lasting convictions in that room. During the summer, they had to leave Paris for Lorraine, but promised to write. The following expressions are selected from the wife’s letter: — ‘We have not forgotten the good words which it was our privilege to hear in your meetings, and which have often strengthened and consoled us. We read often in the large book [Bible] which you presented to us, and we contemplate with joy the goodness of God to man, and we pray to Him to remember us in mercy for Jesus Christ’s sake. I go back in imagination to the days and hours of your reunions of Faubourg St. Antoine, and I sing sometimes the hymns I there learned. I pray God to preserve your life and health for the welfare and salvation of other poor sinners like me, for you have brought me to know the way which, for long years, my heart had desired to know. If we never see each other again in this world, I have full confidence that we shall meet in heaven through my Saviour Jesus Christ.’
“In some instances, the hearts of persons in another class than that especially aimed at have, through Divine influence, been reached in our meetings. One Sunday evening in the spring, a lady, among whose relatives are some ecclesiastical
dignitaries, entered, for the first time, the room, led there by
a young friend already an attendant. Pastor Theodore Monod conducted the meeting. His theme was salvation without money and without price. This came ujDon her as a new discovery. After the service, she said to her friends, ‘This is excellent, this is delightful; and what is more, it seems to me to agree with the Bible: but how can I get hold of it for myself?” Madame [one of our valued workers] will explain everything to you.’ By Divine help she did so. The lady wrote in the summer to Mrs. M’AU, ‘I now find myself happy beyond all expression.’ We had the privilege of uniting with her and her young friend in the communion at M. Monod’s chapel.
“A household, comprising the principals and one or two
business assistants, frequenting the station, has afforded
us much joy. We have great hope of several of the members; but the mistress has avowed that she has found the Saviour. The first decided indication of serious thought was to purchase the Bible, which she read with eager interest. After a period of doubt and anxiety, a few extremely simple words, spoken by us at the close of an address, brought rest to her spirit. The words were: ‘AUez a J^sus-Christ. Allez a lui maintenant. AUez a lui seul.’ During a time of affliction, she said to one of our visitors, ’ 0 come, let us return thanks to God together; for now I come to His Word to answer all my questions.’ Again and again she and her household have testified, ‘Since coming to the reunions, everything is completely changed with us;
The Third Year and its Incideits. 1 1 5
everything now is peaceful and happy.’ A pleasing evidence of their sense of the value of salvation is afforded in their anxiety to aid us, so far as in their power, in working for the benefit of others.
“One of our excellent visitors bears the following testimony: — ‘Several of the dear friends who have received the Gospel at
and are now in our congregation [Lutheran];
and I rejoice to testify that they are among the most spiritual and active members of the Church.’
“An intelligent Christian ouvrier connected with the railway, bore this testimony, some months ago, respecting general results: — ‘I, as an ouvrier, know well the ouvriers of Montmartre. After more than two years during which I have frequented the reunions of Boulevard Ornano, I can testify that a large number of men who, at first, came merely to pass an hour, many of them disbelieving or even secretly mocking at religion, have become croyants ’ (convinced of the truth and reality of the Gospel).
“Another pleasing testimony from an ouvrier of Menilmontant, who has attended almost from the beginning, was this: — ‘You have taught us Frenchmen some great lessons, things which we could not have believed possible.” What things?” We used to imagine that the English were egotists, and that they had proud, unbrotherly feelings towards us. Now we find, on the contrary, that they are willing to leave their country and encounter hardship in order to lead us Frenchmen to Jesus.’ Lately, on a damj), wintry day, we remarked to him, ‘Mais vous voyez que nous autres anglais nous avons emporte avec nous chezvous ici a Paris notre brouillard anglais.’ * Ah, monsieur,’ he replied, ’ vous avez apporte ici quelque chose de mieux que le brouillard; le vrai bonheur, la connaissance d’une verite divine; je dois plutot dire, la bonne nouvelle de I’Evangile.’ Pleasing words from one who, until he came to us, was an admirer of Penan! The following words conclude a letter just received from him: — ‘My heart is full, and longs to utter the feelings of gratitude wliicli fill it — (1.) towards God, my one Divine Father, (2.) towards Jesus Christ, my one Master and Saviour, (3.) towards the Holy Spirit, the only true
Comforter, (4.) towards ■, who have quitted position,
relatives, friends, country, income, in order to come and announce to us the good news of the gospel.’
“Again and again we have remarked the wonderful power attending a few simple words of ]3rayer, especially prayer for those present, their families, their daily bread, &c. At the Faubourg St. Antoine station, a highly respectable person, present for the first time, remained to ask whether we had a station near the centre of Paris, where she resided. We replied that we much wished to open one there so soon as we should have the means. After saying good-bye, she returned. ‘May I venture to ask a favour from you? ’ she said. ‘It is a small thing, and yet it is a very great thing. Pray for me — will you % ‘The short prayer closing the meeting had reached her heart. Another day, at the same station, two uncouth and rugged ouvriers said, on leaving, ‘Thank you for the prayer: I never heard anything of that kind before. You did not leave any of us out. We shall come again, if it were only to hear you pray to God.”
“A young man, at the same station, when wishing us good-bye on returning to Belgium, his native country, said, ‘I wished to shake hands with you before leaving. I am glad that ever I came here. You illustrate all that you say to us by examples tahen from life, so that we can understand it.’ He referred to the narratives often introduced in the addresses and readings.
“Very recently, the father of a family at Boulevard Ornano was leaving the room with his boy, .who carried a large Bible from our lending library. Turning to us, he said, ‘I am really ashamed to borrow this book for the fourth time [it was lent for a fortnight on each occasion]; but my boy reads it in the family during the evenings. It is a book requiring great study, and we try to find out the meaning as well as we can. We make quite a little school in the house when I return from my work.’
“We had repeatedly given tracts and Scripture portions to a letter-carrier in Belleville. One day he asked, ‘Do yon think that Mr. M’AU could let me have a complete Bible? I do not wish him to give it, I will buy it. My little girl has learned by heart many passages in the gospel by Luke you gave me. I wish her to have a nice copy of the Bible as her owTi, that she may be encouraged in the study of that good book.’
“An intelligent young schoolmaster and his wife, only a few weeks after their deep interest had been awakened by the opening of La Chapelle station near their residence, were called away to a government appointment in Algeria. They took with them our parting gift of the Bible, regarding it as a new-discovered treasure!
“The following words are from the letter of an ouvrier referred to in our last report as overjoyed on receiving a Bible: — * I believe sincerely. In these hard times, when work is so scarce, I find satisfaction for all my daily wants on repeating with fervour this blessed prayer, “Give us day by day our daily bread.” This thought bears me up, and gives me a courage which I could not have believed possible.’ At the close of a meeting at Menilmontant, in the spring, we were shaking hands, as is our custom, with the men. To a negro we said, ‘You and I are brothers.’ The men around seemed pleased, and the ouvrier above referred to, placing his hand on the head of a comrade whom he had induced to accompany him, said, ‘Ah! Mr. M’AU, that man has a very black face, and we can’t wash it white; but this man has an excessively hard skull; nevertheless, let us hope that something good may be forced into it.
“In our little Sunday school at Grenelle was a boy blind from five years of age. He has since been removed to a hospital. He said to his teacher, ‘Why do you come only once a- week to teach us? I wish you would speak to me every day out of the Bible, that good book which I have never seen.* Our friends are teaching English to some of the French children in the same school on a week evening. It is touching to hear their voices blending in such a hymn as
‘Jesus loves me,’ &c.
which they have learned by heart.”
The annual social gatherings, — anniversaries of the opening night, — were not forgotten; and eight stations during the year 1874 held these meetings, so new, yet so interesting to the French people; so fitted to teach the true “equality and fraternity” of which hitherto Paris has had but the name, — the name inscribed everywhere upon its public buildings, the name which is on so many lips and ^Daraded on so many pages, but never understood as that which is brought to light in Christ alone, — ‘’One is your Master, even Christ, and ALL YE ARE brethren.” At such social gatherings as these every man, — even the poorest ouvrier, — is made to feel the meaning of the Master’s words, “A11 ye are brethren.” For at such meetings, ranks seem forgotten, or rather reversed. It is the Master who serves the servant, not the servant the Master. We are told that, during this one year, 1450 persons have taken tea on these occasions, and seemed perfectly at home. The expressions of their gratitude were most touching. At M^nilmontant, the young soldier before referred to remarked, on looking round the crowded room, “G’est maintenant comme dans le premier temips; “and when asked for an explanation, replied, ‘’L’Evangile est annonce aux pauvres.” “At the same station,” says Mr. M’All, “during the Toussaintand the great Fete, which is a complete Vanity Fair, we held a meetiDg each day with open doors. The respectful attention was very pleasing. The entire attendance during these days was 1700, of whom probably more than 1200 were passing strangers, many of whom had never before heard the Gospel. To each a Scripture ’ portion ’ or a tract was given.”
Like leaves from the tree of life, these Scripture “portions” have scattered themselves over France; and we know that they are “for the healing of the nations.”
A Book, a true Book, the one true Book, is now making its way over a land where a thousand lies have been believed; and having been believed, have borne their bitter fruit. That Book has what the lies have not, — vitality. It lives and it gives life. The words which it speaks are “spirit and life” (John vi. 63). For God has sent down not merely His thoughts, but His words to man. Just as we do with one another; we transmit our thoughts by transmitting our words. Thoughts are invisible and inaudible till embodied in words. We must have the words of the thinker if we would have his thoughts. Bacon would not hand over his immortal thoughts to his amanuensis to be put in words by him; and we should not care to read a page of his “Novum Organum,” or at least we should not trust its accuracy, as conveying Bacon’s mind, if we knew that it had been thus manipulated. That Infinite Being has not been less careful that His thoughts should be accurately reproduced, and unerringly embodied in language all His own; that we might know exactly what He wished to reveal.
It is the Book containing these heavenly thoughts and these Divine words that has been taking its way, both in whole and in ‘’ portions,” over France. The words are not perhaps those which modern “culture” would dictate or criticism sanction; but they are divinely chosen, and more thoroughly adapted for their mission than any man would have selected. They are “wiuged words” in their truest sense, carrying life, not death, in their flight.
Voltaire’s words have gone over France for a century and more, dropping poison everywhere; the words, as one of his critics writes, “of an imp, not of an angel.” But that same France which he poisoned has now got hold of truer, better words, embodying more wondrous thoughts than those with which he fascinated a nation. Are the true words
The Thwd Year a7id its Incidents. 121
about to obliterate the false, and make the country of the scoffer a land of believing men? She has tried faith in the false; is she now about to tryfaith in the true?
Popery has often taken advantage of “used-up “lives, and drawn souls sick of the world, worn out with pleasure, and tired of gaiety, into her snares, by offering a quiet resting-place from riot and vanity and noise in her churches and convents. The gospel of God’s free love, — or rather, I should say, the gracious Son of God, is now offering to a used-up nation a resting-place more sure and tranquil than ^Hhe Church” ever offered or the priest vouched for, — the bosom of God Himself, with all the free forgiveness and paternal love which that bosom contains, and with all that heaven which descends into the soul of him who accepts the “unspeakable gift.”
From many aching, empty hearts in France is now coming up the cry of the prodigal, ‘’I will arise and go to my Father.” And God is meeting that sorrowful cry with His own welcome and His own embrace. “When he was yet a great way off his father saw him, and ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him.” And if “■ used-up “France should, like the wanderer, say, ‘’ I am not worthy to be called thy son,” the free love that kissed the returning wanderer will speak in words not to be mistaken: “Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it; for this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.”
No doubt infidelity is still strong in the land. It dominates in high places; and there, though not so coarse, is as contemptuous as of old. The Gospel makes inroads on it, but its power cannot be said to be decreasing, nor its subtleties less acceptable to the general mind of the nation. The materials for the “strong delusion” of the last days are everywhere; unbelief may, at any moment, pass into credulity, or credulity into unbelief; each in its own way resulting in delusion; and nothing can stay this, or disinfect the atmosphere, but the one Book of truth, held up in all its unchangeable certainty before the eyes of a restless nation, hitherto tossed about by the conflicting words of superstition and scepticism. An infallible Book is the only anchorage for human uncertainty; for an infallible Book not only severs us from the pretensions of an erring man, and the deceptions of a slippery Church, but links us, both by mind and heart, to an infallible God, — to a Christ in whom are ‘hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
It is this Book of truth that is now offered to
France. If she accepts it she may yet be a noble land. Her future may turn upon her reception or rejection of the present Mission. Renan can do nothing for her. He has faith in nothing save himself. With no future before himself, he can give no future to France. It is the men who have a future, and who know what that future is, that can give a future to others. Unbelief does nothing for a man or a nation; faith does everything. “Thy faith hath saved thee” is as true of a nation as of a man.