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FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://archive.org/details/whitefieldsOObona 
 
7k ^r^/^^^T^ 
 
 WHITE FIELDS OF FRANCE ; &*<' 
 
 OR, ~ / 
 
 THE STORY OF MR. M'ALL'S MISSION TO THE WORKING-MEN 
 OF PARIS AND LYONS. 
 
 BY / 
 
 HORATIUS BONAR, D.D. 
 
 " Look on the fields ; for they are white already to harvest."— John iv. 35. 
 
 " I thank God for the unspeakable goodness which He has shown to so many of 
 my fellow-countrymen, who have learned in your Meetings to know Jesus Christ, 
 His Divine Son."— Let\er from an Ouvricr to Mn. M'All in 1874. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JAMES NISBET k CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 
 
 1880. 
 
EDINRUKUU : 
 
 PRINTED h\ r LORIMER AND GILLIES, 
 
 31 ST. ANDREW SQUARE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 t WOULD state in a few sentences my reasons 
 for writing, or rather compiling, this little 
 book. 
 
 1. I wish the Churches of Great Britain, and of 
 America also, to be better acquainted with the 
 spiritual condition, past as well as present, of Paris 
 and of France. Amid many shadows, there is in 
 it more of brightness and hopefulness than many 
 suppose. There are " white fields " gleaming amid 
 miles of moorland. 
 
 2. I wish to call their earnest attention to the work 
 now going on under Mr. M'All ; a work which has 
 proved its solidity by a history of nearly eight years ; 
 a work which, apart from numerous conversions, has 
 calmed down the most unquiet faubourgs of the city * 
 
 * While I am writing this, Paris has been moved by the news of 
 the death of the Prince Imperial. In former days, an event like 
 this would have been the signal for a Republican illumination, 
 especially in what I may call the " Mission faubourgs." But all has 
 been quiet ; and the newspapers specially inform us that attempts 
 to get up these displays in " Belleville and Montmartre have failed ; 
 and the lantern sellers went home with their stock unsold.'' 
 
iv Preface. 
 
 3. I wish to engage the sympathies of workers 
 at home for their fellow-workers in France, who, 
 amid all their comforting success, have many diffi- 
 culties to encounter, and much real hardship to 
 undergo. 
 
 4. I wish to plead for more labourers. It is 
 self-denying and, in a worldly aspect, unremunera- 
 tive toil ; but not the less on that account ought it 
 to call out the zeal of Christians in our land, 
 especially as it is the nearest and most accessible of 
 all missionary fields. The French Pastors have 
 nobly helped ; but they have their own work, which 
 fills their hands. 
 
 5. I wish to claim the liberality of those who 
 can give. Mr. M ( All's responsibilities are heavy; 
 and Christians at home must step forward to relieve 
 him. The burden, which he has been bearing so 
 uncomplainingly, is becoming too weighty for the 
 shoulders of one man. As conductor of the Mission, 
 and as responsible for the means of carrying it on, 
 he has far too much laid upon him. His position 
 reminds me of the apostle's, as described by himself 
 in 2 Cor. xi. 28, — " Besides those things that are 
 without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care 
 of all the Churches ; " or, as the words might be 
 more pointedly rendered, " Besides these externals, 
 there is the daily concourse of visitors, and the care 
 
Preface, v 
 
 of all the Churches." I need not say that the 
 "daily concourse of visitors" in Paris is a serious 
 thing. 
 
 These are my chief reasons for publishing this 
 volume ; and I trust it will have due weight with 
 the Christian public, calling forth sympathy, liber- 
 ality, and prayer. 
 
 I have confined myself entirely to Mr. M'All's 
 work, and even of this I have been obliged to write 
 briefly. To know it aright, strangers must see and 
 hear for themselves. They need not think it necessary 
 to address a meeting either in broken French, or 
 through an interpreter. For without this, they 
 can quite appreciate the Mission and understand its 
 workings. 
 
 The Grange, 
 Edinburgh, June, 1879. 
 
 After I had finished this Preface, I received a letter 
 from M. Saillens regarding the work at Marseilles of date 
 25th June (1879). The field has only been entered on; 
 but the accounts are cheering. " When we left Paris," 
 he writes, " we hoped and prayed that our efforts at 
 Marseilles might be crowned with success. But we had 
 no idea that God would so richly answer our prayers. 
 In less than three months we had three stations opened, 
 and fourteen meetings a-week established. We saw, in 
 
"Weekly 
 Adults. 
 
 Weekly 
 Children. 
 
 Bible 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Sewing 
 Meetings. 
 
 700 
 
 130 
 
 110 
 
 40 
 
 1100 
 
 275 
 
 350 
 
 35 
 
 350 
 
 
 
 
 vi Preface. 
 
 every station, the halls become too small in a very few 
 weeks ; but now our statistics are as follows :— 
 
 Sittings. 
 
 Belle de Mai, 380 
 Merupenti, 600 
 Endoume, 160 
 
 1140 2150 405 460 75 
 
 making more than 3000 per week, an average of 1000 
 a-station. We have not yet reached the mass of the 
 population. Twenty stations would hardly do it. There 
 is in that vast city of 350,000 inhabitants (all of whom 
 live more outside than at home) an unlimited sphere of 
 labour. The Lord has been gracious in preparing the 
 hearts of the Christian people here to receive us kindly 
 and to help us. Money has been found up to our present 
 needs. These mercies make us sure that He will not 
 refuse to help us onwards and to give us the means of 
 extending considerably the work, which, I am sure, will 
 develop itself. We have not been left without m ore definite 
 proofs of His approval. A Reformed pastor told me the 
 other day that he had noticed in his church fifty of our 
 people from La Belle de Mai ; seven of whom he has 
 admitted lately to the Lord's table. At the Free Church, 
 also, several have been admitted. I have been set aside 
 by sickness and obliged to take some rest. But our 
 friends have well filled my place. May I ask an interest 
 in your prayers % Our two Bible-women are overcharged 
 with work. From all hands ; from all cities ; almost from 
 every village, there comes the cry of the Macedonian. Oh 
 that we French Christians may rise to the height of our 
 calling." H. B. 
 
PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 ^ SECOND Edition of this volume being called 
 for, I take this opportunity of giving one 
 or two items of additional information. 
 
 1. Two stations have been opened in Bordeaux, 
 with remarkable success ; one at Boulogne-sur-Mer ; 
 and Toulouse is petitioning for help. There are 
 now thirty stations established throughout France, 
 directly under the Mission ; and three at Marseilles, 
 not directly under it ; thirty-three in all. 
 
 2. A "Home" for the female workers has been 
 secured; an excellent house, not far from Mr. M' All's, 
 in which they will have all domestic comforts, and 
 live at less cost than hitherto. The expense of this 
 is not to fall upon the Mission. Friends at home 
 have undertaken it ; and to any who may be dis- 
 posed to contribute, I may intimate that I shall 
 be happy to take charge of their liberality. 
 
 3. More labourers and larger means are called 
 for urgently. The commercial depression of the 
 last year has told seriously upon the exchequer. 
 Contributions from England have come far short ; 
 and the help from Scotland has barely made up for 
 the deficiency. The great cities of England have 
 not as yet taken up the cause in earnest. 
 
 4. The educated classes in Paris, such as students, 
 are beginning to take an interest in the work, and 
 to attend the meetings ; showing that the influence 
 is ascending, while it is extending. 
 
 The Grange, 
 Edinburgh, 18th November. 1870. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CBAT. 
 
 I. FRAGMENTS OF HISTORY, NEW AND OLD, 
 
 II. RISE OF THE WORK, 
 
 III. PROGRESS AND EXPANSION, 
 
 IV. WIDER EXPANSION, » ... 
 V. THE THIRD YEAR AND ITS INCIDENTS, 
 
 VI. ONWARDS AND OUTWARDS, 
 
 VII. PROGRESSIVE INGATHERING, . 
 
 VIII. MISCELLANEOUS : PAST AND PRESENT l~ 
 SECT. 
 
 1. CONTRASTS, .... 
 
 2. THE SALLE EVANGELIQUE, 
 
 3. THE LATEST GOOD NEWS, 
 
 4. LYONS, 
 
 5. FRAGMENTS, .... 
 
 6. THE HYMNOLOGY, . 
 
 7. EVANGELISTS AND THEIR GOSPEL, 
 
 8. EUROPEAN CHAOS, 
 
 APPENDIX, ..... 
 
 PAGE 
 1 
 
 32 
 
 60 
 
 79 
 
 101 
 
 124 
 
 148 
 
 191 
 200 
 215 
 235 
 267 
 295 
 301 
 317 
 
 327 
 
THE WHITE FIELDS OF FRANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FRAGMENTS OF HISTORY, NEW AND OLD. 
 
 HE Italian Government has thrown a new 
 bridge across the Tiber the other day, under 
 the very eye of the Pope, but without asking his 
 leave. The like has not been done for a thousand 
 years and more. The Pontifex Maximus has evi- 
 dently lost his hold of the old river, as well as of the 
 old city. The king opened the bridge in March last, 
 and no Pope was there; nor bishop, nor cardinal, 
 nor priest. It is the first of five which are to be 
 built ; the Pontifex looking down on them helplessly 
 from the Vatican, and nobody asking how he looks 
 or what he says. 
 
 The French Government has done something even 
 better and more daring than this. It has authorised 
 the opening of twenty-three places of evangelical 
 service in Paris, without asking permission of Pope 
 or bishop. And no judgment has fallen on the 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 Republic for so doing. Religious liberty is not fully 
 legalised yet in France ; but it makes progress. To 
 a large extent the Word of the Lord has free course 
 and is glorified. Paris is certainly listening to the 
 Gospel ; no man forbidding, and not a few rejoicing. 
 The priesthood has done its best to identify 
 Protestantism with atheism and communism, but 
 things are understood now better than they were; 
 and the French Government has at last learned that 
 Protestantism is the friend of order and peace and 
 morality."'' 5. Even the police of Paris have had this 
 truth forced upon them by the events of the last 
 eight years. They are not likely to forget the 
 
 * "I have several times heard the fear expressed that the hostility 
 to Roman Catholicism and her ministers, so manifest among the 
 masses, may, after attacking superstition, direct itself against 
 Christianity itself and against vital religion. I will not say that 
 to some extent this fear is not justified. Yes, it is unhappily only 
 too true, with many fanatical or unenlightened persons, that the 
 hatred which they have conceived against Romanism, imagining it 
 to represent Christianity, has thrown them into complete scepticism, 
 and led them to cast off all forms of religion. It is, however, a 
 remarkable fact that Romish priests, whatever aversion they have 
 inspired towards themselves and the religion they profess, have not 
 succeeded, if we may so express it, in rendering Christ and His 
 Gospel unpopular, even among the class to which we have just 
 referred. The people dimly realise that these priests are the 
 unfaithful depositaries of a sacred trust. The greatest adversaries 
 of the clergy in our country districts quote, rightly or wrongly, 
 what they know of the Gospel (very little, alas !) in order to con- 
 demn their priests by its judgments. These same persons never 
 mention the name of Christ without respect, and one could hardly 
 call them ungodly." — M. Reveillaud, in The Catholic Presbyterian. 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 3 
 
 lesson taught them by the quiet of Belleville, since 
 evangelical truth found its way into that fierce 
 faubourg, and its poor denizens began to read their 
 Bibles and sing of the love of Christ. 
 
 Many of the imprisoned or exiled communists may 
 now be coming back to their homes, in consequence of 
 the late amnesty granted by Government. They were 
 men, like ourselves; though misguided, and exasperated 
 to deeds of violence. Their return to their wives 
 and children and neighbours is an event not to be 
 lost sight of; and they are doubtless wiser men than 
 when they fired the Tuileries and shot the priests. 
 But what will they find on their return ? Not the 
 same Belleville at all. Instead of the priest, the 
 pastor; and instead of the inflammatory, seditious 
 placard, the " conference " bills announcing that 
 some English friends have come to speak to them 
 of the love of Christ. 
 
 What does all this mean ? Can they believe 
 their own eyes ? Is this the faubourg of the Com- 
 mune ? Are these the streets, once smelling with 
 petroleum, and red with blood, and resounding with 
 the cry of massacre ? There is a change. And the 
 people too are changed. They are quiet and 
 orderly. No revolutionary shouts are heard. It 
 is still "liberty, equality, and fraternity" that they 
 speak of; but it is not the same kind of liberty 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 and equality and fraternity. How are they to 
 understand all this? And what can have wrought 
 the change ? It cannot be the Church that has 
 done this ; for the priests are not to be seen, and 
 Protestant pastors from England walk up and down 
 the steep streets, and are recognised by their old 
 comrades as friends. 
 
 Here is a liberated communist entering his own 
 house. Wife and children are still there ; but there 
 are strange books and tracts lying about, — Bibles and 
 gospels and hymnals. He sits down. The children 
 gather round him and begin to sing. It is not the 
 Marseillaise, nor any such song of wild liberty. It is 
 something softer, sweeter, and, till this hour, unheard 
 by him, — 
 
 " merveilleuse histoire 
 
 De Christ, mon E^deinpteur, 
 Qui, du liaut de sa gloire, 
 Descend pour moi pecheur ! " 
 
 What is this " history," and who is this " Ee- 
 deemer," and what does a " sinner " mean ? The 
 words, the tune, the young voices that sing, are 
 irresistible. The listener never heard such news 
 before. Are they true? And has he, a poor 
 communist, just come from banishment or out ot 
 prison, anything to do with such love as this? 
 
 Or perhaps the little ones, still gathered round 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 5 
 
 their strange-looking father, or brother, and gazing 
 up into his face, begin, — 
 
 " Reviens, reviens, 
 Enfant, parnii les tiens ! 
 Tu chemines dans l'ombre, 
 Et ta route est bien sombre ; 
 O pauvre enfant perdu 
 Reviens, oh, reviens, reviens ! " 
 
 He cumes under a new influence, as he listens 
 and learns. The words fall on him like a spell, 
 which he feels, but cannot explain. He does not 
 yet comprehend the wondrous truths; but he yields 
 to the power of the scene and the song: they calm 
 and they please. He must learn more about this 
 story of sin and love, human sin and Divine love, 
 that has so changed Belleville. The punishment 
 through which he has passed has only hardened and 
 soured him ; but these hymns now sounding through 
 his old dwelling, they win him from all thoughts 
 of revenge, and make his heart soft as a child's. 
 Again the little voices begin ; and he listens, — 
 
 " bonheur, 6 grace ; 
 
 Voici le Sauveur ! 
 II souflre a la place 
 
 I)u pauvre pecheur. 
 Chantons sa victoire, 
 
 tlevons la voix ; 
 Celebrons la gloire 
 
 De sa sainte croix." 
 
The White Fields of France, 
 
 The "cross" ! He sees no cross in their hands, or 
 hanging round their necks, or placed against the 
 walls of his house. Yet they sing of the cross. 
 What cross? Not the old "crucifix," which the 
 priest blessed, which the woman kissed, which the 
 dying hugged, and the children knelt before. There 
 is not a crucifix in the house. What " cross" do 
 they mean when they sing of the " glory of the 
 holy cross " ? He has all this yet to learn. 
 
 Shall we sing you just another " cantique," 
 father? Yes, as many as you like. I could listen 
 all the day long. 
 
 " Viens, ame qui pleures 
 
 Viens a ton Sauveur ; 
 Dans les tristes heures 
 
 Dis-lui ta douleur, 
 Dl3 tout bus ta plainte 
 
 Au Seigneur Jesus, 
 Parle-lui sans crainte 
 
 Et ne pleure plus." 
 
 Sorrow and tears ! Yes; communist as he is, he is 
 a man with a human heart, and he has known 
 these. In his dark cell he has wept warm tears ; 
 and now, as soon as he returns to his dwelling he 
 hears a voice, as from heaven, telling him what to 
 do with these, — take them to Jesus. 
 
 He had heard nothing of all this in prison ; he 
 had seen nothing of Belleville since he was led off 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 7 
 
 in chains, eight years ago, to be tried for treason or 
 for murder; he is released from his fetters; he comes 
 back to his old haunts ; the streets and houses are 
 the same ; but somehow there is a wondrous differ- 
 ence everywhere. Is he to come under the new 
 influence, or to be just what he was ? 
 
 He has a history to learn, a blank to fill up in 
 his memory; and he begins to question others as to 
 how all this came about, and to ask himself if it is 
 no prison-dream, — one of the many which so often 
 cheated him in his chains ? 
 
 Wlien he went to prison he believed nothing ; 
 and he knew that the greater part of his fellow- 
 citizens had, like himself, no creed. No God, no 
 Christ, no Bible, no life beyond death, — were the 
 four articles which he would have subscribed, if he 
 would affix his name to anything in the shape of 
 faith or no faith. He finds matters changed. 
 
 Death an eternal sleep, and religion an imposture of 
 the priesthood he would subscribe to. For more than 
 a century these had been the watchwords of France, 
 or at least of Paris ; and he is surprised to find them 
 not so popular as they used to be. He had despised 
 the Church, not merely as a delusion and an oppres- 
 sion ; but because its officials, high and low, made 
 their livelihood by professing a belief which they 
 had not, and ministering at an altar at w r hich in 
 
8 The White Fields of France. 
 
 secret they mocked. He had hated the priests 
 because they had been feasting when the citizens 
 were starving ; drinking the finest wines when the 
 thousands about them had only the water of the 
 puddle or the sewer to drink. He finds now spring- 
 ing up among his old comrades a religion in which 
 there is no insincerity, nor self-pampering. The old 
 religion, he thought, was crushed, when the priests 
 were shot at Haxo, and the archbishop in his 
 dungeon. But here is a new religion beginning to 
 supplant it ; and what is more remarkable, — here 
 is faith venturing to raise its head, — faith which 
 the goddess of reason had long since destroyed. 
 
 And the faith which he finds is evidently real. 
 It may be fanaticism, but it is not superstition ; it 
 may be foolishness, but it is not hypocrisy. The 
 men who say they believe are simple and earnest. 
 They make no gain by their creed, and they do not 
 lord it over others, but are gentle and loving. They 
 speak to one another of that which no priest nor 
 bishop ever spoke, — the love of Christ, and the free 
 pardon of sin. Their pastors, too, are affable and kind, 
 taking no money from the flock, but gladly giving, 
 and helping, and comforting. Their churches, too, 
 are not cathedrals, gaudy with tinselled splendour, 
 and ministered in by men dressed in the cast-oft 
 clothes of Pagan Home ; but simple rooms, enlarged 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 9 
 
 by the removal of partitions ; — at the best, halls, of 
 moderate size ; with no stained windows, nor marble 
 statues, nor gilded rails, nor fretted roof, nor oaken 
 stalls, nor groined arches, nor massive pillars, nor 
 mosaic floors ; — most of them old shops whitewashed 
 and brushed up for the occasion ; — which, in the 
 simplicity of their furniture speak of the simplicity 
 of the worship, and, in the bold calico placards 
 with their bright texts all over the clean walls, make 
 known beyond mistake the creed here taught, — the 
 sin of man and the grace of God : — death through 
 sin, and life through the Sinbearer, the Son of 
 God.* 
 
 The priesthood is still in existence; but it is inabey- 
 ance, — the priests are nowhere, the pastor is every- 
 where. Yet the word " Protestantism " is never heard ; 
 — can this be Protestantism ? What does " the 
 Gospel " mean ? What does " evangelical " mean ? 
 What are these " reunions," these u conferences," 
 
 * Some have been heard condemning such room-gatherings or 
 shop-meetings as dishonouring to religion. With them the "dim 
 religious light " and the " long-drawn aisle " is everything, and 
 these bright rooms with their white walls and outshining texts are not 
 only poor but discreditable. These complaints are not new, either 
 in France or in England. In the Life of the famous William Grimshaw 
 we are told that when that zealous clergyman began his cottage 
 meetings, he was denounced by the neighbouring clergy as doing that 
 which was "a dishonour to God and tending to bring religion into 
 contempt " (Life, p. 53). 
 
io The White Fields of France. 
 
 which the Government so pleasantly recognise, and 
 countenance without limit? No angry men mount 
 the platform to stir up the passions of the people, by 
 reminding them of their poverty and bondage, of 
 the inequality of ranks, and the arrogance of the 
 rich. The speaker does not declaim against priests, 
 or masses, or processions, or fetes. He preaches 
 what he calls " good news ; " and these good news 
 seem somehow most wonderfully to melt and yet 
 to calm the audience ; they are all about a love 
 of which he had never heard before, of which 
 no priest had ever spoken ; and about a joy 
 which he had not even so much as imagined could 
 exist in connection with religion at all. He hears 
 the words "free pardon," — what does that mean? He 
 hears of the a deliverance of the captive," — what 
 does that mean ? And as he listens to the simple 
 prayers, he says, Surely this man does believe in a 
 God, and has a Father in heaven, to whom he speaks, 
 and who speaks to him. And that Book from which 
 he reads, and which he calls the Word of God, — 
 how simple, how loving, yet how searching are all 
 its utterances ! He will inquire into these things 
 which so many of his old companions have adopted. 
 What if they are all true ? Perhaps there is a God, 
 and a Christ, and a Bible, and a state of endless joy 
 or sorrow. 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. i i 
 
 He goes up to one of these evangelists or pastors 
 and asks if he really believes all he preaches ? 
 
 " I do," says the earnest man. 
 
 " You seem to do so certainly, but as the priests 
 do not believe what they say, I thought you might 
 be only assuming the earnestness which you show."' 
 
 "I believe every word that I have spoken." 
 
 " And is all that you have said really true ? " 
 
 " I am assured that it is ; for I have read it from 
 the Book of Him who cannot lie." 
 
 " You are aware that the priests do not believe ? " 
 
 " I am ; but what difference does that make to 
 you or me ? " 
 
 " None ; only I thought you did not know 
 this." 
 
 " I know it too well. A friend of mine called 
 for a church-dignitary whom he knew, and some 
 such conversation as the following took place : — 
 
 " ' Now that we are alone,' said the man of office, 
 1 let us speak freely. Forget that you are a pastor, 
 and I'll forget that I am a priest.' 
 
 " ' What then ? ' 
 
 " ' Oh ! you know I believe nothing, and you 
 believe nothing ; we preach only to deceive the 
 people.' 
 
 " ' Pardon me ; it is not so : I believe from the 
 heart all I say ; do you really not ? ' 
 
1 2 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " ' I am ashamed of myself,' said the prelate sadly, 
 and with downcast face. 
 
 " So you see, my good friend," resumed the pastor 
 to the communist, " I know the priesthood well. 
 But their unbelief does not shake my faith. I do 
 believe the glad tidings that I preach ; and in 
 believing them I have been made inexpressibly 
 happy ; and I want you to be the same." 
 
 Thus the poor communist is made somewhat to 
 understand that during these years of his imprison- 
 ment or exile strange things have been doing and 
 strange words spoken in Paris. The elements of storm 
 have almost disappeared. It would not be easy to 
 get up a revolution in Belleville now ; and besides, 
 if all that he sees and hears is true, there is no need 
 of one. These pastors with their new doctrines are 
 doing what barricades and petroleum could not effect. 
 They are changing the face of society ; producing 
 liberty; and bringing all classes of the community 
 together as brethren. There is a battle still ; but 
 it is not the old one between unbelief and credulity, — 
 that is, between atheism and Rome ; it is between 
 unbelief and faith ; — the new faith, if it is to be 
 called so, the faith which has a great deal to say for 
 itself, even to a communist. 
 
 And then there is this Bible which everybody is 
 reading. How has it come to supplant Voltaire, 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. i 
 
 and to take such hold of men's minds? Where did 
 it come from, and how has it penetrated into the 
 homes of Belleville, so that even the children read 
 it, and grey-headed infidels are not ashamed to 
 listen ? 
 
 And the police, — how is it that they are so civil 
 at all these meetings, — coming not as spies, but 
 as friends and protectors? In former days every 
 gathering was either altogether prohibited or closely 
 watched, and all names taken down and reported to 
 Government. Ask them, and they will tell you how 
 this new religion has lightened their work, and 
 quieted one district after another ; they will tell you 
 how their superiors are interested in all that is going 
 on, and every functionary of Government sustains 
 them in their protection of these new pastors. They 
 will tell you that twice over has the chief pastor 
 received public thanks for his labours ; and two 
 medals of honour from two of the great public 
 societies of the city.* 
 
 * "I should not do justice to this subject were I not to speak of the 
 disposition shown by those now in power. The Ministry, as you 
 know, is almost half Protestant numerically, and more than half in 
 spirit and in politics. You know, also, what a careful distinction 
 the leader of the Republican party, M. Gambetta, made between the 
 different Churches in his speech at Romans, when putting the ques- 
 tion of the agreement existing between the Churches and the State. 
 The prefects, too, are inspired with this liberal spirit, and although 
 liberty for religious meetings is not yet written in our laws, they 
 make no difficulty in granting the necessary authorisations for meet- 
 
14 The White Fields of France. 
 
 How has all this come to pass ? he asks in amaze- 
 ment. He is not long in getting an answer. He 
 learns that a stranger came to Paris from England 
 some years since ; spoke lovingly to the people, and 
 won their hearts ; put into their hands books which 
 he called gospels ; opened halls of instruction, and 
 taught both young and old to sing those hymns to 
 which he has been listening. 
 
 It is of this stranger and his work that I have 
 undertaken to write ; and he who reads what follows 
 will see how closely these introductory remarks bear 
 upon my narrative. 
 
 In August, 1871, Mr. M'All visited Paris; in 
 January, 1872, he commenced his first meeting 
 in Belleville; and now, in 1879, he has twenty-three 
 stations in Paris, and four in Lyons. The work has 
 prospered beyond all thought ; and the sphere has 
 been widening year after year. 
 
 ings and lectures. At the time that my pamphlet ('La Question 
 Religieuse') was condemned in Kome, it obtained from the Minister 
 of the Interior the colportage stamp — that is to say, authority to be 
 freely distributed by booksellers and colporteurs. In a word, Pro- 
 testantism has never found a more favourable opportunity for 
 propagandism. With such liberty for going about, speaking, cir- 
 culating Bibles and controversial pamphlets, united to the living 
 faith which animated them, what would not the Reformers of the 
 sixteenth century have accomplished ! And what shall not we, their 
 unworthy descendants, accomplish, if we raise again the old standard 
 end hold by the glorious traditions of their zeal and activity ! " — 
 LI. R£veillaud, in The Catholic Presbyterian. 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. \ 5 
 
 His first visit was for recreation, his second was 
 the inauguration of earnest work. He did not 
 know, when he went to refresh himself after the 
 fatigues of pastoral duty in England, that it was to 
 receive a call to labour in France that he had gone. 
 While he was purposing one thing, God was prepar- 
 ing another. Hadleigh with its 4000 inhabitants 
 was to be exchanged for Paris with its two millions ; 
 and the four days' sojourn in the French capital, as 
 a passing traveller, was to be the providential link 
 111 the accomplishment of this exchange. 
 
 It is on our journeys that God so often meets 
 as, and gives us new directions, or entrusts us un- 
 expectedly with a new commission : deranging all 
 former plans, and sending us on an errand, perhaps 
 the very last that we could have expected to be sent 
 upon. Of many others besides Paul it may be told 
 how they had seen the Lord in the ivay, and that 
 He had spoken to them (Acts ix. 7). Of the peculiar 
 turns and changes in a good man's life, this is the 
 only true account that can be given, — " Jacob went 
 on his way, and the angels of God met him " 
 (Gen. xxxii. 1). 
 
 Out of such a " seeing " and such a " meeting " 
 the present work arose. The things in it called 
 by us " accidents " were parts of God's purpose 
 of favour to a city where Atheism and Romanism 
 
r6 The White Fields of France. 
 
 had hitherto held unquestioned sway ; where crime 
 and lust and ungodliness overflowed in every faubourg 
 and street. 
 
 Paris was about the unlikeliest place for such a 
 mission, and the last town in Europe for which bless- 
 ing might have been expected. Moralists regarded 
 it as the focus, or rather arsenal, of wickedness and 
 desperate outrage. Statesmen spoke of it as the 
 crater of a great volcano. Apocalyptic interpreters 
 pointed it out as the likeliest scene of the vials of 
 Divine vengeance. Christian men mourned over it 
 as hopeless and inaccessible to the Gospel, — wholly 
 given to pleasure and frivolity. 
 
 To appreciate the enterprise, one must remember 
 the nature of the field entered on. The enormous 
 obstructions can only be properly understood by 
 those who have lived in, and known the city, or 
 studied the histories of the French Revolution, in 
 which the state of the people, — moral, social, and 
 political, — is described, as a sort of necessary in- 
 troduction to the story of the revolution-crimes. 
 The first three books of Carlyle's History may be 
 most instructively read in connection with, — I 
 had almost said as a preface to, — the story of the 
 M'All Mission ; and any one who has dipped into 
 that strange romance, " The Mysteries of Paris," by 
 Eugene Sue, will not wonder that we should speak 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 17 
 
 of that metropolis as the most hopeless and inac- 
 cessible of all mission fields. A chapter of any of 
 the above works, placed side by side with one of 
 Mr. M 'All's reports, will give a reader some idea of 
 how much faith and Christian bravery were required, 
 to attempt or even to project such an enterprise. 
 
 But the truth is, in all great works God never 
 leaves it with man to 'project the scheme, or to 
 forecast the issues. He leads the chosen man to 
 the entrance ; and without telling him whether 
 the work is great or little, easy or arduous, He says, 
 — " There is thy work, do it : form no ambitious 
 plans, nor get up some great organisations, but do 
 the work before thee, asking no questions. The rest 
 will follow : the work is mine, not thine ; be not 
 careful about the means or the issue." 
 
 The hopelessness of religious work in Paris was 
 the sad but settled conviction of some of our most 
 devoted Christian men : of those especially who 
 knew it best and remembered its past history. It 
 was the city which had quenched the Reformation 
 with blood in the days of Calvin. It was the centre 
 of the St. Bartholomew Massacre, and of the revo- 
 lution which at the close of last century horrified 
 Europe with its atrocities. It was the city of the 
 Guises and the Bourbons, the city of Robespierre 
 and Danton, the city which of all others seemed 
 
1 8 The White Fields of France. 
 
 most to have fought against God, — against Christ 
 and His Gospel. No wonder that men despaired of 
 it. Can any good thing come out of Paris? Can 
 any good thing get into it? 
 
 Yet in the annals of that Capital there are many 
 scenes of brightness, and names of holy zeal. It was 
 the city of Margaret of Navarre, sister of Francis I., 
 and friend of Calvin ; of her who for so long 
 shielded the Reformation and held fellowship with 
 the Reformers, and who, when wearied with Paris, 
 St. Germaine, and Fontainebleau, thus wrote : — 
 
 u Adieu ! pomps, vanities, adieu, 
 No longer commune I with you. 
 Other pleasures seek I none 
 But my Bridegroom's love alone ; 
 Honour, riches, all my store 
 Is in Jesus evermore. 
 For the fleeting and the vain 
 Shall I give the eternal gain % 
 Adieu ! Adieu ! " 
 
 It was the city, too, of the noble Berquin, in whom 
 the Protestants had hoped to see the Reformer of 
 France, who was hurried to the burning pile lest the 
 king should revoke the sentence ; of Joubert, the 
 martyr; of Marot, the sweet singer; and Toussain, 
 the young prebendary of Metz ; and Nicholas Doullon, 
 who was burnt alive in front of Notre Dame, refusing 
 to " apologise to the Virgin " for not giving her 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 1 9 
 
 Divine honours ; and De la Tour, who, being charged 
 with having sowed Lutheran errors not only in Paris, 
 but in Edinburgh, where he had been with the Duke 
 of Albany, was burnt at the pig-market; and the poor 
 nameless Christaudin of Meaux, who suffered on the 
 Greve of Paris ; and the peasant of Rieux, Denis by 
 name, who, after the efforts of his torturers to make 
 him deny his Lord had proved vain, was condemned 
 to the hurdle, the stake, the flame ; and Stephen 
 Renier, the cordelier, who died confessing Christ in 
 the fire ; and Jonas, the learned schoolmaster of 
 Annonay, who, with twenty-five fellow-witnesses, was 
 sent to starve in prison by the Archbishop of Vienne. 
 It was the city of the high-born Coligny, whose 
 grey hairs could not save him from the poniard of 
 Besme and the kicks of Guise ; of Conde', and Rouil- 
 lard,and Teligny,and of a host of brave, pious, learned 
 men, some of whom were spared, but most of whom 
 perished by the sword of assassins, instigated to their 
 desperate work of murder by the princes of the realm, 
 and by the bishops and priests of Rome. 
 
 These are some specimens of French martyrdom 
 which, amid much that is unhopeful, bid us hope 
 for the land where Christ had witnesses of old, so 
 many, so bold, so true. 
 
 I had thought of giving some further examples of 
 the " noble army of martyrs " in France, to interest 
 
20 The White Fields of France. 
 
 and to cheer the Christian friends connected with 
 the present Mission ; but this would lead me too far 
 aside from my main purpose. I have written enough 
 to show what a storehouse of noble names and noble 
 deeds the religious history of that land contains. 
 
 There is another portion of Church history which 
 I should much have liked to take up in connection 
 with our present hopes and fears for France. I 
 mean the relation in which it stood with reference 
 to other countries at the time of the Reformation. 
 A reader of French history is greatly struck with 
 this, and wonders as he sees what a centre Paris 
 was at that time for the preachers of the truth, and 
 what a helping hand oftentimes France held out 
 to the persecuted of other countries, even in the 
 midst of her own sufferings. " God is not unright- 
 eous to forget her work and labour of love, in that 
 she ministered to the saints," and received those 
 who were cast out by the hostile Romanism of 
 Europe. 
 
 Not only Germany, Bohemia, and Switzerland ; 
 but Spain, Italy, and England received help from 
 her, and were honoured to help her in return. 
 
 Let me give a specimen of what I mean, in a 
 page or two, which I would call "A Scottish Chapter 
 of Old French History." It will interest, I think, 
 the friends of the " M'All Mission," especially when 
 
Fragmejits of Histoiy, New and Old. 2 1 
 
 they remember that the head of that mission is him- 
 self a Scot by descent. 
 
 Scotland and France were at one time special 
 friends. Nor was it the Reformation that broke the 
 relationship, but the brutal violence of the Guises 
 and the subserviency of Mary Queen of Scots to their 
 plots for the overthrow of Scottish liberty. 
 
 Even the bloodshed of St. Bartholomew's day 
 did not wholly detach Protestant Scotland from her 
 ancient ally ; for long afterwards we find the inter- 
 course between the two countries maintained : and 
 the Presbyterian ministers of the North, banished 
 by James VI. from their native land, took refuge 
 in France, and preached the Gospel there. 
 
 One notable instance of this I select, as showing 
 not only the intimacy between the two nations, but 
 the religious bond between French and Scottish 
 Protestantism. 
 
 John Welsh, minister of Ayr, with five com- 
 panions, fled to France to escape the anger of the 
 Scottish king. On the 7th of November, 1G06, 
 early in the morning, they set sail from Leith, on 
 the sands of which, in the dark of a wintry storm, 
 friends from many parts had gathered together, to 
 pray, to sing the 23rd Psalm, and to bid farewell. 
 They set sail for the south of France, and landed at 
 Bordeaux. 
 
22 The White Fields of France. 
 
 Within fourteen weeks after his arrival, Welsh 
 was able to preach in French, and was called to 
 exercise his ministry, first at Nerac, then at Jonsack, 
 and then at Saint Jean d'Angely, where he remained 
 about sixteen years, much to the comfort and bene- 
 fit of the Reformed Church of France ; though he 
 himself was ill at ease, and writes home to his 
 friends of his discomforts ; while the records of the 
 Synod of St. Maisant in 1G09 show that his eccle- 
 siastical superiors sometimes drew the bridle too 
 tightly for his free northern spirit. 
 
 Tradition says that though he made such progress 
 in French speaking, he sometimes forgot his rules 
 and accents. When expounding Scripture or stating 
 doctrine his language was exact. But when he 
 proceeded to the warmth of exhortation and appeal, 
 he was apt " to neglect the accuracy of the French 
 construction." Some excellent young Frenchmen 
 endeavoured to set him right, " which he took in 
 very good part," arranging with them that they 
 were to watch him carefully, and at the least gram- 
 matical impropriety, give him a sign of his devia- 
 tion by standing up. How often these careful 
 friends had to rise we are not told. But we are 
 informed that he took the utmost possible care, 
 " not only to deliver good matter, but to recommend 
 it in neat expression." His anxiety to produce 
 
Fragments of Histoiy, New and Old. 23 
 
 perfect French is an example to our modern Scotch 
 and English workers in the mission-field. Polite- 
 ness may keep a foreigner from smiling at our 
 idioms, but not the less is the effect of the address 
 marred by inaccuracy. It would appear that 270 
 years ago, the young men of France were a little 
 particular, perhaps fastidious. It is not less so now. 
 While he preached to the peasantry of France in 
 their villages, he preached also before the University 
 of Saumur, " with boldness and authority," and was 
 called frequently to address an auditory in which 
 there were "persons of great quality." It was on 
 one of these occasions that Boyd of Trochrig asked 
 how he could be so bold in such circumstances, and 
 received the memorable answer, that in preaching 
 the Word of God he was " so filled with dread of 
 God that he had no fear of man at all." 
 
 While he was minister in one of the French vil- 
 lages, a friar came to his house asking to be lodged 
 for the night. He was kindly entertained, and had a 
 bedroom assigned to him adjoining that of the minis- 
 ter. Happening to awake during the night, he heard 
 a continuous whispering, which troubled him not a 
 little, as he supposed it to come from evil spirits 
 haunting the Protestant house. Walking abroad next 
 day, a peasant saluted him and asked him how he did. 
 
 " Where lodged you last night ? " 
 
24 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " With the Huguenot minister," said the friar. 
 
 " What sort of entertainment had you ? " asked 
 the peasant. 
 
 " Very bad. I always believed that these 
 Huguenot houses were haunted; but I never proved 
 it till last night. There was a continual whisper in 
 the room next mine ; and I am sure it was the devil 
 and the minister talking together." 
 
 " You are far mistaken," said the peasant ; "it 
 w T as the minister at his night-prayers." 
 
 " What ! does the minister pray ? " 
 
 " Yes, more than any man in France ; and if you 
 will stay another night, you may make sure." 
 
 The friar returned totheHuguenot houseand begged 
 lodging for another night, which was at once granted. 
 " Before dinner," says the old narrative, " Mr. Welsh 
 came down from his chamber and made his family 
 exercise according to his wont. He sang a psalm ; 
 he read a portion of Scripture, commenting on it ; 
 and then prayed." The friar looked and listened 
 with astonishment. Dinner was then served, and 
 the friar was kindly entertained ; the good Huguenot 
 minister asking no questions and entering on no 
 disputes. The evening came, and with it the 
 " evening exercise," quite like that of the morning, 
 to the friar's yet greater wonder. They supped and 
 went to bed. But the friar was resolved to keep 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 25 
 
 awake and hear the strange sounds which he had 
 heard the night before. He then went and put his 
 ear to the door to satisfy himself as to what the 
 sound really was. " Then/' writes the old biographer, 
 "he heard not only the sound but the very words ; 
 and in these words communications between man and 
 God such as he had never believed to be in this 
 world." The day broke, and Mr. Welsh came out 
 of his room. The friar went to him, bewailed his 
 ignorance, and asked instruction. Kindly did the 
 minister receive him ; bidding him welcome in the 
 name of God, and showing him the true light which 
 had been so long hidden from him. That light 
 entered his soul, and in it he walked till his dying 
 hour. 
 
 Louis XII. made war upon the Protestants, to 
 extirpate the faith; and besieged the town of 
 Rochelle. Encouraged by the Scotch Huguenots, the 
 citizens resisted to the utmost, and by their bravery 
 secured honourable terms when at last induced to 
 yield. Welsh seems to have been the leading spirit 
 in the siege ; and when the king entered the city, 
 Welsh preached as before, without asking permis- 
 sion, to the great offence of the Court. While the 
 sermon was proceeding the king sent the Duke 
 d'Espernon to fetch him out of the pulpit into 
 his presence. The duke went with his guard ; as 
 
26 The White Fields of France. 
 
 he entered, Welsh commanded the people to give 
 way and set a seat for him. The duke sat down 
 and listened gravely to the end, when he ordered 
 Welsh to accompany him to the king, which he did 
 willingly. The king, in anger, asked why he had 
 not interrupted the minister. " Never man spake 
 like this man," was the reply ; " but here he is to 
 answer for himself." 
 
 The offender was brought in ; and as soon as he 
 entered, kneeled down to ask Divine wisdom. 
 
 " How dare you preach here," said the king ; 
 " seeing it is against the laws of France that any 
 man should preach within the verge of the Court ? " 
 
 " Sire," said the brave Scotchman, " if you would 
 do the right thing you would come and hear me 
 preach ; nay, and cause all France to come and 
 hear me ; for I preach not as these men do whom 
 you are in the wont of hearing." 
 
 " How ? " said the king. 
 
 " I preach that you must be saved by the merits 
 of Christ, not by your own. I preach, too, that as 
 you are King of France, you are not under the 
 authority of man. These men who are about you 
 would make you subject to the Pope of Rome, which 
 I will never do." 
 
 " Eh, bien, vous seriez mon ministre," said the 
 well-pleased monarch 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 27 
 
 Welsh was favourably dismissed, instead of being 
 punished ; and the king left the city in peace. 
 
 Soon after Welsh left France for London, where 
 he died, after having for sixteen years sowed, in 
 many places throughout France, the seed of ever- 
 lasting life. 
 
 This link between France and Scotland was only 
 one out of many that could be exhibited ; but if it 
 tend to draw Scottish eyes and hearts to the great 
 work now going on in a land which was once our 
 ally when England was our foe, I shall not have 
 given the narrative in vain. 
 
 France is not hopeless ; Paris is not inaccessible 
 to the Gospel. The priesthood of other ages have 
 done their worst to darken and enslave ; their hands 
 are feeble now ; they hate, but they cannot imprison, 
 or strangle, or burn, or assassinate. 
 
 Carlyle, in his mystical narrative of the Revolution, 
 calls the Pope "the Supreme Quack." It would 
 have been well for France had he been no more 
 than this. He was the supreme wrong-doer and 
 spoiler. What a land might she have been had he 
 let her alone, and not drenched her in innocent 
 blood, and shut out the Bible from her millions. 
 
 That same writer adds, " The first of all gospels is 
 this, that a lie cannot endure for ever." Of this we 
 are not so sure. It may at least endure long enough 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 to ruin a nation ; and though he tells us that " a lie 
 cannot be believed," we know how it has been 
 believed, and also that it is written, " God shall send 
 them strong delusion that they should believe a lie." 
 But when he writes that " in the huge mass of evil, 
 as it rolls and swells, there is some good work- 
 iug imprisoned, working towards deliverance and 
 triumph," we gladly accept the dictum in measure, 
 only we prefer to put it in another form, — that 
 " where sin has abounded, there grace did much 
 more abound." 
 
 Germany is sinking into scepticism. Is France 
 emerging from it ? We do not hear indeed that " a 
 great company of the priests have become obedient 
 to the faith ; " but there are indications that some of 
 the French apostles of unbelief are in earnest, asking, 
 " What is truth?" They are beginning to feel the 
 sorrows of negativism ; and are coming to the con- 
 clusion that the absence of truth is a wrong to their 
 souls : that, as all unbelief is the belief of a lie, they 
 have, while boasting that they believed nothing, 
 been believing a thousand lies."* 
 
 * " Our people do not become Protestants, because it is not the 
 custom, because they fear to be peculiar, because they dread what 
 may be said in their district or village ; doubtless, also, because 
 strong conviction would be necessary, and they have only a vague 
 sympathy. But when a Catholic comes out of his Church and 
 attaches himself to a Protestant congregation, though some of his 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 29 
 
 Clericalism is not in the ascendant in France. 
 Its frantic efforts to convulse the nation in order to 
 win a victory for itself have failed. The intrigues 
 of the priesthood have been unveiled and baffled. 
 Plots and miracles, effrontery and cunning, have 
 missed their aim. Legitimacy, Orleanism, and 
 Imperialism have done their worst. The reaction 
 has been a feeble thing. Old dynasties, like broken 
 columns, will not resuscitate. Still less will old 
 religions. These have no resurrection. They 
 crumble, or rather rot ; and, from their corruption, 
 send up foul growths ; but they themselves rise not 
 again. True religions have often revived ; the false 
 never. 
 
 It is this that makes the present efforts for 
 evangelising France so momentous and so critical. 
 Now is the moment for the Gospel to strike in and 
 do its work. Souls, tired of atheism, contemptuous 
 of Popery, sick of pleasure, are asking, Who will 
 show us any good ? God is answering the cry of 
 the weary and the empty, and sending to them that 
 
 neighbours may perhaps censure him, the majority will approve, and 
 feel a secret desire to follow his example. It is most certain that 
 prominent political men, like Messrs. Turquet Malezieux, Jules 
 Favre, Paul Bouchard, &c, who have formally adhered to Protest- 
 antism, have not found the sympathies of their electors diminished 
 because of their abjuration of Roman Catholicism. On the contrary, 
 the last elections proved that the confidence of their constituents 
 had increased." — M. Keveillaud. 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 which alone can refresh and fill, — the glad tidings 
 of His own free love manifested in the cross of His 
 Son, the Christ of God. After a whole century of 
 political and religious unrest, the cry for rest is 
 coming up, and the gospel of rest is now meeting 
 this cry. 
 
 These homely halls, in which that Gospel is 
 preached, suit far better the present work of pro- 
 claiming rest to the weary, than any large and 
 splendid structure could do. The sorrows of a 
 spirit, seeking peace, what have they to do with the 
 artificial and the garish ? Cathedral gloom repre- 
 sents no Divine idea ; while the clear pleasant light 
 of these unadorned rooms is of itself cheery and 
 comforting. Architects and painters have been in 
 all ages the corrupters of heavenly truths. The 
 false creed or cult they have beautified ; the true 
 creed they have distorted and degraded. But 
 here neither Greek nor Gothic art intrudes. The 
 halls and the hymns and the company suit each 
 other well ; and even beauty-loving Paris will not 
 deem this homeliness out of place, nor think that 
 some Madeleine or Notre Dame would have com- 
 ported better with the message or the messenger. 
 
 There was an artist who painted the first supper; 
 but he painted the cups so exquisitely that the 
 gazer's eye rested on them, and not on the Master. 
 
Fragments of History, New and Old. 31 
 
 Seeing this, he brushed off the cups, that " Jesus 
 only " might be seen. Many a church and many a 
 sermon have been to the audience what these cups 
 were. Instead of " producing religious feeling," they 
 have hid or obscured the Lord. 
 
 Paris is now having a new lesson taught her, — 
 that sculpture and painting, that temples and 
 cathedrals, that processions and fetes are not 
 religion ; that portraits aud statues and crucifixes 
 and relics and madonnas are not Christ ; nay, that 
 they lead the heart away from Him ; and that 
 there is such a thing as acceptable devotion 
 without an altar, or an image, or an earthly priest, 
 — yes, such a thing as " worshipping Him who is a 
 Spirit, in spirit and in truth;" — a doctrine which 
 the nations of Europe have yet to learn. 
 
3 2 The White Fields of France. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 KISE OF THE WORK. 
 
 fMUST return to the visit of the English stranger 
 referred to in my previous chapter. 
 
 I have ventured on a long episode, but by no 
 means a needless one, though perhaps, it may not 
 seem to others so indispensable as it does to myself. 
 For my object in this little volume is not merely to 
 call attention to a modern mission, but to awaken 
 a fervent and intelligent interest in the religious 
 history of a noble country. Having as briefly as 
 possible sketched this outline, I proceed with my 
 main narrative. 
 
 The quarter of Paris known by the name of 
 Belleville was originally outside the city walls or 
 Boulevards, but now forms the north-eastern part of 
 the city, the circle of fortifications having been so 
 widened as to embrace this suburb or faubourg, 
 as it is called. It contains a population of about 
 100,000. 
 
Rise of the Work. 33 
 
 Though inhabited by the poorest classes, it is the 
 most elevated in situation, and about the healthiest 
 quarter of the town. It commands an extensive 
 view on most sides, though not by any means so 
 wide as that from our own Calton Hill or Castle 
 rock, here in Edinburgh. 
 
 The houses in general are inferior, and the streets 
 narrow; the latter very roughly paved, and the 
 former rising to several storeys in height, with 
 something like what we call a " common stair " as 
 the entrance to the whole. In a small room at the 
 foot of this stair dwells the concierge or porter, who 
 takes charge of the outer door, and is responsible for 
 the flats above. * 
 
 The character of the district for poverty and crime 
 is so well known in Paris, that the railway officials 
 wonder at so many English parties, on their arrival 
 at the station from the north, inquiring the way to 
 Belleville ; and our cabman, when told to drive to 
 Belleville, asked seriously if we really knew the 
 quarter of the city we were going to. 
 
 From being built on a considerable eminence, 
 this faubourg presents slopes of sometimes rather 
 formidable steepness in its different thoroughfares, 
 
 * There are no less than 50,000 of these porters in Paris, to each 
 of -whom a lady has proposed to offer a copy of the New Testament. 
 Upwards of 10,000 of these have been already distributed and 
 gratefully received. 
 
 D 
 
34 The White Fields of France. 
 
 which the omnibus surmounts, but which the tram- 
 way declines to attempt. A very large amount of 
 misery, poverty, and sin is concentrated here;* and 
 from the dens with which its lanes abound went 
 forth the communists or levellers, who with liberty, 
 equality, and fraternity on their banners, once sought 
 to sweep away not only rank, but property, going 
 out through the city as murderers, or incendiaries. 
 Soured against the wealthy, and enraged against 
 a priesthood who never approached them but for 
 money, and who during the great siege were feeding 
 luxuriously when they were starving, or sustained in 
 life upon the vermin of the common sewers, they 
 struck right and left when their opportunity came. 
 Nor could any one say that their provocation had 
 not been great, though their revenge was terrible. 
 
 Not far from one of the present mission-stations 
 is the street Haxo. Passing the foot of it one day, 
 and seeing the name written very legibly at the 
 corner, we asked a soldier whom we met, where the 
 slaughter of the priests took place. He pointed to 
 the highest part of the Rue, some three or four 
 hundred yards off. We followed his directions, and 
 found ourselves in front of a large garden with an 
 
 * Yet not far off, a little to the south, is the celebrated cemetery 
 of Pere Lachaise ; and still nearer, and forming part of Belleville 
 itself, we have the Buttes Chaumont, one of the finest parks to be 
 found in any European city. 
 
Rise of the Work. 35 
 
 iron gate ; and looking through the bars, we saw, at 
 the further end, a wall, — a blackened wall, — with an 
 inscribed stone. Into that garden numbers of the 
 priests of Paris were brought by the exasperated 
 communists ; to that wall they were fastened and 
 shot. It must have been a dreadful scene of blood 
 and butchery. The men of Belleville were the 
 perpetrators of it. Awfully was that blood avenged 
 by the Government, when the army of Versailles 
 burst in upon the city and bore down the wretched 
 communists. All then was massacre and fury. 
 Hundreds of them, men and women, were shot 
 down in the streets, and hundreds more were carried 
 off to prison, to be tried, condemned, and executed 
 or exiled. Five hundred were, in one mass, hurried 
 off to Pere Lachaise, placed upon the edge of 
 a long deep ditch, shot down by the soldiers, and 
 then buried there. 
 
 No excuse can be offered for the communists 
 save their ignorance, and the provocations received 
 in days past from an unsympathising aristocracy and 
 an unfeeling priesthood. That their passions broke 
 loose, and found vent to themselves in the destruc- 
 tion of those whom they knew to be their worst 
 enemies, was only what might be expected of men 
 who were profoundly ignorant both of religion and 
 morality, and who had been kept in this ignorance 
 
36 The White Fields of France. 
 
 by those who ought to have taught them, out of the 
 Bible, the principles of true liberty, true equality, 
 and true fraternity. The poor degraded men were 
 mostly atheists, and had been driven into atheism 
 by a priesthood whose lies had become transparent, 
 whose licentiousness was notorious, and whose indif- 
 ference to the wants of their fellow-men was a thing 
 not attempted to be concealed. The retribution 
 upon the priesthood was cruel, but it was too well 
 deserved. 
 
 "What self-restraint could be expected from 
 ignorant, excited men, who had been goaded first 
 into atheism, and then into despair ? They needed 
 teaching, and they got none from their priests. They 
 needed the Gospel, and they were mocked with 
 mummeries and demands for money. They needed 
 the example of a holy, loving life, and they saw 
 nothing but selfishness and wickedness. "Ah," 
 said one of them to one of Mr. W All's missionaries, 
 " had you been here some j^ears ago, there would 
 have been no insurrection, and no bloodshed." 
 In those awful scenes of slaughter, Protestants 
 and Protestant ministers were left unhurt and 
 untouched, for even in their blind fury these un- 
 happy men knew who were their oppressors and 
 who were their friends. 
 
 It is among these that Mr. M c All's remarkable 
 
Rise of the Work. 3 7 
 
 work has been going on these eight years past; 
 by which, and by other kindred efforts, the aspect 
 of the district has been changed, and the lion trans- 
 formed into the lamb ; so that, during the political 
 excitement in Paris in the summer of 1877, all was 
 quiet at Belleville. 
 
 Mr. M'All is a genuine Scotchman by descent, and 
 delights to make mention of his Highland ancestry 
 as Celts of the Hebrides, and for ages having had 
 their dwelling in the lonely island of Coll, almost 
 due west of the larger and better known island of 
 Mull, off the Argyleshire coast. 
 
 His father was the well-known Dr. M'All of 
 Manchester, noted for his genius, his piety, and his 
 eloquence. The son was the minister of a Congre- 
 gational church in Lancashire ; and here our story 
 begins, — and it begins something like that of the 
 Apostle Paul in Greece of old. There was no vision, 
 certainly — no man of Paris, like that of Macedonia, 
 saying, " Come over and help us ; " but there was 
 something not less explicit and remarkable. 
 
 Happening to be in Paris soon after the war, he 
 went into a cafe shortly before leaving. He was 
 distributing tracts at the door, and Mrs. M'All in 
 the inside. A workman grasped his hand and said, 
 "Will you not come and tell us the true religion?" 
 These words were enough. They clung to Mr. 
 
■3 
 
 8 The White Fields of France, 
 
 M'All as he journeyed home; and as he pondered 
 them, he could not help recognising in them a 
 message from God to come over and help these poor 
 Parisians. He severed his home ties, and, with his 
 zealous and indefatigable partner, took up his abode 
 in Belleville, in the very midst of these strange 
 communists, whom everybody dreaded. He was 
 entreated not to throw himself into danger ; he was 
 warned against communistic violence ; he was told 
 that his life was not safe. But he had, in the 
 strength of God, resolved to face the great work, and 
 he had counted the cost; so he took up his abode 
 in that poor district, and threw himself for mission- 
 ary work among those men and women whose hands 
 were yet red with blood. 
 
 He hired a room for a hall, sent out his invi- 
 tations, and gathered round him soon a goodly 
 number of these outcasts, eager to hear his words 
 and to listen to the hymns he sung to them — 
 hymns which seem to be to the men and women of 
 that district what the Marseillaise was in other days, 
 rousing and quickening them, not to martial deeds 
 or works of violence, but to wonder at the unknown 
 love of which they speak, the new religion which 
 they embody, and the glad tidings which they 
 proclaim. 
 
 In the autumn of 1872 Mr. M C A11 read a paper 
 
Rise of the Work. 39 
 
 at the meeting of the Congregational Union of 
 England and Wales, giving his own narrative of the 
 beginning of his work. It is very brief, occupying 
 only eight printed pages, but it is to us a singularly 
 interesting document : very modest, with no self- 
 obtrusion ; yet ample enough to give the reader a 
 full idea of the w T ork. From this we mean to quote 
 largely ; both because of its excellence, and also to 
 prevent the paper from being lost sight of. As it 
 is not generally known, I am sure that the reprint 
 will be most acceptable. 
 
 " I wish to speak of our work with great caution. The politi- 
 cal and moral state of France, and, above all, of its metropolis, 
 beset such an enterprise with peculiar difficulties. Where the 
 travesty of Christianity has driven multitudes to the extreme 
 of atheism ; where, consequently, reckless self-indulgence goes 
 hand-in-hand with hatred of the misused name of religion, the 
 attempt to testify for truth and Christ involves trials of patience 
 and courage. Our ambition has been to act as pioneers ; by 
 Almighty help to clear a few spots of the thorn-infested 
 ground, and to scatter therein the good seed of eternal life. 
 We therefore would present our enterprise only in the light of 
 an essay, the hidden results of which rest with our Master. 
 
 " How were we led to undertake it ? In August, 1871, Mrs. 
 M'All and I made a first visit of three or four days to Paris. 
 No thought was more remote than that of quitting friends and 
 country in order to become workers in France. The eager 
 reception of the tracts we offered, first impressed us. At that 
 period the populace, fresh from heart-reading disasters, seemed 
 specially responsive to any manifestation of kind feeling. We 
 would not leave the city until we had taken tracts into the heart 
 
40 The White Fields o J France. 
 
 of the artisan district — Belleville. "We contrived to meet the 
 workmen as they returned homeward at night. At the corner 
 of two great thoroughfares a large group gathered round us. 
 One intelligent man, who could speak a little English, stood 
 forward, and asked if I were not a Christian minister. Then, 
 very earnestly, he spoke to this effect — ' Sir, I have something 
 to tell you. Throughout this whole district, containing tens of 
 thousands of ouvriers, we have, to a man, done with the priests. 
 We cannot accept an imposed religion. But if any one would 
 come to teach us religion of another kind, a religion of freedom 
 and reality, many of us are ready for it.' As we retired, the 
 voices of the people might be heard, — ' Bons Anglais ! Bona 
 Anglais ! " 
 
 " Such words, uttered on such a spot, could not be forgotten. 
 Whence should these inquiries after truth be met 1 Had the 
 devoted Christians of Paris resources sufficient to cover these 
 neglected districts with effort 1 Was it possible that English or 
 American workers would have advantage for gaining the 
 popular ear in consequence of their palpable freedom from 
 political complications ! Could this, so unexpected, be a call 
 to break the ties of home, pastorate, and country, and to gird 
 on the missionary harness for the bold essay ? 
 
 " Months of anxious consideration followed. Correspondence 
 with experienced Christian labourers in Paris, especially with 
 our kind friend Dr. Fisch, brought us to decision. The work 
 would, doubtless, be difficult and arduous : yet it was viewed as 
 practicable. Our friends at Hadleigh, to our unspeakable com- 
 fort, came to give full weight to the motive constraining us to 
 the pain of leaving them. Gladly devoting our small private 
 resources in order to give ourselves quite freely to the enter- 
 prise, we betook ourselves, nearly a year ago, to the great foreign 
 city, and fixed our residence in Belleville, among the workmen. 
 
 " After spending two months in study of the language, and 
 in countless preliminary arrangements (searching out suitable 
 localities, obtaining the necessary authorisation from the Pre- 
 
Rise of the Work. 4 1 
 
 fecture, &c), we, with the new year, opened our first mission- 
 room, that in Belleville. On the day of our first meeting, the 
 Commissary of Police for the district, though cordially approv- 
 ing our object, expressed his fear, that in consequence of the 
 prevailing disposition to mock at religion, we should be unable 
 to go forward. The worst spot in St. Giles's, London, he said, 
 would be far more easily worked. 
 
 "With trembling hand we opened our door. At first the 
 people seemed to hesitate and pass by. The little company, 
 however, numbered forty. There was no molestation. Our 
 hopes began to revive. At the next meeting (Sunday evening), 
 the place was quite filled, more than 100 being present. Our 
 friend the Commissary attended, saw all things orderly and 
 quiet, and helped to sing the hymns. I may mention that in 
 all arrangements with the municipal and police authorities of 
 Paris, we have been most politely treated. Two styled our 
 work ' an apostolate ; ' another said, ' Bonne chance h, votre 
 charitable entreprise.' Two well-attended services per week, 
 besides a fortnightly children's meeting, have been regularly 
 held in the Belleville room ever since." 
 
 All this is what men call " an experiment ; " but 
 it was the experiment of faith. Here is a believing 
 man, and his like-minded wife setting about a work 
 of which it was impossible to estimate the success, 
 or fully to count the cost. It must be all committed 
 to God; and it must be gone about in His strength, 
 with the assured consciousness that the cause was 
 His. It was not human philanthropy setting up 
 some benevolent institution to civilise or soften or 
 subdue a people that had hitherto set all benevo- 
 lences, as well as all sternnesses at defiance ; but it 
 
42 The White Fields of France. 
 
 was faith attempting the impossible in the name of 
 the Lord of Hosts. 
 
 Will God fail His trusting servant ? Will He leave 
 him to his own resources, and allow him, unhelped, 
 to fight his own battle ? Will he give him a settle- 
 ment in Belleville, — that faubourg of 100,000 com- 
 munists ? Will He gather in the strange crowd 
 from their strange dwellings, from which they have 
 so often issued to shed blood ? And will He not 
 only give him Belleville, but open doors for him in 
 other places? To such questions as these Mr. 
 M 'All's answer is as follows : — 
 
 " The interest evidenced at Belleville encouraged us to ex- 
 tend our operations. After careful inquiries and some experi- 
 ments, we increased our stations to four. We opened that of 
 Menilmontant (close by the celebrated cemetery of Pere La- 
 chaise) at the end of February. Our little room was thronged 
 from the first day. We have been obliged to hire a larger one, 
 and that also is crowded. It is a cheering sight, as the men in 
 their white or blue blouses enter, often accompanied by their 
 wives and children, and sit down attentively to read until the 
 meeting shall commence. 
 
 " In April we opened a third station, at Charonne, close by 
 the Place du Trone, in a spot noted for irreligion in every 
 shape. Patience and forbearance have been tested there. But 
 we now have a number of earnest listeners ; and the insufficient 
 accommodation renders a larger room necessary, which we 
 expect to open on our return. 
 
 " Our fourth station, on the new Boulevard Ornano, Mont- 
 martre, amidst a dense mass of superior artisans, was also 
 opened in April. At the outset, determined efforts were made 
 
Rise of the Work. 43 
 
 by representatives of the ultra-atheistic party to interrupt us 
 there. We were also 'written down' in newspaper articles. 
 These men wished to assert that religion and liberty cannot 
 co-exist, that the name of Christ is but a symbol of tyranny, 
 &c. &c. While this opposition lasted, we had the expressed 
 sympathy not only of Protestants of all communities, but of 
 several liberal-hearted Koman Catholics. My valued friend, 
 the Rev. Theodore Monod, and others, aided me to answer 
 these cavils, and ere long the interruption ceased. Every 
 Monday evening, from the beginning, the room, accommo- 
 dating 150 or more, has been densely thronged, the workmen 
 forming a large majority in the audience. At this station we 
 have also an English service undertaken at the request of a 
 small colony of Englishmen chiefly connected with the gas- 
 works. 
 
 " Including two children's gatherings, eleven meetings are 
 held every week. All these are continued as usual, by the aid 
 of various friends, during our brief absence." 
 
 The meeting-places are not of the grand order ; 
 rather poor and peculiar ; but clean and well lighted. 
 Sometimes too narrow and awkwardly shaped both 
 for speaking and hearing; projecting angles and 
 wooden beams marring all architectural symmetry ; 
 they still are quite sufficient for their purpose, and 
 well situated for drawing an audience, especially of 
 the humbler classes. Unornamented certainly they 
 are, save as respects the texts of framed calico, 
 beautifully executed, of green and white or blue, 
 that hang all round, and act as sileat preachers. 
 We give Mr. M'AU's account of them : — 
 
 " All our stations are shops, and consequently on the track of 
 
44 The White Fields of France. 
 
 the passers-by. Three are on wide boulevards. The rental of 
 these, with incidental expenses and simple fittings, involves a 
 heavy outlay. Friends in London, Manchester, Sunderland, 
 Leceister, Hadleigh, &c, together with some generous-hearted 
 Christians in Paris (including Dr. Monod and others), also 
 several American visitors from New York, who most kindly 
 aided us in our meetings, have so far enabled us to meet these 
 increasing claims. Extended resources would enable us to 
 spread our operations to other populous and most destitute 
 districts of the vast city. 
 
 " A large calico sign over each shop invites the workmen to 
 enter. We also distribute small bills of invitation in each 
 district, telling the people that ' English friends wish to speak 
 to them of the love of Jesus Christ.' Some young English- 
 men, Swedes, and Frenchmen have greatly helped us at the 
 doors by encouraging suitable persons to come in. Warm 
 appreciation of the kindness of these helpers is often evidenced. 
 Eecently an old man at Montmartre said, on leaving, ' I came 
 in here the first time because, from outside, I saw a young lady 
 offer a hymn-hook to an ouvrier with a smile.' In each room 
 we have an harmonium. Most of our hymns we have ourselves 
 imitated from the English. They are generously printed for 
 our use by a friend at Sunderland. The cheerful tunes evidently 
 delight the people. They make great efforts to sing. Often it 
 is touching to hear their voices in such stanzas as — 
 
 ' Vive le nom de J&sus-Christ,' 
 
 ' Des pays froids et deserts,' &c. 
 
 We rejoice to reflect that unconsciously they learn the words, 
 and so come to have at least some outlines of the Gospel im- 
 pressed on the memory." 
 
 How to conduct such meetings must have been 
 at first an anxious thought to their originators. 
 Much depended on this. They must be attractive 
 
Rise of the Work. 45 
 
 and interesting as well as instructive. They must 
 not be controversial, and yet they must be evan- 
 gelical. Mr. M'All has not told us the process by 
 which he arrived at his permanent order and 
 arrangement ; nor how he was led to adopt some 
 of the peculiarities which distinguish his meetings 
 from others. What he tells us is as follows : — 
 
 " The meetings are very simply conducted. On entering, a 
 magazine, a Bible, or other book is lent to each attendant. 
 The French counterpart of the 'British Workman' is a great 
 favourite. Also 'L'Ami de la Jeunesse.' I wish extremely 
 that we had publications in French fully corresponding with 
 the Leisure Hour and Sunday at Home. The Bible and Tract 
 Societies, and the other agencies for Scripture portions and 
 suitable books, have generously aided us by free grants. We 
 have also a small free lending library at each station. 
 
 " Most striking evidences of the lamentable ignorance of the 
 Word of God prevalent in these districts meet us from time to 
 time. For example, more than once, after borrowing from us 
 successively the New Testament and the Bible, an ouvrier has 
 requested the loan of 'another volume of the same work.' An 
 old lady, after receiving copies of several of the Gospels at our 
 room, was anxious for ' the Gospel of St. Paul ' to complete 
 the set. We often feel much on seeing a man take away on 
 loan, with evident delight, a Bible 'for his children to read,' 
 the first Bible ever seen in his house ! 
 
 " In the meetings we have hymns alternately with short 
 addresses or readings. Variety and brevity are aimed at. On 
 Sundays something more of the usual form of a religious service 
 is adopted. We give a short sermon, and the feature of prayer 
 is added. The reading of the Bible is listened to on all occa- 
 sions with marked interest. Political allusions and religious 
 controversies are wholly shunned. We wish it to be under- 
 
46 The White Fields of France. 
 
 stood that we attack no Church or system, that our sole aim is 
 to direct our hearers to Christ. Many French pasteurs and 
 Christians, besides those mentioned, help us from time to time 
 (M. Robin, of Belleville, M. Armand Delille, M. Gaubert, with 
 evangelists, &c.) Our friend and brother, the Rev. T. B. Hart, 
 is always ready with his kind aid. 
 
 " When English or American friends visit us, if they prefer 
 to speak in English, the people listen with eagerness while 
 each sentence is translated into French. These visits are quite 
 a kindness and a real source of strength to us. The sympathy 
 so manifested tends to awaken the people to our earnest pur- 
 pose. During the summer this has formed a very pleasing 
 feature. 
 
 " We feared at the outset that when the charm of novelty 
 should fail, our audiences might melt away. Thus far we 
 have, on the contrary, witnessed a steady increase. The attend- 
 ances were maintained throughout the sultry summer. 
 
 " The statistics (corrected to 25th November) are as follows : — 
 
 No. of sittings (chairs) in the 4 rooms 
 
 French meetings held 
 
 Of which for children 
 
 Aggregate attendance 
 
 Average for each meeting throughout 
 
 Average attendance per week, for some time 
 
 500 
 382 
 
 76 
 30,520 
 
 85 
 900 
 
 (The majority oi attendants are men at the adult meetings, 
 boys at the children's meetings.) 
 
 Books issued from lending libraries . . 524 
 
 Tracts and Scripture portions distributed . . 48,000 
 
 (Exclusive of 2779 given during short summer journeys in 
 Normandy and in the Vosges, and in ten French meetings 
 held with the people there.) 
 
 " In addition, 22 English services have been held, and 130 
 books issued irom our little English library." 
 
Rise of the Work. 47 
 
 The following is a pago of fragments well worth 
 the reading, as affording us some glimpses of the 
 people's feelings as they went and came ; giving 
 out to one another, or to the workers, their casual 
 remarks on this strange novelty that had arisen 
 among them, and which without difficulty, and 
 almost without opposition, had found a place in 
 a district the unlikeliest to have welcomed such 
 messengers, and such a message : — 
 
 " A few candidly spoken words may reveal mnch respecting 
 the contrasted attitudes of different sections of the populace 
 towards religion. One rugged son of toil, in answer to our 
 question — ' Do you not want a true Friend ? ' — replied, ' Non ; 
 je n'ai besoin de rien. Pour moi,j 'adore le soleil. Ma religion 
 n'est que la religion du travail.' 
 
 " Again, a man, evidently full of himself, said, at the door, 
 1 Eeligion is a good thing for the young and for old people ; 
 but as for me, who am in full life, I have no need of anything 
 of the kind.' A profound philosopher, truly ! 
 
 " A kind-hearted Roman Catholic lady, a frequent attendant, 
 had asked us to her house. Her husband, a man of wealth, 
 received us very kindly, and spoke freely. He said, ' No man 
 cares to be religious here. The priests have made the way to 
 heaven so very difficult that no one cares to go.' He added, 
 1 Only the women go to church, It would be reckoned a dis- 
 grace to one of us if we should enter such a place.' 
 
 " Turn to the opposite side. A hard-working ouvrier came 
 eagerly to us, saying, ' I want to be taught religion. I do not 
 understand it. I want to learn what it is.' Another man, 
 addressing a hesitant group of his neighbours at one of our 
 doors, said, 'lama Catholic ; but go you in. You will hear 
 only the Gospel there ; and there is nothing to pay.' 
 
48 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " People are constantly telling us that they wish to ' change 
 their religion.' Parents, especially, desire that their children 
 should be ' trained as Protestants.' A few days ago a sergent- 
 de-ville requested me to come to his house and explain to him 
 how he and all his family might learn our ' religion ' — meaning 
 the Gospel in its simplicity. 
 
 " Another very pleasing feature is to find workmen inducing 
 their fellow-workmen to attend, and bringing them to us to 
 borrow Bibles, &c. 
 
 " Various incidents seem to show that our simple mode of 
 conducting the meetings is not unsuccessful. An intelligent 
 man said to me, ' I like your reunions, because there is no 
 mixing of politics with religion. I do not say this to flatter ; 
 I sincerely feel it.' The utmost care is needed in avoiding 
 political allusions. A well-to-do tradesman said to me, after 
 a meeting, amidst a group in the doorway, evidently to test 
 me : — ' Votre reunion est jolie ; mais moi, je dis surtout, vive 
 la republique ! ' I replied, ' Vive la liberte ! ' and every one 
 seemed to be satisfied. 
 
 " The people are often, at first much puzzled to understand 
 who and what we are. They have been heard whispering to 
 each other outside, ' C'est la J6suites ! C'est un pretre, n'est ce 
 pas'?' The pretty Scripture prints ornamenting our rooms, 
 supplied by the Sunday-School Union and by friends, are 
 useful in this respect. They form a quiet expression of our 
 true position, being so markedly unlike the Koman Catholic 
 pictures. 
 
 " One evening when the congregation was dispersing, a bour- 
 geois came up, full of self-assertion. After questioning our 
 young English friend at the door, he said, ' Ah, this is all very 
 well for the ouvriers ; it is not the thing for me.' A sergent-de- 
 ville on his beat, hearing this, addressed the bourgeois : — ' Sir, 
 it is a very good thing for everybody ; it is a very good thing 
 for Belleville.' The policemen have been repeatedly heard 
 recommending the bystanders to go in, assuring them that 
 
Rise of the Work. 49 
 
 they would liear only what is for their good. Many ti] 
 are cheered by the warm pressure of our hand on leaving, and 
 the words, ' Je vous remercie infmiment ; je reviendrai.' And 
 they do return. Nor is it unusual to hear during the meeting, 
 after some home truth has been spoken, such expressions as, 
 ' C'est bon,' < C'est vrai.' 
 
 " The Sunday before our leaving, a French friend who helps 
 at our doors mentioned that the same afternoon two or three 
 young men, who, on entering, evidently intended to make sport, 
 had remained as attentive listeners, and that he had recently 
 observed the same thing more than once at Montmartre, 
 
 " It is amusing to observe the surprise of the people when 
 assured that everything is gratuitous. ' Do you give all this 
 ior nothing ! ' they ask. Some seem almost offended when we 
 decline to take their money. The other day, during a dis- 
 cussion outside, after the meeting, whether we were Catholics 
 or Protestants, several were heard to say, ' Never mind which 
 they are ; we will come again, for here all are treated alike ; 
 everything is free, and every one is made welcome.' It is 
 something to disarm prejudice and elicit kindly feeling. "We 
 therefore hail every such token, as giving hope of some higher 
 result afterwards. 
 
 " We are not wholly left without indications of that higher 
 result. A widow and her daughter had formed the dark and 
 terrible impression that there was no God, because, they 
 reasoned, if He had existed, He could not have allowed them 
 to be so heavily afllicted. The husband had perished in the 
 Commune, and nearly all the children had died in rapid suc- 
 cession. They refused to enter any place of worship. Led, 
 somehow, to one of our rooms, they there learned to see a 
 Father's correcting love, where, before, only cruelty and ven- 
 geance had appeared ; and, we trust, have been brought to a 
 heartfelt reception of the Saviour." 
 
 The last extract which we give from this interest- 
 
50 The White Fields of France. 
 
 ing address contains tho writer's impressions, on a 
 review of the first year of labour : — 
 
 " After a year of close observation, our first impression re- 
 specting the attitude of this vast populace towards religion is 
 confirmed. In this view, three groups may be distinguished. 
 The first consists of men so steeped in atheism and self-indulg- 
 ence that they seem well-nigh impervious to all ameliorating 
 influences. The second is composed of those who have no 
 idea of religion, save under the distorted shape of a system 
 which they have utterly rejected. In meeting them, the first 
 and difficult task is to awaken them to the existence of life, 
 freedom, love, where they had supposed only exaction, artifice, 
 imposition to have place. The third group is that of those 
 who are already convinced that there is a reality in religion, 
 and are in waiting posture, ready to welcome the life-giving 
 message. 
 
 " In view of the disposition to hear, evidenced at our four 
 unobtrusive stations, we cannot doubt that, were similar 
 arrangements extended to every district in Paris, attentive 
 listeners would be multiplied. My excellent neighbour, Mon- 
 sieur Robin, Protestant pastor of Belleville, says that there is 
 room in Paris for fifty such places, and for fifty missionary 
 ministers. Very recently, an intelligent workman, one of our 
 constant attendants, came to me, after a meeting at M£nil- 
 montant, to express his firm conviction that if a building ten 
 times the size were thrown open for Christian preaching on that 
 spot, it would be crowded with willing listeners. 
 
 " With what pain do we feel our inability to occupy more 
 than a corner of the vast field ! A generous-hearted Liverpool 
 merchant, himself a descendant of the Huguenots, said to me 
 after our meeting at Montmartre, a few days ago — ' Every 
 quarter throughout Paris ought to have a religious meeting- 
 place for the workmen.' Alive to the impossibility of our 
 meeting the vast exigency alone, he suggested that resources 
 
Rise of the Work. 5 1 
 
 and additional labourers might be found in England, so as to 
 secure * a girdle of mission-stations round the whole city. 7 Could 
 this be effected, the warm co-operation of French pastors and 
 Christian workers might be relied on. 
 
 " It is our fond hope that, on the basis of our stations, per- 
 manent Christian institutions may eventually arise. If, in each 
 quarter, a plain but spacious building could be secured, com- 
 prising a large room for meeting and services, a reading-room? 
 and a small lending library, who can doubt that great blessings 
 would flow from it throughout its neighbourhood ? 
 
 "In these arrangements the children ought not to be lost 
 sight of. Every observer of the religious needs of Paris and 
 of France must receive a profound impression with reference 
 to its rising race. Our weekly juvenile meetings, on the holi- 
 day afternoon, enabled us to reach, more or less, about 300. 
 In these children, most of them grievously destitute of moral 
 home training, we see that which convinces us, that could 
 wholesome teaching be spread everywhere among the French 
 children of this generation, the nation would, under God's 
 blessing, rise up morally renovated in the next. In spite of the 
 efforts of the dominant Church to monopolise education, there 
 can be no doubt that a multitude of parents would thankfully 
 place their families under such teaching. Often as I remarked, 
 they come to us expressing the wish that their children should 
 be trained as Protestants. Their meaning is not that they 
 desire a sectarian education, but that they wish their children 
 to imbibe principles of Christian morality. 
 
 " It is touching to hear these young voices in hymns we 
 teach them, the only words of the kind some of them are ever 
 taught ! Parents (lathers as well as mc '.hers) often come in, 
 pleased to listen while their children sing, and answer Scrip- 
 ture questions. 
 
 " But the thought of the tens of thousands of the young in 
 Paris not brought under even this modicum of influence is 
 overwhelming ! The Protestant schools, though worked with 
 
54 The White Fields of France. 
 
 specially to be desired and aimed at. Foreigners 
 may do something; but ultimately the French 
 Christians must take up the work, if it is to be 
 permanent and aggressive ; if it is to permeate, not 
 only Paris, but the cities and villages of France. 
 French liberality must also be stimulated. The 
 pecuniary burden must devolve on French shoulders. 
 Not that we grudge English gold. It is a noble 
 position for a nation to occupy, — to stretch out a 
 helping hand to all nations of the earth ; which 
 Great Britain, in the midst of all her sin and selfish- 
 ness, at this day is doing. It is no common honour 
 that God has put upon us to make England the 
 religious metropolis of the world, so that from us go 
 forth not only tracts and books and Bibles in all 
 languages, but missionaries of the cross to every 
 nation. In the Continental wars of the earlier part 
 of this century, England was described as 
 
 ". . . The fond ally, 
 That fights for all . . . ." 
 
 And, perhaps, when it was added — 
 
 " But ever fights in vain," 
 
 there was truth in the sarcasm. In England's 
 better warfare of the last fifty years, there has been 
 a truer and a holier " fighting for all," the issues of 
 which have been life and not death; — victories over 
 
Rise of the Work. 55 
 
 all the earth, which the world neither applauds nor 
 chronicles, but which are not the less on that account 
 blessed and glorious. In these battles she does 
 not "fight in vain." In the former warfare she 
 lavished millions without grudging, and shed blood 
 without scruple, in behalf of one and another and 
 another kingdom. And, doubtless, she achieved 
 something for earthly liberty and order. But the 
 cost was great. In the latter warfare, against dark- 
 ness and sin, with no carnal weapons, but seeking 
 only to bring the prisoners out of their prison-house, 
 and to give light to them that sit in darkness, she 
 need not grudge her gold ; she need not shrink 
 from bloodless triumphs, the triumphs of peace and 
 holiness. Let all the world know that there is a 
 nation whom God delights to honour ; and whom He 
 honours by making use of her gold and her power, to 
 transmit His Book, and the Gospel which that Book 
 contains, to all kindreds of the earth. 
 
 But there is a limit to this. This small island, 
 with its thousand responsibilities and burdens can- 
 not draw illimitably upon its resources. The nations 
 whom she helps must help themselves. We cannot 
 continue subsidising the whole world ; not because 
 we grudge it, but because there are limits to our 
 exchequer, and our own people have claims upon us, 
 even superior to the whole Continent together. 
 
56 The White Fields of France. 
 
 France especially is now a prosperous nation. 
 The hoarded gains of her population in all her towns 
 and villages, which were lying useless, perhaps in 
 chest or cupboard, were drawn out by the Prussian 
 demand for the late war-indemnity, and are now 
 bearing interest of five per cent, or more, to their 
 owners ; so that her citizens, and, not least, her 
 peasantry, have become much richer than before ; 
 their incomes increased and made permanent and 
 unfluctuating. As a prosperous community, we may 
 now appeal to her to help herself. We cannot do 
 everything for her. She must step forward herself 
 both with the money and the men. 
 
 If the breath of a new life has gone over France 
 this will not be long of being done.'" The same 
 
 * " France, beyond all doubt, is labouring to detach herself from 
 Eoman Catholicism, whether this is to be done gradually or at once. 
 The last elections turned out against clericalism, and as Roman 
 Catholicism among us will not separate her cause from that of 
 Ultramontanism, one may say that the elections struck a blow at 
 Roman Catholicism. It is enough to listen to the lamentations of 
 the clerical papers, to the complaints of the Abbd Bougaud, Vicar- 
 General of Orleans, about the daily increasing difficulty of recruiting 
 the priestly ranks, to the despairing appeals for Peter's pence, and 
 for the furtherance of other Catholic contrivances ; it is enough, on 
 the other hand, to see the churches deserted in three-quarters of the 
 provinces, and the increasing number of civil interments — to under- 
 stand the reality of the rupture, daily widening into a divorce, that 
 has taken place between the Romish Church and the populations of 
 France. Is it hard to explain this rupture — this divorce ? We do not 
 need to speak of the new dogmas of her own invention that Romanism 
 has thought proper to proclaim, as if to do her utmost to deepen the 
 
Rise of the Work. 5 7 
 
 mighty spirit, that has been quickening the dead, can 
 raise up an apostolic ministry. The Bartholomew 
 Massacre slew 100,000 of her best and noblest ; but 
 now out of their ashes is arising another host to do 
 the work which they expected to do. If the land 
 of Coligny is true to herself she will rise to the 
 responsibility of the crisis. Native evangelists and 
 pastors will be sent forth to carry out a mission for 
 the ivliole of France, which no foreigner can under- 
 take. The present work has been begun by the 
 English stranger; but unless the stimulus which it 
 is giving to the Protestants of the land issue in 
 some large, noble, — shall I say, daring, — enter- 
 prise, for the evangelisation of their fellow-country- 
 men, the M'All Mission will not have fully served 
 its end, nor accomplished the aspirations of its 
 founder. 
 
 It may be true that the present rulers of France 
 are of foreign origin, and that the French do not 
 
 gulf between the blind faith that she requires from her followers and 
 the scepticism of the century. We do not need to speak of the new 
 and unusual phase of pilgrimages, or of Catholic Clubs, or of the 
 materialistic and pagan devotions to the Sacre"-Cceur, to our Lady of 
 Lourdes or of La Salette. Nor need we refer to the contrast, 
 always offensive, between the doctrines of Christ and the practices of 
 Popery — between the simplicity and humility which the Gospel 
 teaches and the pomp and parade of our prelates, some of whom will 
 only enter their episcopal cities when announced by the noise of 
 cannon, and preceded by a military cortije ; unlike the Son of David, 
 who entered Jerusalem riding on an ass." — M. Keveill.vud. 
 
58 The White Fields of France. 
 
 object to foreign help. The Prime Minister is Eng- 
 lish, the President of the Chambers Italian, several 
 of the Government officials are, by descent at least, 
 foreigners, so that France is governed by " exotic 
 Frenchmen," or rather, by nationalised foreigners. 
 To this the nation assents. But, then, all these have 
 been fused by education and long residence into 
 French ways and sympathies. No difference comes 
 to the surface. But it will take years before the 
 like fusion or naturalisation can take place in the 
 present mission, and the ungospelised millions of 
 the land cannot afford to wait. The white fields 
 demand immediate reaping; and the present 
 labourers are quite inadequate to the task, both in 
 numbers and in fitness : and He who has so unex- 
 pectedly ripened the harvest can alone provide the 
 reapers. As in the first century the fields of Europe 
 and Asia ripened, and the Lord of the harvest sent 
 forth His apostolic band of labourers into Greece and 
 Italy to cut down the corn-fields of Corinth, and 
 Thessalonica, and Galatia, and Rome, — of Antioch, 
 and Ephesus, and Colosse ; so may we expect that 
 experienced sickles are now preparing for the fields 
 of France. Only this singular honour has been 
 conferred on England, to lead the way, and by her 
 self-denying zeal to stimulate the energies of the 
 Christians of the French Fatherland. Instead of 
 
Rise of the Work. 59 
 
 the imperfect sickles wielded by foreign hands, Ke 
 will provide implements more efficacious and more 
 successful.*"" 
 
 There are wealthy Protestants in France ; let 
 them consecrate their abundance to God, and not 
 waste it on themselves. 
 
 Meanwhile it is no common privilege thus to help 
 a neighbour, and to communicate of our plenty 
 to a people to whom we have so many ties of in- 
 terest and sympathy ; yet with whom we have been 
 so often at war. 
 
 * Yet let us not forget the following striking incident and testi- 
 mony : — 
 
 "During the period of the meetings of the Evangelical Alliance 
 in London, in 1851, one speaker was recommending the Foreign 
 Aid Society, on the ground that it only employed French 
 and Swiss preachers, and did not send out Englishmen, when 
 Dr. Merle d'Aubigne rose and said, that he for one could not 
 accept this as a recommendation ; for if it had not been for the 
 grace of God in ordering the mission of the venerable Robert 
 Haldane from Scotland, I myself, so far as man can see, would not 
 have been here to-day." — "Lives of the Haldanes," p. 471. 
 
6o The White Fields of France. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PROGRESS AND EXPANSION". 
 
 w$uj7'E come now to the first regular report issued 
 ;!$>)* by Mr. M'All, from which we mean largely 
 to borrow, for the same reasons for which we drew 
 so unsparingly on his Congregational address. 
 
 It is headed, " Mission to the Working Men of 
 Paris ; Report for fourteen months, November, 1871 , 
 to January, 1873." We confess to the great interest 
 we ourselves have felt in perusing this report. 
 Subsequent reports contain, of course, more infor- 
 mation, and deal more in incident and detail ; but 
 this, as the authentic and official narrative of the 
 origin and development of the work, has special 
 interest for all who love to trace a great and success- 
 ful undertaking to its first beginnings. One likes, 
 not merely in the spirit of poetry or sentiment, but 
 in the name of sober geography, to go back along 
 a river's banks, and to stand in the quiet upland 
 glen where it first arose. 
 
Progress and Expansion. 6 1 
 
 To this report the late Dr. Binney, of London, 
 wrote an introductory note, giving his own impres- 
 sions, which are worth preserving : — " I can hardly 
 say that I was requested to write these few lines ; 
 the more correct statement, perhaps, would be that 
 I offered to write them, for such is my appreciation 
 of the disinterested zeal and laborious self-denial of 
 my dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. M'All, and such my 
 interest in their work, that I felt moved to help, in 
 any way in my power, what they had undertaken. 
 It is no doubt a somewhat singular form of benevolent 
 agency, — this sitting down of two English people in 
 one of the less attractive districts of Paris, in order 
 to labour gratuitously for the religious benefit of the 
 working class. The very idea of the thing will to 
 some seem strange and Quixotic, and may be re- 
 garded as something which will turn out to be 
 wanting in depth and permanence." 
 
 This is just the very thought that must have 
 occurred to many at the time, perhaps even to the 
 originators themselves, trying their faith, and it 
 may be burdening their spirits. Alone in a land of 
 strangers, face to face with the great Parisian mass 
 of human wickedness, with no organisation to assist, 
 and no society to fall back upon, they could not but 
 sometimes ask themselves why they had ventured 
 on such an enterprise, and whether a work begun 
 
62 The White Fields of France. 
 
 with *such very slender appliances was likely to last, 
 or to make any permanent impression on that city 
 of atheism and Popery and pleasure. 
 
 " However this may be," Dr. Binney adds, " in 
 respect to the scheme itself, it is not to be doubted 
 that, in individual minds, impressions will be made 
 which, though the machinery were to vanish to- 
 morroiv, will be lasting as eternity, and have in- 
 estimable results, immediate and remote, in time." 
 
 We have italicised a few words in the above 
 sentence, which seem specially worthy of attention. 
 Were nothing more to come out of this work than 
 what this first report records, and had it ceased 
 after only a year's existence, it would not have been 
 in vain for Paris and for France. 
 
 When we remember that the following sentence 
 was written within little more than a year after the 
 mission had been set on foot, and before it had 
 reached anything like the dimensions to which it 
 has now come, we shall be inclined to ask, if Dr. 
 Binney spoke thus at a time when there were but 
 few stations, what would he have written had he 
 lived to see the twenty-three ? 
 
 " It is wonderful," he writes, " to us how much 
 our friends have done, in the number of stations 
 established and services sustained ; it is obvious that 
 the work must demand much thought and incessant 
 
Progress and Expansion. 63 
 
 labour ; and it is reasonable to expect that what 
 was begun in faith, and is carried on with prayer 
 and painstaking, will, through the Divine bless- 
 ing, be followed by some encouraging measure of 
 success." 
 
 His concluding sentence deserves special notice. 
 It speaks to the Churches of Great Britain. It is 
 a call for workers; a summons to Christian men 
 and women. It has been in some measure responded 
 to, but the increasing necessities of the case, and 
 the widening of the field, demand a much larger 
 response. He asks for labourers, — the right men 
 and the right women to do the work of God in 
 Paris. " Who will go for us ? " is his question. He 
 did not live to see the largeness of the answer given. 
 We see it to-day. Yet we still call for more. The 
 100,000 of Belleville alone would require at least 
 fifty labourers ; how many shall we ask for the 
 2,000,000 of the whole city? 
 
 " If another English couple, like-minded with our 
 friends, and able to devote themselves to such a 
 work, were to become colleagues and coadjutors in 
 the Mission, it would both lighten labour and increase 
 it, by cheering our friends, sharing their toil, and 
 giving vigour and variety to existing or projecting 
 forms of service. In the meantime, that this sin- 
 gularly interesting work of Mr. and Mrs. M'All may 
 
64 The White Fields of France. 
 
 be strengthened and sustained, it is hereby heartily 
 commended to the loving prayers and liberal con- 
 tributions of the English friends into whose hands 
 these words may come." 
 
 We think it important to preserve such an early 
 testimony as this to the excellency of the work, both 
 because it is interesting in itself, and because our 
 narrative will show, as it proceeds, how fully the 
 opinion of the writer has been justified and borne 
 out by the subsequent history of the Mission. 
 
 "We come now to the report itself, which, exclusive 
 of accounts and subscription lists, consists of only 
 seven pages. Yet upon these seven pages we dwell 
 with even greater interest than upon the more 
 extended reports of subsequent years. This first 
 report (1872), with its seven pages, chronicles four 
 stations, with the prospect of a fifth; the second 
 (1873), consisting of ten pages, sets down eight 
 stations; the third (1874), with its fifteen pages, 
 registers eleven stations; the fourth (1875), with 
 its seventeen pages, gives us a list of seventeen 
 stations; the fifth (1876), with its twenty-three 
 pages, records nineteen stations; the sixth (1877), 
 with its thirty-eight pages, tells us of twenty-two 
 stations ; the seventh (1878) and last, with its thirty- 
 six pages, numbers twenty-two stations, though more 
 properly they are twenty-three. 
 
Progress and Expansion. 65 
 
 In some of the quotations"' which follow, the reader 
 may notice a slight repetition of some of the early- 
 facts, which he will easily know how to excuse. 
 This could hardly be avoided without mutilating 
 the extracts, which we are unwilling to do: — 
 
 " Two months after our arrival in Paris were spent in anxious 
 and laborious preparation for our work. Localities had to be 
 sought out, the sanction of the municipal authorities obtained, 
 and the meeting-rooms furnished and made ready. Our first 
 meeting was held in our Belleville room on Wednesday even- 
 
 * We give, in a note, the following statement as to a peculiar 
 feature of the work : — " The development of the work has called 
 for several new features. At three stations we have recently formed 
 classes for teaching English to the workmen — a method which 
 appears to promise well for securing their confidence in our friend- 
 ship. At two stations we have just organised French Sunday 
 schools. Could we obtain additional helpers, we should rejoice to 
 extend these arrangements to all the districts. As we come to know 
 the people more, the requirements in visitation, &c, constantly 
 increase. We are seeking to engage part of the time of an excellent 
 Christian friend, a man of experience, to aid us especially in this 
 department. In addition, would that some brother in the ministry, 
 with his wife, could come and join us. 
 
 " On opening our Montmartre station, we found ourselves amidst 
 a little colony of intelligent English workmen, who requested that 
 a meeting should also be held for them. With this desire we gladly 
 complied, and have, since April last, conducted a Sunday afternoon 
 English service there, together with an English Lending Library. 
 The pressure of French work now leads us thankfully to confide the 
 chief charge of this section to our friend and brother, the Rev. T. 
 Baron Hart. Having had to relinquish two out-stations at the time 
 of the siege, he is able to undertake two meetings weekly, and has 
 also just now succeeded in forming a small English Sunday school. 
 The work will, however, still depend upon our Mission Fund for its 
 support as before." 
 
 F 
 
66 The White Fields of France. 
 
 ing, 17th January, 1872. Twelve months of unbroken effort 
 being completed, we wish to lay before the numerous friends 
 who have spontaneousl} r enabled us to meet the necessary 
 outlay a statement of the mode in which their contributions 
 have been enrployed. 
 
 " Before entering on financial details, a few words may be 
 offered on the effort in itself. The general features of its origin 
 and history are contained in a paper read before the Congre- 
 gational Union of England and Wales at Nottingham, in 
 October last, kindly inserted by our esteemed friend, the Rev. 
 R. Ashton, in the Congregational Year-Book for 1873. Not- 
 withstanding the entirely unsectarian character of our under- 
 taking, we gladly made that statement, in response to the 
 invitation of the Committee of the Union, conveyed by the 
 Rev. A. Hannay, desiring to elicit the prayerful sympathy of 
 our brethren. 
 
 " For the information of those friends into whose hands the 
 Year-book may not fall, it may be well to present a sketch of 
 the enterprise from its commencement. 
 
 "During a brief summer holiday in 1871, Mrs. M. and I 
 made a first visit to Paris. No thought was more remote than 
 that of quitting friends and country in order to become workers 
 in France. Such, however, was the impression produced on 
 our mind by the eagerness with which the tracts we offered 
 were received, and by the earnest words of an intelligent work- 
 man, who, standing amidst a large group of his comrades in the 
 heart of Belleville, assured us that many of them were ready 
 for the teachings of a free and pure religion, that we were led 
 to most anxious thought on the possibility of a Christian enter- 
 prise in those neglected districts, so recently the scene of dire 
 calamities. 
 
 " After consultation with experienced Christian labourers in 
 Paris, especially with Dr. Fisch, we deemed it our duty to leave 
 our kind friends at Hadleigh, and, girding on the missionary 
 harness, to fix our residence in Belleville, among the workmen. 
 
Progress and Expansion. 67 
 
 We resolved to endeavour to open mission-rooms, and to invite 
 to them the workmen and their families. The fact that those 
 we specially desired to influence were wholly unused to attend- 
 ance on religious services, suggested the idea of meetings in 
 which there should he no lengthened speaking, but a number 
 of short, pointed readings or addresses, varied by the singing of 
 hymns, and, as soon as the people might seem prepared for it, the 
 offering of prayer. The reading of the Bible would, we felt, form 
 an interesting feature ; that book having, sad to say, for multi- 
 tudes here the charm of absolute novelty ! To those arrange- 
 ments, we proposed to add the provision of illustrated maga- 
 zines, such as ' L'Ouvrier Francais,' and of other periodicals, 
 so that all entering our rooms might be invited to read until 
 the meeting should commence. We also proposed to open a 
 Lending Library, for the issue of Bibles and New Testaments, 
 and other good books, at each station. The excellent society 
 at Toulouse enabled us to form these libraries. These, with 
 the distribution of tracts and of Scripture portions at the doors 
 of our rooms, formed the chief features of our plan. 
 
 " We are thankful to state that, in carrying it into effect, we 
 have been greatly encouraged. Such an attempt, put forth in 
 such districts, could not fail to involve many difficulties and 
 trials. At Montmartre, the opening of our room in April last 
 was the signal for determined and bitter opposition on the part 
 of the atheists of the district, each Monday evening represent- 
 atives of that party attending for the purpose of disputing all 
 our statements. The newspaper press was also brought into 
 requisition to ' write us down.' We deemed it best to allow 
 questions, and these, with the aid of Messrs. Thiodore Monod, 
 Leuzinger, and others, were answered. After the last of these 
 bitter cavils had been met, it was delightful to hear the favourite 
 French hymn, sung with voice and heart in the crowded room, 
 Qu'ils sont beaux sur les montagnes, ' How beautiful upon the 
 mountains,' &c. Ever since, the full attendance and marked 
 attention on these Monday evenings have been most cheering. 
 
68 The White Fields of France. 
 
 So far as we can ascertain, since the formation of the fine new 
 Boulevard Ornano, no religious meeting of any description had 
 been attempted within its precincts until the opening of our 
 room. We account it an unspeakable honour to have been the 
 first to endeavour to plant there the standard of Divine truth 
 and love. 
 
 " The marked fondness of the people (the men especially) 
 for the hymns we have imitated for them from the English is 
 worthy of mention. They evidently take great pleasure in 
 learning to sing them with us to the cheerful tunes familiar in 
 England, but entirely new to them. To a valued friend at 
 Sunderland we are deeply indebted for gratuitously printing 
 1000 copies of more than forty of these hymns. The words 
 becoming imprinted on the memory, it is not too much to hope 
 that these germs of heavenly truth may spring into life even 
 after many years. 
 
 " When we were about to open our earliest stations, it was 
 even the opinion of the municipal authorities in several of the 
 quarters that, in consequence of the prevailing disposition to 
 mock at religion, we should be unable to proceed. Those who 
 entertained these fears have since congratulated us on the 
 moralising tendency of the meetings. Members of the police 
 force, especially, have repeatedly borne this testimony. They 
 have everywhere shown themselves friendly to our object. We 
 had the pleasure of presenting the ' Almanach des Publications 
 Populaires ' to each man in the Belleville force, eighty-one in 
 number, as a small New- Year's recognition of their civility in 
 preserving us from interruption throughout the year. They 
 decline to receive money, but are delighted with our books and 
 pictures. Great politeness has been observed towards us by 
 the civic authorities ; but the utmost care is required to avoid 
 every political allusion and all religious controversy in our 
 meetings, the terms of our authorisation expressly forbidding 
 both. 
 
 " Many who have visited us have been surprised on witness- 
 
Progress and Expansion. 69 
 
 ing the respectful attention of those whom they had supposed 
 to be inaccessible to any such influence. It is a pleasing sight 
 to look round on the group, often densely packed, of ouvriers 
 in their blouses, with their wives and children ; to observe 
 their eager listening to some incident or illustration pointing 
 to the vital truth and the almighty Saviour. Still more, their 
 cordial shake of the hand, and kind expressions of thanks, at 
 the close of the meetings, often revive our hearts and lighten 
 our toil. Would that we could rejoic3 over many as fully 
 devoted to Jesus ! There are a few respecting whom this joy 
 is allowed us. Many others, at each of the stations, have 
 become constant attendants. We ask the fervent prayer of 
 Christiana at home that many may indeed be ' brought out of 
 darkness into marvellous light.' Meanwhile, we feel that even 
 to gain the ear of numbers for the Gospel is a result over which 
 we have reason to rejoice. 
 
 " Our mission rooms are all shops, which we have to rent 
 wholly for the purpose. These, being situated on public 
 thoroughfares, attract the notice of passers-by. Some of our 
 kind helpers always stand at the doors, inviting the people to 
 come in. At each station, from its opening, we have held, with 
 unbroken regularity, two meetings weekly, one on the Sunday, 
 one on a week-night, besides two weekly meetings for children, 
 on their holiday afternoon, which are also largely attended. 
 We have been enabled to carry out the whole of our arrange- 
 ments amidst wintry cold and summer heat ; and it is a grati- 
 fying fact that not on a single occasion have we been without 
 an audience." 
 
 But the most important part of the report 
 remains to be cited. We have seen something of 
 the Mission in its external appliances ; let us learn 
 something of its workings and results. Mr. M'All 
 thus writes : — 
 
jo The White Fields of France. 
 
 "We frequently hear expressions which evidence that the 
 view of religion as an affair of the heart and life is absolutely 
 new to the thought of many around us. A remarkably intel- 
 ligent young man, now a constant attendant, said, only a few 
 days ago, ' I have been reading carefully the little Evangiles 
 (Scripture portions) you have given me, and I find in them a 
 religion, not of buying and selling, not of forms and absolu- 
 tions, but " la vraie morale" something which goes to our heart 
 and life ; and I approve it.' The men are especially interested 
 in the recital of examples of moral courage, self-denial, patience, 
 &c. An English workman, who attends many of our French 
 meetings, tells us that he often hears them say at the close, 
 referring to such recitals, ' Ah ! e'est gentil ca. lis sont bons, 
 ces anglais : C'est la liberty, l'egalit^, la fraternity.' These 
 favourite words are used by them with reference to our receiv- 
 ing no payment, and to the fact that all who come are treated 
 alike. 
 
 " Again and again they will say to us, l Vous vous donnez 
 beaucoup de peine pour nous : nous en devons etre bien recon- 
 naissants.' A few evenings ago, after we had taught an English 
 class of sixty persons or more at our new station Faubourg St. 
 Antoine, a most respectable ouvrier, a constant attendant, stood 
 forward amidst them all, and said to me, ' I wish to thank you 
 and madame very much for all the pains you take on our behalf 
 here ; and we hope that great good will be the result.' Bright 
 looks and a hearty shake of the hand all round seemed to assure 
 us that this ouvrier spoke the general sentiment. 
 
 " We are tempted to record the heart-cheering words with 
 which an intelligent medical man, a Swedenborgian, who has 
 himself laboured much to lead the ouvriers towards religion by 
 the aid of scientific inquiries, received us to his house — 'Je 
 desire vous faire un bon accueil dans ma maison si humble ; 
 vous qui etes les anges gardiens de nos pauvres ouvriers 
 francais.' 
 
 " A few weeks ago the first of our regular attendants who, 
 
Progress and Expansion. 7 1 
 
 to our knowledge, has been called into eternity, died very 
 suddenly of paralysis. He was an old man, respectable but 
 poor. We had often exchanged a few words with him respect- 
 ing the sorrows of the present and the glorious hope beyond. 
 His sister, a confirmed invalid, said, in speaking of his death, 
 1 Well, he is happy, doubtless. He was a good man. He loved 
 Jesus.' On another occasion, a gentleman who had never, I 
 believe, attended any but Roman Catholic services before, said 
 to a friend, ' I feel, after all, that I want something more than 
 I have yet found.' A kind invitation brought him to one of 
 our meetings while we were in England. A French pasteur 
 conducted the service in our stead. The gentleman listened 
 with interest to his words, and on leaving said, ' I shall come 
 again when Mr. M'All returns.' On the day in which he had 
 planned to be with us he was laid in the grave. 
 
 " It was only on the evening of writing this that a French 
 gentleman said to us, • Je vous felicite de votre bonne ceuvre 
 pour notre classe Guvn^re.' He went on to express his belief 
 that, could similar efforts be multiplied, an important influence 
 would be exercised for the amelioration of morals and the 
 elevation of the people. He said earnestly that the classe 
 ouvriere had been long and disastrously neglected; but he was 
 of opinion that even yet they could be made alive to the 
 realities of morals and religion. As a Eoman Catholic, he 
 added, he admired the unsectarianism of our procedure. 
 
 " Such spontaneous testimonies (and we are cheered by tbem 
 frequently) encourage the belief that the mode we have adopted 
 ci immends itself to the judgment of those who know the French 
 populace well. 
 
 "We are thankful to add that expressions, both oral and 
 written, could be recorded, leading us to believe that the good 
 seed had already yielded its fruit of spiritual life in some 
 hearts. Some of these have filled us with inexpressible grati- 
 tude and joy. 
 
 " Reviewing the year's history, we are encouraged to go for- 
 
72 The White Fields of France. 
 
 ward, relying on Divine help. The impression of the urgent 
 need for such an enterprise which led us to break the ties of 
 pastorate and home, have been deepened day by day. Yet it is 
 but little that so few labourers can hope to accomplish towards 
 the reclaim of so vast a spiritual desert. Would that the hearts 
 of others might be moved, and their way made plain, to come 
 over and strengthen our hands, and thus render possible the 
 planting in each dark and desolate quarter of this vast city, of 
 a little centre whence heavenly light and love may radiate ! 
 
 " Amidst many toils and not a few hardships, pressed by a 
 profound sense of responsibility, in need of wisdom to direct, 
 and, above all, of the influence of the Divine Spirit to render 
 our humble endeavours effectual, we crave to be had in cease- 
 less remembrance before our Father's throne ! " 
 
 Such is the touching and quiet conclusion of the 
 first report, which is dated thus— "R. W. M'All, 
 28 Rue Clavel, Belleville, Paris, 16th January, 1873." 
 It is a valuable document, and, because of its value, 
 we have made large use of it. Its simplicity and 
 modesty commend it to the reader. The writer 
 does not obtrude himself, nor magnify his efforts, 
 nor dilate upon his hardships and sacrifices, nor 
 mar the noble narrative by calling attention to 
 the agents. He writes quietly, barely, — too barely, 
 perhaps ; without ornament. He has made sacri- 
 fices ; but he does not speak of them. He has had 
 days and nights of toil and weariness and anxiety ; 
 but he passes over these. Only those who have 
 been upon the spot, and have seen the interior of the 
 work, can have any idea of what these have been. 
 
Progress and Expansion. 73 
 
 Perhaps with more self-assertion he might have 
 borne down some of his difficulties. But, refusing, 
 like his Master, to " strive," he has doubtless chosen 
 the better and, ultimately, the more successful part. 
 Yet, knowing how to yield, he knows also how to 
 stand ; knowing how to conciliate, he does not know 
 how to compromise. Compromise in a position such 
 as his would be fatal. 
 
 First from Rue Clavel, Belleville, latterly from 
 Rue Fessart, Belleville, he has gone forth to do 
 his daily work for nearly eight years; known in 
 Belleville as the friend of the people ; appreciated 
 and honoured as if he were both pastor and priest 
 of that vast parish. 
 
 The personal influence he has acquired is un- 
 doubtedly great, and mighty results have often been 
 accomplished by " personal influence." The affection 
 with which he is regarded is no less remarkable, so 
 that if he were injured, or assailed, all Belleville 
 would turn out in his defence. As (in a sense) the 
 resident minister, he has won a position which he 
 could not have had if he had taken up his dwelling 
 in some other part of the city. He has cast in his 
 lot with the people for vhom he came to spend and 
 to be spent. # 
 
 * Since this was written he has been led by circumstances to leave 
 Belleville, and to take up his residence in 147 Boulevard Malesherbes. 
 
74 The White Fields of France. 
 
 It has been said that religious influence descends, 
 but does not ascend ; that the lower ranks are in- 
 fluenced by the higher, not the higher by the lower ; 
 that therefore efforts for the regeneration of such a 
 city as Paris will be failures unless we get hold of 
 the upper classes first; and that it is a mistake to 
 begin at the lowest faubourg. We question the 
 theory of ascent and descent, for history has often 
 recorded the reverse. But even though it had been 
 true, " the thing was of God " in the present case, 
 and Mr. M'All had no choice but to follow where 
 he was led. He did not choose Belleville ; God 
 chose it for him, and set him there, to do a work 
 which was to spread itself wide and far. The theory 
 of ascent and descent does not trouble a true evan- 
 gelist. He does not calculate nor choose. He enters 
 in at the door which a Divine hand has opened, and 
 works according to the strength given, leaving it to 
 the great Master to determine what the fruit is to 
 be. In the present case, there are signs not doubt- 
 ful, that the upper Parisians are not uninterested 
 in what is so profoundly moving the lower; that 
 the boulevards are asking what is this that is tran- 
 quillising the faubourgs, and making them so easy 
 to be governed. Once they might have said, Can 
 any good thing come out of Belleville ? But now, 
 when they see that some good thing has come out 
 
Progress and Expansion. 75 
 
 of it, that its atmosphere has been purified, and that 
 the whole tone of the masses has been bettered by 
 the change, they are not disinclined to listen to a 
 Gospel that has wrought such a transformation, which 
 has not only smoothed over a political crisis, but 
 warded off social shipwreck, absorbing those unruly 
 elements among the " fierce democracy," which if 
 again let loose, would not have been satisfied with 
 levelling the Vendome Column, or setting fire to 
 the Tuileries, but of which the unsparing watch- 
 word would have been, Down with xhe rich ! and 
 death to the priests ! 
 
 The Gospel has come in between Paris and revolu- 
 tion. It has conserved, and not destroyed. " Peace, 
 be still ! " has been its political message to the 
 ouvriers of the French capital. By proclaiming the 
 true " equality " of men in Christ Jesus, it has pre- 
 vented the proclamation of an equality which would 
 have simply meant plunder, bloodshed, and misrule. 
 
 Yet, let us not be prematurely confident. Roman- 
 ism shakes its clenched fist at liberty in every form, 
 resolved on exasperating the Republic to deeds of 
 bloodshed ; while the latter, though exhibiting in 
 general wonderful self-restraint, sometimes seems on 
 the point of accepting a challenge, in which " Death 
 to the priesthood! " would be the gathering cry. In 
 April of the present year (1879), a monk preached 
 
76 The White Fields of France. 
 
 in a provincial cathedral, and in his sermon attacked 
 lay teaching. A group immediately gathered round 
 him in the church, and began the "Marseillaise." 
 In the midst of the confusion, a voice was heard 
 " Vive la Commune ! " 
 
 One man lighted a cigar; another shook his fist 
 at the preacher, shouting " Down with the priests ! " 
 An official present stepped forward and requested 
 the preacher to stop. The danger of violence was 
 imminent; but the parties seem to have retired 
 scowling at each other. 
 
 The Municipal Council of Paris has recently 
 passed a singular decree, — striking out "religious 
 music " from its prize competitions. The report of 
 their committee runs thus — 
 
 " Your Committee, gentlemen, think that religious art has 
 had its day. It reached the height of grandeur with S. Bach, 
 Handel, and Haydn, because those men of genius knew how 
 to express and convey human passions while dealing with 
 imaginary beings. The more the extent of human knowledge 
 increases, the more this art is incompatible, on account of what 
 it expresses, with the scientific spirit and free thought of our 
 age ; the Municipal Council of Paris ought not to encourage it, 
 and we propose to you, therefore, to exclude from competition 
 religious music in all its forms. We understand by religious 
 music, not only church music, properly so called, that is to say, 
 every musical composition having words that belong to the 
 domain of liturgy, but also the Oratorio, which the old com- 
 mission, far from excluding, held up as a model for competitors 
 to follow." 
 
Progress and Expansion. jj 
 
 This decree has been represented by some 
 newspapers as a return to the atheism of the first 
 revolution. Possibly it carries no such meaning in 
 the strange sentences just quoted. Sacred music is, 
 with these authorities, associated with the Church of 
 Borne; and they know how by means of it the priest- 
 hood is trying once more to get the ear of France. 
 They say, therefore, We will have nothing to do with 
 it, as part of a competition which draws upon our 
 funds. They who wish it may have it for them- 
 selves without us. There may not be any infidel 
 dislike of religion in all this ; there may only be the 
 dread of an art which has been so often perverted to 
 evil ends, and made use of in the reactionary tactics 
 of the Church of Rome. 
 
 "We wish that the municipality would go for itself 
 and hear the sacred songs at Belleville, or Ornano, 
 or La Villette, or Batignolles. They would not hear a 
 performance, an oratorio, or a piece of " religious art," 
 or anything belonging to " the domain of liturgy." 
 They would not hear anything, perhaps, regarding 
 which they might think it worth their while either to 
 give or refuse prizes ; but they would hear something 
 that would not " restrain freedom," but speak its 
 praises; something which eveu their "revolutionary 
 logic," as it has been called, could not condemn : 
 something which was not the utterance of priest- 
 
J 8 The White Fields of France. 
 
 craft nor the symbol of ecclesiastical domination : 
 something altogether unlike, both in melody and 
 sentiment, the artificial sounds with which men 
 thought to please God and to soothe their spirits 
 into the dreamy unrealities of musical ritualism. 
 Even the municipal dignitaries of the city, — com- 
 munistic as their opinions are, — would not feel 
 aggrieved by the simplicities of such a hymn as 
 
 this, — 
 
 " Oh, que ton joug est facile ! 
 Oh, combien j'aime ta loi ! 
 D'un triste et rude esclavage 
 Affranchi par Jesus-Christ, 
 J'ai part a son heritage 
 Au secours de son Esprit 
 Au lieu d'un Maitre severe 
 Pret a juger et punir, 
 Je sers le plus tendre Pere, 
 Toujours pret a me b6nir." 
 
 But whatever their impressions might be, the 
 "sweet singers" of the Mission would neither feel 
 angry at their contempt, nor elated at their ap- 
 plause. A music-prize may be a great thing to the 
 frequenters of cathedral concerts, or the composers 
 for a ritualistic orchestra ; it would be nothing to 
 the happy choristers of Bercy or Grenelle. 
 
Wider Expansion. 79 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WIDER EXPANSION. 
 
 "\"T?yTE need not boast nor exaggerate; yet we 
 ;*£/ may not despise the day of small things. 
 Paris is not changed in a year ; yet impressions 
 may be made which begin immediately to tell upon 
 the community. The second annual report (1873) 
 is full of interest. 
 
 The labourers are few; yet even one labourer 
 tells : and without these labourers Paris would be 
 poorer and worse. There are about 500 city 
 missionaries in London. They may produce but 
 little apparent impression ; but their work tells in 
 hundreds of unknown ways, and London would be 
 darker if they were withdrawn. 
 
 Thus let us deal with the Paris work ; and rejoice 
 that within two years it has done something which 
 will last eternally. 
 
 The French officials and the police force have 
 not only shown all courtesy, but acknowledged the 
 
8o The White Fields of France. 
 
 influence of the work. A Commissary of Police 
 remarked, " We cannot but welcome you to our 
 quarter : you are coming to do our work, to labour 
 with us for the order and morality of the community." 
 This was a testimony worth having. 
 
 While the police recognise the influence of the 
 work on the morals of the city, other outsiders are 
 no less observant. Mr. M'All was in treaty for a 
 new room. The concierge had attended some of the 
 meetings, and the landlady had heard of them. " I 
 quite understand your object," she said; — "they say 
 you are the people that are not of any religion," 
 meaning not preaching the religion of a sect. 
 The concierge struck in with a commendation less 
 negative, and, while expressing his desire that we 
 should have our station there, said, — "C'est le vrai 
 Ckristianisme." Yes; it is Christianity, — not a 
 Church or sect or party that is preached ; and it is 
 the reception of this that is telling on the population. 
 The good news, in all their freeness, as that which 
 alone can save the mechanic of London or the ouvrier 
 of Paris ; it is this that has opened eyes, and won 
 hearts from sin. God's great love in Christ is what 
 these poor communists never heard before. Their 
 religion, — if they had any, — was the religion of terror 
 and of money, not that of love and Divine generosity ; 
 the religion of the confessional, or the crucifix, or the 
 
Wider Expansion. 8 1 
 
 priest. True Christianity ! They had not seen it 
 anywhere. False Christianity ! They had seen it 
 everywhere. Up till this time they had not known 
 that true religion rests on grace, and that the God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ really cares 
 for the men of the pavement and the barricade. 
 
 The soldiers come to hear; and one of them, 
 attending one of the stations in 1873, thus writes 
 to Mr. M'All. His idea of the work is briefly 
 given thus : — " La rude mais glorieuse tdche que 
 vous avez entreprise aw sein du qwartier le plus 
 deprave* de Paris." He tells of the void which 
 he felt in his heart, and the desire to converse on 
 the true way of filling that void. Thus he ends : — 
 " Je termine nia petite lettre en faisant des vozux 
 pour que les efforts que vous faites soient cou- 
 ronne's cVun pleiu succes. Que Dieu vous donne a 
 compte de la recompense qu'il promet a ceux qui 
 lui gagnent des dmes, les benedictions les p>lus 
 abondantes." The Grenelle station, close by the 
 vast Ecole Militaire, has been specially successful in 
 attracting soldiers. 
 
 The ateliers surrounding the La Ckapelle station 
 have been visited, and the workmen invited to the 
 meeting. They crowded into the large and well- 
 situated room, and the opening service was " singu- 
 larly interesting." The district is very populous, 
 
 G 
 
82 The White Fields of France. 
 
 but very destitute spiritually ; and the deep seri- 
 ousness of the audience was most striking. The 
 overflowing room, week after week, showed the 
 interest and appreciation. Every class of the 
 community seems accessible, as the reports show, 
 and the work is everywhere spoken about, but not 
 spoken against, save by the priesthood, whose words 
 do little harm. # 
 
 The question of giving pecuniary aid to the needy 
 has frequently come up, almost from the first, and 
 the decision wisely arrived at was, that this should 
 be done with great caution, and only in extreme 
 cases, after scrupulous inquiry. Indeed, had there 
 been anything like lavish giving, it would have 
 injured the Mission immensely, by associating with 
 it what the enemies would have called religious 
 
 * In reading the accounts which these reports give us of the 
 listening ears and open doors in Paris, one is led to contrast the 
 state of things here noted with that which Mr. Robert Haldane 
 describes, now more than sixty years ago. He speaks of Paris not 
 only as " involved in Egyptian darkness," but as almost hopeless. 
 " I soon perceived that I had no means of furthering my journey in 
 that great metropolis." Not only so, but he furnishes us with 
 another contrast, — the opposition of the French pastors to the 
 intrusion of strangers. A remonstrance againsb the Continental 
 Society for sending preachers into the parishes of other ministers was 
 got up in Paris and signed by Lutheran and Reformed Pastors, as 
 well as peers of France, members of the Chambers, and even agents 
 of the British and Foreign Bible Society. To this singular remon- 
 strance Mr. Haldane wrote an able reply, maintaining the right of 
 evangelists to enter in at every open door. 
 
Wide J' Expansion. 83 
 
 bribery. All this has been carefully avoided, and 
 yet the destitute have not been overlooked. 
 
 The students' quarter, or Quartier Latin, has not 
 been overlooked. It is a district noted for irreligion 
 and atheism ; but the effort was successful, and the 
 station in the Rue Monge was so crowded that a 
 larger room had to be obtained. Here the educated 
 classes were brought to listen to the Gospel, and 
 here M. Rosseeuw St. Hilaire, for many years a 
 Sorbonne Professor, gave effectual help. 
 
 During the second year no less than 1019 meet- 
 ings were held, of which Mr. M'All conducted more 
 than 500 himself. This of itself speaks to the very 
 great amount of labour which this Mission involves. 
 There is not only the weekly arranging for the now 
 twenty-three stations, and sending the due intima- 
 tions to the different parties, but there is the actual 
 conducting of the meetings night after night. Mr. 
 M'All now has his anxieties and labours somewhat 
 lightened by his colleagues, M. Rouilly and Mr. 
 Dodds ; but still there is work enough to fill the 
 hands of many more. To arrange for 1019 meetings 
 must have involved immense trouble and toil ; but 
 now to arrange for 2788 is quite an over-burden, 
 even for three superintendents, and to conduct even 
 the half of these night after night would require not 
 three men, but ten. To most ministers at home the 
 
84 The White Fields of France. 
 
 idea of arranging for 2000 meetings in a year, and 
 conducting even the fourth of these, would be quite 
 alarming. If proposed to any minister, it would not 
 be undertaken by one in a thousand ; and if under- 
 taken, it would be pronounced " killing work." No 
 such amount of labour is laid upon our city mission- 
 aries; and it ought to startle the Churches to think of 
 the "heat and burden" which the Parisian labourers 
 have to endure. When, moreover, the immense 
 distances and the late hours are remembered, the 
 amount of the fatigue will be somewhat realised. 
 The two, four, or six miles of weary omnibus and 
 tramway travel might not seem so oppressive were 
 it not for the hours at which these meetings must 
 be held in order to suit the motley audience. In 
 a city like Edinburgh or Glasgow, we get home 
 from our meetings seldom much later than nine. 
 But in Paris it is ten, or eleven, or even twelve 
 o'clock (if the conveyances happen to be full) ere 
 the tired missionary reaches his dwelling. Rowland 
 Hill used humorously to give as his receipt for 
 making a long-lived minister, — "Preach three times 
 every Sabbath, and every evening in the week." 
 But this is something more : and it ought to trouble 
 us in our ease at home to remember these labours. 
 It should also awaken a deeper interest in the Paris 
 Mission than we have ever taken. 
 
Wider Expansion. 85 
 
 John Berridge, of Everton, in the last century, is 
 said to have preached twelve times a-week. But 
 then this was not continuous work, but only when 
 he went on his missionary tours. Grimshaw, of 
 Haworth, regarded it as an idle week in which he 
 preached less than a dozen times; and sometimes 
 he has been known to mount up to thirty. White- 
 field in one of his letters writes : " I preached nine 
 times a-week ; the people were all attention, as 
 hearing for eternity ; " and in another letter he 
 uses this figure regarding his work : " I am hunting 
 for poor lost sinners in these ungospelised wilds." 
 Probably the French pastors, like many among our- 
 selves, have not been accustomed to such an enormous 
 amount of work, and may be afraid of overtaxing 
 their strength. But I am persuaded that the more 
 they throw themselves into this great evangelising 
 work, the more will they be surprised at the amount 
 of labour which they are able to undergo. There 
 are noble men among them worthy of their sires, 
 whom we shall not name, lest in our ignorance we 
 should omit some of the worthiest. But there they 
 are. They are to be the evangelists of the land. 
 It is to them we look for setting France on fire : 
 and the fire which they kindle will not be that of 
 politics or passion, not of sedition or socialism, but 
 of Christian fervour and love. 
 
86 The White Fields of France. 
 
 True, Mr. M'All and his colleagues have not to 
 conduct the whole of each of these meetings. They 
 have the valuable help of the French pastors, who 
 have thrown themselves so heartily into the work, 
 without jealousy or prejudice ; but still the chief 
 part of the conducting of these meetings rests upon 
 Mr. M'All and his colleagues. Each night of the 
 week (save Saturday) their hands are full. They 
 have no time for dinners, or parties, or sight-seeings, 
 or even quiet family recreation. Each day brings 
 the work of arranging, or visiting, or receiving 
 callers, and each night brings the labour of the 
 meetings, — sometimes two, or even more. There 
 is no folding of the hands nor eating the bread of 
 idleness. How long this may last, one would not 
 like to guess. But if there should be a break-down 
 of the over- wrought labourers, we should not be taken 
 by surprise. Are there not ten or twenty of our 
 zealous young men who will offer themselves for 
 such a field ? A field so large, so needy, so full of 
 interest, and so close at hand ! 
 
 The nature of these meetings is thus stated in 
 the second report : — " In every service on the Sun- 
 day, and on every week-day evening, at every 
 station, the Bible is read first of all ; and read 
 avowedly as God's Word. Every meeting, without 
 exception, from the beginning of the Mission, has 
 
Wider Expansion. 87 
 
 been conducted with the direct aim of bringing the 
 Bible as God's Word, and the atoning Saviour as 
 the sinner's only refuge, before our hearers. For 
 what other purpose did we quit our congregation, 
 our friends, our English home ?" 
 
 The political ferments of the years succeeding 
 the retirement of the Prussian army ; the unsettled 
 and angry tone of society at that time ; the un- 
 certainties of political parties and rival statesmen ; 
 the dread of renewed turbulence and massacre ; — 
 these naturally produced anxiety, which was not at 
 once allayed ; and the forebodings of even true 
 friends, forecasting evil and predicting the speedy 
 arrest of evangelising liberty, could not but raise 
 misgivings in the minds of the labourers. 
 
 But by the end of 1873 all these fears passed 
 away, and Mr. M'All could congratulate the Mission 
 on the permanence of the footing obtained. The 
 permission during that year, given by the municipal 
 authorities to open new stations was most gratifying ; 
 and the unsolicited assurance on the part of these 
 authorities of willingness to license other stations, 
 removed all anxieties and uncertainties ; the more 
 so because it was then ascertained that the previous 
 stations had been carefully examined and reported 
 on to Government. The absence of all politics and 
 controversy satisfied the rulers of France that these 
 
88 The White Fields of France. 
 
 meetings were not dangerous associations ; and the 
 reports of the police that a quieter neighbourhood 
 was the unfailing result of the establishment of each 
 successive station, inclined them greatly to favour the 
 extension which thus promised, if not to supersede, at 
 least to lessen greatly the necessity for th eir interference. 
 They saw that the Protestant minister was doing what 
 neither the police nor the priest could accomplish. 
 
 As to the young, it is interesting to know how 
 the work advances. We have learned by the report 
 for 1878 that about 3000 of them were under 
 instruction. But this does not lessen the interest 
 with which we read of the juvenile work in its 
 earlier stages. In 1872, the Sabbath school at 
 the Faubourg St. Antoine numbered 100 scholars; 
 and no less than seven such schools are reported 
 along with this, numbering about 350 children, 
 with upwards of 20 teachers. The children's 
 holiday afternoon meetings (four of which were 
 then held every Thursday), and the classes for 
 teaching English to the workmen, were numerously 
 attended. There were also special services for 
 young women at no less than three stations. 
 
 The report for the year (1872) contains the 
 following statement, which, both as a brief review 
 of the past and an appeal for the future, will interest 
 our readers : — 
 
Wider Expansion. 89 
 
 "During the year, we have been enabled to double the number 
 of stations, besides enlarging several of the older ones. The 
 number of sittings (chairs) is raised from 515 to 1056. At 
 this moment, urgent appeals are before us for the immediate 
 planting of two other stations in outlying districts inhabited 
 by the labouring poor, and remote from existing evangelical 
 agencies. In each of these quarters there are a few residents 
 who earnestly desire the Gospel for themselves and their 
 neighbours. Who would not desire to respond to such a call ? 
 The lack of additional helpers is our main difficulty in the 
 case. But, for one of these districts, the sendees of our 
 excellent co-worker, Mr. J. G. Alexander, of the Society ol 
 Friends, will be available on his expected return to Paris. 
 In order to our entering on .further openings, as well as 
 effectively to sustain present operations, the entire services of 
 at least one well-qualified fellow-labourer are indispensable. 
 We are full of hope that this pressing want is about to be 
 supplied. 
 
 " A few words will be sufficient with respect to the older 
 stations. At Belleville, Menilmontant, and Montmartre, the 
 meetings have been carried on with unbroken regularity and 
 with an increased attendance. The number of constant hearers 
 at each place is much larger than formerly ; and in the case of 
 a considerable number of these, we believe that the good seed 
 has fallen into good ground. Especially at Montmartre and 
 at Menilmontant, we have been permitted to rejoice over one 
 and another brought under the power of a Saviour's love. 
 Some of these have joined neighbouring congregations. Among 
 them are several persons of superior position and culture, who 
 state that, when they first entered our rooms, the name which 
 is now most precious to them was despised or even hated. In 
 addition to these more marked cases, we believe that the 
 Divine Spirit has been gently working on many hearts. Not 
 a few of our hearers are such as had been secretly longing to 
 discover some healing balm, some refuge for the soul. Their 
 
90 The White Fields of France. 
 
 experience, though not taking the sudden and striking form, 
 is not less real and decisive. Even the countenance comes to 
 wear an impress which silently testifies of the transforming 
 power of the Gospel. Friends from England, visiting our 
 stations at successive intervals, have recognised the same faces, 
 but have remarked this visible change, telling of the ameliorat- 
 ing influence. While thus encouraged, we crave the fervent 
 prayer of all our Christian brethren that the number of true 
 converts may be multiplied a hundredfold. 
 
 " The station in the Faubourg St. Antoine was in its infancy 
 at the date of last report. A few days ago, we gave, according 
 to our custom, a tea-meeting to the regular attendants, in 
 commemoration of the first anniversary of the opening. 120 
 persons were present. We were enabled to review the year's 
 history of the place with eucouragement and gratitude to God. 
 Dr. Fisch, who kindly helps us there, and others gave appro- 
 priate addresses. It was a happy evening. At each of these 
 social gatherings the evidences of grateful feeling have been 
 truly cheering. At M^nilmontant, last spring, an ouvrier said, 
 ' We are your family. You have united us all here as one 
 great family.' " 
 
 The finances of the Mission at this time are 
 
 thus briefly and satisfactorily referred to : — 
 
 " The financial position of the Mission is in every way satis- 
 factory. With gratitude to Him who disposes His people to 
 sustain effort for the extension of His kingdom, we have to 
 record that the entire sum acknowledged on the balance-sheet 
 has been contributed without one solitary application on our 
 part throughout the year. As we before remarked, a consider- 
 able balance in hand in indispensable in order to shield the 
 Mission from liability to sudden collapse. Without it, even a 
 partial cessation of contributions for a short time would render 
 it impossible to meet the heavy rental of the rooms. Happily, 
 Christian liberality has kept pace with the more than doubled 
 
Wider Expansion. 9 1 
 
 requirements, and the balance is preserved and increased. 
 Though the Mission is conducted by honorary workers, so that 
 the whole amount subscribed goes, unabated, to its direct susten- 
 tation, the items of rental, furnishing mission-room, incidentals, 
 &c, are, of necessity, constantly increasing. More than this, 
 the enlarged operations have rendered necessary an expenditure 
 for the board of some of the helpers, together with payments, 
 in some instances, for door-keeping and for time which our 
 friends would gladly devote freely, were it in their power to 
 do so. To these liabilities must be added prospectively the 
 stipend of an evangelist as co-worker, so urgently needed. 
 Hence the pecuniary requirements for the coming year must 
 necessarily be, even without any extension of the field of effort, 
 considerably in advance of the past. "VVe believe that we shall 
 not be disappointed in trusting for all that the enterprise thus 
 needs to the free-will offerings of loving hearts." 
 
 I now give the "one or two suggestive incidents" 
 which the report contains. For, after all, these are 
 the things which indicate the real fruit. They 
 are indeed but specimens ; still, they are represent- 
 atives of a considerable circle, — a circle much 
 wider than we have any idea of. Truth is vital, 
 and the Word of God is a living word; quickening 
 many whom we know, and many more whom we 
 do not know ; but who have not the less powerfully 
 and permanently been reached by the "quick and 
 powerful w r ord " : — 
 
 " A respectable ouvrier of middle age commenced attendance 
 
 at station early in 1872. After a time, we noticed his 
 
 evidently deepening interest ; indeed his ay hole aspect bespoke 
 an ameliorating influence. He became an eager reader of the 
 
92 The White Fields of France. 
 
 books in our lending library. At last, he was induced to tell 
 us the state of his mind. Before attending the reunions, he 
 had been full of sceptical doubts. Kenan's 'Vie de Je^sus,' 
 especially, had gained great hold upon him. Now, he stated, 
 he had come to see that these were only sophistical evasions of 
 the truth, and that the reality of religion was to be found in 
 the Gospel. The French translation of Dr. Hanna's 'Last 
 Days of our Lord's Passion ' (kindly supplied, with other ex- 
 cellent books, by Mr. E. A. Macfie, M.P.) interested him. One 
 day, no book apparently suitable for him could be found. He 
 took home, however, one intended for the young, containing 
 the touching account of a little child's piety and happy death. 
 On returning it, he feelingly expressed his admiration, saying, 
 ' II faut que nous devenions tous comme de petits enfants.' We 
 constantly see this worthy friend, and have no doubt that he 
 has placed his whole trust in Christ. 
 
 " Another ouvrier who, in his boyhood, had known something 
 
 of the Gospel in the remote department of , came to our 
 
 room on the opening evening, and has attended, with 
 
 his family, ever since. He expresses great thankfulness that 
 we were led to his neighbourhood. ' You have brought back 
 to my memory,' he has repeatedly said, ' those early teachings 
 respecting Jesus as the only Mediator between God and man 
 of which I had nearly lost sight ; and I intend, by God's help, 
 to walk in that way to the end of my days.' 
 
 " The cases of an aged mother and her son, a man in the 
 prime of life, have caused us great joy. They have attended 
 
 our room for a year and a-half. Both testify that the 
 
 faithful words spoken there by various Christian friends have 
 brought new life and blessedness to their heart. The following 
 are a few of the son's expressions, related to us by a Christian 
 lady: — 'Voila ce qu'il me faut, c'est de savoir que j'ai un 
 Sauveur parfait. Maintenant, quoiqu'il arrive, je ne crains 
 rien, puisque Dieu me garde. Je sais qu'il m'aime ; cela me 
 suffit. J'avais besoin depuis longtemps de connaitre la verite" ; 
 
Wider Expansion. 93 
 
 maintenant je l'ai trouvee.' To another friend he said, 
 ' Unhappily, I am no speaker ; or I should long to tell all 
 
 the people at [our station] what blessedness I have 
 
 found.' 
 
 "At the same station, a descendant of the Vaudois of 
 Piedmont, who had long lived in unconcern, was awakened to 
 the realities of religion, and is now a respected member of one 
 of the Evangelical Churches in Paris. Two ladies, also, who 
 had adopted deistical views, and, as they stated, had come to 
 dislike the mention of the name of Jesus, now esteem that 
 name above all others. 
 
 " A shoemaker stated that, before the opening of our 
 
 room, he was utterly careless respecting religion. Since 
 coming to live in Paris, he had disregarded the teachings 
 received in his early days. ' Now,' said he, * I and my wife 
 are like children at school who look forward to the holidays. 
 On Thursday, we say, "Only two days more, then Sunday 
 
 will be here ; then evening follows quickly ; and now we 
 
 have in addition'" (referring to a new station not far 
 
 distant). 
 
 " May 17. — Delighted to li3ar from a Christian ouvrier that 
 he and one or two of his friends were commencing little 
 meetings on the model of ours in their houses. Gave him a 
 few pictures to ornament the walls. Speaking of these pictures 
 from England, mostly illustrative of Scripture History, which 
 give an air of cheerfulness to all our rooms, our kind friend 
 Mi<s Blundell said, ' Every one of these pictures seems to say 
 to the people, " I love you." ' 
 
 "June 13. — A poor woman at burst into tears on 
 
 hearing the simple prayer at the close of the meeting. Pro- 
 bably she had never heard a prayer offered in her own language 
 before. She has been a most attentive hearer ever since. 
 
 " Dec. 18. — A boy in the children's meeting at when the 
 
 question was put, ' What is it that makes us love our parents?' 
 replied, ' C'est parce qu'ils remplacent Dieu pour nous.' 
 
94 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " The following incidents are examples of the new interest 
 awakened on reading the Bible for the first time. 
 
 "An ouvrier borrowed a Bible, his countenance beaming 
 with pleasure as he carried it home. At the fortnight's end 
 (the time for which it was lent), he brought it back to us, 
 saying, ' I have not had time to read all, only the chief parts ; 
 but it is a most interesting book. All I can do is to thank 
 you heartily for the loan of it.' We said, ' Take it again for 
 another fortnight.' He hesitated, saying that he feared he 
 might deprive some one else of the opportunity of reading it. 
 We reassured him, and he again took it. At the second fort- 
 night's end, he once more offered to return the book, with many 
 thanks. We received it from him ; then, knowing him to be 
 very poor (though we rarely give Bibles, thinking it better to 
 lend them), we sent it to him as a gift. His eyes filled with 
 tears on receiving it. Since then, nearly every time we see him, 
 he says, 'Oh ! comme il est bon, votre cadeau ! Je le lis toujours.' 
 
 "A woman from Lorraine borrowed a New Testament in 
 
 German at our room. She, too, after the fortnight, 
 
 returned it, saying, ' It is the most interesting book I ever read 
 in my life. I had no idea there was so good a book in existence. 
 I never read it before. I have put my little ones to bed early 
 and sat up late and risen before the others to read it ; and now 
 my husband has become interested in it too.' Though very- 
 poor, she was delighted to obtain from us a German Bible in 
 large type at the reduced price at which the National Bible 
 Society of Scotland enables us to supply the Scriptures in 
 special cases. 
 
 " We often meet with instances, also, of the value set by the 
 people upon the Scripture Portions, so kindly supplied by the 
 conductors of the Bible Stand, Crystal Palace. A journeyman 
 painter, who had frequented our meetings at Belleville, was 
 leaving Paris to seek work in the provinces. One of our 
 helpers called at his little room to say good-bye. In a corner of 
 the small bag which he had prepared for his journey, he showed 
 
Wider Expansion. 95 
 
 her, carefully arranged, the four Gospels, Acts, and Romans. 
 ' There/ said he, l is the store of comfort I shall carry along 
 with me.' He has since written several beautiful letters, 
 assuring us that, amidst all his difficulties, he had found an 
 unfailing help in looking to the God and Saviour of whom 
 those little books taught him. 
 
 " Riding in the omnibus, one day, we gave (as we do often) a 
 Portion, John's Gospel, to the conductor. Being somewhat at 
 leisure, he immediately began to read it earnestly. After a 
 little time, he said, ' This is an excellent book that you have 
 given me.' At the end of the ride, he renewed his thanks, 
 saying, ' This is, indeed, a good book ; I wish that every one 
 had such a book to read.' 
 
 " Kind words are often spoken by the ouvriers when shaking 
 hands with us at the doors after the meetings. At the Rue 
 Monge station, for example, a fine young man grasped our 
 hand saying, 'Deja un frere.' Another said, 'Bon soir, 
 monsieur — ah non ! — je ne veux pas dire, monsieur, je dis, mon 
 ami.' Another said, only a few nights ago, at Montmartre, 
 ' You must often be very tired at nights ; but I should think 
 that your sleep is very sweet afterwards, when you reflect that 
 you have spent the day in trying to do good to us French 
 people.' " 
 
 One prizes, and likes to preserve these fragments 
 thus picked up, and presented to us in reports. 
 To many of my readers, I am sure these notes will 
 be quite new ; for the reports of the Mission's early 
 years are quite out of print ; and besides it is only 
 recently that a large portion of the public has really 
 begun to be interested in the work. 
 
 The modest undemonstrative way in which the 
 Gospel has entered Paris and taken possession of 
 
g6 The White Fields of France. 
 
 the strongholds of evil has sometimes made us 
 wonder. In the Reformation days all was different. 
 It aroused the priesthood ; it alarmed the Court ; 
 it stirred the whole city ; it led to imprisonment, 
 banishment, death. Berquin, Lefevre, Farel, Calvin 
 cannot be tolerated. They must flee or die. " It is 
 hardly possible," writes Roussel to Farel, " without 
 peril of life to confess Christ purely." Berquin is 
 arrested, set free, and again arrested, because he 
 preached, in the cottages of his estate, salva- 
 tion by Christ alone. With the Testament in his 
 hand, he wanders over the country round Abbeville, 
 the banks of the Somme, the towns, manors, and 
 fields of Artois and Picardy, scattering the seed of 
 the Word. " Faith alone justifies " is his watch- 
 word. That is his condemnation. He must go 
 to the stake. Margaret of Navarre may interfere, 
 and the evangelist may be set free, — but it is only 
 for a season. 
 
 In those days the Gospel raised commotions every- 
 where, — chiefly because the priesthood was in power, 
 and the Pope could order kings to exterminate 
 heresy. At present it raises no tumult ; yet it is 
 the same Gospel and the same Bible with which 
 our modern evangelists are going forth. The spirit 
 of the age is against priestcraft; and that spirit, 
 though often identified with unbelief, is, at present 
 
Wider Expansion. 97 
 
 at least, fairer and more tolerant. Thus " the 
 earth helps the woman," and swallows up the flood, 
 which otherwise would have swept away the truth 
 and its witnesses. The entrance of the Gospel, in 
 this peaceful way, is matter of congratulation. No 
 Christian man in preaching the Gospel wishes to 
 raise a tumult; and he is thankful when the Word 
 goes upon its way, and accomplishes its end with- 
 out noise or opposition. The history of the past 
 eight years is an interesting study in this respect. 
 God has smoothed the way for His quiet, trustful 
 messengers. 
 
 It was well that this movement came from 
 England, whose sympathy with the suffering Par- 
 isians had nobly shown itself, when, as soon as 
 the siege was raised, she poured into the city 
 her ample stores. The Parisian priesthood had 
 taken care to lay up against the evil day; and 
 were feasting on their hoarded luxuries, when the 
 citizens were starving. This was one thing which 
 favoured the Gospel. But its coming from Eng- 
 land favoured it still more. Dr. Merle d'Aubigne' 
 has remarked : " Strasburg is the main bridge by 
 which German ideas enter France, and French 
 ideas make their way into Germany." * But 
 had the Gospel crossed from the right to the left. 
 
 * " Reformation in the Time of Calvin," vol. i., p. 455. 
 
 H 
 
98 The White Fields of France. 
 
 bank of the Rhine in 1872; in other words, had 
 it come to Paris from Germany, it would certainly 
 have been rejected. It came, however, in God's 
 gracious providence, from England, and was wel- 
 comed. For England, once an enemy, was now 
 the friend of France, and had helped her in the 
 day of her calamity. Thus God, when He purposes 
 to send to a people the Gospel of His grace, 
 removes barriers and disarms resistance. Every- 
 thing had failed to meet the atheism and sacer- 
 dotalism and licentiousness of France; the tidings 
 of His own free love in Christ had not yet been 
 tried. He sent them, and like the breath of spring, 
 they found their way into the great metropolis of 
 pleasure and unbelief. 
 
 Perhaps M. Renan would say that this only shows 
 French " facility for embracing noble chimeras." 
 Be it so. A " noble chimera" may be worth trying, 
 in a city where so many ignoble ones have come 
 and gone, without producing anything save social 
 disorder and national adversity. That which a 
 sceptic may deem a chimera or an illusion may 
 prove to be a revelation from God; — not a new 
 revelation, but the old revelation of His own free 
 love in the gift of His Son to man. 
 
 The vital forces which are now at work in Paris 
 are those of which the " brilliant Frenchman " 
 
Wider Expansion. 99 
 
 knows nothing, and which his fellow- Academicians 
 would not take into their calculations in forecasting 
 the prospects of their country. Yet there they are : 
 — not destructive, but constructive; not explosive, 
 but cementive ; silently telling upon thousands ; — 
 directly on many, indirectly on many more; — more 
 likely to " create great men, and to cast medallions 
 that will go down to posterity " than those which 
 philosophy has tried for a century and more. 
 " Good humour in facing death " is the utmost of 
 a scientific death-bed ; but the life-message, now 
 spreading through Paris, professes to give more than 
 this. The savoir vivre which the Gospel produces 
 is not frivolity or self-indulgence ; not the jS/09 
 a/3/o)T09 of the worldling ; not the " Let us eat and 
 drink, for to-morrow we die " of the sensualist ; 
 but the tranquil earnestness of him who spoke but 
 what he lived, — " None of us liveth to himself, and 
 no man dieth to himself ; for whether we live we live 
 unto the Lord, and whether we die we die unto the 
 Lord." M. Renan may announce to the Academy 
 that " reason triumphs over death ; " but, when he 
 was making this boast, the ouvriers of Paris were, in 
 their simplicity, listening to a Gospel which provides 
 a surer victory. He may point to the Academy as 
 the regenerator of France, and assure his fellow - 
 Academicians that " for a long time to come they 
 
ioo The White Fields of France. 
 
 alone will be able to utter the phrases that deserve 
 to live for ever ; " but a process is meanwhile going 
 on which will introduce new phrases which may 
 live as long as these. He may be convinced that 
 the " collaboration " of the Academy is necessary for 
 all that is glorious; — "for of that which is done 
 without the aid of the Athenians glory takes no 
 heed ; " — but there is such a thing as " the foolish- 
 ness of preaching," and it is mightier than the 
 wisdom of Athens or of Paris. The M'All Mission 
 and the " collaboration " of the Academy are very 
 different things ; but there is a power in the former 
 which the latter knows not, — the power of moving 
 souls, and "softening human rock-work into men."* 
 
 * The references in these closing paragraphs are to M. Kenan's 
 recent address (April, 1879) to the French Academy, in which he 
 pronounced a eulogy on M. Claude Bernard, whom he was chosen 
 to succeed. 
 
The Third Year and its Incidents. i o i 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE THIRD YEAR AND ITS INCIDENTS. 
 
 [HUS 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 u name," — unless the " idea " 
 were worth enthroning, — in other words, unless it 
 were Divine. What Europe wants is certainly a 
 11 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 
 
102 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 recep- 
 tion 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. Eosseeuw St. Hilaire, prefaces the report; and 
 this document is too valuable not to be preserved 
 
The Third Year and its Incidents. 103 
 
 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. W. 
 M'All, 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 
 possible 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 realised. While 
 seeing these listeners so intent, so systematic, 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 portion 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 1 
 
 "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 ] 
 
104 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " 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, ami 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 regu- 
 larly 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 sup- 
 port ; 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 
 
The Third Year and its Incidents. ios 
 
 Geneva, in which 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 attend- 
 ance 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 contro- 
 versy, 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 con- 
 ducted 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 can- 
 not be too many such places : you will render good sendee 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 brother- 
 officer at M [a distant part of the town where we had 
 
106 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 sjmrpathy, 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 ivill 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 Pre'paratoire 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, 
 
The Third Year and its Incidents. 107 
 
 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 ex- 
 perienced 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 thank God for the unspeakable good- 
 ness which He has shoivn to so many of my fellow- 
 workmen ivho have learned in your meetings to 
 know Jesus Christ, His Divine Son" The testi- 
 mony which this workman gives as to the numbers 
 of ouvriers who have been impressed is very re- 
 markable. 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 The White Fields of France. 
 
 and the one sentence which I have italicised con- 
 tains 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 endureth 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 Incidents. 1 09 
 
 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'AU. 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 state- 
 ment, 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 
 
1 1 o The White Fields of France. 
 
 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. <f 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 birth- 
 place ; and the first meeting there his birthday, 
 
The Third Year and its Incidents. 1 1 1 
 
 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 
 
 o 
 
 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 end 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 worthi- 
 ness of the cause, Little details or casual words or 
 trivial conversations, which at the time perhaps 
 
r 12 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 folio wing # : — 
 " 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 V Ami 
 de la Maison, IS 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 ' Ami de 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 eager- 
 ness. The Committees of the Religious Tract Society, the Socie'te 
 des Livres Beligieux de Toulouse, the Socie'te' des Traitds Religieux 
 de Paris, and others who have supplied books for our lending libraries, 
 may rest assured that the volumes thus kindly supplied have fallen 
 into the hands of a large number of attentive readers." 
 
The Third Year and its Incidents. 1 1 
 
 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. 
 Nol 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 
 Lony concerning one who, until a few months ago, when 
 he commenced attendance at our room in his own neighbour- 
 hood, 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 
 pr« imised to write. The following expressions are selected from 
 the wife's letter : — ' TTe 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 ol 
 Faubourg St. Antoine, and I sing sometimes the hymns I there 
 learned. I pray God to preserve your life and health ior the 
 
 I 
 
ii4 The White Fields of France* 
 
 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, ft we never Bee each other again in this 
 world, 1 have hill confidence that we shall moot in heaven 
 through my Saviour Jesus Christ.' 
 
 ■• In some instances, the hearts o( persons in another class 
 than thai 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 thereby 
 
 a young friend already an attendant. Pastor Theodore Monod 
 conducted the meeting. His theme was salvation without 
 money and without price. This came upon her as a new dis- 
 covery. 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 1 get hold of it for myself; ' 
 • Madam [one of our valued workers] will explain every- 
 thing to yon." By Divine help she did so. The lady wrote 
 in the summer to "Mrs. "M'All. ' 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 In- 
 ns at the elose of an address, brought rest to her spirit. The 
 words were : • Alio.: a .lesns-Christ. Alle.: a lni maintenant. 
 Alle.- a lni soul.' During a time of affliction, she said to one of 
 our visitors, c O come, let us return thanks to Cod together : for 
 now 1 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 Incidents. 115 
 
 tiling now La peaceful and happy.' A pleasing evidence of 
 . I, e oi the value of salvation Lb afforded in their anxiety 
 to aid 11 j, bo far as in their power, in working for the benefit of 
 others. 
 
 "One of our excellent visitors bears the following te timony:— 
 'Several ol the dear friends who have received the Gospel at 
 
 — a)1( l are m,« in our congregation [Lutheran]; 
 
 and I rejoice to testify thai they are among the most spiritual 
 and ad Lve members of the < Ihurch.' 
 
 41 An intelligent Christian ov/orier connected with the railway, 
 bore this testimony, tome months ago, re pecting general resull 1: 
 
 'I, as an ouvrier, know well the owrrien of Montmartre. 
 more than two years during which I have frequented 
 the reunions oi Boulevard Ornano, I can testify that a large 
 number oi men who, a1 first, came merely to pa an hour, 
 many oj them disbelieving or even lecretly mocking al religion, 
 have become croy ants' (convinced of the truth and reality of 
 1 he ( lospel). 
 
 " Another pleasing testimony from an owori&r of Menilmon- 
 tant, who has attended almosl from the beginning, was this : — 
 4 Sou have taughl us Frenchmen Borne greal Lessons, things 
 which we could nol have believed possible.' 'Whatthi 
 ' We used to imagine thai the English were egotists, and thai 
 they had proud, unbrotherly feelings towards us. Now wc 
 find, on the contrary, that they are willing to Leave their 
 country and encounter hardship in order to Lead us Frenchmen 
 is.' Lat.-lv, mi a damp, wintry day, we remarked to 
 him, 'Mai- vous voyez que uous autres anglais nous avons 
 emporte* avec nous chez vous in a Paris notre brouillard anglais. 1 
 4 Ali, monsieur,' In- replied, ' vous a^ ez apporte* Lei quelque chose 
 de mieui que le brouillard ; Le vrai bonheur, La connai ance 
 •rune verite divine j je dois plut6l dire, la bonne nouvelle de 
 LlSvangile,' Pleasing words from one who, until he came to 
 as, was an admin r of Renan ! r J ' 1 h • following words conclude a 
 letter just received from him :— '.My hearl is lull, and l 
 
116 The White Fields of France. 
 
 utter the feelings of gratitude which 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 prayer, 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 yxTu 1 ' she said. ' It is a small 
 thing, and yet it is a very great thing. Pray for me — will 
 you 1 ' 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 talcen 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, 
 
The Third Year and its Incidents. i 1 7 
 
 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 you 
 think that Mr. M'All could let me have a complete Bible 1 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 
 own, 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 ovvrier 
 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'All, that man has a very black face, and we can't wash 
 it white ; but this man has an excessively hard skull ; never- 
 -, let us hope that something good may be forced into it.' 
 
 "In our little Sunday school at Crenelle was a boy blind 
 from five years of age. He has since been removed to a hos- 
 pital. He said to his teacher, 'Why do you come only once 
 
1 1 8 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 Parishashad butthe name, — thename 
 inscribed everywhere upon its public buildings, the 
 name which is on so many lips and paraded 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, " All 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 Me'nil- 
 montant, the young soldier before referred to re- 
 
The Third Year and its Incidents. 1 1 9 
 
 marked, on looking round the crowded room, " C'est 
 maintenant comme dans le premier temps ; " and 
 when asked for an explanation, replied, " UEvaTvgile 
 est annonce aux pauvves." " At the same station," 
 says Mr. M'All, " during the Toussaint and the great 
 Fete, which is a complete Vanity Fair, we held a 
 meeting 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. 03). 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 
 
120 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 combing Bacon's mind, if we knew that 
 it had been 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 " winged 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 the 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 Third Year and its Incidents. 1 2 
 
 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 try 
 faith 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 Himself, is now offering to 
 a used-up nation a resting-place more sure and 
 tranquil than " the 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 return- 
 
122 The White Fields of France. 
 
 ing wanderer will speak in words not to be mis- 
 taken : " 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." 
 
The Third Year and its Incidents. 
 
 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. 
 
124 The White Fields of France. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ONWARDS AND OUTWARDS. 
 
 SANY things in the biography of Felix Neff 
 resemble what is now going on in Paris 
 and Lyons : only his work chiefly lay in the villages, 
 not in the cities ; and his pilgrimages or missionary 
 tours were chiefly on foot, across mountains and 
 torrents and snow-drifts, not in the train or the 
 tramway or the voituve. Climbing up to the 
 Alpine hamlets, in rain or snow or sunshine ; 
 making his way over rocks amid the dangers of 
 the storm or the avalanche or the deep snow-drift; 
 mounting the slippery glacier which lay in his way, 
 or cutting steps in the ice for the people to reach the 
 chapel ; journeying to La Grave, far up among the 
 ridges of the Cottian Alps, beyond the source of the 
 Durance, and almost inaccessible in winter; — these 
 are the things which give romance to the missionary- 
 life of the Genevan evangelist. 
 
 Can we imagine any contrast greater than that 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 125 
 
 between this wild mountain-life and that of the 
 Parisian workers, moving from day to day through 
 the streets and lanes of a crowded city, and holding 
 their meeting in the close rooms of some noisy 
 boulevard or dull passage ? 
 
 Yet the work is very much the same ; and it is 
 interesting to find Neff using the word reunion to 
 designate his meetings. In travelling from place to 
 place he used to converse with all he met with by 
 the way, on the matters of eternity. In the towns 
 or villages he visited he would hold a reunion ; 
 preaching and expounding ; yet seeking no ends of 
 his own, nor trying to found a sect, but always co- 
 operating with the pastors : and we find the police 
 authorities supporting him. Thus he w r rites: — "The 
 
 pastors of M and C presented a petition 
 
 to the Government against religious societies, on the 
 ground that they disturbed both the peace of the 
 Church and civil order. A pastor of Berne was 
 summoned to give evidence on this subject. He 
 stated that there was nothing sectarian among the 
 people in question ; that they were devout Christ- 
 ians, who endeavoured mutually to improve each 
 other ; and that the best and surest way to avoid 
 divisions was to leave them in peace. One of the 
 directors of the central police was then sent to take 
 cognisance of the matter. He came to Montier and 
 
126 The White Fields of France. 
 
 went to the prayer meeting. He appeared thought- 
 ful, and on being asked by a companion what he 
 thought of it, he replied, — ' One thing alone dis- 
 tresses me.' When asked what it was, 'It is,' he 
 said, ' that there are not such reunions held in every 
 province throughout the canton.' " 
 
 The Alpine mission of Neff was a nobly aggressive 
 one. It pressed forward in all directions, over valley 
 and mountain, city and village, bearing aloft the 
 banner of the good news, and carrying life wherever 
 the intrepid standard-bearer went on his mighty 
 errand. 
 
 It is hardly correct to call the Paris Mission an 
 " aggressive" one. It is more attractive than aggres- 
 sive. 
 
 The difficulties which we feel in our own large 
 cities of ''drawing out" the people, and "working 
 up " a station, are unknown to the labourers in 
 France. The people come without compulsion or 
 persuasion. " Compel them to come in" is hardly a 
 suitable motto for these halls : but rather, "Nations 
 that knew not thee shall run unto thee" (Isa. lv. 5) ; 
 or, " All the people ran together unto them, greatly 
 wondering " (Acts iii. 1 1 ). 
 
 I mentioned in a former chapter the case of a 
 journeyman painter of Belleville who at one of the 
 meetings had been arrested, and subsequently brought 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 1 2 7 
 
 out of darkness into light. This ouvrier lives in a 
 crowded passage, where the dark and the needy 
 and the evil dwell. He has "found the Messias" 
 for himself, and he must tell it, or at least get it 
 told, to others. He cannot rest till he has a meeting 
 in his own centre : and he finds many more equally 
 earnest with himself. The following letter is a 
 better indication of the peculiar state of the Paris- 
 ian ouvriers than many an important incident. It 
 is addressed to " Mr. and Mrs. M'All" : — " It is with 
 the greatest respect, and at the desire of more than 
 a hundred residents of my passage [an avenue 
 crowded with small dwellings], that I send you these 
 few lines. More than a hundred persons have 
 applied to me, and that repeatedly, to beg you, in 
 their names, to open a meeting-room in the passage, 
 assuring me that they much wished to have a ve- 
 il n ion in the p^ctssage." 
 
 But this is not all. The petition of a hundred 
 inhabitants of a neighbourhood is cheering ; but the 
 offer that follows from this poor ouvrier as to the 
 fitting up of the room at his own cost is even more 
 touching. " I will freely undertake to light and 
 clean the room, as my small contribution; and I 
 am .sure that you will have a crowded attendance ; 
 and that will correspond with the command, ' Go 
 into the streets and lanes, seek the maimed, and the 
 
128 The White Fields of France. 
 
 halt, and the blind, and invite them to my supper,' — 
 all these are to be found in the passage. — Your 
 devoted ." — (Report for 1875, p. 19.) 
 
 The willingness of the proprietors to allow the 
 Mission the use of their premises is a further indica- 
 tion of the extent to which the work has penetrated. 
 The brother of the landlord of the room at Gare 
 d'lvry, who has a large number of workmen under 
 him, on hearing tha.t the object of the Mission was 
 simply to tell the poor people about Christ, said to 
 his agent, — " We must bear part in this good work ; 
 let the gentlemen have the place on their own 
 terms." An old tradesman of Belleville, after a 
 meeting in that faubourg, was heard to say, — " If 
 there were more of these reunions we should have 
 no more need of policemen in Paris." 
 
 The policemen frequently are found acting not as 
 mere guardians of order, but as helpers in the work 
 of invitation. " Go in, go in," they have been heard 
 saying to the people, you will hear good things. 
 And when the room was over-crowded, they have 
 allowed the people to gather round the open door, 
 on condition of their listening quietly. " It would be 
 well," said one of them, " if there were 200 such 
 rooms in Paris." 
 
 A gentleman, once an officer in the French army, 
 visited Mr. M'AU. He and his wife attend one of 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 129 
 
 the stations. About a year before he had been 
 passing the mission-hall on the evening of its 
 opening, and curiosity drew them in. He had 
 no religion, — had never read a page of the Bible ; 
 there was no Bible in his house. The words they 
 heard that night awakened new thoughts in both. 
 They obtained a Bible, and began to read it with 
 deep interest. They were visited by some friends 
 connected with the Mission, who helped to teach 
 and guide them. Ere long they found their way to 
 the resting-place, and the peace of the cross filled 
 their souls. They would not hide the treasure 
 they had found. " I want," said the officer, " to 
 stand up in that room and tell the people of the 
 blessings I have obtained there. "When one has 
 been cured of a fierce disease, he wants to recommend 
 the remedy which cured him to the others who 
 are sick. I long to see all Paris covered with 
 these reunions ; and I believe that it will be 
 so." 
 
 " I am not quite two years old," said a lady 
 after a New- Year's afternoon prayer meeting. She 
 was the head of a business-house, and had, within 
 the last two years, found eternal life at one of the 
 meetings. She and her household had been in deep 
 religious ignorance till then. " How changed," she 
 said, "is everything in our household since last 
 
 K 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 New- Year's Day. Great is our thankfulness. You are 
 truly my brother in the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 " Father, good-bye," said a little child at Les 
 Ternes, only seven and a-half years old. He was 
 going out to his work as his dying daughter was 
 thus bidding him farewell. 
 
 " Good-bye, I shall not see you again. I am 
 going," said the child. 
 
 " Where ?" 
 
 " To heaven. I see Jesus ; He is come to fetch 
 me." 
 
 After a little, and just as she was dying, she said 
 to her mother, " I see Jesus ; He has come for me." 
 She had learned from Miss Blundell at the mission- 
 room all she knew about Jesus. 
 
 " A year ago," said an ouvrier, " we knew nothing 
 of the love of Jesus. He came with his wife to 
 express their gratitude for what they had learned. 
 Several others of the same class bore similar testi- 
 mony. With some the insight into Divine truth is 
 a rapid process, considering the total ignorance of 
 Scripture in which they have been brought up. 
 With others it is slow. 
 
 " At length," said a clever ouvrier to Mr. MA11, 
 " I begin to comprehend a little, — a little." Yet 
 he had been attending the meetings for three years. 
 These people need the instruction of the conscience 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 1 3 1 
 
 as well as that of the mind. They do not know what 
 sin is; and how difficult it must be to see their 
 need of a Sinbearcr, or comprehend His work. Sins 
 against the Church, against the priest, or against the 
 public laws of the realm they know ; but sins against 
 God ; — they know not what they are. The teachers 
 must begin at the first elements with them, and 
 exercise much patience as well as charity. They 
 are just beginning to spell out the truth that a 
 sinner needs a Saviour ; that a great sinner needs a 
 great Saviour ; and that the Lord Jesus Christ is 
 
 just such a Saviour as they need. " Mr. told 
 
 me that I am lost," said a poor woman. " Is it so ? 
 Am I really lost ? " She had to be told what " lost " 
 meant, and that the Son of Man came to seek and 
 save the lost. 
 
 The " birthday letter " came all right. It was 
 promised, as the reader will remember (p. Ill), by 
 an owvrier and his wife, who intimated their inten- 
 tion of bringing a " lovely bouquet " on what they 
 called their " birthday." A real bouquet came, as 
 the expression of affection and thankfulness ; and 
 with it a letter, which greatly enhanced the gift. 
 Twelve months before (the letter stated), they had 
 entered the room at La Chapelle, dark and thought- 
 less, and left it under a deep sense of sin, which 
 had soon ripened into faith in Christ. In this 
 
The White Fields of ' F 
 
 birthday letter the writer exhorts his neighbours to 
 break with the world, and to accept Christ. May 
 I not give his message to all, in the words of the 
 German poet, — 
 
 •• Cfc :ue and He will give you rest, 
 Sorrow-stricken, sin-defiled ; 
 He can make the sinfullest 
 
 God the Fathers blessed child 
 Trust Him, for His word is plain, 
 Christ receiveth sinful men." 
 
 •• Tiens a Je'su, — viens a Je'su," were the last 
 words of a poor aged woman who died during this 
 year [1875). Strange words to come from a poor 
 
 lodging in the very heart of infidel Montmartre ! 
 
 She had been wholly ignorant of the Gospel, till a 
 Christian ouvrier taught her the things of Christ. 
 This workman and a neighbour opened some small 
 meetings in their house. These small, — 
 meetings M shall I call them ? — had been absorbed 
 in the larger gatherings of the mission-room, and at 
 these gatherings she had faithfully attended. A: 
 last the good ouvrier missed her from her place in 
 the meeting, and sought her out in her poor dwell- 
 ing. He found her very feeble ; but she received 
 him with joy, telling him that she had no fear of 
 death, for she had found a Saviour who had con- 
 quered for her the last enemy. After several \ 
 he found her at length sinking. She tried to 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 133 
 
 some words. Bending over her, he caught the 
 
 words of the well-known hymn, 
 
 " Une bonne nouvelle 
 Descend des cienx." 
 
 And then she whispered the last line of the verse, — 
 
 " Viens a Je'su." 
 
 It was at this station that an ouvrier had the 
 courage to stand up before 400 persons assembled 
 at the anniversary tea meeting and tell of the change 
 wrought on himself and his aged mother. Mont- 
 martre mission-hall, he said, was his spiritual birth- 
 place. At a similar anniversary in the La Vilette 
 station, three oiivriers successively bore testimony 
 before their neighbours to their joy in Christ. Two of 
 them had made known their change to Mr. M' All some 
 time before, and declared their resolution, and that 
 of their wives, to serve the Lord. They have been 
 seeking to be useful to others. 
 
 " I shall take my grandchildren with me into the 
 wood, and there we shall hold a little reunion among 
 ourselves." So said an aged female who attended 
 the weekly prayer meeting, but was about to leave 
 for the country : and thus the Mission works its 
 way through the land, entering its villages as well 
 as its towns. The distribution of millions of tracts 
 among the French peasantry towards the close of the 
 late Exhibition, though not directly the doing of the 
 
134 The White Fields of France. 
 
 Mission, yet was part of the working of its machinery 
 in connection with other societies, and must be 
 viewed as one of the marvellous ways in which the 
 Gospel has of late years been sent through all 
 France : cities, towns, and villages. 
 
 " He that believeth is not condemned " is the 
 apostolic gospel; and it is the burden of the messages 
 in these mission-halls. This simplicity of the way 
 of life strikes these poor ouvriers, because of the 
 numerous and complex ceremonies which they have 
 been taught in the Romish Church to consider neces- 
 sary to salvation, and because they never heard before 
 of any religious ordinance that had not to be paid 
 for, even by the poorest. A free pardon ! This is 
 something new. Nothing to pay, but all paid for 
 already ! Is it true ? No money needed for salva- 
 tion, and no priest for absolution ! Can it be 
 possible ? " Only believe," these men say; and they 
 read it out of the Book of God. This is certainly a 
 new religion. So thought some of the hearers at 
 the first meeting in the Rue de Turbigo, who went 
 home wondering at the news. " Salvation on simply 
 believing," they said ; " is it really so ? This brings 
 the Saviour close to every man, and every man close 
 to the Saviour." 
 
 " There, my boy, read that book ; it will make an 
 honest man of thee," said an ouvrier to his son. He 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 135 
 
 was a boy of Montmartre, and had come wishing to 
 borrow a Bible. The copy offered was in small 
 type ; and the father, observing this, came forward 
 to ask one of a larger type, as " all in the house," 
 he said, " wished to read it." As the boy carried 
 off the volume under his arm, the father spoke the 
 above words to him, shrewdly indicating his opinion 
 of the Book, as teaching not only religion, but the 
 moralities of life."* 
 
 A visitor went into the house of an ouvrier who 
 had newly come to the station. The room was 
 wretched and unfurnished ; the man was a drunkard. 
 But lately, said the wife, since he attended the 
 meeting, he has been giving up his intemperance. 
 After some time the visitor returned, and found the 
 whole dwelling changed. All was neatness and 
 comfort. The wife pointed to a new wardrobe they 
 had got, and said, " What do you think we call it ? 
 — Mr. M' All's wardrobe ; for Ave never could have 
 had money to buy it, had it not been for these 
 meetings." 
 
 A young pastor writes to Mr. M'All regarding a 
 workman who had come to him for counsel. Some 
 
 * The following is a singular testimony from an intelligent o airier 
 which is well worth noting : — " Many people very much misunder- 
 stand us (ouvricrs). We are not against religion. In our political 
 meetings we used to speak against oppression in all its forms ; but 
 never, never one word against Jesus Christ." 
 
i^6 The White Fields of France. 
 
 months previously lie had been led to attend one 
 of the meetings in the Me'nilmontant room. His 
 conscience was touched, and he became a constant 
 attender. In great darkness of spirit, he had with 
 tears asked prayer to be made for him. After a 
 protracted conflict, he found the Gospel peace, and, 
 with his wife, joined an evangelical church. All his 
 spare time is now devoted to Christian work. 
 
 In general, the converts have joined the most con- 
 venient Protestant Church. And this is the answer 
 to the question which has been often asked, — What 
 do the converts do for fellowship and ordinances ? 
 Are they forming a separate Church ? No. They are 
 just quietly falling into the churches already existing; 
 and this may be most beneficial to these churches 
 and their pastors, infusing new life by means of the 
 fresh glow of their first love and earnest faith. Dr. 
 Fisch mentions some of the Rue de Turbigo hearers 
 as having joined his congregation, giving evidence 
 of a true spiritual change. 
 
 " We are the youngest of six brothers," said an 
 engaging and well-dressed boy of twelve, who came 
 to the Turbigo station leading a younger brother by 
 the hand. He wished to buy a Bible, but had not 
 money enough. The small extra sum was given by 
 friends of the station, and the Bible was obtained. 
 The next Sabbath he came, after the meeting, with 
 
Onwards and Otttwards. 1 3 7 
 
 Bible in hand, to express his thanks, and, after tell- 
 ing of the six brothers, he added, " I desire that they 
 should all read this book." 
 
 As the messages of life, printed and spoken, have 
 gone into all streets and alleys, so have they 
 reached all classes and all trades ; — the soldier, the 
 police, the concierge, the chiffonnier, and street 
 sweeper. The various agents and agencies con- 
 nected with the Mission have done something for 
 all these; but the immensity of the field so pre- 
 pares one for discouragement that the least success 
 is cheering. Faith works in the dark, yet finds light 
 there. 
 
 The omnibus conductors have not been overlooked. 
 Amid the rush of the ever-pouring crowd, — now 
 flowing out, now in, — it is not always easy to get at 
 them. Yet the gift of a tract or book in passing 
 has done its work ; and warm thanks have been 
 expressed by these men for the interest thus shown 
 in their welfare. " The evident delight," says the 
 report, " with which these men, and keepers of 
 bureaux, cab-drivers, &c., receive the Portions and 
 numbers of L'Ami de la Maison, &c, is most strik- 
 ing. Sometimes all the men in an omnibus bureau 
 have rushed out on seeing us, inquiring whether 
 we had a new number of the magazine for them. 
 Several have framed the pictures ; and those who live 
 
138 The White Fields of France. 
 
 in the districts which we visit once a-month watch 
 for the time of our return." 
 
 During the year 1875 several new stations were 
 added and some old ones enlarged ; so that the 
 number of sittings increased from 1610 to 2774; 
 and the attendance rose in a still larger proportion, 
 showing that something higher than curiosity was 
 at work, and that novelty was not the attraction. 
 Deeper seriousness, pervading the different meetings, 
 was even more cheering than the increase of num- 
 bers. 
 
 This year there came a fraternal letter of pastors 
 and elders, of the most gratifying kind, showing 
 the interest which the work is exciting among the 
 French Protestant Churches.^ 
 
 * I give this interesting letter in a note. It is addressed to Mr. 
 M'All, and is dated, "Paris, 29th April, 1875" :— 
 
 "Dear Sir and Honoured Brother, — We, the undersigned, 
 Pastors and Elders assembled in conference in Paris on occasion of 
 the Anniversaries of the Protestant Religious Societies, desire to 
 take this opportunity of publicly expressing to you our gratitude and 
 our fraternal sympathy for the work of evangelisation which you 
 have undertaken with so much courage and pursued with so much 
 devotion and perseverance in a constantly increasing number of 
 districts of Paris. 
 
 "Many of us know your work from having personally taken part 
 in it, and we are happy to have been able to give you our cordial 
 co-operation. "We all associate ourselves with you in prayer ; we 
 rejoice to bear testimony to the spirit of fidelity and of charity in 
 which the work is conducted ; and we bless God for the visible 
 success and for the great encouragements which He has granted to 
 you. 
 
Onwards and OzUwards. 
 
 M. Rosseeuw St. Hilaire thus writes concerning 
 the progress of the work : — 
 
 " Thanks to the Divine Head of the Church, the spiritual 
 siege of our great heathen city continues, and advances from 
 day to day. To the fourteen detached forts planted around it, 
 the Rev. Mr. M'All is on the point of adding three others. 
 Our suburbs, with the hard-working ouvricrs who inhabit 
 them, are already under assault, and awaiting the attack on 
 the centre of the town, commenced by the station of the Rue 
 Turbigo. 
 
 " Our dear English friends will be surprised, perhaps, to be 
 informed in the same Report, of the pecuniary exigencies of 
 the work, of the insufficiency of its resources in workers and 
 in money, and, at the same time, of the necessity for extending 
 it. But any one who had attended our meetings would be at 
 no loss to explain this contrast. Those who have not witnessed 
 the earnest attention of those present, above all that of the 
 men, who drink in your words rather than merely listen to 
 them, cannot fully understand how difficult it is for us to 
 stand still, and withhold further aggression, when the Lord 
 
 " Pray accept, Dear Sir and Honoured Brother, the expression of 
 our respectful and fraternal sentiments. 
 
 "Signed : — Eug. Bersier, Geo. Fisch, F. Lichtenberger, E. Robin, 
 Rosseeuw St. Hilaire, Ernest Dhombres, Th. Monod, N. Recolin, 
 Samuel Bost, J. J. Keller, Aug. Fisch, J. Bonhoure, V. Lepoids, 
 Ate. Saillens, J. Vignal, J. Gaubert, P. Rouffet, Vincent, Aime 
 Cadet, L. Boileau, Vernier, A. Pilatte, A. Bastide, A. Malan, 
 Cologny, E. Voreaux, F. Lemaire, F. A. Vincent, H. Andrieu." 
 
 Note by Mons. Bersier. — " More than twenty pastors belonging to 
 the National Reformed Church and the Lutheran Church, whose 
 signatures do not appear to this letter, have charged me to state that 
 they adhere to it with all their heart. The address could not be 
 completed while they were on the spot." 
 
140 The White Fields of France. 
 
 Himself, in multiplying the successes as we advance, seems to 
 sa} r , ' Go forward ! ' 
 
 " At last, the laymen are moved ; the volunteers so much 
 needed are beginning to join themselves to our ranks. They 
 have, at length, come to understand that the pastors of Paris 
 are fully taxed by the duties of their churches, that there is 
 need to come to their aid, and that, beyond the ecclesiastical 
 confines, there are works awaiting Christians, who are all 
 'priests and kings.' A number of young men, members of 
 the Young Men's Christian Associations, and students of the 
 Missionary and Theological Institutes, take an increasingly 
 active part in our work, while some brethren more advanced 
 in age lend to it the weight of their experience, and strive to 
 lead perishing souls to Jesus Christ. 
 
 " We could not over-estimate the sphere and importance of 
 this work. Excellent as it is, it is but of a preparatory nature. 
 To carry it out to its highest results, there is need of the fully 
 organised churches, side by side with our mission-rooms, to 
 gather into fellowship those whom we are enabled to attract 
 towards it. All that, by God's help, we can do is to lead them 
 to love the Gospel ; it is for the pastors to instruct them. It 
 is our part to enlist the recruits ; theirs to discipline them. 
 It is ours to sow ; it is for them to gather in the harvest. 
 And far from being envious of their part in the undertaking, 
 we feel happy in making it ready for them. The faithful pastors 
 of the city are fully alive to this, and evidence great pleasure 
 in rendering their aid in our meetings when other unavoidable 
 occupations permit. This co-working between the pastors and 
 our evangelistic meetings is the only method by which to 
 arrive at lasting and large results. There is need of scouts 
 to smooth the rugged ground and prepare the way for 
 the regular troops ; and that is the humble task which we 
 endeavour to fulfil. But, in order to keep hold of these 
 newly-awakened minds, and to nourish them with the bread 
 of life, churches instinct with spiritual life are needed; 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 141 
 
 for it is vain to go to draw water except where a spring 
 exists ! 
 
 "As a Frenchman, I rejoice once more to thank our English 
 brethren for all that they have clone for France during and 
 since the war. First of all, they occupied themselves with 
 our physical needs ; and God only knows what resources they 
 expended in alleviating so much suffering, and repairing such 
 vast ruins. But this was not enough ; after the bodies, they 
 have thought on the souls of their neighbours ; and this work 
 is in itself a living evidence of the tender sympathies of the 
 Christians of England for our poor country, which owes to 
 them so much already, and which would yet owe to them far 
 more if, by them, it should be eventually brought to the 
 knowledge of its Saviour." 
 
 Five adult Bible classes are reported. The 
 Sunday schools and children's meetings are extend- 
 ing themselves; and in Mr. Maitland Heriot, Mr. 
 M'All finds a most valuable worker among the 
 young. Classes for teaching English go on and a 
 series of useful lectures is begun. An ouvroir for 
 poor women has been commenced at Les Ternes, 
 and some of the mission-rooms elsewhere have been 
 made use of for a similar purpose. 
 
 The hymnal of the Mission has been doubled ; and 
 the people are greatly interested in the meetings for 
 the practice of psalmody. Each part of the spiritual 
 machinery is coming into fuller operation, and is 
 telling upon the people. 
 
 Several prayer meetings are reported this year ; — 
 B weekly one at Ornano and Grenelle, and a daily 
 
142 The White Fields of France. 
 
 forenoon one in Belleville for the little band of 
 workers resident there. Praying and working go 
 hand in hand. There is a danger of work super- 
 seding prayer : of the hours being so filled up with 
 external activities that retirement and solitude can 
 hardly be obtained. Work in that case becomes 
 either bustle or mechanical routine. The soul gets 
 empty ; the workman loses spiritual health a,nd 
 vigour; the mind gets fretted, and the body worn- 
 out ; distance from God comes in ; life becomes 
 unreal ; and bondage succeeds to the liberty of 
 happy service. The late hours and the distances 
 are hindrances to both morning and evening fellow- 
 ship with God. These hours, of course, cannot be 
 altered, and the over-wrought worker requires a 
 tranquil forenoon to make up for all this. Exces- 
 sive work, in visitings and meetings, is apt uncon- 
 sciously to dry up the spirit ; and when the labourer 
 is obliged to toil on in this dried-up state, and to 
 speak for God, when jaded and wearied, an amount 
 of spiritual unreality is superinduced which is ex- 
 ceeding dangerous, and of which we must, if we 
 would not do imperfect work, be stripped, — it may 
 be by lessening the labour, it may be by retirement 
 from the field for a season, or it may be by Divine 
 discipline. 
 
 Yet there is a certain way of dealing with this 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 143 
 
 state of things, which we deprecate as unscriptural. 
 " Out of communion," and " in communion " are 
 the set phrases made use of by some in speaking 
 of work for God. Now, " communion" in Scripture 
 means " partnership " {kolvuovlo), not intercourse of 
 mind with mind, or heart with heart. A believing 
 man, therefore, can never be " out of communion," 
 unless he is broken off from Christ. His ''partner- 
 ship " never ceases, however low his frames may be. 
 I knew one who said that he had given up working, 
 for he was " out of communion." I suppose he 
 meant " the enjoyment of communion," for he could 
 not mean that his " partnership " with the Son of 
 God was destroyed, because his feelings had become 
 dull. Yet he " condemned trusting in frames and 
 feelings," while he was doing the very thing under 
 a high-sounding name. His joy had got low, and 
 he called that being " out of communion," and he 
 would not work till he had got " into communion." 
 But neither should he have prayed, nor praised ; 
 nay, neither should he have eaten his food, " for 
 whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we are 
 to do all to the glory of God," and we cannot do 
 aught to the glory of God when " out of com- 
 munion " in the Scriptural sense. No lowness of 
 spiritual feeling can make void our Divine "partner- 
 ship," which depends on what we believe, not what 
 
144 The White Fields of France. 
 
 we feel ; and it is the knowledge of this great truth, 
 that as believing men we are always " in partner- 
 ship," how poor soever may be our joy, that lifts us 
 from the dust into liberty and gladness. 
 
 It is to be hoped that such peculiar expressions, 
 which some in our own land have much on their 
 lips, will not find their way either to the workers or 
 the converts of Paris. It is by these that Satan 
 introduces division and false teaching. The " catch- 
 word " of a sect often contains more than meets the 
 ear; and when that catchword is taken up and 
 pressed, it is sure to lead astray. The frequent 
 use of it is often the indication of spiritual pride, 
 and assumption of superior teaching, as well as of 
 higher attainments ; and the stress laid upon it by 
 the speaker is meant to say, " I have got some- 
 thing which you have not ; you had better reconsider 
 your standing and associate with me." The work 
 in Paris has been as yet undisturbed by these "diverse 
 and strange doctrines;" and the noble spectacle is 
 presented of a large band of workers from all the 
 different evangelical Churches of Great Britain, 
 co-operating with one mind and one heart ; not 
 seeking to teach new doctrines, nor to erect sectarian 
 congregations, nor to abuse " systems," nor to attack 
 Churches, but to gather in the wanderers into the 
 one body of Christ. 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 145 
 
 Perish the human Shibboleth that splits up the 
 one household of faith, or introduces discord and 
 suspicion into the communion of saints. Even true 
 doctrines are not always to be used for division; 
 and there are not a few truths which Christians may 
 differ about calmly and honestly, but which if made 
 the foundations of separate sects, or magnified into 
 necessary grounds of disunion, become snares and 
 stumbling-blocks to the morbid, or the weak, or the 
 fickle. Calvin declared, in his own fervent way, his 
 willingness to cross ten seas in order to unite the 
 Churches of God, in his day. There are some, we fear, 
 who would not shrink from compassing both sea 
 and land to divide them, in ours. In most religious 
 awakenings there have been found men who, taking 
 advantage of the warm state of feeling among the 
 converts, have tried to raise a sect of which they 
 might be the head. Hitherto Paris has been spared 
 this humbling spectacle ; and Popery has not been 
 able there to boast of her own unity, and point the 
 contemptuous finger to a divided Protestantism. 
 They who "creep into houses" and " beguile unstable 
 souls " have, as yet, been restrained from exercising 
 their ignoble vocation in France. It is no small 
 matter of thankfulness that the Parisian Mission 
 should have been spared this evil ; thus far per- 
 mitted to work in peace, and to abide in happy unity. 
 
146 The White Fields of France. 
 
 To intrude upon " other men's labours," when the 
 whole world lies before us, is more like " the thief 
 and the robber " than the shepherd ; to " boast in 
 another man's line of things made ready to our 
 hand " is not the part of a true-hearted Christian 
 man. To " cause divisions " (except in Satan's 
 kingdom) was not the apostolic vocation, nor in 
 accordance with the taste of the primitive Church. 
 
 The single-mindedness of the Reformers in their 
 noble labours, concerning this thing, is very noticeable. 
 To win men to themselves, or to found a sect, was 
 altogether too low a thing to mind, or to think of. 
 Whether (according to Beza's epigram) we hear 
 Calvin docte docentem, or Viret mella fundentem, 
 or Farel, fortiter tonantem, we feel that we are 
 listening to preachers whose grand thought was 
 how to draw men to the cross. 
 
 Not that we count upon smooth progress, or think 
 that the great breaker up of peace and truth and 
 unity will overlook Paris. Offences will come ; and 
 we must be prepared for them. 
 
 The history of the last days is to be a tale of 
 shipwreck ; of which we have the prophetic warning 
 in the seven apocalyptic epistles, which contain the 
 sad story of seven shipwrecks, — the foreshadows of 
 something still more sad. But that is no argument 
 against cheerful, hopeful labour. The evil day will 
 
Onwards and Outwards. 147 
 
 come soon enough ; meanwhile let us, with songs 
 upon our lips, go forward to do the work committed 
 to our hands. 
 
 Nor let us forget that our labour does not end 
 with the ingathering. The tending, the watching, 
 the feeding of the flock are matters of earnest care. 
 The sheep wanders away on its own feet, yet it 
 does not return on them, but on the Shepherd's 
 shoulder. It cannot be trusted otherwise. It takes 
 the Shepherd's strength to carry it back, and when 
 thus brought back, to keep it within the fold. 
 This is one of the most solemn lessons that an under- 
 Bhepherd can learn. It is a lesson which the Parisian 
 labourers will find more and more pressed upon 
 them as the work widens and prospers. 
 
148 The White Fields of France. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PKOGEESSIVE INGATHERING. 
 
 t COMPRESS the events of the next two years 
 into one chapter ; not wishing unduly to 
 extend this narrative, and referring my readers to 
 the reports for 1876 and 1877, which being more 
 recent, are more accessible than those of earlier years, 
 which are now out of print. 
 
 The localities are so far the same, save that fresh 
 ground is broken, and new stations added ; while 
 some of the old halls not only retain their audi- 
 ences, but increase them, so that enlargement is 
 required. And this expansion of the old rooms is 
 one of the most palpable signs of the vigour and 
 permanence of the work. It shows how the dis- 
 trict is affected and penetrated. Not curiosity, 
 but healthy interest sustains the work. One man 
 carries the message to another ; — the children to 
 the father, and the father to the children, the brother 
 to the sister, and the sister to the brother. The 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 149 
 
 music of the hymns floats everywhere, and refuses 
 to be shut out. The " good news " come and go, day 
 by day : or rather night by night. There is no 
 flagging, no falling off ; but increase of interest and 
 honest anxiety. In some cases it may be wonder; 
 but the wonder seems to work and spread ; not 
 evaporating, but passing into something more sub- 
 stantial than amazement. 
 
 Thus the halls swell out, calling for frequent 
 enlargement ; propagating themselves, if one may 
 use the phrase; so that demands for new stations 
 come from many quarters of the city. 
 
 The circulation of Bibles and books continues 
 unabated ; the priests complaining that they cannot 
 find a chair in their district to sit down upon for 
 some heretic tract, or Protestant Bible, or evangeli- 
 cal hymn-book. 
 
 The spiritual work also deepens. The truth is 
 pinking down into men's souls : and though, as 
 Romanists, accustomed to. trifle with sin, except as 
 against the Virgin or the Church, they are slow to 
 apprehend the awful truth of human guilt before 
 God, many are beginning to understand in their 
 consc'i rices that there is such a thing as the exceed- 
 ing sinfulness of sin, and that only the blood of the 
 one, unrepeated sacrifice can pacify the conscience, 
 or exhaust the penalty, or cleanse the sinner. 
 
150 The White Fields of France. 
 
 House-to-house visitations are vigorously carried 
 on. In addition to the lady visitors, a Bible-woman 
 is employed ; and nearly all the mission-workers 
 take part in seeking out the poor people at their 
 homes, and in endeavouring to lead them not only 
 to the district meeting, but to Christ Himself. 
 
 As to ouvroirs and soup-kitchens, the report 
 gives the following interesting statement : — 
 
 " At the beginning of this winter, one of our lady-workers 
 remarked, ' "We need something intermediate, — a link between 
 the public rdunions and the domiciliary visits.' In fact, 
 questions and difficulties often suggest themselves to the 
 hearers respecting which they have not courage to address 
 themselves to the speakers, but which hinder the development 
 of the Divine work in their heart. The ouvroir is well fitted 
 to supply this lack. At La Villette, for example, at a fixed 
 hour each Saturday afternoon, the women and girls are invited 
 to bring their work, of whatever kind (repairing garments, 
 &c. &c), and they are helped by a skilful seamstress to make 
 the best of their poor materials, even to turn an old dress into 
 a new one, &c. All this produces a sentiment of gratitude 
 which prepares the way for each one to make known her 
 thoughts and anxieties. This leads on to a familiar conversa- 
 tion on the truths of the Gospel, &c. Our two soup-kitchens 
 reach the poorest of the poor. Often, to our certain knowledge, 
 the basin of soup and piece of bread thus received constitute 
 their entire nourishment for the day. While they are assembled, 
 we read the Bible, and speak to them words of love and 
 encouragement. At La Villette, we meet with some chiffonniers 
 (rag-gatherers) and street sweepers, who, working day and 
 night, Sundays included, are in the deepest ignorance. The 
 Bible is, to them, an entirely new book, and their attention 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 1 5 1 
 
 is as eager as their ignorance is extreme. One of these women, 
 a chiffonniere, to whom we put the question, ' Who are they 
 that go to heaven?' replied in her simplicity, 'The French.' 
 At Belleville, a poor woman was complaining, ' It is all in 
 vain ; I have prayed again and again, but God does not hear 
 me.' Another, as poor as she, turned to her saying, ' Oh, do 
 not speak so : my circumstances are as trying as yours, but 
 God has comforted me, and given me a great blessing.' The 
 latter is a solitary widow, having lost her children. During 
 the last two months, we have served from 1700 to. 1800 
 rations at the soup-kitchens. Within the same period, our 
 Bible- woman has made upwards of 250 visits in these crowded 
 and destitute districts." 
 
 The testimony of M. St. Hilaire to all this is very 
 decided. " The people," he writes, " more attentive 
 than ever, crowd to these meetings, which have not 
 for them the attraction of novelty or amusement ; 
 and in which, instead of flattering the audience, we 
 speak to them many humiliating truths." 
 
 Such is the statement in the letter which prefaces 
 the Fifth Annual Report. We give the following 
 paragraphs of that letter entire. They are too 
 important to be omitted : — 
 
 "You ask me what new features strike me in these dear 
 meetings whether in respect to the hearers or the speakers. 
 First, then, as to the speakers. What strikes me especially is 
 that their interest in this united work increases from day to 
 day. Last year on seeing your reunions constantly advancing 
 in number and in size, I will now frankly say that I was 
 disqnieted ; I feared that, soon, it would be the speaker.- and 
 not the hearers who would be lacking. This year, on the 
 
152 The White Fields of France. 
 
 contrary, — not only has their number increased in a proportion 
 which will soon surpass the necessity, but, once enrolled in 
 our little army, pastors and laymen alike are evidently happy 
 in the service of our glorious Captain ! The laymen accom- 
 plish here their apprenticeship as speakers, in the best of all 
 schools ; the pastors leave behind them at our doors as they 
 enter the phraseology of set sermons in order to speak the 
 language of the heart, which alone is understood by the masses 
 of the people. In labouring for the good of others, we find 
 blessing for ourselves. All are happy, I repeat it ; and how 
 could we fail to be so, in feeling ourselves carried back to the 
 days of the primitive Church ; in seeing these men, indifferent 
 or hostile to religion a few years ago, partaking in haste their 
 evening meal on leaving the workshop, and abandoning the 
 wine-shop and politics in order to hear some peaceful Christians 
 make known to them the Saviour. 
 
 " To speak to our ouvriers of Paris is, truly, a pleasant task; 
 for I do not know any audience more intelligent, more atten- 
 tive, more sympathetic, not even that of the Sorbonne or the 
 College de France. Even their want of culture ensures their 
 attention ; — they do not come in order to criticise or to discuss, 
 but to feel and to be moved. It is to their heart that one has 
 need to speak ; and you will always be far better understood 
 when you do so than if you address yourself merely to their 
 intellect. 
 
 " Another sign of God's blessing resting upon these rSunions 
 is that the number of men frequenting them is constantly 
 increasing, and this, some years ago, was the failing point in 
 such efforts. Shall I go further ? I have perceived, if I 
 mistake not, that the men are better hearers than the women ; 
 and this can be understood, because all that they hear is new 
 to them ! All their preconceived notions are overthrown, 
 surprise is seen on their countenances : they feel that they 
 are entering as into an unknown world, of which even the 
 language is foreign to them. So that one needs some other 
 
Progressive Ingathering. ici 
 
 word than Zigfen to describe their impassioned attention when we 
 speak to them of the Gospel. Its tender appeals go straightway 
 to their heart ; and then they feel that they are loved. There 
 lies our power over them ; and it is the only power we possess, 
 we. who are but poor worms of the earth, in dealing with these 
 momentous realities, which we could not take upon our lips 
 without trembling, unless we felt that Jesus is with us, and 
 that the Holy Spirit dictates to us what we should speak. 
 
 " Some days ago, I was present at the meeting of Faubourg 
 St. Antoine, the one of all your stations which is my favourite, 
 because it is most thoroughly a gathering of the populace. I 
 had begun to speak when I saw five young workmen, genuine 
 Its (forgive the word), walk into the room, who appeared 
 to have come straight from the drinking shop. Although 
 accustomed to the wonderful calmness which reigns in these 
 meetings (you remember that it was not always so at the outset), 
 I confess that I was a little disquieted ; and, as I went on to 
 speak, I kept my eye upon the new-comers. But, when 
 seated, how speedily they became subdued and attracted in 
 the sweet atmosphere of peace and of sympathy ! After some 
 minutes, you would not have recognised them ; the expression 
 of their countenance was quite changed, Jc gamin de Paris had 
 disappeared, and had given place, if not, as yet, to the Christian, 
 at least to the thoughtful and well-disposed listener. The 
 I which they heard, doubtless for the first time, had thus 
 come home to them. 
 
 " Another feature of progress is in the size of the mission- 
 halls, which increases along with the number of attendants. 
 Most of the insignificant shops which, in the beginning, were 
 sufficient for the purpose, have given place to larger rooms, 
 which are, with equal ease, filled. It is well known that in 
 these large gatherings of human beings there is a sacred con- 
 tagion which no one can resist, and which is spread around 
 by those who have felt it. Then it is that people feel them- 
 selves brought nearer to each other, and more happy, and 
 
154 The White Fields of France. 
 
 they desire to share with others what they have received. 
 Our large rooms will contain — Belleville, 400 ; St. Antoine, 
 370 ; Ornano, 320 ; and the new hall opened this week in the 
 Rue de Rivoli, 270 persons when filled. 
 
 " The Bible classes for adults are also making progress, and 
 the Sunday schools are more and more numerously attended. 
 As to the music, among these people, generally far from 
 musical, it has become quite a passion. At the last meeting 
 I attended, when a singing practice was announced to follow 
 it, no one went out, the whole assembly joined in the hymns, 
 in unison generally, but with considerable correctness, I assure 
 you, and without any harsh discord. I perceived there the 
 close link which exists between music and the religious senti- 
 ment, and I became conscious that the hymn could become 
 also a prayer. 
 
 " Such, dear friend, are my impressions respecting your work, 
 jotted down in all simplicity. I have tried to cause others to 
 feel what I have myself vividly felt. Would that the Lord 
 might enable me to communicate to your readers the ever- 
 increasing interest which this delightful work awakes in my 
 heart !" 
 
 The new-year's gatherings drew out some memor- 
 able testimonies as to the results of the past work. 
 An ouvrier of Menilmontant writes thus to Mr. 
 M'All, in his own name and that of his wife ; and 
 nothing can be more satisfactory than the follow- 
 ing statement : — " The day on which we entered 
 your meeting for the first time, now two years ago, 
 was for us a day blessed by God ; and from the 
 day in which we accepted for ourselves the glorious 
 Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have found 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 1 5 5 
 
 peace of mind ; and I am well persuaded that the 
 only real happiness which can be tasted on earth 
 is to be found in accepting the salvation which our 
 Divine Lord and Saviour has obtained for us, in 
 shedding for us poor sinners His blood upon the 
 cross. I desire with all my heart that all those 
 who attend those delightful meetings may there find 
 the same joy and blessedness which my wife and I 
 have found there. We thank God every day for 
 having sent you among us to proclaim to us the 
 sacred and Divine truth." 
 
 Some leagues from Paris, the head of a family 
 died. For the funeral, the neighbouring pastor was 
 sent for to officiate. The family were not of his 
 flock ; and finding himself surrounded with strangers, 
 he asked, "Why did you send for me?" He was 
 told that the master of the house, whose funeral he 
 was thus invited to, had been occasionally in Paris 
 on business, and had come upon one of the meet- 
 ings. Again and again, when business led him 
 back to the city, he returned to the meeting ; and 
 the testimony of the relatives was, that from that 
 time he was a changed man. There was no Gospel 
 in his neighbourhood, and the tidings had been 
 heard by him at the station, to which he was 
 "accidentally " brought, for the first time. 
 
 " These are the things for which we are thirsting," 
 
156 The White Fields of France. 
 
 said a soldier one day at one of the meetings. 
 " This is what we need, and what we want to learn," 
 said some soldiers on leaving the Rue Turbigo 
 meeting one night ; " we never hear anything like 
 this in the caserne " (barracks). 
 
 The Bible-class meetings are all full of interest, 
 and the written answers to the questions put show 
 the intelligence of the young people. " How does 
 one know that God has forgiven him?" was one of 
 these questions, and the answers on slips of paper 
 were striking testimonies to the operation of Divine 
 truth in the writers. Once the entire meeting 
 remained to the Bible class ; and at some of these 
 meetings perplexed ones have been disentangled, 
 doubting ones brought into light, and undecided 
 ones made decided, and led to set out on a career 
 of usefulness. The shaking of hands which goes on 
 at such times among these lively French people, 
 both old and young, is pleasant to witness. 
 
 Many of the boys are warmly interested in the 
 meetings. "Ground should be bought here," said one 
 of them on seeing the crowded room of La Villette, 
 " on which to build a great temple, that the whole 
 neighbourhood may come and hear the blessed words 
 of the Saviour." Another, while eagerly listening 
 to the speaker, was angrily forced away by his 
 father. Next evening, all was changed. The father, 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 157 
 
 neatly dressed, brought his boy back in the most 
 friendly manner. 
 
 " Sir, it was in this room that I found my 
 Saviour," said the father of a family to Mr. M'All 
 at the Grenelle meeting, as he grasped his hand. 
 " I thank you with all my heart," said an ouvrier of 
 Montmartre,when leaving Paris, "for these reunions. 
 I have attended for a year and a-half, and I am a 
 changed man, — yes, sir, a changed man." His life 
 showed the nature and reality of the change. 
 
 The new room at Passy was opened, and, at the 
 meetings there, cheering testimony was borne to the 
 blessing received in the old. In one family the 
 representatives of three generations have come under 
 the power of the Gospel. The utterances of joyful 
 thankfulness by the old grandmother, ninety years 
 of age, were most touching. 
 
 The keepers of the omnibus bureaus have very 
 hard work. They have no Sabbath ; seven days 
 without a break is their weekly labour. One of 
 them was full of gratitude for copies of the L'Ami 
 de la Maison, and mentioned how carefully he had 
 preserved them. He spoke of friendship among 
 Christians. Mr. M' All replied, " True, my friend, we 
 are all brethren." " Yes, sir," said he, " brethren in 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, are we not?" 
 
 The La Chapelle station, like most of the others, is 
 
i 58 The White Fields of France. 
 
 surrounded by the bouses of tbe poor. By tbe side 
 of it was the dwelling of an aged man of seventy-six, 
 who at this advanced time of life was still obliged 
 to work for bis bread. His working bours did not 
 allow bim to attend at the beginning of tbe meet- 
 ing ; but he used to steal in towards the close into 
 a corner and listen. The visitors found him on a 
 death-bed, but resting on the one sacrifice of the Son 
 of God, for pardon and entrance into the kingdom. 
 " Only one Physician," he said, " can help me ; but 
 He can do all. No fellow-man can help another to 
 get rid of his sins; God only can." The meeting 
 had not been opened in vain beside the lodging 
 of this stranger. It had been to him the gate of 
 heaven. 
 
 " Wife, wife, I have found such a religion as I 
 never thought existed ; it is so good, so good ; you 
 must come also." A poor man spoke these bright 
 words on returning home from one of the meetings. 
 He had been passing the door, and was invited to 
 enter, which he did. The light shone in upon his 
 darkness ; and he brought his wife and two children 
 with him. They all continue in regular attendance. 
 
 " Strange that he understands so much there, 
 when elsewhere he cannot be taught anything." 
 Such was the expression of astonishment by the 
 relatives of a poor boy of fourteen, whose intellect 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 159 
 
 had up till that time been almost dormant. He is 
 the son of respectable parents, in comfortable cir- 
 cumstances ; and from the first time that he came 
 to the mission-room evinced, as the report says, an 
 all-absorbing interest in what he heard. The Bible 
 class is his favourite meeting : and his intellect has 
 been wakened up, by the news of a Saviour's love, to 
 new capacities, and his heart to new susceptibilities. 
 The Spirit of God has been his teacher, and he has 
 learned quickly. 
 
 On the stair-cases of houses, not only children but 
 grown-up persons may be found seated pursuing 
 their ordinary occupations, and at the same time 
 singing the Mission hymns. One of the missionary 
 students, superintendent of the Gare dTvry Sunday 
 School, when visiting in that poor and neglected 
 district, heard voices thus singing, — 
 
 " Sur toi je me repose ; " 
 and, — 
 
 " Le message cles anges." 
 
 Not a few children have intelligently professed 
 their faith in Christ. At Grenelle, Signor Peretto 
 questioned carefully a boy of thirteen, and received, 
 in the presence of friends, most satisfying answers, 
 expressive of his acceptance of the Saviour and His 
 work. At Belleville also a similar case occurred ; 
 and, in another station, the children have expressed 
 
160 The White Fields of France. 
 
 a desire to commence a prayer meeting among 
 themselves. A young man at another station had 
 expressed his assurance of acceptance in Christ ; 
 and mentioned that he and another youth had begun 
 to read the Bible together and to pray every day. 
 This other youth had also found peace in believing. 
 
 " I could give the names," says a devoted visitor, 
 who had during the year 1876 paid 950 visits in 
 the houses of the people, " of forty-two persons who 
 have become earnest seekers, twenty-nine women 
 and thirteen men. I have met this year with 
 seven women and two men who gave evidence of 
 thorough decision for Christ." She speaks, too, of 
 a very general and earnest desire to understand the 
 truth, and mentions four households in which family 
 worship has been established ; also two families 
 who meet together every evening to read the Bible. 
 " Saved or lost ? " said an ouvrier, who used to spend 
 all his Sunday evenings in the wine-shop, but now 
 regularly attends the district meeting : " Saved or 
 lost ? I find this question to be a most serious one ; 
 it occupies all my thoughts, and I want to come to 
 a decision." 
 
 a Le salut gratuit" is a wonder to many; and M. 
 Naef, among several instances of awakening that 
 had come under his notice, mentions one whose eyes 
 had been opened to see this gratuitous salvation, 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 161 
 
 which to all men, but especially to Romanists, — 
 who have been accustomed to pay for everything in 
 religion, and to look on the priest as a huckster 
 bargaining for a good price in the market, — is a 
 thing hard to be believed, or even understood. On 
 comprehending the freeness of this free salvation 
 for the first time, he had given vent to some stroDg 
 expressions of his new-found joy and wonder. 
 
 Freely Saved! It is this that everywhere 
 calls forth the feelings and utterances of astonish- 
 ment in those whose eyes have rested on the cross 
 of the Substitute. " And have I nothing to do 1 " 
 said a dying man once to us, as we preached to him 
 Jesus and His sufficiency. " Nothing, absolutely 
 and entirely nothing, in order to be saved," was our 
 reply. " All is done : it is the doing of another that 
 saves." His eye brightened, and he passed away 
 in peace, with nunc dimittis in his heart, if not 
 on his lips. Some very bright instances of this we 
 find in the story of Robert Haldane's wonderful 
 work at Montauban, more than sixty years ago. 
 
 " Je suis un grand jpecheuv metis f ai un grand 
 Re'pondant" These were the death-bed words of 
 M. Encontre, Principal of the Montauban College, to 
 Mr. Haldane, on bidding farewell. This distinguished 
 mathematician and philosopher had been a strong 
 Arminian in theology ; but was led to the knowledge 
 
 Bf 
 
1 62 The White Fields of France. 
 
 of the One Righteousness through faith, by Mr. 
 Haldane. Speculation, philosophy, dogmatism, self- 
 righteousness stood between him and the cross. But 
 they had all given way. As a sinner he looked at 
 last to the Sinbearer, and found rest. 
 
 " C'est trop grand pour etre vvai ! " was the 
 vehement exclamation of the French pastor, when, 
 in an evening walk on the banks of the Tarn, Mr. 
 Haldane pressed upon him the words on the cross, 
 " It is finished ! " He had been strongly opposed to 
 the idea of salvation by another's doings ; and, when 
 the light burst in upon him, he could not contain 
 himself for gladness. The tidings of his new found 
 joy were conveyed to his aged father, above eighty; 
 and the same joy took possession of him, so that the 
 whole household were affected as they saw the old 
 man going about the house clasping his hands and 
 joyfully exclaiming, " Tout est accompli ! " * 
 
 But my narrative must return to Paris ; and the 
 little incidents recorded in the reports give a faith- 
 ful description of the work itself, without ornament 
 or eloquence. 
 
 " Je suis scelle pour la gloire, 
 J'avance vers mon pays ; 
 Ecoutez tous mon histoire 
 Et l'amour de J£sus Christ 
 
 * Memoirs of R. and J. A. Haldane, pp. 467-8. 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 163 
 
 Jesus mon ami supreme 
 
 Sur moi veille ; il l'a promis ; 
 
 J'aime Jesu, Jesu m'aime 
 
 Comme un berger sa brebis." 
 
 At a poor bedside in Les Ternes these words were 
 
 repeated by a visitor to a dying girl of fifteen. 
 
 " Yes, yes," was her brief but earnest response. 
 
 Just before she died she tried to sing, — 
 
 " Avan cons-nous joyeux, toujours joyeux, 
 Vers le pays des esprits bienheureux 
 Vers la demeure oil Jesus pour nous prie : 
 Marchons joyeux, e'est la notre patric." 
 
 As we glance over the report for 1876, we are 
 interested in the headings of the paragraphs, as show- 
 ing the nature of the expansion which is taking place. 
 They are such as the following : — " utility of large 
 rooms ; " " new central station ; " " new stations and 
 enlargements ; " " financial position ; " " workers ; " 
 "occasional helpers ; " "adult Bible classes ; " " prayei 
 meetings; " "miscellaneous meetings ; M " domiciliary 
 visitation;" "lending libraries;" "Bibles, tracts, 
 magazines;" "hymns and hymn-books." By this 
 time the number of stations had risen to 19, and 
 the sittings to 3700. The average weekly attend- 
 ance at adult meetings was 5500; and at Sunday 
 schools and services for the young, 2000. I add 
 one extract : — 
 "Each advance which we have been enabled to make in 
 
1 64 The White Fields of France. 
 
 accommodation lias been followed by a fully corresponding 
 increase in the number of hearers. Thus our present fine room 
 in Belleville, opened in October, 1875, instead of the former 
 small and inconvenient one, has twice required subsequent 
 enlargement in order to receive the crowded Sunday evening 
 congregations. We obtained in the spring a large i Caf6 
 Concert ' in the Faubourg St. Antoine, and converted it into a 
 mission-room to replace the former one, little more than one- 
 third the size. This spacious place is quite insufficient to 
 contain the numbers who flock to it. On the Sunday evening, 
 it is usual for many to have to remain standing to the close. 
 In the cases of at least two others of our older stations there 
 can be no doubt that, if we were warranted in incurring the 
 increased rental, rooms two or three times the size would be 
 immediately filled with eager listeners. 
 
 " At our station of Boulevard Ornano, Montmartre, which 
 has been constantly advancing in attendance and interest 
 during the four and a-half years of its existence, we have the 
 prospect of speedily adding two hundred sittings. Our gener- 
 ous friend, Captain Knox, R.N., is prepared to help us to meet 
 the cost, in memory of his late wife, whose heart was greatly 
 set upon evangelisation in France, and with whose name our 
 remote station of the Gare dTvry (evidently made a blessing 
 amidst its dark and neglected district) is associated ; she having 
 provided the means for its foundation and support. 
 
 "Though much blessing has rested upon our room in the 
 Eue Turbigo, we have long felt the desirableness of securing 
 a larger place of meeting in the neighbourhood between the 
 ' Halles Centrales ' and ' Hotel de Ville,' where a daily evangel- 
 istic meeting might be held, similar to that sustained by Pastor 
 Armand-Delille in the Eue Koyale. Mr. Martin Sutton, jun., 
 of Heading, and some other friends, having most kindly offered 
 to contribute a part of the rental, we were encouraged to seek 
 out and hire a suitable locality. It is a very neat room, con- 
 taining 270 sittings, well placed on the great Rue de Rivoli, 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 165 
 
 near the well-known Tour St. Jacques. Here it is our purpose, 
 every evening and on the Sunday afternoon, to invite the 
 passers-by to hear the Gospel-message. We earnestly ask the 
 prayers of many that this new and arduous enterprise may be 
 abundantly blessed. In order to meet the unavoidably heavy 
 rental, we shall have need of generous contributions. This new 
 station was opened December 28th. Most suitable addresses 
 were delivered on the occasion by the pastors Annand-Delille, 
 Recolin, and Fisch, and by the Rev. E. W. Hitchcock, as the 
 representative of our American friends. "We are much encour- 
 aged by the deep attention of the hearers, many of whom, 
 doubtless, listen for the first time to the Gospel. The co- 
 operation of M. Theodore Monod is invaluable in launching 
 this momentous enterprise. 
 
 " In order not to leave the immediate vicinity of our former 
 room, Rue Turbigo, unprovided for, we have arranged to hold 
 two evangelistic meetings weekly in the chapel of our valued 
 friend, Dr. Fisch, Rue Chariot." 
 
 The testimony of the Rev. Horace Noel, in a 
 letter of date, "Paris, September 12, 1876," to Mr. 
 M'All, is well worth recording here : — all the more 
 because of its reference to the " storms of atheistic 
 opposition " which the Mission had to encounter at 
 some of the stations in its earlier days : — 
 
 " Having had this year, for the fifth time, the privilege of 
 helping to carry on your Mission during your absence, I gladly 
 give my testimony to the wonderful success with which it has 
 pleased God to crown your labours. No one, I think, who 
 has taken part in the work can doubt that the hand of the 
 Lord has been evidently displayed in it. 
 
 " I first attended your meetings in October, 1872, when it 
 was scarcely nine months since they began, and when you had 
 
1 66 The White Fields of France. 
 
 but four stations opened : namely, Belleville, Menilmontant, 
 Boulevard Ornano, and Charonne. Of these, that of Boulevard 
 Ornano was by far the largest and most promising, although 
 the storms of atheistic opposition which attended its early days 
 had not, I believe, long subsided. 
 
 " But I suppose that the united attendance at all these four 
 rooms hardly averaged more than may now be seen in the one 
 room at the Fauboug St. Antoine. 
 
 " Since then I have seen the number of your stations gra- 
 dually increased from four to eighteen, small congregations 
 changed into large ones, and audiences that were more or less 
 unsettled and disorderly becoming almost entirely composed 
 of serious and attentive hearers. Your success in enlisting 
 workers of both nations and of various Churches, and bringing 
 them into harmonious and brotherly co-operation, has also 
 been very noteworthy. 
 
 " But what most of all assures me that God's blessing has 
 rested on your work is the examples which I have seen of 
 those who, by means of it, have been brought to the know- 
 ledge of the Saviour ; and who are now showing forth His 
 praise, not only with their lips, but in their lives. Patience 
 and energy, and wise arrangements, might suffice to assemble 
 large and attentive audiences, but every soul rescued out of 
 Satan's power and brought to the feet of Christ is a result 
 which no human toil or human skill, apart from God's own 
 working, could have effected." 
 
 It is in this year (1876) that we have the first 
 report of the work among the children under the 
 superintendence of Mr. A. A. Maitland Heriot. This 
 juvenile field is of course very large, and hitherto 
 utterly neglected. The Church of Rome is the 
 Church of money, and concerns herself chiefly with 
 
Progressive Inga thering. 1 6 7 
 
 those who can pay. As a rule, children " don't 
 pay." They are not a lucrative concern to the 
 priest, except at baptism and confirmation and com- 
 munion. Besides, the children of Paris are, like 
 their parents, considerably disconnected from the 
 priesthood. The priest is not now the master of the 
 family. The young people have gathered into the 
 mission-halls in great numbers, both as parts of the 
 general audience and in meetings for themselves. 
 Mr. Heriot's work has been a very earnest and suc- 
 cessful one, and his reports will be read with deep 
 interest. He has had a considerable staff of fellow- 
 labourers, and the assistance he has had from some 
 zealous self-denying ladies has been very valuable. 
 Gladly should I have given this first report in full, 
 but space hinders, and I must content myself with 
 the following extracts: — 
 
 " We seek also to become acquainted with our little hearers 
 personally, hoping that their love for us may lead to a love 
 for their great unknown Friend. Many visits have been paid 
 -with this object in view, especially to any we heard were ill 
 or in hospital. Another important addition to our work has 
 been the formation of several young people's Bible classes. 
 These classes, conducted in such a way as to make all comers 
 feel at home, are likely to do much good. They are destined 
 for the older and more thoughtful children. These poor, 
 ignorant ones have seldom the most elementary knowledge of 
 evangelical truth. Such terms as 'conversion,' or 'washed in 
 the blood of Christ,' have no meaning for them, and at first 
 often cause amusement. Five such Bible classes have been 
 
1 68 The White Fields of France. 
 
 begun, and we hope soon to see more of them in operation. 
 A Christian lady, gifted for this work in a more than ordinary 
 degree, has been, in the providence of God, and in answer to 
 many prayers, sent to undertake it. We have also to thank 
 Miss Emma Leigh (whose sister's work among English girls in 
 Paris is so widely known and so widely beneficial) for her 
 valuable help in this way, and hope that it may be long con- 
 tinued. 
 
 " A gigantic and almost virgin field of labour is open to us 
 in the young men of this city. The name of their temptations 
 is Legion, for they are many. If there is one city in the world 
 more than another which is the sink and sepulchre of young 
 men, that city is Paris. We have not, alas ! so far been able 
 to start more than two young men's meetings, but arrange- 
 ments are now pending with a man suitable for this work, 
 at present serjeant-major in a well-known cavalry regiment, 
 but willing to renounce his position, and his prospects of 
 earthly glory, to carry on the conquests of the Eternal king- 
 dom. We hope that ere long his arrival here will open the 
 way for more energetic measures among both young men and 
 children. 
 
 " Two young women's meetings have also been commenced 
 in localities which, by their vicinity to factories, invited such 
 a step. Miss Bonnycastle has devoted a portion of her time to 
 one of these, which is preceded by an English class ; and Miss 
 Matheson, to whose welcome arrival we have already alluded, 
 ably conducts the other. Christian ladies could not wish for 
 a wider or more pressing mission than that presented by these 
 young girls, especially in those quarters of Paris where abso- 
 lutely nothing is being done for them. The young women 
 stand in as great need of the Gospel as the young men. Those 
 of the ouvriere class work for the most part in factories, where 
 there is much that is evil. In the evening, numerous balls 
 are open, where there is plenty of light and glitter and society 
 — there, no doubt, a very pleasant, but a very deadly, evening 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 169 
 
 may be passed. Without the ties of home, as we know them, 
 and surrounded by gay companions all day long, what can be 
 expected of a poor Parisian girl, who knows not the Saviour ? " 
 
 " It has been interesting to watch the transformations that 
 have occurred in the behaviour of different children ; the 
 irregular often becoming more regular in their attendance — 
 restless and talkative ones beginning to listen, and a good 
 many becoming seriously attentive. A few days ago, at Bercy, 
 a little girl of ten or eleven took my hand, and when I stooped 
 down to hear what she had to say, she made this brief com- 
 munication, — 'Monsieur, j'ai donne mon cceur a J^sus.' 
 
 "The band of Christian friends who devote themselves 
 entirely to this mission, at present numbers four. An increase 
 of the staff of workers being necessary for an extension of the 
 work, this number will (d.v.) soon be augmented. We shall 
 continually endeavour to obtain the assistance of such as are 
 not only excellent as regards Christian consistency, but who 
 are also, by adaptation for our particular kind of work, and 
 by earnest prayerfulness, likely to be successful soul- winners. 
 ' They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 
 ment ; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars 
 for ever and ever.' Let us endeavour to turn to righteousness 
 many of the boys and girls who are already in the vortex of 
 the great whirlpool of vice and wickedness, which sucks so 
 many down to perdition. Oh for a word of power to reach 
 their hearts, and a steady hand to point them to the cross ! 
 
 " One very pleasant feature, perhaps I should say result, of 
 our work, is the evident love and gratitude of the children 
 towards us. These sentiments are sometimes too vociferously 
 expressed by rounds of applause upon our entering an assembly 
 of young urchins ; sometimes by childish letters of thanks. 
 Here is one from a little girl, who wrote what she felt too shy 
 to say. I do not venture to spoil it by translation : — 
 
 " ' Monsieur, Je vous prie de m'excuser si je me permets de 
 vous £crire ces quelques lignes, ne sachant pas mieux faire. 
 
i 70 The White Fields of France. 
 
 Vous me demandez sou vent si je suis sauvee. Oui, je suis 
 sauvee. J'aime notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ, et j'en suis aimee. 
 Je suis toujours avec lui, et il veille toujours sur moi ; sans 
 Dieu je ne serais jamais heureuse. Monsieur, je vous remercie 
 des bons conseils que vous m'avez donne'e bien souvent. Je vous 
 pi^sente mes respects les plus reconnaissants. — Juliette P.' " 
 
 The year 1877 does not slacken in its work, nor 
 diminish in the interest of its details. The stations 
 are now twenty- two; the meetings full, and all 
 bearing fruit. Of the workers, some have left, and 
 some have returned. The Rev. G. T. Dodds, from 
 Edinburgh, with his wife, join the Mission as per- 
 manent workers. But the field is still too large for 
 the number and the strength of the labourers. The 
 call for labourers is urgent ; and still more the call 
 for prayer in behalf of those already in the field. 
 The Lord of the harvest waits to be interceded with. 
 There are no doubt, in the case of France, the un- 
 answered prayers of past generations still in store ; 
 and God is not unrighteous to forget the cry of the 
 martyrs of other days ; but He is waiting for new 
 cries, and is easy to be entreated. 
 
 M. St. Hilaire, dating from "Paris, December 16, 
 1877," thus writes his impressions of the year; and 
 as he has, with unwearied zeal, thrown himself into 
 the work, his successive testimonies are very valu- 
 able. He writes as a scholar and a Christian; as 
 one who knows Paris and its population well : — 
 
Progressive Ingathering, 1 7 1 
 
 "When you ventured to establish a daily meeting in the 
 centre of Paris, in a quarter entirely devoted to business, I 
 was, I acknowledge, surprised, almost alarmed, at your bold- 
 ness. Among your twenty-two stations, this was the only one 
 opened daily, and I could scarcely believe that it would ever 
 become filled. 
 
 " How, then, shall I describe my astonishment and my joy 
 when, entering this mission-hall, doubled in size, and which 
 now can accommodate nearly 300 persons, I saw it filled, all 
 the chairs occupied, and some hearers standing. In meetings 
 of this kind the women usually form the majority. But there, 
 amidst that business quarter, where life is so laborious and 
 moments are so precious, at least four-fifths of the attendants 
 were men, and among them, marvellous to say, the majority 
 were young men. A certain neatness and superiority of appear- 
 ance indicated a class somewhat above that of the usual fre- 
 quenters of these meetings. Evidently there were among them, 
 as in every case, workmen and artisans ; but there were also 
 tradesmen's assistants, shopkeepers, and clerks. This class, 
 which, in Paris, we rarely see in our churches, and which we 
 despair to reach, — these young men, so busied during the day, 
 so eager to seek their pleasures in the evening, were there in 
 numbers, — attentive, serious, drinking in the Word of life, for 
 them so new that it seemed as if they were hearing it for the 
 first time. 
 
 "I watched them attentively, prepared to detect on their 
 countenances the smile of derision or incredulity — but, no ! 
 they were there respectful, spell-bound, their looks as well as 
 their ears engaged in receiving each word, which entered into 
 their heart as the seed into the earth, there to yield its fruit. 
 I venture to affirm, dear friend, that for one acquainted with 
 the youth of Paris, so greedy of amusement, so little in- 
 clined to serious things, the scene presented a complete 
 revolution ! 
 
 " A word, now, respecting our working classes. It is not 
 
172 The White Fields of France. 
 
 my habit to flatter my country ; but foreigners themselves have 
 done homage to the prudence and self-restraint manifested by 
 the people of France during the painful crisis which has recently 
 passed. But this wonderful wisdom, to which assuredly we 
 had not been habituated, to what do we owe it, if not to the 
 influence of the Gospel which commences to spread itself among 
 the industrious classes? — for our Master teaches us that the 
 commencement is always to be made with the obscure and the 
 poor. You live in Belleville, dear friend, that suburb, or rather 
 town of workshops and factories ; you cannot but have witnessed 
 there, during months past, untold sufferings, untold misery. 
 If, then, all this has been borne with such patience — if in this 
 native country of the Commune not the least disorder has arisen, 
 have not your meetings, so tending to produce what is good, so. 
 favourite among these poor workmen, done their part ? Cer- 
 tainly all the glory belongs to God alone, and not to the un- 
 worthy instruments He employs ; but let me tell you how I 
 rejoice to see the Gospel thus, by degrees, taking root in the 
 country of Voltaire, and the crowds hungering for the bread of 
 life when the bread that perishes is ready to fail them ! 
 
 " And now, dear brother, it is not you but all the friends of 
 your work who have need to consider that this station of Rivoli, 
 situated in the most central and business quarter of Paris, and 
 opened to the public every day of the year, involves expenses 
 of rental, of management, of lighting, &c, equal to those of 
 three or four other stations taken together. If, then, the ex- 
 penses are thus increased, ought not the gifts to increase in the 
 same proportion ? England will not weary of the sacrifices 
 she has made in order to spread the Gospel in France in the 
 very moment when these sacrifices begin to bear fruit." 
 
 I have already alluded to the friendliness of the 
 Paris municipal authorities. The Gospel may not 
 yet have reached their own hearts, but they see in 
 
Progressive Ingathering. i 73 
 
 it an instrument of order and peace, such as no 
 priest has ever wielded. It has quieted the city of 
 revolutions, and made the worst of its people capable 
 of being governed without bayonets or prisons. These 
 magistrates see, moreover, in the men who are thus 
 gathering the communist crowds, men who can be 
 trusted ; men of simple purpose and unselfish aims ; 
 no disturbers of the peace, or enemies of social order ; 
 and as guardians of law they not only support and 
 sympathise with, but are ready publicly to honour 
 these promoters of the peace of Paris. The honour 
 conferred by men in power and position may not 
 always be an indication of the faithfulness of an 
 evangelist or pastor ; still the following recognition 
 of the Mission and its conductor is well worth re- 
 cording. "When, in 1834, Dr. Chalmers was elected 
 corresponding member of the Koyal Institute of 
 France, the men of the Institute thought merely of 
 honouring science and genius. But the tribute to 
 Mr. M'All was not of this nature, and its value 
 consists not so much in the distinction bestowed upon 
 a toiling evangelist, as in the testimony thus borne 
 to the influence of his work : — 
 
 " The authorities of Paris have continued to give us all need- 
 ful facilities, and this Las been done with the utmost courtesy 
 and good-will. And in May last we were gladdened by an 
 unexpected recognition of our undertaking on the part of a 
 
174 The White Fields of France. 
 
 great public society, which includes many distinguished repre- 
 sentatives of all political and ecclesiastical parties. On occasion 
 of the anniversary gathering of the 'Societd Nationale oV Encour- 
 agement au Bien? held in the Cirque National, a silver medal 
 was presented to us, with the inscription on the accompanying 
 diplome, ' pour devouement a Vhumaniti? One or two sentences 
 translated irom the report, read before the vast assembly by 
 Monsieur Henri Arnoul, the venerable secretary, and widely 
 circulated, exhibit the estimate of such an enterprise formed 
 by those viewing it db extra. ' Mr. M'All knew that, in the 
 population of Belleville, there exist sufferings of all kinds, — 
 that moral degradation has its abode there side by side with 
 mental degradation and extreme poverty. Seconded by Mrs. 
 M. and a few friends, he has founded, and subsequently multi- 
 plied in Paris, evening meetings, the object of which is to 
 bring light to the mind, and to calm the troubled heart. 
 Wherever he has directed his steps, Mr. M. has been cordially 
 received. His words of sympathy have been responded to 
 by expressions of gratitude. " La SocietS d' Encouragement au 
 Bicn" joins in the testimonies of affection which salute the 
 welcome of the benevolent foreigner, and offers him a medal 
 in return for the good he labours to effect.' '' 
 
 This year brought with it a new 7 feature in the 
 work, — the establishment of a daily evangelistic 
 service at the central station in the Rue de Rivoli. 
 No fewer than 367 meetings have been held in the 
 room there during the year, attended in all by up- 
 wards of 70,000 persons. This station is in the 
 very centre of gay Paris, and is one of great im- 
 portance. An officer of the adjoining Hotel de 
 Ville, a devoted Christian man, who takes a great 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 175 
 
 interest in the station, said to Mr. M'All, " When 
 the Hotel de Ville was burning, I prayed that 
 another fire, the sacred flame of the Gospel, might 
 be kindled on the very spot, and here I see my oft- 
 renewed prayer answered." He said this after a 
 crowded meeting, composed, as the week-day even- 
 ing attendance is, almost entirely of men. Night 
 after night the room is filled with the representatives 
 of various classes, — bourgeois, tradesmen, clerks, and 
 especially ouvriers. The attention is very striking, 
 and at no station is the fondness for hymns more 
 marked. Many a careless passer-by along that gay 
 thoroughfare has been arrested by these sounds of 
 praise. Dr. Fisch is a great helper here ; and on 
 the Sabbath afternoons it has more the character of 
 a settled congregation than the others. # 
 
 * I give in a note the following statement from the report of 1877, 
 as to " Material Progress " : — 
 
 " Our work has again been extended in accommodation, and, still 
 more, in attendance. Four stations have been enlarged, and three 
 new ones founded, giving nearly 1000 additional sittings. The aver- 
 age weekly attendance at the meetings for adults has increased by 
 upwards of 2500. 
 
 " Yet at no period of the year have our finance? warranted exten- 
 sion unless where special contributions were offered for some definite 
 purpose. Thus, by the liberality of Captain Knox, R.N., we were 
 enabled, in the spring, to add 230 sittings to our deeply-interesting 
 station of Boulevard Ornano, he having devoted the sum required 
 in memory of his late wife. At Batignolles, we have been helped 
 by a kind friend in London towards the cost of a larger room, which 
 has resulted in nearly doubling the attendance. At La Villette and 
 
176 The White Fields of France. 
 
 New fields are entered on ; and the same kind 
 of population gathers round the evangelists. Each 
 advance made is a new insight into " the mysteries 
 of Paris ; " and no part of that city, even the worst 
 and lowest, seems inaccessible. No one says, " De- 
 part out of our coasts ; " every street and lane 
 says, " Welcome." " He that openeth and no man 
 shutteth " is here. He is " found of them who 
 sought Him not." Still, wherever the evangelists 
 go, opposition, if it shows itself for a moment, 
 disappears. The police protect and sympathise. 
 
 " At Puteanx, a populous suburb outside the boundaries of 
 Paris, the long-proj ected station was opened in February. When 
 applying to the Paris authorities for the requisite authorisation, 
 they frankly expressed to us the opinion that, in consequence 
 of the tumultuous and atheistic characteristics of the district, 
 we should find it impossible to work there, and should only 
 bring disappointment and trouble on ourselves. Nevertheless, 
 the permission was granted. On occasion of the opening, the 
 room, which will accommodate 150, was densely crowded ; the 
 utmost order prevailed ; and at the close, the Mayor of Puteanx 
 and the Commissary of Police, who were both present, expressed 
 their warm sympathy and readiness to protect and aid us. A 
 month later, the Commissary sent to us a message by Monsieur 
 Dumas, Lutheran pastor of Puteaux, to the effect that he ' had 
 
 Bercy, our existing places were let to other tenants on long leases. 
 In each case we have obtained much more spacious and eligible 
 rooms. For the former enlargement, we have had the generous aid 
 of Monsieur Fallot and his congregation of the Chapelle du Nord ; 
 the other is specially cared for by Mrs. Barbour and friends in Edin- 
 burgh." 
 
Progressive Ingathering. i yy 
 
 reported to the Prefecture the large attendances and perfect 
 order of the meetings, and his belief that great good would 
 result in the moral amelioration of the district.' The subsequent 
 history of the place has borne out this happy commencement. 
 Mr. Dumas devotes himself to the work with exemplary assi- 
 duity, and receives aid from other brethren in the vicinity. 
 More than this, the entire cost of planting and sustaining the 
 station has been defrayed by special contributions collected by 
 himself and Mr. Fallot. 
 
 " Our station of Boulogne-sur-Seine was opened in April, in 
 continuation of the devoted labours of Madame Dalencourt, 
 and in the same locality. She herself has lent her valuable 
 help to the effort. The district is one in which the Gospel is 
 little known, and the people, absorbed in their temporal affairs, 
 are difficult to reach. Still, we desire to persevere in the 
 undertaking, believing that the reaping time will come. 
 
 " An interesting sketch of this and other departments of the 
 work in which Madame Dalencourt aids us, written by herself, 
 is appended to this report. The French Committee of the 
 Society of Friends, who take so deep an interest in Madame 
 D.'s labours, have allowed us the use of their furniture for the 
 station, and otherwise helped us. 
 
 " The twenty-second station, that of the Eue de Meaux, 
 La Villette, has been formed by separating a part of the large 
 new room in the Rue d'Allemagne. The premises having a 
 second entrance in the adjoining street, we are thus enabled to 
 do something for a distinct and much-neglected population. 
 Our esteemed friends, Signor and Mrs. Peretto, have recently 
 taken charge of this infant effort." 
 
 The sympathy of French Christians came out in 
 an interesting and peculiar way, which the following 
 extract will show : — 
 
 " It is with joy that we pay a renewed warm tribute to the 
 
 N 
 
176 The White Fields of France. 
 
 New fields are entered on ; and the same kind 
 of population gathers round the evangelists. Each 
 advance made is a new insight into " the mysteries 
 of Paris ; " and no part of that city, even the worst 
 and lowest, seems inaccessible. No one says, " De- 
 part out of our coasts ; " every street and lane 
 says, " Welcome." " He that openeth and no man 
 shutteth " is here. He is " found of them who 
 sought Him not." Still, wherever the evangelists 
 go, opposition, if it shows itself for a moment, 
 disappears. The police protect and sympathise. 
 
 " At Puteaux, a populous suburb outside the boundaries of 
 Paris, the long-projected station was opened in February. When 
 applying to the Paris authorities for the requisite authorisation, 
 they frankly expressed to us the opinion that, in consequence 
 of the tumultuous and atheistic characteristics of the district, 
 we should find it impossible to work there, and should only 
 bring disappointment and trouble on ourselves. Nevertheless, 
 the permission was granted. On occasion of the opening, the 
 room, which will accommodate 150, was densely crowded ; the 
 utmost order prevailed ; and at the close, the Mayor of Puteaux 
 and the Commissary of Police, who were both present, expressed 
 their warm sympathy and readiness to protect and aid us. A 
 month later, the Commissary sent to us a message by Monsieur 
 Dumas, Lutheran pastor of Puteaux, to the effect that he ' had 
 
 Bercy, our existing places were let to other tenants on long leases. 
 In each case we have obtained much more spacious and eligible 
 rooms. For the former enlargement, we have had the generous aid 
 of Monsieur Fallot and his congregation of the Chapelle du Nord ; 
 the other is specially cared for by Mrs. Barbour and friends in Edin- 
 burgh." 
 
Progressive Ingathering. i 77 
 
 reported to the Prefecture the large attendances and perfect 
 order of the meetings, and his belief that great good would 
 result in the moral amelioration of the district.' The subsequent 
 history of the place has borne out this happy commencement. 
 Mr. Dumas devotes himself to the work with exemplary assi- 
 duity, and receives aid from other brethren in the vicinity. 
 More than this, the entire cost of planting and sustaining the 
 station has been defrayed by special contributions collected by 
 himself and Mr. Fallot. 
 
 " Our station of Boulogne-sur-Seine was opened in April, in 
 continuation of the devoted labours of Madame Dalencourt, 
 and in the same locality. She herself has lent her valuable 
 help to the effort. The district is one in which the Gospel is 
 little known, and the people, absorbed in their temporal affairs, 
 are difficult to reach. Still, we desire to persevere in the 
 undertaking, believing that the reaping time will come. 
 
 " An interesting sketch of this and other departments of the 
 work in which [Madame Dalencourt aids us, written by herself, 
 is appended to this report. The French Committee of the 
 Society of Friends, who take so deep an interest in Madame 
 D.'s labours, have allowed us the use of their furniture for the 
 station, and otherwise helped us. 
 
 " The twenty-second station, that of the Rue de Meaux, 
 La Villette, has been formed by separating a part of the large 
 new room in the Rue d'Allemagne. The premises having a 
 second entrance in the adjoining street, we are thus enabled to 
 do something for a distinct and much-neglected population. 
 Our esteemed friends, Signor and Mrs. Peretto, have recently 
 taken charge of this infant effort." 
 
 The sympathy of French Christians came out in 
 an interesting and peculiar way, which the following 
 extract will show : — 
 
 " It is with joy that we pay a renewed warm tribute to the 
 
 N 
 
178 The White Fields of France. 
 
 French Christians of Paris, who, during the year, have given 
 new proof of their sympathy by coming to our aid financially. 
 In April last, so soon as our need was known, they sent, with- 
 out our solicitation, generous help towards surmounting the 
 crisis. And this followed closely upon a most touching mark 
 of affectionate interest. One day in March, we received a visit 
 from Professor and Madame St. Hilaire, when they handed to 
 us an elegantly inlaid box, inscribed on the outside, ' Voitures,' 
 inside, — ' A M. et Mme. M'All, temoignage de profonde grati- 
 tvAe des amis de Paris.'' The offerings contained in and accom- 
 panying the box amounted to 3930 francs (,£117), which we 
 were exhorted to expend in hiring conveyances in order to 
 lessen our fatigue when journeying to our distant stations. 
 Such a mark of delicate kindness on the part of numerous 
 Parisian neighbours (pastors and others) towards us who had, 
 six years ago, come among them as almost unknown strangers, 
 and, not less, the tender affection with which our dear friends 
 accompanied its presentation, left an impress on our heart 
 which can never be effaced." 
 
 The Bible classes are vigorously conducted, and 
 this year shows no diminution. Six are now held 
 weekly, with an average attendance of nearly 300. 
 These are for both old and young. The prayer 
 meetings still continue, with the young men's 
 Fraternal Union Prayer Meeting. The sewing 
 classes for poor women make progress. Various 
 other similar and occasional meetings are held ; 
 among which is M. Theodore Monod's for religious 
 inquirers at the Ornano station. 
 
 The warm hand-shakings, noticed in the reports, 
 at the close of the meetings, put one in mind of 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 1 79 
 
 apostolic times. " Greet one another with a holy 
 kiss." " Brotherly love continues." On reopening 
 the Ornano station after enlargement, M. T. Monod 
 wished to ascertain how far the audience had been 
 steady throughout. He asked those who had at- 
 tended from the beginning to hold up hands ; and 
 quite a forest of hands was exhibited. 
 
 The incidents of the year are still, as formerly, 
 strikingly illustrative of the nature of the work 
 carried on at the meetings and Bible classes, and 
 also in domiciliary visits. They are various, though 
 of course all bearing more or less on the one point 
 of spiritual benefit received. Without colouring or 
 exaggeration, facts are set down, which by the sim- 
 plicity and brevity with which they are given, attest 
 their truthfulness, and increase our confidence in 
 the Mission. Readers will not have to complain of 
 embellished narratives or invented scenes. 
 
 " I am always happy," said an aged hearer at one 
 of the stations. " God cares for me and guides me. 
 I hold myself ready to go whenever He shall call me 
 away." He had been noted for his bright counte- 
 nance and eager attention. 
 
 Such entries as the followiug are worth record- 
 ing : — " A young man, now a worker, had been led 
 to Christ at La Chapelle ; " " evidences of a deepen- 
 ing work in the Belleville Bible class;" "several 
 
180 The White Fields of France. 
 
 persons who had attended M. T. Monod's special 
 meetings at Ornano are connecting themselves now 
 with his church ; " " news of six or seven members 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association brought 
 out of darkness into light ; " "a heart-broken father, 
 who has lost two children, has found rest in the 
 infinite love of God ; " " an ouvrier of Grenelle, to 
 whom the meetings had been blest, has died in 
 peace ; " " Thank you, sir ; this is better than the 
 cabaret," said an ouvrier at the Rue de Rivoli ; 
 "the whole family of an ouvrier has come under 
 the power of the Gospel at Rue de la Condamine;" 
 " an attender at Les Ternes, brought out of the dark- 
 ness of superstitious formalism, and laid upon a 
 sick-bed, requested to have her Christian friends 
 gathered round her, that they might commemorate 
 together the love of Christ : and asked her pastor to 
 say to the company in her name, 'My brethren and 
 sisters in Christ, whether rich or poor, are dearer to 
 me than my relatives who are strangers to Him.' " 
 Mr. Moillet reports the great interest awakened at 
 the Rue Chariot station by the distribution of New 
 Testaments to the concierges around, and also the 
 kind way in which domiciliary visits are received in 
 that district, which is the very centre of the city. 
 Mr. Hitchcock reports well of the juvenile work at 
 Les Ternes, and that 135 girls had entered the 
 
Progressive Ingathering. \ 8 r 
 
 school last winter, instructed by twenty ladies. 
 Another regular attender of the meetings had died 
 lately in the hospital having her Bible always at 
 her side. The hymn which she had specially 
 learned by heart, and delighted to repeat, was that 
 of M. T. Monod, as embodying her hope in death, — 
 
 u Sur Toi je me repose, 
 O Jesu, mon Sauveur ! 
 Faut-il done autre chose 
 Pour un pauvre pecheur ? 
 Conduit par ta lumiere 
 Garde" par ton amour, 
 Vers la maison du Pere 
 Marchant de jour en jour." 
 
 Three extracts from the report (1877) will com- 
 plete the narrative for this year : — 
 
 " Very interesting reports received from some of our friends 
 who distribute the New Testaments to the concierges, the gift 
 of Madame de Briancon. The visitors round our Menilmon- 
 tant station found not only willing recipients, but, in various 
 houses, the people said, 'We only wish that the English friends 
 had come into our neighbourhood before the terrible struggle 
 [the Commune] instead of after it, for then it would not have 
 taken place.' These unaffected utterances seem to warrant the 
 belief that Christian efforts (those of others as well as our own) 
 in these outlying districts have not been without effect in calm- 
 ing passions and promoting social order. 
 
 " Miss , who directs our Sunday school at M , gave 
 
 us a touching account ot a boy eleven years of age. Some 
 weeks previously, he began to attend the school, and afterwards 
 the public service. He listened, lrom the first, with rapt 
 
1 82 The White Fields of France. 
 
 attention. When asked, 'Do your parents scud you here?' 
 'No.' 'Are they Christians V ' No, they do not attend any 
 church, they are sceptics ; I come here of my own accord, 
 because I want to learn about Jesus Christ.' Surely a Divine 
 Teacher had silently prepared that child's heart fur the vital 
 truth ! 
 
 " One of our workers, having paused at a book-stall on the 
 Quai, felt himself touched on the shoulder. A young man, 
 whom he did not know, inquired, ' Sir, do you consider that 
 treatise on "Prophecy" a reliable one?' 'I do not know you,' 
 remarked our friend. 'But, sir, I know you, and am grateful 
 for the word I have heard you speak in the reunions? ' In 
 what reunions V 'At Belleville' (miles away). He then re- 
 lated that, one night, when passing the gateway of our mission- 
 hall in the Rue de Belleville, the little paper of invitation had 
 been put into his father's hand. Arrived at his home outside 
 the fortifications, he read it : ' Des amis anglais et frangais 
 desirent vous parler de V amour de Jesus- Christ.'' ' The love of 
 Jesus Christ,' said he to his wife ; 'then we must go one of these 
 evenings, and hear what this is. 'Now,' added the young 
 man, ' my father and mother and all the family attend as often 
 as possible ; and more than this, Ave have all accepted Christ 
 as our Saviour.' He is himself a member of the ' Fraternal 
 Union' referred to above." 
 
 " Our excellent visitor, Madame , records about 900 
 
 domiciliary visits during the year. Her rejDort commences 
 thus : — ' I am greatly encouraged by the cordial welcome I 
 receive, and the great desire the people manifest for a clearer 
 knowledge of the truth respecting the life to come. In general, 
 it is only by slow degrees that they come to comprehend the 
 truth, but when they have once laid hold upon it they go on- 
 ward faithfully. The persons under serious impressions to 
 whom I referred in last year's report, and whom I continue to 
 visit, are persevering in the right way. Many of them make 
 progress which it is delightful to observe, and exercise a salu- 
 
Progressive Ingathering 
 
 tary influence around them, while giving evident proofs of 
 their evangelical faith. I can also testily, thank God, that 
 during this year I have witnessed the acceptance of salvation 
 by sinners.' Our friend goes on to specify the case of a poor 
 woman, mother of a family, who, after having lived in total 
 indifference, entered, as if by chance, one evening the reunion 
 of Boulevard Ornano. Her attention was arrested, and she 
 became a regular attendant. Our kind visitor perceived that 
 she became anxious and distressed, and, after repeated inter- 
 views, drew from her the avowal that, in the meetings, the 
 guilt of her heart had been so discovered to her that it seemed 
 impossible for her to obtain salvation. At length she was 
 enabled joyfully to declare, 'Jesus has triumphed for me ; I 
 have found and accepted the pardon of all my sins through 
 His death on the cross.' ' Now,' continues our visitor, 'this 
 mother, who had so neglected her children that, to use her own 
 words, they were as if motherless, unites with me every day in 
 
 praying that those children may be saved.' ' Madame 
 
 said to me one day, after hearing an address on the new birth, 
 " Formerly, when any one asked me what age I had arrived at 
 in the spiritual life, I was displeased, for I was forced to 
 acknowledge that I was not born as yet : but now, for some 
 months, I have been able to say that I am born again, but I 
 am as yet a mere infant." ' Other interesting details contained 
 in this journal must be omitted. A family is mentioned, all 
 the members of which attend with us. After enjoying a com- 
 fortable position, for two years they have had a hard struggle 
 for the necessaries of life. Here is their testimony : ' What 
 would have become of us without your meetings 1 ' They 
 acknowledge that ' the promises of the Gospel alone have been 
 their support.' Never have they received or asked any pecuni- 
 ary relief. At Batignolles, a widow and her two daughters 
 close their shop at the time of each reunion in order to be pre- 
 sent. The mother said, 'Before coming to the meeting, we 
 lived without religion, but now we cannot dispense with it, — 
 
184 The White Fields of France. 
 
 it is, as it were, our food. To come to the meeting is to us 
 like a refreshing repast.' Another attendant of the same 
 station, visiting in a remote country district, has collected her 
 relations and friends, and endeavoured, in her simple way, to 
 recount to them what she had heard in the meetings." 
 
 Madame Dalencourt thus writes regarding her 
 mothers' meeting : — 
 
 " Knowing the interest you take in the evangelisation of the 
 working population, and grateful for your sympathy evidenced 
 in granting me the free use of two of your mission-rooms, I 
 am happy to state to you the present position of my working 
 meetings for women. And, first, my reunion of the Gare 
 d'lvry was commenced, as an experiment, in October, 1876. 
 You know how grievously the inhabitants of that district are 
 given up to evil habits, which produce misery and lead to 
 mendicity. Hence, from the beginning, I felt it necessary to 
 insist upon the fact that I was not coming to establish a 
 Bureau de Bienfaisance, but simply to bring the Gospel with 
 its consolation to the sufferers, and to read to them the Divine 
 Book in which we learn to love duty, labour, order, economy, 
 &c. For some months, consequently, we rarely gathered more 
 than five or six women each afternoon. After a time, especi- 
 ally as the result of domiciliary visits, the number increased, 
 and now we rarely have fewer than thirty persons. 
 
 " A word as to our mode of procedure. The meeting lasts 
 from one to four o'clock. During this time all the women 
 work, either bringing their own work, or knitting, for which 
 we supply the wool. After singing, we sell to them, at a slight 
 loss, the materials for their work, also some vegetables, &c. 
 Singing, reading, reception of their little savings into a Penny 
 Bank, and the lending of books in French and German, follow ; 
 and after that, a portion of God's Word is read and explained. 
 Prayer closes the meeting, and when we separate, it is always 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 185 
 
 with the delightful sense that we have passed three hours in 
 the Divine presence. 
 
 "Our visits in the homes of the sick and absent bring us in 
 contact with misery of all kinds. They consume much time, 
 and, although I am aided by my niece and an English friend, 
 we are not able to meet the urgent needs, and I should regard 
 it as a great blessing if the Lord were to put it in the heart of 
 some Christian ladies, of whatever nation, to join us. Madame 
 
 T , who has asked from you the use of the room at the 
 
 Gare d'lvry for an Industrial School for girls, is about to com- 
 mence without delay. Thus your mission-room is thoroughly 
 utilised, and this district, in which you have planted the stan- 
 dard of the Gospel, begins to be well worked, the children's 
 service of Thursday and Sunday being also intelligently con- 
 ducted and very prosperous. 
 
 "At Boulogne, after an interval of some months, I have 
 yielded to the earnest desire of some of the women in recom- 
 mencing a weekly working meeting, not on the former footing, 
 but precisely similar to that of the Gare d'lvry. The Lord has 
 directed everything, and the temporary suspension of our meet- 
 ings seems to have awakened our women to the privilege of 
 meeting as a family to study the Bible. When I told them 
 that I returned, not on the former footing, but almost alone 
 with my old Bible, they replied, — ' It is better to see you two 
 [i.e., you and your Bible] thus together than not to see you 
 at all.' ■ 
 
 Mr. Maitland Heriot's assistance has been very 
 valuable, and his labours most successful. As his 
 work is " in association with the Paris working- 
 men's mission " of Mr. M'AU, I should have liked 
 to give a full narrative of his labours. But I find 
 that this would require a volume by itself; and 
 
1 86 The White Fields of France. 
 
 perhaps some one may be found to write the story 
 of the Paris mission to the young. I can give but 
 one or two paragraphs, referring my readers to the 
 reports. In 1876, no less than 2660 children 
 were under instruction. In 1877, these had in- 
 creased to 3000 : — 
 
 " On the last Saturday of the year, while a fete was being 
 given by Mr. M'All to the habitues of the Belleville station, 
 we gathered the younger portion of the assemblage, consisting 
 of the members of the two unions, and frequenters of the young 
 people's meeting, into an adjoining room. The proceedings 
 began by vigorous eating and heavy drinking (the beverage 
 was coffee). After they had consumed as much as was good 
 for them, we felt the necessity of giving affairs a practical bent, 
 and by turning their thoughts upward from the water of earthly 
 merriment towards the wine of heavenly duty, to make the 
 evening a profitable, as well as a more joyful one. Accordingly, 
 after seeking the Divine benediction, and singing some favourite 
 hymns, we proposed to the meeting, constituted suddenly into 
 a conference, this important question : 'What can we, the young 
 men of Paris, do to promote the glory of Christ 1 ' Many 
 friends took part in the most interesting discussion which 
 followed, several members of the Young Men's Union gave us 
 the benefit of their experience, and one or two Christian ladies 
 spoke on behalf of the young of their sex. We separated late 
 and with regret. Never in this country have we seen a meet- 
 ing more thoroughly animated with the enthusiasm of the true 
 missionary spirit. Thus the old year terminated most hope- 
 fully and with large promise for the future. 
 
 " Much that is of interest must remain unsaid as regards 
 individual cases of encouragement and blessing. We must, 
 nevertheless, for the two letters quoted in our last report sub- 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 1 8 7 
 
 stitute one in this. It was received on New- Year's Day, when 
 we were not quite well : — 
 
 " ' Paris, le 31 Decembre, 1877. 
 " c Une jeune chretienne, et line jeune convertie de 1877, 
 vous prie de recevoir ses souhaits les plus sinceres pour l'an 
 1878. Dans mes prieres de chaque jour, je supplie le Seigneur 
 de vous garder la sante et de nous accorder le bonheur de vous 
 poss6*der longtemps an milieu de nous, afin que vous ameniez 
 encore beaucoup d'ames a notre bien-aim6 Sauveur Jesus- 
 Christ. Croyez, je vous prie, cher et bon Monsieur, a toute 
 ma reconnaissance, et recevez les amities de votre petite ser- 
 vante et jeune soeur en J&us-Christ. Marie N.' " 
 
 This work amongst the young was seen by Mr. 
 M'All, from the first, to be of vast importance. 
 Mrs. M'All and he early undertook it ; and it has 
 rapidly increased upon their hands. 
 
 That this evangelical seed has been so widely 
 sown among the Parisian children is matter of deep 
 thankfulness, — perhaps of more thankfulness than 
 many would concede. Young hearts, they say, are 
 easily touched; and juvenile impressions quickly 
 fade. True, but impressions revive as well as fade ; 
 and young hearts are easily re-touched ; all the more 
 easily from being touched before. This we give as 
 the decided conviction, derived from the experience 
 of a long ministry. 
 
 Some, leaning to the opposite extreme, would 
 have us believe that the old are hopeless, and that 
 it is to the young that w r e must direct all our 
 
i88 The White Fields of France. 
 
 efforts. Not so. It is upon the grown-up popula- 
 tion of Paris that the wide impression has been 
 made during the past years of the Mission ; and we 
 must say that our ministerial experience is out and 
 out against the discouraging averments of some 
 religious theorists, that the old are unimpressible, 
 and that a man after the age of thirty or forty 
 "stands little chance" of being converted. In the 
 Acts of the Apostles very little is said about chil- 
 dren, in any of the cities, Jewish or Gentile, to 
 which the apostles went. The conversions, so far 
 as the record goes, were all among the old. The 
 truth is, that we have really nothing to do with the 
 age of a sinner in preaching the Gospel to him ; 
 and speculation or calculation upon this point has 
 often lost sight of the great truth that the same 
 mighty Spirit is needed both for young and old, 
 and that it is by the same Gospel that He works 
 in all. 
 
 It is no small matter to have the truth deposited 
 in the mind, whether of old or young, and it is an 
 unwdse thing to speak disparagingly of " head- 
 knowledge." If the belief of a falsehood, even with 
 " the head," be an evil thing, — an evil thing in 
 itself, and a thing dishonouring to God, — the belief 
 of the truth, even " with the head," must be a good 
 thing, both in itself and before God. The minds 
 
Progressive Ingathering. 1 89 
 
 of Romanists, moreover, have been so thoroughly 
 steeped in " head-lies," as well as " heart-lies," that 
 even that which is called the " intellectual recep- 
 tion " of the truth is of unspeakable moment, even 
 were it for nothing else than the expulsion of the 
 innumerable lies that have poisoned the intellect, 
 both of man and child. Tbe triumph of truth over 
 the intellect is of itself matter of great rejoicing; 
 only let it be the very truth of God, — the very 
 Gospel of His grace, and not merely something like 
 it, which deceives and mystifies, by mixing up faith 
 and works, — by confounding the work of Christ 
 upon the cross with the work of the Spirit in the 
 soul. The " foolishness of preaching is one thing," 
 and foolish preaching is quite another. That which 
 saves is the finished work alone, without addi- 
 tion, either great or small. That which Christ did 
 1800 years ago is of itself sufficient to recommend 
 me to God, and as soon as I recognise this, I am in 
 favour with God. I go straight to God to be saved ; 
 not to get from Him materials for saving myself. I 
 know of no condition, save that of taking at once, 
 just as I am, from the hands of Christ, the proffered 
 salvation of the cross. 
 
 What the sinner needs is not one who will mako 
 up for his deficiencies, but who will undertake 
 his whole responsibilities; not a surety who will 
 
190 TJie White Fields of France. 
 
 be security for the balance, but who will pay the 
 whole debt. The revival of mediaeval mysticism, 
 which works up a fascinating religiousness by 
 various appliances, and mingles together the "in- 
 fused " and the " imputed/' to obtain a sufficient 
 righteousness before God, will be of no avail in any 
 aggressive movement against scepticism or super- 
 stition. Thomas a Kempis would be a poor substi- 
 tute for Luther; and sentimental mysticism would 
 not do the bold work of the Reformation theology. 
 The keynote of preaching must still be, " Christ for 
 us ; " and the hymns which are to carry life must 
 ring with, — 
 
 " Tous les travaux de mes mains 
 Pour te plaire seraient vains 
 Lors meme qn'en ma detresse 
 Mes pleurs couleraient sans cesse, 
 lis ne sanraient me laver 
 Toi senl peux et veux sauver ! " 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 1 9 1 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS : PAST AND PRESENT. 
 
 t PROPOSE to wind up my narrative with a 
 somewhat miscellaneous chapter, which will 
 glance both at past and present; as well as look 
 a little into the future. For the sake of order 
 I divide it into several sections. The way in 
 which all these bear upon the contents of this 
 volume will be very obvious. In condensing the 
 report of the last year, I wished to connect with it 
 some things of interest which have suggested them- 
 selves in the course of this narrative, but which 
 seemed more suitable for the close. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 Contrasts. 
 
 The Reformation history of France is too little 
 known. Its pages are full of interest and romance. 
 That land has yielded more martyrs than all 
 Europe together. The blood of the slain saints 
 
192 The White Fields of France. 
 
 reddens it everywhere. Prisons and cells, castles 
 and cottages, caves and mountains, contain histories 
 of bonds and banishment, of fire and sword, of 
 cruelty and darkness, of tears and broken hearts, such 
 as are not to be found in the religious annals of any 
 other country, — save, perhaps, of Spain. For one 
 martyr in England and Scotland there have been 
 five hundred in France. 
 
 Yet, strange to say, the Gospel has overspread 
 the former, while it has almost passed away from 
 the latter. 
 
 The blood of the martyrs has not always been the 
 seed of the Church; and the "mowing down," of which 
 the old Father spoke, has not always been followed 
 by the thicker growth. A more sorrowful example 
 of this we have not than France ; — France, which, 
 three hundred years ago, seemed destined to take 
 her place side by side with Germany and Geneva 
 in raising for Europe the banner of the cross : nay, 
 which promised then to be the leader and teacher 
 of the nations. 
 
 When, in the autumn of 1527, Calvin went to 
 Orleans to study jurisprudence, under Pierre de 
 l'Etoile, it might have seemed as if God were pre- 
 paring a teacher for France, not for Geneva. And 
 no doubt the seed he sowed in his native land, and 
 the harvest he reaped there, within a quarter of a 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 193 
 
 century, looked as if the Reformation were about to 
 take possession of the whole nation. But, ere the 
 close of the century, the sword and fire of Rome 
 had swept over its cities and villages, slaying or 
 scattering its holiest and wisest and noblest ; indi- 
 cating too plainly that not to France was to be given 
 the honour of any witness-bearing, save that of 
 martyrdom. 
 
 When Gerard Roussel, chaplain to the Queen of 
 Navarre, about the year 1530, preached the Gospel 
 in Paris, it looked as if, from within the Church of 
 Rome, a voice was to be heard, whose influence 
 would shake the very citadel. But that voice died 
 away. Roussel would not quit the Church, and his 
 early testimony produced no results. 
 
 So one witness after another was silenced or 
 removed ; and though their testimonies never 
 wholly died out, yet it soon became evident that 
 France was not to take that lead in Reformation, of 
 which it had given early and noble promise. 
 
 It is interesting to mark the way in which 
 Wycliffe, about the middle of the fourteenth century, 
 sowed the seed, broadcast, over England. That bold 
 Reformer sent out lay preachers in all directions, 
 by which procedure, while he scattered the truth, 
 he created also a lay element, which has done great 
 things in England ever since. The itinerantpreachers, 
 
 O 
 
194 The White Fields of France. 
 
 staff in hand, without any authority beyond the 
 truth of their message, went over the provinces, 
 preaching in churches when they could get them ; 
 when denied these, in streets and market-places, in 
 the fields and roads. Very great was their influ- 
 ence, and very extensive their success, especially as 
 the priesthood did not take alarm immediately ; till 
 in the next generation rays of Bible-light had reached 
 almost every part of the kingdom. Wycliffe's 
 preachers were sometimes ignorant enough, but 
 they were the pioneers of a greater movement than 
 they could forecast. This pre-reformation agency 
 did its work for a time : and though soon checked, 
 yet no violent measures were resorted to, or, at 
 least, carried out. There were no martyrdoms. 
 The sword had not yet been drawn, nor the fire 
 kindled. Even Wycliffe died in peace. 
 
 The contrast between England and France is to 
 be noted. Every reformer was made to suffer at 
 the hands of Rome. Persecution in its worst forms 
 was familiar to Europe from the earliest days of the 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 The publication, a few years ago, of a vast number 
 of hitherto inedited documents,"" relating to French 
 
 * I refer to the "Bulletin de la Socie'te' de l'Histoire de Protest- 
 antisme Francais : Documents historiques inedits et originaux ; 16 e , 
 17 e , 18 e Siecles." Paris : various years. 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present 195 
 
 Protestantism, has fully shown this, at least up to 
 a certain date. These volumes are of great price, 
 consisting of original letters, decrees, treatises, hymns, 
 narratives, lists of names, — all relating to the Pro- 
 testant history of France. They are like the volumes 
 of our Maitland Club, or Wodrow Society, — but per- 
 haps more fragmentary and miscellaneous. The 
 martyr-lists are especially valuable, though contain- 
 ing little more than names and places and profes- 
 sions ; not like our Scots Worthies, with narrative 
 or anecdote affixed, but simple designations of the 
 sufferers, like monumental stones. The papers 
 extend over more than two centuries. 
 
 As we read these old documents and registers of 
 names, we are impressed with the fact that the 
 Gospel must have covered the whole land very 
 widely indeed. It has been said of England, in the 
 age after Wycliffe, that every third man in the 
 kingdom was a Lollard. Of Bohemia, it is still more 
 explicitly affirmed, that at the time of the Reforma- 
 tion, nine-tenths of the people were anti-Papal. I 
 do not know that I should be much beyond the 
 mark if I were saying of the France of that period, 
 that half of her people had opened their ears to the 
 Gospel. Certainly throughout all its provinces the 
 truth of God had gone forth to a wondrous extent. 
 And the question comes up, How did it enter ? 
 
196 The White Fields of France. 
 
 We have no full record which can enable us to 
 answer this question in detail. But, in these old 
 letters and contemporaneous histories, we get some 
 glimpses as to the manner in which the light 
 broke in. 
 
 The Spirit of God had begun to work every- 
 where at the beginning of the sixteenth century ; — 
 and always in connection with a revived Bible. 
 Quiet spirits in many cities, who had long, in secret, 
 studied the Word, began to be bold and speak out. 
 The sparks went over the land. Other lands helped ; 
 or rather the nations helped each other ; Germany, 
 France, Switzerland, Italy. The Romish Church took 
 alarm ; persecution tried to quench the light, but it 
 spread more and more. Take the following sentence 
 from a manuscript history of d'Aosta, in the Turin 
 Library: "Dans les annees 1535 et 36 jusqu'en 
 1542, Luther et Calvin, ces imposteurs abominables, 
 profltant du trouble des guerres d'entre Charles V. 
 et Francis I er faisaient repandre leurs erreurs dans 
 ce ducheV' * 
 
 A few zealous men, raised up in the land itself, 
 or coming from other lands, preached the Gospel, 
 and the Word "grew mightily and prevailed." 
 Under the most withering influences of Popish 
 cruelty, the Gospel proved itself the power of God ; 
 
 * " Bulletin," vol. ix., p. 163. 
 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 1 9 7 
 
 and France had almost become Protestant. Not 
 trie cities only, but the villages, had received the 
 truth. How, by the persecution of two centuries, 
 the truth was expelled, and infidelity reigned, I 
 need not here inquire. It was the entrance of the 
 light that I wished to notice. 
 
 In very different circumstances, and by very 
 different agencies, is the light now introduced. By 
 no fiery or bloody persecution is the progress of the 
 Gospel now stayed. Is it to spread as extensively 
 and as rapidly as it did three centuries ago? 
 
 The Seventh Annual Report of the Mission to the 
 Working-men of Paris helps us a little to answer 
 this question. In it we see not only the consolida- 
 tion, but the advancement of the work. We see 
 also not only the many quarters into which it is 
 penetrating, but the many classes of which it is 
 laying hold. 
 
 Never has it been so in France before. There 
 have been occasions during the last fifty years in 
 which some glimpses of liberty for the preaching of 
 evangelical truth appeared. But these were on a 
 very small scale. A little liberty under Louis 
 Philippe ; a little more under Napoleon ; but only 
 since the last war has the liberty been complete, 
 and fully available for the work of evangelisation. 
 
 The contrast between Reformation days and the 
 
198 The White Fields of France. 
 
 present is as striking as it is instructive. Royal and 
 priestly power united once to stamp out Protestant- 
 ism, and to quench it in blood. The following letter, 
 written by a young Swiss Romanist, residing in Paris 
 at the College of Clermont, in 1572, will best illus- 
 trate the contrast to which we refer. His name was 
 Joachim Opser, from the Canton of St. Gall. Like 
 the Papists of his day, with the Pope at their head, 
 he exulted over the St. Bartholomew Massacre. His 
 letters are the echoes of the unbounded jubilation 
 which rung through the College of Clermont and 
 through all Paris, when, on the 24 th of August, 
 1572, the Popish assassins made the city flow with 
 Protestant blood. The letter is addressed to the 
 Abbot of St. Gall, and was sent by the hand of 
 Studer Von Winkelbach, who was deputed by 
 Charles IX. to justify the deed of blood to the 
 Swiss Cantons : — 
 
 u I was never in greater haste to write to you, at least I have 
 never done so with greater pleasure. France is doing well, and 
 we are as well as possible, thanks to the Most High ! Although 
 I have to write to you at length of our private affairs, I must 
 first tell you briefly of the joy of the Parisians ; the bearer of 
 this letter will give you full and authentic details. 
 
 " On the 18th August was the marriage of the King of Na- 
 varre with the Princess Margaret, sister of the King ; but oh ! 
 joy of the Christian people, the 24th August has put an end 
 to the transports of joy which this event occasioned to the 
 heretics. For the Admiral (Coligny) La Kochefoucauld, with 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 1 99 
 
 the most eminent men of the party, have been miserably mas- 
 sacred by order of the King. Their bodies are even now lying 
 on the public squares, exposed to the view of passers-by ; but 
 I leave to Captain Studer to relate all these things by word of 
 mouth." 
 
 The bearer of the letter having been delayed, 
 Joachim writes again on the 26th August: — 
 
 " I will now transmit to you some details which will cause 
 you real pleasure ; for I do not think I shall weary you with 
 writing more particularly of an event as unexpected as it is 
 useful to our cause, and which not only fills the whole Christ- 
 ian world with admiration, but also lifts them to the height of 
 rejoicing. # # 
 
 The Admiral perished miserably on the 24th, with all the 
 heretic French nobility (without exaggeration). Immense car- 
 nage ! I shuddered to see the river full of corpses, naked and 
 horribly abused. Hitherto the King has only pardoned the 
 King of Navarre, who to-day went to mass with King Charles, 
 so that great hopes are entertained of him. The sons of Conde 
 are in prison by the King's orders, but are in great danger, 
 for the King will very likely visit these obstinate champions 
 of heresy with exemplary punishment. Every one agrees in 
 praising the prudence and magnanimity of the King, who, after 
 having, so to speak, by his goodness and indulgence, fattened 
 them as beasts, has had them suddenly slain by his soldiers. 
 All the heretic booksellers that could be found were massacred 
 and thrown naked into the river. Eaums, who had leapt from 
 his bedchamber, is stretched without clothing on the river 
 brink, pierced by innumerable dagger-wounds. There are none, 
 not even women, who are not killed or wounded. 
 
 " As to the murder of the Admiral. When the Swiss, under 
 the orders of the Duke of Anjou, had broken open the doors, 
 Conrad, followed by Leonhard Griinenfelder of Glaris and 
 
200 The White Fields of France. 
 
 Martin Koch, reached the Admiral's room, which was on the 
 third storey of the house, they first killed his servant. The 
 Admiral was in his dressing-gown, and at first no one would 
 lay hands on him ; but Martin Koch, bolder than the others, 
 struck the wretch with his axe, Conrad gave him the third 
 blow, and at the seventh blow he fell dead against the chimney 
 of his room. By order of the Duke de Guise, his body was 
 thrown out of the window, and, after putting a cord round his 
 neck as a malefactor, it was exposed as a spectacle to all the 
 people while being dragged to the Seine. Such was the 
 end of this pernicious man, who, not only in his life brought 
 many to the verge of destruction, but in his death drew a host 
 of noble heretics with him to hell." 
 
 Mr. M'All's twenty-three stations, — the 8000 old 
 and 3000 young in Paris under Protestant instruc- 
 tion, — are the exhibitions of a wondrous change. 
 Disgusted with Popery, wearied with infidelity, France 
 is seeking rest in the simple Gospel of Christ, ask- 
 ing her way from the crucifix to the cross, from the 
 mass-book to the Bible, and wondering if the liberty 
 of Christ be not better than the bondage of the 
 Pope, if the Cantiques iDopulaires be not more 
 intelligible, at least to the ouvrier, than the Latin 
 Hymni JEcclesice of the Parisian Breviary. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 The Salle Evang^lique. 
 
 This hall is a neat and substantial structure of 
 wood, capable of seating 600 persons. It was erected 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 201 
 
 at the conjunct expense of the Evangelical Alliance 
 and the Paris Mission, costing upwards of £1200. 
 It is now the property of the latter, according to 
 agreement, and will be removed to some place where 
 it may better serve the purpose of a mission -station. 
 There is, however, great difficulty in obtaining a 
 site for it, as the price of ground in Paris is so very 
 high. 
 
 Even were it to be taken to pieces to-morrow, it 
 has done noble missionary work in many w T ays, 
 and has been a wonderful centre for numerous 
 agencies of various kinds. Its six months' story is 
 quite a peculiar one; and many eyes, from many 
 regions of the earth, are looking back upon it with 
 strange interest, as the birthplace of new thoughts 
 and longings, the starting-point of a new course in 
 their eternal history. 
 
 Our sketch of this, however, must be brief. 
 Some graphic pen would be needed to do justice to 
 its strange scenes, and to describe the crowds, from 
 almost every nation under heaven, that came to 
 gaze, or to hear, or to buy, or to receive the gifts 
 handed out to them, in the shape of books and Tes- 
 taments and tracts. During the last few -weeks of 
 the Exhibition, the whole peasantry of France 
 flocked to the spectacle, invited by Government, 
 and by means of cheap fares, enabled to come from 
 
202 The White Fields of France. 
 
 the most distant parts. They were not sent empty 
 home, but received Scripture Portions and tracts; 
 so that into all the parishes and villages of France 
 the Gospel of Christ was sent. Never had there 
 been such a singular opportunity of sowing the 
 seed. No agencies could have been set on foot by 
 any mission, sufficient for such an immense work. 
 Time, men, money, would have been required ; and, 
 after all, the work could not have been completely 
 accomplished, nor the remote districts thoroughly 
 penetrated. Now, in the course of a few weeks, 
 without any new agency or any cost, the Word is 
 sent out everywhere. God gathers the peasantry 
 of France together, and the Divine message is put 
 into their hands to carry back to their relations 
 and children. Within one month the whole land is 
 reached, and the truth deposited in every parish. 
 
 " Two French evangelistic meetings were held daily in the 
 Salle, without intermission, during the whole period of the 
 Exposition. On some days this number was increased to three 
 and even four. It was at the special request of the Paris 
 Committee of the Alliance that we undertook the organisation 
 and management of these sendees. The numbers in attendance 
 and the interest manifested increased to the close. On some 
 hot summer afternoons the hearers were comparatively few ; 
 but on Sundays, and on all favourable days, it was delightful 
 to see the passers-by crowding to the spot, and to observe the 
 eagerness with which many listened, as to a new and surprising 
 discovery. In all, during the Exposition, 433 French reunions 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 203 
 
 d'appel were held, attended by 98,328 persons, which number 
 lias subsequently been increased to 100,000. In addition, a series 
 of meetings was held in the German language, conducted by 
 M. le Pasteur Frisius ; and some efforts were made to reach 
 the Spanish and Italian visitors. It is worthy of record, as 
 evidencing the cordial sympathy of our French friends, that 
 36 pasteurs of Paris, and 20 laymen (including evangelists, 
 students, &c.), besides upwards of 30 others, from various 
 parts of France and elsewhere, took part in these services. 
 Here, as everywhere else, the hymns, including those kindly 
 prepared by Miss Blundell and by the Religious Tract Society, 
 evidently possessed a great charm. To that Society, as also to 
 the Committees of the British and Foreign Bible Society and 
 of the Bible stand, we were indebted for the tracts and 
 Scripture Portions distributed at the close of each meeting. 
 The attacks of certain Ultramontane journals on the entire 
 series of Christian activities thus pursued might be regarded 
 as an undesigned tribute to the united testimony for the 
 glorious truth of the Gospel, which, in harmony, we were 
 enabled to bear. 
 
 " Besides the evangelistic reunions, several series of interest- 
 ing Conferences were held in the Salle, under the auspices of the 
 Evangelical Alliance. At the meeting for thanksgiving held 
 when the Exposition was about to close, among other gratifying 
 testimonies was that of M. Abric, Protestant pastor of Passy 
 (in which the Salle is situated), who described the effect 
 produced in his own congregation, both in bringing new 
 attendants and in the spiritual quickening of others who had 
 previously been ' hearers only.' 
 
 " Adding the similar series of reunions oVappel conducted by 
 our esteemed friend Pastor Armand-Delille and his assistants 
 at the Porte Rapp, we feel that the good seed was widely sown 
 at the gates of the ' World's Fair,' and according to the Divine 
 promise, the harvest will certainly follow. 
 
 " But while such a work must, to a great extent, be that of 
 
204 The White Fields of France. 
 
 'casting bread upon the waters,' we rejoice to be able to add 
 the record of various instances of decided turning to the Lord 
 through these services in our Salle. One case is that of a Govern- 
 ment schoolmaster from the Haute Savoie, who, after speaking, 
 with tears, to one of our young evangelists of his wish to under- 
 stand and take to heart the new discovery of truth, wrote to us 
 from his distant home, stating that the addresses and the little 
 books given to him had ' brought a flood of light into his 
 mind,' and desiring to make a deeper acquaintance with the 
 Gospel. Another instance is that of a lady, teacher of a school, 
 a Roman Catholic, who, amazed and overjoyed in view of the 
 doctrine of salvation by grace, has braved every sacrifice, and 
 connected herself with one of the evangelical churches. 
 
 " Some of the incidents were very characteristic and affect- 
 ing. A venerable gentleman, after attending for the third or 
 fourth time, said to us, with great feeling, ' Alas ! I am nothing 
 better than an old disciple of Plato ; but I see that there is much 
 truth in what is spoken here. And, above all, the prayer at 
 the close was touching, was it not 1 ' Another intelligent man, 
 after hearing the Lord's Prayer, desired to ' buy the book in 
 which these wonderful expressions were found.'" 
 
 Bibles and Gospels in tiventy-two languages were 
 sold or given away. Of Gospels and Epistles, nearly 
 a million and a-half were distributed in French. 
 The demand for other languages was, of course, 
 much smaller. But it is interesting to note the 
 different nations which thus applied for the Word. 
 Not only do we find German, Italian, Spanish, 
 Russian, and Dutch applicants, but Jewish, Greek, 
 Arabian, Bohemian, and Basque. And if the larger 
 figures attached to some of the nations strike us, 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 20 
 
 we linger over the smaller ones, wondering what 
 may be the result. Japan asks only for 81; 
 Turkey for 20 ; Persia for 12 ; but these are going 
 into regions where no Bible, perhaps, has hitherto 
 penetrated ; and where, but for this great Exhibi- 
 tion, it might never have come. 
 
 In a private letter, Mr. Dodds thus writes of the 
 Salle : — 
 
 " In regard to the Salle Evangelique, — now closed with the 
 great Exhibition, — though, from the passing character of the 
 audience, much of the fruits of the meetings will never be 
 known here, we have ample proofs of real good having been 
 done. On the closing day a gentleman came to Mr. M'All, 
 expressing regret that this was the last Sunday, and adding, 
 with tears in his eyes, that the words he had heard there had 
 
 brought new light to his soul. Madame , formerly a strict 
 
 Eomanist, is an outstanding witness to blessing received in the 
 Salle. She has made great sacrifices, and her former friends 
 stand aloof from her since she joined a Protestant church, but 
 
 she is enabled to hope in God. M spoke at one of our 
 
 meetings with great life, — like one who had himself been 
 greatly refreshed, and had received a fresh baptism of the Holy 
 Spirit. His words greatly gladdened our hearts, and caused a 
 song of thanksgiving to spring up. He told us of the unusual 
 interest in God's Word that he had found in visiting among 
 the people, — that persons never known to read it before, were 
 now found doing so ; fathers surrounded by their children, and 
 whole families together, reading the Testament, or Scripture 
 Portions, received at the Kiosque. He had also met groups 
 of men in the park, seated on the forms, reading the Scriptures, 
 and was sometimes stopped by them, and requested to explain 
 what they were reading. Above all, he rejoiced over individual 
 
2o6 The White Fields of France. 
 
 conversions, and, in some cases, over whole families changed, 
 and openly confessing Christ." 
 
 The Pentecostal gift of tongues has not been 
 vouchsafed to the Church in these last days. The 
 scene, so briefly but graphically sketched in the 
 second chapter of the Acts, has not been witnessed 
 amongst us. But something very like it has. God 
 has not repeated Himself in the mode of sending 
 out His messengers. He has taken another way ; a 
 way which, so far as dispersion of the truth is con- 
 cerned, has been no less effective and wonderful. 
 He has not used the living voice to speak in the 
 various languages of earth; but He has used the 
 printing-press of the nineteenth century to convey 
 His message to twice as many nations as were 
 spoken to by apostles. The wonder expressed by 
 many visitors of the Kiosque, on receiving Bibles or 
 Gospels in their own tongue reminds us of the same 
 kind of wonder uttered in Jerusalem 1800 years 
 ago, — " How hear we every man in our own tongue 
 wherein we were born ? . . . And they were all 
 amazed, and were in doubt [in bewilderment], say- 
 ing one to another, What meaneth this ? " 
 
 The following letter from Mr. Frank M'Kinnon 
 will illustrate the above remarks : — 
 
 " All who have taken part in the grand distribution of God's 
 Word at the Bible Kiosque must have felt it to have been a 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present, 207 
 
 blessed privilege. Who could have remained cold or unmoved 
 while the teeming multitude, like a stream, poured from the 
 principal entrance and passed by the Kiosque to receive the 
 unspeakable gift of glad tidings ' without money and without 
 price ' ? At times it was most difficult to convince the passers- 
 by that the distribution was gratuitous. ' Passez par ici ; e'est 
 gratuit ; il n'y a rien a payer,' was barely sufficient ; and many 
 an unbelieving one would pass by, till the example and faith 
 of the others caused him also to draw near and put out his 
 hand for a book. Many a foreigner would stand and gaze at 
 the pretty building, unable to understand either what was 
 being said or done. With curious glance he would scan the 
 invitations, written in various languages, till his eye would 
 fall on his own ; and then, with marked pleasure, he would 
 approach and ask for ' a Eussian,' or ' an Italian,' or ' a Span- 
 ish,' or ' a Chinese,' as the case might be. 
 
 " It was most interesting to observe the mode in which the 
 gift was received. Almost invariably it was accepted with a 
 hearty ' Merci beaucoup ! ' 
 
 "Now and then an infidel or sceptic would lay it down 
 with a look of sarcasm or contempt, as if they, and they alone, 
 knew the depths of wisdom. 
 
 "Some would tear it in pieces to express the enmity of 
 their heart. 
 
 " Others, moved by fear, would quickly yet respectfully 
 return it. 
 
 " Sometimes a child would receive a sound blow from his 
 mother for daring to stretch out his hand for an 'heretical 
 book.' 
 
 "The questions, and utterances too, were both interesting 
 and amusing : — 
 
 "'What is it?' 
 
 " ' How much 1 ' 
 
 " ' In French ? ' 
 
 " ' A present ! ' 
 
2o8 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " ' La propagande protestante ! ' 
 
 "'La Bible!' 
 
 "'Good books!' 
 
 " ' Bad books ! ' 
 
 " ' Tlie English religion ! ' 
 
 " < Nothing to pay 1 That's good.' 
 
 " ' Here there is nothing to pay ; with them it is quite the 
 contrary : pay, pay, pay, nothing without money.' 
 
 " To all these remarks our answer was, ' The precious Word 
 of God without money and without price.' ' The glad tidings 
 of salvation for nothing.' ' Take and read the Book that all 
 should have.' 
 
 " A fact worthy of notice, and one which speaks much for 
 the truth of the Gospel, is that nothing but evangelical truth 
 was offered to meet the spiritual wants of that vast multitude, 
 drawn from all parts of the civilised world for pleasure or 
 business. No other sect or religion was represented. Neither 
 Jew nor Catholic, Mohammedan nor infidel, felt deeply enough 
 the truth of the doctrines to warrant his coming and sacrificing 
 time and money in propagating them. Only those who had 
 felt the 'power of God ' in their souls deemed it worth while 
 carrying on such an expensive and difficult undertaking. 
 ' Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' ' They 
 that sow in tears shall reap in joy.' The seed has been thrown 
 broadcast. Some has been picked away by the enemy ; some 
 has fallen into stony ground, some among the thorns, and some 
 into good ground. Let us pray earnestly that, watered by the 
 Holy Spirit, much may be found 'after many days' to the 
 glory of Christ." 
 
 The following extracts from the " Kiosque " report 
 
 help to fill up the extraordinary picture, which only 
 
 those who witnessed the scenes can fully realise : — 
 
 " The Kiosque itself was exceedingly pretty, and was quite 
 in harmony with the surrounding temporary structures erected 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 209 
 
 for the occasion. The various texts decorating the panels of 
 the hexagonal structure at once arrested the eye and attention 
 of passers-by. The words came with singular newness to a 
 people, the masses of whom are ignorant of the Word of God. 
 The bulk of Frenchmen may be divided into three classes : 
 the devotees of Rome, the infidel, and the absolutely ignorant. 
 The Romanist has an idea of some of the teachings of God's 
 Word, the infidel is wrapped up in his worldly wisdom, and 
 the ignorant are impressed by either of the two former ; but 
 when the message of salvation is boldly declared, and Christ 
 Jesus exalted, as the Son of God and Saviour of mankind, all 
 are impressed, and it has been seen that vast multitudes have 
 been led to inquire for themselves regarding a matter pro- 
 fessedly affecting their eternal welfare. Fifteen thousand 
 parte of the Bible, chiefly separate Gospels, were put into the 
 hands of persons of all ranks and classes who applied for them 
 on the very first day. Some well-wishers were apprehensive 
 lest the movement might produce a disturbance by arousing 
 the fanaticism and ill-will of the populace ; but a few moments 
 sufficed to dispel this illusion, for never was there a greater 
 desire evinced to obtain the precious gift; and friends came 
 gladly forward to personally assist in the arduous task of meet- 
 ing clamorous demands. It was a wonderful sight. To prevent 
 accidents from happening through the tremendous pressure 
 round the Kiosque, the windows had to be closed again and 
 again. * C'est VEvangile/ they cried ; and down all the avenues, 
 in trams, buses, cabs, and vehicles of all descriptions, in cafe* 
 and on steamboats, indeed in every direction, persons might 
 be seen perusing the books they had received, and it was aston- 
 ishing to remark the almost universal interest manifested. The 
 crowd itself was quite a picture, being largely made up of 
 people of different nationalities dressed in the respective cos- 
 tumes of their countries. Thus Turks, Spaniards, Arabs, 
 Zouaves, Italians, in their national costumes, quaintly dressed 
 Chinese, soldiers in different uniforms, mingled among well- 
 
 P 
 
2 to The White Fields of France. 
 
 dressed Parisians in the crush to the windows. No exception 
 was made, — rich and poor, young and old, male and female, 
 were supplied each in turn ; a respectful thanks being 
 invariably given by way of response. As might have been 
 expected, such a work could not be carried on without Satan 
 seeking to hinder : for some made derisive remarks, though 
 a kindly word soon disarmed opposition, for we know nothing 
 but Christ and Him crucified. Very few copies were destroyed. 
 After the day's work, those who had been engaged in it kneeled 
 down with overflowing hearts, and thanked God for the 
 gracious opening He had afforded for making known the 
 Gospel of His dear Son ; for the honour conferred in permit- 
 ting them to participate in it, and for a blessing upon their 
 labours." 
 
 "Italians, Eussians, Poles, Greeks, Turks, Dutch, DaneSj 
 Swedes and Norwegians, Hungarians, Bohemians, and Basques, 
 and negroes from Angola, Loando, and Senegal, were among 
 those who visited us and received the Scriptures ; and a record 
 of the various conversations held among them would of itself 
 constitute an intensely interesting volume. 
 
 "The work increased in importance and extent as the 
 Exhibition advanced. The demand was at times so great that 
 it was no easy task to keep up the supply of books. Eeaders 
 of the Gospels were to be met everywhere in Paris, in the 
 public gardens, in omnibuses, seated on the Boulevards, and 
 on walking through the streets. M. Abric, pastor at the 
 Evangelical Church of Passy, in whose district the Exhibition 
 was situated, at the closing meeting of the services in the Salle 
 Evangelique, gave the following testimony of the work carried 
 on at the Kiosque Biblique. In his pastoral visitation, he said, 
 he found men surrounded by their families reading the Word 
 of God, whose custom before was far otherwise. Often he met 
 with groups of men in the Bois de Boulogne, reading the Por- 
 tions of Scripture given away at the Kiosque, and often was 
 appealed to for an explanation of some passage not well 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 2 1 1 
 
 understood. Still more encouraging was the testimony of the 
 rich blessing which he had himself received as pastor of the 
 Passy congregation. Souls, he said, had been revived, whole 
 families had been added to the Church, and many conversions 
 had taken place." 
 
 " The happy and blessed work at our Kiosque began in right 
 earnest at an early hour yesterday morning. The grand cortege 
 had to pass our Kiosque, and you may therefore easily imagine 
 what crowds of people we had around us. I never saw any- 
 thing like it, not even in the Exhibition of 1867. Early in the 
 morning our own agents, together with a band of other 
 Christian workers, assembled in our Kiosque, and implored the 
 blessing of our gracious Lord upon the good seed about to be 
 sown. Encouraged by the precious promises of a covenant- 
 keeping God, all were refreshed and strengthened to do battle 
 against sin and Satan, seeing the sole weapon to be employed 
 was the sword of the Spirit. 
 
 " No sooner were the windows of the Kiosque opened, than 
 crowds flocked to them to obtain Gospels. Language utterly 
 fails me to give you an idea of the impressiveness and solemnity 
 of the scene. The whole place at the Trocadero was one mass 
 of human beings. Persons of all ranks and from many 
 countries, rich and poor, could be seen struggling for a portion 
 of the Word of God, with, in almost every instance, an expres- 
 sion of joyful thanks. I only noticed one copy being torn ujd. 
 This was done by a so-called gentleman, who threw it into the 
 face of one of the distributors. Among the crowd were large 
 numbers of soldiers, sailors, officers, and policemen, to whom 
 we gave by preference. Also several priests came up and 
 received portions of the "Word of God. The best idea of the 
 eagerness of the populace to get the books you may gather 
 from the fact that we had to shut the windows of the Kiosque 
 more than a dozen times to lessen the pressure of the crowd. 
 
 " An English gentleman came up and asked one of the dis- 
 tributors how and by whom this work was carried on. He 
 
212 The White Fields of France. 
 
 directed him to me. When I told him that it was done by- 
 voluntary contributions, he gave me £b for the work. I com- 
 menced to explain the effort to him, but he said, ' I and my 
 two daughters have watched your work for some time, and 
 were delighted to see the people flocking to you for the books ; 
 I don't require to know more, it is a most blessed work.' " 
 
 " This summer in Paris will be long remembered as one of 
 the most eventful for many years — eventful not by reason of 
 blood and war, but for the wonderful array of the achievements 
 of science, invention, and art, as seen in the Exposition. This 
 has been an amazing centre of attraction, not only to the French 
 people in particular, but to the world in general. Every visitor 
 to Paris must have been struck with the gathering together of 
 individuals from among the different nations of the earth, more 
 especially by the numbers of people from the East. Among 
 these may be seen the noble-looking Indian, with his stately 
 gait. Looking at such, his bearing so grand and self-possessed, 
 one wonders what he thinks of the Westerns as he mingles 
 with ' us meaner things.' Then there are Jews, Turks, and 
 Mussulmans, along with the German, the Swede, the Spaniard, 
 and the Italian. Among the Orientals, there are perhaps none 
 who seem to be more at home than the Chinaman, as he moves 
 about in his own part of the Exhibition. He is quick-witted, 
 and full of humour, his dress always suited to the weather. 
 When the sun is fierce, it is a mass of snowy whiteness (giving 
 an idea of delicious coolness), with a stout umbrella overhead, 
 the long tail of sleek, plaited hair adding greatly to effect in 
 the picturesque appearance of this wonderful Eastern ; whilst 
 on cooler days his attire is different, being then more sub- 
 stantial, and showing a combination of fine artistic colour. 
 
 "It would be most instructive to know what impressions 
 these people will carry back with them of European life and 
 manners. Many of them, it is believed, will take with them a 
 priceless treasure, even the Gospel of the grace of God. Among 
 the different works done in Paris at this time for the advance- 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 2 1 3 
 
 ment of the kingdom, one of the chief has been the distribu- 
 tion of the Word. This has been going on all during the 
 Exhibition, at the Kiosque of the Crystal Palace Bible Stand — 
 week after week, Sunday after Sunday. To those who have 
 not seen it, it is almost impossible to give an idea of that great 
 sight. By the rules of the Society, the Gospels are given 
 gratuitously, one to each person in his own language, thereby 
 recalling the old days when each man in his own tongue heard 
 'the wonderful works of God.' As the multitudes pass by, 
 the Gospels are offered to them, either from the window of the 
 Kiosque or by some one standing outside. One hears the words 
 quietly spoken, ' Acceptez, acceptez, messieurs ; e'est gratuit ; 
 e'est une portion de la Parole de Dieu ; e'est l'Evangile.' 
 Gladly are the little books taken, and often the receivers 
 appear to go on their way rejoicing. Many of them, having 
 occasion to pass frequently, evidently take the opportunity to 
 make a complete set of the Gospels, and ask for the different 
 colours : ' Donnez-moi un bleu, un vert, un jaune,' &c. &c. 
 Thus millions of copies have been distributed." 
 
 " Upon the other side of this Salle stood the Kiosque of the 
 Crystal Palace Bible Stand, covered with well-selected life- 
 giving texts in French, &c, such as ' God so loved the world, 
 that he gave His only-begotten Son/ &c. (John iii. 16, 17). 
 Thus they who 'ran might read.' From its open windows 
 were distributed, in twenty-two of the languages of the world, 
 one million and a-half of Gospels and Testaments. Numbers 
 came and sought for them, prince and peer and peasant, and 
 even priest. 
 
 " I would to God that ' a great multitude might become 
 obedient to the faith.' Children eagerly besought, and priests 
 anxiously and respectfully asked for the words of eternal life. 
 I saw this, and so can attest it. Sometimes a carriage would 
 drive up. Perhaps it was Madame MacMahon, who bought 
 two Bibles. Again, it would be the Prince and Princess of 
 Wales, who took great interest in the work, and were presented 
 
214 The White Fields of France. 
 
 with a copy of the smallest Bible in the world.* The oppor- 
 tunity given of God was not neglected, and the harvest at the 
 reaping day will, with the Divine blessing, be bountiful. The 
 sight was noble. The great space inside and outside of the 
 Trocadero was often thronged. I have watched the people, 
 sometimes nearly 100,000, at others nearly 200,000, like suc- 
 cessive waves of the sea, passing in dense masses the Pont 
 d'lena, and pouring out of the Trocadero gates. 
 
 "Outside the Kiosque there would be hurrying crowds, 
 whilst inside the quiet distributors were handing out the 
 priceless treasure of the truth 'without money and without 
 price/ so fertilising and blessing the world." 
 
 So much for the distribution. But this was only 
 a part of the work done in connection with the 
 Salle. The Word was preached by the living 
 voice; and (it is estimated) was heard by above a 
 hundred thousand people. 
 
 But I must not linger over these scenes, so 
 
 * The Times of 3rd November, 1878, has the following para- 
 graph : — "The Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by Sir 
 Philip Owen, Colonel Probyn, and Mr. Sykes, paid a visit yester- 
 day to the Kiosque of the Crystal Palace Bible Stand Committee, 
 opposite the Trocade'ro. They expressed great interest in the work, 
 particulars of which were given them by Mr. James Alexander, 
 who has had the superintendence of it, and accepted a copy of the 
 smallest Bible in the world ; a book printed at Oxford in minute 
 type, and on very thin, silky paper. On leaving, the Prince and 
 Princess, each, made a handsome contribution to the fund. The 
 Kiosque will close this day week. Nearly a million and a-half of 
 Gospels and New Testaments, in twenty-two languages, have been 
 given to applicants at its wickets, the number last Sunday alone 
 being 41,000 ; and English, French, and other influential visitors 
 have evinced cordial sympathy with the undertaking, which is 
 regarded as having been highly successful." 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 2 1 5 
 
 marvellous, so unique, and so cheering. Mr. M'All's 
 workers were, in addition to their ordinary labours, 
 busy at the Salle and the Kiosque. How they 
 were able to undergo this increase of labour is a 
 wonder; especially when we take into account the 
 distances between their several stations and the 
 Trocade'ro. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 The Latest Good News. 
 
 Last year's report (1878) is worthy of being 
 studied. The work develops and ramifies ; and 
 one feels in reading the narratives of the different 
 departments that they are not coloured ; or rather 
 that very much remains untold. Indeed, from 
 what we have ourselves heard, there is much that 
 could not be made public; and yet, that which 
 remains untold is more interesting than that which 
 the report narrates. 
 
 The stations still continue to swell out, and to 
 require enlargement. New ones also are begun. 
 Numbers are still rising. No diminution of earnest 
 listening anywhere. Cases of deep interest are 
 occurring weekly. The labourers are cheered in 
 their toil by no small measure of success, both 
 among old and young. But the cry is for more 
 
2 1 6 The White Fields of France, 
 
 labourers. 45 " There is often difficulty in supplying 
 the stations properly ; and the burdens are often 
 heavy. Several changes have occurred among the 
 workers, some having left ; but their places are 
 partially filled up by others, though by no means 
 to the extent desired. Occasional helpers and 
 visitors have not been few ; but these can only 
 imperfectly do the work, though their services are 
 greatly prized. Adult classes, prayer meetings, 
 ouvroirs are still carried on with vigour; and 
 domiciliary visitations proceed earnestly and perse- 
 veringly. The lending libraries are in active 
 operation under the superintendence of Mr. Dodds ; 
 and this department of the Mission, according to 
 
 * " If we had only men and means, France'is white to the harvest. 
 There is a spirit in the meetings, among the men especially, which 
 is most encouraging : a readiness to hear and to understand, and a 
 response to the teaching, which is more than passing in its duration 
 and effects. One who calls himself ' an old disciple of Plato ' is an 
 eager listener at the Salle, and, we think, a believer groping his 
 way. He speaks now like one whose heart is touched. I conversed 
 with a poor man at Blvoli the other night, shabbily but neatly 
 dressed. I find that he reads over every night the passages of the 
 New Testament which he hears in the meeting. I promised him a 
 
 whole Bible, as I learn from Mme. T , the Bible-woman, that he 
 
 is too poor to buy one. She tells me that he has come for two 
 years, and that he is entirely changed, — his very face is different ; 
 and his neatness of person, even in poverty, was the next thing she 
 remarked. He goes now to Dr. Fisch's church, and attends his 
 Bible class. This is the fourth case of the kind within a few months 
 in this station alone, and there are similar cases in other stations." — 
 Private letter of Mr. Dodds, 20th February, 1879. 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 2 1 7 
 
 his report (p. 18), " has by degrees grown in size 
 and importance, and may justly be said to fill 
 what would otherwise be a blank in its complete- 
 ness." But greater variety of tracts is demanded; 
 and Mr. Dodds is in communication with the 
 London Tract Society on the subject. That Society 
 has already done noble work in Paris, and is pre- 
 paring to meet the wants of the Mission more fully. 
 Indeed, all the religious societies of England and 
 Scotland are throwing themselves into the Paris 
 work with right goodwill. They have become 
 thoroughly alive to the greatness of the enterprise 
 and to the exigencies of the time. We are sure 
 that they will not grudge the additional draught 
 upon their resources; and we are as sure that their 
 constituents and subscribers will heartily sustain 
 them in any such increase of liberality for such a 
 movement and in such a crisis. 
 
 Of the ouvroirs of Gare d'lvry and Boulogne-sur- 
 Seine, Madame Dalencourt thus writes*'" : — 
 
 "At the Gare d'lvry, seventy- eight mothers attend, more 
 or less regularly, my "Wednesday meeting, the average being 
 thirty-eight. You know how degraded and wretched, in many 
 ways, is the population of this district ; and often the French 
 and English friends who help me join with me in saying how 
 
 * Madame Dalencourt is a devoted lady who, since the disasters 
 which befell her country some years ago, has never ceased to pray 
 for it, and to labour among the mothers of Paris. 
 
2i8 The White Fields of France. 
 
 good the Lord has been in sending you there, and us after 
 you. 
 
 " Our little savings bank has led many to form habits of 
 economy; the lending library has brought several husbands, 
 sons and brothers of our women, into the habit of passing 
 their leisure-hours at the fireside, and a considerable number 
 of persons have acquired a relish for a pure literature of which, 
 beforetime, they had no knowledge. Three marriages have 
 taken place among our people, in cases where that sacred rite 
 had been neglected, and another is to follow. We regard it as 
 a sign of real moral progress that we have to combat less than 
 formerly with the mendicity which so abounds in this district. 
 We visit all our women in their homes, and experience haa 
 proved to us that, usually, more amelioration is brought into a 
 family by repeated visits and friendly counsels than by giving 
 money, &c. Besides, we have various means of helping without 
 pauperising them, — our savings bank, where many make de- 
 posits in order to redeem articles from the pawnbroker's, until 
 they shall have forgotten the way thither, — our materials for 
 work, vegetables, &c, bought by us wholesale, and sold to them 
 at a slight loss. Best of all, some of them begin to believe 
 that it is true that God loves them, and that brings forbearance 
 and patience into their mutual relations; and they better under- 
 stand why we approach and take by the hand some poor or 
 despised woman who was hiding herself at the extremity of 
 the room or behind a pillar. 
 
 " Kespecting Boulogne-sur-Seine, each Thursday, besides a 
 school (or children's religious class) frequented by forty-four 
 boys and thirty -three girls, we have a women's meeting exactly 
 like that of Gare d'lvry. Their number rarely exceeds twenty- 
 five ; but one feels oneself there to be in an atmosphere of piety 
 and love, surrounded by the truly converted and those who are 
 seeking the Lord. Our seven years' and your two years' work 
 there are manifestly blessed. They resemble a large family or 
 a little congregation. 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 219 
 
 "One day, before our accustomed meditation, I asked them on 
 what subject they would wish me to speak. After a moment's 
 pause, one said, ' On the love of Christ ; it is that which we 
 least understand, and that which does us the most good.' An- 
 other added, ' Oh speak on the promise that if we believe in 
 Jesus our family also shall be saved.' A third begged me to 
 speak ' on the duty of reading the Bible aloud to our husbands 
 in the evening when they are smoking, and to persuade our 
 sons to come to the meetings.' 
 
 " Dear Mr. M'All, I joyfully accept your recent offer to hold 
 another women's meeting in the new mission-hall you antici- 
 pate to open in the district of Mont Parnasse. I feel assured 
 that there also we shall be blessed. I feel increasingly happy 
 to labour for the Lord Jesus and my compatriots side by side 
 with you, and I see more and more of the real good accom- 
 plished by your meetings, and of the simple and unobtrusive 
 way in which they adapt themselves to the tendencies of our 
 Parisian people. Some weeks ago, one of our women of the 
 Gare d'lvry had to leave, in order to live in the centre of Paris. 
 1 1 do not yet know,' she said to me, ' where I shall reside, but 
 it must be near some one of the Conferences M'All (the name 
 by which they style the meetings), for I can no longer do with- 
 out it, it is my one comfort.' She has gone to live in a small 
 street beside your station of the Rue de Rivoli. 
 
 " On the first night of this new year, I was presenting before 
 the Lord my family, my friends, and my beloved country. 
 Respecting the lasr, the words of M. Rosseeuw St. Hilaire 
 came into my mind, ' Paris is now encircled by an evangelistic 
 girdle,' and in thanking God for having done so great things 
 among us, I besought Him so to multiply your mission-stations 
 that Paris and all France may not only be encircled but covered 
 with them !" 
 
 And again — 
 " At Boulogne-sur-Seine we have never more than twenty- 
 
220 The White Fields of France. 
 
 five present, but in that little meeting Christian love abounds. 
 There are souls that have been born anew, and others who are 
 entering on the narrow way, and earnestly wish to be taught. 
 One of the most striking signs of their spiritual progress is that 
 they love one another, are kind to and help each other. One 
 might say that they are a great united family, or a devout little 
 congregation. Several have brought their husbands, and not 
 without difficulty, to Mr. M'All's meetings. One of them is 
 learning to read, and must have her lesson out of the New 
 Testament, or from the hymn-book, ' that the first use of her 
 knowledge may be for the good of her souU One died very lately 
 in peace. Two are trying to introduce the habit of reading the 
 Bible aloud in their families. Eeferring to this, one of them 
 said to me quite recently, 'What troubles me is that my husband 
 always asks for explanations • I can answer easily for myself, 
 but it is difficult for others ; can you not lend me a book, 
 which explains truth in a simple way, as the gentlemen and 
 ladies do, who speak to us? That would be very useful to me.' 
 Another said, ' My husband knows more than I do ; it is he 
 who explains ; but what troubles me is that, when I speak of 
 reading, he says to me, " Listen, wife : if you want me to hear 
 you to the end, let me lie down, give me my pipe, and read 
 away ; I shall then be as happy as a king." ' She added, * I do 
 not dare to say anything, for every evening he is very tired ; 
 however, he listens well, and often says, " Read me that again." ' 
 She was glad when I said to her, that it was well worth while 
 to go on as she was doing, rather than to show that she was 
 annoyed, and not sympathise with her tired husband." 
 
 Madame Dalencourt has mothers' meetings in 
 three of our halls in Paris. 
 
 Some of the more striking incidents of the year 
 are thus briefly recorded by Mr. M'All. They in- 
 dicate the true progress of the work ; and, notwith- 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 2 2 1 
 
 standing some sameness (as in sucb narratives there 
 must always be), are wonderfully diversified. By 
 those interested in the work, they will be read as 
 the most important items of the report : — 
 
 " The funeral of the celebrated M. took place immedi- 
 ately before our meeting at . The mission-room, usually 
 
 filled, was densely crowded by those returning from the ceme- 
 tery. Many of these entered from curiosity, doubtless, and 
 were unacquainted even with the design of such a meeting. 
 Among them, three stalwart men were noticed, evidently pre- 
 disposed to treat the occasion with proud disdain. After a 
 time, their aspect changed, and they became eager listeners. 
 Our friends Messrs. Peretto and Saillens exhibited the radical 
 defect of the most benevolent and gifted of human characters 
 without the Divine Saviour. At the close, these three men 
 stepped up to the conductor, saying, ' Allow us to shake hands 
 with you before leaving ; we wish to say to you that you ought, 
 if possible, to open Scdles de Conferences like this in all the 
 quarters of Paris. All that has been spoken respecting Jesus 
 Christ this afternoon is true and good ; we Parisians have 
 wrong ideas of Him and need to be set right. Try, then, to 
 open similar places elsewhere.' 
 
 " The Report of the Societe Chritienne du Nord for 1876-7 
 contains the following paragraph : — Pastor Lorriaux said, ' I 
 was speaking some time ago in a meeting in Belfast, and at the 
 close a young man, waiter in a public dining-room, came up to 
 me and gave me half-a-sovereign, saying, " I am a Frenchman ; 
 I heard the Gospel preached in Paris by Mr. M'All, and I 
 desire to aid in spreading it.'" Mr. Lorriaux added, ' How many 
 others (among the attendants of evangelistic meetings) carry 
 away the truth hidden in their heart, which afterwards springs 
 up and bears fruit to salvation !' 
 
 "At , during an after-meeting, a young man, an attorney's 
 
222 The White Fields of France. 
 
 clerk, bore the following testimony : — * About a year ago, I was 
 passing along yonder street one Sunday evening ; a small bill 
 of invitation was put into my hand ; I read, " Des amis anglais 
 et francais desirent vous parler de l'amour de J6sus-Christ." I 
 thought, I will go in and hear what it is like. I well remember 
 the spot where I sat ; just in that corner near the door. I had 
 gone in merely to amuse myself ; I remained to listen and to 
 think. I perceived that there had been something very wrong 
 in my heart and life. I have seen myself a lost sinner, and 
 can now trust in Christ as my Saviour. I wish that you all 
 might have the same experience. , 
 
 " Two families, in two of the stations, have very recently 
 been brought under the power of the Gospel, and have con- 
 nected themselves with neighbouring churches. 
 
 " Keceived a very touching letter, written on his sick-bed in 
 the hospital, from an ouvrier. He states, ' Before my illness, 
 I had the happiness to frequent your excellent meetings, and 
 there I have found great benefit. I then began to devote my 
 leisure moments to reading the Bible which had lain for twenty 
 years in my house. Above all, since coming here (into the 
 hospital), where I have been for nearly three months, the read- 
 ing of the New Testament has led me to give myself entirely 
 to God ; so that I now find myself truly and extremely happy. 
 Although I suffer from a terrible pulmonary disease, I find a 
 great joy of heart amidst my pain, having received the gift of 
 free salvation by Jesus. Bead, if you will, these lines to your 
 co-workers, who love the conversion of precious souls and the 
 advancement of God's kingdom ; and use them, if you think 
 well, for the encouragement of those who, like me, have found 
 great difficulty in definitely giving themselves to the Lord.' 
 The writer concludes by expressing the desire that, if restored 
 to health, he might be permitted to utter a few words in 
 one of our meetings in order to bear testimony to a Saviour's 
 grace, and to persuade his compatriots to make trial of 
 it for themselves. We have every reason to believe that 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 223 
 
 this man, still a sufferer, has indeed * passed from death unto 
 life.' 
 
 " Striking case of a man of middle age, native of the island 
 of Guadaloupe (a French colony). He came over as an ex- 
 hibitor. An enfeeblement of health during the Exposition 
 delayed his return to the colony. During this time he became 
 a deeply-interested listener at the Salle Evangclique and Eue 
 de Eivoli. On the eve of his departure he told us that he had 
 sought to learn as much as possible of the blessed truth of the 
 Gospel before leaving Paris, in order to make it known to his 
 neighbours in the island on his return. 
 
 "A young friend, a missionary student, who devotes him- 
 self to the work at station, after describing the interest 
 
 awakened at a weekly prayer meeting recently commenced 
 there, bears the following pleasing testimony : — ' I cannot tell 
 you how much personal benefit I derive from this work ; I 
 cannot sufficiently express what a privilege it i3 for me. When 
 
 I shall go forth to my missionary career, the [name of the 
 
 station] will take a first place among the motives which have 
 urged me forward to labour for the advancement of the king- 
 dom of God.' 
 
 " One of the pastors when visiting a great hospital, heard a 
 patient, whom he did not know, calling him to his bedside. 
 The suffering man stretched his hands towards him and said, 
 * Oh, sir, I know you ; I have heard you speak in the Faubourg 
 St. Antoine room, and now that I lie here, I find all my help 
 and all my comfort in trying to recollect what I used to hear 
 in those blessed meetings.' 
 
 " Our indefatigable visitor, Madame , records about 850 
 
 domiciliary visits during the year. The following extracts are 
 translated from her report : — l Many of the people have asked 
 me, with earnestness, what they must do to be saved ; and a 
 considerable number, who, at first, came to the meetings merely 
 to pass an hour, have become seriously impressed, and ask me 
 for a place of worship for the Sunday forenoon. In this respect, 
 
224 The White Fields of France. 
 
 great progress has been made this year, and I take it as a proof 
 that they are at least seeking the truth. I observe a great 
 change, also, respecting the insight of spiritual things on the 
 part of those who have long attended ; they are far more en- 
 lightened than formerly. An aged woman, whom I visited on 
 her death-bed, said to me, " How happy I am that I was ever 
 led to Boulevard Ornano ; otherwise I should not have known 
 my Saviour. I thank with all my heart those dear gentlemen 
 who speak of Jesus, and the book you have given me — the 
 New Testament — is the best I have ever read. Now I am too 
 feeble to read it ; but I say to Jesus, ' Abide with me ; leave 
 me never more,' and then all is peace." She died in this frame 
 of mind. Another aged woman said, " How much I thank you 
 for the meetings ! I used to count upon being saved by my 
 virtues, but now I know that I am saved gratuitously. Oh ! 
 how I love my Saviour, who has done so much for me." She 
 has lately undergone a painful operation for her sight ; all the 
 while she was full of joy. To another of our hearers, who tries 
 to tell her husband (who is unable to leave the house) what she 
 hears in the meetings, I put the question, " Do you understand 
 how it is that a sinner can be reconciled with God?" She 
 replied that she believed that the death of Jesus had done 
 everything. I asked if she believed herself to be pardoned ; 
 " Yes," she answered, " I believe what the Bible says, and 
 surely I must be pardoned, for I feel myself delivered from a 
 heavy burden." A man and his wife, who have been plunged 
 into great temporal distress during the year, say that what they 
 have heard in the meetings gives them strength to bear up 
 amidst all their suifering. Another of our people, formerly pious 
 in her way, seeking to work out her own righteousness, says, 
 " All that I have tried to do could not save me. Now I know 
 what is needful ; it is that I accept by faith the gift of God, 
 eternal life in Jesus ; but I see clearly that, for this, I need 
 the aid of the Holy Spirit." A mother told me that she had 
 been alienated from her son, and would not see him, but that 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 225 
 
 now she was happy to have been enabled to pardon him, 
 through what she had heard in the meetings. " For," added 
 she, " I also have need of pardon.'" Our friend adds the record 
 of six or seven other equally interesting cases, which want of 
 space obliges us to omit. 
 
 " Miss N reports the case of one of our regular hearers 
 
 of Les Ternes station, of whose joy and surprise on first hearing 
 the Gospel there mention was made in our report of 1876. 
 'Wife,' he then said on going home, 'I have found such a 
 religion as I had no idea existed ; it is so good, so good ! You 
 must come also.' During a long and painful illness, he often 
 said that his only remaining desire was to be allowed once more 
 to revisit the ' chores reunions? ' When no longer able to speak/ 
 adds Miss N., ' he kept pointing heavenwards as our next meet- 
 ing-place.' She mentions also one of the Sunday scholars who 
 had died in peace, desiring that her favourite hymn might be 
 sung over her grave." 
 
 The following additional page of incidents is 
 given by Mr. Dodds : — 
 
 " Met at the Salle Evangelique a liberated communist, who 
 had learned to read during his imprisonment, being taught by 
 a well-known savant, a freethinker. By this means the man 
 had been enabled now to read the Bible. 
 
 " Have been much interested in an intelligent ouvrier at 
 
 M . He reads attentively his Bible, and a new light seems 
 
 breaking into his soul. In a recent letter, he says, — * I have 
 read much in the gospels, and see clearly that only there is to 
 be found the truth and the religion which speaks to us of the 
 mercy of our Saviour.' 
 
 " At the station I meet often a whole family, the father 
 
 decorated with medals for saving lives from drowning, who 
 eagerly listen to the addresses, and converse at the end on 
 what they have heard. They sometimes gather their neigh- 
 
226 The White Fields of France. 
 
 hours together to sing the hymns. We have reason to "believe 
 that the mother is a decided Christian. 
 
 " Miss told me of a girl who found one of the small 
 
 papers of invitation to the Rue de Rivoli reunion crumpled up 
 at the bottom of a waste-basket. This brought her to the 
 meeting, and finally to Christ. I knew her, and can add my 
 testimony to this. She is now in a PreTet's family in the south 
 of France, who sent a message to Dr. Fisch saying that he 
 would be glad if a meeting were opened in his village." 
 
 One extract more from the report will suffice : — 
 
 " Mr. Dodds adds most interesting particulars respecting the 
 ouvrier, an extract from whose letter, written in the hospital, 
 appears on a previous page. He states that, when a very young 
 man, seeing a Bible in the hands of a friend, he saved up money 
 enough to buy one, which he read eagerly, and with conviction 
 of its truth. Coming to Paris, where he was required to work 
 all the Sunday, he became quite neglectful, and for nearly 
 twenty years God's Book remained unopened. He thus writes 
 respecting his own history : — ' Though I suffer much, I am far 
 happier than when I lived far from God, and was a worldling 
 in good health. It is in these meetings that the Saviour has 
 given me the grace that I needed, to give myself to Him.' Some 
 of his expressions, both in writing, and when friends visit him 
 in the lonely room, which, in all likelihood, he will not leave 
 again, are very striking, especially those evidencing his patience 
 and contentment. For example, — ' Sometimes I suffer much, 
 but I have my bed ; my Saviour suffered on the cross, but I 
 have my bed.' ' Since I found peace with God by the grace 
 which flows from the Saviour's blood, it seems to me that my 
 bodily sufferings are more easily borne. My Saviour ! to me 
 He is the Pearl of great price and a faithful comforter. How 
 happy should I be to speak to crowds oi the love of this 
 Saviour for men ! ' On the first day of 1879, he writes : * The 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 227 
 
 Lord comforts me always, though I suffer much at present. I 
 wish I had health and life now, for I have been too long far 
 away from God, and to-day, when I would work in the Saviour's 
 vineyard, I am unable." He also describes the eagerness of 
 his fellow-patients, when in the hospital, to read the books 
 we had sent to him. His love for the Bible is wonderful. 
 
 "Mr. Dodds adds, ( I have been much struck with the 
 number of people at all the meetings who often remain behind 
 to ask counsel and speak of religion and of what they have 
 heard. I have also had several calling on me at my house 
 with whom I have had deeply interesting conversations.' " 
 
 Mr. Heriot's report, for the year, of his labours 
 among the young is most interesting. He has left 
 for Scotland ; but we are sure he will never forget 
 the useful days spent among the Parisian children. 
 He has sowed seed among them which will spring 
 up when he has gone. He thus writes : — 
 
 " Many hundreds of New Testaments have been gained by 
 the children as rewards, as also a still larger number of illus- 
 trated tracts and periodicals. There is a systematic way for 
 them to gain these ; by this means a large number of gospel 
 publications, above all, the Scriptures themselves, find their 
 way into the surrounding houses, and into the hands of many 
 who might otherwise never have an opportunity of becoming 
 acquainted with the truth. 
 
 " Many interesting incidents might be mentioned. "We 
 shall briefly mention a few. Miss Matheson, who, with Miss 
 Coldstream, has continued her much appreciated and fruitful 
 labours here, writes : ' A little girl, who attends regularly the 
 children's meeting at Batignolles, has given clear testimony to 
 having understood and accepted the gospel invitation. Her 
 mother, formerly a Roman Catholic, was also much impressed 
 
228 The White Fields of France. 
 
 at the meetings, became an earnest inquirer, and during 
 summer openly professed her faith in Christ. She now par- 
 takes of the communion at the Chapelle, Rue Royale, where 
 she and Angele are never wanting on Sunday morning. 
 Recently they went to pay a visit to the grandmother who 
 lives at some distance. Before leaving Paris, they came to 
 ask us to point out some suitable passages of the Bible to read 
 to the aged woman, as they must take her the gospel message. 
 They had a good deal of opposition to bear, but it has failed 
 to shake their simple faith in the Saviour.' 
 
 " ' A Protestant girl, who had been seeking peace for long, 
 was brought to the meeting for young women at the Faubourg 
 St. Antoine ; as she herself says, " It was my friend who told 
 me of your meeting, but it was God who led me there." That 
 very night she got the message of peace, and went away rejoic- 
 ing in Christ. In letters written during summer, and in her 
 own frank way, she has given bright testimony to the reality 
 of her profession. She is now preparing to pass her examina- 
 tions in order to become a teacher.' 
 
 "'A boy of seven, who had come several times to the 
 meetings, said one day to his mother, " Mother, I have got a 
 pain ; I think it must be my sins, but when they are forgiven 
 I think I shall be better." ' 
 
 " Our excellent and most efficient coadjutor, M. Hannemann, 
 went to England in spring, for the purpose of study and 
 further preparation for the work in which he is engaged, and 
 in which his efforts have been crowned with so much success. 
 While away, he received many letters from his juvenile friends 
 in Paris. A little boy wrote to tell that he had 'built his 
 faith upon the Rock of Ages ;' and a little girl, in another 
 communication, said that her mother and she had both come 
 to the Saviour. After his return from England, a little boy 
 running across the street to embrace him, confided in a 
 whisper, ' Monsieur, je vous aime !' To children and babes, 
 the Bible tells us, many things are revealed which the wise 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 229 
 
 and prudent know not ; such is ofttimes the encouraging 
 experience of those who work among the young. 
 
 " There is one nice-looking lad of seventeen who has made 
 himself useful to us in many ways ; he sees that the hall is 
 opened and heated in good time, helps to keep order ; and he 
 may often be seen collecting a little group round him at the 
 end of a children's service to teach them a verse. He is, in 
 fact, a great ally of ours, and claims the proud position of 
 doorkeeper and keeper-in-order-in-general of the meeting we 
 personally preside at, on Sunday evenings ; accompanying us 
 home afterwards, and enlivening us with a full and particular 
 account of himself and his doings during the walk. We shall 
 narrate one of his adventures, which shows how anxious he is 
 to do good, and which is interesting in itself. A poor and ignor- 
 ant old woman attended the meeting at the station in question. 
 Although she had often heard the story of the cross, she had 
 never taken it clearly in. Our young friend made acquaintance 
 with her. She fell ill, and he visited her. He is a veteran visitor 
 of old women, — they are always pleased to see him, and, besides, 
 they are good listeners. This poor old woman, knowing that 
 our young man came from the 'Salle de Conferences,' seized 
 the opportunity, and began to confess to him in the Catholic 
 manner. He told her that she ought to confess her sins to 
 God alone, and showed it her from his Testament. He further 
 told her that she ought to read the New Testament, and lent 
 her one. It was a great and new light to her to know that 
 she might confess to Christ, — to be assured that He would 
 hear ; and hearing, forgive. Our young missionary often came 
 and read to her, and his visits were valued. It became evident 
 that she was dying ; she had now finished the New Testament, 
 and was thirsting to read the Bible, but she was poor and had 
 no money, and he had very little. He made a bargain, how- 
 ever, with our good Bible-woman, and procured a large print 
 five-franc Bible at half-price, this he presented to her ; before 
 she had time to read it through, however, she departed this 
 
230 The White Fields of France. 
 
 life. There is every reason to believe that she knew on whom 
 to build her hopes of heaven, as she had learned, in such an 
 interesting manner, to whom to confess her sins." 
 
 These are busy days in Paris ; and busy nights 
 no less ; busy Sabbaths and busy week-days. And 
 yet the work is totally unlike what we find any- 
 where else in times of religious awakening. No 
 vast crowds in some great church or hall. No 
 orator, like Pere Hyacinthe, appealing to popular 
 fervour, or leaning for success on the multitudes 
 that hang around him. No " city in an uproar ; " 
 no grand watchword to rally round ; no great name 
 to overawe opposition ; no ambitious or self-seeking 
 enthusiasm ; none of these ! Humble labourers, not 
 seeking their own, but the things that are Christ's ; 
 hard-working, painstaking, persevering volunteers, 
 with no object but that of winning souls and re- 
 generating Paris ; obscure and quiet seed-sowers, 
 not hunting for applause or honour! No monks or 
 nuns with flaunting dresses, moving through the 
 great thoroughfares to proclaim themselves and their 
 good deeds; but modest strangers, wishing to be 
 unnoticed ; carrying the Word of life on loving lips 
 or with gentle hands into the alleys of Les Ternes 
 or the dens of Chiffonville. No show, no procession, 
 no banquet, no fete beyond that of a tea-party or 
 Christmas gathering. No confessional, nor denun- 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 231 
 
 ciation from the altar, nor compulsion, nor threat, 
 nor bribery ! 
 
 The tranquillity of the work is that which so 
 attracts and wins. It is no storm that has broken 
 upon Paris; it is the dew that has fallen every- 
 where; so bright, yet so silent. It is no fire that 
 is raging in her streets ; it is a heavenly fragrance 
 that is filling her atmosphere ; and men are at a 
 loss to know whence or how it has come. 
 
 " So when a ship, well freighted with the stores 
 The sun matures on India's spicy shores, 
 Has dropp'd her anchor, and her canvas furled, 
 In some safe haven of our "Western world, 
 'Twere vain inquiry to what port she went ; 
 The gale informs us, laden with the scent." 
 
 One remarkable feature in the work is that, 
 though it is carried on against both atheism and 
 Popery, it has stirred no controversy, and is con- 
 ducted without debate, either in private or on the 
 platform. There has been hardly any " contradicting 
 and blaspheming," such as befell Paul at Antioch : 
 nor even any " daily disputing," as at Ephesus, " in 
 the school of one Tyrannus." The clash of swords 
 has not been heard, nor even the sound of axes or 
 hammers. Round the whole circle of the city the 
 Word has gone, making itself everywhere felt by its 
 own innate vitality. For upwards of seven years 
 
232 The White Fields of France. 
 
 the Gospel has been preached to tens of thousands ; 
 it has entered streets, lanes, houses, hearts ; it has 
 planted itself side by side with the cathedral, the 
 church, the theatre, the ball-room, the cafe, the 
 restaurant, the gambling-house, the billiard-room, 
 and places lower than these ; yet no anger has been 
 exhibited, no strife has been roused, except of a 
 mere temporary kind. The messenger goes upon 
 his way, and " the faithful saying " attracts nightly 
 crowds ; yet all is peace. Perhaps the work has not yet 
 reached the stage of success which produces exaspera- 
 tion ; perhaps the adversary has not yet found a 
 leader ; perhaps absorption in pleasure and contempt 
 for religious men makes the mass of Parisians in- 
 different to any such pious efforts, for " the earth 
 helps the woman" (Rev. xii. 16); perhaps by Mr. 
 M 'All's wise and happy management human passion 
 has been kept out of the movement ; perhaps the 
 great truth of God's free love to the sinner has 
 come with a quieting surprise, a soothing influence 
 to a people living upon excitement, and hitherto 
 appreciating only the piquant, the startling, and the 
 stormy ; perhaps the truth has really penetrated far 
 beyond those who have actually come forward to 
 own its sway, and unconsciously leavened large 
 sections of a population who, in other circumstances, 
 would have been the first to rise against the aggres- 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 233 
 
 sion ; perhaps the anti-clerical feeling of the people 
 has disposed them to side with anything that they 
 know the clergy would dislike ; perhaps the priest- 
 hood has been so completely muzzled, if not tamed, 
 that they are unable to do anything but hate or 
 revile; perhaps there are some of these priests 
 secretly alive to the impotencies, if not the errors, of 
 their own system, and in their hearts persuaded that 
 this new Gospel is the last remedy for used-up 
 Paris, if not, indeed, the very Gospel for themselves ; 
 perhaps, too, even the fierce democracy feels that 
 here, in this strange Gospel of love and liberty, of 
 Divine and human fellowship, the meeting of earth 
 and heaven, they find the truest and highest com- 
 munism, — all that is really good in their philosophy 
 of freedom and fraternity, and embodying in its own 
 simplicity the means of producing, without violence, 
 an equality and community, far beyond and far 
 above all that they had ever dreamed of; perhaps 
 the absence of pomp and greatness, the hornety 
 halls, the humble men, the soothing hymns, the 
 cheerful music, all contrasting with the gorgeous 
 theatricals of clericalism, have predisposed the multi- 
 tude to listen and believe ; perhaps now the prayers 
 of two centuries of glorious martyrdom are beginning 
 to be heard, and the arm of the Lord is stretched out, 
 on the one hand, to draw souls out of darkness, and 
 
234 The White Fields of France. 
 
 on the other, to bridle the enemy, and give the 
 Gospel not only a free but a peaceful course : for 
 thus speaks the prophet, " I saw four angels stand- 
 ing on the four corners of the earth, holding the 
 four winds of the earth, that the wind should not 
 blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 
 . . . Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the 
 trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God 
 in their foreheads " (Rev. vii. 1, 8). 
 
 How far all these things are working together to 
 help the present Mission, I do not undertake to say. 
 I cannot measure the influence of each, nor the 
 combined strength of all. But they are well worthy 
 of notice and of careful study, as connected not only 
 with the religious, but the political history of 
 France. 
 
 For France has hitherto in all her movements 
 used the power of the multitude, both in their anti- 
 pathies and sympathies. It was of the mob that the 
 first emperor was the idol ; it was of the same mob 
 that the last Bourbon was the abhorrence. It was 
 the people of France that rose against the Reforma- 
 tion, and shed the blood of saints in their wild 
 fury. In other countries, especially Bohemia, Italy, 
 Spain, and Britain, it was the prince and the priest 
 that drew the dagger and kindled the fire; the 
 common people pitied and were silent. In France 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 235 
 
 it was as much the multitude that, blind with 
 brutal hatred of they knew not what, rushed on, at 
 the instigation of " the Church," to the slaughter of 
 the flock of Christ. 
 
 At present the people listen well-pleased to 
 preachers whom, three hundred years ago, their 
 forefathers would have butchered. There is some- 
 thing most notable in the change. Formerly it was 
 the Gospel that was bound; now it is the priesthood; 
 the Gospel is free, and the evangelist is welcomed. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 Lyons. 
 
 When Mr. H'All planted his first station in 
 Belleville, in 1872, he little thought " whereunto 
 this would grow." 
 
 That it should widen and overspread 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. 
 
236 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 pre- 
 paration 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 un- 
 expectedly 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 dis- 
 coveries. 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 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 237 
 
 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 November, 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 j 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, 
 
238 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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'All 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 start- 
 ing 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 " Keformed Religion in France," vol. ii., p. 33. 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 239 
 
 Mr. M'All's narrative of this undertaking is brief; 
 too brief. We wish it had been more minute : — 
 
 " Our long-cherished 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 Con- 
 tinental 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. Rouilly, 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 deputa- 
 tion 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 grati- 
 tude for our having come to them. One ouvricr, in particular, 
 said, with tears, 'Never in my life have I heard the truth 
 
240 The White Fields of France. 
 
 thus explained ; my conscience answers to it ; this is what I 
 want.' 
 
 " The excellent pasteurs of Lyons surrounded 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 us 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 
 probably 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 Guillotiere, 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, ' 1 much prefer 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 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 241 
 
 occasions, the policemen have recommended the bystanders to 
 enter, explaining the meaning of 'morale 7 and 'I'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 by 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 policeman at the door at , reported that there 
 
 was already a marked improvement in the quarter ; the people, 
 lie said, were quieter. 
 
 " At , a freethinker has come since the opening. He 
 
 used to say that his philosophy was quite sufficient 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 oi 
 the Bible, has been led to the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion, 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 is when possessing the Saviour Jesus Christ.' ■ 
 
 R 
 
242 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 import- 
 ance as conveying a Frenchman's impressions of the 
 value of the work in a city which he knows so well : — 
 
 "Kespecting your enterprise at Lyons, yet in its infancy, 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 Chapelle Evan- 
 gelique 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 exclu- 
 sively, or, if it has one, it is heaven ! For whom has it been 
 given above all ? — 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 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 24, 
 
 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, 
 loth 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 ' Rome ' of France, and that, while infidelity has a 
 widespread hold upon a large part of the population, intoler- 
 ance 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 
 
244 The White Fields of France. 
 
 now four populous localities among the ouvricrs in view, — La 
 Guillotiere, Les Brotteaux, La Croix Pousse, and Vaise. Pray- 
 that blessing may attend the planting of Christ's standard in 
 the heart of these teeming populations. To-day the authorisa- 
 tion has reached us from the Ministere de l'lnterieur 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 land- 
 lords, 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 ex- 
 perienced 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." 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 245 
 
 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 ex- 
 tremely 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 Xew-Year's wish for them : 
 
 1 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 France. 
 
 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 any- 
 thing to help us, and are glad to come into the room and listen 
 when they can. 
 
 " At the riunion 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 Roman 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 Prance." 
 
 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. 
 
Miscellaneous : 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 connec- 
 tion 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 sojrequentlythe 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 x\inboise, 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. 
 
248 The White Fields of France. 
 
 ent Christian communicants. One-half of the latter were con- 
 verts from the Church of Eome. 
 
 " As instances of individual conversion are always interest- 
 ing, 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 de- 
 partments 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 suc- 
 ceeded Oberlin at the Ban de la Koche ; 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. was 
 
 thunderstruck ; never in his life had he met with such an 
 occurrence. Born and educated amidst the fury of the French 
 Eevolution, 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 com- 
 menced 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 
 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 249 
 
 to think of quitting the Church 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 Rome 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 Rome, 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, 
 
250 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 priest- 
 hood, and protested against the torture of Protest- 
 ants. 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 Present. 251 
 
 feeble. A German pastor, some forty years ago, 
 after darkly picturing the condition of Lis country, 
 — its irreligion, unbelief, and blasphemy, — yet adds, 
 that here and there he had come upon bright speci- 
 mens 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 exist- 
 ence 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 v r ork upon ; it is some- 
 thing 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 
 
252 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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. 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 253 
 
 " Penitus toto divisi orbe Britanni." 
 Civilisation 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, 18th April, 1879. 
 
 " Having come home from Lyons, where I have just passed a 
 fortnight, I hasten to fulfil my promise, and send you an 
 account 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 Chaux- 
 de-Fonds, M. de "Watteville did not hesitate to respond to Mr. 
 M* All'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 
 Rousse, 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 ' mount- 
 ain of worjk ' (montagne du travail), the ' city of the future ' 
 (cite de l'avenir), which Michelet opposes in one of his works 
 to the steep and rocky Fourviere, 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 
 
254 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 be not the Protestants, who number about 15,000 
 souls. The horror which the ouvriers of La Croix Eousse 
 have for anything connected with Roman Catholicism is so 
 great, that it would suffice to be suspected of having some con- 
 nection 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 * EvangSliques,' 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 reputa- 
 tion. 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 indis- 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 255 
 
 pensable, 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 1 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 re- 
 mark 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,' 
 1 notre belle langue francaise.' M. de Watteville was to trans- 
 late 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 observ- 
 ance 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 
 Kusso-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 
 difficult 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 president is sufficient to 
 obtain order, silence, and respect, when, for example, some 
 noisy fellows amuse themselves by disturbing the singing. 
 
256 The White Fields of France. 
 
 M. de Watte vi]le makes it a rule to put no one out of the meet- 
 ing, 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 keep- 
 ing 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, with- 
 out any attempt at eloquence. The rules of oratory are here 
 exactly the same as at Paris : to begin by catching the atten- 
 tion 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 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 257 
 
 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 L'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 sym- 
 pathy 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 
 
258 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 with- 
 out exception, and this cannot go on long. Besides, they have 
 established several meetings for children similar to those exist- 
 ing 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 him- 
 self 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 con- 
 siderable 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 un- 
 connected 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 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 259 
 
 given as significant. In the neighbourhood of the station of 
 La Croix Rousse, the Free Church has opened a chapel ; and 
 since these meetings were established, the audience has tripled 
 itself. 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 impres- 
 sion of the work just begun ; and ever since I have been put- 
 ting to myself this question, How comes it that the evangelisa- 
 tion of the ouvriers, which succeeds so well in two places, so 
 far separated from each other as Paris and Lvons, 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 Xeuchatel 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 Ncuchdtcl, 
 
 and Colleague of Professor GodeV 
 
 Here I had meant the Lyons narrative to close; 
 
260 The While Fields of France. 
 
 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 
 (petites) 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 he 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'All on the 
 17th of November, 1878, in La Guillotiere. 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 simple 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 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 261 
 
 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 ; any 
 one 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. 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 gentle- 
 men 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 Guillotiere, 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 Noailles 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 Bergere.' 
 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.' " 
 
262 The White Fields of France. 
 
 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 con- 
 course, 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 appeals 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." 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 263 
 
 the ice broke, and turning towards us, her eyes rilled 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 under- 
 stands 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 ultramon- 
 tanism 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 ot 
 La Croix Rousse have just 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. 
 
264 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " 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 by 
 mistake 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. I 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 
 Rue 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 Eiver Saone. The ' mouches ' are pretty little boats, 
 which steam up and down between Perrache and Yaise. One 
 day when going to Yaise in one of these boats, — very con- 
 venient 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 work- 
 man, with a pleasant expression on his face, came up to me 
 and said, ' Monsieur, I have seen you at the meeting.' ' At 
 what meeting, please ? ' ' Oh, at the meeting in the Eue de 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 265 
 
 Cuire.' 'Good, and do you go there often V '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 else- 
 where, — perhaps even in Scotland, — who do the same, and 
 who cannot believe in the free grace of the love of Jesus 
 Christ 1 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 occa- 
 sion. 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 fi.1 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.' 
 
266 T/ic White Fields of France. 
 
 not to heal 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 we 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 endeavour- 
 ing to send it again in these last days ; and perhaps 
 there may yet be granted to Lyons true ministers of 
 Christ, such as Irenaaus and Pothinus, Alexander 
 and Attalus; or true martyrs, such as Blandina 
 and Ponticus. 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 267 
 
 SECTION V. 
 Fragments. 
 
 Some twenty years ago, on our way home from 
 Lake Leman, we spent a few days in Paris, having 
 an old friend, long resident there, as our guide and 
 commissionaire. Returning to our hotel one night, 
 past the mid hour, a man went by, roughly dressed. 
 and moving quickly. He carried a small lamp and 
 a box about with him, and in his right hand a stick, 
 with an iron hook on the one end, which he struck 
 into each heap of refuse as he went along on the 
 edge of the pavement. 
 
 " There goes a chiffonnier" said our friend. 
 
 " A chiffonnier ! What is that ? " 
 
 " A rag-gatherer," he said ; " or collector of all 
 sorts of things from the nightly deposits in the 
 streets. There are thousands of these in Paris, 
 who make their livelihood by thus fishing amid the 
 filth of the city." 
 
 We had seen such persons in our own land, but 
 chiefly in the form of old women, who come out in 
 the early dawn to search and sift our " ash-buckets." 
 In Paris, however, the trade is more extensive, and 
 is connected not only with a sort of corporation or 
 
268 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " institution," but with a colony, to whose " local 
 habitation " is given the name of " Chiffonville," 
 not far from Belleville. It corresponds somewhat to 
 the " Kag-fair " of London. 
 
 The Paris Mission, as we have already noticed, 
 has entered Chiffonville, and found human ears to 
 hear and human hearts to receive the Gospel. Gazed 
 at with wonder, the visitors have been respectfully 
 treated, and are able to tell of true work done amid 
 these poorest of the poor in Paris, these farthest 
 removed of all from Christianity, or civilised life. 
 "This man receiveth sinners " has been seen even 
 here. " He has had compassion on the ignorant, 
 and on them that are out of the way." 
 
 These rag-gatherers are both male and female, old 
 and young, living together, as in some gipsy village, 
 in the heart of the French metropolis. It is often 
 in such a district that the brightest instances of the 
 great spiritual change occur ; and from such an 
 unlikely class God often takes His " hidden ones," 
 to manifest His own grace and the power of His 
 truth. The following narrative from the pen of a 
 worker will greatly interest our readers : — 
 
 " Our little ' chiffonniere ' is one of a hand of rag-pickers 
 inhabiting the vicinity of Belleville. 
 
 " One little dreams of the existence of such a settlement, but 
 on turning down a narrow lane, leading out of a more fre- 
 quented thoroughfare, one comes in sight of what looks almost 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 269 
 
 ' Buttes Chaumont,' with its crown of dark foliage forming a 
 picturesque background to the rustic dwellings of these poor 
 people. 
 
 " In and about their houses rags and rubbish lie everywhere, 
 and behind is a large shed where this refuse, found in parts of 
 the great city, is picked and sorted, in order, if possible, to be 
 turned to advantage. 
 
 " When we make our appearance, women and children come 
 out of their doors to look at us. Within, some of their men 
 are to be seen smoking, drinking, or card-playing ; and all 
 have such a disreputable appearance that we have been warned 
 of the danger of going amongst them ; but nevertheless we are 
 always well received, and pictures and tracts accepted with 
 thankfulness. Some few have from time to time been persuaded 
 to attend a neighbouring meeting, and a little band of children 
 has been gathered to join us at the Sunday school. Of these, 
 this little girl is the one who gives us most encouragement. A 
 poor, neglected, motherless child, accustomed, like the rest of 
 the community, to go out rag-gathering every morning before 
 daylight, and spending the rest of her time in dirt and idleness, 
 she has reached the age of thirteen or fourteen without know- 
 ing how to read, and ignorant as a little heathen of all true 
 religion. 
 
 " Now, however, her father has consented to her being placed 
 at a day school, where she attends regularly, and takes great 
 interest in learning to read and write. She has also come into 
 possession of a New Testament, and gets her father to help her 
 to learn the texts of Scripture set her at school. 
 
 " One day she had been repeating to her teacher the verse, 
 1 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,' &c, 
 and this led to some remarks on the burden of sin. 
 
 " ' What is sin ] ' she was asked. 
 
 " ' It is disobeying God.' 
 
 " ' Have you any sins V 
 
270 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " ' Yes ; but I do not sin so much now as I used. I ask God 
 to forgive me my sins.' 
 
 " ' What do we call that when we ask something of God V 
 
 " ' It is praying.' 
 
 " * Well, how do you pray 1 tell me about it.' 
 
 " ' I ask God to forgive me, and I ask Him to help me to 
 learn my verse at school, and to learn to read, because I do so 
 much want to know how to read ; only everybody does not 
 know that I pray. Father does not think that I pray. I 
 don't do it when he is there, because I can't say it out loud.' 
 
 " ' But you need not pray aloud ; you might say it in a 
 whisper.' 
 
 " ' Oh no ! I don't like to do it before father. I always pray 
 when I go out rag-gathering in the morning, with my basket on 
 my back. I pray for father and I pray for my brother, because 
 I have a big brother who is bad, and he does not live at home 
 with us, so I pray to God to forgive him too.' 
 
 " This conversation will show that we have reason to hope 
 that the truths of the Gospel are beginning to influence the 
 heart of this poor child, and we trust that she may be the means 
 of bringing others around her under its influence also. She is 
 now placed with friends who have her under training for ser- 
 vice. This is at her own request, as she said, ' Je ne veux plus 
 aller chiffonner.' " 
 
 Of another stray one gathered in from her wander- 
 ings, and passing from the gay bal to the quiet 
 reunion, and from that, we trust, into the fold of 
 the Shepherd, we have a brief but touching narra- 
 tive given in a private letter : showing in what 
 unlikely places the good Shepherd finds His sheep* 
 
 * We have already noticed the imperfect views of sin manifested 
 among the people. Let the two following illustrations, given us by 
 a friend, be taken as confirmations : — 
 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 271 
 
 " One Sunday night, — it was the night of a fete, and the 
 city was in its gayest costume, — M came from a ball- 
 room close by, and entered by chance our Grenelle station. 
 She was much excited, and hardly knew where she went, or 
 what she did. Before the close of the meeting, she was seen 
 weeping bitterly, and when some Christian friends spoke to 
 her, she knelt down, and seemed as if she would have dug her- 
 self into the ground in her despair. Finding it impossible to 
 leave the poor girl alone, as she had no alternative but that of 
 returning to her life of sin and degradation, one who was deeply 
 interested by her account, took her to his house, till some 
 home could be provided for her. 
 
 " Little pet sins is a common distinction among them. Conscience 
 comes into play when sin involves any flagrant wrong to a neigh- 
 bour ; for their sense of justice is keen, but hardly otherwise. Thus 
 it is almost impossible to persuade them that a lie is sin if it injures 
 no one. A rather amusing case of this kind occurred where one of our 
 lady workers was trying to convince a poor market-woman that she 
 was a sinner, which she denied, out and out. ' But have you never 
 told any lies ? ' asked the lady. 'Oh no ! ' she never told lies. ' To 
 be sure, ' she added, ' I have sometimes said the fish was fresh when 
 it was not ; but there, God knew that was for my interest ; He 
 would not be angry with me.' 
 
 " In another case, a servant, of the rough paysanne class, quite a 
 different class from the native Parisian, was sent to post letters en 
 New-Year's Eve, and, in order to get through the crowd which 
 besieged the post-office, she exclaimed, ' I have left a sick child at 
 home ; let me pass ! ' and got through. • But that was a lie,' said 
 her mistress. ' You don't call that a lie,' she replied ; ' I said it to 
 get past ! ' ' No matter, it was not true, it was a sin.' • A sin ! I 
 wish I may never have any worse sins than that,' said the woman, 
 laughing loud at the very idea, 'as if God would be angry with me 
 for that ! ' Further remonstrance was attempted, but only seemed 
 to add to her amusement, that such a trifle should be regarded so 
 seriously. Yet we believe this woman was honest in the main, and 
 might have been trusted in any matter which she regarded as im- 
 portant." 
 
272 The White Fields of France, 
 
 " M was under deep impression of sin, and spoke of the 
 
 sorrow her conduct gave to her poor parents. 
 
 "On the following day she was received into the Refuge, 
 and there she has been for many months, never regretting to 
 have entered it. 
 
 " But temptation has often been very great. Several times 
 she has said to me, ' I feel so bad ; and sometimes when I 
 fancy I have conquered, I give way, and lose in an hour what 
 I have been struggling for ; I am so very wicked.' 
 
 "Though very young, sin has made deep inroads in her 
 heart, and she has also to contend against the dreadful vice of 
 strong drink. 
 
 " In January she wrote, and after expressing loving New- 
 Year wishes, added, ' At this season one draws near to loved 
 ones in thought. Your souvenir touches me deeply, and my 
 heart is full of gratitude. All I desire is to persevere in the 
 good path, where God has placed me, and I hope He will give 
 me strength to fulfil my desire.' 
 
 " The directress of the Kefuge writes as follows : ' M 's 
 
 struggles against drink have been dreadful ; she has at last 
 decided to take nothing but water, which she has done for the 
 past six or seven months, and has no wish to drink wine. Her 
 health suffers from the continual efforts she has to make to 
 resist her old temptations, which is painful to see. During 
 the last two or three months she has been more submissive, 
 and has made real progress.' 
 
 " May the Lord Jesus look on that poor child, and tell her 
 He has blotted out all her sins. 
 
 " It was not till some months afterwards that we discovered a 
 link of special prayer which made this poor girl's recovery deeply 
 interesting. She had spent some months in a pastor's house (two 
 years since), and there had had religious impressions, and ob- 
 tained some knowledge of her Bible. This pastor's wife could 
 not forget her, and spoke of her on her dying bed, longing to see 
 her once more, that she might plead with her about her souL 
 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 273 
 
 She could not be found, and the dying Christian's prayers never 
 reached her ears. But they were laid up before God, and we 
 firmly believe that as they have begun to be answered in this 
 wonderful way, so our blessed Lord Jesus will answer them 
 yet more fully on behalf of this poor wanderer. Will not 
 those who may hear her sad story unite in besieging the throne 
 of grace on her behalf? " 
 
 We have already noticed the self-denying and 
 successful labours of Madame Dalencourt, and given 
 some extracts from her reports. But the following 
 letter from her to Mr. Dodds, dated so recently as 
 " 10th June, 1879," will be found peculiarly inter- 
 esting, both as a reminiscence of her own striking 
 history, and a record of the noble work in which 
 she is engaged. As the sister of Lieutenant Bellot, 
 one of the most intrepid of our Arctic explorers, she 
 will perhaps be listened to by some who would not 
 have cared to read the letter of a humble Christian 
 worker : — 
 
 " You have expressed a desire to have a short report of our 
 ladies' mission to working- women, and its origin, assuring me 
 that the ladies of Edinburgh would read it with sympathy. 
 Although I have very little leisure, tliis assurance makes me 
 happy to comply with your request, for, after the sympathy of 
 the Saviour, I know nothing more encouraging than the sym- 
 pathy of His people. Having much to see in a short space of 
 time, we must make our retrospective journey, stopping shortly 
 at the starting-place, only to wonder in our hearts at the power 
 and compassion of God, who loves to turn the darkness into 
 light, and to change our trials into blessings. 
 
 " Brought up in a convent, my eyes were early directed to 
 
 T 
 
274 The White Fields of France. 
 
 higher things, and I hoped to remain there, to work out my 
 salvation, and contribute to that of others ; hut my mother 
 was opposed to this, because of my youth, when the chaplain 
 conveyed to her my request. My dearly-loved brother, Lieu- 
 tenant Bellot, who died in the Arctic seas, in the search of 
 Sir John Franklin, had written his journal half in English, 
 half in French, and I heard it whispered, to the horror of all, 
 that he had, in his two voyages, fallen into the habit of read- 
 ing — the Bible, and that he delighted in it, and even conducted 
 service for the crew, who listened to him with edification ! 
 ' The Bible, — the Book of the Protestants ! ' said the nuns and 
 father-confessors crossing themselves ; and I, scarcely believing 
 such a misfortune, secretly and inwardly resolved to find out 
 for myself in what my noble brother delighted. 
 
 " I obtained the permission of my family to go to a boarding- 
 school in London, to learn English. The Shepherd placed 
 in the way of His young lamb a gentle guide, who led me 
 by l the still waters,' and made my thirsty soul drink there. 
 I loved her dearly, and deplored in my heart that she only 
 prayed to Jesus Christ. ' How much she loses,' thought I. 
 "We prayed earnestly for each other ; and notwithstanding my 
 petitions to the Virgin and the saints, of whom T knew the 
 pretended virtues much better than the real ones of the Saviour, 
 her prayers were answered, and I learned to know the One 
 Mediator who had accomplished my salvation, more than 
 eighteen centuries ago. Some years passed in the study of 
 Protestant and Roman Catholic commentaries, after which, in 
 full conviction, I entered the Protestant Church. Later, the 
 war, of which God has already changed so much of the anguish 
 into blessing, broke out, and sent me with my young child 
 under the Christian roof of Lady Barrow — l my mother in the 
 faith.' Her e mothers' meetings,' so quietly held, touched me 
 deeply, and I was able to see so much Christian lay-work, 
 that it seemed to me as though one-half of London was 
 working to convert the other half. That moved me to 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 275 
 
 jealousy, and overcoming an excessive timidity, I entreated the 
 Lord to provide me with the means of ' doing the same' in my 
 beloved country. ' Before I called, He answered,' so far that 
 the ' Society of Friends ' offered me, by the help of a War 
 Victims' Fund, means to begin some meetings for women. 
 Returning from London I met my husband at Versailles, 
 where he had taken refuge with the Government on escaping 
 from the Hotel de Ville, and was waiting for the opening of 
 the city, which was in the hands of the Communists. There 
 I had an opportunity of gathering a few women in my room 
 in the hotel at which we were staying. Soon after we settled 
 at Boulogne-sur-Seine, and I began to have meetings in a 
 room at my own house. The women received fivepence 
 for three hours' needlework, during which Irymns were sung, 
 a tract read, and a portion of the gospel read and practically 
 explained. We began with five, but gradually the number 
 increased to such an extent that it was necessary to rent a 
 house for the meetings. I had as many as 284 women, and 
 had to give them tickets for admittance. A school was 
 opened on Sundays and on Thursdays, also an industrial 
 school for girls, and Bible classes ; all of which were most 
 encouragingly attended. 104 girls, from twelve to eighteen 
 years of age, were trained for service, only two of them being 
 Protestants. This work lasted during six years of great 
 blessing, after which, private circumstances brought us to Paris, 
 but in order not to lose my intercourse with my dear people, 
 I continue to go there every Thursday to superintend meetings 
 for women and children separately. We no longer pay them 
 for their work, and consequently we have not such a good 
 attendance ; but I feel greatly encouraged by their coming, 
 for I know now it is not for the bread that perisheth. Some 
 of them, and they are all Roman Catholics, read the Bible at 
 home, induce others to come to the meetings, and a feeling of 
 love reigns amongst them. They form a small and pious 
 congregation. 
 
276 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " Once inside Paris in 1876, I was waiting on the Master to 
 know what He intended me to do with the very little 
 money I was sure of, when dear Mr. M'All kindly granted 
 me, without any payment, his Salle de Conferences at Gare 
 d'lvry, which I chose because of the low, "beggarly character 
 and reputation of the people. There were five women at the 
 first meeting, and now thanks be to God I have 109 on the 
 list, whom we gather every Wednesday. The nice Kiosquc 
 which now replaces this Salle is a great improvement ; and 
 you will be pleased to learn that one of my friends from 
 Mulhouse holds in an adjoining room a meeting for German 
 women at the same time that I have the meeting for French 
 women in the larger room. One day her surprise and joy 
 were great to see amongst the women one that she had wished 
 to bring to the Saviour when at Mulhouse, and now she has 
 this in view more than ever. 
 
 " On the 17th of January we opened at 139 Kue de Rennes 
 another women's meeting at Mr. M' All's new station. This 
 part of Paris is inhabited by a better class of people, many of 
 whom are very much engaged in business, and others, especially 
 the women, firmly attached to their forms of worship. Still 
 we have reason to thank God for the thirty women on our list. 
 One of the principal features of that room is that we distribute 
 tracts at the door, and, by a placard, invite women to enter, 
 which brings in a variety of classes, and sometimes leads to 
 interesting incidental conversations." 
 
 We have had frequent occasion to notice the 
 
 opening of stations time after time in the different 
 
 districts, and the peculiar circumstances connected 
 
 with these openings. We give a specimen of the 
 
 most recent of these, only some months ago : — 
 
 " I was at the new Salle at Rue de Rennes last night, — I think 
 1 never was at such an interesting meeting. Three-fourths of 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 277 
 
 the people looked as if they never had seen or heard anything 
 of the sort before. When we got there, though it was close 
 upon the hour, there was hardly anybody in the Salle ; but 
 just outside a perfect mob at the door, looking over each other's 
 heads and shoulders to see what there might be inside, yet not 
 venturing one step within the doorway. When the singing 
 began many came in ; and still more, when M. Rouilly began 
 to read a chapter, and the order was given to close the door ; — 
 then, rather than be quite shut out, they streamed in. During 
 the address the Salle was quite full, and more than full if 
 possible, for when any went out, others filled their places 
 immediately. The singing was very weak, a sure sign that 
 the people here are new to the whole thing. Such numbers of 
 men, with curious, sharp eyes, evidently trying to make it all 
 out ! Some of them bullet -headed, black -handed, rough 
 fellows, but others gentlemen, or at least, men of comfortable 
 position, with their coats buttoned about them, in that self- 
 satisfied way they have. Frenchmen have such a look about 
 them when they are well-off ! It says as plainly as words, that 
 they are full of this world ; and as for another world, — well, if 
 any one has anything to say about it, they will listen, but 
 won't promise to be convinced. Pastor Hollard give such a 
 beautiful address, one could have heard a pin fall : they were 
 riveted. His subject was the Good Samaritan. He drew the 
 picture, and then applied it. 'Do you know the wounded 
 man ? It is you — and I. We have at least two wounds, one 
 in the heart, the other in the conscience ;' and I do think that 
 as he went on, the most self-satisfied man there must have 
 owned he could not say he never felt the smart of the wounds. 
 It was so wisely done, — in appealing to what they could 
 not deny as human, suffering, fallible beings, and then 
 showing them Christ as the only remedy. We sang again, 
 and Dr. Appia spoke before the close." 
 
 In one of our own jails, some time ago, there lay 
 
278 The White Fields of France. 
 
 a Romanist under sentence of death. The priest 
 was sent for " to prepare him for his fate," as some 
 say ; to help him " to make his peace with God ; " 
 as others would ; to cc fortify him with the rites of 
 the Church," as others would ; to " administer the 
 consolations of religion," as others would. The 
 priest failed. " The Church " was nothing to the 
 dying criminal ; her " ceremonies " he did not care 
 for ; her " purgatory " he did not believe ; and her 
 " crucifix " was an idle piece of brass to him. The 
 priest exhausted his appliances; and gave up in 
 despair. But before leaving he told the poor man 
 that perhaps a Protestant minister could do or say 
 something to suit his case. The minister came, 
 and told the guilty man the story of the Substitute, 
 dying " the just for the unjust ; " and, it is believed, 
 not in vain. 
 
 Some of the Parisian priests seem possessed 
 with the same feeling. They have not been able to 
 do anything for the sinner with all their services 
 and masses. They feel this, and are not disin- 
 clined to let a Protestant minister try his hand 
 at it. 
 
 " Shall we enter these halls?" says a poor ouvriev, 
 who has not broken with the priesthood. 
 
 " Go, if you like," says the priest; " I can do no 
 more for you." 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 279 
 
 " Shall I reason with these ' re-unionists' ? n 
 
 " Try," says the priest. 
 
 " Shall I receive their tracts ? " 
 
 u What sort of tracts are they ? " 
 
 " There is one on the evil of sin and the blood 
 of Christ." 
 
 " Let me read it." 
 
 He reads it, and as he does, he remarks,— 
 
 " Nothing against the Church here; nothing 
 against the Virgin here ; a good sort of tract after 
 all. You may read it, if you like." 
 
 " May I read their gospels ? " 
 
 " I won't hinder you ; they may perhaps do you 
 good." 
 
 From hints we have got, there are some priests 
 in France who, in their hopelessness as to doing 
 anything for the people, are not indisposed to let 
 them do as they like. 
 
 " One of our lady- workers," says Mr. Dodds, in a private 
 letter, " stayed with a lady, now dead, who was a devout 
 Koman Catholic. She began to read the Bible with her, and 
 had many an interesting conversation with her on its teaching 
 and meaning. She still, however, clung to her religion, and 
 went regularly to confession. On one of these occasions, she 
 told the priest that she was reading the Bible. He replied 
 that she was doing a very good thing. 'What !' she said, 'is 
 not that forbidden by the Church?' He replied, 'Oh, that 
 was in the dark Middle Ages long ago ; you are free to read it 
 now.' She said, ' But I am reading it with a Protestant.' 
 
280 The White Fields of France. 
 
 1 Well,' replied the cure, ' a Protestant could not do better than 
 read that Book ; you will get nothing but what is good from 
 it. This shows that there may be, indeed that there are, some 
 secret believers, some enlightened Christians, in the Komish 
 Church. He afterwards expressed a great desire to see this 
 Protestant lady, on hearing of the mission work she was engaged 
 in, speaking warmly in admiration of the work that was being 
 done, and of the sacrifice and self-denial which led the workers 
 to quit their native countries, and devote their time and strength 
 to the good of his countrymen. There is every reason to be- 
 lieve that this Eoman Catholic lady died believing in Christ, 
 and that the labours of our friend were blessed to the conver- 
 sion and enlightenment of her soul." 
 
 " On Wednesday I went," Mr. Dodds writes also, " to the 
 funeral of a man who has died in peace ; he lived just above 
 our Salle at St. Antoine. He would never enter our meeting, 
 any more than a Eoman Catholic Church, and was strict enough 
 even to forbid his wife going to confession. She was a regular 
 attendant at our meeting, and was in the habit of taking home 
 the tracts and books she got there, and giving them to her 
 husband. The truth seems to have found entrance into his 
 heart. He fell ill in the month of November, and died of con- 
 sumption. He was visited by one of our workers, whose tender 
 care and unfailing sympathy have been used of God to remove 
 prejudices, and lead him to Christ. He does not seem to have 
 said much, but he never wearied (such were his words) of 
 hearing the Bible read, and of prayer. No priest came near 
 him, but one of his relatives paid for a mass to be said in the 
 parish church, and I accompanied the funeral there to witness 
 the solemn mockery, and pretended miracle, of tran substantia- 
 tion. The service was muttered in a rapid and careless under- 
 tone, and it was with difficulty that I could make out even a 
 single word. The moment that mass was finished, the priest 
 turned his back and left the mourners. He had done so much 
 because he had been paid for it, and to accompany them to the 
 
Miscellaneous: Past mid Present. 281 
 
 cemetery was the last thing he would have thought of. Some 
 of his relatives, — his wife and others, — who had not wished the 
 mass, and could not offer opposition, had asked me to go to the 
 cemetery, and conduct a service at the grave. This I was glad 
 to do, as it gave me an opportunity of preaching the Gospel, 
 and testifying to its power. It was a privilege to turn the 
 thoughts of the bystanders to Christ, as the Saviour from sin 
 and from death, and to repeat his dying words, ' I trust in the 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, and I am happy.' He had been a valiant 
 soldier, and on the pall there hung two medals, one of them 
 being from our Queen, for his bravery in the Crimean war. 
 He died before he had time to fight under another banner, 
 but not before he had left a witness behind him of his alle- 
 giance to the King of kings. We have reason to believe that 
 his wife has found in her deep sorrow a consolation that not 
 only endures but increases. 
 
 " This man is only a type of many of the more intelligent 
 men in Paris, and throughout the cities of France. They are 
 infidels or sceptics, because they have no regard for, but rather 
 hatred against, the Church of Rome, or because they are 
 ignorant of the Gospel, and have never read the Bible. One 
 needs to see the effects and working of this false religion in its 
 own haunts, in order to understand its subtlety and power, 
 and to realise that it is not controversy or discussion, or pas- 
 sionate denunciation of its method and character which will 
 overthrow it, but the simple preaching of the Gospel of Christ, 
 the power of the written Word, and the presence of the Holy 
 Spirit." 
 
 Perhaps one of the most notable features in this 
 movement is its steady progression ; not merely in 
 the number of stations ; not merely in the increase 
 of attendance ; but in the spiritual results which 
 have attended it. Nearly eight years has it gone 
 
282 The H 7i ite Fielt is of France. 
 
 on, and the interest has not slackened. The attrac- 
 tiveness of the true cross has been proved ; and the 
 power of the Gospel to save has been exhibited at 
 all the different stations. Every worker has some- 
 thing to report, either among old or young. The 
 free love of God makes its way wondrously into 
 unlikely hearts, and takes captive unlikely natures. 
 Men listen and wonder, and yield to the declaration 
 of a grace which they had never heard of before, 
 and which they had never supposed to be connected 
 with religion at all. 
 
 Writing towards the end of last year (1878), Mr. 
 Dodcls thus relates his experience : — 
 
 " I never knew of so many, as during these past few weeks, 
 coming to me even here, as well as at the meetings, seeking 
 counsel. Yesterday was ' La Toussaint,' when the people visit 
 the cemeteries in great numbers, to mourn for their dead. We 
 had our meeting at Menilmontant, at three in the afternoon, 
 and got many in to hear the Gospel. Signor P.'s address 
 was in his best vein, so tender and true, and I felt there was 
 good done. A man lately come to Paris, who found out this 
 meeting ' by chance,' has, we trust, found peace. He and his 
 wife come from Belgium. He attended yesterday both after- 
 noon and evening. He read that little tract ' Confiance,' 
 which I re-wrote from one of Moody's, and it was blessed to 
 him. He is now inquiring about a pastor, and about schools 
 for his children. Last night a young man asked if he might 
 speak, and gave a most happy and convincing testimony. In 
 private he has told me much of his past life. Four months 
 ago, he came to Kivoli station, a sceptic, a lover of the world 
 and its pleasures. A week ago he said to me, ' I cannot say 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 283 
 
 much, but I have got a joy which I never knew before ; that 
 is all I can say yet.' Judge, then, of my surprise last night, 
 when he stood up and told us so boldly, but modestly, of his 
 firm assurance that Clirist had saved his soul, and of the peace 
 this assurance gave him. Last Monday a man told me at the 
 close of the reunion, that he had only come at the entreaty of 
 a man whom he had only known for a week, when they were 
 patients together in the hospital. He had since died, and his 
 dying request was that this man should go to Gare d'lvry, 
 where he himself used to hear what did him good. I was the 
 more struck by this, that the poor man was totally ignorant 
 of what the Gospel meant. I am deeply interested in some 
 people at Grenelle, that worst of all quarters. On Sabbath 
 evenings we generally have there between two and three 
 hundred people. The Lord is indeed blessing us. Our 
 evangelist, M. S., has good hopes of a young woman who has 
 lately been stirred up to seek the Lord. Not long ago he had 
 a letter from a teacher in the Haute Savoie, a Soman Catholic 
 district, telling how he had come into the Salle Evangelique 
 one da} 7 , had heard the Gospel and received some tracts, and 
 been spoken with at the close ; now he writes to ask for counsel, 
 telling of the peace he has found in Jesus." 
 
 " Fools " and " foolishness " seem to have been 
 words freely used at Corinth of old in connection 
 with the Gospel and the cross. To them the 
 apostle makes frequent reference in his epistles to 
 the church in that city. In this respect, I suppose, 
 Paris and Corinth are very much alike. 
 
 "I see you are become a fool," said an unbeliev- 
 ing friend to one of the converts; "and we must 
 look out for an asylum for you." 
 
284 The White Fields of France. 
 
 Such was the close of a long conversation, carried 
 far into the night, by the friend just referred to. 
 The believing man was visited by an associate of 
 other days, distinguished in literature and science. 
 The change lately produced was the subject of con- 
 verse between them ; and the difference in their 
 sentiments was soon found to be immense. It was 
 the discovery of this difference, and the Christian's 
 simple avowal of his faith in the salvation of the 
 Son of God, that drew out the taunt, " I see you 
 are become a fool." 
 
 Yes ; he was a fool to be saved so cheaply, and 
 with so little honour to himself ! He was a fool, 
 fit only for an asylum, to adopt a religion at all, as 
 a thing of certainty and earnestness. Better no 
 religion ; but at least a religion that will do some 
 credit to a man of science, and be worthy of the 
 human intellect ! It is the same story now in 
 France, as in Greece of old. 
 
 The good man was troubled for a moment at 
 being thus addressed ; but he went to " the Word," 
 and his trouble passed away. He was content to 
 be a fool for Christ's sake. 
 
 Among these fragments I must give the following 
 extract from the journal of M. Pointet regarding the 
 Bible- carriage which, filled with precious stores, 
 moves about from town to town, from village to 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 285 
 
 village, and from fair to fair. It does not directly 
 connect itself with the Paris Mission, but it is 
 strikingly illustrative of the work going on in the 
 land, and is helping greatly to whiten the fields of 
 France : — 
 
 " ' The fair of Dun le Roi, where I had already been, and 
 was very much pleased, was good. In spite of snow and rain, 
 which fell heavily, and my cold, which was at its height, I 
 remained working four and a-half hours, having, happily, an 
 abundant supply of books. At the most busy moment I felt 
 the carriage fall forward ; Cocote (the horse), worn out with 
 fatigue, had fallen her full length in the mud and across the 
 shaft. She struggled up, but fell again on the other side. As 
 I had only the smallest amount of standing room, by reason of 
 the stores of books, &c, I had great difficulty in disengaging 
 myself, and was in fear of breaking my legs, but got out just 
 in time to save another fall and set the poor animal on her 
 legs, but when taken to the stable she could neither eat nor 
 drink. I returned a good deal upset, but was rejoiced to see 
 half-a-dozen hands held out, waiting their turn. I do not 
 know a greater joy, and my wife and I thanked the Lord. 
 One good woman came to buy a large New Testament ; all 
 crowded round her to know what was in it. Giving an expres- 
 sive shrug, she said good-humouredly, " It speaks about the 
 Republic," with the air of one who thought it was her rightful 
 business. I turned to the crowd in a moment, and said, 
 " These books do not speak about the Republic, but of that 
 which is, nevertheless, not opposed to it ; it speaks of happi- 
 ness, of free citizenship ; but to be truly free and happy, one 
 must have peace of mind. good people, to make a first-rate 
 carriage, you must have the best iron and wood ; and to be 
 good Republicans, you must be true Christians." 
 
 " ' At Nerondes, in spite of the heavy snow, the peasants 
 
286 The White Fields of France. 
 
 crowded around the carriage, and bought with great interest. 
 " Where is your market, Mr. Innkeeper ? " I said. " Oh, 
 it is nothing ; don't go there." I went, however, in spite 
 of the cold and the piercing north-east wind. Entering the 
 courtyard of the largest hotel, the host advanced, a comfortable- 
 looking man of forty ; there are so many such in France. I 
 breakfast in the hotel, going out at three in the morning, and 
 often not returning till night, when I find myself again seated 
 in the chimney corner by a blazing log. We talk of one thing 
 and another, and at last of the cur£s, when, innkeeper though 
 he be, he exclaimed, " I'll have no more to do with them ; 
 they teach us lies, and don't believe them themselves." At 
 this same market of Baugy, what eagerness there was to buy 
 our large New Testaments ! It was a grand day. All came, 
 and wanted the book. This work over, I led the horse into 
 the sunshine, and went to the nearest cafe for a cup of coffee. 
 We often do this, that they may not be able to say we are 
 avaricious and only working for gain. Eeturning, I found a 
 number of my customers around a large store, and began to 
 talk to them. I was struck with the number who did not 
 believe in the existence of God, or of their own soul.' 
 
 " Again he writes, ' Notwithstanding all the discomforts 
 attendant on a work of this kind, our enthusiasm continually 
 increases. We are cheerful and happy, and praise the Master 
 for permitting us to forsake our home, and, carrying our furni- 
 ture with us, to travel summer and winter, from town to town. 
 We should think ourselves for ever dishonoured if the question 
 were raised of our settling down again in a fixed home. Faith 
 transforms everything ; all is changed in passing through the 
 Divine laboratory.' 
 
 " We find him in May in Orleans, where, as he says, he had 
 ' more to fear from his tongue than from Bishop or police.' 
 The sale went on briskly, and at nine o'clock at night there 
 were more than 500 people round the carriage. ' But Satan 
 and his emissaries were there too,' he writes, * and menacing 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 287 
 
 threats were hurled at me. A few energetic words stilled 
 them for a moment, only to begin again with renewed force. 
 One man, half a gentleman, shouted with a loud voice, " They 
 are not crying out at your books, but because you are a liar, 
 and have done nothing but lie since you stood there." At this 
 speech more than 200 voices shrieked and howled, and a dozen 
 rough fellows laid hold of the carriage to overturn it. I was, 
 happily, able to jump out. In the midst of the confusion a 
 big man stepped forward, seized my hand, and in a stentorian 
 voice, which silenced the crowd, exclaimed, " I am a Catholic, 
 but I thank you ; you are a good man, and I thank you for 
 your words of truth. You try to enlighten us, but they will 
 not understand." Never was such testimony less expected or 
 more welcome. For hours this young man had the courage to 
 uphold me and my work. I remounted my carriage, and 
 addressed the Jesuit, challenging him to prove me a liar. 
 He replied that it was false that the cure's denied the Scrip- 
 tures to the people. " The laws of the Church permitted it." 
 " Indeed ! " said I ; " then your ignorance is as great as your 
 bad faith." More followed, and for days I half expected a 
 visit from the police, but, happily, none had been present.' 
 
 " At another gate of the city he was accosted by a man who 
 said he must be more moderate. ' In what way V he asked. 
 1 Why, you say the Pope here, and the Pope there.' ' You 
 heard me say that, did you ? take care, or you will do as the 
 liars do.' 
 
 " Thus exposed to calumny and violence, ' It is necessary,' 
 he writes, ' to be careful not only of what one says, but of what 
 one does not say. Ours is a strange work, from one extreme to 
 the other : some days full of encouragement and blessing, 
 others when one's words fall as if on hard, polished marble, 
 awakening no response or sympathy.' 
 
 " ' I always try to begin my remarks with something original. 
 As the people crowded around me, I said to them, " What is 
 it that man needs, to go through life ? Good bread, the best 
 
288 77ie White Fields of France, 
 
 wine, plenty of gold and silver ; what more can he want 1 
 Ah ! you may well laugh, for you know that it is possible to be 
 miserable as well as rich ; there are plenty of suicides among 
 the rich. What, then, does man really need 1 The Truth. He 
 was made by God, and for God, and apart from Him there is 
 no peace nor happiness. There is a Book which will tell you 
 what you must do. Remember Him who has said, " Without 
 me you can do nothing." I began my sale, and in about an 
 hour had disposed of at least fifty New Testaments, till, 
 unhappily, my stock was exhausted.' " 
 
 The Mission efforts have not been confined to 
 Parisians or Frenchmen. They have embraced all 
 who could be approached : not only the nations 
 congregated at the great Exhibition, but those 
 members of them permanently resident in Paris, 
 such as the English and German artisans. The 
 classes for the English have been already noticed ; 
 but the Mission has not overlooked the Germans ; 
 and Mr. Dodds has been able to gather a German 
 meeting, which prospers wonderfully. It is strange 
 that in Paris at this moment, all kinds of efforts 
 seem to succeed ; as if some unknown and unex- 
 plained influence were at work throughout the whole 
 city, drawing men's hearts towards faith and truth ; 
 so that whatever is done is sure to succeed so far ; 
 failure in plans for good being exceptional and rare. 
 The following is the statement by Mr. Dodds, as to 
 the German meeting : — 
 
 " At the commencement of the Mission, some work was done 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 289 
 
 among the English workmen in the quarter of Montmartre. 
 This has since been taken np by other friends, and, until very 
 lately, the work of the Mission has been wholly among the 
 French. Now we have added a meeting for Germans. Many 
 speaking the German language have come to Paris from Alsace 
 and Lorraine, and there are also not a few from Hesse and 
 Prussia. The quarter where we have opened this meeting is 
 La Villette, and the name of the street is ' Eue d'Allemagne ' 
 (i.e., Germany Street !) M. VischeT Sarrasin, of Bale, has 
 kindly sent us a number of hymn-books, many of the hymns 
 being translations from the English. From other friends we 
 have gathered a small library, and begun a meeting once a- week. 
 It has gone on increasing, till it has risen to above seventy 
 persons. One asked for special prayer not long ago, and others 
 have asked eagerly for the loan of Bibles. The German pastors, 
 and several German laymen give most hearty help in this little 
 effort, which we ask the readers of the Quarterly to remember 
 in their prayers." 
 
 Another fragment we give in the shape of an 
 extract from a workman's letter, dated Paris : — 
 
 " For some time I have been a little better ; my employer 
 wishes me to work, or he will send me away from the factory. 
 I am so weak that I can never finish my day's work. I do not 
 gain much money, but I am always happy, because I belong 
 to Christ. On the Sundays, when I am not too tired, I go to 
 the meeting. To-day I have remained the whole day in bed, 
 meditating there on the Holy Book. It is truly the comfort of 
 the poor and suffering. Would that it were known and read 
 by every one ! I learn from the newspapers that bold and 
 earnest missionaries from England are preaching the Gospel in 
 all lands, and even at Rome. 
 
 " In all the workshops at Paris, the Protestants are well 
 spoken of, and nothing but evil of the priests. 
 
 U 
 
290 The White Fields of France % 
 
 "I like to think that some day God will have as many 
 Christians in France as in foreign lands. This is my most 
 earnest desire. — Yours truly in Jesus Christ, E P ." 
 
 There is a work going on in the French metro- 
 polis, almost as various, though not so vast, as in 
 the great cities of our own land. Benevolent and 
 religious schemes are conducted by self-denying 
 Christians, who, without the ostentation of the nun 
 or the monk or the priest, are daily moving about 
 in their quiet offices of mercy, doing a truer w T ork, 
 and asking no praise. Their influence is felt by 
 the community, while they themselves remain un- 
 seen. Their words penetrate and transform ; not 
 by reason of their vehemence, but by the calm 
 sincerity with which they are uttered. 
 
 The enterprise is quite a peculiar one, and the 
 success has been as peculiar. The method adopted 
 is not in the ordinary run of missions or missionary 
 work : save that it takes for granted that the 
 Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. 
 
 What should we say if two or three zealous 
 Frenchmen were to come to London and start 
 twenty-three meetings in different parts of our 
 metropolis? What should we say if these meet- 
 ings were all successful ; every hall filled with the 
 working-men of the city and its suburbs ? And 
 what should we say if these meetings, instead of 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 291 
 
 losing their attractiveness, during eight years, in- 
 creased both in interest and in numbers ? Should 
 we not be amazed ? Would not all London be 
 stirred to ask, What is it all about ? 
 
 The phenomenon now exhibited in Paris is just 
 such as the above ; and though it does not directly 
 concern us, shall we not be led to ask, What does 
 this mean ? Nay, more, shall we not be led to 
 something more practical than bare inquiry, and 
 hasten to the help of the overburdened labourers, 
 chiefly our own kinsmen, in that foreign city ? 
 
 No mission has ever been carried on so cheaply 
 as Mr. M 'All's. The smallness of the cost is quite 
 amazing. But, then, one reason of this is the 
 amount of self-sacrifice on the part of the workers ; 
 not one of whom receives anything like adequate 
 remuneration for his services. This state of things, 
 however, cannot last always ; and the Mission must 
 "be put upon a less uncertain footing. We must 
 remember that our responsibilities are not exhausted 
 in our admiration of the work, and praise of the 
 self-denying labours of the workers. A decided 
 and energetic effort must be made to establish the 
 Mission securely and permanently. And the sooner 
 the better. 
 
 In speaking of the Mission generally, I would 
 remind the reader of its double character ; — tc 
 
292 TTie White Fields of France. 
 
 young as well as old. That to the young stands 
 greatly in need of help. From nearly the com- 
 mencement of the Parisian work, the claims of the 
 young had engaged the attention of Mr. M'All. Mr. 
 Heriot entered on a work which had been vigorously 
 prosecuted previously by Mrs. M'AU and Madame 
 Rouilly. That sphere of labour demands vigorous 
 effort. It is so important, so interesting, and so 
 large. And we at home are bound to consider how 
 we can best help it forward. 
 
 Everywhere throughout Paris we find Christian 
 work going on in some form or other. The city 
 seems just now to resemble a vast old quarry newly 
 reopened, where the different levels and strata show 
 themselves ; and the immensity of the work to be 
 done is beginning to be understood. The workmen 
 are few and scattered ; some in little groups, some 
 single ; perched here and there on heights, or hidden 
 in fissures ; carrying on the tedious work of digging, 
 or splitting, or carrying off the stones to their destined 
 position in some house, or palace, or temple. 
 
 " Speed boldly, Jean, my son, speed boldly ; the 
 safety of God's elect depends upon thy speed." 
 
 It was a French peasant woman, two hundred 
 years ago, that is said to have spoken these words 
 to her little boy of ten one morning at the door 
 of a cottage which faced a gorge of the Cevennes. 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 293 
 
 She knew that five hundred of the persecuted were 
 to meet for worship that day among the mountains; 
 and her boy had, from a high rock, caught a glimpse 
 of the soldiers in march to surprise the congrega- 
 tion. She knew that he could reach the hiding- 
 place by ways which the soldiers knew not ; and 
 without a moment's delay she despatched him up 
 the cliffs, with the words, "Speed boldly, Jean, 
 speed boldly." 
 
 It is into this land of the persecuted that the 
 Gospel has again come in power, and is working its 
 way through the nation. Is it to be turned back, 
 or is it to be " resurrection from the dead," to the 
 cities and villages, where once it was so widely 
 accepted ? The crisis is a momentous one, and the 
 urgency is great. There is need of haste, lest the 
 opportunity be lost, and the enemy rush in to undo 
 all that has been done. " Speed boldly," then, is 
 the message to the present labourers ; " the safety 
 of God's elect depends upon your speed ; " lose not 
 a moment. The work is great, the time is short, 
 and the enemy is on the watch. How long his 
 wrath may be curbed, and how long the earth may 
 continue to " help the woman," we dare not fore- 
 cast. Precious is the present season, and wonderful 
 the openings on every side. This season must not 
 be lost ; these opportunities must be seized at once. 
 
294 The White Fields of France. 
 
 France's day of blessing may be also Europe's day; — 
 Europe armed to the teeth for war, and hopeless of 
 peace, — Europe disintegrated everywhere by in- 
 fidelity and socialism and ungodliness and lawless- 
 ness, — Europe, that in the persons of her princes 
 and statesmen, is trying every method to keep down 
 the dreaded outburst, — except the one, — the only 
 one, — that could accomplish the end, the Gospel of 
 the grace of God. 
 
 Unsought for, this one healing influence has 
 found its way into Paris, and shown that it is a 
 power in the earth, a power among nations, a power 
 of which rulers, if they were wise, would, without 
 delay, avail themselves ; not to bridle the waves, 
 but to still them ; not to chain their peoples, but 
 to put them in possession of a liberty which, instead 
 of overturning thrones, would establish them ; a 
 liberty which, instead of letting loose human 
 passions, would transform them into the mutual 
 confidence and kindness between man and man. 
 Paris has already felt the tranquillising influence of 
 the Gospel. Shall not all Europe feel it too ? The 
 effects of the present evangelical movement on the 
 kingdoms of the Continent may be far wider than 
 men are disposed to believe. France has for a 
 hundred years been the maelstrom which has kept 
 Europe in unceasing whirl. If the Book of peace, 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 295 
 
 cast into this vortex, shall arrest its eddies, the 
 results will be felt beyond both Rhine and Danube. 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 The Hymnology. 
 
 I know the Latin hymns of the Church of Rome ; 
 and I am aware of the high praises lavished on them 
 by their advocates and admirers in Protestant lands 
 and Churches. Indeed, the eulogies bestowed on 
 them by aesthetic outsiders are much higher than 
 those of Romanists themselves. 
 
 I mean neither to praise nor dispraise them. 
 My object in referring to them has no reference to 
 their merits. 
 
 What I mean to say in connection with them is 
 that they are in a dead language, and are not 
 understood by the millions of France, peasant or 
 citizen, in the parish church or the cathedral. 
 Many of the priests themselves, who chant them 
 daily, know nothing of their meaning. 
 
 In such a case, there can be no worship except 
 that of the organ and the unintelligible sounds : 
 if these can be called by that name. Religion is 
 reduced to a performance, — service done by proxy, 
 and supposed to be accepted by God, because acted 
 
296 The White Fields of France. 
 
 canonical ly by accredited priestly performers, who have 
 undertaken the responsibilities of the worshipper. 
 
 The hymns of the Paris Mission are not of this 
 kind, nor devised for such purposes. They are 
 meant to be joined in by the audience; and are, of 
 course, understood by those who sing them. They 
 are not sounds to be listened to, but words to be 
 sung ; not musical notes to produce a physical 
 impression, but true utterances of the soul, in which 
 all the singers join, — fitted to lift the soul to God. 
 
 This is a new thing for the ouvriers of France. 
 They can understand all that is said ; they can join 
 in all that is sung. This part of the Roman bond- 
 age is now laid bare. The Church had doomed 
 them not to comprehend a word of its worship : or 
 rather it had made worship impossible. But the 
 chain is breaking ; the bondage of the unknown 
 tongue is disappearing; and "liberty of worship," 
 in this sense as well as in others, is beginning to be 
 known. Few think of this part of the old bondage ; 
 or are alive to the profanity that thus indirectly 
 but effectually closes the lips of worshippers. 
 
 The reaction from this, no doubt, is at present 
 telling upon Paris. Men see the difference between 
 listening to a performer, as if they were at a cafe 
 chantant, and taking part in sacred song. A church 
 is not a theatre nor an opera. Prayer and praise 
 
Miscellancoics : Past and Present. 297 
 
 are things personal to each worshipper. Rome has 
 always denied this, offering to undertake the praises 
 of the worshipper as well as the responsibilities of 
 the sinner ; and France has hitherto been one of 
 the nations that have been content to listen to the 
 musical performances of Rome, and to accept its 
 offer of performing religion for her. 
 
 These Mission cantiqaes have suggested the 
 question to thousands, ought we not personally to 
 take part in religious service ? 
 
 It is not merely that the hymns arc pleasant, and 
 the tunes soothing ; there is something deeper than 
 this, in the influence which they are exercising both 
 in the house and in the reunion salle. They 
 have led to the discovery that the people themselves 
 have a true part in worship, from which the tyranny 
 of Romish sacerdotalism has shut them out. They 
 are entitled to worship God, each one for himself. 
 
 Of the hymns we have already given several 
 specimens. But we must ask our readers to get 
 copies of the hymn-book for themselves, and to 
 practise the singing in their families. Even with a 
 slight knowledge of French the hymns can easily be 
 followed ; and the alternation of a French and 
 English cantique is as lively as it is pleasant, round 
 the Sabbath evening fireside or table. 
 
 From the Reformation era, the French Protestants 
 
298 The White Fields of France. 
 
 had given both hymns and psalms a place in public 
 worship ; and the different editions of their Psalter, 
 with the music, are innumerable. Some ten or 
 twelve of these small volumes, — so far back as the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century, — are in our 
 possession : and there have always been French 
 Protestant hymns down to our own day.*' The 
 noble volume of Felix Bovet, " Histoire du Psautier 
 des Eglises Reformers," published in Paris in 1872, 
 gives the largest amount of information that has 
 been given in connection with any psalter. He 
 gives a complete list of the various editions, begin- 
 ning with the year 1541, and ending with 1870. 
 They are 300 in all. In 1837, there appeared 
 an article in a well-known religious periodical, — 
 Le Semeur, on " Hymnology in France." This I 
 have not seen. But the following paragraph from 
 it, quoted in the life of Dr. Caesar Malan, in refer- 
 ence to the hymns of that revered divine, is worth 
 quoting here : — " Among ourselves, with the revival 
 of faith has come the revival of its song ; and that, 
 too, after a silence of more than a hundred years. 
 God has taught His servants to perpetuate the 
 
 * A French priest attempted a volume of hymns, under the title 
 of " Cantiques de l'Ame devote," in 1786. His name was Durand ; 
 and, strange to say, he has set his verses to common tunes, — " accom- 
 mode's a" des airs vulgaires." Part of his volume is filled up with 
 the usual Latin hymns for the seasons and festivals. 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 299 
 
 language of His praise, and has given them new 
 hymns through the instrumentality of this truly 
 Christian poet. M. Malan has reawakened the 
 lay. His hymns belong already to history, because 
 they have interwoven themselves, and while the 
 revival lasts, will interweave themselves with the 
 joys and sorrows of the Church." * 
 
 The hymnology of the Mission is thus one of its 
 most important and effective parts, and the cantiqaes 
 populaires, with their lively tunes, are doing im- 
 mense service, carrying the Gospel, as on the wings 
 of a gentle breeze, into every recess of the city; not 
 only drawing out the crowd to listen to the happy 
 melodies, but sending it back laden with the Divine 
 truth to which these melodies are joined. The 
 songs go everywhere ; and with them the truth 
 goes everywhere. Can Rome meet this irresistible 
 influence? Hearts are taken captive, and minds 
 instructed ; and men ask, How have we never seen 
 all this before ? 
 
 The Mission hymns are most suitable to their 
 purpose, both in tone and in substance. They are not 
 frivolous nor jaunty, like some of our English ones. 
 They are cheerful but solemn. They do not sacrifice 
 sense to sound or rhyme. They are tasteful as 
 well as thoughtful, with more of a classic air about 
 
 * ''Life and Labours of Caesar Malan," p. 183. 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 them than is usual with revival hymns ; yet simple 
 and direct ; filled with Bible truth, and conveying 
 the good news in many a varied form. They are 
 not "full of sound and fury," and they all " signify 
 something." The first selection was found too 
 small ; and a larger one was published : of which 
 there is preparing a new and cheaper edition, in a 
 stronger binding to withstand the peculiar usage of 
 the Parisian ouvrier, who invariably doubles bach 
 his hymn-book, when he employs it in singing. 
 
 Some of the hymns are translations ; a large 
 number are new. Mr. M'All himself has no less 
 than thirty-eight of his own ; M. Saillens, forty- 
 three ; the other hymn-writers contributed fewer ; 
 but among these sweet singers appear the names 
 of three Monods. A glance at the Table Alpha- 
 betique will show the variety, both in hymns and 
 hymnists. 
 
 As I have interspersed throughout this narrative 
 several specimens of the hymns, I need not add any 
 here. The selection is admirable ; and will, I am 
 sure, commend itself to our readers, who ought by 
 all means to procure a copy of the cantiques for 
 themselves. In them they will find the creed of 
 the Mission ; and learn what truths are now circu- 
 lating through the nation, through the medium 
 of sacred song. In the absence of creed and cate- 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 301 
 
 chism, these hymns will furnish an answer to the 
 question of an inquirer, " What do these evangelists 
 teach?" They teach what they sing. They have 
 embodied their Gospel in happy verse and melody; 
 and that Gospel, thus enshrined in song, is quite in 
 accordance with the " Confessions" of the Reforma- 
 tion Churches. It may be that by these hymns 
 many in France will be led to study these ancient 
 declarations of a faith, once widely held on both 
 sides of the Rhine, — a faith which has never wholly 
 died out, and which is now manifestly beginning to 
 revive, and which, in its revival, promises to unite 
 the nineteenth with the sixteenth century in an 
 unexpected way and at a most unlikely time, turn- 
 ing back the era of unbelief and error to the era ol 
 faith and truth. 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 Evangelists and their Gospel. 
 
 Three hundred years ago, when the Word of God 
 was working its way in strength through Europe, 
 the question arose, once and again, who is to be 
 the Reformer of France ? Berquin, Farel, Calvin 
 were named. But the question of leadership soon 
 was settled by the martyrdom or banishment of 
 
302 The White Fields of France. 
 
 the noblest of France's sons. The shepherds were 
 
 smitten, and the sheep were scattered. 
 
 " Farel would have been the man fitted for this work. He was 
 one of those whose simple, serious, earnest tones carry away 
 the masses. His voice of thunder made his hearers tremble. 
 The strength of his convictions created faith in their souls, 
 the fervour of his prayers raised them to heaven. When they 
 listened to him, ' they felt,' as Calvin says, ' not merely a few 
 light pricks and stings, but were wounded and pierced to the 
 heart ; and hypocrisy was dragged from those wonderful and 
 more than tortuous hiding-places which lie deep in the heart 
 of man.' He pulled down and built up with equal energy. 
 Even his life, — an apostleship full of self-sacrifice, danger, and 
 triumph, — was as effectual as his sermons. He was not only 
 a minister of the Word ; he was a bishop also. He was able 
 to discern the young men fitted to wield the weapons of the 
 Gospel, and to direct them in the great war of the age. Farel 
 never attacked a place, however difficult of access, which he 
 did not take. Such was the man then called into France, and 
 who seemed destined to be its reformer." * 
 
 Is God now preparing a reformer for France, — a 
 
 theologian and an evangelist, — a Calvin and a Farel 
 
 in one? In what direction do the leadings of His 
 
 providence now point ? Is the present work to 
 
 glide on quietly, widening and deepening without 
 
 noise ? Or are we to be startled some day with the 
 
 news that a Paul, or a Luther, or a Calvin has 
 
 arisen ? Is the present restraint upon priestly hatred 
 
 to be continued ? Or is the telegraph some midnight 
 
 * Merle D'Aubigne"s " Reformation in Europe in the Time of 
 Calvin," vol. i., p. 502. 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 303 
 
 to flash through Europe the intelligence that a long- 
 laid Vatican plot has at length been ripened, and 
 that the Pope has found tools among the " Legiti- 
 mists " of France to carry it out, if not in massacre, 
 at least in banishment ? # 
 
 But, with or without a leader, will France return 
 to the faith of the Keformation ? And is it this 
 that is now going on ? Is the present movement 
 working back in the direction of the old landmarks ? 
 The converts of the Mission know nothing of the 
 Gallican Confession or the Geneva Catechism ; but 
 the truth embodied in these is that which is taught 
 in the Bible which they read, the addresses to which 
 they listen, the hymns which they sing, and the 
 books which are circulated among them. 
 
 I do not enter into the question of creeds. ] 
 speak of them merely as the classification of truth ; 
 and it is of no small importance that the minds of 
 
 * In August, 1572, the Duke of Guise called together the captains 
 of the Swiss and French guards, and thus addressed them : " Gen- 
 tlemen, the hour is come, when, under the sanction of the king, we 
 may at length avenge ourselves upon the accursed race, — the enemies 
 of God. The beast is in the snare, and must not be suffered to escape. 
 Honour and profit may now be won cheaply, and that effected without 
 peril which so many brave captains, at the expense of so much blood, 
 have in vain sought to accomplish." Is such a thing possible again ? 
 Nothing more likely if " legitimacy " gets into the ascendant. A 
 century and a-half of restraint has only whetted the appetite of 
 Rome for slaughter. Some Duke of Guise may yet appear who will 
 " cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war." 
 
304 The White Fields of France. 
 
 of the Mission converts should be turned in the 
 direction of the ancient faith for which their fathers 
 suffered. The Reformation exhibited a singular 
 example of unity in belief, among the different 
 nations ; and the " Harmony of Confessions," — a 
 volume which gathered all Protestant creeds to- 
 gether, — is of itself a study, not only in theology, 
 but in the history of mind. The agreement of so 
 many minds of diverse nationalities, without concert 
 or conference, is a puzzle to the metaphysician, while 
 it is a triumph to the Christian. The Gallican Con- 
 fession, shorter than most of its fellows, but quite as 
 explicit, as a brief scheme of classified doctrine drawn 
 from Scripture, is a noble heirloom which France 
 must not surrender. It may, perhaps, come up now, 
 and play no inconsiderable part in the development 
 of the nation's future. # 
 
 * The Gallican Confession, first published in 1561, in French, and 
 afterwards translated into Latin in 1566, bears the following title : — 
 " Confession de foy, faitte d'un commun accord par les Francois, qui 
 desirent vivre selon la purete' de l'evangile de nostre Seigneur Jesus 
 Christ." It was presented, in French (in 1559), to Francis II., 
 at Amboise, in the name of all the godly of France, and again, in 
 1561 at Poissy, to Charles IX., and then afterwards published in 
 Latin by the pastors of the French Churches, with a preface to all 
 other evangelical pastors. As a specimen of this noble document, I 
 give the following extract, in the Old French, from the article on 
 Justification : — " Nous croyons que toute nostre justice est fonde'e 
 en la remission de noz pe'ehez ; comme aussi e'est nostre seule felicite, 
 comme dit David. Parquoy nous rejettons tous autres moyens de 
 nous pouvoir instifier devant Dieu, et sans presumer de nulles vertus 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 305 
 
 As to the message and the messengers in the 
 present enterprise, let me add the following re- 
 marks. 
 
 There are several qualifications specially needed in 
 this expanding work. For some schemes the mere 
 keeping of machinery in motion may, to a certain 
 extent, suffice. In this Mission such routine, com- 
 monplace discharge of duty is little better, than a 
 drag ; and it is not a drag, but motive-power, that is 
 needed here. Energy, fervour of spirit, self-denial, 
 patient endurance of toil, undaunted zeal, with love 
 and faith, such as all victorious reformers and suc- 
 cessful evangelists have possessed ; — these are what 
 the Mission requires, and without which it cannot 
 hope for conquest. My object is not to praise nor 
 to dispraise ; not to point out who have and who 
 have not these qualities ; but to remind all who 
 engage in it what the enterprise demands. It 
 would rather struggle on with few thoroughly good 
 labourers than have itself weakened by unsound or 
 
 ne me'rites, nous nous tenons simplement a l'obeissance de Jesus 
 Christ, laquelle nous est allouee tant pour couvrir toutes noz fautes, 
 que pour nous faire trouver grace et faveur devant Dieu. Et de fait 
 nous croyons qu'en declinant de ce fondement tant peu que ce soit, 
 nous ne pourrions trouver ailleurs aucun repos, mais serions tousjours 
 agitez cVinquietude : d'autant que iamais nous ne sonimes paisible- 
 ment avec Dieu, iusques a ce que nous soyons bien resolus d'estre 
 aymez en Jesus Christ veu que nous sonimes dignes d'estre hais en 
 nous mesmes." 
 
 X 
 
306 The White Fields of France. 
 
 half-liearted ones. They who have gone into the 
 field understand that they are to throw into their 
 work their whole strength and soul. " Not weary 
 in well-doing " is one special watchword ; but there 
 is another which goes beyond this — " Enduring hard- 
 ness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ." 
 
 The biographies of Martin Boos, and Felix NefF, 
 and John Frederick Oberlin might be read with 
 great advantage both as guides and stimulants. 
 Some have thought that our Northern training both 
 in England and Scotland has given us habits both 
 of plodding and of daring which other nations do not 
 possess. But these three above named are speci- 
 mens of German and French workers, fitted both to 
 humble and to quicken the most zealous of us all. 
 
 If any permanent work is to be done, there must 
 be, above ail things, a clear theology ; and the evan- 
 gelists must be men giving no uncertain sound as to 
 the way of life. Mistakes here will be fatal. There 
 are some men of fervent spirit and hard-working 
 capacity whose brains are mist and confusion, and 
 whose sermons are quite a theological wilderness. 
 They put things in their wrong places ; they turn 
 the Gospel upside down ; they either mistake the 
 great truths of Scripture, or they set them in a 
 wrong order, which wrong order, like a misplaced 
 plus or minus in algebra, reduces all to confusion, or 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 307 
 
 evolves only error. A preacher may speak, by the 
 hour, of Christ, and faith, and pardon, and regenera- 
 tion, and good works, and yet preach no Gospel. It 
 is the way or order in which these are stated that 
 makes the Gospel. The mixing up together of faith, 
 and love, and works takes all the " good news " out 
 of the Gospel, and all coherence out of the truth 
 of God. 
 
 That the Son of God has done what the sinner 
 should have done, and suffered what the sinner 
 should have suffered, is the foundation of the great 
 deliverance. That we are saved by another's merits, 
 another's works, another's death, by "foreign worth," 
 as one has expressed it, is the essence of the glad 
 tidings. But if we mix up the work of the Sub- 
 stitute with the doings of the sinner, and preach 
 that we are partly saved by the one and partly by 
 the other, we make void the cross of Christ. If we 
 mingle together the repentance of the sinner with 
 the sacrifice of the Substitute, we both misunder- 
 stand the meaning and deny the value of the 
 sacrifice. If we say that Christ died for the godly, 
 not the ungodly; that God justifies the godly, not 
 the ungodly ; that Chris; does not receive all kinds 
 of sinners, but only those who are duly sensible 
 of their sins ; that we must qualify ourselves for 
 coming to Christ by prayer and faith and love and 
 
o 
 
 08 The White Fields of France. 
 
 contrition and good deeds, we utterly subvert the 
 finished work of Calvary, and deny the free love of 
 God. To preach that anything is to be done by 
 the sinner to obtain mercy, and recommend himself 
 to the favour of God, is but to preach a milder 
 Popery. As it was the blindness of the blind man, 
 and the leprosy of the leper that brought them to 
 Christ, and Christ to them, so it is the evil that is 
 in us that fits us for Him, who is the Deliverer 
 from evil. " The whole need not a physician, but 
 they that are sick." 
 
 Men often confound what the sinner gets after 
 coming to Christ, with what he is to bring with 
 him. What is he to obtain after coming ? Every- 
 thing that is good and holy and blessed. What is 
 he to bring with him ? Nothing but his sins ; and if 
 any man preaches that the sinner is to bring some- 
 thing more and something better, he misleads the 
 wanderer. The Gospel is God's welcome to the 
 children of men ; — as fallen, as wanderers, as evil- 
 doers. It is Christ's knock at the door of the poor 
 and wretched and miserable and blind and naked. 
 It takes every man just as it finds him, and just 
 where it finds him. It addresses itself to each son 
 of Adam. 
 
 Let me suppose a false teacher telling a sixmo 
 that he is to look up all the good things he haf 
 
Miscellaneous : Pas I and Present. 309 
 
 about him and bring them as qualifications, in 
 virtue of which, demerit will be overlooked, and 
 himself made welcome. He comes in compliance 
 with the exhortation he has heard, and he counts on 
 being received in respect of the gifts he brings. 
 
 " Who art thou," he is asked by the Son of God, 
 " and what dost thou want ? " 
 
 " I am a son of Adam, and I am seeking favour 
 and forgiveness at Thy hands." 
 
 "But what are these things that thou bringest 
 with thee?" 
 
 " They are gifts, without which I was told that I 
 must not approach Thee." 
 
 "Did I ask for gifts, or did I simply ask for thy- 
 self, just as thou wert, when my Gospel came to 
 thee ? " 
 
 " Thou didst ask for nothing but myself and my 
 sins ; but I was told that something more would be 
 expected." 
 
 " What hast thou brought? " 
 
 " I have brought my repentance and contrition 
 and resolutions of amendment. They are poor 
 enough, but they are the best that I could work up 
 out of my stony heart." 
 
 "Where didst thou get these things? Did I 
 give them to thee, or didst though get them from 
 thyself?" 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 " I got them from myself; but I trust that 
 though they are mine, and not Thine, Thou wilt 
 accept them for what they are worth, and because 
 of them accept me ; for I did not dare to come 
 to Thee without something, however small." 
 
 " But what is that self-made repentance worth ? " 
 
 " I know not ; but I was told that I must have 
 some good thing about me ; otherwise my coming- 
 would be in vain. But, Lord, what shall I do with 
 it ? Wilt Thou not look favourably on it, and on me 
 because of it ? " 
 
 "I tell thee that it is worth nothing; nay, it is 
 worth less than nothing ; it is an insult to Me ; for 
 it takes for granted that I am an 'austere man,' a 
 man accepting gifts and bribes. Even were it 
 better than it is, it would profit thee nothing." 
 
 " What, then, shall I do with these gifts that I 
 have brought ? " 
 
 " Throw them all away, and come to Me as thou 
 art, without one good feeling. I need no gifts to 
 induce Me to receive the sinner. I give, — I do not 
 sell : I give to the umvovthy, I do not bargain with 
 the worthy, if such there be." 
 
 " But must I not repent and be broken-hearted?" 
 
 " Yes ; but you must come to Me for the broken 
 heart ; I am exalted, a Prince and a Saviour, ' to 
 give repentance.' You cannot break that heart of 
 
Miscellaneous : Pas I and Present. 311 
 
 yours ; but I can, and will. Put it into my hands 
 simply as it is, and you will soon know the wondrous 
 change." 
 
 One thing that often hindered, or at least 
 retarded the Gospel 300 years ago, in Europe, was 
 the attempt at compromise, sometimes put forth on 
 both sides ; cunningly by the Romanists, timidly by 
 some of the Reformers. More than once did this 
 trouble Calvin ; and sometimes, it may be, stirred 
 his fervent spirit to the use of strong words, — words 
 which only those who knew how much was at 
 stake can properly judge. " If we can be satisfied 
 with a half Christ," he exclaims on one occasion, 
 " we could easily come to terms (with Rome)." 
 The tendency to " concession," before which some 
 feeble spirits were giving way, must be resisted. 
 " Pray," wrote he, " with all earnestness that we 
 may be strengthened with the spirit of boldness." 
 
 Yet there is the other side of this, — rigid resist- 
 ance to all kinds of conciliation. " It was the mis- 
 fortune of that age," writes Dr. Merle D'Aubigne', 
 " that many fastened upon a few differences of detail 
 rather than upon the great truths on which they 
 were agreed."'"" Of more ages than that of the 
 Reformation has this been found true ; and few 
 have learned the holy medium between uncharitable 
 
 * " History of the Reformation in Europe," vol. vii., p. 484. 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 censoriousness and the indifference of a reckless 
 liberality. Christian discrimination and large- 
 souled charity ought to be inseparable. We love the 
 truth, we hate the error; yet we are slow to judge 
 or to suspect or to draw conclusions which, after all, 
 may be as illegitimate as they are unkind. 
 
 Bible truth is twofold, two-sided; and we must 
 always turn it round to know exactly what each 
 side means, and to check unfairness in dealing with 
 it The demands of a human logic have not always 
 lain in the direction of truth. We push past the 
 metaphysical thickets which would detain us from 
 the cross by discussions as to the quality and 
 quantity of the faith that is saving, and rest not 
 till we are landed in the great history of the Son of 
 God, in the knowledge of which there is eternal life. 
 
 I feel urged here to notice, though briefly, the 
 way in which the eloquent Vinet has, by means of 
 one-sided logic, mystified the way of life. His name 
 is great in France, and it is all the more needful to 
 mark his departure from the Reformation theology, 
 Faith saves, he says, because it has the "germ 
 of holiness ; " and in the saved thief " the Divine 
 eye saw the tree in the germ." " My faith is to 
 take the place of works which I have not done." 
 " Faith taking the place of works ; faith reckoned 
 as righteousness; faith becoming the condition 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 3 1 3 
 
 of a new covenant, as obedience was that of the 
 
 old." * 
 
 In opposition to these statements (and there are 
 
 many similar), I set the two following extracts, the 
 
 first from Melancthon, the second from Luther : — 
 
 " You stick to the fancy of Augustine, who, though right in 
 rejecting the righteousness of human reason, imagines that we 
 are justified by that fulfilling of the law which the Holy 
 Spirit works in us. So you imagine that men are justified "by 
 faith, because it is by faith that we receive the Spirit, that 
 thereafter we may be able to be just by that fulfilment of the 
 law which the Spirit works. This imagination places justifica- 
 tion in our fulfilment of the law, in our purity or perfection, 
 although this renewal ought to follow faith. But turn 
 your eyes from that renewal, and from the law altogether, to 
 the promise and to Christ, and think that it is on Christ's 
 account that we become just, that is, accepted before God, 
 and that it is thus we obtain peace of conscience, and not on 
 account of that renewal. For even this renewing is insufficient 
 (for justification). We are justified by faith alone, not because 
 it is a root, as you write, but because it apprehends Christ, on 
 account of whom we are accepted ; this renewing, although it 
 necessarily follows, yet does not pacify the conscience. There- 
 fore not even love, though it is the fulfilling of the law, 
 justifies, but only faith ; not because it is some excellence in 
 us, but only because it takes hold of Christ ; we are justified, 
 not on account of love, not on account of the fulfilling of the 
 law, not on account of our renewal, although these are the 
 gifts of the Holy Spirit, but on account of Christ ; and Him 
 we take hold of by faith alone. Believe me, my Brentius, 
 this controversy regarding the righteousness which is by faitli 
 is a mighty one, and little understood." 
 
 * Yinet's " Yital Christianity," p. 286-7. English edition. 
 
314 The White Fields of France. 
 
 " I am accustomed, my Brentius, for the better understand- 
 ing of this point, to conceive this idea, that there is no quality 
 in my heart at all, call it either faith or charity ; but instead 
 of these I set Christ Himself, and I say this is my righteous- 
 ness, He is my quality and my formal righteousness as they 
 call it, so as to free myself from looking into law or works." 
 
 The difference between these two theologies is 
 very wide, yet very subtle, especially as expounded 
 by Vinet : and the way in which the matter is 
 argued reminds us sadly of the logic of the Romish 
 doctors, who conceded as strongly as Luther could 
 wish that salvation was from Christ, yet mixed up 
 love and faith and works as conditions of salvation, 
 — terms of the bargain between the sinner and God. 
 
 This was one of the keenly-fought positions of 
 the Reformation battle, the loss of which was sure 
 to bring with it, as Melancthon thought, the loss of 
 the great doctrine of justification. The same battle 
 has often been fought over again between Protest- 
 ants themselves ; and the name of Vinet has again 
 awakened it, not only in France and Switzerland, 
 but in America and England. The antagonism 
 between the Lausanne Professor and the Wittemberg 
 Reformer is very manifest. It is no verbal conflict, 
 nor straw-splitting distinction. The very essence 
 of God's good news to the sons of Adam is touched 
 by it ; and the pacification of the sinner's troubled 
 conscience depends on its right adjustment. The 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 3 1 5 
 
 gospel of Vinet would not have quieted Luther's 
 soul, nor relieved his terrors. That which he felt 
 he needed was the perfection of another's righteous- 
 ness reckoned to him by God, in consequence of 
 which he was to be treated as a righteous man ; 
 not the germ of a mystical goodness wrapt up in 
 his own faith, by reason of which he might claim 
 the favour of God and the benefits of the great 
 expiation. 
 
 The " fiction of another's righteousness " is the 
 formula by which both mysticism and rationalism 
 unite in decrying the Pauline theology. For these 
 two systems of error are far more akin to each other 
 than is generally credited. Whether the former 
 should be allowed to call itself u spiritual " instead of 
 "sensational," and the latter "intellectual" instead 
 of " sceptical," we do not say. All we suggest is 
 that both oppose the Apostolic Gospel, — which is, 
 that God can only deal with the sinner favourably on 
 the footing of another's perfection : and that he who 
 would influence a nation or move a city, must do 
 this by the old Gospel which Paul carried with 
 him whithersoever he went, and by which he shook 
 the fortresses of Paganism in Asia and in Greece ; in 
 Antioch and Ephesus and Corinth. 
 
 The question as to a leader may or may not be 
 raised in France ; but this must be. Whether the 
 
3 1 6 The White Fields of France. 
 
 French Church is to accept its own old Confession 
 may not be quite a serious matter ; but whether 
 she is to accept the truth embodied in it is vital. 
 If God purposes to carry out the work by a leader, 
 He will, when the time comes, bring out some man 
 of faith and might from the school where He has 
 been secretly training him for His work ; — some 
 Moses from Midian, some David from the sheep- 
 folds, or some Knox from the galleys. If He means 
 to do a new thing in the earth, and save His Israel 
 without a captain, He will, at least, lift up the 
 banner of the eternal truth, and provide His own 
 standard-bearers, whether these may be the unknown 
 or the well known, the humble or the great. " The 
 Lord gave the word, great was the company of those 
 that published it." The Word given by Jehovah 
 is the quickening sound ; all other voices, true as 
 they may be, are but echoes of the one tuord, and 
 derive all their power from conformity to it. 
 
 Christ saves ! This was the Reformation watch- 
 word. It must be ours. He does not help man 
 to save himself. He begins and ends the work of 
 deliverance. He who justifies is God only, without 
 the intervention of priest or church. That which 
 justifies is the one completed expiation of THE ONE 
 sacrifice ; never to be repeated, nay, incapable of 
 repetition. Not that which the sinner does or tries 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 3 1 7 
 
 to do ; but that which has been done on Golgotha 
 by the one Substitute : not the soul's fervour, or 
 devotion, or agony, or mortification, or self-surrender, 
 or intensity of longing, or renunciation of the world ; 
 none of these, nor all of them together can propitiate 
 the Judge, or make it right for a righteous God to 
 pardon unrighteous men. All the sinner's liabilities 
 were fully undertaken by the Son of God ; and He 
 has fulfilled that which He undertook. " The 
 chastisement of our peace was on Him : " and His 
 endurance of the chastisement for us has secured the 
 eternal peace for the ungodliest of the sons of men. 
 The knowledge of this is forgiveness and everlasting 
 life. The world needs no other Gospel, even in its 
 worst estate ; and he who knows the meaning of 
 that Gospel will ask nothing better, nothing surer, 
 to pacify the conscience, and give boldness in 
 drawing near to God. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 European Chaos. 
 
 The unsettlcmcnt which exhibits itself through- 
 out the Continental kingdoms, though not always 
 making itself felt in revolutions and assassinations, 
 is a much more serious phase of modern national 
 life than most reckon it to be, and forms a very 
 
3 1 8 The White Fields of France. 
 
 important element in our estimate of evangelical 
 work in France. 
 
 This unrest has now become chronic ; troubling 
 Christian men, alarming society, and perplexing 
 statesmen. Passions govern and impel ; extremes 
 refuse to be reconciled ; mutual distrust prevails ; 
 self-will is the motive-force ; and, along with these, 
 the love of money, the pursuit of pleasure, the mania 
 for luxury, are all working together to increase the 
 inquietude which prevails. Repose has become im- 
 possible, and, to most, undesirable. 
 
 Is this restlessness favourable or unfavourable 
 to the religious movement which unquestionably is 
 showing itself everywhere ? For men are thinking 
 about religion, discussing religious subjects, scrutin- 
 ising the Bible, in the midst of this wide European 
 whirl ; and the most sacred questions are dragged 
 into the ferment, sometimes reverentially, sometimes 
 flippantly, and sometimes as a political element, to 
 increase the confusion. 
 
 Not in France only are men thinking about 
 religion, but in all nations, beginning with our own ; 
 southward in Spain, eastward in Russia. In some 
 strange way, religious and irreligious things are 
 mixed up, as if the various national minds, once set 
 in motion, were resolved to discuss everything, for 
 good or for evil. 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 3 1 9 
 
 The restlessness of thought at present is great ; 
 but the restlessness of will is greater and more 
 alarming. It is this latter that so threatens Europe, 
 and makes the prospect of tranquillity so hopeless. 
 " Our lips are our own, who is lord over us ? " is really 
 the watchword (unconsciously a Bible one) of all 
 classes. 
 
 Statesmen, in their blindness, have hitherto be- 
 lieved only in two remedies for all this, — the army 
 and the priesthood. The latter has at last been 
 " found out," and the broken reed is thrown aside. 
 On the former they are still obliged to rely ; but 
 they are conscious how unsafe it is to govern souls 
 by bayonets. Some, we believe, are now favouring 
 the present Parisian movement as the only possible 
 cure, — perhaps the last ; for if it fails, what but 
 revolution and revenge lie in front ? 
 
 Can a calm religious movement go on in the heat 
 of universal fever ? Must we not wait till at least 
 the delirium be over ? 
 
 In most cases we should say so. But the Gospel 
 in which we trust does not wait for the sick man's 
 improvement. It takes him as he is. It meets 
 his case at the very height of the fever, as well as 
 after it is gone. It contains a sobering and tran- 
 quillising influence, such as makes it altogether suit- 
 able for the present state of France and of Europe. 
 
320 The White Fields of France. 
 
 Restlessness is, moreover, to be preferred to stag- 
 nation and sleep, in so far as mission-work is con- 
 cerned. The former is more hopeful than the latter. 
 
 At the same time, let us admit that the rest- 
 lessness we have described is of a very peculiar kind. 
 It is not altogether that of aching hearts, yearning 
 after better things, but that of disappointed men 
 angry at everything around them, and bent on 
 taking everything to pieces, and dissolving existing 
 order. At its roots we find the two great forms of 
 evil which are to mark the last days, — unbelief 
 and lawlessness, — aincrTLa and avo/mia, the former 
 bearing upon the religious character of the present 
 times, the latter on the political ; the one ripening 
 into atheism, the other into liberalism ; — the " man 
 of sin " or " lawless one," who " doeth according to 
 his will " (Dan. xi. 36), being the completion or 
 product of both. 
 
 But with all this unsettlement around us there 
 ought to be no distrust of the power of the Book of 
 God to meet the evil. That restlessness is, after all, 
 but human ; while to meet it we have that Gospel 
 which is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 
 Whatever may be the awful developments of this 
 combined "unbelief" and " lawlessness," forean- 
 nounced by the prophets, we hav^ only to do with 
 what lies immediately before us, and to measure the 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 321 
 
 strength of the evil, whatever that may be, with the 
 power of that Gospel which is more than able to 
 cope with it. For the " pulling* down of strong- 
 holds," whether of wisdom or of strength, is the aim 
 of the Gospel, and the end which it has so often 
 accomplished in ages past. The " wisdom of the 
 wise " has been " destroyed ;" and " the understand- 
 ing of the prudent brought to nought " by " the 
 foolishness of preaching." 
 
 Ours is a Gospel of Divine power ; and not all 
 the boiling ingredients or fierce explosives of the 
 great European cauldron can resist it. The Book 
 which we carry with us to confront all this religious 
 and political unruliness, is a Book which has done 
 great things for the world hitherto, and which has not 
 lost ought of its strength in these last days. It is a 
 Book which has calmed many storms, and quenched 
 many volcanoes; which has "revolutionised" many 
 nations, and given new constitutions to many king- 
 doms; which has, on the one hand, broken up the 
 prisons of many a despotism, and on the other said 
 to the lawless mob, " Fear God, honour the king, and 
 meddle not with them that are given to change." Its 
 victories are not over; nay, its greatest are yet to come. 
 
 I say this in the full remembrance of that which 
 is written, " In the last days perilous times shall 
 come." But I would not for a moment have it 
 
 Y 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 supposed that the Bible has become impotent, or its 
 truths effete. I would not have it thought that the 
 greatness of the evil could affect, in the slightest 
 degree, the force of that Omnipotent Word which is 
 " mighty through God to the pulling down of strong- 
 holds" (2 Cor. x. 4). 
 
 I should like to remove the feeling of hoplessness 
 with which some Christian men regard the nations 
 of the Continent ; as if their doom were sealed, and 
 their populations given over by God to fill up the 
 measure of their wickedness; as if the Gospel and 
 the Bible had come too late ; and as if the liberty 
 which is now breaking up the civil bondage of the 
 kingdoms were only the precursor of Nihilism and 
 Socialism ; and that to speak of it in connection 
 with, or as opening the way for a nobler liberty, is 
 to misname and to mislead. 
 
 The Word of God is not bound ; nor has it 
 become feeble like the words of man. Men may 
 become disheartened, and lose their confidence in 
 the Divine Record ; but there it stands in its old 
 strength ; ready to do battle with all the phases of 
 modern scepticism, as with those of ancient super- 
 stition : equally able to cope with the sophistries of 
 European infidelity, as with the subtleties of Asiatic 
 pantheism ; still, as it has always been, the fire that 
 melts the flint, the hammer that breaks the rock in 
 
Miscellaneous : Past and Present. 323 
 
 pieces, the sword that pierces to the dividing asunder 
 of soul and spirit. 
 
 Let us do justice to the Book of God, and to the 
 Gospel of Christ, in dealing with the European chaos, 
 far or near. With such weapons we may face the 
 evil hopefully. Kit Desperandum. " The word 
 of the Lord is quick and powerful." We may trust 
 it thoroughly. •» 
 
 Nor has the breath of the Spirit lost ought of its 
 searching keenness or Divine vitality. He is still, as 
 at Pentecost, the Spirit of power, breaking down and 
 upbuilding, dissolving and restoring, smiting and 
 healing, overthrowing error, and giving truth the 
 victory. That same mighty breath that swept 
 through Antioch and Philippi and Colosse, destroy- 
 ing the idols and setting up the true God, can per- 
 meate Paris and Berlin and Vienna and Rome, with 
 like irresistible potency as of old. 
 
 It may be that this last battle of the world is to 
 prove the most terrible of all. Satan is evidently 
 bringing up his reserves, and arming his hosts for 
 the heaviest onset the Church has yet seen. Ancient 
 Paganism fell before the Gospel ; mediaeval super- 
 stition gave way before it. But will not these new 
 organisations of evil, in which the human heart is 
 displaying its deadliest antipathies to God, jDrovetoo 
 strong for it ? 
 
The White Fields of France. 
 
 Will it not have to retire discomfited before those 
 " armies of the aliens ?" 
 
 No. If this be the last battle, there must, out of 
 it, come a last victory for the Book of God. Whether 
 that victory may result in a wide acceptance of the 
 truth over Europe is a question I do not undertake 
 to answer ; but that there will be victory of some 
 kind for the Bible I believe, — victory which will 
 show that there is no amount of antagonism to God 
 which it cannot face, and no strength of human evil 
 with which it cannot cope successfully, as " the 
 power of God unto salvation." 
 
 The time maybe short, the Divine judgments may 
 be imminent ; but the Bible and the Gospel it con- 
 tains will be displayed, in their power to contend 
 with the last form of earth's wickedness as success- 
 fully as with the first. 
 
 Shall I say that in France we have at present 
 some signs of a coming harvest ? Is it too much 
 to affirm that its fields are whitening for the sickle ? 
 A.in I ascribing too much importance to the present 
 day of small things to call this Parisian work the 
 first-fruits ? 
 
 I do not think so. The work is so singular, so 
 out of the common beat, both in its origin and pro- 
 gress ; there is so little of the human element, so 
 much of the Divine ; the openings are so providen- 
 
Miscellaneous: Past and Present. 325 
 
 tial, the agencies are so unostentatious, and the 
 success is so unexpected, that we become more and 
 more satisfied we are not running unsent, nor likely 
 to labour unblest. 
 
 All the more do we feel this because of the present 
 state of Europe, and the despair among statesmen of 
 being able to cope with the force that is generating 
 and accumulating everywhere, by either gold or steel; 
 nay, even by education or culture. 
 
 That which is to arrest the perilous fermentation, 
 — which is to bring order out of chaos, — must be 
 something more powerful, yet more ethereal, than 
 anything that has yet been attempted. Man has 
 tried his schemes of empiricism, and failed in every 
 one. God is now pointing us to something which 
 is no experiment or desperate remedy, but a cure, 
 tried and infallible, which has done great things in 
 past ages when allowed full play, and which is cap- 
 able of doing even greater things than in the past, — 
 "the foolish things confounding the wise; the weak 
 things confounding the things that are mighty." 
 
 Of all known things light is the most subtle and 
 silent, yet also the most powerful. It is light, — 
 more silent and subtle, yet also more powerful than 
 anything on earth, that is now going forth, — the 
 light of no material sun, — the light of Him who is 
 light itself, and in whom is no darkness at all. It 
 
J 
 
 26 The White Fields of France, 
 
 remains to be seen what this light is to do for 
 Europe, and to what extent the darkness of the last 
 days is to be affected by its shining. 
 
 It is this light that is now beginning to shine 
 over the fields of " fair France," and to whiten them 
 for the harvest. It is this that is now giving that 
 great people a better alternative than what has 
 hitherto been offered them, — Popery or Infidelity, 
 — and making many of them feel that in quitting 
 the former they do not need to embrace the latter ; 
 and that there is a sure faith, resting on an infallible 
 Book, which no Pope of Rome can give, and which 
 no philosopher of the Academy can take away. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 SUMMARY OF REPORTS. 
 
 To show the small beginnings of the work, and its steady pro- 
 gress year after year, from November 1871 to the end of 1878, 
 I add here the leading statistics, as given at the end of each 
 Report. 
 
 FIRST REPORT. 
 
 From November 1871 to January 1873. 
 
 Number of Sittings. 
 
 Belleville, . . . 108 I Montmartre, . . 150 
 
 Me'nilmontant, . . 123 I Faubourg St. Antoine, 134 
 
 Total, 515. 
 
 French Meetings during the year, 456 
 
 Do. for Children, 89 
 
 Aggregate attendance, 37,957 
 
 Bibles and other Books issued from Lending Libraries, . 701 
 
 Tracts, Scripture Portions, &c, given 49,706 
 
 English Meetings at Montmartre, ..... 36 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 785 
 
 Books from English Lending Library, . . . . 179 
 
328 Appendix. 
 
 SECOND REPORT. 
 
 From January 1873 to January 1874. 
 Number of Sittings. 
 
 Belleville, . 
 
 115 
 
 Rue Monge, 
 
 116 
 
 Menilmontant, . 
 
 171 
 
 Grenelle, 
 
 100 
 
 Montmartre, 
 
 162 
 
 La Chapelle, . . 
 
 140 
 
 Faubourg St. Antoine, 
 
 132 
 
 Les Ternes, . . 
 
 120 
 
 Total- 
 
 -Stations, 8 ; Sittings, 1056. 
 
 
 French Meetings for Adults, . .... 573 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 61,587 
 
 Average attendance at each Adult Meeting, . . . 107 
 
 Sunday-school Meetings, 235 
 
 Number of Scholars in Sunday Schools, about . . . 340 
 
 Number of Teachers in ditto, about 22 
 
 Children's Thursday Afternoon Meetings, . . . . 142 
 Aggregate attendance at Sunday Schools and Children's 
 
 Meetings, 19,358 
 
 Soldiers' Meetings, 9 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, besides many soldiers at the 
 
 other Services, . 219 
 
 Young Women's Meetings, about 60 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, about .... 1,000 
 
 Total French Religious Meetings during the year, . . 1,019 
 
 Total attendance at ditto, 82,164 
 
 Classes for teaching English, 144 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 6,804 
 
 Visits paid, upwards of 300 
 
 Scripture Portions distributed, 17,922 
 
 Tracts, &c, do., 36,912 
 
 Bibles and other Books issued from French Lending Libraries, 1,550 
 
 English Meetings at Montmartre, . 94 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, about .... 1,200 
 English Sunday School at ditto, average attendance, 24 
 
 scholars and 4 teachers. 
 
Appendix. 
 
 329 
 
 THIRD REPORT. 
 
 From January 1874 to January 1875. 
 Number of Sittings. 
 
 Belleville, . 
 
 108 
 
 La Chapelle, 
 
 185 
 
 Montmartre, 
 
 314 
 
 Les Ternes, 
 
 120 
 
 Mdnilmontant, . 
 
 184 
 
 Montsouris, 
 
 88 
 
 Faubourg St. Antoine, 
 
 140 
 
 La Villette, 
 
 80 
 
 Quartier Latin, . 
 
 150 
 
 Les Batignolles, . 
 
 141 
 
 Grenelle, . 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 Total— Stations, 11 ; Sittings, 1610. 
 
 French Meetings for Adults, Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto 
 
 Average attendance at each Adult Meeting, 
 
 Bible Classes, attendance 
 
 Prayer Meetings (commenced October). . 
 Average attendance of Adults per week, . 
 
 Sunday-school Meetings, 
 
 Number of Scholars in Sunday Schools, about . 
 Number of Teachers in ditto, .... 
 Children's Thursday Afternoon Meetings, . 
 Aggregate attendance at Sunday Schools and Children's 
 
 Meetings, 
 
 Average attendance of Children per week, 
 
 Young Women's Classes, attendance 
 
 Total of French Eeligious Meetings during the year, 
 
 Total attendance at ditto, 
 
 Six Classes for teaching English, attended by a weekly 
 
 average of 
 
 Visits Paid, 
 
 Scripture Portions distributed, .... 
 
 Tracts, &c. &c, do., ...... 
 
 Bibles and Testaments circulated, in addition to those lent 
 
 from Libraries, upwards of ... 
 
 English Meetings at Montmartre, 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, about 
 
 1,040 
 
 100,437 
 
 97 
 
 1,632 
 
 348 
 
 2,000 
 
 462 
 
 45o 
 
 36 
 
 244 
 
 27,722 
 533 
 
 100 
 
 1,300 
 
 1,893 
 
 131,439 
 
 ) to 120 
 
 1,418 
 
 11,020 
 
 50,391 
 
 132 
 
 92 
 
 1,350 
 
Appendix. 
 
 English Sunday School at Montmartre, average attendance, 
 
 24 scholars and 4 teachers. 
 Singing Practices. 
 Soldiers' Meetings at Faubourg St. Antoine and Grenelle 
 
 have been attended by 
 
 5,145 
 
 FOURTH REPORT. 
 
 From January 1875 to January 1876. 
 Number of Sittings. 
 
 Belleville, . 
 
 302 
 
 Avenue de Clichy, 
 
 197 
 
 Me'nilmontant, . 
 
 184 
 
 Rue de Turbigo, . 
 
 124 
 
 Montmartre, 
 
 315 
 
 Cite" Industrielle, 
 
 141 
 
 Faubourg St. Antoine 
 
 152 
 
 Gare d'lvry, 
 
 192 
 
 Eue Monge 
 
 150 
 
 Vaugirard, . 
 
 120 
 
 Grenelle, 
 
 150 
 
 Bercy, 
 
 104 
 
 La Chapelle, 
 
 185 
 
 Passy, 
 
 100 
 
 Les Ternes, 
 
 202 
 
 
 
 
 Montsouris, 
 
 76 
 
 Total, 
 
 2,774 
 
 La Villette, 
 
 80 
 
 
 
 French Meetings for Adults, Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 1875, . 1,418 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 147,803 
 
 Public Lectures, 9 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 1,419 
 
 Average attendance at each Adult Meeting, . . . 105 
 
 Bible Classes, attendance, 5,359 
 
 Prayer Meetings, do., 2,058 
 
 Average attendance of Adults per week throughout the year, 3,012 
 
 Sunday-school Meetings, 659 
 
 Number of Scholars in Sunday Schools, about . . . 730 
 
 Number of Teachers in ditto, 55 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, ...... 25,599 
 
 Children's Thursday Afternoon Meetings, . . . 340 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, . . . . . 15,070 
 
 Average attendance of Children per week, . . . 782 
 
y Ippendtx. 
 
 jj 
 
 Total of French Religious Meetings during the year, . 2,G82 
 
 Total attendance at ditto, 197,306 
 
 Four Classes for teaching English and two for teaching 
 
 French, Reading, &c, attendance weekly, . . . 130 
 
 Ouvroir for Poor Women at Les Ternes Station. 
 Meetings for the Practice of Psalmody. 
 
 Visits paid, above . 2,500 
 
 Scripture Portions distributed, 19,760 
 
 Tracts, &c. &c, do., 72,170 
 
 Bibles and Testaments circulated, in addition to tho«e lent 
 
 from Libraries, upwards of 130 
 
 Bibles and other Books issued from fourteen French Lend- 
 ing Libraries, ........ 2,578 
 
 English Meetings at Montmartre and Les Ternes, about . 70 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, about . . . . 1,100 
 
 English Sunday School at Montmartre, average attendance, 
 25 scholars and 3 teachers. 
 
 FIFTH REPORT. 
 
 From January 1S76 to January 1877. 
 
 Number of Sittings. 
 
 Belleville, . 
 
 400 
 
 Boulevard Voltaire, . 
 
 140 
 
 Montmartre, 
 
 315 
 
 Passy, 
 
 184 
 
 aubourg St. Antoine, 
 
 372 
 
 Percy, 
 
 104 
 
 Rue de Rivoli, 
 
 270 
 
 Rue Monge, 
 
 150 
 
 Me"nilmontant, . 
 
 184 
 
 Grenelle, 
 
 150 
 
 La Chapelle, 
 
 185 
 
 Gare d'lvry, 
 
 192 
 
 Les Ternes, . 
 
 202 
 
 Vaugirard, . 
 
 162 
 
 Avenue de Clichy, 
 
 197 
 
 Montsouris, 
 
 76 
 
 Rue La Condamine, 
 
 120 
 
 
 
 
 La Villette, 
 
 160 
 
 Total, 
 
 3,763 
 
 Rue Chariot, 
 
 200 
 
 
 
 French Meetings for Adults, Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, IS 76, 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, .... 
 
 1,919 
 2U2,L'23 
 
33 2 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 Adult Bible Class Meetings (six weekly), .... 251 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 9,322 
 
 Prayer Meetings, 91 
 
 Attendance at ditto, ........ 4,558 
 
 Average attendance of Adults per week throughout the year, 4,746 
 
 Sunday-school Meetings, 745 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 33,770 
 
 Number of Teachers, ....... 74 
 
 Children's Week-day Services, 592 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 33,545 
 
 Young People's Meetings and Bible Classes, . . . 107 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 5,544 
 
 Average attendance of Young People per week throughout 
 
 the year, . . 1,440 
 
 Total of French Religious Meetings during the year, . 3,705 
 
 Total attendance at ditto, 319,729 
 
 Meetings for the Practice of Psalmody, . . . . 249 
 
 Attendance at ditto, . 32,658 
 
 Five Classes for teaching English, and Two for teaching 
 
 French Reading, &c, are conducted weekly. 
 
 SIXTH REPORT. 
 
 From January 1877 to January 1878. 
 
 
 Number of Sittings. 
 
 
 Rue de Rivoli, . 
 
 270 
 
 Grenelle, 
 
 150 
 
 Belleville, . 
 
 400 
 
 Gare d'lvry, 
 
 192 
 
 Montmartre, 
 
 550 
 
 Bercy, 
 
 161 
 
 Faubourg St. Antoine 
 
 372 
 
 Boulevard Voltaire, 
 
 140 
 
 Rue des Dames, . 
 
 387 
 
 Rue Chariot, 
 
 200 
 
 Les Ternes, 
 
 202 
 
 Rue La Condamine, 
 
 120 
 
 La Chapelle, 
 
 185 
 
 Montsouris, 
 
 78 
 
 Menilmontant, . 
 
 184 
 
 Rue de Meaux, . 
 
 80 
 
 Rue Monge, 
 
 150 
 
 Puteaux, 
 
 150 
 
 Rue d'Allemagne, 
 
 310 
 
 Boulogne-sur-Seine, 
 
 104 
 
 Passy, 
 
 149 
 
 
 
 
 Vaugirard, . 
 
 162 
 
 Total, 
 
 . 4,694 
 
Appendix. 
 
 333 
 
 French Meetings for Adults, Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 1877, . 2,438 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 325,653 
 
 (Of the above, 367 meetings, attended by 74,849 persons, 
 at Rue de Rivoli station.) 
 Adult Bible Class Meetings (six weekly), . . . . 324 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 12,408 
 
 French Prayer Meetings, 170 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 10,493 
 
 Aggregate Adult attendance during the year, . . . 348,614 
 
 Sunday-school Meetings, 731 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 39,775 
 
 Children's Week-day Services, " 916 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 48,742 
 
 Young People's Meetings and Juvenile Bible Classes, . 542 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 23,260 
 
 Aggregate attendance of the Young during the year, . 111,777 
 
 Total of French Religious Meetings during the year, . 5,121 
 
 Total attendance at ditto, 460,591 
 
 Psalmody Meetings, 329 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 50,507 
 
 Eight Classes for Teaching English are conducted weekly. 
 Ouvroirs for poor Women are established in five stations, 
 
 and three others are lent for the purpose. 
 Girls' Industrial Schools are established at Les Ternes and 
 
 at the Gare d'lvry. 
 Two Rooms are lent for Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tions. 
 
 Domiciliary Visits paid, above 2,700 
 
 Scripture Portions distributed, 24,528 
 
 Tracts, &c, ditto, 70,492 
 
 Bibles and Testaments sold, given, and circulated (exclu- 
 sive of those lent from Libraries and Children's 
 
 Rewards), 250 
 
 Books issued from French Lending Libraries (including 
 
 290 Bibles, &c), 3,000 
 
 Weekly English Prayer Meeting of Workers at Belleville ; 
 
 average attendance, 20 
 
Appendix. 
 
 SEVENTH REPORT. 
 
 From January 1878 to January 1879. 
 LIST OF STATIONS IN PARIS. 
 
 
 
 Sittings. 
 
 Salle Evangelique, 
 
 Place du Trocaddro, Passy, 
 
 . 520 
 
 Centre de Paris, . 
 
 37 Rue de Rivoli (corner of the Rue 
 
 
 de la Tacherie), . 
 
 . 270 
 
 Belleville, , 
 
 102 Rue de Belleville, 
 
 . 400 
 
 Montmartre, 
 
 56 Boulevard Ornano, . 
 
 . 550 
 
 Faubourg St. Antoine, 
 
 142 Rue du Faubourg, 
 
 . 372 
 
 Batignolles, 
 
 4 Rue des Dames, 
 
 . 387 
 
 Les Ternes, 
 
 53 Avenue de Wagram, . 
 
 . 202 
 
 La Chapelle 
 
 29 Boulevard de la Chapelle, . 
 
 . 204 
 
 Me'nilmontant, . 
 
 90 Boulevard de Me'nilmontant, 
 
 . 184 
 
 Quartier Latin, . 
 
 72 Rue Monge, 
 
 . 190 
 
 La ViUette, 
 
 90 Rue d'Allemagne, 
 
 . 310 
 
 Popincourt, 
 
 123 Boulevard Voltaire, . 
 
 . 200 
 
 Vaugirard, . 
 
 161 Boulevard de Vaugirard, . 
 
 . 162 
 
 Grenelle, 
 
 59 Rue Letellier, 
 
 . 180 
 
 Gare d'lvry, 
 
 169 Boulevard de la Gare, 
 
 . 192 
 
 Bercy, 
 
 74 Boulevard de Bercy, 
 
 . 161 
 
 Quartier du Temple, . 
 
 77 Rue Chariot, 
 
 . 200 
 
 Batignolles, 
 
 15 Rue de la Condamine, . 
 
 . 120 
 
 Montsouris, 
 
 21 Rue de la Tombe-Issoire, 
 
 . 78 
 
 La Villette, 
 
 93 Rue de Meaux, . 
 
 . 80 
 
 Puteaux, 
 
 5 Rue Saulnier, 
 
 . 150 
 
 Boulogne-sur-Seine, . 
 
 70 Rue d'Aguesseau, 
 
 . 80 
 
 
 Total number of Sittings in Pai 
 
 is, . 5192 
 
 LIST OF STATIONS IN LYONS. 
 
 
 La Guillotiere, . 
 
 173 Grande Rue de la Guilloti£ 
 
 re, . 120 
 
 Les Brotteaux, . 
 
 65 Avenue de Noailles, 
 
 . 165 
 
 Vaise, 
 
 2 Rue de la Pyramide, 
 
 . 135 
 
 La Croix Rousse, 
 
 4 Petite Rue de Cuire, 
 
 . 190 
 
 
 Total number of Sittings in Ly< 
 
 )ns, . 610 
 
Appendix. 335 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE YEAR'S WORK. 
 
 Paris. 
 
 French Meetings for Adults, Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 1878, . 2,788 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 421,370 
 
 German Meetings (15) at Salle Evangelique, attendance, . 250 
 
 (Of the above, 473 meetings, attended by 100,023 per- 
 sons, at the Salle Evangelique, and 365 meetings, 
 attended by 85,012 persons, at the Rue de Rivoli 
 station.) 
 
 Adult Bible Classes 294 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, 13,374 
 
 French Prayer Meetings, 151 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 10,356 
 
 Aggregate Adult attendance during the year, . . 446,108 
 
 Sunday-school Meetings, 800 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 41,708 
 
 Children's Week-day Services, 945 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 42,981 
 
 Young People's Meetings and Juvenile Bible Classes, . 469 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 25,421 
 
 Aggregate attendance of the Young during the year, . 110,110 
 Total of Religious Meetings in Paris during the year, . 5,471 
 Total attendance at Religious Meetings in Paris during the 
 
 year, 556,218 
 
 Psalmody Meetings, 250 
 
 Attendance at ditto, 43,710 
 
 Several Classes for Teaching English are conducted weekly. 
 Ouvroirs for Poor Women are established in seven of the 
 
 stations. 
 Girls' Industrial Schools are established at Les Ternes and 
 
 Gare d'lvry, attended by an average of 160 per week. 
 Two Rooms are lent for Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tions. 
 
 Domiciliary Visits paid, above 2,200 
 
 New Testaments earned by regular attendance at Adult 
 
 Meetings, 1,400 
 
 Bibles and Testaments sold, given, and circulated (exclusive 
 
 of those lent from Libraries and Children's Rewards), 100 
 
36 Appendix. 
 
 Looks issued from French Lending Libraries, including 120 
 
 Bibles, &c, 2,781 
 
 Scripture Portions distributed, 26,203 
 
 Tracts, &c, distributed (including 48,000 at Salle Evan- 
 gelique. and 600 in various languages on a Continental 
 Tour), ' 151,525 
 
 Weekly Prayer Meeting of the workers of the Mission held 
 at the Mission Office, Belleville. 
 
 Lyons. 
 
 (Mission commenced 11th Nov&triber, 1878.) 
 
 Meetings held, 41 
 
 Aggregate attendance at ditto, . . . . . . 5,815 
 
 Tracts, Scripture Portions, &c, distributed, . , . 4,838 
 
 THE END, 
 
 LOMMER AND GILLIES, PRINTERS, ST. ANDREW SQUARE, EDINBURGH.