EUROPE The Glad Tidings IN FRANCE. SOClNT EVANGRiQUE DE GENfcVE. (Evangelical Society of Geneva.) MARCH, 1SB5 INDEX. Principles of the Society. (Cover.) From 1881 to 1881, . Actual Work: a . Evangelization, b. COLPORTAGE, . c . Theological School, Evangelization Through the Mail, Methods of Working, Our References in America. (Cover.) PAGE 1 6 8 9 12 EXPOSITION OF PRINCIPLES grounded upon the testimony of the revealed Word of God , sole infallible authority in matters of faith. The Evangelical Society professes : 1st. Faith in the personal and liv¬ ing God who created Heaven and Earth and made man after his own image. Gen. i., 1, 27. 2d. The fall of man, his subjec¬ tion to sin, and through sin to con¬ demnation. Rom. iii., 10. “ iii., 23. “ vi., 23. John v., 29. 3d. The compassion and incom¬ prehensible love of God manifested to sinners, and his free salvation offered to all in Jesus Christ. John iii., 16. 4th. Faith in Jesus Christ as Son of Man and Son of God, that is to say, very man and very God. John i., 1, 14. Heb. iv., 15. 5th. The redemption of the sinner by the blood of Jesus Christ, “ de¬ livered for our offences and raised again for our justification.” Gal. ii., 16. Acts x., 43. I. Peter ii., 24. Rom. iii., 24, 25. 6th. The regeneration of the be¬ liever by the Holy Spirit, and his obligation henceforth to follow after holiness and to “be careful to maintain good works.” John iii., 3. I. Cor. vi., 11. Eph. ii., 10. I. Cor. iii., 9. II. Cor. v., 17, 7th. To sum up: Salvation,at once the gift and work of grace: a gift bestowed on the believing sinner and a work accomplished in his heart according to the good pleas¬ ure of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, to whom be glory world without end. Amen 1 Rom. vi., 23. “ viii., 30. John xiv., 9. “ x., 30. I. Tim. ii., 5. Col. iii., 4. John vi., 44. Phil, ii., 13. SOCIETE EVAN6ELIQUE DE GENEVE. (Evangelical Society of Geneva.) This Society was founded in 1831 , by a number of Christians at Geneva, Switzerland, for the purpose of carrying the Gospel to Papal lands, especially to France, whence their ancestors, the Huguenots, had been expelled because of their faith. ITS DOCTRINES. The doctrines which the Society upholds are : 1st. The Divinity of Christ. 2d. The Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. 3d. The Fall of Man. 4th. Atonement through the Blood of Christ. 5th. Regeneration by the Holy Ghost. IT IS IIN I> E \ ONI I A AT E ON 11.. It is neutral as to forms. It binds itself to no one of the special forms of the Christian Church. Constituted on the broadest basis, it extends the right hand of fellow¬ ship to all evangelical Churches. AGENCIES through which the Society pursues its mission : 1st. A School in Theology, 2d. Evangelization. 3d. COLPORTAGE. RESOURCES OF THE SOCIETY. The Society does not possess any property. It is supported by free donations from Christians of all denominations. The annual expenses amount to nearly fifty thousand dollars. The “general expenses” come barely to the six per cent., thus proving that the various departments of the Society are established and conducted on the most eco¬ nomical method that can be devised. We earnestly appeal to every Christian to aid us in carrying forward this work for God. Dear friend, can you help a student to go through his course of study and become an efficient Missionary of the Cross ? Can you help to support a Colporteur, and thus con¬ tribute to the dissemination of the Word of God ? Can you help to make up the sum necessary to cover all the expenses of a Station—Salary of the Evangelist, Rent of several halls in which meetings are held, Travel¬ ling expenses, Sunday-school books and papers, etc.? The smallest sums are welcome. The pastor of any evangelical church will receive and forward your donation (unless you prefer to send it your¬ self) to one of our Correspondents in America; or to our Secretary, Rev. C. Rimond, Geneva, Switzerland ; or to the official representative of the Society in this country, Rev. C. A. Lador, Jamaica Plain, Mass. Mr. Lador will gladly give any desired information. France has thirty-seven millions of inhabitants. There is less than one million of Protestants, and very little wealth among them. Whilst the Church of Rome has, in France, one priest for every eight hundred and twenty-two persons, we have only one pastor for every forty thousand people. THE GLAD TIDINGS IN FRAN □ E, ——*>*- ZPztoxdcl 1831 Ido 1881 - The Evangelical Society of Geneva was founded in 1831. During the first half century of its existence, it has established one hundred and seventeen missionary stations in France, sixty of which have become churches. The Theological Seminary has sent four hundred and fifty-four young men to various missionary fields. 60,000 Bibles, 358,000 New Testaments, 4,856,000 books and tracts, have been sold. Missionary Notes, a. (Etmngelqatton. 1. Among the Jura Mountains . For several years past, the Evangelical Society of Geneva has sent evangelists and colporteurs in different towns of the department of Ain. One of them, Mr. Bazin, located himself, two years ago, in the manufacturing town of Oyonnax. The Catholic priests have always watched jealously over the whole population of that region, fearing the people might be influenced by the Genevan heretics. In consequence, our friend found many serious difficulties in his way. He very wisely began his work by opening a day-school. Some parents inquired about the condi¬ tions of the school. Mr. Bazin told them it was u free of charge;” but, as it was a Protestant school, its sessions 2 would be opened and closed every day, by readings in the Bible and prayer to God only , never to the Saints or the Virgin. Very few children came at first; but now the school numbers forty-six boys and girls, coming from thirty Catholic families. And how all these children love and obey their teacher ! In the school-room, there is perfect order and every one is kept busy. At recreation time, the yard resounds with merry shouts, the teacher him¬ self often playing with the little ones. On Sunday morn¬ ing, all those children come again to school. They have their simple, but tidy, “Sunday clothes” on; and instead of slates, grammars and geographies, they bring with them a “ Sunday-School Paper P Most of the parents and some neighbors, follow the children. The room has been carefully swept, the blackboard wiped off and the inkstands put away in a closet. It looks, now, as a very inviting chapel. The Sunday School takes place, and the old folks, who had been ac¬ customed to hear the mass recited in Latin, which they do not understand, listen eagerly to the gospel stories read and explained in the language they all speak. Often Mrs. Bazin takes charge of the school, during the week, while her husband going through neighboring villages, distributes tracts, visits the sick and preaches the Gospel from house to house. This mission is growing steadily and we have abun¬ dant reason to sustain it efficiently. The ‘ ‘ Foreign Sun¬ day-school Association,” of Brooklyn, ~N. Y., has grant¬ ed us five dollars to pay for the Sunday-school papers. We hope other friends will help us in gathering the sum necessary to pay the rent of the school-house and to make up the salary of the evangelist. 2. Isere department. The Blanchard family, living at Yizille near Greno¬ ble, is composed of five persons. A few months ago, their eldest son, a boy sixteen years old, went to the 3 cemetery at the time of a burial and was much impressed by the remarks and exhortations of the Protestant pastor. On his return home, he asked of his father the per¬ mission to buy u the Protestant’s Book” (that is the name which the Catholics usually give to the New Testa¬ ment), The permission was granted, the book purchased and the young man became so interested in the gospel stories, that he spent all his evenings with his book, often reading aloud to the assembled family. The neighbors heard of it, and some one informed the priest, who made severe remonstrances and tried to have young Blanchard give up his “ dangerous Protes¬ tant Book.” But the young man was too independent to yield easily to such a claim. He had found the “ Protestant Book ” a most excellent one; he did not see why the priest called it ‘ ‘ dangerous ’ ’ and forbade him to read it! So, notwithstanding the priest’s threats, young Blanchard continued his readings and even went, with his younger brother, to a meeting of our evangelist, Mr. Delavenna. Soon after, he became converted, and now the whole family has left the church of Rome and attend the Protestant meetings. Our dear young friend is full of joy and zeal, studying faithfully his Bible and leading every day in the family prayer. At Prelanfrey, another town of the same depart¬ ment, Mr. Delavenna opened gospel meetings, four years ago, and now he has a little hock of fifty persons, thirty of whom are converted. They have entirely left the Church of Rome and have since suffered for their faith. At Sinard , also in Isere, the same evangelist opened religious meetings only two years ago, and there are already twenty-nine persons who have given up the wor¬ ship of the Saints and the Virgin, to follow Christ, the Saviour. 4 3. Vaucluse , south-east of France. One summer afternoon, four years ago, a friend and myself were distributing tracts in a village called Ville- laure , when a very old woman asked us: “Are you not of those preachers?” We answered, “Yes,” and made her a visit. Since that day, I have frequently entered her house; the old Catherine loved to hear me speak of the Saviour, and notwithstanding some errors which she kept from Rome, she was a real child of God, for in Christ’s blood alone did she hope for her salvation. She often repeated: “ God has taken every one away from me; I closed my husband’s and my sons’ eyes and I am left alone by the old hearth. But lam never alone! Jesus keeps me company through the long watches of the night, when I cannot sleep; His grace is all-sufficient for me.” In that same village, Mrs. Lador accompanied me often and we had numerous and large gatherings of chil¬ dren, all Catholics. As soon as we entered the town, a crowd of boys and girls surrounded us inquiring whether we had a meeting that evening, and on our answer in the affirmative, they scattered in all the streets and lanes, telling everybody the Protestant minister was going to preach. Old Catherine came supported by two other women almost as old as herself. Many other people came, listening attentively to the reading of the Bible and to the simple explanations given. To the children able to read, we gave the Gospel of Luke and made them repeat some verses until they could recite them perfectly well. And how joyously those forty, sometimes fifty, children sang our hymns: “Come to Jesus, ” “ Hold the Port, ” “ Tell Me the Old, Old Story, ’ ’ and many others! How gladly they received old Sunday- school leaves that had been saved by a Sunday-school of Geneva and sent to us! Bear children! I trust the good seed of the Gospel will spring up in many of those young hearts, and bring forth abundant fruit to the glory of our Saviour. 5 At Lauris, another town of the same valley we held our meetings under an old vault, the only remains of an ancient castle built on a rock over a hundred feet in height. At the time of the persecutions, a number of Waldensian women and girls were precipitated down that rock and killed. To-day you can hear, at a few steps from the edge of that fatal rock, the clear voices of children singing: “ Jesus, Lover of My Soul!” At Avignon , the capital of Vaucluse, where once the Popes resided and where, also, a man was burned at the stake, for selling the Bible, there is a church in which the idolatrous worship of the Saints was practiced for hundreds of years. Now, that same building is conse¬ crated to God alone and has no other altar than that of Calvary. Since last June, an evangelical Protestant pas¬ tor announces there, every Sunday, the glad tidings of the Gospel. The lamp has been taken out from under the bushel which Romanism would place upon it, and now gives light to all that are in the house. 4. From the province of Poitou , in the western part of France. Rouille , a rural town of three thousand inhabitants, is situated between the cities of Poitiers and JNiort. Four¬ teen years ago, Mr. Mexandeau was sent there by the Evangelical Society of Geneva. At first very few persons went to his meetings. But now the chapel is crowded every Sunday. The children and youngmen sit in long rows on school tables, whilst the ladies and old men occupy the regular seats ; besides, many bring their own chairs, so that no space is left vacant in the room. How attentively they all listen to the preaching! There is no one asleep and no child uneasy. One can see, at a glance, that those dear friends have been accustomed to go to the meetings of the evangelist, as hungry people would approach a table laden with delicious food. In that audience of one hundred and fifty persons, sixty have 6 been converted and many of them are now mission¬ aries in their own homes and among their neighbors. Their Sunday-school resembles more an American Sun¬ day-school than any other I have seen in France; for not only the children remain, but also the men and women, forming two classes of ladies, one of young ladies, two of men and youngmen and three of children. As soon as the school is dismissed and the children gone, three prayer-meetings are held simultaneously, in three different rooms ; one of old ladies, one of young ladies and a third one of men and young men. This good work is carried on over a vast district, numbering as many as sixty towns and villages. There are active Christians in eighteen towns where, fifteen years ago, you would have looked in vain for any one active in the service of Christ. Three years ago a revival occurred in one of those vil¬ lages, named Gouvanier. It began with the children, so that a father remarked: “Our children go into the Kingdom of Heaven before us.” B. ®ol;porlage. The colportage branch employs, this year, fifty-six colporteurs who distribute the Word of God through thirty-six departments. Education is becoming far more general; we must, therefore, do all in our power to counteract the influence of immoral literature, by the spreading of good and wholesome books. The Society sold, in 1884, 3,410 Bibles, 18,748 New Testaments, 10,725 Extracts of the Holy Scriptures, 142,068 Religious Almanacs, 139,243 Books and tracts. We give below a few extracts from our colporteurs’ 7 letters, which may better enable the reader to understand how the work is carried on: “At M. a woman said to me: ‘Why, these are Protes¬ tant books. I am a Homan Catholic.’ ‘ These books are for everybody; did not the Lord Jesus come down to die for you V ‘Ah, yes, I do indeed need Him.’ ‘Well! this is the history of His life,’ and I read John vi., 32-40. ‘ What you have just read is very important; I will buy the book.’ Another instance: ‘ Please choose a nice book for my son,’ says a good lady. The little fellow had already fixed upon a gay covered Almanac for children. ‘Your boy has made a very good choice, Ma’am, but I can give you something still better for the same price;’ and I show her a New Testament costing 4c. ‘ It can’t be very good at such a low price as that. ’ ‘ Well, let your son read you a few lines,’ and I open at Ephesians vi, ‘ That is a good book, my boy,’ says the mother; ‘we will take it and the Almanac besides.’ At P. a free-thinker said: ‘We can hope for nothing good, so long as the government tolerates such hawkers as you; superstition has from time immemorial stultified the human race.’ ‘That is why I endeavor to spread the truth of the Gospel.’ ‘ Why, every thing has been done in the name of your Gospel! ’ ‘In the name of the Gospel, but not by the Gospel, which says: ‘ ‘Let us do good unto all men. Love as brethren.” ’ He turned away, expressing a hope that my dreams would be fulfilled. At P. I was able to read and pray with about thirty persons, who appeared very attentive. Among them was a very old lady who had always persecuted one of her married daughters because she attended Protestant services. After our little meeting the aged woman said: ‘ Oh ! I think I can now say with Simeon that I can depart in peace, for I know that Jesus is my Saviour.’ ” Colporteur D. writes from Yendee: “A Homan Catholic woman asked : ‘ Can you sell my daughter a good book?’ As I surmised that she could not read, I 8 opened the Bible and explained to lier the way of salva¬ tion. She seemed quite surprised, and added: ‘I had never heard such good things before. My daughter shall read it.’ ” C. School of aijeology. This school was founded by Drs. Merle d’Aubigne and Gaussen, The doctrines which this institution up¬ holds, are those that are at the basis of all true theology, namely: 1st. The divinity of Christ. 2d. The inspira¬ tion of the Holy Scriptures, 3d. The fall of man. 4tli. Atonement through the blood of Christ. 5th. Regene¬ ration by the Holy Ghost. Based on those principles and neutral as to forms, the school has been able to call, as professors, men be¬ longing to various denominations in the Kingdom of God, and to receive as students young men intended for the several evangelical churches working in Papal lands. The number of students admitted since the origin has reached 506. With a few exceptions they have become pastors. The School of Theology has supplied, for the last fifty years, hundreds of faithful ministers to the churches near and far from Geneva, Missions in heathen lands have received from it ten laborers, the Waldenses in Italy about thirty, who have contributed to the revival of their Church as well as to the evangelization of the Peninsula; the Missionary Church of Belgium, its founders and almost all its ministers; Switzerland has not been forgot¬ ten: Geneva, Yaud, and Neuchatel have taken from the School more than sixty members of the clergy of their national or free churches; even Spain has been provided with most active agents; but France is the principal field in which our students have worked. At the beginning of the present school year (1884-1885), there were sixty- seven students in this Theological Seminary. 9 (Stmngel^atton Sljrougl) lt)e fflatl. Mr. T. P. Dardier, the indefatigable director of our Colportage, was led by circumstances, as early as 1871, to send books, tracts and the Gospel, through the mail, to special addresses. Since then the work has greatly developed. Until now, 316,769 volumes have been sent, such as: “Whither Are You Bound ?” “ What France Needs,” “ Sunday and Society,” “ The Future of Catholic Nations,” etc. 46,435 New Testaments have been sent to the teachers of the public schools. We want to send fifty thousand more; each copy and postage costs us eight cents. The following letters, which were sent to Mr. Dardier, are a striking evidence of the great good accomplished by this simple and easy method of approaching many people whom our colporteurs cannot reach: “ The dissemination of that book, Happiness , is a useful work at such a time as this, and amongst a people with whom the worst doctrines have met with partisans and apostles; we cannot congratulate you too much for having undertaken it. The end you pursue, sir, is cal¬ culated to draw upon you the approbation of all honest people and patriots, who long to see France again in full possession of her glorious patrimony, a passion¬ ate ardor for generous sentiments and for liberty. “A Prefect.” “ Your excellent book found me absent. On my re¬ turn, I read and meditated upon it, and I acknowledged, with gratitude, that a friend had visited me unawares. Yes, less traditionalism and more Christianity. It is by the bright and pure light of the Gospel that we shall be born again to the new life and to God through Christ. Thank you again and again cordially. “A Public Attorney.” “Sir, last winter you sent us a tract by M. de Gaspa- rin, and a letter from yourself, inviting us to embrace 10 the Gospel. If you have a short, simple, lucid work, an epitome of your doctrine, something like the Roman Catholic Catechism, I should be much obliged if you would kindly send it to me by mail, and tell me the price of it. A Naval Officer.” ‘ ‘ Sir, I am extremely obliged to you for sending me Le Reltvement by Count de Gasparin. I did not know that admirable work, which so well expresses my inmost feelings. I immediately sent for La France by the same author. Will you be so kind as to send me four copies of the New Testament? I have some friends who must also share'in my good fortune. “ The Captain of a Frigate and General of Brigade in the Army of the Loire.”