In literature the French are inferior to the English or AngloSaxon race in soundness of view, in clearness of argumentation, and in what may be called the love of the True. They are very inferior to the Germans in profound erudition; and utterly abhor their love of speculation. They love that which is witty, brilliant, striking. But they have not the patience which is necessary to arrive at that which is profound.

What we have just said is characteristic of the national mind and its operations. No people have more genius, and yet no great nation has produced fewer of the grandest discoveries in science, or achieved fewer of the greatest processes of art. And as to literature, while they have displayed great genius, and a most vivid imagination, the overwhelming mass of their writers are frivolous, superficial and immature. This is unquestionably the character of their writers in general.

And yet, although the national character of the French may be designated as light, unstable, and fonder of show than of solidity, nothing is more certain than that when moulded by influences sufficiently powerful to control it, it undergoes the most remarkable transformations. In the pursuit of military glory, what toilsome campaigns have the French not made, what sanguinary battles have they not fought! In pursuit of science, too, they have furnished some of the finest examples of indomitable perseverance.

But under no influence does the French mind seem to undergo so great a change as it does under that of religion. When made to feel the "powers of the world to come," and the motives which Christianity brings to bear upon the human heart, it seems to lose in a great measure those traits which we have described as being national. Calmness, sobriety, seriousness take the place of excessive excitability, frivolity and levity. Under this transforming influence, the French mind becomes remarkably adapted to the clear perception of the truth as revealed in the Bible, and the happy expression of it in spoken or written discourse. It is on this account that France has furnished many of the very ablest expounders of the Christian. faith that the world has ever known, as well as many of its noblest advocates and most intrepid martyrs.

Rome, for ages, found in the Gallican church, her most distinguished defenders, and her brightest ornaments. Bossuet, Massillon, Bourdaloue, Fléchier and Fénélon are names than which none greater appear in her calendar of great men.

Their fame is coextensive with the literary and religious world. From the bosom of the Gallican church, too, even down to the present times, have gone forth the best missionaries whom Rome has ever employed to propagate her doctrines and extend her dominion.

And even the Protestants, persecuted as they have been, and trodden under the feet of their enemies, almost to annihilation, have furnished many able champions of the truth as it is in Jesus, especially during the 16th and 17th centuries. Notwithstanding that access to the colleges of France was denied to their young men, and they were compelled to depend upon what instruction the schools of their own despised sect afforded, or seek for better in the academies and universities of Switzerland, Germany and Holland, not a few of them rose to distinction, and compelled the admiration, in some cases, of even their enemies.

Let us for a moment speak of a few of them. And first of all, though not exactly first in the order of time, was Calvinclarum et venerabile nomen,-who, whether he treated of the doctrines of Christianity, or expounded its sacred oracles, has not been surpassed in clearness of conception, in strength of argument, or in felicity of diction. He was one of those few great men whose names seem to be destined to descend to the remotest ages of futurity. His numerous and able productions are too well known to need a notice from us. His distinguished coadjutors in the glorious Reformation at Geneva, as well as in the adjoining Pays de Vaud, were Farel-the bold, ardent, powerful preacher, Viret—the amiable, the polished, the ingenious writer, as well as eloquent speaker, and Peter Olivetan, who first translated the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek originals. Theodore Beza, the friend of Calvin, his junior far in years and his inferior in natural gifts, was his successor in the chair of Theology at Geneva. He was the first President or Principal of the Academy; and his numerous writings attest the maturity of his mind, and the great extent of his erudition.

Whilst the above named great men labored, with others, who were either Frenchmen, or of French origin, and several of them had been banished from France, to introduce and establish the Reformation in French Switzerland, there were a few men, eminent in zeal and talent, who still continued, amidst the greatest obstacles, to promote it in France itself. Among these may be mentioned Lafevre, who deserves to be called the Fa

ther of the Reformation in that country, and who was the author of valuable commentaries on the Scriptures; Morlorat, author of Commentaries on Isaiah and the New Testament; and others less distinguished.

In the 17th century, and the beginning of the 18th, there were not a few distinguished Protestant writers in France, among whom we may indicate as the most celebrated, Philip de Mornay, Count de Plessis, or, as he is commonly called, Du Plessis-Mornay, a layman of rank, and the very able author of treatises on the Church, on the Truth of the Christian Religion, on the Eucharist, History of the Papacy, &c.; Peter Dumoulin, author of a treatise on the Keys of the Church, History of the Monks, and other excellent works; David Blondel, whose works were numerous, treating of the Eucharist, the Primacy of the Church, the offices of Bishops and Presbyters, the Sibyls, a Defence of the Reformed Religion, in opposition to Richelieu, etc., etc.; Du Bosc, whose writings are excellent; Claude, whose sermons, essays and controversial writings are well known; Samuel Bochart, who wrote much on Sacred Geography, the Natural History of the Bible, and other subjects, besides many sermons (an interesting Memoir of this distinguished scholar has lately been written by the Rev. Mr. Paumier of Rouen); Charles Drelincourt, author of Consolations against the Fear of Death, besides works on many other subjects, together with three volumes of Sermons (two of his sons were also ministers of the Gospel and authors); Stephen Gaussen, ancestor of the author of the work which stands at the head of this article, and the author of a work on the Art of Preaching; Le Sueur, author of a work on Ecclesiastical History.

To these names we may add those of Amyrault, Girard des Bergeries, De Croi, Daillé, La Faye, Gaulart, Mestrezat, Demarets, etc., and in later times those of the Rabants (Paul St. Etienne). During the same period, there lived in Geneva, either the whole or a portion of their lives, the Turrettins, Benedict, Francis and John Alphonsus, all of them distinguished authors, and one of them, Francis, well known among us for his System of Theology and other writings; the Spanheims, Ezekiel and Frederick the Younger, well known for their numerous writings, as was their distinguished father Frederick Spanheim the Elder, who was some time a Professor of Theology at Geneva; John Diodati, who, though born in Lucca, was long a professor at Geneva, and is well known for his

translation of the Bible into the Italian, his translation of Father Paul's History of the Council of Trent into French; Benedict Pictet, author of a work on Christian Theology, in 3 vols. 4to, Christian Morality, in 8 vols. 12mo., and other works; John Le Clerc, author of a translation of the Bible and many other productions, and who spent most of his life in Holland.

During the 18th century, and especially the latter part of it, France produced no theologians of the Protestant school, who possessed any considerable merit. Nor is this fact wonderful. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 had left the Protestants of that country without the slightest protection from law. Persecution raged until it finally rid the country of almost every vestige of a Protestant church. It is an absolute fact that for a considerable period, in the early part of that century, there was but one ordained Protestant minister (M. Roger, in Dauphiny) in all France. It is true that there were some French Protestant ministers in Germany, in Holland, and in America. The most celebrated of those who lived in the early part of that century was Saurin, who spent the greater part of his life in Holland, and preached his well known discourses in the Walloon church at the Hague. And as to Geneva, it had submitted to the reign, first, of a dead formalism, then of a cold Pelagianism, and finally of a worldly Socinianism. We know not that any men of great distinction flourished there after the death of Benedict Pictet-which occurred, we believe, in 1724—until the end of the 18th century. Some men of God, however, there were, in the ministry of that city and canton,

faithful found

Among the faithless, faithful only they.

We come now to more recent days, and shall take some notice of the most distinguished men whom God has raised up as advocates of the Protestant cause in both France and French Switzerland, since the beginning of the present century.

It was only in 1802-as we have stated in another place*that the Protestant church received an acknowledged and legalized existence in France, by the Organic Articles which the Government enacted during the Consulate of Napoleon. From

*See Article X. in No. VIII. (new series) of the American Biblical Repository, on Religious Liberty in France.

the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 until the year 1802—that is, during a period of 117 years-the existence of the Protestants as a sect was not acknowledged in that country. Since 1802 they have been, by law, placed on the same footing with the Roman Catholics, and the churches of both are acknowledged as the established churches of the land, and receive equal protection and support. The consequence is that the Protestant church, for nearly forty years, has been steadily and gradually gaining strength. The present number of its pastors, supported by the Government-that is, of those who are in the Established churches,—is 640; and, including those who are not connected with the Established churches, the entire number of Protestant ministers in France-not including those who are English or American, and who preach not to French but English congregations-does not exceed seven hundred and fifty. As the Protestants have now advantages of education equal to those of the Roman Catholics, it might be expected that there would be found already some men among them of distinguished talents and attainments, who are beginning to make themselves known to the world, and who prove themselves not unworthy children of a church which produced, in bygone days, a Calvin, a Claude, a Du Plessis-Mornay, a Dumoulin, and others of scarcely inferior fame. It has been even so. France possesses already a number of Protestants, in the ministry and among the laity-most of whom are young men, or in the prime of life-who are men of fine talents and most respectable attainments, and who are making themselves known by their respective and most respectable writings.

Among these, and of what is termed the Evangelical or Orthodox Party (we hate the word Party, but cannot at this moment think of one which better expresses our idea), we may name, without disparaging others, among the pastors or ministers, the Rev. Dr. Grand Pierre, Director of the Missionary Institute at Paris, and author of several volumes of excellent sermons; Audebez, who is pastor of a chapel in the same city, and author of a volume of valuable Discourses, which we have noticed in a preceding number of this work ;* JuilleratChasseur, one of the pastors in the Oratoire and Ste. Marie, who has published some Discourses, as well as some poems; Fred

* See the IVth number (new series) of the American Biblical Repository.