They Were Patrons Of Letters And Of Arts, They Say, Of Virtue
And Of Religion; And These Good, Faithful Souls Cling Lovingly To
Their Memory.
And then there are the republicans - men of the real olden time,
capable of sacrificing every thing that heart holds dear for a
principle; such republicans as were our fathers in all, save their
religion, and because lacking that, losing the chief element of
popular control.
Nevertheless, grander men have never been than some
of these modern republicans of France; Americans might learn many
lessons from them.
Besides all these there is another class, comparatively small, having
neither the prestige of fashion, rank, or wealth, but true, humble,
evangelical Christians, in whom the simplicity and spirituality of the
old Huguenot church seems revived. These men are laboring at the very
foundation of things; laboring to bring back the forgotten Bible;
beginning where Christ began, with preaching the gospel to the poor.
If any would wish to see Christianity in its loveliest form, they
would find it in some of these humble laborers. One, with whom I
conversed, devotes his time to the _chiffoniers,_ (rag pickers.)
He gave me an account of his labors, speaking with such tenderness and
compassion, that it was quite touching. "My poor people," he said,
"they are very ignorant, but they are not so very bad." And when I
asked him, "Who supports you in your labors?" he looked upward, with
one of those quick, involuntary glances by which the French express
themselves without words. There was the same earnestness in him as in
one of our city missionaries, but a touching grace peculiarly
national. It was the piety of Fenelon and St. John. And I cannot
believe that God, who loves all nations alike, and who knows how
beautifully the French mind is capable of reflecting the image of
Jesus, will not yet shine forth upon France, to give the light of the
knowledge of his glory in the face of Christ.
It was the testimony of all with whom I conversed, that the national
mind had become more and more serious for many years past. Said a
French gentleman to me one evening, "The old idea of _l'homme
d'esprit_ of Louis XIV.'s time, the man of _bon-mots_, bows,
and _salons_, is almost passed away; there is only now and then a
specimen of it left. The French are becoming more earnest and more
religious." In the Roman Catholic churches which I attended, I saw
very full audiences, and great earnestness and solemnity. I have
talked intimately, also, with Roman Catholics, in whom I felt that
religion was a real and vital thing. One of them, a most lovely lady,
presented me with the Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis, as a
ground on which we could both unite.
I have also been interested to see in these French Catholics, in its
most fervent form, the exhibition of that antislavery spirit which, in
other ages, was the boast of that church.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 224 of 233
Words from 115615 to 116118
of 120793
