The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1870-12-13 00:00:00

of the 'whirr bean.. yet if bill picture of the Saviour
IS t r .me which roan Sr. to piece In fore them, it will
tend to weaken sod not to strengther, the foundations
, .4 morality. it will never call forth e true devotion or
• vigorrais piety. In profeessil opposition to these
1 ti
-°. 21,1,•1ei5t.0. and Mater.aiestic notions, ',tend
ll.e ••rious Christian churches. When Napoleon I. came
icto power, the ehurches and temples of the land were
needy all ;dosed, and the priests and ministers banished.
He saw that this state of things could not continue.
The well-being of the country demsnded that religion
should be offered to the people, and, at fir-t, be was
disposed to have the Romeo Catholic and Pr °teal ant
°horde:a flee to pursue tta It own coarse, but on n Eke.
lio , it seenred better to take them under protection.
•ra to •11.,. ti ih.. ray of the State. Tnere would
.u. he 0. Lt., r for the 11,1i..j0M1 itmt,ll:.lo3
of the people, while he in gist find us. ful allies for the
minisiers and priests. This was done, eo.l down to the
t time the State hoe supported the Italian
=lie, Its:armed, and Lutheran churches of France,
as well as the Jewish synagogues. It may be asked
how is was that in 18C4, what many Catholic churches
had been deatroyed or perverted to secular uses, when
multitudes of peseta had been pet to death or exiled, and
when the feelings must still have been strong against the
religion Which had been patronised by corrupt courts,
and had long been an instrument for the degradation
mid enslavement of the people—how it 1/11.11 that France
did not say "Let us have Protestantism if we must
hare a religion!" The answer is not far to be found.
Proteetante were then • very feeble folk. They had
little or no religious life amocgst them. Besides, as
al. Reese says, Frsnoedoes not like serious convictions,
and Protestantism is a serious business. Its stern
doctrines and austere manners are repugnant to a
people gay, impulsive, and vain, like the French.
Roman Catholicism. too, had for ages been the religioa
of the land, and • Frenchman shrinks from changing
his religion. Further, its worship is sensuous and
attractive—there is • unity about the system, and that
of itself is a very important matter ins Frenchman's
eyes. Again, it is • convenient religion. It offers
pardon at the lowest possible cost, awl is altogether,
notwithstanding it. many faults, so far as religion can
be agreeable, an agreeable, venerable, and respectable
,religion. Roman Catholicism was therefore readily
' accepted as the national religion, though not to the
exclusion of other and lees popular forma of faith.
Then too, it must be remembered, that a reaction soon
began to set in in favour of the old religion. One of
the chief los remente in thus restoring Catholicism to
tee place which it had ease held in the minds of the
French people was Chateaubriand, a brilliant writer,
who by his delightful and attractive pictures of Catholic
Christianity as drawn in his Genius of Christianity
created quite • furor in behalf of the old religion, and
vegetal church-going became as faahionahle as ball.
going in the higher Modes of Paris, and of tho eountry
generally. But as 11. Ste. Berme, the eminent but by
no meats Christian critic, said "Chateaubriand only
succeeded in teaching that religion might be entirely
distinct from life and practice. He created the
rein:ince of faith. People came to look at Christianity
as they look at a work of art, and say ' How
beautiful !'" Ile was thus the means of raising up
quite a " iisi.iia f drawing-room Christiania," full of
ardour and enthwiestn, but totally unqualified to pro.
mote the interests of real religion. Then from 1815.30
the Jesuits came in great force, and introdeced more
thertrical forms of worship, and added greatly to the ,
ornamentation of the church's". Lammenois was
especially desirous to ace the theocracy of the middle
ages re.established, and worked hard with this end in
view. But a journey to Rome, and • visit to the Pope ,
altered hie views, and he returned to France to try
and undo much of what ho had been doing- But in
vain. The religious orders established thernadves
throughout the country, and the number of priests
greatly increased. There was • check to this rapid
progress in the stormy period of 1848-51, and for • '
time in Paris and other large cities the popular hatred
against the priests was very intense; but this pawed
away as things gradually settled down, and com-
mercial prosperity began rapidly to itiorease. lint,
though to all appearance the position of the Roman
Catholic, church is • very strong one in France, yet deep
d we in the minds of the more intelligent of the people
there must boa growing disposition to reject its teach•
imp, and ecoff at its monstrous doctrines. What
sensible Frenchman can De supposed to accept the visions
of L Skittle and Les Lourdes,the pretended apparitions
of the Virgin, or the dogma of the Immuulato Coo-
oeption, or the last and most monstrous dogma of all—
l'apal Infallibility? On the 3rd of September last—
two days after the fatal battle of Fledowa—a Catholic
parer published in Paris besought ties faithful to unite
in etlebreting in octave in the church of St. Genevieve.
Many • devout woman doubtless responded to the
appeal, aril throughout Franco we may be sure
that multitude. of prayers are daily being addressed
to the 111.ased Virgin, of whore is bus twen said that
" her kingdom, which is the kingdom of France, shall
never perish," that she would have nom on the in-
vaded and distractal country. But all this Mariolatry
moat surely be repulsive to the manly sentiment of the
people, arid we should riot be surprised to find when
the war is over, that there will be a strung revulsion i.f.
feeling against the church which has so Wooled the
mind* of mee,and ham ever shown itself • fl Aimee of
the great and powerful. In spite of all the efforts
of the Jesuit and Ultramontane party, a strong
Gallican element still remains in the Roman Catholic
church of France, and among the men of this party
there are many devout and earnest hearts, that are
mourning over the growing corruption of their Church.
Many • noble soul has spoken on behalf of a purer
faith than that taught in Rome The presence of these
men—the Laoordaires, the Hyacinth's, and others—
together with the general indisposition of the Frew&
people to trouble themselves with religions matte is,
are. I imagine the reason why a more general indigna•
tion has not been manifested against the exemptions
and superstitions of the dominant Ultramontane party.
I have not left myself mach timo to speak about Pro-
' testantism. It is a power in the country, or, at least,
In certain district.. Its wealth is very great, although
It. numbers are small. Hardly one out of the 40
millions of people of France are professed Protestants.
Both Its great autions—the Reformed church. and
the Luthern church—the latter prevailing Wildly in,
Aluos—are, as I have already said, paid by the State,
and eonsequently governed by the State. And this is
one source of their weakness. They can hold no synods,
nor exercise any real discipline. Moreover, they form
two houses divided against themselves. Nearly one
half of their pastors are rationalists, and the opposition
between them and their evangelical brethren is most
painfully apparent in the larger towns, where the pulpit
Is occupied in turn by a Rationalist and an Evangelical
pastor. There has been • notable increse in the num-
ber of churches, pastors, and schools. There are some
10 Independent, besides about 40 Wesleyan, and some
8 or 10 Baptist churches 'tattered up and down the
country. Evangelical and Bible societies have boon
hard at work for thirty year+ and more, and have ren•
dared good service. Many surely have been saved. Huh
the difficulties of evangelisation are immense. God
grant that the fearful sufferings to whieh the country
Is now exposed may render the people more desirous
of being fed with the real bread of life. I have drawn
a sad and distressing picture, but I fear I have under.
stated rather than overstated the evils that are
rampant in unhappy France. We cannot as yet conceive
what is likely to be the issue of the present war. But,
as Christians, we should feel deeply for our brethren in
their sufferings, and should pray earnestly that France
may some out of her chastisement humbled, purified,
stript of her fond illusions, and desirous of turnipg
to the God of the Bible for the wisdom to direct and
the grue to save her.

nLEANLINEBB.-W. G. mars Refined BLACK LEAD
for polishing store',
.tr.e.,_ equal to burnished steel,

without wut. or dust.

MOOR BROTHERS TEAS,

OLEANLINEBB.-W. G. Al xErs Refined BLACK LEAD
veld everywhere by all Shopkeepers.

TffE DORSET COUNTY EXPRESS AND AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1870,

Fen Paer %Tuner AT MERCHANTS PRICES.)

rp KA •—?ilt )01LE KW-TITER:3 relipectf ally intimate
1. that they supply Familial (lima. who are
willing' to ler Owl:, at Merehantie Meek Online value LI
earriace paid. The fenowinc are especlally recommended

-
NEW SEASON'S TEAS
Moan, Brother,' Ne.t Servants' To
Moore Sr Mier: Beat Family Ns ta 5d per lb
Ripe, full, n elle* Marina: briak with aboweth.
Full id hoer, choice rich
Pleat Pak Lie, or Kysmr Tan
Wally to Lae Livheat elan of Soar:Wag.
riot Soooloola Tea .
quaty..dindcal bproltlon.d per
11,1;
Thia will be luund particularly tine, rich, and choir* quality .
highly retwiiiinended.

as. One Penny pea 111 deduction on 461 b h sta and 40te hag.
otany kind uf Too.

Genuine peekeie eignedfrOiaernionanVin