The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1866-10-17

Ihefe are several new churches, or main
ly new, that when completed will be struc-
lures of exquisite beauty. One of them
(St. Augustine) struck me forcibly.-
In these churches they will place the
most beautiful painting and statuary, and
have the light to fall insthe most artistic
manner on affairs blazing with gold and
gems, long-drawn aislss, and lofty naves,
and domes that SCENT hang in mid-air,
all this they do checrfuily because these
things are elegant ornaments to the city.
And they will prepare themost elaborate
machinery for gorgeous ritual. The
finest singers of the opera viii be hired,
the costliest dresses pre- red, and all the
utensils and furniture q sary to make
an imposing and mag cent spectacle
will be furnished, and ON special occa-
sions when grand fete is to be observed,
and preparation for splendid dramatic
scene has been made. the church will be
crowded, and as m h as one hundred
francs be given FOR 4 rush-bottom chair
on the floor, during the performance.
But this is all. The church is to the
genuine Frenchman only sacred opera
house or theatre, where he expectsTeli-
gion to be presented to him, as he has
history, sentiment, &c., &C., presented
during the other days of the week. His
eye must be dazzled with splendor, his
ear charmed with the sounds of music,
his senses regaled with the sweet fra
GRANGE of incense, and he must not be
taxed with any deep thought on religious
matters; but simply sit and enjoy the
splendid spectacle that has been gotten
up for his enjoyment And this must
not be too often, or he will weary of it,
and it will interfere with his pleasures in
other respects. Hence if he attends
church at all, he does so only on these
special occasions, the rest he leaves to
women and devotees.
This general feature gives character
to the churches of Paris, that only a
French taste can enjoy. | could not feel
that impression in any of the French
churches that [ had in Westminster Abb
bey, or other cathedral churches of Great
Britain or on the continent. [ expected
at least to feel it in Notre Dame, which
is so magnificent a specimens of Gothic
architecture, so hoary with antiquity, and
so memorable in its historical associations,
and did feel it, as long as | gazed on
the outside, and my eye wandered over
the delicate tracery of its massive towers,
and its beautiful spire, and | thought Of
the forms that had passed beneath its lof-
ty portal, and the crowds that had surged
and heaved in their wild frenzy around
it's time-worn walls. But the illusion
was all broken when | went inside. 1t is
true that nothing can wholly destroy the
grand effect of such an interior as this
splendid pile possesses, but when ] saw
the shrines and chapels on each side, with
their gaudy tinsel, and tSeir tawdry or
nament, their bedizened and bedecked
images of virgin and saints all loaded
with gewgaws and trinkets, and poor
people bowing with such seeming rever-
ence before these wretehed caricatures, |
felt the stirring of iconoclasm, and a
longing for one like him to enter here,
who with his whip of cords cleansed the
temple in Jerusalem of what could hard
ly have been greater desecration than
these shrines of idolatry. The same
thing appears even in Pere-la- Chaise,
where the profuson of little bedizened
chapels, looking like so many baby-houses,
destroyed to me all the effect of the
place, so that the only spot in it where L
felt any of the genius loci was at the
tomb of Abelard and Heloise, and Abe
lard was too much of modern French
man to allow me to have any great en-
thusiasm about him.
[ studied the faces of the priests L
met a good deal, and had plenty of op-
portunities for doing so, for | met them
every where, often in crowds, except in
the churches. l saw them in the galle-
ries, palaces, Bois-de-Bologne, &C., but [
remember but one priest saw in church,
and he was performing a mass in st. Eus-
tache. The fact was curious and sug-
gestive. Their faces generally wore two
expressions, stolid ignorance, or deep
cunning. A few faces were finely intel
lectual, but they had to me deep
shade of sadness over them as if they
had the traces of sore struggles and
wrestlings with doubt. 1t seemed to me
that l read in those faces the record of
French Popery as it now is, with great
clearness.
But I am running off into treatise
on French religion instead of telling you
about my Sabbath in Paris. The Ameri-
can chapel was closed that day, and |
went to hear my old preceptor and friend,
DIR. Durbin, of New York, now Mission
airy Secretary of the Methodist Church.
On my way / went into the Madelaine
and found a collection of women mainly,
to whom a priest was declaiming furious
ly from the pulpit. then went to the
English Wesleyan chapel, where ] heard
capital sermon from DIR. Durbin, and it
being Communion Sabbath, I enjoyed a
privilege I had not done since my last
Sabbath in Richmond, that of commem-
Grating the dying love of our common
Redeemer.
On the way to the lodgings, we passed
through the garden of the Tuilleries,
which we found in their usual state Of
Paris gaiety. A crowd was around the
band that was performing, another was
around the stand where Punchinnello was
entertaing them with his peculiar species