Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/49

Rh Certain men have certain favorite inconsequent modes of reasoning. The inhabitants of Lausanne say, that M. Haldimand ought never to die, and they trouble themselves beforehand with the thought of his decease.

Last Sunday I attended divine service at the chapel “des Terneaux,” the principal place of meeting for the Vaudois Free Church at Lausanne. The chapel is a large hall, as simple as a school-room, without picture, without an altar, and without any proper pulpit for the preacher, who stands simply on an elevated stage at the end of the room, with a desk before him, as a lecturer in an ordinary lecture-room.

The chapel was full to overflowing. The assembly of this church was long forbidden, and its congregation even violently persecuted in the Pays de Vaud, and it is still inhibited there. But the respectability and courage of its members, together with the more liberal spirit of the times, has enabled it now to meet without opposition; and, after having for so long been compelled to hold their assemblies secretly and in private houses, now openly to congregate in a chapel which they have lately taken for that purpose, in the light of day, and on one of the most frequented promenades of Lausanne. The long-despised church has, from the great abilities of the preachers, now become the fashionable church of Lausanne, and is attended by the principal people. This was very evident on the Sunday I attended the chapel “des Terneaux.” The sermon, by M. Bridet, a young man of great talent, both as an orator and a Christian thinker, from the text, “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God,” could not have been better or more awakening.