Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/53

Rh What is it that lies beyond the mere outward protest? Is there here a higher, more vitalizing principle? And how does it stand with regard to the Bible and the principle which is the basis of Protestantism? Does this new Free Church contain the seed of a church of the future, one actually universal—like the sun and the gospel?

These are questions which I shall be better able to reflect upon, in the high valleys, where indeed the Free Church has its highest life, and where I shall have sufficient time and leisure. These are the questions which have brought me hither.

The political revolution of which I lately spoke, greatly resembled one of those which Voltaire called “une tempête dans un verre d'eau.” One fine day a crowd of people, some hundreds in number, assembled on the great terrace of Montbenon, with drums and flags, and a person in the crowd announced in a loud voice that the old government of the Pays de Vaud was at an end, and a new one, in conformity with the wishes of the people, was established, at the head of which was M. D. The good citizens of Lausanne were greatly astonished, and the city militia came forth immediately on behalf of the legal government, ready with armed hands to chase away that which had illegally taken its place. But these good men, averse to the shedding of blood, preferred rather to give way quietly to the usurping party, who had, in fact, a great portion of the working class on their side. These, and the adherents of the new government, up b raided the old with being a “town-council” government, without sympathies for the people, or desire for their