Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/343

* HUGUENOTS. 299 HUGUENOTS. was much suffering for conscience' sake. In 1826 the Catholic Prince de Salm was exiled for liav- ing embraced Protestantism. Debarred thus from normal activity, the awakened Church turned to benevoh^nt work, and the second third of the century saw the rise of a great number of strong benevolent and religious societies. The Evangelical Society was founded in 18.3.3, the Central Society in 1847, for the building of churches. Orphanages, refuges for the blind, the deaf, for neglected, criminal, and crippled chil- dren sprang up in great profusion. Educational interests took u prominent place. In 1829 the Society for the Encouragement of Primary In- struction among Protestants was founded. In 1833 the Prot<!stajit Guizot secured the passage of the common-school law. In 1840 there were 677 Protestant schools, from priman,' to normal. There are two theological faculties — at Montau- ban, and, since Strassburg was lost, in Paris. From this period dates also the foreign-mission work of the Protestant Church, a historj- of al- most unparalleled zeal and self-sacrifice. The •Society of Evangelical Missions was founded in 1822; the first missionaries went to South .frioa in 1829. The mission-fields are now seven in number, in Africa, the Society Islands, and Madagascar. In 1901 the expenditures of the society were over 2,000.000 francs. ProtC'itant journalism also dates from the re- vival. Le Seiiicur, founded in 1831, enjoyed the collaboration of Vinet. J.e Lien was founded in 1840 by the elder Athanase Coquerel (q.v.), to counteract the growing tendency to disintegra- tion — a vain eflort, as it proved. The narrow if profound evangelicalism of the revival pro- duced a reaction, fostered by the liberal teach- ings of the theological school at Strassburg, which ended in the scission of 1842 between the orthodox and liberal wings of the Reformed Church, still held together by their relation to the State. The question of the relations between the Church and the State became a capita! one: Vinet wrote a hook advocating separation, and would have headed such a movement but for the powerful opposition of Guizot. The learned of that day strongly advocated it; in 1847 Lamar- tine declared that separation would not be too dearly purchased by a revolution. The next year (1848) the Count" de Gasparin (see Ga.sparin, Agenor Etiexxe) and Frederic Monod headed the Free Church movement. In 1S49 the Union of Free Evangelical Churches of France was formed, based quite as much upon individual religious experience, in opposition to the for- malism of the Reformed Church, as ui)on the separation of Church and State, Tliis movement, never numerically important, barely reaching the number of fifty churches in all France, has vet Ix-en notable for the ability of its leaders — Pressense, Bersier, HoUard, the Monods — and for its support to the orthodox, as against the liberal, wing of the Reformed Church. The year 18.52 saw a new im|nilse in the Church." The Sunday-School fnion and the French Protestant Historical Society date from this year, and celebrated their jubilees in the summer of 1002. From this year dates also the movement toward the restoration of the svnodal organization of the Reformation days, which appears now (1903) to have almost reached frui- tion. In 18.59 the celebration of the tercen- tenary of the first synod of the Reformed Vol. X.— '20. Churches showed the deep attachment of the peo- ple to the traditions of the past. During all this time the liberal ferment was working in the Church, a spirit not so much of unorthudoxi/ as of frccilom. The attempt of the elder Coquerel to draw the two wings together proved sadly abortive when, in 1804, alter a conliict of several years, the younger Athanase Coquerel was tried for heresy, under the leader- ship of Guizot, for having hailed Renan's Life (if -Jesus as a sign of revived interest in religious studies, while combating liis views as to the person of Christ. C<Kiuerel defende<l himself nobly, but was condemned, ijy 12 voices to 3, in the Con- sistory of Paris, and in spite of the protest of 8000 church members of that city he was de- posed from the ministrj', the State not interfer- ing, as he was suffragant, not titular, pastor. He continued to preach, however, being sujiported by the Protestant Liberal Lnion (founded in 1860). Guizot's victory in this case nearly cost him his seat in the consistory. At the next elec- tion he was returned only by a majority of 8 in a vote of 2600. In the Franco-Prussian War many Protes- tant pastors rendered distinguished ser'ice. At its close the Reformed Church took up the ques- tion of reorganization, the Lutheran that of the inroads caused by the loss of Alsace, which robbed it of 38 consistories and 191 parishes, while the Reformed Churches had lost 5 con- sistories and 26 parishes. The twenty-ninth General Synod of the Re- formed Churches had been held in 16.59. Six synods held in 'the Desert' during the century of persecution had not been of national extent. The thirtieth synod was convoked by President Thiers in 1872. at the instance of Guizot. The svnod memorialized President Thiers in favor of dis- establishment, but in vain. , strong but vain effort was made to bring together the two wings of the Church. Since that time, no official synod of the whole Church being possible, the orthodox wing has met triennially in 'officious' synod, the liberal wing in fraternal assembly, both bodies electing representatives to the Permanent Com- mittee, which alone is recognized by Govern- ment. Of late years, in view of the anti-Protestant movement of the ultramontane party in the Catholic Church, and of the rapid spread of atheistic socialism, both wings of the Church have recognized the importance of union, and have earnestly sought a common doctrinal basis. Failing in this effort, in 1899 delegates from both bodies met in Lyons and formed a prac- tical union for work in the League for the Moral and Social Improvement of the Coiintrv'. This leajnie was immediately joined by the Free and Lutheran churches, and by the Methodist and Baptist missionary churches. .t the otTicious s-nod at Anduze. in !May. 1902, the serious effort to find a basis of doctrinal agreement again failed, but was prophetic of union in the near future. At this svnod the unanimous adoption of a, resolution asking for disestablishment placed the Reformed Church in line with the advocates of Church disestablishment in France. The establishment of the Third Republic had been the signal for a forward evangelistic move- ment, to which the founding of the ^fi■<!sion Pnpii- Inire Ernnnfliriur in 1871 by the Rev. Robert McAll, of England, contributed much. (Sec Mc-