ject religion itself. They find no
intermediate standpoint in Protestantism, but fly off into the void of
utter unbelief. The same tendency characterizes them in politics. They
seem to oscillate between Caesarism and Red Republicanism; aiming not
at reform so much as revolution. They are averse to any _via media_.
When they have tried constitutionalism, they have broken down. So it
has been with Protestantism, the constitutionalism of Christianity.
The Huguenots at one time constituted a great power in France; but
despotism in politics and religion proved too strong for them, and
they were persecuted, banished, and stamped for a time out of
existence, or at least out of sight.

Protestantism was more successful in Germany. Was it because it was
more conformable to the "genius" of its people? When the Germans
"protested" against the prevailing corruptions in the Church, they did
not seek to destroy it, but to reform it. They "stood upon the old
ways," and sought to make them broader, straighter, and purer. They
have pursued the same course in politics. Cooler and less impulsive
than their Gallican neighbours, they have avoided revolutions, but are
constantly seeking reforms. Of this course England itself furnishes a
notable example.

It is certainly a remarkable fact, that the stronghold of
Protestantism in France was recently to be found among the population
of Germanic origin seated along the valley of the Rhine; whereas in
the western districts Protestantism is split up by the two
irreconcilable parties of Evangelicals and Rationalists. At the same
time it should be borne in mind that Alsace did not become part of
France until the year 1715, and that the Lutherans of that province
were never exposed to the ferocious persecutions to which the
Evangelical Protestants of Old France were subjected, before as well
as after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

In Languedoc, in Dauphiny, and in the southern provinces generally,
men and women who professed Protestantism were liable to be hanged or
sent to the galleys, down to nearly the end of the last century. A
Protestant pastor who exercised his vocation did so at the daily peril
of his life. Nothing in the shape of a Protestant congregation was
permitted to exist, and if Protestants worshipped together, it was in
secret, in caves, in woods, among the hills, or in the "Desert." Yet
Protestantism nevertheless contrived to exist through this long dark
period of persec