tic theologians are driving every
friend of the Church and every firm believer in Scripture to reason for
himself, with the Bible for his basis; and in no country is religion
more rapidly christianizing science than in Holland. Young theologians
preach more earnestly than their predecessors had done for a century. La
Saussaye is an illustration of how an individual is influencing the
tendency of the theological mind. He has never published a complete
system, though his friends are anxiously awaiting the appearance of his
_Psychology_. It is the man himself who has done so much for
emancipating the individual, and placing him upon the immovable truth of
the Bible.

Very recently the Church of Holland has applied herself to earnest,
practical work. Her evangelizing efforts will now compare favorably
with those of French Protestantism. In no country have the congregations
been more attached to the clergy than in Holland. But the intimacy has
diminished the development of individual labor and responsibility.
Everything was left to the pastor. Religion consisted in being preached
to and edified. Prayer meetings, and humanitarian and evangelizing
associations were unknown. But, of late, many Sunday Schools have been
organized; religious societies have been established; and missions have
attracted profound attention.

The first missionary society ever formed in Holland was the Moravian
Mission to Zeist, in 1732. Sixty-five years elapsed before a second one
came into being. Not one was instituted from 1797 to 1851. Since that
date twelve foreign missionary organizations have been established, and
the religious people of the country are devoting a large portion of
their means and labor to their prosecution. So great is the popular
interest in missions that an Evangelical National Missionary Festival,
held in the open air in July, 1864, attracted many from the surrounding
country to take part in the exercises. It was a Christian Feast of
Tabernacles. The assembly met in a large pine wood. Carriages, horses,
and the rude vehicles of the peasantry lined all the roads leading
thither. The singing of the old Dutch Psalms could be heard at a great
distance. The assembly, numbering from ten to twelve thousand, gathered
around the pulpits erected in various places, where returned
missionaries and celebrated preachers from different cities were
speaking on topics adapted to the occasion. The scene was deeply solemn,
and highly calculat