spiritual
disposition to labor for the conversion of Romanists. As M. Grandpierre
has graphically said: "From 1810 to 1815 you could count on your five
fingers those Protestant French pastors who preached faithfully and
zealously the true principles of Christianity."

But improvement began, and between 1820 and 1830 several important
religious societies were organized in Paris. The Methodist and Free
Churches vied with the two National Protestant Churches in efforts for
the conversion of the masses. In 1830, the Free Church possessed but one
place of worship, but it now has a complete establishment for
evangelizing purposes in almost every _quartier_ of the great
metropolis. In the same year there were but six Protestant pastors and
five Churches; but in 1857 there were thirty-nine pastors and fifty-one
sanctuaries. Including the whole of France, there are, under Protestant
jurisdiction, about one thousand pastors, from fifteen to sixteen
hundred churches, and from seventeen to eighteen hundred elementary
schools. The official census previous to 1857 gives the total number of
Protestants in Paris as thirteen thousand; and seven hundred and seventy
thousand throughout the country. M. Grandpierre thinks these numbers are
really double; for in Paris alone two pastors are omitted, and if they
are left out what must be expected of the members under them? During
1862 twenty new Protestant Churches were opened and consecrated to the
worship of God. Twenty-five years ago there was but one Protestant
bookstore in Paris, and it was threatened from time to time with
bankruptcy. Now there are four, all of which are in a flourishing
condition. There is a Sunday School in nearly every Protestant Church of
the Empire.

Almost every year some new society is organized, having for its avowed
object the conversion of souls and the relief of the suffering. Those
now in prosperous existence will compare favorably with similar
institutions in Great Britain and the United States. We mention the most
prominent: The French and Foreign Bible Society, which sold eighty-eight
thousand copies of the Bible in 1862; the Protestant Bible Society; the
Tract Society; the Paris Missionary Society; the Primary School Society
and the Protestant Son Society. Each of these has its well-defined field
of labor, one aiming to arouse slumbering Protestants, another to seek
out wandering Protestants, and a third to educate homeless children. The
Evangelical So