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    in important matters , of Baron Cuvier , to whom the management of these things is intrusted by the government ( p . 255 ) . A consistory is composed of all the pastors of the churches which it is to govern , and of lay elders , not fewer than six , nor more than twelve , chosen from among the most opulent and respectable citizens of the communion , half of them to be renewed every two years , but the same maybe re-elecied ( p . 186 ) . The book concludes- with the laws and decrees relative to the choice and the salaries of the pastors , the building and repairing of churches , the bursaries for students at Montauban and Strasbourg , and various other matters of legal arrangement .

    The only important omission which we have to notice in this work is , that it contains no census of the actual numbers of the French Protestants . M . Soulier tells us in the Introduction , p . vi ., that he did intend to furnish such a statement , and had begun the work , but that he found it so difficult to obtain correct information , that he was compelled to abandon it . In one account which we have seen , the Protestants of France are estimated at from two to three millions . This is probably considerably above the truth . In the Reformed church there are four hundred and thirty-eight buildings consecrated to public worship ; to these we may add one hundred more , in consideration of those who worship in private houses or in the open air ;

    and for the members of the Confession of Augsburg , * let us suppose that there are sixty-two , i . e . six hundred in all ; and if we reckon one thousand individuals for each of these , we shall have six hundred thousand as the whole number of the Protestants of France . Allow that they may be

    reckoned at one million , the disproportion between this number and thirty millions , which is the whole population of the country , is by no means so discouraging as may at first sight appear ; for not only is this one million by far the most intelligent , well-educated , and active part o £ the population ,

    but it is not to be supposed that all the rest are either unbelievers or firm Catholics . Many , very many , are to be found who are simply indifferent on the subject of religion ; and many , again , who , though they profess to belong to the Catholic communion , are very loosely attached to it , and would not only listen with attention and candour to the auguments of Protestants , but might , with but little difficulty , be induced to join with them in the celebration of public worship . It is to both these classes of persons

    that the Protestants ought to address themselves , with all the zeal and the earnestness , yet with all the prudence and the gentleness , which so good a cause demands . If they do this , their numbers will continue rapidly to increase . The arts and the violence of the Jesuits will do nothing against them ; and they will find invaluable auxiliaries in the improved system of education which is riow adopted , and in the firmer establishment of constitutional liberty which has lately taken place . It is our most sincere hope and fervent prayer that they may go on and prosper . W .

    * These are chiefly confined to Alsace , on the banks of the Rhine .

    Untitled Article

    Reformed Churches in France . 701

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1828, page 701, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2565/page/45/