the Christian religion, when it is a matter of the State, loses. greatly in its moral influence, for it is then the State rather than the Church which executes all religious functions. Thus, the ideas of sin and crime, sacredness and justice, are commingled in a way that mars their true character for a believer. A genuine moral dealing of man to man can only spring from an undefiled religion, and not one which may trace any of its duty directly to the State. The whole tendency of this article is quite salutary at a period when the thinking Christians abroad are more than ever examining the influence of State religion on the masses.

French Reviews.

REVUE CHRETIENNE, (Christian Review.) August, 1882.-1. HOLLARD, Alexander Vinet in his Correspondence. 2. MÉNÉZOG, Schleiermacher's Idea of God. 3. DUPIN DE SAINT ANDRÉ, The Algerian Sahara. And, by the same, Historical Notices. Review of the Month by PRESSENSÉ. September.--1. L. E., A Primate of Spain before the Inquisition. 2. LOYSON, The Psalm Chanted in the Banquet of the Ten Virgins. 3. MALAN. How Treat the Thesis of Conditional Immortality? Review of the Month by PRESSENSÉ. October.-1. E. DE PRESSENSE. Lecture on the Morality of Interest and the Morality of Obligation. 2. DARTIGUE, The Preaching of Lacordaire. 3. DUPIN DE SAINT ANDRÉ, The Algerian Sahara, (Conclusion.) Literary Chronicle, SABATIER, and Monthly Review by PRESSENSE.

Saint André yields to the impulse of his countrymen in treating very largely of the Algerian Sahara in the August and October numbers of the "Review." The French are taking refuge in the "Dark Continent" from all their recent losses both in Europe and at the mouth of the Nile. They very ungracefully give up Egypt only to dive with more vigor into the interior of Africa. Having taken possession of the northern coast pretty well up to the Egyptian line, they now propose entering the interior with a view to utilizing it for national aggrandizement. They do not seem at all abashed by the lamentable failure and sad end of the Flatters expedition, and keep on finding all the consolation they can in their brilliant hope of creating inland seas and constructing railways to the rich regions of Central Africa. And Saint André at least ceases to regard the entrance to the Sahara as inviting. He acknowledges that it is a stern climate for those not born on the soil and acclimated to it. Even the European shivers

there in winter, while the air of summer scorches his lungs. In the greatest heat the thermometer ascends to fearful heights, and the traveler lost in the sands would give a kingdom for a cold bath. But water is very rare south of the Atlas range, as the few torrents that descend from the mountains are soon lost in the sands. Even on the southern portion of the present territory of French Algeria one can journey for ten days without reaching a well.

This indispensable water the French are fast obtaining by sinking Artesian wells, and where they are successful they thus obtain great control over the rude inhabitants and the nomads of the desert, who have an immense respect for men who can draw from the bosom of the earth a jet of pure water that springs forth like a captive delighted to find its liberty. The enthusiasm among the rude natives has at times been touching. In their joy they sacrifice a goat on the border of the well, and invoke on the French the benediction of Allah. Young girls hasten to dance at the festival, and poets sing the birth of the miraculous spring.

Notwithstanding the sad fate of the expedition of Colonel Flatters, the French still hope to construct a line of rail across this Algerian Sahara as far as Timbuctoo, and are largely encouraged in this hope by their success in these Artesian wells; for without water they cannot effect the construction nor run their engines, unless electricity should come to their aid. Indeed, the great questions are fuel and water. And but a few superlatively enthusiastic Frenchmen can even imagine the possibility of laying the rail across a barren and burning desert of which they scarcely as yet know the borders. But Duponchel, chief engineer of roads and bridges, declares that he can go from Algiers to Timbuctoo as easily as from Paris to Tours. But this is not bluster; it is something more though; to the credit of said engineer be it said that these wild words were uttered before, and not after, the total destruction, even to the last man, of the expedition sent out to examine the route and report. One thing seems clear in the present humor of the French nation, and that is, that either in success or failure a good many Frenchmen are destined to leave their bones on the desert before this great object is effected.

Pressensé, in his "Monthly Review," gives a very interesting

account of a reunion in Switzerland of all Protestant Christians in the interest of pure Bible Christianity, in which the French Protestants largely engaged, on the ground that to religious thought there are no boundary lines. And they found in this Helvetian Republic their own troubles in the Church even magnified. The Swiss clergy are remarkable for their virility and cordiality, so that the French visitors found it hard to distinguish them from laymen. Their frankness, theological culture, and delicate mixture of patriotism and piety, were very noted and remarkable. And this judgment of Pressensé is gratifying and encouraging; for these men have to struggle with a disease that seems almost incurable.

The system of union of Church and State is fraught with peril for conscientious and ardent Christians. The radical rule seems to lead to violent results obtained more through policy than religion. The political platform rules the Church more and more; and all religious guarantees disappear in the presence of universal suffrage concerning spiritual things. The vox populi is no longer the vox Dei when it commands the suppression of the Apostles' Creed in public worship. And the proposition to make baptism optional before entrance into the Church is very likely to be adopted by the Synod. The evangelical element in the Church is alarmed at this situation, and feels that it must soon renounce the connection between Church and State if matters go on thus. As yet the two parties meet in the same Synod, but this cannot last when their tendencies are so diametrically opposite. The most practical debate of the session was a grave indication of this; it was nothing less than the confirmation of all children at a fixed age, and their introduction as Church members nolens volens. The scruples of the evangelical wing of the Church are very strong in this matter, and the same trouble came up in the recent official Synod of the French Reformed Church. This gathering in of the multitude in flocks is so distasteful to many of the Swiss pastors that they have rebelled against it, and are likely to get into trouble on that account, as the State has the political right to order them to carry out the ordinances according to State law, and the ungodly find quite a pleasure in forcing them so to do. All the Swiss assemblies have agitated this question, turn by turn, and it now reaches the grand Synod. The very FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XXXV.-10

fact that these men needed defense was humiliating, but they received it in full measure from the French pastors of Basel and Neufchatel, who threw a flood of light on the evil and demoralizing results of this custom. It is very clear that Christian conscience will not much longer tolerate a custom that puts all religion in peril. These same suffering Churches are also discussing the best means of retaining the benefit of Bible-reading in the Churches. Mark! in the Churches, not the schools. Where such a discussion is necessary, it is high time to say to the State, Hands off of the Churches!

ART. IX.-FOREIGN RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

A REVIVAL AMONG THE WALDENSES.

THE Waldenses have of late displayed an unusual amount of activity, apparently spurred on by the presence and labors in Italy of the various missionaries from other lands. For years there has been no such significant synod as that recently held in Torre Pelice, the seat of their most important ecclesiastical institutions, at the entrance to their valleys. This vigor seemed to be anticipated by their friends and sympathizers from without, as they were favored by the visits of fraternal delegates from other Church bodies in larger numbers than ever before.

England and Scotland, their old friends, were well represented; France sent some members of the Reformed Church, and from Switzerland came a greeting from the Society for the Observance of the Sabbath. The German Evangelical Association of Gustavus Adolphus, the Protestants of Austria, the Moravians from Herrnhut, and the Presbyterians on the Cape of Good Hope, were all there by proxy. The "Waldenses of the North," the suffering Christians from Livonia on the Baltic, sent also their greeting to the "Waldenses of the South." Some of these brought also very substantial aid, namely, the delegate from the Cape $2,500, and their Scotch friends raised their gift for the year to about $100,000. All this kindness so delighted the Waldenses that they devoted three days to the hearing of messages of sympathy and fraternity from abroad.

When they finally reached their regular routine business it appeared that every congregation had an encouraging report to make of their religious condition, and some were peculiarly gratifying. The Church in Naples reported a collection of two dollars and fifty cents per member for the year, and hopes by next year to be able to assemble in its own chapel. There are now sixty-six pastors engaged in active work, and five are on the emeritus list. In their theological school at Florence

eleven students are now pursuing their studies, and eleven others are engaged in advanced studies in Scotland, England, France, and Germany. The pastor from Milan reported a grant of three thousand francs from the Minister of Instruction to his congregation for the purpose of finishing the fagade of their church. But the most significant move of the synod for this year was the resolve to enter on the work of missions to the heathen. The delegate of the French Missionary Society to the Bassutos, in South Africa, had made a tour in the valleys of the Waldenses and awakened their interest in the mission cause. In conse quence of this the pastor of the Waldensian chapel in Nice had resolved to devote himself to the work, and appeared before the synod to obtain permission to enter the field. His simple and fervent words, as he explained the importance of missionary effort, were received with great enthusiasm, and by a unanimous vote he was granted a leave of absence for said purpose. The Waldensian Synod placed him, for the beginning, at the disposition of the Parisian Missionary Society, to become thus initiated into the methods, and be sustained in the incipiency of the work. He will go with his wife to the already established mission to the Bassutos, while the French missionary at that post will go on further, and establish a new post on the Zambesi. The foreign delegates present gave a hearty Amen to this resolution, and bade the Waldenses God speed, and a blessing in this new Christian enterprise.

THE FRENCH IN MADAGASCAR.

The French seem quite inclined to rule or ruin in Madagascar, and have for some time been nourishing a dangerous conflict with the government that may interfere very much with the important Protestant missionary work on that island. The claims of France on Madagascar are quite old. Louis XIII., in 1642, placed the island under his own protection, first with the name of Ile Dauphine, and later as Oriental France. Cardinal Richelieu fitted out a French trading company with rich privileges, and took possession of the island as a central point for French rule in India. They established forts and factories on the coast, but could not penetrate into the interior. Under the guidance of the famous minister, Colbert, the plantations founded on the coast were very flourishing. But a general rebellion among the natives against this foreign invasion and usurpation rooted out the French intruders from the entire island except the single Fort Dauphin on the southern point. This uprising of the natives brought things to a standstill for a long time. In the eighteenth century renewed efforts were made at colonization, but they all failed. In the year 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, the English took possession of Madagascar as a dependence of the island of Mauritius, and it required long negotiations before France again acquired a foothold there. In the meanwhile English merchants had taken possession, and exerted great influence there. In 1829 the French tried to drive them out by a military expedition, which was a total failure. Since that time the French have endeavored to undermine