THE INFLAMMABLE MATERIAL IN FRANCE.
By T.
A FEW days since France's president died and the work of electing a new one was entered upon, but it was not without considerable disorder and some revolutionary demonstrations. And this is only a part of the evidence that is before the world all the time showing the turbulent condition of that country. In all this there is a great lesson for America in particular, and the rest of the world in general. The question is, Will it be heeded? Toward the close of the last century the seeds of revolution sprung up into a most terrible harvest in France. And poor France is not through with the reaping even till now. That revolution had its underlying cause. In the first place, France was filled with infidelity. And her infidelity was not confined to the non-professor. Some of her worst infidels were in the professed church itself. For when any one departs from the living Word of God, ceasing to study it closely, and no longer allowing his life to be guided by it, he may still make his pretensions, but he is, nevertheless, the worst kind of an infidel. France, a hundred years ago, had her church and church-men, and her imposing display of what passed for divine service. She had bishops and priests who belonged to the "nobility" and who sat not only in the councils of the church but in the high councils of State as well. But, regardless of all this, France was infidel to the core. None of her outward service was a manifestation of the inner work of grace upon the heart. There were individual exceptions, of course, but they were an unnoticed minority. Under this condition of things,—the infidelity concealed beneath the hypocrisy in the church, and the avowed and open unbelief,—the selfish greed of men gathered the wealth of the country into the hands of a few lords of Church and State, who spent their time in the revels of luxury. The people groaned under the burden for a long time, but finally the revolution came as a sure result of the seed sown. And it is a melancholy truth that France has not, after a whole century of turmoil, recovered from the evil. The conditions of France before the beginning of her revolution were strikingly identical with the conditions in this country to-day. There is no lack of churches and oratorical lectures from the pulpit, and grand musical programs and church societies and special organizations. Rich men build magnificent structures and decorate them with all the art and skill that money can buy. They dedicate these edifices to the worship of God with a great show of outward display, but all the while the poor are crying in our back lanes and alleys for bread, and protection from the cold. Where is the Christianity in all this?—It is not to be found. The pretension is a hollow sham. And the day of reckoning can not be long delayed. Why will not men listen to the voice of history even if they will not hear the Word of God? T.