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Show PROSTESTANTISM m FRANCE. An inquiry into French Protestantism, Protestant-ism, is met at the threshold bv this I singular paradox, that while the Pro- testant spirit has taken possession of France, Protestantism as a form of church life is declining. On the one hand, its influence so increases that Protestants are to be found in all sorts of positions of authority and power, far out of proportion to their estimated esti-mated numerical strength; on the I other hand, its temples are empty of Worshipers, and the number of members, mem-bers, in both its confessions, diminishes jvith ominous rapidity. I France is governed by the combined Authority of the chamber of deputies and the senate, whose members, taken together, number 8S0: 100 are said to bV Protestants, seventy or eighty, of wfhofn are in the chamber of deputies. AsV: the population of France is over 3;:flOO,COO, if the Protestant deputies we-re solely the representatives of their 1 : -religionists, the Protestant popula- I , tion.of France ought to be at least 5.000.0CO, whereas it is only 650,000, and that is a computaton twenty years old, the probability being that it is now-nearer now-nearer 600,000. According to this the political influence of Protestantism in France is nearly seven and a half times as great as might be expected from the actual number of its professed pro-fessed adherents. Contemporary Review. |