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.
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