......  Oh reformation rare,
The den of modern infidels is become a house of prayer!

7 mo. 2.—­We had a long walk to the Rue St. Maur, to meet by appointment our kind friend De Pressense to visit the schools for mutual instruction.  At this season of the year the children are more busy with their parents than usual; but in winter there are 200 boys, 200 girls, and 200 children in the infant school, with an evening school for adults.  Scripture extracts are made use of, and also the Scriptures themselves.  We were struck with the quiet and good order of all these schools.  I have seen very few in England where the same stillness is observable.  With the exception of some three or four, all the children are Roman Catholics; and on First-days, particularly in winter, the room is filled with Roman Catholic men and women, mostly parents of the children, who come to hear them examined in the Scriptures and to receive instruction themselves.  Our conductor showed us the boys’ gardens.  On the walls were grapes hanging in large bunches, belonging to the master.  The boys are so far from stealing them, that if they find any on the ground, they take them to him.  Of the children who attend at the school, forty-six are provided with bed, board, and clothing, at a neighboring establishment.

One of the most interesting men with whom J. and M.Y. became acquainted was Pastor Audebez.

He was, say they, formerly minister at Bordeaux, but received a strong impression that it was his religious duty to come to Paris.  Soon after he left Bordeaux, a great awakening took place in that neighborhood under the ministry of his successor, while with himself at Paris all seemed darkness and discouragement.  This induced him to think he had done wrong in removing, and he was much distressed; but as he persevered in doing what presented as his duty, his way for usefulness in this great city opened in a remarkable manner.  He first opened the chapel in the Taitbout, and then one in the Faubourg du Temple, where his labors have been crowned with success.  He told us with great simplicity that he never premeditated or wrote his sermons, but after reading a portion of Scripture proceeded to speak from what he felt to impress his mind at the time.  He said some of the ministers considered their discourse before delivering it, and he believed their mode of preaching was also blessed.  Being accustomed to arrange their thoughts in methodical order, perhaps such might not perform so well in any other way, and the people were used to it; but he preferred speaking from a more spontaneous spring of thought, though not so well arranged as to theological order.

We felt much inclined to hear him for ourselves, and attended in the Rue St. Maur on First-day evening; and we have this testimony to bear,—­that we heard the gospel preached to the poor.  He first read the 25th Psalm, and then part of the Epistle to the Romans, which formed the basis of his exhortation.  It reminded me of [what I have read of] the preaching of the early Christians.  My very heart went with his impressive exhortation to believe in the Lord Jesus as the only means of salvation, and of the necessity of bringing forth fruits unto holiness.