The National Assembh' of 1789 gave to all religious denominations equal rights, yet tlie Revolution soon afterwards raged against the Protestant churches as mucli as against the Roman Catholic. Peace and or- der were first restored bj' the decree of 1802, in which Napoleon assigned to the clergymen of the French Re- formed and the French Lutheran ^churches salaries from the public treasur}', and gave tliem, of his own authority, a new constitution. The jirincipal points of this constitution were as follows : The lowest eccle- siastical board for both denominations is the Consistory, which consists of the pastors of the consistorial dis- trict, and from six to twelve la3'men. There is to be one Consistoiy for every 6000 souls, no matter whether they belong to one or to several congregations. The lay members are elected every other year from the number of those citizens who pay the highest taxes. Tlie Consistoiy is presided over by the oldest pastor. In the Reformed Church five consistorial districts form one synodal district. The Provincial Synod consists of one pastor and one elder from every congregation. The president is elected. The synod cannot be con- voked witliout the permission of the government ; can discuss onlv subjects which have previously been brought to the knowledge of the minister of public worship, and in the presence of the prefect or an officer delegated hy him ; and can remain in session only six days. The Lutheran Church is divided into Impec- tions, the assemblies of which correspond to the Pro- vincial Sj-nods of the Reformed Church, witli this dif- ference, however, that the assemldies of the Lutlieran Church elect for lifetime one inspector and two lay adjuncts, who have the right to visit the churches. Ab'ove these provincial synods stands in the Lutheran Church a kind of central s^mod, called the General Con- sistory. It consists of a lay president and two clerical inspectors, appointed b}' the government for life, and of one laj' deput}' from every Inspection elected for life. This l)oard is subject to the same restrictions as the Provincial Synods and the Assemblies of the Inspections. In the interval between the sessions, a committee, consisting of the president, the elder of the two inspectors, two lay members designated by the General Consistory, and a commissary appointed by the head of the state, acts as tlie supreme administra- tive board of the Church. This responsible committee is called the Directory. At first this new constitution was regarded with great favor b_v the Protestants, but its defects soon revealed themselves. The Reformed Church complained that the Provincial Synods were never convoked. The want of Presbyterial Councils
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was so palpable that they were organized in spite of the silence of the law, in the lieformed Church, under the name of Consistoires Seclioimaires ; in the Lutheran Church, under the name Conseils Preshijthaux. The larger Heformed congregations also appointed deacons, to have the care of the poor, and tliis example was im- itated 1)}' the Lutlieran congregation of Colniar. Dur- ing tlu' reign of Napoleon and that of the Bourbons, no improvement of the law could be expected, because the one was too absolute, and the other too hostile to Protestantism. Under Louis Philippe several attempts were made to reorganize the Church, but dissension between tlie government and the Church boards, and, in the Lutheran Church, between the Inspections and the General Consistory, frustrated all tliese efforts. After the Revolution of 1848, both churches availed themselves of the liberty granted to them, and held General Assemblies, which prepared drafts of new con- stitutions, and also expressed a desire for union be- tween the two churches. Louis Napoleon returned to the principles of the former legislation, and by a de- cree of March 26, 18o2, re-established the law of 1802, with a few alterations. According to these alterations, Presbyterial Councils, based on universal suffrage, are established in both churches ; from them Consistories proceed, whicli elect their clerical president, who must, however, be approved bj' the government. The Re- formed Church receives, moi-eover, from the govern- ment a Conseil Central, as supreme ecclesiastical board, the members of which are appointed In* the govern- ment. But the Consistories have not yet admitted the authority of the Conseil, which, in fact, is only an organ for the government rather than for the churches. In the Lutheran Cluirch the inspectors are in future to be appointed for life by the government, instead of be- ing elected by the district assemblies. The supreme Church board is called the Sup?-einc Cons'isionj, and the government appoints its president and one member. All the inspectors are also members of this Supreme Consistory, with two lay deputies from each inspection district, and one deputy of the theological seminaiy. The election of these latter two classes is left to the Church. The Directory has the right of appointing all pastors, subject to the approval of the government. Soon after the publication of the decree of March 2G, a new division and an increase of the consistories of the two cliurches, and of the Inspections of the Lutheran Churcli, took place. This reorganization of the two churches aftbrded to both this theoretical advantage, that each department was assigned to a Consistory, and tliat henceforth congregations could be formed without liavins to encounter obstacles on the part of Romnn Catholic boards. On the other hand, it was pernicious to tlie interests of the dissenters, many of whose churches and schools wei'e closed in the pureh' Roman Catholic districts. In consequence of the hos- tility of the bishops, and their influence in the prov- inces, the Protestants had frequently to suffer from ar- ticles 291, 292, and 294 of the Napoleonic Criminal Code, according to which all associations of twenty persons or more, without previous authorization of tlic govern- ment, are forbidden. This law has frequently been put in force against the religious meetings of the Prot- est;ints, both in the state and in the free churches, in I)laces where there are no church edifices. IMany of these grievances were redressed on the establishment of the Republic, when a minister of public worship de- clared those articles not to be apjilicable to religious meetings. But a decree of Louis Nai)olcon, issued ISIarch 25,1852, extended it again to "all public meet- ings," and sul)jected the Protestants to man)' new an- noyances. They hope to find some relief from a re- cent law of IMareh 19, 1859, which takes tlie authoriza- tion of new churches, chapels, and oratories out of the hands of the jirefects, and transfers it to the State Council, which is less suspected of yielding to the in- fluence of the bishops and the Roman Catholic party.