. . For God has raised him
up for us in times of peril that he might restore public worship and
the holy religion of our fathers and be its protector."
Every boy and girl in each parish recite this to the vicar or cur?
after vespers in their tiny voices as a commandment of God and of the
Church, as a supplementary article of the creed. Meanwhile the
officiating priest in the pulpit gravely comments on this article,
already clear enough, at every morning or evening service;[109] by
order, he preaches in behalf of the conscription and declares that it
is a sin to try to escape from it, to be refractory; by order, again,
he reads the army bulletins giving accounts of the latest victories;
always by order, he reads the last pastoral letter of his bishop, a
document authorized, inspired and corrected by the police. Not only
are the bishops obliged to submit their pastoral letters and public
instructions to the censorship; not only by way of precaution, are
they forbidden to print anything except on the prefecture presses, but
again, for still greater security, the bureau of public worship is
constantly advising them what they must say.
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