French Reformation
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city been so moved by the word of God. The spirit of life from heaven
seemed to be breathed upon the people. Temperance, purity, order, and
industry were taking the place of drunkenness, licentiousness, strife,
and idleness.
But the hierarchy were not idle. The king still refused to interfere
to stop the preaching, and they turned to the populace. No means
were spared to excite the fears, the prejudices, and the fanaticism
of the ignorant and superstitious multitude. Yielding blindly to her
false teachers, Paris, like Jerusalem of old, knew not the time of
her visitation nor the things which belonged unto her peace. For
two years the word of God was preached in the capital; but, while
there were many who accepted the gospel, the majority of the people
rejected it. Francis had made a show of toleration, merely to serve his
own purposes, and the papists succeeded in regaining the ascendancy.
Again the churches were closed, and the stake was set up.
Calvin was still in Paris, preparing himself by study, meditation,
and prayer for his future labors, and continuing to spread the light. At
last, however, suspicion fastened upon him. The authorities determined
to bring him to the flames. Regarding himself as secure in his seclusion,
he had no thought of danger, when friends came hurrying to his room
with the news that officers were on their way to arrest him. At that
instant a loud knocking was heard at the outer entrance. There was
not a moment to be lost. Some of his friends detained the officers
at the door, while others assisted the Reformer to let himself down
from a window, and he rapidly made his way to the outskirts of the
city. Finding shelter in the cottage of a laborer who was a friend to
the reform, he disguised himself in the garments of his host, and,
[224]
shouldering a hoe, started on his journey. Traveling southward, he
again found refuge in the dominions of Margaret. (See D’Aubigne,
History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, b. 2, ch.
30.)
Here for a few months he remained, safe under the protection of
powerful friends, and engaged as before in study. But his heart was
set upon the evangelization of France, and he could not long remain
inactive. As soon as the storm had somewhat abated, he sought a new
field of labor in Poitiers, where was a university, and where already the
new opinions had found favor. Persons of all classes gladly listened to
the gospel. There was no public preaching, but in the home of the chief