French Reformation
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A few months and he was again in Paris. There was unwonted
agitation in the circle of learned men and scholars. The study of the
ancient languages had led men to the Bible, and many whose hearts
were untouched by its truths were eagerly discussing them, and even
giving battle to the champions of Romanism. Calvin, though an able
combatant in the fields of theological controversy, had a higher mission
to accomplish than that of these noisy schoolmen. The minds of men
were stirred, and now was the time to open to them the truth. While
the halls of the universities were filled with the clamor of theological
disputation, Calvin was making his way from house to house, open-
ing the Bible to the people, and speaking to them of Christ and him
crucified.
In God’s providence, Paris was to receive another invitation to
accept the gospel. The call of Lefevre and Farel had been rejected,
but again the message was to be heard by all classes in that great
capital. The king, influenced by political considerations, had not
yet fully sided with Rome against the Reformation. Margaret still
clung to the hope that Protestantism was to triumph in France. She
resolved that the reformed faith should be preached in Paris. During
the absence of the king, she ordered a Protestant minister to preach in
the churches of the city. This being forbidden by the papal dignitaries,
the princess threw open the palace. An apartment was fitted up as a
chapel, and it was announced that every day, at a specified hour, a
sermon would be preached, and the people of every rank and station
were invited to attend. Crowds flocked to the service. Not only the
chapel, but the ante-chambers and halls were thronged. Thousands
every day assembled,—nobles, statesmen, lawyers, merchants, and
artisans. The king, instead of forbidding the assemblies, ordered that
two of the churches of Paris should be opened. Never before had the
city been so moved by the Word of God. The spirit of life from Heaven
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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 multitudes. Yielding blindly to her
false teachers, Paris, like Jerusalem of old, knew not the time of