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are mysteries and cannot be understood, was a serious obstacle in
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his way. He finally determined—as Farel had done before him in
evangelizing Geneva—to begin with the children, through whom he
hoped to interest the parents.
“I desire this to be understood,” he afterward said, speaking of his
object in this undertaking, “it is not because of its small importance,
but on the contrary because of its great value, that I wished to present
it in this familiar form, and that I addressed it to the children. I desired
to be heard, and I feared that I would not be if I addressed myself to
the grown people first.” “I determined therefore to go to the youngest.
I gather an audience of children; if the group enlarges, if it is seen that
they listen, are pleased, interested, that they understand and explain
the subject, I am sure to have a second circle soon, and in their turn,
grown people will see that it is worth their while to sit down and study.
When this is done, the cause is gained.”
The effort was successful. As he addressed the children, older
persons came to listen. The galleries of his church were filled with
attentive hearers. Among them were men of rank and learning, and
strangers and foreigners visiting Geneva, and thus the message was
carried to other parts.
Encouraged by this success, Gaussen published his lessons, with
the hope of promoting the study of the prophetic books in the churches
of the French-speaking people. “To publish instruction given to the
children,” says Gaussen, “is to say to adults, who too often neglect
such books under the false pretense that they are obscure, ‘How can
they be obscure, since your children understand them?’” “I had a great
desire,” he adds, “to render a knowledge of the prophecies popular in
our flocks, if possible.” “There is no study, indeed, which it seems to
me answers the needs of the time better.” “It is by this that we are to
prepare for the tribulation near at hand, and watch and wait for Jesus
Christ.”
Though one of the most distinguished and beloved of preachers
in the French language, Gaussen was after a time suspended from
the ministry, his principal offense being that instead of the church’s
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catechism, a tame and rationalistic manual, almost destitute of positive
faith, he had used the Bible in giving instruction to the youth. He
afterward became teacher in a theological school, while on Sunday
he continued his work as catechist, addressing the children, and in-