Page 36 - 12 The French Reformation

meeting. Little companies, leaving the city by

different routes, found their way hither. In

this retired spot the Bible was read aloud and

explained. Here the Lord's Supper was

celebrated for the first time by the

Protestants of France. From this little church

several faithful evangelists were sent out.

Once more Calvin returned to Paris. He could

not even yet relinquish the hope that France

as a nation would accept the Reformation.

But he found almost every door of labor

closed. To teach the gospel was to take the

direct road to the stake, and he at last

determined to depart to Germany. Scarcely

had he left France when a storm burst over

the Protestants, that, had he remained, must

surely have involved him in the general ruin.

The French Reformers, eager to see their

country keeping pace with Germany and