During the persecution of Meaux , the teachers of the reformed faith were deprived of their license to preach , and they departed to other fields . LeFevre after a time made his way to Germany . Farel returned to his native town in eastern France , to spread the light in the home of his childhood . Already tidings had been received of what was going on at Meaux , and the truth , which he taught with fearless zeal , found listeners . Soon the authorities were roused to silence him , and he was banished from the city . Though he could no longer labour publicly , he traversed the plains and villages , teaching in private dwellings and in secluded meadows , and finding shelter in the forests and among the rocky caverns which had been his haunts in boyhood . God was preparing him for greater trials . " The crosses , persecutions , and machinations of Satan , of which I was forewarned , have not been wanting ," he said ; " they are even much severer than I could have borne of myself ; but God is my Father ; He has provided and always will provide me the strength which I require ." - D ' Aubigne , History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century , b . 12 , ch . 9 .
As in apostolic days , persecution had " fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel ." Philippians 1:12 . Driven from Paris and Meaux , " they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word ." Acts 8:4 . And thus the light found its way into many of the remote provinces of France . God was still preparing workers to extend His cause . In one of the schools of Paris was a thoughtful , quiet youth , already giving evidence of a powerful and penetrating mind , and no less marked for the blamelessness of his life than for intellectual ardour and religious devotion . His genius and application soon made him the pride of the college , and it was confidently anticipated that John Calvin would become one of the ablest and most honoured defenders of the church . But a ray of divine light penetrated even within the walls of scholasticism and superstition by which Calvin was enclosed . He heard of the new doctrines with a shudder , nothing doubting that the heretics deserved the fire to which they were given . Yet all unwittingly he was brought face to face with the heresy and forced to test the power of Romish theology to combat the Protestant teaching .
A cousin of Calvin ' s , who had joined the Reformers , was in Paris . The two kinsmen often met and discussed together the matters that were disturbing Christendom . " There are but two religions in the world ," said Olivetan , the Protestant . " The one class of religions are those which men have invented , in all of which man saves himself by ceremonies and good works ; the other is that one religion which is revealed in the Bible , and which teaches man to look for salvation solely from the free grace of God ."
" I will have none of your new doctrines ," exclaimed Calvin ; " think you that I have lived in error all my days ?" --Wylie , b . 13 , ch . 7 . But thoughts had been awakened in his mind which he could not banish at will . Alone in his chamber he pondered upon his cousin ' s words . Conviction of sin fastened upon him ; he saw himself , without an intercessor , in the presence of a holy and just Judge . The mediation of saints , good works , the ceremonies of the church , all were powerless to atone for sin . He could see before him nothing but the blackness of eternal despair . In vain the
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