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 clamour of theological disputation , Calvin was making his way from house to house , opening 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 antechambers 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 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 labours , 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 labourer who was a friend to the reform , he
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