The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 171

The European Union in Prophecy
Calvin was still in Paris, preparing himself by study, meditation, and prayer for
his future labors, 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 laborer who was a
friend to the reform, he disguised himself in the garments of his host, and, shouldering
a hoe, started on his journey. Traveling southward, he again found refuge in the
dominions of Margaret. (See D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the
Time of Calvin, b. 2, ch. 30.)
Here for a few months he remained, safe under the protection of powerful friends,
and engaged as before in study. But his heart was set upon the evangelization of
France, and he could not long remain inactive. As soon as the storm had somewhat
abated, he sought a new field of labor in Poitiers, where was a university, and where
already the new opinions had found favor. Persons of all classes gladly listened to the
gospel. There was no public preaching, but in the home of the chief magistrate, in his
own lodgings, and sometimes in a public garden, Calvin opened the words of eternal
life to those who desired to listen. After a time, as the number of hearers increased, it
was thought safer to assemble outside the city. A cave in the side of a deep and narrow
gorge, where trees and overhanging rocks made the seclusion still more complete, was
chosen as the place of 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.
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