The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 225

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.
The French Reformers, eager to see their country keeping pace with
Germany and Switzerland, determined to strike a bold blow against the
superstitions of Rome, that should arouse the whole nation. Accordingly
placards attacking the

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