mass were in one night posted all over France . Instead of advancing the reform , this zealous but ill-judged movement brought ruin , not only upon its propagators , but upon the friends of the reformed faith throughout France . It gave the Romanists what they had long desired — a pretext for demanding the utter destruction of the heretics as agitators dangerous to the stability of the throne and the peace of the nation .
By some secret hand — whether of indiscreet friend or wily foe was never known — one of the placards was attached to the door of the king ’ s private chamber . The monarch was filled with horror . In this paper , superstitions that had received the veneration of ages were attacked with an unsparing hand . And the unexampled boldness of obtruding these plain and startling utterances into the royal presence aroused the wrath of the king . In his amazement he stood for a little time trembling and speechless . Then his rage found utterance in the terrible words : “ Let all be seized without distinction who are suspected of Lutheresy . I will exterminate them all .— Ibid ., b . 4 , ch . 10 . The die was cast . The king had determined to throw himself fully on the side of Rome .
Measures were at once taken for the arrest of every Lutheran in Paris . A poor artisan , an adherent of the reformed faith , who had been accustomed to summon the believers to their secret assemblies , was seized and , with the threat of instant death at the stake , was commanded to conduct the papal emissary to the home of every Protestant in the city . He shrank in horror from the base proposal , but at last fear of the flames prevailed , and he consented to become the betrayer of his brethren . Preceded by the host , and surrounded by a train of priests , incense bearers , monks , and soldiers , Morin , the royal detective , with the traitor , slowly and silently passed through the streets of the city . The demonstration was ostensibly in honor of the “ holy sacrament ,” an act of expiation for the insult put upon the mass by the protesters . But beneath this pageant a deadly purpose was
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