y observed in
the Roman Catholic Church. On the birth of his child, he set before the
little band of his fellow-believers his reluctance to countenance the
corruptions of that church, and his inability to go elsewhere in search
of a purer sacrament. He adjured them to meet his exigency and that of
other parents, by the consecration of one of their own number as a
minister. He denounced the anger of the Almighty if they suffered his
child to die without a participation in the ordinance instituted by the
Master whom they professed to serve. So earnest an appeal could not be
resisted. After fasting and earnest prayer the choice was made
(September, 1555). John le Macon, surnamed La Riviere, was a youth of
Angers, twenty-two years of age, who for religion's sake had forsaken
home, wealth, and brilliant prospects of advancement. He had narrowly
escaped the clutches of the magistrates, to whom his own father, in his
anger, would have given him up. This person was now set apart as the
first reformed minister of Paris. A brief constitution for the nascent
church was adopted. A consistory of elders and deacons was established.
In this simple manner were laid the foundations of a church destined to
serve as the prototype of a multitude of others soon to arise in all
parts of France.[609] It was not the least remarkable circumstance
attending its origin, that it arose in the midst of the most hostile
populace in France, and at a time when the introduction of a new and
more odious form of inquisition was under serious consideration. Nor can
the thoughtful student of history regard it in any other light than that
of a Providential interposition in its behalf, that for two years the
infant church was protected from the fate of extermination that
threatened it, by the rise of a fresh war between France and Spain--a
war originating in the perfidy of the Pope and of Henry the Second, the
two great enemies of the reformed doctrines in France--and terminating
in a peace ignominious to the royal persecutor.

[Sidenote: The example followed in the provinces.]

[Sidenote: The fagot still reigns.]

The signal given by Paris was welcomed in the provinces. In rapid
succession organized churches arose in Meaux, Angers, Poitiers, Bourges,
Issoudun, Aubigny, Blois, Tours, Pau, and Troyes--all within the compass
of two years.[610] The Protestants, thirsting for the preaching of the
Word of God, turned their eyes toward Geneva, Neufchatel, and Lau