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 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."(336) 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 shrunk in
horror from the base proposal, but at last fear of the flames prevailed,
and he consented to become the b