From Rise of Protestantism in France to Publication of the Institutes - James Aitken Wylie

prayer, handed round the bread and cup, of which
all partook, even as in the upper room at Jerusalem
sixteen centuries before. The place had none of the
grandeurs of cathedral, but "the glory of God and
the Lamb" lent it beauty. No chant of priest, no
swell of organ accompanied the service, but the
devotion of contrite hearts, in fellowship with
Christ, was ascending from that rocky chamber,
and coming up before the throne in heaven.
Often since have the children of the
Reformation assembled in the dens and caves, in
the forests, wildernesses, and mountains of France,
to sing their psalm and celebrate their worship; and
He who disdains the gorgeous temple, which
unholy rites defile, has been present with them,
turning the solitude of the low-browed cave into an
august presence-chamber, in which they have seen
the glory and heard the voice of the Eternal.
Calvin now saw, as the fruit of his labors, a
little Protestant congregation in Poictiers. This did
not content him; he desired to make this young
Church a basis of evangelisation for the
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