Rise and Establishment of Protestantism at Geneva - James Aitken Wylie

the tempest. Nevertheless they would do their duty.
The pastors expounded the nature of the Lord's
Supper; they described the dispositions required in
those who would worthily partake of it; and
appealing to the disorders which had reigned in the
city in the past weeks, in proof that these were not
the dispositions of the majority of those now
assembled, they concluded by intimating that this
day the Holy Supper would not be dispensed.
Hereupon, outcries drowned the voice of the
preachers. The uproar was specially great in St.
Gervais; swords were unsheathed, and furious men
rushed toward the pulpit. Farel waited with his
arms crossed. He had long since learned to look on
angry faces without trembling. Calvin in St. Peter's
was equally resolute. Sooner should his blood dye
the boards he stood upon, than he would be guilty
of the profanation demanded of him. "We protest
before you all," he said, "that we are not obstinate
about the question of bread, leavened or
unleavened; that is a matter of indifference, which
is left to the discretion of the Church. If we decline
to administer the Lord's Supper, it is because we
are in a great difficulty, which prompts us to this
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