Rise and Establishment of Protestantism at Geneva - James Aitken Wylie

departed from. One day, when Farel entered the
pulpit, a most extraordinary scene presented itself.
He beheld three adults only present, while the
church was nearly filled with children – "brats."
The latter lay perfectly flat as if sound asleep. But
the moment Farel began to preach they jumped up,
as puppets do when the string is pulled, and began
to sing and dance, to laugh and scream. Farel's
voice was completely drowned by the noise. This
scene continued for some time; at length the little
ragamuffins made their exit in an uproar of
screaming and howling. Farel was now left in
quiet, but with no one to listen to him. "And this,"
says a Popish chronicler, "was the first sermon
preached in the town of Orbe."[3]
Nevertheless the Reformer persevered. Soon a
small but select number of converts gathered round
him, some of them of good position in society. On
Pentecost, the 28th of May, Farel celebrated the
Lord's Supper, for the first time in Orbe, to a little
congregation of seven. Having preached in the
morning, the bread and wine were placed on the
table, and the communicants received them
59