Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I to Edict of Nantes - James Aitken Wylie

The first Church to be thus constituted was in
Paris; "where," says Laval, "the fires never went
out." At that time the disciples of the Gospel were
wont to meet in the house of M. de la Ferriere, a
wealthy gentleman of Maine, who had come to
reside in the capital. M. de la Ferriere had a child
whom he wished to have baptized, and as he could
not present him to the priests for that purpose, nor
undertake a journey to Geneva, he urged the
Christians, who were wont to assemble in his
house, to elect one of themselves to the office of
pastor, with power to administer the Sacraments.
They were at last prevailed upon, and, after prayer
and fasting, their choice fell on Jean Maqon de la
Riviere. IIe was the son of the king's attorney at
Angers, a rich man, but a bitter enemy of
Protestantism. He was so offended at his son for
embracing the Reformed faith, that he would have
given him up to the judges, had he not fled to Paris.
The sacrifice which M. de la Riviere had made to
preserve the purity of his conscience, fixed the eyes
of the little flock upon him. In him we behold the
first pastor of the Reformed Church of France,[13]
elected forty years after Lefevre had first opened
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