In the centre they could see, in the moonlight, a body of some seventy or eighty people gathered.
Standing upon the trunk of a fallen tree was a minister who was addressing them.
"My brethren," he was saying, when they could catch his words, "this is the last time we shall meet here.

We know that suspicions have already arisen that we are holding meetings, and that we do so at the peril of our lives.

The search for me has been hot, for some days; and though I am willing enough to give my life in the cause of our Lord, I would not bring destruction upon you, at the present moment.

Were the prospects hopeless, I should say, 'let us continue together here, till the last;' but the sky is clearing, and it may be that, ere long, freedom of worship may be proclaimed throughout France.

Therefore it is better that, for a time, we should abstain from gathering ourselves together.