History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume III Part 63

"To live according to any other precepts than those of Christ, leads directly to impiety.

"The real ministry of priests is to attend to the ministering of the Word; and for them there is no higher dignity.

"To deprive the glad-tidings of Christ of their certainty, is to destroy them.

"He who hopes to be justified by his own power, and by his own merits, and not by faith, sets himself up as G.o.d.

"Jesus Christ, whom all things obey, is our polestar, and the only star that we ought to follow."[952]

[952] Gulielmus Farellus Christianis lectoribus, die Martis post Reminiscere. Fussli Beytr. iv. 247. Fussli does not give the Latin text.

Thus did this "Frenchman" stand up in Basle.[953] It was a child of the mountains of Dauphiny, brought up in Paris at the feet of Lefevre, who thus boldly set forth in that ill.u.s.trious university of Switzerland, and in the presence of Erasmus, the great principles of the Reformation. Two leading ideas pervaded Farel's theses: one, that of a return to Holy Scripture; the other, of a return to faith: two things which the Papacy at the beginning of the 18th century distinctly condemned as impious and heretical in the famous const.i.tution _Unigenitus_, and which, closely connected with each other, do in fact subvert the whole of the papal system. If faith in Christ is the beginning and end of Christianity, it follows that we must cleave to the Word of Christ, and not to the voice of the Church.

Nay more: if faith in Christ unites souls, where is the necessity of an external bond? Is it with croziers, bulls, and tiaras, that their holy unity is formed? Faith joins in spiritual and true unity all those in whose hearts it takes up its abode. Thus vanished at a single blow the triple delusion of meritorious works, human traditions, and false unity; and this is the sum of Roman-catholicism.

[953] Schedam conclusionum a Gallo illo. Zw. Epp. p. 333.

[Sidenote: THE DISPUTATION--MEEKNESS AND IMPETUOSITY.]

The disputation began in Latin.[954] Farel and colampadius set forth and proved their articles, calling repeatedly on their adversaries to reply; but not one of them appeared. These sophists, as colampadius terms them, acted the braggart,--but in dark holes and corners.[955] The people, therefore, began to despise the cowardice of the priests, and to detest their tyranny.[956]

[954] Schedam conclusionum Latine apud nos disputatam. Zw. Epp. p.

333.

[955] Agunt tamen magnos interim thrasones sed in angulis lucifugae.

Ibid.

[956] Incipit tamen plebs paulatim illorum ignaviam et tyrannidem verbo Dei agnoscere. Ibid.

Thus Farel took his stand among the defenders of the Reformation. They were greatly delighted to see a Frenchman combine so much learning and piety, and already began to antic.i.p.ate the n.o.blest triumphs. "He is strong enough," said they, "to destroy the whole Sorbonne single-handed."[957] His candour, sincerity, and frankness captivated every heart.[958] But amidst all his activity, he did not forget that every mission should begin with our own souls. The gentle colampadius made a compact with the ardent Farel, by which they mutually engaged to practise humility and meekness in their familiar conversations. These bold men, even on the field of battle, were fitting themselves for the duties of peace. It should be observed, however, that the impetuosity of a Luther and a Farel were necessary virtues. Some effort is required when the world is to be moved and the Church renovated. In our days we are too apt to forget this truth, which the meekest men then acknowledged. "There are certain men,"

wrote colampadius to Luther when introducing Farel to him, "who would have his zeal against the enemies of the truth more moderate; but I cannot help seeing in this same zeal an admirable virtue, which, if seasonably exerted, is no less needed than gentleness itself."[959]

Posterity has ratified the judgment of colampadius.

[957] Ad totam Sorbonicam affligendam si non et perdendam. col.

Luthero, Epp. p. 200.

[958] Farello nihil candidius est. Ibid.

[959] Verum ego virtutem illam admirabilem et non minus placiditate, si tempestive fuerit, necessariam. Ibid.

[Sidenote: FAREL AT STRASBURG.]

In the month of May 1524, Farel, with some friends from Lyons, visited Schaffhausen, Zurich, and Constance. Zwingle and Myconius gladly welcomed this exile from France, and Farel remembered their kindness all his life. But on his return to Basle he found Erasmus and his other enemies at work, and received orders to quit the city. In vain did his friends loudly give utterance to their displeasure at such an abuse of authority; he was compelled to quit the territory of Switzerland, already, at this early period, the asylum and refuge of the persecuted. "It is thus we exercise hospitality," said the indignant colampadius, "we true children of Sodom!"[960]

[960] Adeo hospitum habemus rationem, veri Sodomitae. Zw. Epp. p. 434.

At Basle, Farel had contracted a close friendship with the Chevalier Esch, who resolved to bear him company, and they set out with letters for Luther and Capito from colampadius, to whom the doctor of Basle commended Farel as "that William who had toiled so much in the work of G.o.d."[961] At Strasburg, Farel formed an intimacy with Capito, Bucer, and Hedio; but it does not appear that he went so far as Wittemberg.

[961] Gulielmus ille qui tam probe navavit operam. Zw. et col.

Epp. p. 175.

CHAPTER XI.

New Campaign--Farel's Call to the Ministry--An Outpost--Lyons--Sebville at Gren.o.ble--Conventicles--Preaching at Lyons--Maigret in Prison--Margaret intimidated.

[Sidenote: NEW CAMPAIGN--FAREL CALLED.]

G.o.d usually withdraws his servants from the field of battle, only to bring them back stronger and better armed. Farel and his friends of Meaux, Metz, Lyons, and Dauphiny, driven from France by persecution, had been retempered in Switzerland and Germany among the elder reformers; and now, like an army at first dispersed by the enemy, but immediately rallied, they were turning round and marching forward in the name of the Lord. It was not only on the frontiers that these friends of the Gospel were a.s.sembling; in France also they were regaining courage, and preparing to renew the attack. The bugles were already sounding the reveille; the soldiers were girding on their arms, and gathering together to multiply their attacks; their leaders were planning the order of battle; the signal, "Jesus, his Word, and his grace," more potent in the hour of battle than the sound of warlike music, filled all hearts with the same enthusiasm; and everything was preparing in France for a second campaign, to be signalized by new victories, and new and greater reverses.

Montbeliard was then calling for a labourer in the Gospel. The youthful Duke Ulrich of Wurtemberg, a violent and cruel prince, having been dispossessed of his states by the Swabian league in 1519, had taken refuge in this earldom, his only remaining possession. In Switzerland he became acquainted with the reformers; his misfortunes had proved salutary to him; and he took delight in the Gospel.[962]

colampadius intimated to Farel that a door was opened at Montbeliard, and the latter secretly repaired to Basle.

[962] Le prince qui avoit cognoissance de l'Evangile. Farel, Summaire, c'est a dire, brieve declaration de G. Farel, in the concluding part.

[Sidenote: THE MINISTRY--THE GOSPEL AND NOT THE FATHERS.]

Farel had not regularly entered on the ministry of the Word; but we find in him, at this period of his life, all that is necessary to const.i.tute a minister of the Lord. He did not lightly and of his own prompting enter the service of the Church. "Considering my weakness,"

said he, "I should not have dared preach, waiting for the Lord to send more suitable persons."[963] But G.o.d at this time addressed him in a threefold call. As soon as he had reached Basle, colampadius, touched with the wants of France, entreated him to devote himself to it. "Behold," said he, "how little is Jesus Christ known to all those who speak the French language. Will you not give them some instruction in their own tongue, that they may better understand the Scriptures?"[964] At the same time, the people of Montbeliard invited him among them, and the prince gave his consent to this call.[965]

Was not this a triple call from G.o.d?......"I did not think," said he, "that it was lawful for me to resist. I obeyed in G.o.d's name."[966]

Concealed in the house of colampadius, struggling against the responsibility offered to him, and yet obliged to submit to so clear a manifestation of the will of G.o.d, Farel accepted this charge, and colampadius set him apart, calling upon the name of the Lord,[967]

and addressing his friend in language full of wisdom. "The more you are inclined to violence," said he, "the more should you practise gentleness; temper your lion's courage with the meekness of the dove."[968] Farel responded to this appeal with all his soul.

[963] Ibid.

[964] Ibid.

[965] Etant requis et demande du peuple et du consentement du prince.

Summaire.

[966] Farel, Summaire.

[967] Avec l'invocation du nom de Dieu. Ibid.

[968] Leoninam magnanimitatem columbina modestia frangas. Epp. p. 198.

Thus Farel, once the zealous follower of the old Church, was about to become a servant of G.o.d in the new. If Rome imperatively requires in a valid ordination the imposition of the hands of a bishop who descends from the apostles in uninterrupted succession, it is because she places human traditions above the Word of G.o.d. In every church where the authority of the Word is not absolute, some other authority must needs be sought. And then, what is more natural than to ask of the most venerated of G.o.d's ministers, that which they cannot find in G.o.d himself? If we do not speak in the name of Jesus Christ, is it not something at least to speak in the name of Saint John or of Saint Paul? He who speaks in the name of antiquity is stronger than the rationalist who speaks only in his own name. But the christian minister has a still higher authority: he preaches, not because he descends from St. Chrysostom or St. Peter, but because the Word that he proclaims comes down from G.o.d himself. The idea of succession,[969]

venerable as it may appear, is not the less a human system, subst.i.tuted for the system of G.o.d. In Farel's ordination there was no human succession. Nay more: we do not see in it that which is necessary in the Lord's fold, where every thing should be done _decently and in order_, and whose G.o.d _is not a G.o.d of confusion_.

He was not regularly ordained by the Church: but extraordinary times justify extraordinary measures. At this memorable epoch G.o.d himself interposed. He consecrated by marvellous dispensations those whom he called to the regeneration of the world. In Farel's ordination we see the infallible Word of G.o.d, given to a man of G.o.d, that he might bear it to the world,--the call of G.o.d and of the people,--the consecration of the heart, and a solemn appointment by one of the ministers of the Church; and all this was the best subst.i.tute of which his case admitted for the full and formal seal of the Church on his ministry.

Farel took his departure for Montbeliard in company with Esch.

[969] See vol. I. page 2.

[Sidenote: AN ADVANCED POST.]

Farel thus found himself stationed as it were at an advanced post.