You will remember how many times William Farel had made vain attempts to get an entrance into Lausanne. The old city, with its proud bishop and its grand cathedral, its army of bigoted priests and ignorant monks, had again and again closed its gates against the gospel of the grace of God; but now the Pays de Vaud was in the hands of Berne, and the Bishop of Lausanne had fled. “They gave me a warm welcome at Friburg,” he wrote to his nephew, “and, I promise you, we are having good cheer.” The Bernese declared that Lausanne should have a bishop no more. They entered the town in triumph, and took possession of it in the name of the lords of Berne.
Lausanne, like Geneva, was now a free city.
The Council of Berne determined that the priests of Lausanne should be brought face to face with William Farel and Peter Viret, and any other gospellers who were able to “give a reason of the hope that was in them.” Farel had longed for this opportunity, and had told the council of his desire. They fixed the 1st of October for the beginning of the discussion. This would allow the priests plenty of time to find able speakers.
In vain did the Emperor Charles V write to the Council of Lausanne and to the Council of Berne to forbid these proceedings. The little Swiss cities turned a deaf ear to the great emperor who had Europe at his feet. And the emperor was just then too busy with his invasion of France to be able to attend to such small matters as the disrespect of Berne and Lausanne.
And now let us take a journey to the beautiful old city on the vine-clad hills of the Pays de Vaud, looking down on the blue lake of Geneva far below. High up on those green hills we see the towers of the great cathedral. All around are the old buildings where the bishop, the priests, and the monks had “had good cheer,” and had thundered forth threatenings and slaughter against Lutheran heretics. We see churches and convents rising above the quaint steep roofs on the hill-side. In one of these convents Peter Viret has been preaching for some months back, for the lords of Berne had demanded it from the Council of Lausanne. We see, across the still waters of the lake, the blue mountains with their snowy peaks, range behind range, till they seem to be lost in the white clouds, and we cannot tell which is cloud and which is snow. And down the steep hill-sides we see the sunny vineyards and green shady meadows. In the dark corner of one of the steep, winding streets some ill-looking fellows are waiting for the heretics from Geneva. They have been posted there by the priests to murder them.
But the heretics came in such a strong force that the murderers durst not attack them. Moreover, their plot having reached the ears of the council, they were arrested and sentenced. But the “heretics” entreated for mercy for these poor men, who knew not what they did, thereupon they were pardoned.
On Sunday morning, October 1st, the great cathedral of Lausanne was filled from end to end. Scaffoldings were put up all around to seat the immense multitude. They were interspersed with the painting and gilding, the jewelery and the pomp of the old times. And posted up on every side were the sentences concerning which the disputation was to be held. Let us read the first sentence:
“The Holy Scripture teaches no other way of being justified, save by faith in Jesus Christ, offered up once for all, and never to be offered again; insomuch that he who puts forward any other satisfaction for the remission of sins utterly abolishes the truth which Christ has revealed.”
William Farel stands up. He says that the Lord Jesus Christ “came down into this miserable world in order that by Him we should have salvation and life. For this end He died that He might gather in one the elect people of God. Satan’s work is to scatter the sheep. The work of the Lord Jesus is to gather them.” He then asked for prayer “that the truth alone might be victorious; that the weakness and foolishness of those who speak the truth might hinder none from owning it; that all hearts might be turned to the Great Shepherd of the sheep who gave His life for His poor people; that none might seek their own honor and glory, but only that Christ should be known and owned.” And having prayed together, they separated till the next morning.
At seven o’clock on Monday the cathedral was again filled. The varied costumes showed from how many different places the hearers had come. In the center of the cathedral were ranged the speakers on both sides—Farel, Viret, Calvin, Marcourt, and Caroli! This time Caroli was a gospeller; but Farel saw him arrive with sorrow and distrust. On the other side an array of about 174 priests, and monks in addition.
Farel stood up. He read the first sentence which was posted up. “The heavens and the earth may pass away,” he said, “but the word of the Lord cannot pass away. If, then, that word shows us no other righteousness than that which is by faith in Christ, it follows as absolutely certain that there is no other righteousness. By being made righteous we understand that sin is put away, that God imputes it to us no more. As a prisoner brought before the judge is acquitted, so God, having put away our sin, acquits us. And he, who thus receives remission of sins, is counted righteous before God, as though he had never committed any sins at all.”
I have not here the space to tell you all that Farel said further. He spoke of the work which put sin away—the work done by Jesus on the cross—the work which is dishonored and disowned by all mention of purgatory or penance, absolutions and indulgences, and specially by the “perpetual sacrifice” of the mass. He desired someone to read the 11th chapter of Hebrews and the 15th of the Acts; and this being done, the priests were called upon to give their answer.
A priest rose up to speak for the rest. He said the Scriptures commanded peace, and forbade disputings. A disputation is therefore a sinful act of disobedience. They would rather bear in silence the reproach of being beaten in argument, than take upon themselves to decide questions which could only be decided by the universal church. They would thus be bearing the cross in meekness and humility.
Farel then spoke at length, being interrupted several times by an angry monk. “It is now your turn,” said Farel, fixing his eyes on the monk. “Stand up, and prove what you have preached during the past Lent here in Lausanne.”
The monk said he would not do so, except before competent judges. Peter Viret remarked that the Word of God was the best judge. The monk replied, “The church is above the Bible; for the Bible would have no authority, except that it is approved by the church.”
“That is as much as to say,” said Viret, “that God is not to be believed except as He is approved by men. And what judge do you desire better than one who is infallible? It is God who speaks in His Word.”
“That is no answer,” said the monk. “Anyone can quote the Bible: you explain it in your way, and I in mine: who is to say which is right? The devil quoted Scripture when he tempted Jesus. One must not only quote Scripture rightly, but interpret it rightly.”
Viret replied that the best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture itself; and that the right interpretation must always be that which honors Christ, and makes Him to be all in all—not that which honors man, and, moreover, puts money into his pocket. “And that you say that the devil quoted Scripture,” he added, "furnishes me with a weapon wherewith to smite you. For the Lord Jesus did not therefore throw contempt on Scripture, but confounded Satan by replying out of Scripture. If, therefore, the Lord did so, you ought not to refuse thus to answer us. For you are not greater than Jesus, nor are we devils, but Christian brethren.”
But the monk stood firm. No one should persuade him to dispute with heretics. The church had forbidden it, and the church must be obeyed. Thus, the chronicle tells us, he persisted in refusing to speak, except to give reasons for not speaking, until at eleven o’clock the bell rang for dinner, and the meeting adjourned.
The next day, Tuesday, a singular looking person stood up on the Catholic side. It was plain from his dress that he was neither a priest nor a monk.
“Noble, honorable, and respected gentlemen,” he said, “I am a physician, and my profession is medicine, not theology. Therefore it is not my place to discuss these matters. But as you benevolently permit each one to speak his mind, I will speak mine. Those gentlemen have said that by faith in Jesus Christ a man is justified. If this were true (which is not in the Scripture at all), the devils would of necessity be saved. For St. James says the devils believe. If they believe, they have faith. They must, then, in consequence be saved.”
The physician further said that whilst we do not find in Scripture that we are saved by faith, we find four ways by which we may be saved. 1st. By grace. Of this word the physician did not know the meaning; he seems to have thought, in a vague way, that it was some quality which some men possess, which renders them pleasing to God. In any case it was a different thing from faith. 2. By love. Of this, he said Mary Magdalen (he meant the woman in Luke 7) was an example; for it was said her sins were forgiven because she loved much. 3. By keeping the commandments, as the Lord said, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matt. 19). 4. By baptism, as it is written,” Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven.”
Farel stood up. “One may be a physician,” he said, “and a theologian at the same time. St. Luke was a physician, but he was learned as to the faith that is in Christ, which is the true theology. As to your objections-1. St. Paul said, ‘A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.’ This does not contradict St. James, who says ‘Faith without works is dead,’ for St. Paul speaks of true faith. He who has true faith, believing that Jesus died to save him, can understand those words of Jesus,' God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ He sees the great love wherewith God loved us, even when we were His enemies. The devils never believe that. They do not believe Jesus died for them, nor do those men who have a dead faith believe it either. But he who has true faith in that love of God cannot but love God in return. If he loves Him he will keep His commandments.
“2. As to being saved by grace, it is perfectly true, it is by grace. But we receive that salvation by faith.
“3. As to love, and the case of that woman in Luke 7, we have there a plainer proof than ever of what I have just said. And none can say it more plainly than Jesus there says it, when He explains why the sinful woman loved Him so much. 'Because much had been forgiven her.’ And that this was by faith He declares also, for He said, 'Go in peace, thy faith hath saved thee.’
“4. When the Lord said to the lawyer, 'If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments,’ He was putting him in the road by which he would be forced to come to Christ, namely, by finding out how utterly incapable he was of keeping the law. He would thus be driven, as it were, to Christ, 'who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth’ Before we can do one thing that pleases God, we must believe unto righteousness. Then follow the works by which our faith is shown.
“5. As to baptism, he who believes not is damned, his baptism is not owned by God, nor is his person accepted.” (Farel seems to have thought that the text in John 3, "born of water and of the Spirit,” referred to baptism. In this he was in need of further teaching. But in the main his answer was a right one.) He spoke some time longer, till the eleven o’clock bell rang.
In the afternoon our friend the physician, whose name was Blancherose, again stood up.
“I was not satisfied,” he said, “this morning by the answer of Master William Farel. I do not know whether I expressed myself rightly, but as to what I meant to say I would walk into the fire to prove that it is true. And in case anyone should think me forward and presuming, I beg to say that I have traveled in several countries, and have taught in several great towns and universities in France. I have even been physician to the king, and later to the Princess of Orange. You know that presumptuous impostors are not put into such high positions. And, gentlemen, I am ready to deliver up into your hands some of my scholars, to the number of seven, that you may make them prisoners, if I do not prove what I am now going to say.”
The Chancellor of Berne refused this generous offer, and told Blancherose he might speak further as to the morning’s subject, but keep for the present to that.
Blancherose proceeded to say that it was easily seen by 1 Corinthians 13 that we are saved by charity; for we are there told that charity is greater than faith. Farel replied, “I leave it to our friends to judge the soundness of your argument, ‘Charity is greater than faith and hope, therefore we are not saved by faith.’ You might as well say, ‘The sky is greater than the sun, therefore the sun does not give light.’”
“You say, then,” said Blancherose, indignantly, “that it is quite enough for me to believe. I may live all my life like a burglar, and it will not matter if I only believe! In that case we never need do anything right, but do all the evil we can, if we are to be saved in that way by faith without works!”
Farel answered, “St. Paul was thus blasphemed when he preached of God’s love, and of righteousness by faith, and how where sin abounded grace did much more abound. He was blamed by those who understood nothing of the grace of God. For he who knows what grace is, and who truly believes, will never speak as you have done. He who knows himself to be a poor lost sinner, deserving nothing but hell, and who believes that, instead of hell, God has given him His holy and blessed Son to be punished in his stead, such an one will never desire to live in sin, nor to displease the God who has so loved him. Faith is not saying with the lips, ‘I believe,’ but it is the full assurance of the heart that knows certainly that God has completely forgiven us, on account of the work of His Son who died for us. Read,” continued Farel, turning to one near him, “read Romans 3, from the ninth verse to the end.”
The book was opened, and the solemn words were read.
Let me entreat you, before you go on with this history to read them too. You need them, it may be, as much as the poor physician. And they were written for you as much as for him.
“And now,” said Farel, “behold how we are saved—freely, undeservingly, and without the works of the law!”
Blancherose replied, “I do not believe it is written so.”
A Bible was at once handed to Blancherose—an ancient Bible in manuscript, bound in parchment, taken from the Franciscan convent. The passage was found for him. The wonderful words were pointed out to him.
Yes, they were there—“A man is justified by faith, without the works of the law.”
Blancherose stood like one amazed. “Yes,” he said, “it is true. A man is justified by faith.” And another verse came into his mind—“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” Blancherose sat down for the present, and said no more.
The schoolmaster of Veney now rose up. He said that “without the deeds of the law” might mean without keeping the law of Moses, the forms and ceremonies of the Jews. There were the New Testament commandments: we must surely keep them in order to be saved. Farel said, “My brother, you need to know what is the true condition of the poor unsaved sinner—a bad tree that cannot bring forth good fruit. Think what it is to keep the commandments of God—not with the hands and the tongue only, but with the heart. Nothing short of perfect obedience can stand before God. God asks not the half of your heart, but the whole — ‘Be perfect, even as your Father that is in Heaven is perfect.’ Can you, with your evil heart, keep that commandment? Take a poor sick man out of his bed, tell him to take a walk, and eat a good dinner, as if he were well. You would by that means kill him. The things you tell him to do are all very well if he were in health. But to him they are death. Read Romans, chapter 7, from verse seven to the end.”
The passage was read.
“You see, my friend, there must be a surer way of being saved than keeping the law. Read now Romans 8, first four verses.”
They were read also.
And Farel then spoke on. But a priest made the old objections till the night came on. And thus the second day ended.
The third day the priests again stood up to oppose. This free forgiveness, given to those who had done nothing to deserve it, would be, alas! they said, the means of encouraging men to live in sin. There would be an end of good works and holy living, for why should any man care to do right?
“As to these disastrous consequences,” said Farel, “I would to God that the canons, priests, and monks had caused no more scandal by their words and actions than this blessed truth has caused.”
But Farel spoke to many deaf ears. And if you tell the same blessed truth to your friends and neighbors, you will find that Blancherose and the priests, and the men and women of “Protestant England,” will, for the most part, speak the same language, and will cling to the hope so dear to the natural heart, the hope of making ourselves fit for Heaven and pleasing to God. You have had this hope, too, if you have it no longer; and if you have it still, you will find it as hard to cast it away, and to trust yourself to Christ alone, as did any priest in the Cathedral of Lausanne.
I cannot here tell you all the objections brought forward by the priests. But, as I have just been saying, you may hear the very same objections every day, amongst your own acquaintance. And the argument may be summed up in few words—which comes first, the tree or the fruit? Life or action? Fire or warmth?
In due time the second sentence was read. “Jesus is the One High Priest and Intercessor for His church.” But on this head the priests had no answer to make.
The third sentence was as follows: “The Holy Scripture owns as the Church of God those, and those only, who confess themselves to be redeemed solely and entirely by the blood of Jesus—those who believe only in His word, and take their stand upon it, knowing that the Savior is absent from us, as to His bodily presence, but dwelling in His church, filling it, ruling it, and animating it by the Holy Ghost.”
The priests opposed this. Christ, they said, was present in body in the bread.
They were chiefly answered by Peter Viret. The whole of the priests were then addressed by the Chancellor of Berne. He said that if any were now convinced of the truth, they were called upon to sign these three sentences. They might then “return home and preach the gospel,” or they might stay to the end of the discussion. Those who refused to sign must stay, and must defend their opinions. Many retired into the choir of the cathedral to sign their names. They said they were convinced. Those who refused to sign, refused also to speak.
But the Chancellor of Berne would not accept their “trifling.” Speak they must.
The doctor and the schoolmaster were more ready to give their reasons, but it would not be worth while to relate all that they said. The doctor’s argument was chiefly that we may readily believe the bread is changed into the body of Christ, since an egg by being hatched, is changed into a chicken.
Farel and Calvin then spoke at length, and a silence followed.
Then a monk rose up. “My very dear brethren,” he said, “St. Matthew says in his 12th chapter, that for those who sin against the Holy Spirit there is no forgiveness. I, therefore, desire not to commit this sin, which is the sin of resisting the truth of God. I here confess that I have been for a long while blind and deceived. I thought I was serving God, when I was only serving men. And now I see I have no head but Jesus only. I see that there is no remission of sins, but by Him alone. I ask pardon of God for all the evil that I have done. I ask your pardon that I have taught you so badly. Forgive me, for I need your forgiveness.” And so saying, he threw off his monk’s frock, never to be worn again.
Farel rose up. “O how great, how good, how wise is our God!” he said. “He has had pity on the poor sheep that was straying in the wilderness, and He has brought it home to His holy flock. Let us thank our Lord together. Let us receive our new brother, for whom Christ has died, as Christ has received us. Let us reproach him for nothing that is passed, but as God has washed his sins from His remembrance, so also let us remember them no more.”
After this the doctor was left single-handed to answer the gospellers. This, he said, was a task beyond the strength of Hercules. And the priests were, he said, becoming impatient as day after day the discussion went on. They complained that their bills at the inns of Lausanne were becoming ruinous, and that it was useless for them to remain, as they were not learned enough to dispute. However, with the help of the doctor, they carried on the discussion till Sunday evening. Farel then preached to the whole assembly, and all the priests returned on the following day to their homes.
But some returned to preach the Saviour they had heard of at Lausanne, and amongst those truly converted to God were some who had at first been the chief speakers on the side of Rome. On no occasion of a public discussion had so many sinners been saved.
And now began the great work which was to prove that Lausanne, too, had received the gospel. The altars and images, the holy vessels of the priests, the robes and the jewelery, were carried forth from the cathedral and the churches, as the idols from the cities of Israel. The images and crucifixes were broken in pieces. The great image called by the priests “Our Lady of Lausanne,” by the gospellers, “Diana of the Ephesians,” was reduced to atoms.
An inventory was made of the vessels and ornaments, literally “the merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen and purple, and silk and scarlet, and all thyinewood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble.”
Any persons who had given these ornaments to the churches, or whose parents or grandparents had given them, might claim them as family property. But the remainder was of such enormous value, that in addition to the value of church lands, a sum was paid into the treasury of Berne, which served for the founding of hospitals and colleges, and for a fund for the poor of the Pays de Vaud. Besides this, the old canons were allowed a pension for the remainder of their lives.
It was with this treasure that the present college, the Academy of Lausanne, was founded and endowed. And now let us return with Farel to Geneva.