You can now have some idea what sort of people were the Huguenots of Geneva; and you can understand that there was by the time the bishop left, far more real faith and light amongst them, than at the time when William Farel first came to Geneva a year before. There were many of them who had truly turned to God. At the same time you will perhaps have remarked that they had no small faith in man’s power and strength. “The word of God,” the “Sword of the Spirit,” was not the only weapon to which they betook themselves.
If they trusted in God, they trusted perhaps equally in the protection of Berne. But, alas! we find in ourselves too much of the same trust in an arm of flesh. If we blame the Huguenots, we are at the same time condemning ourselves. And for us, as well as for them, some of the words that follow may prove to be a message from God. They are part of a letter written some time before to “the gospellers of Geneva,” by William Farel.
“Grace, peace, and mercy from our Father, full of all love and mercy, by Jesus our Lord who died for us, and who now, all power being given to Him, sits at the right hand of God His Father—He, to whom every knee shall bow. Very dear brethren, whom I love in our Lord with my whole heart, I pray our Lord to increase your faith, to give you a whole and perfect heart, which does not look at things down here, but up there; not only at the things which the eye of flesh can see before it, but at those things which the spirit and faith know to have been done and promised by our Lord.
“It has pleased our Lord to allow you to ask the help of the arm of flesh, in order that you might more easily, and with less trouble, further the preaching of the gospel. It is not a thing displeasing to God, when, entirely trusting in Him, and not in another, we use His good creatures for the purposes for which He has made them, and he has ordained some for the punishment of evil doers, and the praise of them that do well. But, as far as I understand, the Lord, when He means to do a very great work, desires that He alone should have the honor and glory. He desires to work in you, as in the good and faithful Abraham, who against hope, believed in hope, without doubting an atom of the holy promises of God. I desire, my dear brethren, that you should follow and imitate him, and then you will see the glory and the power of God.
“It is true all your enemies surround you, as enemies once surrounded the good prophet Elisha, and that the servant who did not see the help that was sent to the prophet, was terrified, and half dead with fear. But for the honor of God, my very dear friends and brethren, do not you be like that servant. 'The Lord is my help, of whom then shall I be afraid?’ If every army in the world were to come against us, let us not fear, for the Lord is with us. And if God is with us, who shall be against us? Do not look at the army of the Syrians, but the army of God, which is against the Syrians, and for us. Instead of troubling yourselves because men were not willing to make a covenant with you” (referring most likely to some refusal of help on the part of Berne) “think of the great covenant the Lord has made in giving you His Son, and say to yourselves 'If men are not willing to hear our request, how much worse would it be, if the King of heaven and Earth should refuse to hear us—He who has said, 'Whosoever is ashamed of Me before men, of him will I also be ashamed before My Father.’ What an awful word will that be for those who hear it—Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the everlasting fire! What will be the despair of those from whom He will demand the mighty sum that all creatures together could not pay! Ah! there is none but the one Savior who could pay it—and He has paid it.
“Therefore, my brethren, if you are so much afraid of men, be more afraid of displeasing God. Look up to the good Father, and do not think of pleasing men, but of pleasing Him. And since without faith it is impossible to please Him, and faith comes by hearing, listen to the holy voice of Jesus, to His blessed Word, however much men may threaten you, or forbid you. For it is better to obey God than man. And God is more to be feared than man. And the covenant of God can never be broken, never be disturbed. He has said of His people, he that touches them, touches the apple of His eye. Therefore, my brethren, do not be ashamed of Jesus, nor of His gospel; further it, hear it, and speak of it, without minding anyone, or caring for any but God only. But speak modestly, not railing or quarreling, but in a gentle and tender spirit, so that God may be honored in us, and our neighbors edified; and may the grace and blessing of Jesus our Savior be with you.”
Thus wrote William Farel. It was a word in season. Not many months before he wrote this letter, Ulric Zwingli had fallen, sword in hand, on the battle field of Cappel. He had not been contented with the armies which Elisha saw, and he had had to remember, too late, the words of warning: “They who take the sword shall perish with the sword.” God had taught other lessons to William Farel.