William Farel, with his voice of thunder, preached in the streets and markets, and wherever a room could be found. The people crowded to hear the new and blessed words; not how they were to give their money to the priests and monks, but how they were to receive from God the unsearchable riches of Christ. Let me tell you, in William Farel’s own words, what it was that he had to preach to them.
“What, then, are those treasures of the goodness of God, which are given to us in the death of Jesus Christ? Firstly, if we diligently consider what the death of Jesus was, we there shall see in truth how all the treasures of the goodness and the grace of God, our Father, are magnified, and glorified, and exalted, in that act of mercy and love. Is not that sight an invitation to wretched sinners to come to Him who has so loved them, that He did not spare His only Son, but delivered Him up for us all? Does it not assure us that sinners are welcome to the Son of God, who so loved them that He gave His life, His body, and His blood, to be a perfect sacrifice, a complete ransom for all who believe in Him!
“For He it is who calls to all those who labor and are heavy laden, saying He will give them rest. He it is who spoke in His love to the wretched thief, giving him a place in heaven, saying to him, ‘Verily, I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.’ He it is who so loved and pitied His enemies, who hated Him unto death, that He prayed, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’
“It was then, when He was suffering and dying for us, that He could, nevertheless, speak to the heart of that unhappy thief, and draw him to Himself; that He could manifest Himself in His grace to those wicked and abominable Italian soldiers, so that they and their captain were constrained to smite upon their breasts, and to own that He was a righteous man, and that He was the Son of God.
“And lastly, if we behold diligently that death of Christ, there we see how the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And why? Because that hidden place into which none might enter, was now revealed and thrown open by the death of Jesus, so that all who believe have access and free entrance there— may go in boldly, in full assurance of faith—may come before the throne of grace, and find plenteous mercy, and grace to help in time of need. For He who is the Son of God, the power and the wisdom of God, He who is God Himself, so humbled Himself as to die for us. He the holy and the righteous One, for the ungodly and for sinners, offering up Himself that we might be made pure and clean. And it is the will of the Father, that those whom He thus saves by the precious gift of His Son, should be certain of their salvation and life, and should know that they are completely washed and cleansed from all their sins.
“And the Father, for the love of Himself, and not for the love of us, nor of our doings, our deservings, and our righteousness (which are simply abominations)—He, the Father, saves us, and gives to us eternal life. Yes, it is for the love of Himself; that His counsel may stand, to quicken and to save those whom He has ordained to life, without any respect to persons. He sees nothing to cause His love in the sinner whom He saves—nothing in his works, nor in his race, nor in his country, nor in anything belonging to him. He pardons all his sins and transgressions on account of the work of His beloved Son. He gives the precious gift of His Son to the wretched prisoner of the devil, of sin, of hell, and of damnation. He gives him His Son because of his wicked, lost condition, a sinner born in sin, and the child of wrath— a sinner in whom sin and rebellion against God live and reign. The gracious God, the Father of mercy, takes such an one as this to make him His child by adoption, to be His heir, joint heir with Christ! He makes him a new creature; He gives him the earnest of the Spirit, by whom he lives, who unites him to Christ, making him a member of His body. He makes him one with Christ, joined to the Lord. Thus all who believe, receive the fullness of grace which is in Christ Jesus.
“The Holy Ghost unites them to the Savior, to be one with Him forever—members of His body, even as before the world was made they were set apart in the counsels of God to be His own.
“Thus by God’s great power we are restored to a nobler state than that which Adam lost. Adam lost an earthly Paradise—we have a heavenly one. That was an earthly life— this is an incorruptible and spiritual life—a life we can never lose again. Whosoever believeth in God hath this everlasting life—has to do no longer with the things that are seen, but he knows the Father in the Son—he knows the wondrous, the endless love of God. Let us not, therefore, shrink from laying down this mortal life, for the honor of our Father, for a witness to the holy gospel. For we have in exchange a life so much higher, so far more glorious, that thoughts cannot measure it.
“And oh! how bright, how blessed, how triumphant, how joyous, and how happy is the day that is coming. Then the Lord and Savior, in His own body, that body in which He suffered so much for us, in which He was spat upon, beaten, scourged, and tortured, so that His face was marred more than any man—in that body He shall come, calling to all His own who have been partakers of His Spirit, in whom by the Spirit He has dwelt—calling them up to the glory—showing Himself to them in the body of His glory, raising them up in their bodies alive with immortal life, made like to Jesus, to reign forever with Him in joy.
“For that blessed day the whole creation groans—that day of the triumphant coming of our Savior and Redeemer, when all enemies shall be put under His feet, and His elect people shall ascend to meet him in the air. And then shall be seen the power and the great glory of the Lord Jesus; Himself, His glorified body, the sign of the Son of Man which shall be seen in heaven. And as in the body of His glory there is no death, no weakness, so likewise in the bodies of His members will there be nothing to dim their perfection, they shall stand before the Father complete in Christ.”
I have thought it well thus to tell you in Farel’s own words what was the gospel which he preached. Three hundred and fifty years have passed since then, and Bibles have been scattered far and wide. But can we say that there are many even now who believe as much of the record that God has given of His Son—who know by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, as William Farel did, not only how, but why, the sinner is saved! How many are there who may perhaps have passed from death to life, but who would think it even wrong to say they are certain that they are saved. And how few are them to be found who know why they are saved! Let me ask you, do you know what is meant by those words of William Farel, “the Father, for the love of Himself, not for the love of us, saves us and gives to us eternal life”? If you do not yet understand those blessed words, let me entreat you to read the fifteenth chapter of the gospel of Luke, and ask of God to show you the hidden treasures, or rather the revealed treasures of love, in those words of Christ. Revealed by God’s great love, but hidden from many thousands by the veil of unbelief which blinds their eyes. We read of a hidden gospel in the fourth chapter of the second book of Corinthians. But it is hidden to those whose eyes Satan has blinded—and if he cannot blind us wholly, he will at least seek to dim and cloud the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, which shines to us from the unveiled face of Christ. If he cannot blind our eyes to the kindness and pity of God, he will hide from us the love of God—he will keep out of our sight the marvelous truth, that it is for His own sake He has saved us, and given us a place in the glory. With joy and wonder did the people of Meaux hear of this love that passeth knowledge. The workmen in the woolen manufactories, the tradesmen, the peasants from the country round, filled the rooms or the churches where the gospel was preached. The bishop himself preached diligently. He told the people that these new doctrines were but the old truths which Christ and the apostles had preached. He entreated all who heard to believe them and hold them fast. “Yes,” he said, “whoever may oppose you—if I, your bishop, should prove false to Christ, and give up the truth I preach to you now, do not you follow me, the word of God cannot change; be faithful, if it be unto death.”
Besides preaching the gospel, Master Faber had been working hard at a translation of the four gospels into French. These were now published. The bishop, we are told, spared neither gold nor silver in furnishing every one with copies of the word of God. The whole town began to read the gospels. On Sundays, and holidays, the people met in little parties to read and speak together of the glad tidings. The laborers carried gospels into the fields, and the artizans took them into the workshops, to spend any spare moments they might have over the word of God. They had a sufficient supply given them by the bishop to be able to scatter them amongst the haymakers and harvest people, who came at those times from more distant provinces. Thus the gospel was carried into towns and villages far away, where the good seed sprang up and brought forth fruit. The good fruit was soon seen in Meaux itself. Blasphemy, drunkenness, quarreling, became, we are told, almost unknown. The praises of God, and holy conversation, were heard on every side. The bishop was not satisfied that the people of his own diocese alone should know the word of God. He sent the Epistles of Paul in French to the Princess Margaret, who was mourning his absence from Paris. He entreated her to show it to the king, her brother, and to her mother. It is probable that she did so; but alas! to their deeper condemnation.
Meanwhile, many of those who heard the good tidings at Meaux began themselves to speak of Christ and His great salvation to those around them. Four persons are specially to be remembered amongst these witnesses for Christ. One was a young student from Picardy, who had been invited by the bishop to stay for a while at Meaux. He is described as “a man of great sincerity and uprightness.” His name was James Pavanne. Then there were Peter and John Leclerc. These two young men were wool-carders. Their father was a bigoted papist, but their mother had believed, the gospel. Fourthly, there was a poor man, whose name is now known to God alone. He is spoken of only as the “Hermit of Livry.” This man having been anxious to save his soul by the “good works” of popery, had gone to live as a hermit in the forest of Livry, not far from Paris. He made his living by begging from door to door. But it so happened that one day he met with some men of Meaux, who had something better to bestow upon him than the bread that perisheth. The hermit went back to his cell that day a rich man. He still lived in the forest in his little hut, but he now went about not to beg, but freely to give that which he had freely received. He went from house to house, from village to village, to tell of the blessed Lord Jesus, of the complete forgiveness which God gives to all who believe in Him, a pardon bought by the blood of Christ. In time his little cell became a meeting place for many who felt the burden of their sins, and who went to ask the messenger of Christ what they were to do to be saved. You must remember these four servants of God. You will hear of them again. Thus, in the city of Meaux, from the bishop in his palace to the wool-carder in the factory, it would seem that Christ was owned. Perhaps, in the eyes of man, the bishop stood first, and the wool-carder last. But God seeth not as man seeth. He has said, “The last shall be first and the first last, for many be called, but few chosen.”