Yes, William Farel could pity them, could pray for them, and could love them. It may be well here to read a letter he wrote about this, to a Roman Catholic of Geneva, probably one of the Bernard family. It may be a word in season for you, too. For if you are not a Roman Catholic, you are none the less born in sin, and once, if not now, a sinner as dead and as lost as Peter Wernli, or as Sister Jane.
“My very dear Brother,—May grace and salvation be given to you by Jesus Christ! I have seen your answer to that which I wrote to you, and I am greatly bewildered as to how you could explain, as you do, the words of our Lord Jesus, ‘I am the vine, ye are the branches,’ as meaning the love of God and of our neighbors, true though it be, that on those two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
“I pray you, for the honor of Jesus, who died for us, that the one desire of your heart may be that Jesus should be honored. Listen to what I now say.
“You know how, before Jesus came, the holy law of God was given, and these two commandments, to love God and our neighbor. By which commandments you say we are justified. Those who are justified have salvation, for they are pleasing to God, and are His sons and heirs, since by the righteousness they have, their hearts are made pure, and they are made God’s children. If then, by keeping the law, we have this great blessedness, what need was there that Jesus should come? Would He not have died in vain? Truly your words are contradicted by all that the holy apostle writes to the Romans and Galatians, showing them that by faith in Jesus we are saved, and not by the law. Read, I pray you, the 3rd and 4th chapters of Romans. Think over them, praying the Lord at the same time that He may give you the full understanding of them. You will then see how far off from that you are now. Wise men and men zealous of the law have taught just as you do, before now, and the Holy Spirit, speaking by St. Paul, firmly opposed them, showing how even the most excellent of the fathers, Abraham, was justified by faith, and not by the law. Just in the same way David speaks, showing the blessedness of the man whose sins are covered, and to whom God does not impute iniquity. But if by the law we obtain the inheritance, faith is brought to naught, and the promise abolished. We can only come to God by faith, without which it is impossible to please Him (Heb. 11), and by which we obtain all things, for all things are possible to him who believeth (Mark 11). By faith the apostles, and all righteous men, received the Holy Spirit, by whom they spake of the things of God. The branches that are in the vine are there by faith (Rom. 11). Nor dare any of us say that we love God and our neighbor, except by faith, for it is by faith that we have the Spirit of God shed abroad in our hearts, and thus we love God for His own sake, because He is worthy to be loved and has first loved us. And, for the love of God, for His sake, we love our neighbor, not only our friend and brother who is kind to us, but our enemy who does us harm. These are the fitting fruits of the good tree, namely of the man who is justified by faith. No other tree will bear the fruits of that Spirit, whom we receive by faith. For however fine the appearance of the bad tree may be, it will never bear good fruit. Such an one may say, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but he will never enter into life, and the wrath of God abideth on him. And in his unbelieving heart, hatred and other evil weeds grow up, hatred even against those who never harmed him or wished him harm, and the poor unbeliever goes from bad to worse, as God has shown us in the case of the poor Jew..... We must well consider that the physician is not for those who are well, but for those who are sick. And let us take heed, lest we say that we are well and righteous, like the poor Pharisees, who remained in their sins, and were never pardoned, though they said, ‘We see.’ Let us rather own ourselves sick sinners, which we truly are, so that the true Physician may give us healing and pardon—so that being an hungered we may be fed, being cast down we may be raised up, and not that being rich we may be sent empty away, and being lifted up we may be cast down.
“The Word of God, being the true light, has no shadow, and in following it nothing but good can come to us. The things invented by men are but shadows and darkness. In following them nothing but evil can come to us..... The holy food can never be hurtful, other food cannot be useful, and must do harm. How will God rebuke those who are careful to go where they can get good bread, good wine, good meat, and other things needful for the body, but when it is a question of their poor souls, will not take the trouble to inquire by whom God sends His messages—who it is who speaks the pure truth—nor will they try the spirits whether they are of God, in order, if they say well, to conform to it, if they say falsely, to reprove them.
“With Moses and St. Paul, I would that all preached (Num. 11; 1 Cor. 14.), having their orders not of men, but of God. For if He does not send preachers, none can preach, nor can the people hear, and if they do not hear they cannot believe, and if they do not believe they cannot call upon God, and must remain unsaved.
“Jesus never did anything of Himself, but only as the Father commanded Him: and so also the apostles. Although the powers that be are ordained of God, the apostles did not take their license from them, neither from Pilate, nor from Herod—no, nor from the Scribes and Pharisees—but, having the talent committed to them, they employed it by the grace of God, and preached the pure Word of God. A man who preaches thus is sent from God, and that which thus comes from God is in the right order, whatever the world may think of it, and nothing but good will come from such preaching; but that which is from man leads to no good, as we see in that which has happened to the Jews, who turned aside from the commandments of God, and as we see in the pope, who stands in opposition to Jesus............
“If our consciences are in our own hands, as in the case of Adam and Eve, they are badly lodged, and soon lost. Poor fallen man is in sin: with no faith, and out of Christ; no better than the servant of sin. Nor is there in him the power to raise himself, any more than there is power in a dead man to make himself alive. And if God, in His great love and mercy, does not comes to the rescue of the poor sinner, he is lost forever (Heb. 10). He who is in Jesus, and has true faith, is no longer his own, but he belongs to Jesus, and is in the safe keeping of Jesus, who keeps His sheep, and gives them life, and saves them. It is not the sheep who keep themselves, and give themselves life, and save themselves. If it were so, we should all be lost, seeing that, before sin came in, we were not able to keep ourselves (Gen. 3).
“Adam was soon lost, and, in gaining the knowledge of good and evil, he and his wife learned their nakedness, and this knowledge made them flee from God, and cover themselves with leaves. And thus all Adam’s children, knowing they are naked, fly from the face of God, and shut their ears to the voice of God, and cover themselves with leaves also. That is the best a man can do, and thus he is driven from Paradise. But he, who has perfect faith in Jesus, gives up all the goodness and power of man as nothing worth, and comes to Jesus, who, by His grace, enlightens the blind, cleanses the lepers, raises the dead—in short, is all in all—for all our blessing and salvation is not of us, or by us, but of Jesus, and by Jesus. There would have been no need for Jesus to come, if Adam, by knowing good and evil, could have saved himself, and I am astonished that you do not search the Scriptures to give honor to God, and to learn that salvation is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy—to learn that salvation came by the holy seed who bruised the serpent’s head, and not by Adam and Eve, who are the cause of nothing but death and damnation. Jesus alone is the cause and the Author of life and salvation to all who receive them. We have no excuse, no justification, to bring to God. We are born in sin, conceived in iniquity—children of wrath, and of death (Eph. 2). If Jesus does not save us we are lost; but by faith in Him we are made the children of God. Coming to Jesus, weary and heavy laden, we have rest to our souls. But if we will not come to Jesus, we must sink and perish under our burdens. And an awful curse comes upon those who hinder sinners from coming to God—upon those who despise the words of men who are contemptible in the eyes of the world, but whom the Lord has chosen. Thus was Jesus rejected, because He did not walk after the traditions of the fathers, and the customs esteemed by men—because He ate and drank with sinners, and sinners followed Him. And, therefore, the poor idiots, who neither heard nor understood the teaching of Jesus, condemned that which they had neither heard nor understood. And it is because I have known the will of the good Master, Jesus, that I am determined, by His grace given me, to do His will, and confess Him openly, well assured that the gospel, and the holy Word of God, is of God, and that man cannot prevail against it, and well assured also that the pope and his ordinances are of man, and must fall before the word of God....... Perdition is from us; salvation is from God alone....... “As you end your letter, saying ‘In the Name and by the help of God,’ you give me great hope that He, who has thus led you to write, will further give you intelligence as to His Name, His glory, and His power. For none can help or save but He, seeing that there is none other Name than that of Jesus by which we can be saved. What a holy prayer you make in writing those words! May God in His great goodness grant your request, by giving you His grace. You will then make the holy confession, 'His grace is sufficient.' You will need nothing more than that to destroy all your own arguments about righteousness by works. ‘My grace is sufficient!’ So the Lord spake to St. Paul. Take the passages about grace, and consider them. For instance, ‘If by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.’ And this grace of God, known and understood, tasted and enjoyed by faith, and by the Spirit of Jesus, who assures us of it, this grace makes us love God with all our heart, makes us prize and honor Him, and love our neighbor as ourselves. And without this grace, we can, indeed, have the law, and the shadows, and the outward forms of the service of God, and the commandment to love God, as Moses directed; but Moses can give us nothing more than that, nor can the followers of Moses. But to come from the shadow to the truth, to serve God in reality, to be children and heirs of God, can only be by Jesus, by whom came grace and truth, and this is in order that no one should be glorified but God only, who, for love of Himself, saves, pardons, and gives grace; giving grace in order that He alone should be just, and the Justifier; the Savior, and saving; and none other but He, and that all should be by His grace, and not by us, nor by our doings, but by Him alone. By this grace may He cause us to walk, as His true children, living in holiness, and showing forth our holy calling by holy works. And being His, we shall also be of one heart, one spirit, living in true peace and unity—not of this world, but of Jesus—pilgrims walking together in faith and love; and, when Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead, we shall go to meet Him, and we shall be ever with Him in the kingdom prepared for the Sons of God.”
“Postscript. ‘What king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.’ You must then give up all, as worthless things, to come to Jesus and be His disciple. All your own goodness! Yes, ‘all that he hath.’ Come as a poor beggar, with nothing at all.”