Thus was the Word of God taught, and in one village after another the light began to dawn, and men were turning to God. You may suppose that Satan would not let this work of God alone. Very soon he had stirred up a large party of priests and monks. These lazy and ignorant men began to tremble for the consequences of the preaching which brought men to Christ. “They will turn away from us,” they said, “and it will soon be ‘Down with the church!’” Alas, they little knew what the church was!
They gained over to their cause the bailiff of Aigle, and the governor of the district. The favor shown to Farel by the lords of Berne, instead of gaining power for him, only roused the jealousy and enmity of these two men. Their permission had not been asked, nor their wishes consulted.
If Farel had been in any measure trusting to the power of man rather than to the power of God, he was now to learn a lesson. The bailiff and the governor told him he was a heretic, and forbade him, not only to preach, but to teach in his school.
The lords of Berne speedily sent a messenger to post up placards on every church door in all the country round, saying that their displeasure was great at hearing that “the very learned Farel” had been forbidden to preach the Word of God, and they commanded all officers and governors to allow him to preach publicly “the doctrines of the Lord.” The only consequence of this order was that on the 25th of July, 1527, furious crowds assembled at Aigle, and at all the villages round. They tore down the placards, they shouted, “No more submission to Berne! Down with Farel!” They then rushed upon Farel, intending to seize him. But the same mysterious power which had so often before guarded this servant of the Lord, was stronger than the enemy. There stood Farel, in the midst of the converted flock, who waited, calmly but firmly, ready to defend him if needful. But there was no need. The angry crowd dared not come forward, and one by one they dispersed, and left him unharmed.
For a few days Farel left Aigle to preach and teach in the villages around. He then returned to his work as before in the school and church of Aigle. The priests contented themselves for a while with calling him bad names at a safe distance. They were too ignorant to argue with him, and they knew that he would appeal to the Bible if they attempted it.
Farel heard that one priest at Lausanne was far more intelligent and less prejudiced than the rest—that he was besides a sincere and honest man. His name was Natalis Galeotto. He was a chaplain to the Bishop of Lausanne. Farel had no means of speaking to this priest: he, therefore, wrote him a letter.
He said that the Lord Jesus was willing to listen when any sinful man came to speak to Him. He never turned away from the least or lowest. Therefore it was only asking Natalis to follow in the steps of his Master when he requested that he would listen for a while to one who had no claim to learning or greatness.
Then Farel related his own history, how the Lord had brought him from pitch darkness into His own marvelous light. He entreated Natalis to see to it that he taught the same blessed gospel as that which God in His mercy had taught to Master Faber and to him. “And,” he added, “you will not be able to do otherwise than preach it, if by the marvelous grace of God you, too, have been rescued from the power of sin and Satan.”
“But, alas!” he went on to say, “there are some who bear upon their foreheads the mark that they are the enemies of God. They set themselves up to be as God, declaring another way of salvation and of pardon than that which Christ has taught. They put their own commandments in the place of the Word of God, though that which they command is as contrary to that which God commands as light is contrary to darkness. And men are, alas! become so blinded that they cling to these human inventions, and will not give them up, whilst at the same time they readily give up the faith which saves. There is nothing to be looked for longer from this evil and corrupt tree of man’s planting. Nothing can be done for it, except that we may look to God in His mercy to gather out boughs and branches, and engraft them one by one into the living Vine. But none can be united to Christ except by the Holy Spirit—not by outward ceremonies and ordinances—by the Holy Spirit alone. And what has come of men meddling and playing, as they have done, with the things of God? Even the outward observances which God has commanded have disappeared. Where is the Lord’s Supper? Who shall restore us that blessed feast, in which we are called to remember Him—to show forth His death till He come? Alas! men are living as though they were dedicated to heathen gods. Who is there who cares that Christ is coming again?”
He entreats Natalis to observe that all this error and wickedness sprang from one root, the selfishness and covetousness of the clergy—the love of money, which is the root of all evil. And he continues his letter in these words, which it would be well indeed if all who profess to preach and teach would read and remember: “May it indeed break our hearts to see how the honor of God is laid in the dust, how His church lies in ruins, her walls broken down, the sanctuary of God defiled! If we really believe that Christ suffered for us, if our hearts have ever been touched by the remembrance of His blood shed for us, if the Holy Spirit has shown us ever so little of the love of God—if we know that we shall have to render up our account to Him, if we are aware that He will call us to a reckoning as to the souls to whom we have preached, and that it will be an awful day for us then, if now we have been leading them in the wrong road—if all these things are indeed so, we have no time to lose—we have not a moment to delay before we begin to sound forth the praises of God that all may hear. Let us warn and alarm the wicked on account of their sins, and then let us set before them for their comfort the rich grace of the gospel. Let us, then preach Christ as the one standard of Christian walk and talk. Let us teach that which He and His apostles taught, and teach nothing more. If that teaching is not enough what will be? If that is not perfect, what is? If that does not bring souls to heaven, what else will bring them there? If that does not convert sinners, what will convert them? If that does not bring forth the fruit of righteousness, what will? If everything is not contained in that Word of God, where else are we to look for it? The wisdom of God needs no other wisdom to make it perfect. That alone will I preach to the people. I will know nothing besides.”
And he ends by entreating Natalis to cast aside all that man has invented, and to take God’s Word alone, as the one treasury out of which to draw forth all that he preached and taught, submitting himself wholly to that Word, and to that only.
This letter was treated by Natalis with silent contempt. But it will be one day remembered by him who despised it. The day will come when he will stand at the judgment seat of Christ, and that message of God’s love and grace will appear against him—Christ’s call to him through His servant —the call which he refused and disobeyed. What a solemn thing it is for each one of us, when such messages reach us, let the entreaty come from whom it may, that we should submit ourselves to the Word of God, and judge all our doings by that alone. From God only can such a message come. And if any who have read these words of Farel, would take the opposite course to this poor priest, it would be a blessed day for their souls.
God would be well-pleased at the sight of those who set diligently to work to compare their belief, their practice, their outward religious forms, with His blessed Word, and who, at any cost, give up, there and then, all that cannot there be found and proved. Many a beloved friend would be offended, many a beloved form would be set aside, but Christ would be honored, and His presence would be known. “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.”
Was it much to expect of Natalis that he should at once get a Bible, and compare his belief with the words of God? That he should search through that book, which he owned to be of God, to see whether his masses, his service-books, his vestments, his saints’ days, his images, his seven sacraments, were there to be found? It was, indeed, much to expect of him. But that much God looks for in each one who professes the name of Christ. Are you and I careful to do this in all things great and small? We say that by the Scriptures we are thoroughly furnished to all good works. Let it be seen that with regard to all, we search into the Word of God, and are able to say of all, “Thus has the Lord commanded.”