Do you remember the story in the Bible about the sheep that got lost and was found by the Good Shepherd? Sometimes that story is told as though the sheep was sorry to be lost and was just waiting for the Shepherd to find him. But I wonder if that sheep was perhaps quite happy to be lost. He had chosen his own way without realizing that it was a foolish and dangerous way. It was the Shepherd who knew the dangers and wanted to find His lost sheep. It is just so in our next story. The “sheep” did not at all want to be found, but rather wanted to act more like a lion than a sheep.
This sheep, or rather “lion” at the beginning of our story, was the Lady Elizabeth. She was the leader of the ladies in the town of Orbe where William had just preached, and she was determined to defend her great church and the great idols from the preachers and from men like Mark and Christopher who had believed.
The Lady Elizabeth told the other women in Orbe that they would be doing a great service to all good people of their religion by killing Farel. These ladies knew when Farel would be passing by a certain street, and they agreed to meet there in full force. When Farel arrived, Lady Elizabeth rushed forward and with the help of some of her friends dragged him to the ground. But just at that moment, a friend who had suspected mischief arrived and grabbed Farel and dragged him away. He bowed politely to the ladies and said, “I beg your pardon, ladies, this gentleman is under my protection.”
Farel went to preach in the great church of Orbe, but Lady Elizabeth made other plans. She no longer dared to kill him, but was determined that he should never preach. So she saw to it that the church was filled with poor, dirty folks all pretending to be asleep. The moment the preaching began, they all jumped to their feet, shouted, whistled and ran out the door yelling. Nobody remained but the preacher.
The next time Farel tried to preach, the priests led most of the people in a procession out of the town to another church. William had the opportunity at least to preach in peace, but only ten people had stayed to listen. The Lady Elizabeth and the priests thought they had won, but the rulers at Berne heard of their boasting and commanded that the people be required to listen to Farel preach.
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It was almost a month before it was known that Farel’s sermons had not been wasted. Imagine the shock of the people of Orbe when they learned that Lady Elizabeth had believed the message and was trusting in Christ! Yes, on the next great day of idols, she stayed home and did her washing! God had changed the lion into a lamb. Many lost lambs have been found since the day Lady Elizabeth was saved, and all of them have been found by the Good Shepherd and all have been carried home by a power that was not their own. This is true of you, too, if you have trusted in Christ.