In a story that happened over 500 years ago, you would expect to read about a princess. So you will not be surprised to know that William Farel’s next story has a princess in it. She was the Princess Jeanne, the ruler of the large town of Neuchatel. Princess Jeanne did not live in Neuchatel, because she liked better the exciting pleasures of France than being shut up in the old castle in Switzerland. But William next took the good news of salvation to this quiet town that belonged to the princess.
He first preached in a little village just outside of Neuchatel. Preaching had been forbidden in the church of that village, so William preached outdoors in the courtyard standing on a stone. The people crowded into the courtyard to hear. The priest warned and threatened them, but it was useless, because they had hearts hungry to hear God’s Word. If you were to go to that village today, you could still see the stone where Farel stood to preach.
You and I who have so often heard the good news of God’s love can hardly imagine what it was to these poor people to hear it for the first time. Many of the villagers believed in the Lord Jesus, and soon the people from the town of Neuchatel also heard that Farel was preaching and determined to hear him themselves. The governor, appointed by Princess Jeanne, tried to stop William from preaching and the priest wanted to kill him. But soon he was preaching in the large church right in the town of Neuchatel.
“We will follow Christ and the gospel, and in that faith alone will we and our children live and die,” the people cried out. The idols and pictures were broken down not only from the great church but also from the hearts of men and women. In their place, a table was set up, and a loaf of bread and a cup of wine were placed there for the breaking of bread.
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“Here you can offer up the worship that the Father delights in,” William told the people.
The sad governor had to write to the princess to tell her of all that had happened and how he had been helpless to stop it. The Princess Jeanne did not care at all what happened in that quiet old town. She never wished to see it again. They could do anything they liked as long as the people still paid taxes for her to spend in Paris.
You should know that in all the long letter the governor wrote about all that had happened, he never once mentioned the name of William Farel. This is just as Farel would have wished. He had come to Neuchatel to point others to Christ, not to himself. May you and I remember this too. When we speak to others, it is not to draw attention to our clever words or our life of faith, but to draw others to our wonderful Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Only then can we say, like the Apostle Paul, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Corinthians 4:55For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5)).