THE EEFORMATION IN TRENCH SWITZERLAND.
§ 60. William. Farel (1-189-1565).
Letters of Farel and to Farel in Herminjakd, beginning with vol. I. 193, and in the Strassburg edition of Calvin's correspondence, Opera, X.-XX.
Biographies by Beza (Icones, 1580, with a picture) ; Melchior Adam (Decades duce, 57-61); * Kirchhofer (1833, 2 vols.); Verheiden (^Imagines et Elogia, 1725, p. 86 sq., with picture) ; Cheneviere (1835) ; Junod (1865). Merle d'Aubign^ gives a very minute but broken account of Farel's earlier labors, especially in Geneva (vols. III., IV., V., books 5, 6, and 9). See also Ruchat, F. Gouet, and other works mentioned in § 58, and art. « Farel" in La France Frotesfanle, tome YI. 386-415 (1888).
GuiLLAtMi: Farel. (From Bezu's Icones.)
Two years after the political emancipation of Geneva from the yoke of Savoy, Bern embraced the Protestant Reformation (1528), and at once exerted her political and moral influence for the introduction of the new religion
§ 60. WlLLIA^r FAllEL. 237
into the neighboring French territory over which she had acquired control. She found three evangelists ready for this work, — one a native of Vaud, and two fugitive Frenchmen. The city of Freiburg, the Duke of Savoy, Charles V., and the pope endeavored to prevent the progress of heresy, but in vain.
The pioneer of Protestantism in Western Switzerland is William Farel. He was a travelling evangelist, always in motion, incessant in labors, a man full of faith and fire, as bold and fearless as Luther and far more radical, but without his genius. He is called the Elijah of the French Reformation, and "the scourge of the priests." Once an ardent papist, he became as ardent a Protestant, and looked hereafter only at the dark side, the prevailing corruptions and abuses of Romanism. He hated the pope as the veritable Antichrist, the mass as idolatry, pictures and relics as heathen idols which must be destroyed like the idols of the Canaanites. Without a regular ordination, he felt himself divinely called, like a prophet of old, to break down idolatry and to clear the way for the spiritual worship of God according to his own revealed word. He was a born fighter; he came, not to bring peace, but the sword. He had to deal with priests who carried firearms and clubs under their frocks, and he fought them with the sword of the word and the spirit. Once he was fired at, but the gun burst, and, turning round, he said, " I am not afraid of your shots." He never used violence himself, except in language. He had an indomitable will and power of endurance. Persecution and violence only stimulated him to greater exertions. His outward appearance was not prepossessing : he was small and feeble, with a pale but sunburnt face, narrow forehead, red and ill-combed beard, fiery eyes, and an expressive mouth.
Farel had some of the best qualities of an orator: a sonorous and stentorian voice, appropriate gesture, fluency
238 THE EEFOilMATlON IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
of speech, and intense earnestness, which always commands attention and often produces conviction. His contemporaries speak of the thunders of his eloquence and of his transporting prayers. '•'•Tua ilia fulgura^^^ writes Calvin. '-'•Nemo tonuit fortius,'" says Beza. His sermons were extemporized, and have not come down to us. Their power lay in the oral delivery. We may compare him to Whitefield, who was likewise a travelling evangelist, endowed with the magnetism of living oratory. In Beza's opinion, Calvin was the most learned, Farel the most forcible, Viret the most gentle preacher of that age.^
The chief defect of Farel was his want of moderation and discretion. He was an iconoclast. His violence provoked unnecessary opposition, and often did more harm than good. Q^^colampadius praised his zeal, but besought him to be also moderate and gentle. "Your mission," he wrote to him, "is to evangelize, not to curse. Prove yourself to be an evangelist, not a tyrannical legislator. Men want to be led, not driven." Zwingli, shortly before his death, exhorted him not to expose himself rashly, but to reserve himself for the further service of the Lord.
Farel's work was destructive rather than constructive. He could pull down, but not build up. He was a conqueror,
1 Beza, in his Icones, thus describes Farel's best qualities: "Hie enim ille est qui nullis difficidtatihus fr actus, yndlis minis, convitiis, verberihus denique inftictis territus, Momhelgardenses, Neocomenses, Lausnnenses, Aqiiileienses, Genevenses denique Christo lucrijecit. Fuit enim in hoc homine prceter pietatem, doctrinam, vitoR innocentiam, eximiamque modestiam, singularis qucedam animi prcesentia, ingenium acre, sermo vehementice plenus, ut tonare potius quam loqui videretur : ardorque denique tantus in jyTccando, ut audientes quasi in cesium usque subveheret." And he compares Calvin, Farel, and Viret in these verses (in 1568) : —
" Oallica mirata est Calvinum ecclesia nuper,
Quo nemo docuit doctius. Est qitoque te miper mirata, Farelle, tonantem,
Quo nemo tomiit fortius. Et miratur ndhuc fundentem mella Viretum,
Quo nemo fatur dulcius. Scilicet aut tribus his servabere testibus oUm,
Axit interibis Gallia."