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Farel thus kindled a new fire on the hearth at home; but he was not content until he had declared the truth to his friends and relatives in the neighbourhood. There are some who assert that he was invited, by certain of the clergy, to preach in the churches; others declare that he did not yet assume to enter the pulpit. However this may be, he taught in such a way as to cause great agitation. The multitude and the priests wished to silence him. "What new and strange heresy is this?" they asked. "Must all the practices of piety be counted vain? He is neither monk nor priest; he has no business to preach. Of this, Farel was the better judge, and upon his labours came the blessing of heaven.

It was a time when several Frenchmen of that region were gained over to the gospel. Among them was a young gentleman from Dauphiny, the Chevalier Anemond de Chatelard. Even in his Romish piety he was a foe to relics, processions, and the dissipated clergy of his acquaintance. From Farel he received. the truth, gave it a deep place in his heart, and soon was very zealous for it. He disliked forms in religion, and gladly would have seen all the ceremonies of the church abolished. "Never,' he declared, "has my spirit found any rest in externals. The sum of Christianity is comprised in these words,-John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost ; ye must put on the new man.

Anemond could not be idle, for he had all the vivacity of a Frenchman. If a celebrated doctor was to be heard, he wished to be present. If a door was open to the gospel, he was waiting to enter it. His father was dead. His elder brother was harsh, haughty, and bigoted, and repelled him with disdain. His younger brother, Lawrence, with all his love, could but half understand him. Anemond, finding himself rejected by his own

kindred, sought to be of service in another quarter. Only laymen had yet been converted in Dauphiny, and Farel, with his friends, had wished to see a priest at the head of the movement, which already gave some promise of shaking the Alps. God had his finger upon the man.

There lived at Grenoble a Franciscan priest, Peter Sebville by name, a preacher, of great eloquence, a man of a good and honest heart. He sought infallibility in Romanism; it was not there, and yet it must be somewhere, if man had any religion on which he could depend. He took up the long-neglected book, and found it in the word of God. He resolved to preach the word “purely, clearly, holily." His eloquent voice was heard in the province. Farel was delighted, and Anemond felt at liberty to visit Luther and Zwingle. He willed his property to his brother Lawrence, who, probably, thought the chevalier was going forth on as foolish an errand as that of many a knight in the olden time.

And, perhaps, Luther thought likewise, when the young Frenchman first met him at Wittemberg. His plans were on the largest scale, and his hopes of seeing all France converted were the brightest, if Luther would only go himself and take the glorious prize. But the Saxon doctor could not enter the field across the Rhine. "Then write to the Duke Charles, of Savoy," earnestly said Anemond, who thought that Francis I. might be reached through his uncle. "This prince feels a strong attraction toward piety and true religion, and loves to converse with certain persons at his court about the Reformation. He is just the man to understand you, for his motto is this,Nothing is wanting to those who fear God, and this is yours also. His heart stands in need of God and his grace; all he wants is a powerful impulse. If he were won to the gospel, he would have

an immense influence on Switzerland, Savoy and France. Write to him, I beseech you."

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Assuredly," replied Luther, "a love for the gospel is a rare gift, and an inestimable jewel in a prince." Although Luther knew that the success of the gospel did not so greatly depend upon the favour of princes as his friend supposed, yet he wrote a most touching letter to the duke. We know not the result. Anemond, in his ardour, would have rejoiced to possess the power of rousing all France.

Farel hardly expected the German champion to come over the Rhine. He laboured on until the civil and ecclesiastical powers of Gap combined against him. They thought him an agent of that sect which the Sorbonne denounced. Beda hunted and Duprat was ready to burn. "Let us cast this firebrand of discord far from us," they exclaimed. He was summoned to appear, was harshly treated, and violently expelled from the city. But he was still a "voice crying in the wilderness." He knew the

country of his youth, when his rashness had led him to explore the mountains, and now, if closely followed, he could hide in the forests, caves, and clefts of the rocks. He went about preaching in private houses, secluded hamlets and lonely fields, and found an asylum in the woods and on the brink of torrents. In this school God was training him for future labours and endurance. The poor heard the truth from his lips, and the solitary places were glad.

Letters came to him from Anemond, and he greatly desired to see the reformers of Germany and Switzerland. The valleys of his native land were narrow; perhaps he might find a broader, as well as a safer, field. France was offering him nothing but fire and sword; perhaps some other country would offer him a large harvest to reap. But how was he to get away?

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Foes hung upon every path, neither willing for him to teach the people nor to leave them to themselves. Following by-roads, hiding in the forests, now losing his way and now finding some other way, he evaded the pickets of the enemy and escaped. He reached Switzerland early in 1524, and found Anemond at Basle.

Farel was received at Basle as one of the most devoted champions of the gospel. There was honour in the hospitality extended to him. He was the guest of Ecolampadius, one of the most genial of the reformers. Scarcely any two men were more unlike in their natures. The host charmed his hearers by his mildness; the guest carried all before him by his impetuosity. It was Peter in the house of John, and that most remarkable friendship in the apostolic band was reproduced in the union between these two reformers.

success.

Ecolampadius had been preaching in Basle as a pastor, but his words seemed to fall like gentle snow-flakes upon a rock. He was discouraged and greatly depressed. He had said to Zwingle, "Alas, I speak in vain, and see not the least reason to hope. Perhaps among the Turks I might meet with greater But I lay the blame on myself alone." These sighs rose in Farel's ear, and called forth his sympathy and his heroic words of good cheer. The bold man fired up the courage of the timid. An undying affection grew up in the heart of the host, and he must declare it. "Oh, my dear Farel, I hope that the Lord will make our friendship immortal, and if we cannot live together here below, our joy will only be the greater when we shall be united at Christ's right hand in heaven.'

There were many refugees in the city, who had escaped from the scaffolds of France. They formed a French church. Among them were Anemond of Dauphiny, Esch and Toussaint of Metz,

Du Blet of Lyons, and others of lesser note. These all held Farel in high esteem, and he was not backward to maintain his reputation. His courage, learning, and piety soon won the hearts of all who could appreciate his influence. He was the rising man, and to him were the honours paid.

There was, however, one man who felt slighted. He was sensitive to neglect. He had not come to Basle to be overlooked. He had made a noise in the world. It had been the affair of his life to send a storm upon the schoolmen and the monks, and his scathing satires had made his name a dread to all who did not please him. His learning was acknowledged in all the great universities. As a pioneer, he had hoped to prepare the way for the reformers; but the wisest of the reformers had made the painful discovery that he was trying to castle himself on the half way-ground, between popery and protestantism, and shot the arrows of wit at both parties. His levity of mind was like that of his body-a puff of wind might bear him away. He could expose error, but he lacked the moral courage to stand up for the truth. Yet he had drawn the gaze of Christendom; for he was Erasmus, the prince of scholars. Thousands were ready to crouch at his feet and do him reverence, coveting one kind look, one brotherly word from this master of the age.

And yet Farel had not come near him, as a young noble, wishing to be made a knight by a blow of the sword, and the words, "Rise, sir," from his king. The young Dauphinese refused to go and pay homage to the old sage of Rotterdam, because he despised those men who are only by halves on the side of truth. The commentaries of Lefevre had caused no little debate among the guests, at their simple entertainments, where it was well-known that Erasmus had said harsh things of the good doctor, who had excelled him in making the New Testa

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