EDINBURGH: WILLIAM OLIPHANT AND CO. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. the 'Valais the noblest alling him $ and lime PREFACE. HIS volume treats of no common man and no ordinary times. Here and there, through D'Aubigné's 'Histories,' are glimpses and pictures of a man whose life was second to that of no other reformer in brave adventure and heroic deeds. In it was gathered most of the romantic daring and endurance of the Swiss reform. This man was William Farel. Michelet calls him 'the Bayard of the battles of God.' He was the forerunner of John Calvin, who called him the father of the Church at Geneva.' Enemies honoured him with the title of the Valais Luther,' even before he had entered upon the noblest part of his career. We cannot refrain from calling him the Elijah of the Alps. So important and instructive were his labours and character, so intense his devotion to God, and so sublime his earnestness of purpose, of preaching, and of prayer, that immediately after his death, his intimate friends took steps to secure a record of his life. Since then it has been written several times by continental authors and 3 |