=AB HOFEN'S CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION.=
Ab Hofen determined to do his best to remedy this evil. He had a loving heart and practical mind, and with indefatigable zeal took advantage of every moment of leisure spared him by his official duties. As soon, therefore, as a conference with the Genevan magistrates was ended, or a despatch to the Bernese government finished, he laid aside his diplomatic character and began to visit the citizens, conversing with them, and telling them of what was going on at Zurich and preparing at Berne. Being received into the families of some of the principal huguenots, and seated with them round the hearth, at the severest portion of the year (January 1527), he spoke to them of the Word of God, of its authority, superior (he said) to the pope's, and of the salvation which it proclaimed. He taught them that in the Gospel God gives man full remission of his sins. These doctrines, unknown for so many ages, and subversive of the legal and ceremonial religion of Rome, were heard at Geneva with astonishment and pleasure.
At first the priests received the evangelist magistrate rather favourably. The rank which he bore made him honourable in their eyes; and he, far from being rude towards them, like certain huguenots, was amiable and sympathising. Some ecclesiastics, believing him to belong to their coterie, because he spoke of religion, did not conceal their uneasiness from him, and described to him, very innocently, the fine times when presents of bread, wine, oil, game, and tapers were plentiful in their kitchen, and when they used to say, with a gracious tone, to the believers who brought these donations in white napkins: Centuplum accipietis et vitam æternam possidebitis.[717] Then they added, with loud complaints: 'Alas! the faithful bring us no more offerings, and people do not run so ardently after indulgences as they used to do.'[718]
The Bernese envoy, inwardly delighted at these candid avowals, which he did not fail to transmit to Zwingle, apparently avoided all controversy, and continued to announce the simple Gospel. The citizens listened to him; they sought his company, and invited him to take a seat in their family circle, or in some huguenot assembly, and to speak of the noble things that were doing at Zurich. These successes encouraged him: his eyes sparkled, he accosted the citizens freely, and his words flowed copiously from his lips. 'I will not cease proclaiming the Gospel,' he wrote to Zwingle; 'all my strength shall be devoted to it.'[719] Erelong the well-disposed men who had gathered round him were joined by other citizens, exclusively friends of liberty; they listened to him with interest; but when he began to blame certain excesses, and to require certain moral reforms, he met with coldness and even determined opposition from them, and they turned their backs on him. Ab Hofen, although a man of zeal and piety, did not possess the faith which moves mountains; he returned dispirited to his inn, shut himself up in his room, and, heaving deep sighs, wrote all his trouble to Zwingle. The latter, who possessed a sure glance, saw that the opportunity was unique. To establish the Reformation at the two extremities of Switzerland, at Zurich and Geneva, appeared to him a most important work. Would not these two arms, as they drew together, drag all Switzerland with them, especially if the powerful Berne lent its support in the centre? But he knew Ab Hofen, and fearing his dejection, he wrote to him: 'Take care that the work so well begun is not stopped. While transacting the business of the republic, do not neglect the business of Jesus Christ.[720] You will deserve well of the citizens of Geneva if you put in order not only their laws and their rights, but their souls also.[721] Now what can put the soul in order except it be the Word and the teaching of Him who created the soul?'[722]
=ZWINGLE ENCOURAGES AB HOFEN.=
Zwingle went further than this, and, in order to revive Ab Hofen's fainting heart, made use of an argument to which the politician could not be insensible. The reformer of Zurich was the friend of liberty as well as of the Gospel, and he believed that a people could be governed in only one of two ways: either by the Bible or by the sword, by the fear of God or by the fear of man. In his opinion Geneva could protect her independence against the attacks of Savoy, France, and all foreign powers, only by submitting to the King of heaven. 'O my dear Thomas,' he wrote to his friend, 'there is nothing I desire so much as to see the doctrine of the Gospel flourishing in that republic (Geneva). Wherever that doctrine triumphs, the boldness of tyrants is restrained.'[723] At the same time, not wishing to offend the Bernese deputy, Zwingle added: 'If I write these things, it is not to awaken one who sleeps, but to encourage one who runs.'[724] He ended his letter with a fraternal salutation to the evangelical christians of Geneva: 'Salute them all in my name,' he said.
Ab Hofen was not insensible to this appeal; if he was easily cast down, he was as easily lifted up. He therefore redoubled his zeal, and pressed Geneva to imitate Zurich and Berne; but he perceived that his evangelical exertions were appreciated by a very small number only, and regarded with coldness, and even with displeasure and contempt, by the majority of politicians. Citizens, who had at first given him the warmest welcome, scarcely saluted him when he met them, and if he went to any meeting his presence put a restraint upon the whole assembly. He soon encountered opposition of a more hostile nature; the priests eyed him angrily, and the confidence which some ecclesiastics had placed in him was succeeded by a violent hatred. The clergy proclaimed a general crusade against heresy; the canons put themselves at the head of the opposition; priests and monks filled the streets, going from house to house, and bade the citizens be on their guard against the evangelical addresses of the Bernese envoy. They cried down, abused, and anathematised the doctrines he taught, and made war against the New Testament wherever they found it. They encouraged one another, and frightened the women especially. According to their representations, the city would be ruined if it listened to the heretical diplomatist.
=AB HOFEN'S INFLUENCE AND DEATH.=
Ab Hofen now fell into a state of discouragement more serious than the former. 'All my efforts are vain,' he wrote to Zwingle; 'there are about seven hundred clergymen in Geneva who do their utmost to prevent the Gospel from flourishing here.[725] What can I do against such numbers? And yet a wide door is opened to the Word of God.... The priests do not preach; and as they are unable to do so, they are satisfied with saying mass in Latin.... Miserable nourishment for the poor people!... If any preachers were to come here, proclaiming Christ with boldness, the doctrine of the pope would, I am sure, be soon overthrown.'[726]