Between the Alps and the Jura, on the road leading from Lausanne to Berne, is situated a small town, clustered ages ago round an abbey which the famous Queen Bertha had declared exempt from all suzerainty, even from that of the pope, and which, in 1208, had resisted the Emperor Rodolph of Hapsburg. In one of the houses of this town of Payerne, some pious christians assembled in June 1532, under their pastor Anthony Saunier of Moirans, in Dauphiny, a friend of Farel. They conversed about the destruction of the papistical realm, and the news they had received from Geneva, and were full of hope that that city would contribute erelong towards the so much desired destruction. One of them proposed to send a letter to the Genevese. They began to write it immediately, and here are the words which these simple-minded christians addressed to the episcopal city:—
'We have heard that the glory of God has visited you, of his grace, as his elect children, and that he is now calling you with his everlastingly saving voice. Beloved in Jesus Christ, receive the word of the Great Shepherd, who gave himself once and was offered up a living host (sacrifice) for the salvation of all believers. God is manifesting to you the great riches of his glory; he invites us to forsake the doctrine of men, and to follow that of our only Saviour Jesus Christ, which makes us new creatures and heirs of the kingdom of God. Believe in this doctrine with all your heart, without shame or fear of men; having the assurance that it is good, holy, and alone able to save, and that all others which are opposed to it are wicked and damnable. Fear not the great number and power of your enemies; but, for the love of Jesus Christ, who has perfected your redemption, and who has granted us remission of all our sins, be ready not only to abandon your honour, your goods, and your families, but even to renounce yourselves, declaring with St. Paul, that neither glory, nor tribulation, nor death, nor life, shall separate you from the Gospel of salvation....
'Now we, your brethren in the second and spiritual birth, pray the Father of lights to complete what he has begun in you, and to illumine the eyes of your heart by the true Gospel light, to the end that you may know the great and inexpressible riches prepared for those who are sanctified by the blood of Christ. Renounce, therefore, the king of this world, and all his followers, under whose banner you and we once walked, and acknowledge our Lord as your only master, your only God and Saviour, who gives us the kingdom of heaven without money and without price. Follow not what appears good and pleasant to you, but the commandment of God our Father, adding nothing, and taking nothing away. May his grace be written in your hearts, and may you impart it to those who are still ignorant and weak, by means of a meek and tender teaching, so that the flock of Jesus Christ may be increased by you daily. Our Lord God is for you, and the whole world cannot prevail against him. Be the standard-bearers upon earth of the colours of our Saviour, so that by your means the Holy Gospel may be borne into many countries.'
The council deposited the letter among the city archives, where it may still be seen.[913]
=STANDARD RAISED AT GENEVA.=
Geneva was still far from the pure and living Christianity which breathes in this letter. The fight between Goulaz and Wernly, the tumult occasioned in the city by the placards of Baudichon de la Maison-Neuve and his friends, had little resemblance (impartiality compels us to acknowledge) to that picture, so full of gentleness, which Jesus Christ himself drew for us, when he described the servant of God: 'He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.'[914] But it is only by degrees that the old man disappears and the new man takes his place. It would have been too much, perhaps, to expect that these energetic huguenots, who defended their liberty with the courage of lions, should suddenly become meek as lambs. But already there were to be found in that city souls who prized above everything the great pardon of Jesus Christ. The proclamation of salvation by grace, which we have described, marks an important epoch in the history of the Reformation of Geneva. All human religions represent salvation as to be gained by the works and ceremonies of man; the only divine religion, the Gospel, declares that God gives it, that he gives it through Jesus Christ, and that whosoever receives this assurance into his heart becomes a new creature. Such was the standard raised in Geneva in 1532. The servants of God, whether natives of that city or refugees, were to be, according to the beautiful language of the letter from Payerne, 'standard-bearers upon earth;' and, grasping the banner of the Gospel with a firm hand, they were to be called, perhaps more than others, in the sixteenth century 'to bear it into many countries.'
Everything gave token that the renovation of Geneva was advancing; but it had still numerous obstacles to overcome, and great works to achieve. Powerful instruments were about to appear to accomplish them.
Hitherto the breath of the Reformation has blown to Geneva from the plains of France and the mountains of Switzerland. The men of God who were to labour most at the transformation of this city, Farel especially, have acted upon it from without only. But yet two months more, and that great-hearted evangelist will enter the city of the huguenots; others will follow him; they will be expelled from it by the friends of Rome; but they will return with fresh determination, and labour with indefatigable zeal, until, after long darkness, we shall at last see the light of Jesus Christ shining in it.
=GENEVA ATTACKED BY TWO PARTIES.=
The ancient city had not at this time to contend with a single party: it was attacked by two antagonistic bands at once, by the bishop on the one hand, and by the reformers on the other. Which of these two armies will conquer it?—Geneva, strange to say, rejects both. Will that city be destined to belong neither to the Gospel nor to Rome? It could not be so, and various symptoms appeared at this time to indicate an approaching solution.