=VEIGY'S INVECTIVES.=
The abbot-vicar of Bonmont presided; on his right and left sat the canons, the bishop's officers, and the head priests, all in their sacerdotal robes. The missionary, simply but decently dressed, came forward followed by his two friends, and all three remained standing before the assembly. The official, Messire de Veigy, a learned and eloquent man, was ordered to speak. 'William Farel,' he said, 'tell me who has sent you, for what reason you come here, and in virtue of what authority you speak?' In Veigy's opinion it was necessary for the preacher to be sent by some Romish ecclesiastical authority. Farel replied with simplicity, 'I am sent by God, and I am come to announce his word.' 'Poor wretch!' exclaimed the priests, as they shrugged their shoulders. The official resumed: 'God has sent you, you say; how is that? Can you show by any manifest sign that you are come in His name? As Moses before Pharaoh, will you prove to us by miracles that you really come from God? If you cannot, then show us the licence of our most reverend prelate the Bishop of Geneva. Preacher never yet preached in his diocese without his leave.'
Here the official paused; and then disdainfully scanning the reformer from head to foot, he said: 'You do not wear the dress that is usual for those who are accustomed to announce the Word of God to us.... You are dressed like a soldier or a brigand.... How is it you are so bold as to preach? Is it not forbidden by a decree of holy church for laymen to preach in public under pain of excommunication? That is contained in the decretals of our holy mother church.... You are, therefore, a deceiver and a bad man.'[521] Farel believed that it was his duty to announce the Word of God, because Jesus Christ had said, Preach the Gospel to every creature. He thought that the true successors of the apostles were those who conformed to Christ's order, and that (as Calvin says), 'the pope of Rome and all his tribe had no claim to that apostolical succession which they alleged, since they no longer cared for the doctrine of Christ.'[522] The clergy in whose presence he was standing did not allow him time to speak. At last they had before them the terrible heretic of whom they had been talking so many years. The official's words had still further aroused their passions; they could no longer contain themselves. Pale with anger they shuddered and clattered with their feet as they sat. At last the mine exploded; they all spoke at once, pouring insult and abuse on the reformer. Their excitement carried them away; they rose from their seats, rushed upon him, and pulling him now this way, now that, exclaimed, 'Come, Farel, you wicked devil, what business have you to go up and down, disturbing all the world?... Are you baptized? Where were you born? Where do you come from? Why did you come here? Tell us by whose authority you preach? Are you not the man who propagated Luther's heresies at Aigle and Neuchatel, and threw the whole country into confusion? Who sent you into this city?' The noise and tumult would not permit either Farel or the grand vicar to speak; the weapons were heard to rattle which some of the priests carried under their frocks. Farel remained still and silent in the midst of this raging sea. At last Messire de Bonmont succeeded in interposing his authority, made his colleagues resume their seats, and silence was restored.[523] Then the reformer, nobly lifting up his head, said with great simplicity, 'My lords, I am not a devil. I was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and if I journey to and fro, it is that I may preach Jesus Christ—Jesus Christ crucified, dead for our sins, and risen again for our justification, so that whosoever believeth in Him shall have everlasting life. As an ambassador of Jesus Christ I am compelled to teach Him to all who are willing to hear me. I have, however, no other right to speak than that which the commandment of God gives to me His servant. My only aim is so to discharge my duty that all the world may receive salvation, and it is for this cause and for no other that I am come into this city. Having been brought before you to give an account of my faith, I am ready to do so, not only at this moment, but as many times as you please to hear me peaceably. What I have preached and still preach is the pure truth and not a heresy, and I will maintain it even unto death. As for what you say about my disturbing the land and this city in particular, I will answer as Elijah did to Ahab, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house. Yes, it is you and yours who trouble the world by your traditions, your human inventions, and your dissolute lives.'[524]
=THREATS AGAINST FAREL.=
The priests, astonished at the calm, simple, free and spirited language of the reformer, had listened to him in silence so far, but the moment they heard him speak of their human inventions and irregular lives, his words were like daggers and disturbed their wicked consciences. It might have been said that the infernal deities (it is the expression of a reformer) were hovering about them and left them no repose. 'They fixed their burning eyes on Farel; they gnashed their teeth,' says a manuscript; and one of them starting up in a passion said: 'Blasphematur, non amplius indigemus testibus. Reus est mortis.'[525] This was the signal for a scene more savage than the former. All rose again, some impelled by violence and pride, others believing they were supporting the cause of religion, and exclaimed: 'To the Rhone, to the Rhone! kill him, kill him! It is better for this rascally Lutheran to die than permit him to trouble all the people.'[526] These words, without being those which the high-priest uttered against Christ were very like them. Farel was struck by the resemblance. 'Speak the words of God and not of Caiaphas,' he exclaimed. At these words the exasperated priests could contain themselves no longer. They all started up together and shouted out: 'Kill him, kill the Lutheran hound!' Dom Bergeri, proctor to the chapter, still more excited than the others, urged them on, exclaiming in his Savoyard dialect: Tapa, tapa! (which, adds Froment, means 'Strike, strike!') The sentence was immediately carried into execution; they surrounded the three reformers; some caught hold of Farel, others of Saunier, and others of Olivetan. They abused them, beat them, spat in their faces, and uttered all sorts of cries, so that it was like a pandemonium. In the midst of all this uproar Farel and his companions 'preserved their patience and moderation.' The abbot of Bonmont, syndics Hugues and Balard, and even a few priests, ashamed of such a scene, tried to put an end to it. 'It is not well done,' said the abbot, 'have we not pledged our word and honour to them?' Syndic Hugues, a just, quick, and energetic man, disgusted with the behaviour of the ecclesiastics, broke out at last. 'You are wicked men,' he said; 'we brought you these men on your promise that no harm should be done them, and you want to beat and kill them before our faces.... I will go and set the great bell ringing to convoke the general council. The assembled people shall decide.' Hugues was leaving the room to go and put his threat into execution, when Balard, the other magistrate, desiring to prevent anything that might compromise the cause of Rome, endeavoured to calm him. However the syndic's threat had produced its effect; the priests alarmed at the thought of a general assembly of the citizens, and fearing lest it should decree their expulsion from Geneva, returned to their seats rather ashamed of themselves. The abbot, taking advantage of this new lull, desired Farel and his friends to withdraw, in order that the episcopal council might deliberate. Farel left the room covered with spittle and severely bruised.[527]
=FAREL ASSAULTED.=
While the superior clergy were behaving in this way, the inferior clergy were assembling, and about eighty priests had collected before the house of the vicar-episcopal, 'all well armed with clubs to defend the holy catholic faith and prepared to die for it.' This mode of defending religion, so different from that of the first fathers of the church, has been made known to us through the reverend Sister Jeanne de Jussie. The priests were stout, resolute men; they had formed a plot and were there to carry it into execution. 'They wished,' adds Sister Jeanne, 'to put that wretch and his accomplices to a bitter death.'[528] Such was the exploit they contemplated, and for its accomplishment they carefully surrounded the grand-vicar's house. They filled the narrow area of the Puits St. Pierre and the Rue des Chanoines, and had even penetrated into M. de Bonmont's courtyard and garden, so that it was impossible for Farel to escape. The fanatical and agitated crowd, which had been there for some time, was beginning to grow impatient that the episcopal council sat so long. Farel and his two friends, when they had turned into a long gallery, could hear the raised voices of some of the members of the council, and the increasing noise of the crowd that filled the courtyard. But another danger threatened them.
One of the grand-vicar's servants, Francis Olard, surnamed Ginin, a violent man, stood at the end of the gallery, having been posted there arquebus in hand, as a sentinel. He had listened to the tumult from within; the shouting from without excited and inflamed him. Was not this Farel the enemy of his masters—a heretic whom everybody wished dead? His weapon was ready: he levelled it at Farel and prepared to fire. Had the priests stationed Olard there for this purpose, as the chronicles say, or did he act of his own accord, being more fanatical than his masters, as the servants of political or ecclesiastical corporations often are? Be it as it may, the arquebusier pulled the trigger, the priming flashed ... but the gun did not go off. Farel turning to him said coldly: 'I am not to be shaken by a popgun; your toy does not alarm me.'—'Verily,' said his friends, 'God of His mercy turned aside the blow, in order to preserve Farel for struggles still more formidable.'[529]
=DANGER OF FAREL AND HIS FRIENDS.=