Note 19 — Chapter II

William Farel was born in 1489 at a village near Gap in the mountainous south-east corner of Dauphiné, on the border of Provence. He belonged to a noble family, and was devout from his earliest years. He describes a pilgrimage which he made as a child in his book Du vray usage de la croix de Jésus-Christ (pp. 223 f.). All through his adventurous life he preserved his rare uprightness of character, his fervent devotion, and his indignation at wrong-doing of all kinds. He persuaded his parents to allow him to go to Paris for education, and reached the capital about 1509. He probably spent twelve years there, partly as student and partly as professor in the college Le Moine. There he became the friend and devoted disciple of Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples, and this friendship carried him safely through several religious crises in his life. He followed Lefèvre to Meaux, and was one of the celebrated “group” there. When persecution and the timidity or scruples of the bishop caused the dispersion of these preachers, Farel went back to Dauphiné and attempted to preach the Gospel in Gap. He was not allowed parce qu’il n’estoit ne moine ne prestre, and was banished from the district by bishop and people. He next tried to preach in Guyenne, where he was equally unsuccessful. Thinking that there was no place in France open to him, he took himself to Basel. There he asked the University to allow him to hold a public disputation on certain articles which he sent to them. The authorities refused. He then addressed himself to the Council of the city, who permitted the discussion. The thirteen articles or Theses defended by Farel are given in Herminjard, Correspondance des Réformateurs dans les pays de langue française (i. 194, 195). He gathered a little church of French refugees at Basel (the ecclesiola of his correspondence), but was too much the ardent and impetuous pioneer to remain quietly among them. By the end of July 1524 he was preaching at Montbèliard, some miles to the south of Belfort, and the riots which ensued caused Oecolampadius to beseech him to temper his courage with discretion (Herminjard, Correspondance, etc., i. 255). He went thence to Strassburg (April 1525), to Bern, attempted to preach in Neuchâtel, and finally (middle of November 1526) opened a school at Aigle, an outlying dependency of Bern, hoping to get opportunity to carry on his evangelistic work. He was soon discovered, and attempts were made to prevent his preaching; but the authorities of Bern insisted that he should be unmolested. In the beginning of 1527 he was actively engaged at the great Disputation in Bern. That same year he was made pastor of Aigle and put in possession of the parsonage and the stipend; but such work was too tame for him. He made long preaching tours; we find him at Lausanne, Morat, Orbe, and other places, always protected by the authorities of Bern. He began his work in Geneva in 1532.