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to make sure of his death if he should succeed in escaping the council.
The presence of magistrates and an armed force, however, saved him.
Early next morning he was conducted, with his companion, across
the lake to a place of safety. Thus ended his first effort to evangelize
Geneva.
For the next trial a lowlier instrument was chosen—a young man,
so humble in appearance that he was coldly treated even by the pro-
fessed friends of reform. But what could such a one do where Farel
had been rejected? How could one of little courage and experience
withstand the tempest before which the strongest and bravest had been
forced to flee? “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the
Lord.”
Zechariah 4:6
. “God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty.” “Because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than
men.”
1 Corinthians 1:27, 25
.
Froment began his work as a schoolmaster. The truths which he
taught the children at school they repeated at their homes. Soon the
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parents came to hear the Bible explained, until the schoolroom was
filled with attentive listeners. New Testaments and tracts were freely
distributed, and they reached many who dared not come openly to
listen to the new doctrines. After a time this laborer also was forced
to flee; but the truths he taught had taken hold upon the minds of
the people. The Reformation had been planted, and it continued to
strengthen and extend. The preachers returned, and through their
labors the Protestant worship was finally established in Geneva.
The city had already declared for the Reformation when Calvin,
after various wanderings and vicissitudes, entered its gates. Returning
from a last visit to his birthplace, he was on his way to Basel, when,
finding the direct road occupied by the armies of Charles V, he was
forced to take the circuitous route by Geneva.
In this visit Farel recognized the hand of God. Though Geneva
had accepted the reformed faith, yet a great work remained to be
accomplished here. It is not as communities but as individuals that
men are converted to God; the work of regeneration must be wrought
in the heart and conscience by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by
the decrees of councils. While the people of Geneva had cast off the
authority of Rome, they were not so ready to renounce the vices that
had flourished under her rule. To establish here the pure principles of