this abode of the sick and the poor, is to-day become His birthplace in the town of Neufchatel.'

"Then, feeling ill at ease in the presence of the painted and carved images that decorated the chapel, he laid his hands on these objects of idolatry, removed them, and broke them in pieces.

"At the distance of a league from Neufchatel, beyond the mountain, extends the Val de Ruez, and near its entrance, in a precipitous situation, where roars an impetuous torrent surrounded by steep crags, stands the town of Valangin. An old castle, built on a rock, raises its vast walls in the air, overlooking the humble dwellings of the townspeople.

"In this castle dwelt Guillemette de Vergy, dowager-countess of Valangin, strongly attached to the Romish religion, and full of respect for the memory of her husband.

"A hundred priests had chanted high mass at the count's burial, when many penitent young women had been married, and large alms distributed; the curate of Locle had been sent to Jerusalem, and Guillemette herself had made a pilgrimage for the repose of the soul of her departed lord.

"Sometimes, however, the countess of Gruyères and other ladies would come and visit the widow of Vergy, who assembled in the castle a number of young lords. The fife and the tambourine re-echoed under its vaulted roofs; chattering groups collected in the immense embrasures of its Gothic windows, and merry dances followed hard upon a long silence of gloomy devotion. There was but one sentiment that never left Guillemette-this was her hatred against the Reformation, in which she was warmly seconded by her intendant the Sieur of Bellegarde.

"Guillemette and the priests had indeed reason to tremble. The 15th of August was, in fact, a great Romish festival-our Lady of August, or the Assumption, which all the faithful of the Val de Ruez were preparing to keep. This was the very day Farel selected.

"Animated by the fire and courage of Elijah, he set out for Valangin, and a young man, his fellow-countryman, and, as it would appear, a distant relation, Antony Boyve, an ardent Christian, accompanied him. The two missionaries climbed the mountain, plunged into the pine-forest, and then, descending again into the valley, traversed Valangin, and arrived at a village. Already, on all sides, the people were thronging to the church; Farel and his companion entered also with a small number of the inhabitants who had heard him at Neufchatel.

"The Reformer immediately ascended the pulpit, and the priest prepared to celebrate mass. The combat began. While Farel

FAREL AND BOYVE ASSAULTED.

379

was preaching Jesus Christ and His promises, the priest and the choir were chanting the missal. The solemn moment approached -the ineffable transubstantiation was about to take place-the priest pronounced the sacred words over the elements. At this instant the people hesitated no longer; ancient habits, an irresistible influence, drew them towards the altar, the preacher is deserted, the kneeling crowd has recovered its old worship. Rome is triumphant. Suddenly a young man springs from the throng, traverses the choir, rushes to the altar, snatches the host from the hands of the priest, and cries as he turns towards the people, 'This is not the God whom you should worship. He is above, in heaven, in the majesty of the Father, and not, as you believe, in the hands of the priest.' This man was Antony Boyve.

"Such a daring act at first produced the desired effect. The mass was interrupted, the chanting ceased, and the crowd, as if struck by a supernatural intervention, remained silent and motionless. Farel, who was still in the pulpit, immediately took advantage of this calm, and proclaimed that Christ whom the heaven must receive until the time of the restoration of all things.' Upon this, the priests and the choristers rushed to the towers, ran up into the belfry, and sounded the tocsin. These means succeeded; a crowd was collected; and if Farel had not retired, his death and Boyve's would have been inevitable.

Leaving Chaumont and its dark forests to the left, these two heralds of the Gospel took a narrow path that wound beneath the castle. They were stealing cautiously along, when suddenly a shower of stones assailed them; at the same time, a score of individuals, priests, men, and women, armed with clubs, fell furiously upon them. 'The priests had not the gout either in their feet or arms,' says a chronicler; 'the ministers were so beaten that they nearly lost their lives.'

6

"Madame de Vergy, who descried them from the terrace, far from moderating the anger of the priests, cried out, Drown them! drown them! throw them into the Seyon-these Lutheran dogs who have despised the host!' In fact, the priests were beginning to drag the two heretics towards the bridge. Never was Farel nearer death.

"Farel and Boyve, thrust into the dungeons of the castle, could, like Paul and Silas, 'sing praises to God.'

"Messire de Bellegarde, ever ready to persecute the Gospel, was preparing for them a cruel end, when some townsmen of Neufchatel arrived to claim them.

"Madame de Valangin dared not refuse. At Neufchatel, the Bernese supported the evangelical citizens. The governor, whose

revenues were exhausted, sent deputies to the princess, 'begging her to cross the mountains, to appease the people, who were in terrible trouble in consequence of the Lutheran religion.' Meantime the ferment increased. The townspeople prayed the canons to give up the mass; they refused; whereupon the citizens presented their reasons in writing, and begged them to discuss the question with Farel.

"Still the same refusal ! 6 But, for goodness' sake, speak either for or against!' It was all of no use. On Sunday, the 23rd of October, Farel, who had returned to Neufchatel, was preaching at the hospital. He knew that the magistracy had deliberated on the expediency of consecrating the cathedral itself to the evangelical worship. 'What, then?' said he, 'will you not pay as much honour to the Gospel as the other party does to the mass?' At these words all his hearers arose. " To the church!' cried they, 'to the church!' Impetuous men are desirous of putting their hands to the work, to accomplish what the prudence of the burgesses had proposed. They leave the hospital, and take Farel with them. They climb the steep streets of the castle; in vain would the canons and their frightened followers stop the crowd;

they force a passage. Convinced that they are advancing for God's glory, nothing can check them. Insults and shouts assail them from every side. They open the gates of the church of Our Lady; they enter, and here a fresh struggle begins. The canons and their friends, assembled around the pulpit, attempt to stop Farel; but all is useless. The townspeople advance against the sacerdotal coterie; they form a close battalion, in the centre of which they place the Reformer. They succeed in making their way through the opposing crowd, and at last place the minister in the pulpit, without any harm befalling him. Immediately all is calm within the church and without; even the adversaries are silent, and Farel delivers one of the most effective sermons he had hitherto preached.

"Their eyes are opened; their emotion increases; their hearts are melted; the most obstinate appear converted. From every part of the old church, these cries resound, 'We will follow the evangelical religion, both we and our children; and in it we will live and die.'

Suddenly, a whirlwind as it were sweeps over the multitude, and stirs it up like a vast sea. Farel's hearers desire to imitate the pious King Josiah. 'If we take away these idols from before our eyes, will it not be aiding us,' said they, 'taking them from our own hearts?' Then began a scene which filled the Romanists with horror.

ATTACK ON THE IMAGES, PAINTINGS, AND STATUES.

381

"To the south, beneath the terrace on which this tumultuous scene was passing, lay the wide and tranquil waters of the lake, with its fertile and picturesque shores, and in the distance the continuous summits of the higher Alps, with their dazzling snows, their immense glaciers, and gigantic peaks stretching far away before the enraptured eye.

"On this platform the people of Neufchatel were in commotion. The governor, whose castle adjoined the church, was compelled to remain an idle spectator of the excesses he could not prevent.

"These daring fellows,' says he, 'seize mattocks, hatchets, and hammers, and thus march against the images of the saints.' They advance; they strike the statues and the altars; they dash them to pieces. The figures carved in the fourteenth century by the 'imagers' of Count Lewis are not spared; and scarcely do the images of the counts themselves, which were mistaken for idols, escape destruction. The townspeople collect all these fragments of an idolatrous worship; they carry them out of the church, and throw them from the top of the rock. The paintings meet with no better treatment. 'It is the devil,' thought they with the early Christians, who taught the world this art of statues, images, and all sorts of likenesses.' They tear out the eyes in the pictures of the saints and cut off their noses. The crucifix itself is thrown down; for this wooden figure usurps the homage that Jesus Christ claims in the heart. One image, the most venerated of all, still remains : it is our Lady of Mercy, which Mary of Savoy had presented to the collegiate church; but our Lady herself is not spared. A hand more daring than the rest strikes it, as in the fourth century the colossal statue of Serapis was struck.

"They have even bored out the eyes of our Lady of Mercy, which the departed lady your mother had caused to be made,' wrote the governor to the duchess of Longueville.

"The provost Oliver of Hochberg, the canons senior of Neufchatel, and Pontus of Soleilant, when they saw the two parties coming to blows, ordered all the supporters of the evangelical doctrine to appear before the governor. This was like trying to chain the winds. Tell the governor,' replied the townspeople haughtily, 'that in the concerns of God and our souls, he has no command over us.' George de Rive then discovered that his authority failed against a power superior to his own. He must yield, and save at least some remains. He hastened therefore to remove the images that still remained, and to shut them up in secret chambers. The citizens of Neufchatel allowed him to execute this measure. 'Save your gods,' thought they; 'preserve them under strong bars, lest perchance a robber should deprive you of the

objects of your adoration.' By degrees the tumult died away, the popular torrent returned within its channel, and a short time after, in commemoration of this great day, these words were inscribed on a pillar of the church :

L'AN 1530, LE 23 OCTOBRE,

FUT OTÉE ET ABATTUE L'IDOLATRIE DE CEANT

PAR LES BOURGEOIS.

"The governor and his trusty friends, however, had not yet lost all hope. It is only a minority,' said they at the castle, which has taken part in the destruction of the images; the majority of the nation still obeys the ancient doctrine.' The friends of the Reformation demanded the presence of Bernese commissioners. De Rive, therefore, called Berne to his aid. The two parties met face to face, with 'great hatred and division,' says the Bernese report. The arbitrators consulted together. You should understand,' said the governor, 'that the majority of this town, men and women, adhere firmly to the ancient faith. The others are hot-headed young soldiers, vain of their persons, and puffed up with the new doctrine,' 'Well,' replied the Bernese deputies, 'to prevent all mischief, let us settle this difference by the plurality of suffrages, in accordance with the treaty of peace made at Brengarten between the cantons.' This was what the reformed desired. The vote! the vote!' cried they. But the lord of Prangins and the priests, who had desired it when they were alone, shrank back in the presence of Berne. We ask for time,' said they. If the reformed allowed themselves to be cheated by these dilatory measures, all was over. When once the Bernese had quitted Neufchatel, the governor and the clergy would easily have the upper hand. They therefore remained firm. 'No! no!' said they; 'now!-no delay! not a day! not an hour!'

6

"But the governor, in the face of a proceeding that would decide the legal fall of Popery, trembled, and obstinately opposed the cries of the people. The magistrates were already indignant, the burghers murmured, and the most violent looked at their swords. "They were resolved to compel us sword in hand,' wrote the governor to the princess. A fresh storm was gathering over Neufchatel. Yet a few more minutes' resistance, and it would burst forth upon the church, the town, and the castle, destroying not only statues, images, and altars, but there would have remained dead men,' said the lord of Rive. He gave way in trouble and affright.