The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 214
and he who is guilty goes free; the Blessing bears the curse, and the
cursed is brought into blessing; the Life dies, and the dead live; the
Glory is whelmed in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion
of face is clothed with glory.”—D’Aubigne, London ed., b. 12, ch. 2.
And while teaching that the glory of salvation belongs solely to God,
he also declared that the duty of obedience belongs to man. “If thou
art a member of Christ’s church,” he said, “thou art a member of His
body; if thou art of His body, then thou art full of the divine nature....
Oh, if men could but enter into the understanding of this privilege, how
purely, chastely, and holily would they live, and how contemptible, when
compared with the glory within them,—that glory which the eye of flesh
cannot see,—would they deem all the glory of this world.”—Ibid., b. 12,
ch. 2.
There were some among Lefevre’s students who listened eagerly to
his words, and who, long after the teacher’s voice should be silenced,
were to continue to declare the truth. Such was William Farel. The son
of pious parents, and educated to accept with implicit faith the teachings
of the church, he might, with the apostle Paul, have declared concerning
himself: “After the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.”
Acts 26:5. A devoted Romanist, he burned with zeal to destroy all who
should dare to oppose the church. “I would gnash my teeth like a furious
wolf,” he afterward said, referring to this period of his life, “when I
heard anyone speaking against the pope.”—Wylie, b. 13, ch. 2. He had
been untiring in his adoration of the saints, in company with Lefevre
making the round of the churches of Paris, worshipping at the altars, and
adorning with gifts the holy shrines. But these observances could not
bring peace of soul. Conviction of sin fastened upon him, which all the
acts of penance that he practiced failed to banish. As to a voice from
heaven he listened to the Reformer’s words: “Salvation is of grace.”
“The Innocent One is condemned, and the criminal is acquitted.” “It is
the cross of Christ alone that
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