The Word of God carried the town, as it were, at the first assault; and throwing down the devices Rome had taken ages to compose, established itself in triumph on the ruins of human traditions. Farel saw in imagination Jesus Christ himself walking in spirit through the midst of this crowd, opening the eyes of the blind, softening the hard heart, and working miracles,[979]......so that scarcely had he returned to his humble residence before he wrote to his friends with a heart full of emotion: "Render thanks with me to the Father of mercies, in that he has shown his favour to those bowed down by a weighty tyranny;" and falling on his knees, he worshipped God.[980] [979] Quid Christus in suis egerit. (Ibid.) [980] Gratias ergo, Fratres, mecum agite Patri misericordiarum, quod sit propitius gravi pressis tirannide. (Ibid.) But during this time what were the adherents of the Pope doing in Neuchatel? The canons, members of the General Audiences, of which they formed the first estate, treated both priests and laymen with intolerable haughtiness. Laying the burden of their offices on poor curates, they publicly kept dissolute women, clothed them sumptuously, endowed their children by public acts, fought in the church, haunted the streets by night, or went into a foreign country to enjoy in secret the produce of their avarice and of their intrigues. Some poor lepers placed in a house near the city were maintained by the produce of certain offerings. The rich canons, in the midst of their banquets, dared take away the bread of charity from these unhappy wretches. [Sidenote: RESISTANCE OF THE MONKS.] The abbey of Fontaine-André was at a little distance from the town. Now the canons of Neuchatel and the monks of Fontaine were at open war. These hostile powers, encamped on their two hills, disputed each other's property, wrested away each other's privileges, launched at one another the coarsest insults, and even came to blows. "Debaucher of women!" said the canons to the abbot of Fontaine-André, who returned the compliment in the same coin. It is the Reformation which, through faith, has re-established the moral law in Christendom,--a law that Popery had trodden under foot. For a long time these conventual wars had disturbed the country. On a sudden they cease. A strange event is passing in Neuchatel,--the Word of God is preached there. The canons, seized with affright in the midst of their disorders, look down from their lofty dwellings on this new movement. The report reaches Fontaine-André. The monks and priests suspend their orgies and their quarrels. The heathen sensualism that had invaded the Church is put to the rout; Christian spiritualism has reappeared.