Froment was not one of those eminent men who play a part because of their great character, and whose influence is continually on the increase. His ministry at Geneva during part of the winter 1532-33 was the heroic period of his life, after which he seldom appears but in the second or third rank: he was eclipsed by teachers who were superior to him. In the briefness of his ministry he resembles those heavenly bodies which attract all eyes for a few weeks, and then disappear; but he resembles them also by the influence which the people ascribe to their ephemeral passage. Froment's stay in Geneva shook the Romish traditions, secured the Holy Scriptures from oblivion, began to shed a few rays of light in the city, and laid the first foundations of the Church. Ere long the Word of God was carried thither in greater fulness by Farel and Calvin: the sun poured out all its light, and a solid majestic edifice was built on the foundations laid by the poor schoolmaster. [604] Froment, _Gestes_, p. 22. [605] Ibid. [606] Ibid. [607] These particulars, this prayer, and the first sermon that followed it have been recorded by Froment himself in his _Gestes de Genève_ published by M. Revillod, pp. 22-42. [608] The plague was then pretty frequent at Geneva. [609] Matth. xxiv. 23. [610] Matth. xxiii. 14; Mark xii. 38; Luke xx. 46. [611] Micah iii. 3. [612] 1 Timothy iv. 1-3. [613] 'Anhelo pulmone, in effusissimam vocem laxato.'—Spanheim, _Geneva restit._ p. 52. [614] Froment, _Gestes_, pp. 43, 44. La Sœur J. de Jussie, _Le Levain_, &c. p. 50. [615] Council Registers, 2 Jan. 1533; Gautier MS. Roset MS. _Chron._ liv. ii. ch. v. La Sœur J. de Jussie, _Hérésie de Genève_, p. 50. [616] Council Registers, 2 Jan. 1533; Gautier MS. Roset MS. _Chron._ liv. ii. ch. v. La Sœur J. de Jussie, _Hérésie de Genève_, p. 50. [617] 'In Leveti ædes, in ponte quo flumen Rhodani transitur sitas, migrat.'—Spanheim, _Geneva restit._ p. 50. [618] Froment, _Gestes_, p. 4. CHAPTER XIII. HOLY SCRIPTURE AND THE LORD'S SUPPER AT GENEVA. (JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 1533.) [Sidenote: THIRST FOR THE GOSPEL.] Froment's departure did but increase the love of the Gospel in serious minds. Deprived of what they considered their right—hearing the Gospel preached—they suffered from the want, and were determined to free themselves from the spiritual destitution to which they were reduced by the clerical system. Others felt no less decided aspirations for liberty, and were unwittingly the instruments of a greater revolution than they had imagined. These Genevans felt, as if by inspiration, that at the beginning of the sixteenth century society was passing through a crisis, and that a new phase was opening for mankind. They did more than observe it: they were personally the chief actors in the revolution that was about to be accomplished in the world. Leaving the barren nations in their lifeless stagnation, the men of this little city shouted 'Forward!' and rushed into the arena.