rrara. Finally, he revisited his native town, sold the paternal
estate, which had devolved to him on the death of his eldest brother,
and, bidding Noyon adieu, set out, in company with his younger brother
and sister, on his way to Strasbourg. The direct road being rendered
dangerous by the armies of Charles V., which had penetrated into France,
he sought a circuitous route through Savoy and Geneva.

The result of this journey was memorable for the cause of the
Reformation. Arrived in Geneva, in the autumn of 1536, he met there his
friend, Louis du Tillet, who communicated the fact of his arrival to
Farel, then in the very midst of his struggle to promote the
Reformation. Farel hastened to see him, and urge upon him the duty of
remaining where he was, and undertaking his share of the work of God.
Calvin did not at first respond to the call. He was given, he himself
says, to his "own intense thoughts and private studies." He wished to
devote himself to the service of the reformed churches generally, rather
than to the care of any particular church. By some strange insight,
however, Farel penetrated to the higher fitness of the young stranger
who stood before him, and he ventured to lay the curse of God upon him
and his studies if he refused his aid to the church of Geneva in her
time of need. "It was," Calvin said, "as if God had seized me by his
awful hand from heaven." He abandoned his intention of pursuing his
journey, and joined eagerly with Farel in the work of reformation.

Having entered upon his task, he soon infused an energy into it which
crowned the struggling efforts of Farel with success. The hierarchical
authority was already overturned before his arrival; the citizens had
asserted their independence against the Duke of Savoy. The magistrates
and people eagerly joined with the reformers in the first heat of their
freedom and their zeal. A Protestant Confession of Faith was drawn out,
approved of by the Council of Two Hundred, and then proclaimed in the
cathedral church of St. Peter. Great and marvellous changes were wrought
in a short time upon the manners of the people; where license and
frivolity had reigned, a strict moral severity began to characterize the
whole aspect of society. The strain, however, was too sudden and too
extreme. A spirit of rebellion against the rule of Calvin and Farel
broke forth; but they refused to yield to the wishes of a party animated
by a more easy and liberal spirit than the