Did Calvin at this time see clearly the difference between the Roman priesthood and the Gospel ministry? We doubt it. It was not until later that his ideas became clear upon this important point. The notion, however, of abandoning not only the priesthood, but also the study of the law for the Gospel, was not new to him. More than once in his retirement, he had already asked himself: 'Shall I not preach Christ to the world?' But he had always shrunk away humble and timid from this ministry. 'All men are not suited for it,' he said; 'a special vocation is necessary, and no one ought to take it upon himself rashly.'[80] Calvin, like St. Augustin, the ancient doctor whom he most resembled (the irregularities excepted which mark the youth of the bishop of Hippona), feared to undertake a charge beyond his strength. He thought also that his father would never consent to his abandoning the law and joining the heretics. And yet he felt himself daily more inclined to entertain the great questions of conscience and christian liberty, of divine sovereignty and self-renunciation. 'So great a desire of advancing in the knowledge of Christ consumed me at that time,' he said, 'that I pursued my other studies very coldly.'[81] A domestic event was soon to give him liberty to enter upon the new career to which God and Wolmar were calling him.[82] Nor was this the only call he received at Bourges. Wolmar had spoken of him, and several families invited him to their houses to edify them. This took the young man by surprise, as it had done at Orleans; he remained silent, lost in the multitude of his thoughts. 'I am quite amazed,' he said, 'at seeing those who have a desire for pure doctrine gather round me to learn, although I have only just begun to learn myself!' He resolved, however, to continue at Bourges the evangelical work which he had timidly commenced on the banks of the Loire; and he brought more time and more decision to the task. [Sidenote: THE PREACHERS IN BERRY.] Calvin accordingly entered into relations with students and townspeople, nobles and lawyers, priests and professors. The family of the Colladons held at that time a considerable station in Berry. Two brothers, Leo and Germain, and two sisters, Mary and Anne, were the first to embrace the Gospel in Berry. Leo and Germain were advocates, and one of their cousins, styled Germain II. in the genealogies, now eighteen years old, afterwards became Calvin's intimate friend at Geneva. These ties of friendship had probably begun at Bourges.[83]