There were minds, however, upon which persecution produced a very different effect. Amid all this indignation and sorrow, Du Tillet remained shut up in himself and silent. The gentleness of the Word of God attracted him, but the bitterness of the cross terrified him. He had quitted everything with joy, believing that a general reform of the Church would be carried out promptly; but when he saw a mortal combat beginning between the Gospel and popery, 'he felt a deep emotion, he lost his rest,' as he tells us himself, 'and suffered inexpressible trouble and anguish of mind.' Each of the punishments at Paris added to the doubts and agitation of that candid but weak nature. He seemed to fear schism only, but the prospect of persecution and reproach had some share in his alarm. 'He did not understand,' as Calvin says, 'that while bearing the cross we keep Christ company, so that all bitterness is sweetened.' He kept himself apart, he passed days and nights filled with torture. 'I have been lonely, and without rest for the space of three years and a half,' he wrote to his old friend in 1538.[342] His intimacy with the reformer was changed, and three years later he was to cause him a sorrow as great, nay greater, no doubt, than that which Calvin had felt when he heard of the deaths of the martyrs. The intrigues of the agents of Francis I. began to be attended with success. They displayed inconceivable activity to mislead public opinion. They spoke, wrote, and distributed everywhere 'certain little books full of lies, in which it was said that the king had behaved harshly to none but rebels, who desired to disturb the State under the cloak of religion.' Men, and often the best of men, are unhappily prone to believe evil. Germany began to cool down; even at Basle many people were deceived; and although they did not believe all the calumnies circulated against the martyrs, the impression still remained. 'If a few sectarians have been punished,' said many good men, 'they are anabaptists, who, far from taking the Word of God for the rule of their faith, follow only their own corrupt imaginations, and have at bottom no other doctrine but a contempt of the higher powers. We cannot defend the cause of a handful of seditious people who desire to overthrow everything, even political order.'[342a] [Sidenote: EFFECT OF THE MARTYRDOMS ON CALVIN.]