Calvin loved to repose from these struggles on the bosom of friendship. In the society of Du Tillet at Angoulême he found once more the charms which that of Duchemin had procured for him at Orleans. All his life he sought that noble intercourse, those _offices_, those kindnesses which friendship procures.[34] Even when deep in study, he loved to see the library door open, a well-known face appear, and a friend sit down by his side. Their conversations had an inexpressible sweetness for him. 'We have no need,' said the young canon, 'of those secrets which Pythagoras employed to produce an indissoluble friendship between his disciples. God has planted a mysterious seed between our souls, and that seed cannot die.'[35] [8] 'Adimere libertatem religionis, interdicere optionem divinitatis,' &c. Tertullianus, _Apol._ cap. xxiv. [9] Athanasius, _Hist. Arian._ § 3. [10] 'Quis autem _optabilior_ ad te nuncius adferri poterat, aut nos ipsi quod _felicius_ optare poteramus principium pontificatus tui, quam ut primis illis mensibus _tetram illam caliginem_, quasi exorto sole, _discussam_ cerneremus?'—_Mureti Orat._ xxii. [11] 'Cum promitterem mihi omnia tranquilla, aderat foribus quod minime sperabam.'—Letter to Francis Daniel. [12] Calvin, _Harmonie Evangélique_. [13] Calvin, _Lettres Françaises_, published by Jules Bonnet, i. p. 349. [14] 'In agrum Santonicum demigrans.'—Beza, _Vita Calvini_. [15] 'Conclavi quodam in Tilii ædibus, plus quatuor librorum, tam impressorum quam manuscriptorum, millibus instructo.'—Flor. Rémond, _Hist. Heres._ ii. p. 248. [16] See Vol. II. book ii. ch. xx. [17] _Corresp. de Calvin et de Du Tillet_, published by M. Crottet, p. 30. [18] 'Nunquam minus solum esse quam quum solus esset.'—Flor. Rémond, _Hist. Heres._ ii. p. 247. [19] Calvin, _Institutes_, bk. i. ch. xvii. [20] 'Et pro ea quam nosti desidia, nonnihil studendo proficere.'—Berne MSS. vol. 450, Calvin to Fr. Daniel. _Doxopolis._ [21] 'Si id temporis quod vel exilio, vel secessui destinatum est, tanto in otio transigere datur, præclare mecum agi existimabo.'—Ibid. [22] 'Nidus, mihi, in tranquillo componebatur præter opinionem.'—Ibid. [23] 'Sane inertissimi hominis ignaviam acuere posset patroni mei humanitas.'—Berne MSS. vol. 450, Calvin to F. Daniel. _Doxopolis._ [24] 'Mihi conandum est, serioque contendendum.'—Ibid. [25] 'Tam somni quam cibi omnino oblitus.'—Flor. Rémond, _Hist. Heres._ ii. p. 247. [26] 'Debere nobis in promptu esse fidei confessionem ut cam proferamus quoties opus est.'—Calvin, _Opp._ v. pars 4ta, p. 34. [27] 'In hac officina Vulcani....telam exorsus ad capiendos simplicium animos....Alcoranum vel Talmud.'—Flor. Rémond, _Hist. Heres._ ii. p. 246, and French edition, liv. vii. ch. ix. [28] _Opusc. Franç._ de Calvin, p. 3. This letter is not in the Latin edition. [29] 'Vim duntaxat vitam esse, aiunt, quæ ex spiritu arteriæ aut pulmonum agitatione ducitur.'—_Psychopannychia_, Op. Lat. p. 1. [30] _Opusc. Franç._ p. 2, Preface.