This group of distinguished men, which now gathered round Calvin at Poitiers, as formerly at Angoulême, fixed the attention of those who had any intercourse with him. Calvin's attractive power, which is somewhat doubted in the present day, struck even his enemies. 'Knowledge as well as virtue,' says one of them on this occasion, 'soon wins love, and eminent minds, whether for good or evil, require little time to become known. Calvin, having retired to Poitiers, soon met with good store of friends.'[96] He met them at the university, went to see them at their houses, courted their society, and spoke freely of the knowledge of God.[97] On many points they thought from the very first like him. When he complained 'that they worshipped stocks and stones, prayed to the dead, trusted in vain things, and desired to serve God by idle ceremonies,'[98] everybody agreed with him, even Le Sage. But the young doctor went still farther. Doubtless he condemned 'a rugged austerity; he recommended people to be _loving_ (aimables) and kind to their neighbours.'[99] But at the same time, he was true, even at the risk of displeasing. Being present one day when some sincere catholics were defending the doctrine of transubstantiation, Calvin unhesitatingly declared, that we must receive Christ, even his body and blood, by faith, by the spirit which gives life, and not by a sensual eating with the mouth. Le Sage exclaimed, quite shocked, that this was the opinion of the heretic Wickliffe, and even La Place 'stopped short in alarm, at seeing so great a falling off from the religion in which he had been strictly bred.'[100] Calvin was cut to the heart. [Sidenote: CALVIN AT THE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL'S.]