This was something new: a numerous crowd filled the place. 'Men and women, catholics and Lutherans, crowded in,' says the nun of Ste. Claire, 'and that during all the first week.' Some fancied that the guardian was going to thunder against the Reform; but all doubts were soon dispersed. He spoke, and the astonishment was universal. The reformed were surprised at seeing one who formerly had rejected so rudely the grace of Christ, now rushing like a common soldier into the midst of the battle and defending it. The catholics were still more amazed. 'This scandalized them so much,' adds the sister, 'that they never went afterwards.'[505] It seemed impossible to come to an understanding, and the confusion continued increasing. How could they get out of a struggle which looked as if it would never end? There appeared one very natural means which does honor to the epoch in which men had recourse to it. The magistrates of the sixteenth century, whether in Switzerland or elsewhere, studied their charters when there was a question of establishing what was right, and assimilated the principles which had dictated them. But their love of the right was not a platonic love, as among enervated jurists. These notable men wished to realize in the government of the people what was in its constitution. Now if the book of the _Liberties, Franchises, Immunities, Uses, and Customs_ of Geneva was the charter of the state, the _Holy Scriptures_ were the charter of the Church: the Bible was the grand muniment of their spiritual franchises. Nothing must be decided, therefore, except by this sovereign rule.[506] While such thoughts occupied the syndics, the same desire animated the Reformers. 'We will forfeit our lives,' they said, 'if we do not prove by Holy Scripture that what we preach is true.' A conference, at which, with the divine charter before them, the faith, duties, and rights of Christians should be established, seemed the wisest way of getting out of the difficulty. [Sidenote: A PUBLIC DISCUSSION DEMANDED.]