The exposition, defence, and application of the great facts of Christianity formed the substance of Calvin’s work at Geneva and in Christendom. It is a mistake to suppose that his principal business was the introduction and the maintenance of discipline in the Church. It is not to be doubted that he wished for order: that he wished absolutely for a Christian way of life; but it was not he who, as some believe, first introduced measures of discipline, nor was the maintenance of those measures the task of his life. Speaking of them,[379] he defends himself from the charge of being their author. ‘I observe and do whatsoever I have found,’ said he, ‘as one who takes no pleasure in making any innovation.’ It was the magistrate, who, being in Geneva head both of the Church and of the state, prescribed and enforced the laws of discipline. Before Calvin’s arrival at Geneva, we have seen how De la Rive was sentenced to banishment for having his child baptized by a priest. The year before some men, women, and magistrates had been condemned to the _crotton_ (black hole) for immorality. At the moment at which this stranger, whose name even was hardly known, had just crossed the threshold of the city--on the eve of the day on which Farel was to introduce him to the magistrate (Monday, September 4, 1536)--a remarkable scene was taking place in the Council of the Two Hundred, which seems placed at that epoch as if on purpose to resolve distinctly the question which engages our attention. ‘Gentlemen,’ said the syndics, ‘we have all pledged ourselves in public council to live according to the Gospel, and nevertheless there are some here who do not go to preaching.’ At these words the councillor and former syndic Richardet, a fine, tall, and powerful man, but very passionate, rose in wrath and exclaimed with loud voice, ‘Nobody shall lord it over my conscience; and I will not go to sermon at the bidding of a Syndic Porral.’[380] Porral, a man of highly cultivated mind and a very active magistrate, had declared himself decisively for the Reform, and he was even charged to prosecute certain classes of delinquents. It had been enacted, on July 24, that those who refused to go to the preaching must quit the city in ten days. Richardet was not alone in his resolution. The question having been put to J. Philippe and two other councillors whether they would attend the preaching of the Word of God, ‘We will not be compelled,’ they said, ‘but will live in our liberty.’ These citizens were right in maintaining their liberty, and the magistrates were in the wrong. Calvin was far away from Geneva on July 24; and, generally speaking, he was not of so peremptory a temper as some imagine. There was a certain sphere in which he maintained liberty, and maintained it even against powerful adversaries. ‘Touching ceremonies,’ thus he wrote to the formidable lords of Berne, ‘they are things indifferent, and the churches are free to adopt a diversity of