Calvin, indeed, was not content with the mere instruction of the Genevese in accordance with the confession. It would have sufficed Saunier, who saw with regret, at least at this time, that adhesion to the formula of the confession was required of every Genevese.[467] But it was not enough for Calvin that the document should be officially recognized by the council as an expression of the faith of the Genevese, a course which had been deemed satisfactory in other places. He demanded that each individual should accept it. He did not believe that the state was in this case responsible for the people. Every Genevese was responsible before God. He did not want religion in the mass. Does not Christ say, _Whosoever shall confess me before men_? Whosoever--that is, each individual. This is perfectly true; but the mistake is to suppose that, in order to confess Christ, it is necessary to sign a theological confession. ‘If thou believest in thy heart, thou shalt be saved,’ says Paul. We are reminded of a poor woman who desired participation at the supper, and whose pastor subjected her to an examination on the three offices of Christ, as prophet, priest, and king. ‘Ah, sir,’ she replied, ‘I know nothing of those things, but I am ready to die for him.’ ‘That will do,’ said the minister, with some sense of shame. Theology is necessary to theologians; it must not be demanded of simple folk. The three leading ministers, Farel, Calvin, and Courault, the latter blind and old, being of the same mind on the subject, appeared before the Two Hundred, presented their formula, and earnestly pressed the council to give glory to God by confessing His truth. ‘It is right,’ said Calvin, ‘that in so sacred a duty you, who are bound to set an example of all virtue, should go before the people.’ But that was not enough for him. ‘Then,’ he added, ‘assemble the country by tithings, and let every man swear to this confession.’[468] The council adopted the views of the reformer, which Saunier himself had embraced. All the tithing men were summoned to give first their own adhesion; and the council charged them to exhort those over whom they were set to follow the commandments of God, and to bring their men (_leurs gens_) to St. Peter’s, tithing by tithing (there were twenty-eight of them), to adhere to the confession. The adhesion was given through the medium of the tithing men, successively, and not simultaneously. A principle, from which there was no deviation, excluded women from the general council. But in this instance the assembly was of a religious rather than a political character. It was well known how great the influence of woman is in the family as regards religion. It is therefore possible that both men and women were summoned together to St. Peter’s, distributed in groups by their tithing men. The decree which we have just cited directs them to bring their _gens_, a word which may include both sexes. However, we have found no positive evidence on this point.