was suspected of holding the same views, having been exhorted by the pastors and the magistrates, declared that his doubts about baptism had vanished, and took an oath, says the Register, ‘to live as we do.’[539] On October 5, Farel and Calvin announced that they would administer the supper, but ‘that there were some who kept aloof, holding the opinions of Benoît and Herman; and others who still kept their beads, which are implements of idolatry.’ Thereupon the council determined ‘to take away all the beads.’ That was far easier than to take away the faith of which the beads were a sign. [Sidenote: PARTIES AT GENEVA.] Nothing could check the zeal of Calvin. On October 30 he presented himself to the council, and set forth various grievances. ‘The hospital,’ he said, ‘is very poorly furnished, and the sick are suffering in consequence. Geneva has a Christian school, and nevertheless some children go to the school of the papacy. Lastly it is to be feared that dissensions will arise between the citizens, for while some have taken the oath as to the manner of living, others have not done so.’ The sick, the young, and peace among the citizens, these were the matters which occupied the mind of the reformer, subjects well worthy of his attention. The council decreed--‘The hospital shall be supplied; all children shall be bound to go to the Christian school, and not to the papistical; and the confession shall be required of all who have not yet made it.’ This last point must inevitably be the most difficult. A conflict was about to begin, and what would be its result? We have just seen that there were in Geneva two parties, more or less considerable, who set themselves in opposition to the evangelical Reformation--the Roman Catholics and the Spirituals or Anabaptists. But there was yet a third party, more respectable and therefore more formidable. The Genevese people were naturally restless, and delighted in freedom and in pleasure. At first they had warmly embraced the Reformation, merely thinking that they should thereby be delivered from their bishop and from the practices which they disliked. But as soon as the Reformation demanded a Christian faith and life, the ardor of the Genevese rapidly diminished. The severity of Calvin and his colleagues chilled the violent ebullition of their zeal. They felt the ordinances imposed on them to be troublesome and exorbitant. Moreover, it was not only the jolly fellows, the lovers of pleasure and the libertines as they are called, who were refractory. It would be a great mistake not to acknowledge that in the ranks of the opposition there were other motives and other men.