each pastor, in conformity with the precept of Jesus Christ--‘Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone’--addressed those who were blameworthy kindly and privately. One fact, however, exonerates the preachers: they were not at liberty to act otherwise than they did. The state had resolutely placed itself above the Church, and was intermeddling with matters which pertained only to the pastors. If the latter had rebuked some citizens without the consent of the council, they would certainly have been liable to rebuke themselves. The fault was above all with the magistrate. Geneva sailed for some years on a high tide of _Cesaropapia_ (government of the Church by the state).[559] On January 3 the reformers presented themselves again before the council. They did not come to complain of the insults to which they had been subjected. They proposed a nobler object, the union of all the members of the Church in the same faith and the same charity. They drew a vivid picture of the discord which was increasing day after day, and of the divisions which were fomented in the republic by restless and factious spirits; and they represented that one of the best methods of applying a remedy would be to keep the disturbers away from the supper. ‘As it is determined to celebrate it on Sunday next,’ they said, ‘we are of opinion that, those persons should not be admitted. On this point we desire the opinion of the council.’[560] [Sidenote: THE CHURCH AND THE STATE.] This exclusion proposed to the senate is one of the gravest facts in the reformation of Geneva, and it kept up excitement in the city for nearly a whole generation. Wherein then were the reformers right, and wherein were they wrong? A society is a collection of men who, while differing on some matters, are in agreement on the subject which is the very essence of their union. A society of financiers is not composed of people who know nothing of money matters. It is not the unlearned who are admitted to a learned faculty. A regiment is not recruited with one-armed men. Men who know nothing of French are not elected to form the Forty of the Academy. It is just the same with Christian society. Its members may differ in many respects--political, literary, social, etc.--but Christian faith must actuate them all. A Jew or a Mohammedan does not belong to the Church of Jesus Christ; and a man who rejects the facts, the doctrines, and the duties of Christianity is not a Christian. ‘Birds of a feather flock together,’ says a common proverb. Ought the reformers to ignore such an elementary truth? There were still some Roman Catholics at Geneva; there were the so-called _Spirituals_, many of whom did not believe even in the immateriality of the soul; there were also a great number of citizens who did not consent to the faith as set forth in the confession made at St. Peter’s. Should such a confused mass, in which it would be impossible