But the question was about a quite different matter. The reformer had before him a town in agitation and division, its parties, quarrels, hatreds, scoffings, cries, disorders, and scandals. Is this the temple in which the festival of peace is to be celebrated? ‘No,’ said he, ‘the aspect of the Church is not at present such as the legitimate administration of our office requires.[622] Whatever people may say, we do not believe that our ministry ought to be confined within such narrow limits that when once we have delivered our sermon we have nothing more to do except to rest as if we had accomplished our task. It is more than that; it is that we must with greater vigilance take care of those whose blood will be demanded at our hands if they should perish through our negligence. This solicitude fills us with distress of mind at all times, but when we have to distribute the Lord’s supper, then it fiercely consumes and cruelly torments us.[623] While the faith of many of those who wish to take part in it is in our opinion doubtful and even open to suspicion, we see them all rushing headlong and pell-mell to the sacred table. And one would say that they are eating greedily the wrath of God rather than partaking of the sacrament of life.’[624] Calvin, as these words show, had still before his eyes that riotous communion of January, previous to which the council had decreed ‘that the supper _should not be refused to anyone_.’ He recollected the disposition, the look, the deportment, with which many had taken part in it; he still felt the heaviness of heart which he had experienced when giving the bread of life to such men. Now all had grown worse. The evil which had then shown itself, bursting the few chains which kept it down, now broke forth with violence. The population was excited, angry, rebellious. It was no longer merely the profligacy of some individuals; there was general perplexity, disturbance, and confusion. The agitation was not confined to the coarser minds; some of the most cultivated were going beyond all bounds. The saying of a celebrated writer with respect to another city might be applied to Geneva, ‘The devil is let loose on this town: within the memory of man so frightful a time has not been seen.’ [Sidenote: VIOLENCE OF PARTIES.]