Calvin’s counsellors not being of one mind, it was agreed to wait until the deputation from Geneva should arrive.[22] But having received letters from Farel and from Viret, Calvin called his friends together again, and laying before them all the reasons which he could find, said, ‘I conjure you, in giving your advice, to leave my person altogether out of the question.’[23] In this very town of Worms, where Luther, in the presence of Charles V., had not shrunk from offering the sacrifice of his life, Calvin declared himself ready to do the same. His language was deeply pathetic. ‘Tears flowed from his eyes more abundantly than words from his lips.’[24] His friends were moved at the sight of the sincerity and depth of his feelings. His discourse was more than once interrupted by emotion. His soul was deeply stirred. He perceived that upon this moment hung a decision which must affect his whole life. They were no terrors of imagination which disturbed him. The struggles and the distress which he passed through at Geneva probably exceeded his anticipations. He was quite overpowered and wishing to conceal from his friends the passion of his grief, and to pour out his heart freely before God alone, he twice left the room and sought retirement.[25] The opinion of his friends was that for the time he should not make an engagement, but that he might hold out a hope to the Genevese. Calvin, however, went further. In the midst of the conflict through which his soul had just passed he had resolved on the course which terrified him. He would go to Geneva, and he said to the friends of the Reformation, ‘I beg of you to promise that when this diet is over, you will not throw any obstacle in the way of my going to Geneva.’ The thought that it was God’s will that he should be there was constantly presenting itself to his conscience afresh, and this even in spite of himself. The Strasburg deputies reluctantly assented. Capito wished to keep him. Bucer desired that he should be free to accept the call, ‘unless, indeed,’ he added, ‘any contrary wind should blow from your own side.’[26] [Sidenote: His Reply To Geneva.]