He felt the need of going forward and not backward. ‘We must not take our eyes from the brow and fix them in the back,’ he said one day. ‘I go straight to the mark.’ ‘As for myself,’ said he at this memorable sitting of September 13, ‘I offer myself to be a servant of Geneva forever.’ He meant really and truly _to serve_, but in the truest and most beautiful sense of the word. To Farel he wrote (September 16)—‘Immediately after offering my services to the Senate, I declared that no church could subsist except by establishing a well-constituted government, such as the Word of God prescribes, and such as was adopted in the early church.’[105] He next touched delicately on some points in order to make it clear to the Council what he desired. ‘However,’ he continued, ‘this question is too extensive for discussion on this occasion. I request you to nominate some of your body to confer with us upon this subject.’ The Council named for that purpose four members of the Little Council, the former syndic, Claude Pertemps; the former secretary, Claude Roset; Ami Perrin, and Jean Lambert; and two members of the Great Council, Jean Goulaz and Ami Porral, both ex-syndics.[106] These six laymen, in co-operation with Calvin and Viret, were to draw up articles of a constitution for the church. The other three pastors appeared willing to go with their two colleagues. We do not see, however, that the Council offered to its _conqueror_ its _homage_ with _almost grovelling submissiveness_.[107] There was agreement, there was respect on the part of the Council, but there was no humiliation; and we cannot admit that Calvin considered _his right of lordship over Geneva as an article of faith_ which God himself had proclaimed.[108] At this sitting he called himself servant, and not lord; and the only reservation which has to be made is that he would always consider himself before all a servant of God. The Council afterwards resolved to return thanks to Strasburg for having sent Calvin, and at the same time to request that he might be allowed to settle permanently at Geneva. Calvin himself no longer hesitated; and this appeared in the courage with which he set about the organization of the church. Geneva and Calvin were henceforth inseparable, as much so as the city and the river which flows by and waters it. The council likewise adopted certain resolutions respecting the person and the family of the reformer. It gave orders (September 16) to send for his wife and his household, and for this purpose bought three horses and a car. Next, his salary was fixed, and ‘considering,’ said the Council (October 4), ‘that Calvin is a man of great learning, a friend to the restoration of Christian churches, and is at great expense in entertaining visitors, it is resolved that he shall receive an annual salary of five hundred florins, twelve measures of wheat, and two _bossots_ of wine.’[109] On the same day it was ordered that some cloth should be bought, with furs, to make