Rise and Establishment of Protestantism at Geneva - James Aitken Wylie

course." Farel had borne the brunt of the tempest in
the morning, it was to be Calvin's turn in the
evening. On descending to the Church of Rive, the
former Convent of St. Francis, near the shores of
the lake, he found the place already filled with an
assembly, many of whom had brought their swords
with them. Whatever apprehensions the young
Reformer may have felt, he presented to the
assembly, which hung upon the edge of the storm,
a calm and fearless front. He had not been more
than eighteen months in their city, and yet he had
inspired them with an awe greater than that which
they felt even for Farel.
These two were men of the same spirit, as of
the same office, and yet they were unlike, and the
Genevans saw the difference. Farel was the man of
oratory, Calvin was the man of power. In what
attribute or faculty, or combination of faculties, his
power lay, they would have had great difficulty in
saying. Certainly it was not in his gestures, nor in
his airs, nor in the pomp of his rhetoric, for no one
could more sedulously eschew these things; but
that he did possess power -- calm, inflexible,
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