Calvin Tells of the Night Farel Cursed Him

To show that it was not my purpose to acquire prominence and notoriety, I would have it known that directly afterward, I  left Basel, and even while I was there no one knew I was the author of the book. Also in other places I kept the matter secret and determined to continue to do so until finally Guillaume Farel kept me at Geneva, not by advice and urging, but by a dreadful curse as if God from on high has stretched out his hand upon me to arrest me.
Because the most direct road to Strasbourg where I wished to retire, was closed on account of hostilities, it was my plan to pass through Geneva without stopping more than one night in the city. A little earlier Popery has been driven out, by the fine person I jut named and by Pierre Viret: But conditions were  not yet settled and evil, dangerous factions divided the city.
Thereupon an individual who has since basely revolted and returned to the Papists discovered me and identified me to the others. At this point Farel (Burning with a wondrous zeal to advance the gospel) suddenly et all his efforts at keeping me. After having heard that I was determined to pursue my own private studies–when he realized He would get nowhere by pleas–he came to the point of a curse: That it would please God to curse my leisure and the quiet for my studies that I was seeking, if in such a grave emergency I should withdraw and refuse to give aid and  help. this word so overwhelmed me that I desisted from the journey I had undertaken. Still, feeling my shame and my timidity, I would not undertake to discharge any particular function.
–John Calvin "The Piety of John Calvin"