The Council—composed of such dignitaries as the Grand Commander of Castile, Don Garcia de Padilla, the distinguished man of letters, Peter Martyr, Francisco de los Cobos, and others—listened aghast to this speech, which was followed by a moment of silence that none of them felt prepared to break. The Bishop, whose wrath had waxed during the discourse, rose with an air of great authority and majesty to reply. “Great indeed,” he said, “has been your presumption and daring to come to correct the Council of the King. Casas must be at the bottom of this; who puts you, the King’s preachers, to meddle in government affairs which the King entrusts to his Councils? The King does not maintain you for this, but to preach the Gospel.” The rebuke fell flat, nor were the theologians one whit overawed by the Bishop’s high tone, for which they were not unprepared. Father Lafuente, who answered, began with a pun: “There is no Casas here but the Casa [house] of God, in which we officiate and for whose support and defence we are bound and ready to stake our lives. Does it appear presumption to your lordship that eight doctors of theology, who might properly address a whole General Council on matters of faith and government of the universal Church, should come to admonish a Council of the King? We may admonish the King’s Councils for what they do wrong, for by our office we belong to the King’s Council, and hence, gentlemen, we come here to admonish you and to require you to correct those most misguided and unjust actions, committed in the Indies to the perdition of souls and the offence of God. And if you do not correct these things, gentlemen, we shall preach against you as against those who do not keep the laws of God, nor act for the advantage of the King’s service. This, gentlemen, is to fulfil and to preach the Gospel.” Such a threat was no despicable one, and the members of the Council were brought by it to a milder disposition than that disclosed by the testy reply of their President to Fray Miguel’s opening discourse. Garcia Padilla undertook the apology of the Council, protesting that many excellent Provisions in favour of the Indians had emanated from that body, whose intentions were good; he offered to submit these proofs of an equitable disposition to the theologians, though he observed that their presumption did not merit such courtesy. The tone of the discussion softened considerably and it was decided that the various enactments of the Council already in vigour and those it proposed to put in operation should be presented to the theologians, who would later make known their opinion of them. These comprised the Laws of Burgos published in 1512 and the several amendments of Cardinal Ximenez. After hearing them read, the theologians withdrew, saying they would present their opinion at another sitting.