The irritation which this step produced was extreme, and was felt, not only by the pastors, but also by their pious and austere partisans; they resolved to lay their complaint solemnly before the Council. Calvin and Farel appeared before them, accompanied by fourteen pious burgesses of note. [Footnote 75] [Footnote 75: April 20, 1538.] Farel began abruptly, 'You have acted badly, wickedly, iniquitously,' said he, 'in putting Courault in prison. I demand that the matter be brought before the Council of Two Hundred. Ah, sirs, you should remember that without me you would not be here now.' _A Burgess_. 'Yes, sirs, the pastors shall preach in spite of you.' _The Syndics_. 'Courault has been imprisoned for abusive language to the magistrates; he will stay in prison until justice is done. And you, sirs, the preachers, will you obey the decree of Berne touching the Lord's Supper?' _The Pastors_. 'We will only do what God commands us.' _The Burgesses_. 'Set Courault at liberty. We will give bail for him.' _The Syndics_. 'It is not the custom, seeing that he is imprisoned for contempt of justice.' _A Burgess_. 'You have imprisoned him on the testimony of false witnesses; there are traitors here, and I know very well which they are.' They separated, the magistrates surprised and provoked, the pastors and their friends more than ever resolved upon resistance. That same evening the magistrates sent a messenger to ask Calvin and Farel: 'Will you preach to-morrow, Easter Sunday, and administer the Communion according to the tenor of the letters from Berne?' {229} Calvin was alone, and he refused to give any answer: 'Then,' said the messenger, 'on the part of the magistrates I forbid you to preach to-morrow; they will find some one else.'