Although the catholics were indignant, and not without reason, at the order from Berne, which obliged them to attend the sermons opposed to their faith, the reformer preached without difficulty the first and second day; but on the third, the alarmed priests harangued their flocks and thundered from their pulpits against the heretical discourses; and from that time Farel counted few hearers in the church besides the friends of the Gospel. The bailiff had the good sense not to observe this disobedience. [Sidenote: FAREL'S CARE FOR THE MINISTRY.] The surrounding districts compensated Farel for the contempt of Orbe. His reputation having spread into the neighbouring villages, the people eagerly desired to hear him. Receiving message after message, and touched at the sight of these worthy peasants knocking at his door, he wrote to Zwingle: 'Oh! how great is the harvest! No one can describe the ardour the people feel for the Gospel, and the tears I shed when I see the small number of reapers.'[397] Several of the evangelicals of Orbe asked to be sent out to preach, but Farel, thinking them not ripe enough, refused. There were some who took offence at this, but it did not move Farel. 'It is better to offend them,' he said, 'than to offend God.' Saint Paul said: _Lay hands suddenly on no man_. Farel and the other reformers desired that the minister should honour his ministry. He required above all things a converted heart, but that was not enough. It is a bad sign when the Church admits into the number of those who are to point out the gate of salvation, either men who have not passed through it or who have not the gift of the Word, or are deficient in wisdom. But if the leaders of the Church are faithful, God will send them true ministers. [384] _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, p. 17. [385] _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, p. 19. [386] Ibid. p. 20. [387] _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, p. 19. [388] _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, pp. 21, 22. [389] 'Negat dixisse.'—_Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, pp. 24-28. [390] _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, pp. 21-32. [391] _Mém. du Sire de Pierrefleur_, p. 35. [392] Ibid. [393] _Sommaire_, &c., par G. Farel, p. 191. We give Farel's exact expressions on the subjects handled by Juliani, just as they are found in his writings, without being able to say that they were precisely those he employed on this occasion. [394] Ibid. p. 125. [395] Farel, _Sommaire_, pp. 96, 191, 210. [396] Ibid. p. 154. [397] 'Quanta sit messis, quis populi ardor in Evangelium, paucis nemo expresserit. Sed paucitatem operariorum deflere cogimur.'—_Farellus Zuinglio_, Orba, anno 1531. _Ep._ ii. p. 648. CHAPTER III. A NEW REFORMER AND AN IMAGE-BREAKER. (1531.)