The Councils of Geneva, in great alarm, sent John Lullin and Francis Favre to Berne to ask the advice and assistance of those powerful allies. At the same time they ordered the bells of the Convent of St. Victor and others to be cast into cannon, and directed the captains of the city to take the necessary measures for putting it into a state of defence. And, lastly, wishing to deprive the enemies of Geneva of every pretext, the Council determined to punish those who had ‘ill-advisedly broken the images of the convent at Rive;’ and declared, that _though such images ought to be taken down and destroyed, according to God’s law_, yet ‘those persons’ ought not to have done it without order and permission, because it was _an act pertaining to the magistracy_. In consequence of this, six men, of whom little was known, were imprisoned on the 26th July.[598] [Sidenote: Enthusiasm In Geneva.] Great was the enthusiasm in Geneva. The citizens were ready to give up everything ‘to follow the right path,’ and the Reformation still advanced, notwithstanding the great danger with which it was threatened. Some even chose this moment to confess their faith. The last Sunday in July, a few hours before the day when the enemy intended to enter Geneva, a member of the Dominican order, that pillar of the papacy, ‘after the bell had bidden the people to the sermon,’ appeared before the congregation, took off his monastic dress, went into the pulpit, and then, ‘like a madman,’ prayed God to have pity on him. He bewailed himself, asked pardon of his listeners for having ‘lived so ill in times past, and so monstrously deceived everybody.’ ‘I have preached indulgences,’ he continued, ‘I have praised the mass, I have extolled the sacraments and ceremonies of the Church. Now I renounce them all as idle things. I desire to find but one thing—the grace of Christ crucified for me.’ After which he preached an heretical sermon.[599]