On returning into the city, the little army went to the churches. Farel had as much ardor in praying as Baudichon in fighting. Every day there were sermons and prayers to the Lord. 'O God,' said the reformer, 'be pleased to defend thy cause!'[622] In truth, it was not only the independence of Geneva that was threatened, but the Reformation. The Genevans enumerated their sufferings, outrages, poverty, famine, cold, loss of goods, furniture, and cattle, stolen by bands of plunderers; young children, and even men and women, carried off, maltreated, and put to death; attacks made at all hours, and so violently that it was scarcely possible to hold out longer. But greater misfortunes were still to come. Charles of Savoy, supported by the emperor, was recruiting old Italian and Spanish soldiers, and had selected to command them one of the cruellest captains of the age, employed somewhat later by Charles V. against the Protestants of Germany. The heads of the state, convinced of the danger, made this declaration on the 3d of October: 'Our enemies are preparing every day to attack us; so that, if God does not help us, we cannot escape their blood-stained hands.'[623] During this time Claude Savoye, who was soliciting help from Berne, received nothing but refusals. He was sad and heart-stricken; all was growing darker round him; he knew not whence aid could come. On a sudden a ray of light cheered him. Farel had proclaimed at Neuchâtel the Gospel he was preaching at Geneva. The towns and villages and valleys of that country were the scene of many of the reformer's victories. He had also preached to the mountaineers of the see of Basle, who had imagined they were 'listening to an angel come down from heaven.' Claude Savoye, rejected by the lords of Berne, turned his eyes towards the Jura, where the French language being in use, it would be easy for him to plead the cause of his country. He shook off the dust of his feet against Berne, and departed.