As the reformer received no satisfactory reply, he set out for Berne in the first fortnight in March, and implored the magistrates, the councillors, and the pastors to convoke the synod immediately. This was refused him, probably on account of the business which accumulates during the weeks preceding the feast of Easter; but they promised him that the assembly should be convoked immediately after Easter.[510] We see what courage and activity Calvin displayed; this was one of the signs of his genius. Farel, on the contrary, was worn out by the distress of mind which this affair had occasioned him. His condition was afflicting to his friends. ‘I should never have believed,’ said Calvin to Viret, ‘that with his iron constitution he could have been so pulled down.’ Farel’s age and his immense labors, however, accounted for his state. Calvin, alarmed at the prospect of losing so invaluable a fellow-laborer, wrote to Viret: ‘It is indispensable that you should return to us, unless we are prepared to see Farel die of grief. If we allow a breach to be made in the Genevese Church, I am afraid that schism will tear it to pieces.’[511] Instead of diminishing, the energy of Calvin appeared to increase, for he felt the justice of his cause. ‘I am ready,’ he said, ‘to maintain the contest with the utmost energy. The charges, first of Arianism, and then of Sabellianism, have not greatly disturbed us; our ears have been long accustomed to such calumnies, and we are confident that they will all end in smoke.’[512] The valiant champion therefore awaited fearlessly the convocation of the synod. The council of Geneva, on receiving the letters from the lords of Berne respecting this gathering, invited the _preachers_ to go thither; and on May 11 the treasurer placed in Farel’s hands fifty florins, to cover the expenses of the journey.[513] [Sidenote: SYNOD OF LAUSANNE.]