The synod met at Lausanne, March 31. The temper of the Bernese was more dictatorial than conciliatory. The lords of Berne had indeed requested that Calvin and Farel should go to Lausanne; but instead of expecting of the assembly a work of conciliation, they had positively stipulated, in a letter to the council of Geneva, that the Genevese preachers must pledge themselves beforehand to adopt the order of worship established at Berne; and that on this condition only would they be allowed to take part in the deliberations of the synod. If their adhesion were not given before the meeting, they should be heard afterwards and should be separately treated with. The Genevese reformers, therefore, were invited neither to a free assembly nor a free discussion. No other right was conceded to them but that of submission. The Bernese added that the motive of this strange proceeding was to avoid giving their neighbors an opportunity of slandering the reformed religion, and to promote the union of the Churches. But the latter object, and through it the former, too, would probably have been more promptly attained by treating the ministers of Geneva in a brotherly and not in a despotic spirit. ‘The Bernese,’ according to Rozet, ‘inquired in a friendly way of Farel and Calvin on their arrival, whether they accepted their ceremonial.’ The reformers replied ‘that the subject was well deserving of discussion.’ Discussion was refused to them.[591] The Bernese senate had named Kunz one of the presidents of the synod. Associated with him were the ministers of Erasmus Ritter, and two members of the great council, Huber and Amman. Kunz was one of those overbearing characters which inspire awe in other men, and whose influence is almost irresistible. His colleagues, moreover, were in agreement with him. The affair did not encounter any difficulty. The synod, which opened on March 31, unanimously accepted the usages of Berne,--the baptisteries, the unleavened bread at the supper, and the festivals, including that of the Annunciation of the Virgin.