A few days later, Farel and Calvin were received by that body. The representations which the Bernese were to make at Geneva, in conformity with the decisions of the synod of Zurich, could not but be very disagreeable to those who wished to introduce the Bernese rites into that town. Must Berne plead against Berne? Did ever any one hear of such a thing? No state whatever voluntarily undertakes to discharge such a duty; and least of all a state which, like Berne, had the reputation of being positive and inflexible in its views. The council therefore attempted to induce Calvin and Farel to renounce their fourteen articles, but this they refused to do. They were then asked to retire. When they were recalled the same attempt was again made, three times over, within an hour.[693] ‘It belongs to the Church,’ they replied, ‘to establish uniformity in a lawful manner.’ It has already been established, said the council. ‘Yes,’ they answered, ‘but by a handful of seditious men, who at the same time cried that we should be thrown into the Rhone.[694] We are resolved to endure everything rather than seem to approve the measures adopted for securing uniformity.’ Farel and Calvin could not answer otherwise: one cannot yield to evil. The Bernese council gave way; thus displaying on this occasion an independence and a sense of justice that were most honorable. [Sidenote: AGITATION IN GENEVA.] Having once more called in the reformers, the council announced to them that two envoys from the senate should accompany them, and that when they came within four miles of Geneva, Calvin and Farel should stop, while the Bernese lords go on their way. The place named by the Bernese was below the village of Genthod; this was perhaps at that time on the frontier. The deputies of Berne were to require of the council of Geneva the return of Farel and Calvin; and in case they obtained it they were to conduct them into the town, and to see to it that they were reinstated in their ministry. Farel and Calvin represented that if this course were taken they would seem to be restored only because they acknowledged themselves to be in the wrong, which they could not do. They complained also that no minister formed part of the embassy. The council, consequently, adopted a new resolution, according to which the two reformers should immediately enter the town, and the Bernese envoys should present to the people the fourteen articles of Zurich, in the presence of Farel and Calvin, in order that, if any objection should be raised, the latter might reply to it without delay. The reformers should then set forth their cause, and, if their justification were accepted, they should be restored to their offices. Two ministers, Erasmus Ritter and Viret, were to accompany them. ‘We are now setting out on our journey,’ wrote Calvin to Bullinger; ‘may it please the Lord to prosper it. To him we look to guide us in our goings, and it is from his wise disposal that we expect success.’[695]