Charles, however, under an air of devotion concealed a wounded heart. The legate was less able to command himself, and said aloud that this obstinacy of the princes would be the cause of great mischief to the Pope.[458] When the procession was over (it had lasted an hour), Charles could no longer master his extreme irritation; and he had scarcely returned to his palace, when he declared that he would give the Protestant princes a safe-conduct, and that on the very next day these obstinate and rebellious men should quit Augsburg;[459] the diet would then take such resolutions as were required for the safety of the Church and of the Empire. It was no doubt the legate who had given Charles this idea, whose execution would infallibly have led to a religious war. But some of the princes of the Roman party, desirous of preserving peace, succeeded, though not without difficulty, in getting the Emperor to withdraw his threatening order.[460] [458] Sarpi, Council of Trent, i. p. 99. [459] Ut mox altera die, cum salvo-conductu, Lutherani abirent domum.--(Cochl. p. 193.) [460] Pacis et concordiæ avidi, supplicarunt ejus majestati ut sedata ira.--(Ibid.) [Sidenote: THE SERMONS PROHIBITED.] V. Charles, being defeated on the subject of the procession, resolved to take his revenge on the assemblies, for nothing galled him like these sermons. The crowd ceased not to fill the vast church of the Franciscans, where a Zwinglian minister of lively and penetrating eloquence was preaching on the Book of Joshua.[461] He placed the kings of Canaan and the children of Israel before them: his congregation heard them speak and saw them act, and every one recognized in Canaan the Emperor and the Ultra-montane princes, and in the people of God the adherents of the Reformation. In consequence, the faithful quitted the church enthusiastic in their faith, and filled with the desire of seeing the abominations of the idolaters fall to the ground. On the 16th June, the Protestants deliberated on Charles's demand, and it was rejected by the majority. "It is only a scarecrow," said they; "the Papists only desire to see if the nail shakes in the wall, and if they can start the hare from the thicket." [461] Maximus populi concursus amplissima æde.--(Ibid.) The next morning (17th June) before breakfast, the princes replied to the Emperor. "To forbid our ministers to preach purely the holy Gospel would be rebellion against God, who wills that his Word be not bound. Poor sinners that we are, we have need of this Divine Word to surmount our troubles.[462] Moreover, his majesty has declared, that in this diet each doctrine should be examined with impartiality. Now, to order us henceforward to suspend the sermons, would be to condemn ours beforehand." [462] Nec se illo animæ nutrimento carere.--(Cœlestinus Hist. Comit. i. p. 88; Forst. Urkunden. i. p. 283.) [Sidenote: A COMPROMISE PROPOSED.]