At length they quitted the cathedral. No one, except the friends of the nuncio, was pleased with the sermon. Even the Archbishop of Mentz was offended at it. "What does he mean," exclaimed he, "by calling on St. Paul to cut the Germans with his sword?" Nothing but a few inarticulate sounds had been heard in the nave; the Protestants eagerly questioned those of their party who had been present in the choir. "The more these priests inflame people's minds, and the more they urge their princes to bloody wars," said Brenz at that time, "the more we must hinder ours from giving way to violence."[496] Thus spoke a minister of the Gospel of peace after the sermon of the priest of Rome. [496] Ut nostros principes ab importuna violentia retineamus.--(Corp. Ref. ii. p. 120.) After the mass of the Holy Ghost, the Emperor entered his carriage,[497] and having reached the town-hall, where the sittings of the diet were to take place, he took his seat on a throne covered with cloth of gold, while his brother placed himself on a bench in front of him; then all around them were ranged the Electors, forty-two sovereign princes, the deputies from the cities, the bishops, and ambassadors, forming, indeed, that illustrious assembly which Luther, six weeks before, had imagined he saw sitting in the air.[498] [497] Imperator cum omnibus in curiam vectus est.--(Sturm to Zw. Epp. ii. p. 430.) [498] Ex volucrum monedularumque regno.--(L. Epp. iv. p. 13.) The Count-palatine read the imperial proposition. It referred to two points; the war against the Turks, and the religious controversy. "Sacrificing my private injuries and interests to the common good," said the Emperor, "I have quitted my hereditary kingdoms to pass, not without great danger, into Italy, and from thence to Germany. I have heard with sorrow of the divisions that have broken out here, and which, striking not only at the imperial majesty, but still more, at the commandments of Almighty God, must engender pillage, conflagration, war, and death."[499] At one o'clock the Emperor, accompanied by all the princes, returned to his palace. [499] Nicht anders dann zu Raub, Brandt, und Krieg.--(F. Urkunden. i. p. 307.) On the same day the Elector gathered around him all his co-religionists, whom the Emperor's speech had greatly excited, and exhorted them not to be turned aside by any threats from a cause which was that of God himself.[500] All seemed penetrated with this expression of Scripture: "Speak the word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us."[501] [500] Cohortatus est ad intrepidam causæ Dei assentionem.--(Seck. ii. p. 108.) [501] Isaiah viii. 10. [Sidenote: THE ELECTOR'S PRAYER.]