When the reading was finished, Chancellor Brück, with the two copies in his hand, advanced towards the Emperor's secretary and presented them to him. Charles the Fifth, who was wide awake at this moment, himself took the two Confessions, handed the German copy, considered as official, to the elector of Mentz, and kept the Latin one for himself.[588] He then made reply to the Elector of Saxony and to his allies that he had graciously heard their confession;[589] but as this affair was one of extreme importance, he required time to deliberate upon it. [588] The Latin copy, deposited in the archives of the imperial house, should be found at Brussels; and the German copy, sent afterwards to the Council of Trent, ought to be in the Vatican. [589] Gnedichlich vernohmen. (F. Urkunden, ii. p. 3.) [Sidenote: THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION.] The joy with which the Protestants were filled shone in their eyes.[590] God had been with them; and they saw that the striking act which had so recently been accomplished, imposed on them the obligation of confessing the truth with immovable perseverance. "I thrill with joy," wrote Luther, "that my life was cast in an epoch in which Christ is publicly exalted by such illustrious confessors and in so glorious an assembly."[591] The whole Evangelical Church, excited and renovated by this public confession of its representatives, was then more intimately united to its divine Chief, and baptized with a new baptism. "Since the apostolic age," said they (these are the words of a contemporary), "there has never been a greater work or a more magnificent confession."[592] [590] Cum incredibili protestantium gaudio. (Seck. ii. p. 170.) [591] Mihi vehementer placet vixisse in hanc horam. (L. Epp. iv. p. 71.) [592] Grösser und höher Werk. (Mathesius, Hist. p. 93-98.) The Emperor, having descended from his throne, approached the Protestant princes, and begged them in a low tone not to publish the Confession;[593] they acceded to his request, and every one withdrew. [593] In still angeredet und gebethen. (Corp. Ref. ii. p. 143.) [Sidenote: LUTHER DEMANDS RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.]