They now passed from the first part of the Confession to the second: from doctrines to abuses. Here the Romish theologians could not yield so easily, for if they aἑppeared to agree with the Protestants, it was all over with the honour and power of the hierarchy. It was accordingly for this period of the combat that they had reserved their cunning and their strength. They began by approaching the Protestants as near as they could, for the more they granted, the more they might draw the Reform to them and stifle it. "We think," said they, "that with the permission of his holiness, and the approbation of his majesty, we shall be able to permit, until the next council, the communion in both kinds, wherever it is practised already; only, your ministers should preach at Easter, that that is not of Divine institution, and that Christ is wholly in each kind.[760] [760] Vorschläge des Anschlusses der Sieben des Gegentheils. (Urk. ii. p. 251.) [Sidenote: THE MAIN QUESTION.] "Moreover," continued they, "as for the married priests, desirous of sparing the poor women whom they have seduced, of providing for the maintenance of their innocent children, and of preventing every kind of scandal, we will tolerate them until the next council, and we shall then see if it will not be right to decree that married men may be admitted to holy orders, as was the case in the primitive Church for many centuries.[761] [761] Wie von alters in der ersten Kirche etliche Hundert Jahre, in Gebrauch gewesen. (Urk. ii. p. 254.) "Finally, we acknowledge that the sacrifice of the Mass is a mystery, a representation, a sacrifice of commemoration, a memorial of the sufferings and death of Christ, accomplished on the cross."[762] [762] Zu Errinnerung und Gedächtniss. (Ibid. p. 253.) This was yielding much: but the turn of the Protestants was come; for if Rome appeared to give, it was only to take in return. The grand question was the Church, its maintenance and government: who should provide for it? They could see only two means: princes or bishops. If they feared the bishops, they must decide for the princes: if they feared the princes, they must decide for the bishops. They were at that time too distant from the normal state to discover a third solution, and to perceive that the Church ought to be maintained by the Church itself--by the christian people. "Secular princes in the long-run will be defaulters to the government of the Church," said the Saxon divines in the opinion they presented on the 18th August; "they are not fit to execute it, and besides it would cost them too dear:[763] the bishops, on the contrary, have property destined to provide for this charge." [763] Ist Ihmen auch nicht möglich. Dazu Kostet es zu viel. (Urk. ii. p. 247.) Thus the presumed incapacity of the state, and the fear they entertained of its indifference, threw the Protestants into the arms of the hierarchy. [Sidenote: CHURCH GOVERNMENT.]