The younger members of the Senate were enthusiastic for Catherine, the Church, and the pope. Their theological education was imperfect; they could not go to the bottom of the question, but they judged by the heart. To see a Catholic lady oppressed, to see Rome despised, inflamed their anger; and, if the elder members maintained that their view was the more reasonable, the younger ones believed theirs to be the more noble. Unhappily, when the choice lies between the useful and the generous, the useful commonly triumphs. Still, the young doctors were not prepared to yield. They said—and they were not wrong—that religion and morality ought not to be sacrificed to reasons of state, or to the passions of princes. And, seeing the spectre of Reform hidden behind that of the divorce, they regarded themselves as called upon to save the Church. ‘Alas!’ said the royal delegates, the Bishop of Lincoln and Dr. Bell, ‘alas! we are in continual perplexity, and we cannot foresee with any certainty what will be the issue of this business.’[49] They agreed with the heads of houses that, in order to prepare the university, three public disputations should be solemnly held in the divinity schools. By this means they hoped to gain time. ‘Such disputations,’ they said, ‘are a very honorable means of amusing the multitude until we are sure of the consent of the majority.’[50] The discussions took place, and the younger masters, arranging each day what was to be done or said, gave utterance to all the warmth of their feelings.