But the Gospel remained there. A fire had been kindled in the heart of the people, and nothing could extinguish it. The Catholic rites were deserted by a large number, the priests were removed from several pulpits, which were then filled by ministers of the divine word, who taught in their stead. ‘The power of the _truth_,’ says a historian, ‘brought souls to _freedom_.’ But while thoughtful minds were gaining strength from the reading of the sacred books, there were triflers who merely laughed at the superstitions which they had abandoned, and sang verses about the pope. The Catholics, however, were not disheartened; the procession on Corpus Christi Day took place as usual, with much pomp and with large lighted tapers. ‘Do our priests believe then,’ said some, ‘that God has become blind, that they carry so many lights in full day?‘[532] A serious and charitable reformation alone is a true one; nevertheless the prophet Elijah overwhelmed with his irony the prophets of the groves.[533] The outcries increased. Never had so deadly a heresy been seen. The most pious declarations of the reformers were taxed with hypocrisy; their most sincere professions with subtility and falsehood; their most Christian dogmas were atrocious. Never had the devil woven a more dangerous doctrine. The archbishop was no longer equal to the occasion; the thunders of the Vatican must roll. The denunciations increased in seriousness. The archbishop of Gran betook himself to Rome. The papacy was agitated at the report of the deeds which were denounced before it, and Clement VII. sent into Hungary the celebrated Cardinal Cajetan, furnishing him on his departure with every thing calculated to win over the king. He delivered to the cardinal for the king a present of sixty thousand ducats, ostensibly intended for the defence of the kingdom against the Turks, but also designed to rekindle the zeal of Louis II. against the reformers. The pope also entrusted him with a letter in which he urged the king to destroy the heresy. How resist a request which was accompanied by sixty thousand pieces of gold and earnestly supported by the bishops? In 1523 a Diet was convoked, which was skilfully managed by the clergy. The delegates of the latter said to the king—‘Will your royal majesty deign as a Catholic prince to take severe measures against all Lutherans, their patrons, and their adherents? They are manifest heretics and enemies of the Holy Virgin Mary. Punish them by decapitation and by confiscation of all their property.’[534] [Sidenote: Lutheranism Proscribed.]