Charles the Fifth happened to be in Spain just at the time when Ponce de la Fuente was achieving the greatest success. The emperor came to Seville; and in consequence of the high praise of the preacher which reached him from all quarters he wished to hear him. Charles was delighted. He was fond of fine things, and the same doctrines which, when professed in Belgium, in some obscure conventicle by a cutler or a furrier, he punished as frightful heresies, did not offend him when they came from the lips of a great orator, and were proclaimed to an immense crowd in the most beautiful church in Spain. He almost believed that talent was orthodox. We have moreover remarked that one of the characteristics of de la Fuente was to preach the pure Gospel, avoiding every thing which might shock his hearers. The emperor sent for him to the palace. Charmed with his conversation, his intelligence, and his polished and agreeable manners, he named him one of his chaplains. To this appointment he soon added the office of almoner, and invited him to follow him beyond the Pyrenees. De la Fuente, being attached to Seville, would gladly have declined the call, as he had those from Cuença and Toledo. But this time it was his sovereign who called him. The will of Charles the Fifth was law, and there was no way of escape. Moreover this call, in his judgment, came from God himself. He, therefore, prepared for his departure. Strange to say, the emperor charged him to accompany his son Philip into the Netherlands and to England.[66] 'I intend,' he said, 'to show the Flemings that Spain is not without her amiable scholars and eminent orators.' De la Fuente, therefore, accompanied Philip. He afterwards rejoined Charles in Germany, discharged the duties of chaplain to him, and had the opportunity of making the acquaintance of some of the reformers. [Sidenote: DEATH OF VARGAS.]