Now the final decree of the Diet was to be issued. The Protestants previously, however, presented their declaration, prepared by Melanchthon, who, at the Emperor's request, also delivered an opinion concerning the Reformation, on the 18th of July. He was willing to grant temporal power to the Bishops, an opinion which he expressed at different times, without considering what dangers this must necessarily cause. At last, on the 29th of July, the recess of the Diet took place. The religious difficulties were postponed, to be decided at a Council soon to be held, or postponed to the next diet, in case no Council should be convened within 15 months. The Peace of Nuremberg was to be observed until that time. On the 30th of July, Melanchthon departed from Ratisbon. He did not go by way of Nuremberg, although he had been invited thither in the most urgent manner, but came to Leipzig, where he zealously labored to have his beloved friend Camerarius called to the University. He thus speaks of his friend in a letter to Duke HENRY: "He is peaceable, modest, and sincere, and so learned in Philosophy and Eloquence, that he is excelled by few in foreign and German lands." In consequence of this the Duke called him. When, to the great sorrow of the Protestants, Duke Henry was gathered unto his fathers, the young Duke MAURICE entered upon the government with the most promising prospects. During his reign Camerarius came to Leipzig, and thus into the vicinity of his friend Melanchthon. CHAPTER XXI. PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. While the Protestants were enjoying a period of rest, because the Emperor was busily occupied with the Turks and the pirates of Algiers, the work of the Reformation advanced more and more. And where it could not be done peacefully, the power of the princes was now and then employed. In the beginning of the year 1541, the Bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz had died, and the Chapter elected the well-known Julius von Pflug, Bishop. When the Elector John Frederick heard of this, he pronounced the election invalid, not only because the citizens in that region had long since been friends of the Gospel, but also because the right of protectorship of the Bishopric belonged to him. He proceeded upon the almost unbounded right of sovereignty--even over the Church, and we cannot expect anything else from him, but that he would appoint a decidedly Evangelical Bishop to this important see. He asked the advice of his Theologians, who, in their opinion, likewise took for granted, that the right of electing the Bishop belonged to him. They advised him to elect a Christian man, and at the same time one who was descended from a princely family.