He went on to bewail the irresolution of Charles:—
'Surely,' he exclaimed, 'if the Emperor had pronounced against the tyrant, this worse antagonist of God than the Turk, he would have found God more favourable to him in the defence of his own empire. I the more dread some judgment upon Cæsar, for that I thought him chosen as a special instrument to do God's work in this matter. God, as we see in the Scriptures, was wont to stir up adversaries against those whom he desired to punish; and when I saw that enemy of all good in his decline into impiety commencing with an attack on Cæsar's honour and Cæsar's family, what could I think but that, as Cæsar's piety was known to all men, so God was in this manner influencing him to avenge the Church's wrongs with his own? Now we must fear for Cæsar himself. Other princes are ready in God's cause. He in whom all our hopes were centered is not ready. I have no consolation, save it be my faith in God and in Providence. To him who alone can save let us offer our prayers, and await his will in patience.'[1]
- ↑ Epist. Reg. Pol., vol. ii. p. 191, &c. The disappointment of the Roman ecclesiastics led them so far as to anticipate a complete apostasy on the part of Charles. The fears of Cardinal Contarini make the hopes so often expressed by Henry appear less unreasonable, that Charles might eventually imitate the English example. On the 8th of July, 1539, Contarini writes to Pole:—'De rebus Germaniæ audio quod molestissime tuli, indictum videlicet esse conventum Norimburgensem ad Kal. Octobris pro rebus Ecclesiæ componendis, ubi sunt conventuri oratores Cæsaris et Regis Christianissimi; sex autem pro parte Lutheranorum et totidem pro partibus Catholicorum, de rebus Fidei disputaturi; et hoc fieri ex decreto superiorum mensium Conventùs Francford; in quo nulla mentio fit, nee de Pontifice, nec de aliquo qui pro sede
