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From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

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should be allowed till <strong>the</strong> 15th April next <strong>to</strong><br />

reconcile <strong>the</strong>mselves <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> Pope and <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> rest <strong>of</strong><br />

Christendom, and that meanwhile <strong>the</strong>y should<br />

permit in <strong>the</strong>ir dominions no innovations in<br />

religion, no circulation <strong>of</strong> Protestant books, and no<br />

attempts at proselytism, and that <strong>the</strong>y should assist<br />

<strong>the</strong> emperor in reducing <strong>the</strong> Anabaptists and<br />

Zwinglians. This edict Charles would have<br />

enforced at once with <strong>the</strong> sword, but <strong>the</strong> spirit<br />

displayed by <strong>the</strong> Protestant princes, <strong>the</strong> attitude<br />

assumed by <strong>the</strong> Turk, and <strong>the</strong> state <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> emperor's<br />

relations with <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r sovereigns <strong>of</strong> Europe put<br />

war out <strong>of</strong> his power; and <strong>the</strong> consequence was that<br />

<strong>the</strong> monarch who three months before had made<br />

his entry in<strong>to</strong> <strong>Augsburg</strong> with so much pomp, and in<br />

so high hopes <strong>of</strong> making all things and parties bend<br />

<strong>to</strong> his will, retired from it full <strong>of</strong> mortification and<br />

chagrin, disappointed in all his plans, and obliged<br />

<strong>to</strong> conceal his discomfiture under a show <strong>of</strong><br />

moderation and leniency.<br />

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