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

We do not wonder that Campeggio and
Hunnaart viewed the resolution of the princes with
dismay. In truth, the envoy of the emperor had
about as much cause to be alarmed as the nuncio of
the Pope. Charles's authority in Germany was
tottering as well as Clement's; for if the States
should break away from the Roman faith, the
emperor's sway would be weakened–in fact, all but
annihilated; the imperial dignity would be shorn of
its splendor; and those great schemes, in the
execution of which the emperor had counted
confidently on the aid of the Germans, would have
to be abandoned as impracticable.
But it was in the Vatican that the resolution of
the princes excited the greatest terror and rage.
Clement comprehended at a glance the full extent
of the disaster that threatened his throne. All
Germany was becoming Lutheran; the half of his
kingdom was about to be torn from him. Not a
stone must be left unturned, not an art known in the
Vatican must be neglected, if by any means the
meeting of the Diet at Spires may be prevented.
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