It is impossible for one now to conceive the impression which was produced in Catholic Europe by the marriage of a priest and a nun.
Many of the German princes now followed the example of John of Saxony, and openly avowed their faith in the Lutheran doctrines.

In the Austrian States, notwithstanding all Ferdinand's efforts to the contrary, the new faith steadily spread, commanding the assent of the most virtuous and the most intelligent.

Many of the nobles avowed themselves Lutherans, as did even some of the professors in the university at Vienna.

The vital questions at issue, taking hold, as they did, of the deepest emotions of the soul and the daily habits of life, roused the general mind to the most intense activity.

The bitterest hostility sprung up between the two parties, and many persons, without piety and without judgment, threw off the superstitions of the papacy, only to adopt other superstitions equally revolting.