deciding legal difficulties passed under the control of the sovereign.
Strange to say, though Luther insisted on individual judgment during
his campaign against the Catholic Church, he had no difficulty in
urging the civil rulers to force all their subjects to join the new
religious body. The goods of the Catholic Church were to be
appropriated, some of them being set aside for the support of the new
religious organisation, while the greater portion of them found their
way into the royal treasury. The Mass, shorn of the Elevation and of
everything that would imply the idea of sacrifice, was translated into
the German language, so that in all solemn religious services the
place of the Sacrifice was taken by the hymns, Scriptural lessons, the
sermon, and the Lord's Supper. Melanchthon wrote a Visitation Book
(1527) for the guidance of Lutheran ministers, and Luther himself
published two catechisms for the instruction of the children. The
Lutheran church was organised on a similar plan in Hesse and
Brandenburg and in many of the free cities such as Nurnberg,
Magdeburg, Bremen, Frankfurt, Ulm, etc. By these measures the
separation was completed definitely, and a certain amount of unity was
ensured for the new religion.

Meanwhile, how fared it with the Emperor and the Pope? Shortly after
the Diet of Nurnberg (1522) Charles V. left Germany for the
Netherlands. Owing to the troubles in Spain and the long drawn out war
with France he was unable to give any attention to the progress of
affairs in Germany. The administration of the Empire was committed to
three representatives, the ablest of whom was the Elector Frederick of
Saxony, the friend and patron of Luther. The result was that Luther
had a free hand to spread his views notwithstanding the decree of
Worms.