Sarpi hoped for toleration of Protestant worship in Venice, and he hoped for the establishment of a Venetian free church by which the decrees of the council of Trent would have been rejected. Sarpi discusses his intimate beliefs and motives in his correspondence with Christoph von Dohna, envoy to Venice for Christian I, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg. Sarpi told Dohna that he greatly disliked saying Mass, and celebrated it as seldom as possible, but that he was compelled to do so, as he would otherwise seem to admit the validity of the papal prohibition. Sarpi's maxim was that "God does not regard externals so long as the mind and heart are right before Him." Another maxim Sarpi formulated to Dohna was: "Le falsità non dico mai mai, ma la verità non a ognuno" ("I never, never tell falsehoods, but the truth I do not tell to everyone.").