>^V^^l'w.'::S^ivf f^i ^vk , *J:''%^;.j;^,3;|l*'^ ^v-,^.^^iifi;:yyj:v^\^'v ^^.fv^'v,^^ ■« Iwr-w* ^^?gK--j Jft^lTt^ .i-^Sj ^ ^.P^Im l^'^^« ■^w^;-'."" '^V5^v PT3 :VWW^'. >^ "d . ^ I ' 0^1 ^ V» PRINCETON, N. J. ■»% BX 4805 .W95 v. 3 Wylie, James Aitken, 1808 1890 The history of Protestantisr v. ^ Th e H istory OF Protestantism. Rev. J. A. WYLIE, LL.D., Author of '■'The Papacy," "Daybreak in Spain," &=i:. ILLUSTRATED. 'Protestantism, the sacred cause of God's Light and Truth against the Devil's Falsity and Darkness." — Carlyle. Volume IIL Cassell Fetter & Galpin: LONDON, PARIS G- NEW YORK. CONTENTS. ^aoJi CigfitccntTj. HISTORY OF PROTSSTAXTISJI IN THE KETHERLANDS. CHAPTEE I. — The Nethehlands and theiu Inhaiutants II. — Introdvctiox of Protestantism into the Netherlands . III. — Anttterp : IT.-. Confessors and Martyrs . rV.— Abdication op Charles V., and Accession of Philip II. V. — Philip Arranges the Government of the Netherlands, and Departs for Spain VI. — Storms in the Council, and Martyrs at the Stake • . VII. — Retirement of Granvelle — Beloic Confession of Faith VIII. — The Risino Storm IX. — The Confederates or "Beggars" X. — The Field-Preachings XI. — The Imaoe-Bkeakinbs XII. — Reaction — ^Submission of the Southern Netherland: XIII. — The Council op Blood .... XrV. — "William Unfurls his Standard — Execution of Eomont and Horn XV. — Failure op William's First Campaign .... XVI. — The "Beggars of the Sea," and Second Campaign of the Puince of OR.Uf XVII. — William's Second Campaign, and Submission of Bkahant and Fi.andebs XVni. — The Siege of Haarlem ....... XIX. — Siege of Alkma^ir, and Recall of Ai.va ..... XX. — Third Campaign of William, and Death oi- Count Louis of N.vssai' XXI. — The Sieoe of Leyden ....... XXII. — March of the Spanish Army through the Se.\ — Sack or Antwerp . XXIII. — The " Pacuu ation of (jhent," and Toleration XXIV. — Administration of Don John, and First Synod or Dor.T XXV. — Akjur.\tion of Philip, and Rise of the Seven United Provinces XXVI. — Assassination of William the Silent ..... XXVII. — Order and Government of the Netherland Church . XXVin. — Disorganisation of the Provinces ..... XXIX. — The Synod of Dort ........ XXX. — Grandeur or the United Provinces ..... FA&E 1 4 9 14 17 22 29 35 41 46 51 5S 61 70 87 92 9S 102 107 110 116 119 128 l.'SS 137 142 146 134 HISTOEY OF PROTESTANTISM. "Sooft Jiitnctecntfe. PKOTESTAKTISM IN POLAND AND BOHEMIA. CHAPTEn I. — Rise axd Spueab op Protestantism ix Polaxd . II. — John- Alasco, axd Kefokmation of East Fkiesland III. — Acme of Protestantism is Poi.axi> .... r\'. — Organisation of the Protestant Chvrch of Poland v. Turning of the Tide of Protestantism in Pol.and VI._The Jesiits Enter Poland— Destruction of its Protestantism Vn. — Bohemia — Entrance of Reformation .... Vm. — Overthrow of Protestantism in Bohsmia IX. — An Army of Martyrs ...... X. — Suppression of Protestantism in* Bohemia %00k Orwcnticttl. PKOTESTANTISM in HUNGARY AND TRANSYLVANIA. I. — Planting of Protestantism ....-• n.— Protest.antism Flourishes in Hungary anu Transylvania m. — Ferdinand II. and the Eiu. of Persecution TV. — Leopold I. and the Jesuits ..... v. — Banishment of Pastors and Desolation of the Church of Hungary ■^oofi (3riBcnt?-ficst. THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. I. — Great Periods of the Thirty Years' War .... n. — The Army and the Camp ....... III. — The Maiech and its Devastations ...... IV. — Conquest of North Germany iiy Fekdinanh II. and the " Catholic League V. — Edict of Restitution ....... VI. — Arrival of Gustavus Adolphus in Germany .... VII. — Fall of Magdehuro and Victory of Leipsic .... VIII. — Conquest op the Rhine and Bavarh — Battle of Lutzen IX. — Death op Gustavus Adolphus ...... X. — The Pacification op Westphalia ...... XI. — The Fatherland after the War ..... '2Pooh (€«)ctitii-8cconti. PR0TESTANTIS3I IN FRANCE FROM DEATH OF HENRY IV. (IGIO) TO THE REVOLUTION (17S9). I. — Louis XIII. and the Wars tw Religion ........ 309 ■ II. — Fall of La Rochellk, and Enh of the Wars of Religion ...... 316 CONTENTS. CHAPTER in. — IXDUSTRI.iL AND LiTERART EmINENXE OF THE FkEXCH PkOTESTAX IV. — The Dragos.'Nades ...... V. — Kevocation of the Edict of Nantes VI. — The Prisons and the Galleys .... VII. — The " Church of the Desert " . ^ooh Cttjcntp-tjiirti. PKOTESTANTISM IN ENGLAND FROM THE TI3IES OF HENEY VIII. I. — ^The King and the Scholars .... H. — Cardinal Wolsey and the New Testament of Erasmus III. — William Tyndale and the English New Testament IV. — Tyndale's New Testament Arrives in England , V. — The Bible and the Cellar at Oxford — Anne Boleyn VI. — The Divorce — Thomas Bilney, the Martyr VTI. — The Divorce, and Wolsey's Fall Vni. — Cranmer — Cromwell — The Papal Sufremacy Abolished IX. — The King declared Head op the Church of England X. — Scaffolds — Death of Henry VIII. XI. — The Church of England as Reformed by Cranmer XII. — Deaths op Protector Somerset and Edward VT. XTTI. — Restoration of the Pope's Authority in England XIV. — The Burnings under ILuiv .... XV. — Elizabeth — Restoration op the Protestant Church XVI. — Excommunication of Elizabeth, and Plots of the Jesuits XVn. — The Armada — Its Building .... XVIII. — The Armada Arrives off England XIX. — Destruction op the Armada .... XX. — Greatness of Protestant England ■JBoofi (arwents-fourtft. PROTESTANTISM IN SCOTLAND. I. — The Darkness and the Daybreak .... II. — SC0TLANT)'S FiR.ST PrEACHER AND MaRTY'R, PATRICK HAMILTON . m. — Wishart IS Burned, and Knox comes forward TV. — Kkox's Call to the SIinistuy and First Sermon V. — Knox's Fi.nal Return to Scotland .... VI. — Establishment op the Reformation in Scotland VII. — Constitution op the " Kirk " — Arrival of Mary Stuart VIII. — Knox's Interview with Queen Mary .... IX. — Trial of Knox for Treason ..... HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. CHAPTER X. — The Last Days of Qieen Mary and John Knox XI. — Andkew Melville — The Tulchan Bishops XII. — Battles for Pbesbyterianism and Liberty XIII. — James VI. in England — The Gunpowder Plot . XIV. — Death of James VI., and Spiritual Awakening in Scotland XV. — Charles I. and Archbishop Laud — Eeligiovs Innovations XVI. — The National Covenant and Assembly of 1638 XVII. — Civil War — Solemn Leaoie — Westminster Assembly . XVIII. — P.UILIAMENT TllIVMrHS, AND THF. KiNG IS BeHEADED XIX. — Eestokation of Charles II., and St. Barthclomew Day, 166 XX. — Scotland — Middleton's Tyranny — Act Recissory XXI. — Establishment of Prelacy in Scotland . XXII. — Four Hun-dred Ministers Ejected XXIII. — Breach of the " Triple League " and War with Holland XXIV. — The Popish Plot, and Death of Charles II. XXV. — The First Eising of the Scottish Presbyterians XXVI.— The Field-Preaching or "Conventicle" XXVU. — Drumclog — Bothwell Bridge — The "Killing Times" . XXVIII. — James II. — Projects to Restore Popery . XXIX. — A Great Crisis in England and Christendom . XXX. — Protestantism Mounts the Throne of Great Britain . FAQE 511 515 520 526 •530 536 •540 545 551 556 300 563 568 574 578 586 591 597 603 609 617 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. John Knox and Mary Queen of Scots at Holyrood Palace View of a Canal in Holland ..... View of the High Altar in the Church of Rotterdam Nicholas Preaching to the Crowd from a Boat on the Scheldt View of Antwerp ....... The Emperor Charles V. Addressing the Estates on Resigning the Crown to his Son Philip's Fleet Scattered hy the Tempest .... Margaret, Duchess of Parma ..... Walter Capel Reading the Scriptures to his Daughter View of the Chapel of "Saint Sang" (Holy Blood), Bruges Cardinal Granvelle ...... View of the Town-hall, .\mstcrdam .... A Field-preaching near Ghent ..... Dutch Protestants in Hiding ..... Iconoclasts Destroying the Images and Altar Decorations of a Roman Catholic Church A Village Green in Holland ..... The Countess de Rcux Visiting De Bray and La Grange in Prison View of a Church in Holland ..... The Duke of Alva ....... Count Egmont on the Scaffold before his Execution Lamoral, Count of Egmont ..... Philip Montmorency, Count of Horn .... View of the Gate of Dort or Dordrecht .... Repulse of the Spanish Soldiers at Amsterdam View of the Hotel do Ville, Middelburg .... Action between the Spanish Fleet and the Ships of the Sea Beggars View of Porte Rabot, Ghent ..... William the Silent, Prince of Orange .... View of the Belfry, Ghent ..... View on the Canal, Ghent ...... View of the Church of St. Laurence, Rotterdam . Don John of Austria ...... The Prince of Orange in his Barge on his way to Brussels Alexander Famese, Duke of Panna .... Death of William the Silent, Prince of Orange . View in Haarlem : the Com Market .... View of Flushing ....... James Arminius ....... Episcopius Addressing the Members of the Synod of Dort Prince Slaurice of Nassau ...... View of the Court of the T'niversity of Cracow . John Alasco and his Congregation leaving England Frontispiecit 1 7 12 13 19 24 2o 31 36 37 42 43 49 da 60 61 66 67 73 78 79 85 91 97 103 109 115 ICO 120 121 126 127 133 139 144 115 150 151 157 103 168 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. Radziwill's Miracle : Curing a Sham Demoniac . View of the Market-place of Cracow .... The Marshal of Pohmd Demanding the Oath from the Difke of Anjou View of the Tomh of Anne Jagellon in the Cathedral of Cracow View in Prague : the Powder Tower . . ■ Louis A'ictor and the Monk ..... Arrest of One of the Bohemian Chiefs .... View of the Palace of the Bohemi:m Kings, and the Cathedral of Hardschin Tower of the Bridge of Prague, to which the Heads of the Martyrs were affixed Departure of the Banished ilinisters from Kuttcnherg . View of the Grosse Ring, Prague, where the BlartjTS were Executed Soliman the Magnificent ..... Eoumanian Peasants of Transylvania View of a Mining Village in Transylvania View of Old Grate at Kolosvar, Transylvania Leopold I. . The Chemist and the Emperor .... The Scala Sancta, or " Holy Stairs," Rome Ejecting a Himgarian Protestant Pastor in the Winter time View of Presburg ...... Market in Nurcijiberg ..... Storm on a Moor in Saxony .... In Nuremberg ...... Under the Linden-trees ..... Albrecht von Wallenstein ..... View of the Town-hall of Halberstadt Gusta\-us Adolphus taking Leave of the States . Gustavus Adolphus ..... Fig. I. — Fac-simile of a Lutheran Envelope {Eeverse) : Centenary of the Deliverance of Augsburg Fig. n. — ,, „ „ (04w)-5c) : Entry of Gustavus Adolphus into Augsburg View of the Town-hall, Breslau (Silesia) ..... Death of Gusta\Tis Adolphus ....... John, Count de Tilly ........ Court of a House in Nuremberg ....... Axel, Count Oxenstiema ........ The Banquet at Nui-embcrg ....... View of the Tomb of St. Sebald, Nuremberg ..... View in La Rochelle : the Street of the Bishopric and St. Bartholomew Belfry Cardinal Richelieu ........ View of La Rochelle : the Lantern Tower and Harbour Entrance, from the Mail Gardens Huguenot Medals or Communion "Tokens" ..... Cardinal Mazarin ......... View in Nantes, showing the Tower ...... A Protestant Pastor Addressing a Secret Assembly of Huguenots Portrait of Louis XIV. ........ Fac-similes of Medals struck in honour of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes Protestants Worshipping by Night in the Church of the Desert Old St. Paul's Cathedral ....... View of Linacre's House, Knightridcr Street, London . Sir Thomas More ........ Procession of Wolsey to Westminster Hall .... View of the Interior of Old St. Paul's Cathedral, looking East . Fac-simile of St. Matthew's Gospel, Chapter xiii., verses 1 — 15, from Tjmdale's Henry VIII View of Latimer's Supposed Birth-place in Thurcaston . Testament (Octavo Edition) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. View of Thurcaston Church ..... Fac-similc of Numhers x-xiv. 16 — 19 (Tyndtik, 15.31) Fac-simile of Isaiah xii. {Ti/ndale, 1534) . Portrait of AVilliam Tj-ndale ..... Thomas Bilney on his way to the Stake .... View at Hampton Court ...... An-ival of Wolsey at the Abbey at Leicester Fisher, Bishop of Rochester .... The Coronation Procession of Anne Bole}ii to Westminster Abbey Reduced Fac-simile of the Title-page of the Great Bible Coronation of Edward VI. — Procession Passing Cheapside Cross, 1547 Archbishop Cranmor ...... Views of Westminster Abbey: the Western Towers — Heniy VII.'s Chapel — the Cloisters Nicholas Ridley — John Rogers — John Hooper — Hugh Latimer .... Fae-simile of the llcdal struck to celebrate the Return of England to Roman Catholicism Latimer Exhorting Ridley at the Stake ....... Views in the Tower of London : White Tower — Middle Tower — Staircase in White Tower — Bloody Tower- Tower — St. John's Chapel — Byward Tower — Passage in Bloody Tower — Bell Tower — Byward Traitor's Gate ...... Queen Eli2abeth ....... View of the West Porch of Rochester Cathedral . Queen Elizabeth Addressing her Troops at Tilbiuy EngUsh Fire-ships sent into the Armada .... Thanksgiving Procession for the Defeat of the Armada . John Jewell ....... Edmund Grindal ....... John Fox ........ John Aylmer ....... View of the Ruins of the Fends or Gateway of a Monastery, St. Andrews View of Linlithgow Palace ..... View of St. Salvator's Church, St. Andrews Parting of Patrick Hamilton from his Friends at the Stake George Wishart ....... View of the Ruins of the Castle, St. Andrews (Cardinal's Palace) George Wishart Protecting his would-be Assassin Knox's Pulpit, St. Andrews' Parish Church View of St. Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh ■ Mary Queen of Scots Entering Holyrood .... Portrait of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots .... View of Knox's House, High Street, Edinburgh . Portrait and Autograph of John Knox .... John Knox ........ The Death-warrant of Mary Queen of Scots View of the Ruins of Blackfriars' Chapel, St. Andrews . George Buchanan ....... Guy Fawkes's Cellar ...... Guy Fawkes and the Chief Conspirators .... View of IIoljTOod Palace ...... Family WorHhip in a Cavalier's Household Archbishop Laud ....... Janet Gcddcs Flinging her Stool at the Dean of Edinburgh The Swearing and Subscribing of the National Covenant in Gre)-friars' Churchyard, EiUnbur; Charles I. ........ View of the Old Market Cross, Edinburgh Richard Baxter ....... View of the Kuins of the Cathedral of St. Andrews FASI 373 378 378 379 384 390 391 -Bowyer Tower — HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. View of Edinburgh C'ustlo from the Grassmarkct View of Glasgow Cathedral ..... A Conventicle : Worship on the HiU-side View of Dunkii-k from the Sea ..... The Interior of the Chapel Koyal (Banqueting House), WTiitehall Burning the Tope in Effigy at Temple Bar The Pentland Hills The Old Covenanter's Last Sermon .... Thomas Dalzicl of Birms ...... Covenantors Worshipping by the Banks of the 'Whitadder View of the High Street, Lanark ..... Robert Lcighton, Archbishop of Glasgow {^i. 40) View of the Martj-rs' Monument, Greyfriars' Churchyard, Edinburgh Richard Baxter before Judge Jeffreys .... View of Judge Jeffreys' House, Duke Street, Westminster Portraits of the Seven Bishops . . . . View of the Interior of the Chapel Royal, St. James's . William III FACE 565 570 571 677 582 583 588 589 594 59.5 600 601 606 607 612 613 618 619 VIEW OF A CANAL IN HOLLAND (Fioil (lie PttintlJlJ 6/ Ian del H ? ) History of Protestantism. Boofe €igl)tffntl;. HISTOKY OF PROTESTANTISM IN TILE NETHERLANDS. CHAPTER I. THE NETHERLANDS AND THEIR INHABITANTS. Eatavi.a— Formed by Joint Action of the Rhine and the Sea— Dismal Territory— The Pii-st Inhabitants— Belgiuni —Holland— Their First Strugsjles with the Oeean— Their Second with the Roman Power-They Pass under Charlemagne— Rise and Greatness of their Commerce— Civic Rights and Liberties— These Threatened by the Austro-Burgundian Emperors— A Divine Principle comes to their Aid. Descending from the summits of the Alps, and rolling its floods along tlie vast i)lain which ex- tends from the Ural Mountains to the shores of the Gennan Ocean, the Rhine, before finally falling 106 into the sea, is parted into two streams which en- close between them an island of goodly dimensions. TliLs island is the heart of the Low Countries. Its soil spongy, its air Ivumid, it had no attractions HISTOIIY OF TEOTESTANTISM. to iiulucc mail to make it his dwelling, save in- deed that nature had strongly fortified it by enclosing it on two of its sides with the broad arm* of the disparted river, and on the thii-d and remaining one with the waves of the North Sea. ItsS earliest inhabitants, it is believed, were Celts. About a century before our era it was left unin- habited ; its first settlers being carried away, partly in the rush southward of the first horde of war- riors that set out to assail the Roman Empu-e, and partly by a tremendous inimdation of the ocean, wliieh submerged many of the huts which dotted its forlorn surface, and drowned many of its misei'- able inhabitants. Fiuiling it empty, a German tribe from tlie Hercyniau forest took possession of it, and called it L'etaiiw, that is, the " Good JMeadow," a name that has descended to our day in the appellative Batavia. North and south of the " Good Meadow " the land is similar in character and origin. It owes its place on the surfiice of the earth to the joint action of two forces — the powerful current of the Rliine on tlie one side, continually bi-ingiug down vast quantities of materials from the mountains and higher plains, and the tides of the restless ocean on the other, casting uj) sand and mud from its bed. Thus, iji the course of ages, slowly rose the land which was destined in the sixteenth century to be the seat of so many proud cities, and the theatre of so many sublime actions. An expanse of shallows and lagoons, neither land nor water, but a thin consistency, quaking beneath the foot, and liable every spring and winter to tlie terrible calamities of being drowned by the waves, when the high tides or the fierce tempests heaped lip the waters of the North Sea, and to be over- ilo\ni V)y the Rhine, when its floods were swollen Ijy the long-continued rains, what, one asks, tempted the first inhabitants to occupy a countiy whose conditions were so wretched, and which was liable moreo^■er to be overwhelmed by catastrophes so tremendous ? Perhaps they saw in this oozy and lierbless expanse the elements of future fertility. Perhaps they deemed it a safe retreat, from which thoy might issue forth to spoil and ravage, and to which they might retire and defy pursuit. But from whatever cau.se, both the centre island and tlie whole adjoining coast soon found inhabitants. The Germans occupied the centre ; the Belgaj took possession of the strij) of coast stretching to the south, now known as Belgium. The similar strip running ofi" to tlie north, Holland namely, was pos- sessed by the Fiisians, wlio formed a population in which the German and Celtic elements were blended without uniting. The youth of these three tribes was a severe one. Their first struggle was with the soil ; for wliile other nations choose their country, the Netherlanders had to create theu-s. They began by converting the swamps and quicksands of which they had taken possession into grazing-lands and corn-fields. Nor could they rest even after this task had been accomplished : they had to be continually on the watch agauist the two great enemies that were ever ready to spring upon them, and rob them of the comitry which their industry had enriched and their skUl embellished, by rearing and maintaining great dj'kes to defend themselves on the one side from the sea, and on the other from the river. Their second great struggle was with the Roman power. The mistress of the world, in her onward march over the West, was embracing within her limits the forests of Germany, and the warlike tribes that dwelt in them. It is the pen of Julius Ca;sar, recoi'ding his victorious advance, that first touches the darkness that shrouded this land. When the cur- tain rises, the tribe of the Nervii is seen drawn up on the banks of the Sambre, awaitmg the appi'oach of the master of the world. We see them closing in terrific battle with his legions, and maintaining the fight till a ghastly bank of corpses proclaimed that they had been exterminated rather than sub- dued.' The tribes of Batavia now passed under the yoke of Rome, to which they submitted with great impatience. When the empire began to totter they rose in revolt, being joined by their neighbours, the Frisians and the Belgie, in the hope of achieving their liberty ; but the Roman power, though in decay, was stiU too strong to be shaken by the assault of these tribes, however brave ; and it was not till the whole German race, moved by an all-pervading impulse, rose and began their march upon Rome, that they were able, in com- mon with all the peoples of the North, to throw off the yoke of the oppressor. After four centuries of chequered fortunes, dur- ing which the Batavian element was inextricably blended with the Frisian, the Belgie, and the Frank, the Netherlanders, for so we may now call the mixed population, in wliich however the German element predominated, came under the empu-e of Charlemagne. They continued under his sway and that of his successors for some time. The empire whose greatness had severely taxed the energies of the father was too heavy for the ' Cajsar, Comment, dc Bella Gallico, lib. ii., cap. 15 — 30. "Hoc praelio facto, et prope ad internecionem gente, ao nomine Nerviorum redacto," are the words of the con- queror (lib. ii., cap. 28). Niebuhr, Lectures on Roman History, vol. iii., pp. 43, 44; Lond and Edin., 1850. COMMERCE AND ARTS OF FLANDERS. shoulders of Ms degenerate sons, and they contrived to lighten the burden by dividing it. Germany was finally severed from France, and in a.d. 922 Charles the Simple, the last of the Carlovingiau line, presented to Coiuit Dirk tlie northern horn of this territory, the portion now known as Holland, which henceforth became the inlieritance of his descendants ; and about the same time, Henry the Fowler, of Germany, acquired the sovereignty of the southern portion, together with that of Lotharinga, the modern Lorraine, and thus the territory was broken into two, each part i-emaining connected \vith the German Empire ; but loosely so, its rulers yielding only a nominal homage to the head of the empire, whUe they exercised sovereign rights in their own special domain.' The reign of Charlemagne had effaced the last traces of free institutions and government by law which had lingered in Holland and Belgium since the Roman era, and substituted feudalism, or the government of the sword. Commerce began to flow, and from the thirteenth century its elevating influence was felt in the Netherlands. Confedera- tions of trading towns arose, with their chai-tere of freedom and their leagues of mutual defence, which greatly modifled the state of society in Europe. These confederated cities were, in fact, free I'epublics flourishing in the heart of despotic empires. The cities which were among the first to rise into eminence were Ghent and Bruges. The latter became a main entrepot of the trade carried on with the East by way of the Mediter- ranean. " The \vives and daughters of the citizens outvied, in the richness of their dress, that of a queen of France At Mechlin, a single indi\'idual possessed counting-houses and commer- cial establishments at Damascus and Grand Cairo. "-' To Bruges the merchants of Lombardy brought the wares of Asia, and thence were they dispersed among the towns of Northern Europe, and along the shores of the German Sea. " A century later, Antwerji, the successful rival of Venice, could, it is said, boast of almost five hundrctl vessels daily entering her ports, and two thousand carriages laden \ni\\ merchandise p.assiiig tjirough her gates every week."^ Venice, Verona, Nuremberg, and Bruges were the chief links of the golden chain that united the civilised and fertUo Eiist with the com- paratively rude and unskilful West. In the former the arts had long floiuishcd. There men were expert in all that Ls woven on the loom or em- • Miiller, JJrdv. Hist., vol. ii., bk. xiv., sec. 13—18. ' Stevens, Hist, of the Scot. Church, Itollerdam, pp. 259, 2G0 ; Ediu., 1833. s Ibid., p. 260. broidered by the needle ; they were able to engi-ave on iron, and to set precious jewels in cunningly-wrought frames of gold and silver and brass. There, too, the skOful use of the plough and the pruning-hook, combined with a vigorous soil, produced in abundance all kinds of luxuries ; and along the channel we have indicated were all these various products poured into countries where arts and husbandry were yet in their infancy.^ Such was the condition of Holland and Flanders at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries. They had come to rival the East, with which they traded. The surface of then- country was richly cultivated. Their cities were numerous ; they were enclosed witlmi strong ramparts, and adorned with superb public buildings and sumptuous churches. Theii' rights and privileges were guaranteed by ancient charters, which they jealously guarded and knew how to defend. They were governed by a senate, which possessed legislative, judicial, and administrative powers, subject to the Sujjreme Council at Mechlin — as that was to the sovereign authority. The population was numerous, skUful, thriving, and equally expert at handling the tool or -wielding tho sword. These artisans and weavers were divided into guilds, which elected their own deans or rulers. They were brave, and not a little turbulent. When the bell tolled to arms, the inmate of the workshop could, in a few muuites, transform himself into a soldier ; and these bands of artificers and weavers would present the appearance as well as the reality of an army. " Nations at the present day scarcely named," says Miiller, " supported their struggle against great armies with a heroism tliat reminds us of the valour of the Swiss."-' Holland, lying farther to the north, did not so largely share in the benefits of trade and commerce as the cities of Flanders. Giving itself- to the development of its internal resources, it clothed its soil with a fertility and beauty which more southern lands might have envied. Tui-ning to its seas, it reared a race of fishermen, wlio in process of time developed into the most skilful and adven- turous seamen in Eui'ope. Thus were laid the foundations of that naval ascendency which Hol- land for a time enjoyed, and that great colonial empire of which this dyke-encircled territory was the motlier and the mistress. "The connnon opinion is," says Cardinal Bcntivoglio, who was sent as Papal nuncio to the Low Countries in the begin- ning of the seventeentii century — "The common ■* See "Historical Introduction" to Rise of the Dutch Jiepuhlic, by John Lothiop Motley; Edin. and Loud., ISJO. ' Miiller, Univ. Hist., vol. ii., p. 230. HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. opinion is that the navy of llnlhuid, in tlio num- ber of vessels, is etj[ii.tl to all the rest of Europe together."' Othei-s have written that the United Provinces have more ships than houses." And Bentivoglio, speaking of the Exchange of Amster- dam, says that if its harbour was crowded with ships, its piazza was not less so ynth merchants, "so (liat the like was not to be seen in all Europe ; nay, in all the world.''^ By the time the Reformation was on the eve of breaking out, the liberties of the Netherlanders had come to bo in great peril. For a century past the Burgundo-Austrian monarchs had been steadily encroaching upon them. The chai-ters mider which their cities enjoyed municipal life had become little more than nominal. Their senates were entirely subject to the Supreme Court at Mechlin. The forms of their ancient liberties remained, but the spii'it was fast ebbing. The Netherlanders were fighting a losing battle with the empire, which year after year was growing more powerful, and stretching its shadow over the independence of their towns. They had arrived at a crisis in their liistory. Commerce, trade, liberty, had done all for them they would ever do. This was becoming every day more clear. Decadence had set in, and the Netherlanders would have fallen under the jjovver of the empire and been reduced to vassalage, had not a higher principle come in time to save them from this fate. It was at tliis moment that a celestial fire descended upon the nation : the country shook olf the torpor which had begun to weigh upon it, and girding itself for a great fight, it contended for a higher liberty than any it had yet known. * CHAPTER II. INTRODUCTIOX OF PROTESTANTISM INTO THE NETHERLANDS. Power of the Churcli of Rome in tlie Low Countries in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries— Ebb in the Fifteenth Century— Causes— Forei-unners—Waldenses and Albigenses- Komaunt Version of the Scriptiu'os — Influence of Wicliffe's Writings and Huss's Martyrdom— Influence of Commerce, &o. — Charles V. and the Netherlands — Persecuting Edicts — Great Number of Martyrs. The great straggle for religion and liberty, of which the Netherlands became the theatre in the middle of the sixteenth century, properly dates from 1555, when the Emperor Charles V. is seen elevating to the throne, from which he himself has just descended, his son Philip II. In oi'der to the light perception of that momento\is conflict, it is ncce.ssary that we should rapidly survey the three centuries that preceded it. The Church of Rome in the Netherlands is beheld, in the thir- teenth century, flourishing in power and riches. The Bishops of Utrecht had become the Popes of ti)c North. Favoured by the (;mperors, wliose <|uarrel they esi)0used against the Popes in the Middle Ages, tlu^se ambitious i)relates were now all but independent of Rome. " They gave place," says Brandt, the historian of the Netherlands' Refonnation, " to neither kings nor emperors in the stiite and magnificence of theii- court; they reckoned the gi-eatest princes in the Low Countries ' Relationi del Cardinal Bentivoglio, in Pareigi, 1631; lib. i., cap. 7, p. 32. - Misson, Travels, vol. i., p. 4. '■' Relai. Card. Bentiv., lib. i., cap. 7, p. 33 : " Che sia nou solo in Europa, ma in tutto il mondo." among their feudatories because they held some land of the bishopric in fee, and because they owed them homage. Accordingly, Baldwin, the second of that name and twenty-ninth bishop of the see, summoned several princes to Utrecht, to re- ceive investiture of the lands that were so holdeu by them : the Duke of Brabant as first .steward ; the Count of Flanders as second ; the Count of Holland as mai'shal."'' The clergy regulated their rank by the spiritual princedom established at Utrecht. They were the grandees of the land. They monopolised all the privileges but bore none of the burdens of the State. They imposed taxes on others, but they themselves paid ta.xes to no ■' The Papal nuncio, Bentivoglio, willingly acknow- ledges their great physical and mental qualities, and praises them alike for their skill in arts and their bravery in war. " Gli huomini, die produce il pa^se, sono ordi- nariamentc di grando statnra ; di bcllo, e candido aspetto, e di corpo vigoroso, o robusto. Hanno gli .animi non men vigorosi de' corpi ; e cio s' i veduto in qneUa si lunga, e si pertinae^ resistenza, die da lore s' e f atta all' armi Spagnuole," &c. (Relat. Card. Bentiv., lib. i., cap. 3, pp. 4, 5.) ■"' Brandt, History of the Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. i., p. 14; Loud., 1720. EARLY FLEMISH REFORMERS. one. Numberless dues and offerings had already swollen tlieir possessions to an enormous amount, while new and ever-recurring exactions were con- tinually enlarging their territorial domains. Their immoralities were restrained by no sense of shame and by no fear of punishment, seeing that to the opinion of their countrymen they jiaid no deference, and to the civil and criminal tribunals they owed no accountability. They framed a law, and forced it upon the government, that no charge shoidd lie received against a cardinal-bishop, unless supported by seventy-two witnesses ; nor against a cardinal- priest, but by forty-four ; nor against a cardinal- deacon, l)ut by twenty-seven ; nor against the lowest of the clergy, but by seven.' If a voice was raised to hint that these sei'vants of the Church would exalt tliemselves by being a little more humble, and enrich them.selves by being a little less covetous, and that charity and meekness were gi'eater orna- ments than sumptuous apparel and gaily-caparisoned mules, instantly the ban of the Church was evoked to crush the audacious complainer ; and the ana- thema in that age had terrors that made even those look pale who had never trembled on the battle-field. But the power, affluence, and arrogance of the Church of Rome in the Low Countries had reached then- height; and in the fom-teenth century we find an ebb setting in, in that tide which till now had continued at flood. Numbers of the Waldenses and Albigenses, chased from Southern France or froni the valleys of the Alps, sought refuge in the cities of the Netherlands, bringing with them the Romaunt version of the Bible, which was translated into Low Dutch rhymes. - The city of Antweip occupies a most distinguished place in this gi-eat movement. So early as 1 lOG, before the disciples of Peter "Waldo had appeared in these parts, we find a celebrated preacher, Tanchc- linus liy name,endeavouring to purge out the leaven of the Papacy, and spread ])urer doctrine not only in Antwei-]), but in tlic adjoining parts of Brabant and Flanders ; and, although vehemently opposed by the pi-iests and by Norbert, the first founder of the order of Premonstratensians, his opinions took a firm hold of some of the finest minds.^ In the following century, the thirteenth, "William Cornelius, al.so of Antwerp, taught a purer doctrine than the common one on the Eucharistic Sacrament, which he is said to have received from the disciples of Tanchelinus. Nor must we omit to mention Nicolas, of Lyra, a town in the east of Brabant, 1 Br.andt. vol. i., p. 14. » Ilid. ^ Gerdesius, Hist. Evan.Ren.,tom. iii., p. 3; Gioning.,l'(tO. who lived about 1322, and who impregnated his Commentary on the Bible with the seeds of Gospel truth. Hence the remark of Julius Pthi;'ius, the celebrated Romish doctor^ — " Si Lyra non lira.sset Lutherus non saltasset."^ In the fourteenth cen- tury came another sower of the good seed of the Word in the countries of which we speak, Gerard of Groot. Nowhere, in short, had forerumiers of the Reformation been .so nmnerous as on this famous sea-board, a fact doubtless to be accounted for, in jjart at least, by the commerce, the intelli- gence, and the freedom which the Low Countries then enjoyed. Voices began to be heard prophetic of greater ones to be raised in after-years. Whence came these voices? From the depth of the convents. The monks became the reprovers and accusers of one another. The veil was lifted u])on the darkness that hid the holy places of the Roman Church. In 1290, Henry of Ghent, Archbishop of Tournay, published a liook against the Papacy, in which he boldly questioned the Pope's power to transform what was evil into good. Guide, the forty-second Bishop of Utrecht, refused — rare modesty in those times — the red hat and scarlet mantle from the Pope. He contrasts with Wevelikhoven, the fiftieth bisliop of that see, who in 1380 dug the bones of a Lollard out of the gra'S'e, and burned them before the gates of his episcopal palace, and cast the ashes into the to^vll ditch. His successor, the fifty-first Bishop of Utrecht, cast into a dungeon a monk named Matthias Grabo, for writing a book in sujv port of the thesis that " the clergy are subject to the civil powers." The terrified author recanted the doctrine of his book ; but the magistrates of several cities esteemed it good and sound notwith- standing. As in the greater Papacy of Rome, so in the lesser Pajjacy at Utrecht, a schism took place, and rival Popes thundered anathemas at one another ; this helped to lower the prestige of the Church in the eyes of the people. Henry Loedei-, Prior of the Monastery of Fredesweel, near Nor- tliova, ^\^•ote to his brother in the following manner — " Dear brother, the lo'S'c I bear your state, and welfiire for the sake of the Blood of Christ, obliges me to take a rod instead of a pen into my hand. .... I never saw those cloisters flourish and increase in godliness which daily increased in tem- poral estates and possessions Tlie filth of yoiir cloister gi'catly wants the broom and the mop. .... Embrace the Cross and the Crucified Jesus ; therein ye shall find full content." Near Haarlem was * Gerdesius, torn, iii., p. 3. ^ " If Lyra had not piped, Lutlior had not danced." 6 HISTOr.Y OF TROTESTANTISM. the cloister of " The Visitation of the Blessed Lady," of which John van Kempen was prior. "We find him censuring the lives of the monks in these words — '• We would be humble, but cannot bear contempt ; patient, withotit oppressions or sufler- ings ; oljedient, without subjection ; poor, without wanting anything, iSrc. Our Lord said the kingdom of lieaven is to be entered by force." Hemy Wilde, Prior of the Jlonastery of Bois le Due, pm-ged the Jirain-books of the wanton songs which the monks h id inserted with the imthoms. " Let them pray for us," was the same prior wont to say when asked to sing masses for the dead; "our prayers will do them no good." We obtain a glimpse of the rigour of the ecclesiastical laws from the at- tempts that now began to be made to modify them. In 1434 we find Bishop Rudolph gi-anting power to the Duke of Burgundy to arrest by his bailiffs all drunken and fighting priests, and deliver them up to the bishop, who promises not to dis- charge them till satisfaction shall have been given to the duke. He promises farther not to gi-ant the protection of churches and churchyards to mm-- derers and similar malefactors ; and that no subject of Holland shall be summoned to appear in the bishop's court at Utrecht, upon any accoimt what- soever, if the person so summoned be willing to appear before the spiritual or temporal judge to wliose jurisdiction he belongs.' There follow, as it comes nearer the Eeforma- (ii>n, the gi-oater names of Thomas k KempLs and John Wessel. We see them trim their lamp and go onward to show men the Way of Life. It was a feeble light that now began to break over these lands ; still it was sufficient to reveal many things wliich had been iinobsei'ved or im- thonght of during the gi-oss darkness that preceded it. It does not become Churchmen, the barons now began to say, to be so enormously rich, and so efleminately luxurious ; these possessions are not less ours than they are theirs, we .shall share them with them. Tliose daring barons, moreover, learned to deem the sjjiritual authority not rpiite so impreg- nable as they had once believed it to be, and the consequence of this was that they held the persons of Ciliurchmen in less reverence, and their excom- munications in less awe than before. There was j)lanted tlius an iiicij>ient revolt. The move- ment received an impulse from the writings of WiclifTe, which began to be circulated in the Low Countries in the end of the fourteenth century.- Tliere followed, in the beginning of the next cen- turj-, the martyrdoms of Huss and Jerome. The light which these two stakes shed over the plains of Bohemia was reflected as far as to the banks of the Rhine and the shores of the North Sea, and helped to deepen the inquii-y which the teachings of the Waldenses and the Miitings of Wiclifl'e had awakened among the burghei-s and aitLsans of the Low Countries. The execution of Huss and Jerome was followed by the Bohemian campaigns. The victories of Ziska spread the terror of the Hussite arms, and to some extent also the knowledge of the Hussite doctrines, over Western Europe. In the great amiaments which were raised by the Pope to extinguish the hei-esy of Huss, numerous natives of Holland and Belgium em-olled themselves ; and of these, some at least retiu-ned to their native land converts to the liei-esy they had gone forth to sub- due.^ Their opinions, quietly disseminated among their countrymen, helped to pi'epare the way for that great struggle in the Netherlands which we are now to record, and which expanded into so much vaster dimensions than that which had shaken Bohemia in the fifteenth century. To these causes, which conspii-ed for the awaken- ing of the Netherlands, is to be added the influence of trade and commerce. Tlie tendency of commerce to engender activity of mind, and nourish inde- pendence of thought, is too obvious to require that we should dwell upon it. The tiller of the soil seldom pei-mits his thoughts to stray beyond his native acres, the merchant and trader has a whole hemisphere for his mental domain. He is com- pelled to reflect, and calculate, and compare, other- wise he loses his ventures. He is thus lifted out of the slough in which the agi-iculturist or the herdsman is content to lie all his days. The Low Countries, as we have said in the j)revious chapter, were the heart of the commerce of the nations. They were the clearing-house of the world. This vast ti'ade brought with it knowledge as well as riches ; for the Fleming could not meet his cus- tomers on the wharf, or on the Bourse, without hearing things to him new and strange. He had to do with men of all nations, and he received from them not only foreign coin, but foreign ideas. The new day was coming apace. Already its signals stood displayed before the eyes of men. One powerful instrumentality after another stood up to give rapid and universal diffusion to the new agencies that were about to be called into existence. Nor have the nations long to wait. A crash is heard, the fall of an ancient empire shakes the earth, and the sacred languages, so long imprisoned within the walls of Constantinople, are liberated, Brandt, bk. i., passim. Ibid., vol. i., p. 17. 3 Brandt, vol. i., p. 19. VIEW OF THE UIOH ALTAU IN TUE CHUKCH OF BOTTEUDAM. HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. ami become again the inheritonee of the race. The eyes of men begin to be turned on tlie sacred page, •which may now be read in tlie very words in which the inspired men of old time wrote it. Not for a thou.sjxnd years liad so fair a morning visited the iiartlx. ISIen felt after the long darkness that truly " light is sweet, and a ple:isant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." The dawn was pale and chilly in Italy, but in the north of Europe it brought witli it, not merely the light of pagan literature, but the warmth and brightness of Chmtian truth. "We have already seen with what fierce defiance Charles V. flung down the gage of battle to Pro- testantism. In manner the most public, and with vow the most solemn and awful, he bound himself to extirjjate heresy, or to lose armies, treasures, kingdoms, body and soul, in the attempt. Ger- many, happily, was covered from the consequences of that mortal threat by the sovereign rights of its hereditary princes, who stood between their subjects and that terrible arm that was now uplifted to cnLsh them. But the less fortimate Netherlands enjoyed no such protection. Charles was master there. He could enforce his will in liLs patrimonial estates, and his will was that no one in all the Netherlands should profess another than the Roman creed. One furious edict was issued after another, and these were puljlicly read twice every year, that no one might pretend ignorance.' These edicts did not remain a dead letter as in Germany ; they were ruthlessly executed, and soon, alas ! the Low Countries were blazing with stakes and swimming in blood. It is almost incredil)le, and yet the historian Meteren asserts that during the last thirty yeara of Charles's reign not fewer than 50,000 Pro- testants were put to death in the provinces of the Netherlands. Grotius, iir his Annals, raises the number to 100,000." Even granting that these estimates are extravagant, still they ai-e sufficient to con\'ince us that the number of victims was (n-eat indeed. The bloody work did not slacken owinc to Charles's many absences in Spain and other countries. His sister Margaret, Dowagei--queen of ' Sleidan, bk. xvi., p. 342; Lond., 1089. = Grot., 4nnal., lib. i., 17; Amsterdam, 1G58. Watson, Philip II., vol. i., p. 113. Hungary, who wa-s appointed regent of the pro- vinces, was compelled to carry out all his cruel edicts. Men and women, whose crime was that they did not believe in the mass, were beheaded, hanged, burned, or buried alive. These proceed- ings were zealously seconded by the divines of Louvain, whom Luther styled " bloodthirsty heretics, who, teaching impious doctrines which they could make good neither by reason nor Scrip- ture, betook themselves to force, and disputed with fire and sword.^ This terriljle work went on from the 23rd of July, 1523, when the proto- mai-tyi\s of the provinces were burned iir the great square of Brussels,' to the day of the emperor's abdication. The Dowager-qiieen, in a letter to her brother, had given it as her opinion that the good work of jjurgation should stop only when to go fiii-ther would be to efl'ect the entii-e depopulation of the country. The " Christian Widow," as Erasmus styled her, would not go the length of burning the the last Netherlander ; she would leave a few orthodox inhabitants to repeople the land. Meanwhile the halter and the axe were gathering theii- victims so fast, tliat the limits traced by the regent — wide as they were — bade fair soon to be reached. The genius and activity of the Nether- landers were succumbing to the terrible blows that were bemg unremittingly dealt them. Agiiculture was beginning to languish; life was departing from the great towns ; the step of the artisan, as he went to and returned from his factory at the hours of meal, was loss elastic, and his eye less liright ; the workshops were being weeded of their more skilful workmen ; foreign Protestant merchants were fleeing from the country ; and the decline of the internal trade kept pace wtli that of the external commerce. It was evident to all whom bigotry had not ren- dered incapable of reflection, that, though great progress had been made towards the ruin of tlie country, the extinction of heresy was still distant, and likely to be reached only when the land had become a desert, the hai-bours empty, and the cities silent. The blood with which the tyrant was so profusely watering the Netherlands, was but nourishing the heresy which he sought to dro^v^l. ^ Sleidan, bk. xvi., p. 343. ■' See ante, vol. i., bk. ix., chap. 3, p. 490. rEiiSECUTlONS IN ANTWERP CHAPTER III. ANTWERP : 1T« CONFESSORS AND MARTYRS. Antwerp — Its Convent of Augustines — Jacob Spreng— Henry of Zutphen — Convent Eazed— A Preaclier Drowned — Pkicards of the Emperor Charles V. — "Well of Life — Long and Dreadful Series of Edicts — Edict of 15-10— The Inquisition— Spread of Lutheraniam — Confessors — Martyrdom of John de Bakker. No cit}' did the day that was now breaking over the Low Countries so often touch ^viih its light as Antwerp. Within a year after Luther's appear- ance, Jacob Spreng, prior of |the Angustinian con- vent in that town, confessed liimself a disciple of the Wittemberg monk, and began to preach the same doctrine. He was not suflered to do so long. In 1519 he was seized in his own convent, carried to Bnissels, and threatened with the punishment of the fire. Though his faith was genuine, he had not courage to be a martyr. Vanquished by the fear of death, lie consented to read in public his recanta- tion. Being let go, he repaired to Bremen, and there, " walking softly from the memory of his fall," he passed the remaining yeai's of his life in preaching the Gospel as one of the pixstore of that northern town.' The same city and the same convent furnished another Reformer yet more intrepid than Spreng. This was Henry of Zutphen. He, too, had sat at the feet of Luther, and along with his doctrine had carried away no small amount of Luther's dramatic power in setting it forth. Christ's office as a Saviour he finely put into the following antitheses : — "He became the servant of the law that he might be its master. He took all sin that he might take away sin.* He is at once the victim and the vanquisher of death ; the captive of hell, yet he it was by whom its gates were burst open." But though he refused to the sinner any share in the great work of exjjiating sin, reserving tliat entnely and exclusively to the Saviom-, Zutjihcn strenu- ously insisted that the believer should be careful to maintain good works. " Away," he said, " with a dead faith." His career in Antwerp was brief. He was seized and thrown into prison. He did not deceive himself as to the fate that awaited him. He kept aw.ako during the silent hours of night, preparing for the death for which he looked on the coming day. Suddenly a great uproar arose roimd liis prison. The noise was caused by his townsmen. ' Gerdesius, torn, iii., pp. 23—25. - "Totum peccatum tolerans ct tollens." (Gerdesius, torn, iii., Appendix, p. 18.) who had come to rescue him. They broke open his gaol, penetrated to his cell, and bringing him forth, made hini escape from the city. Henry of Zutphen, thus rescued from the fires of the Inquisition, visited in the coui-se of his wanderings several pro- vinces and cities, in which he preached the Gosjiel with gi-eat eloquence and success. Eventually he went to Holstein, where, after laboui-ing some time, a mob, instigated by the pi-iests, set upon him and mui-dered him' in the atrociously cruel and bar- liarous manner we have described in a previous part of our history.'' It seemed as if the soU on which the convent of the Augustines in Antwerp stood produced heretics. It must be dug up. In October, 1522, the convent was dismantled. Such of the monks as had not caught the Lutheran disease had quartere provided for them elsewhei-e. The Host was solenuily removed from a place, the very air of which was loaded vnth deadly pravity, and the building, like the house of the leper of old, was razed to the ground.^ No man lodged under that roof any more for ever. But the heresy was not driven away from Brabant, and the inquisitors began to ■wreak their vengeance on other objects besides the innocent stones and timbers of heretical monasteries. In the following year (1523) three monks, who had been inmates of that same monastery whose ruins now warned the citizens of Antwerp to eschew Lutheranism as they would the fire, were burned at Brussels." When the fire wa.s kindled, they first recited the Creed ; then they chanted the Te Dciiiii Laudamus. This hymn they sang, each chanting the alternate verse, till the fiamcs had deprived them of both voice and life.' In the following year the monks signalisetl their zeal by a cruel deed. The desire to hear the Gosj)el continuiug to spread in Antwerp and the adjoining 3 Gerdesius, tom. iii., pp. 28—30. •• See ante, vol. i., bk. ix., chap. C, p. 506. ■' "Dirutum est penitusquo eversum." (Gerdesius, tom. iii., p. 29.) '' See ante, vol. i., bk. ix., chap. 3, p. 490. ' Brandt, vol. i., p. -15. 10 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. country, t!ic pastor of I\Ieltz, a little place near Antwerp, began to preach to the people. His church was often unable to contain the crowds that came to hear hiiu, and he was obliged to retire with his congregation to the oi)en fields. In one of his sermons, declaiming against the priests of his time, he said : — " We are worse than Judas, for he both sold and delivered the Lord ; but we sell him to you, and do not deliver him." This was doctrine, the public preaching of which was not likely to be tolerated longer than the priests lacked jjower to stop it. Soon there appeared a placard or proclamation silencing the pastor, as well as a certain Augustinian monk, who preached at times in Antwerp. The assemblies of both were prohibited, and a reward of thirty gold caroli set upon tlieii' heads. Nevertheless, the desire for the Gospel was not extinguished, and one Sunday the people con- vened in great numbers in a ship-building yard on the banks of the Scheldt, in the hope that some one might minister to them the Word of Life. In that gathering was a young man, well versed iir the Scriptures, named Nicholas, who seeing no one willing to act as i)reaclier, ro.se himself to address the people. Entering into a boat that was moored by the river's blink, he read and expounded to the multitude the parable of the five loaves and the two small fishes. The thing was known all over the city. It was dangerous that such a man should be at large ; and the monks took care that he should preach no second sermon. Hiring two butchers, they waylaid him next day, forced him into a sack, tied it with a cord, and hastily carrying him to the river, threw him in. When the murder was known a thrill of horror ran through the citizens of Antwerp).' Ever since the emperor's famous fulmination against Luther, in 1521, he had kept up a constant fire of placards, as they were termed — that is, of persecuting edicts — upon the Netherlands. They were posted up in the streets, read by all, and pro- duced univei-sal consternation and alarm. They succeeded each other at brief intervals ; scarcely had the echoes of one fulmination died away when a new and more terrible peal was heard re- sounding over the startled and affrighted provinces. In April, 1524, came a placard forbidding the printing of any book without the consent of the officers who had cliargc of that matter.= In 1525 came a circular letter from the regent Margaret, addressed to all the monasteries of Holland, enjoin- ing them to send out none but discreet preachers. ' Gerdesius, torn, iii., p. 37. BraiuU, vol. ' Gerdesius, torn, iii., p. 39. who would be careful to make no mention of Luther's name. In March, 152C, came another placard against Lutheranism, and in July of the same year yet another and severer. The preamble of this edict set forth that the "vulgar had been deceived and misled, partly by the contri\ance of some ignorant fellows, who took upon them to preach the Gospel privately, without the leave of their superiors, explaining the same, together with other holy writings, after theii- own fancies, and not according to the orthodox sense of the doctors of the Chm'ch, i-acking their brains to produce new-fangled doctrines. Besides these, divers secular and regular priests presumed to ascend the pulpit, and there to relate the eri'ors and sinister notions of Luther and his adherents, at the same time reviv- ing the heresies of ancient times, and some that had likewise been propagated in these countries, recall- ing to men's memories the same, with other false and damnable opinions that had never till now been heard, thought, or spoken of. . . . Where- fore the edict forbids, in the emjieror's name, all assemblies in order to read, speak, confer, or preach concerning the Gospel or other holy writings in Latin, Flemish, or in the Walloon languages — :is likewise to preach, teach, or in any sort promote the doctrines of Martm Liither ; especially such as related to the Sacrament of the altar, or to con- fession, and other Sacraments of the Chui'ch, or any- thing else that affected the honoiu- of the holy mother Mary, and the saints and saintesses, and their images. . . . By this placard it was fui-ther ordered that, together with the books of Luther, &c., and all their adherents of the same sentiments, all the gospels, epistles, prophecies, and other books of the Holy Scriptures in High Dutch, Flemish, Walloon, or French, that had marginal notes, or expositions according to the doctrine of Luther, should be brought to some public place, and there burned ; and that whoever should presume to keep any of the aforesaid books and writings by them after the promulgation of this placard should forfeit life and goods." ' In 1528 a new jilacard was issued agamst jiro- hibited books, as also against monks who had abandoned their cloister. There followed in 1529 another and more severe edict, condemning to death without pardon or reprieve all who had not brought their Lutheran books to be burned, or had otherwise contravened the former edicts. Those who had relapsed after having abjured their crroi's were to die by fire ; as for others, the men were to die by the sword, and the women by the pit — i., p. 51. 2 Brandt, vol. i., p. 56. Gerdesius, torn, iii., p. 56. PERSECUTING PLACARDS. 11 that is, they were to bo buried alive. To liarbour or conceal a heretic was death and the forfeiture of goods. Informers were to have one-half of the estates of the accused on conviction ; and those who were commissioned to put the placard m exe- cution were to proceed, not witli " the tedious for- malities of trial," biit by summar}' process.' It was about this time that Erasmus addressed a letter to the inhabitants of the Low Countries, in which he advised them thus : — "Keep yourselves in the ai'k, that you do not perish in the deluge. Continue in the little shij) of our Saviour, lest ye bo swallowed by the waves. Remain iii the fold of the Church, lest ye become a prey to the wolves or to Satan, who is always going to and fro, seek- ing whom he may devour. Stay and see what resolutions will be taken by the emperor, the liruiccs, and afterwards by a General Council. "- It was thus that the man who was reposing in the shade exhorted the men who were in the fire. As regarded a " General Council," for which they were bidden to wait, the Reformers had had ample experience, and the result had been uniform — the mountani had in every case brought forth a mouse. They were able also by this time to guess, one should think, what the ein])eror was likely to do for them. Almost every year brought with it a new edict, and the space between each several fulmi- nation was occuijied in giving practical application to these decrees — that is, in working the axe, the halter, the stake, and the pit. A new impetus was given about this time to the Reform movement, by the translation of Luther's version of the Scrijrtures into Low Dutch. It was not well executed ; neveitheless, being read in their assemblies, the book instructed and com- forted these young converts. Many of the priests who had been in office for years, but who had never read a single line of the Bible, good-naturedly taking it for granted that it amply authenticated all that the Cliurch taught, dipped into it, and being much astonished at its contents, began to bring both their life and doctrine into greater accordance with it. One of the printers of this first edition of the Dutch Bible was condemned to death for his l)ains, and died by the a.\e. Soon after this, some one made a ccillfction of certain ])assages from the Scriptures, and published them under the title of " The Well of Life." The little book, with neither note nor comment, contained but the words of Scripture itself; nevertheless it was very obnoxious to the zealous defenders of Popery. A " Well of Life" to othei-s, it was a Well of Death to tlieii- ' Brandt, vol. i., pp. .57, 58. IKd. Church and her rites, and they resolved on stopping it. A Franciscan friar of Brabant set out on pur- pose for Amsterdam, where the little book had been printed, and buying tip the whole edition, he com- mitted it to the flames. He had only half done his work, however. The book was printed in other towns. The Well would not be stopped; its waters would gush otit ; the journey and the expense which the friar had incurretl had been in vain. We pass over the edicts that were occasionally seeing the light during the ten following 3'ears, as well as the Anabaptist opinions and excesses, with the sanguinary wars to which they led. These we have ftilly related in a previous part of our his- tory.' In 15i0 came a more atrocious edict than any that had yet been promulgated. The monks and doctors of Louvain, who spared no pains to root out the Protestant doctiine, instigated the monarch to issue a new placard, which not only contained the substance of all former edicts, but passed them into a perpetual law. It was dated from Brussels, the 22nd September, 1.540, and was to the following effect : — That the heretic should be incapable of holding or disposing of property; that all gifts, donations, and legacies made by him should be null and void ; that informers who themselves were heretics should be pardoned that once ; and it especially revived and put in force against Lutherans an edict that had been promul- gated in 1535, and specially directed against Ana- baptists— namely, that those who abandoned theii' errors should have the privilege, if men, of dying by the sword ; and if women, of being buried alive ; such as should refuse to recant were to be burned.* It was an aggravation of these edicts that they were in violation of the rights of Holland. The emperor promulgated them in his character of Coimt of Holland ; but the ancient Counts of Holland could issue no decree or law till first they had obtained the consent of the nobility and Commons. Yet the emperor issued these placards on his own sole authority, and asked leave of no one. Besides, they were a virtual estaljlishment of the Inquisition. They commanded that when evidence was lacking, the accused shouUl them- selves be put to the question — that is, by torture or other inquisitorial methods. Accordingly, in 1522, and while only at the beginning of the terrible array of edicts which we have recited, tlie emperor appointed Francis van Hulst to make strict inquiry into people's opinions in religious matters all ^ See ante, vol. i., bk. ix., chap. 8; and vol. 11., bU. lii., chap. 2. ■* Brandt, vol. i., p. 7'.'; Gerdosius, torn, iii., p. 1-43. THE FIRST DUTCH MARTYR. 13 thronghout the Netliei-lands ; and lie gave him as his fellow-comiuissioner, Nicolas van Eginout, a Carmelite monk. These two worthies Erasmus happily and characteristically hit off thus : — " Hiilst," said lie, " is a wonderfid enemy to learn- ing," and " Egmont is a madman with a sword in liis hand." "Tlicse men," says Brandt, " first threw men into prison, and then considered what they should lay to their charge."' Meanwhile the Reformed y speaking against tlie edicts of tlie emperor, and by marrying. Joost Laurence, a leading member of tlie Inquisition, presided at liis trial. He declared before his judges that " he coidd submit to no rule of faith save Holy Writ, in the sense of the Holy Ghost, ascertained in the way of interpreting Sci'ipture by Scrii)ture." He held that "men were not to be forced to ' come in,' otherwise than God forces them, which is not by prisons, stripes, and death, but by gentleness, and by the strength of the Divine Word, a force as soft and lovely as it is powerful." Touch- ing the celibacy of priests, concerning which he was accused, ho did " not find it enjoined in Scripture, and an angel from heaven could not, he maintained, introduce a new article of faith, much less the Church, wliich was subordinate to the Word of God, but had no authority over it." His aged fiither, who was churchwarden — although after this expelled from his office — was able at times to approach his son, as he stood upon his trial, and at these moments the old man would wliis])er iiato his ear, " Ee strong, and pei-sevei-e in what is good ; as for me, I am contented, after the example of Aliraham, to ofier up to God my dearest cliild, that never offended me." The presiding judge condemned liim to die. The next day, which was the 15th of September, 1525, lie was led out \ipon a high scaflbkl, where he was divested of his clerical garments, and dressed in a short yellow coat. " They put on his head," says the Dutch Book of Martyrs, " a yellow hat. with flaps like a fool's cap. When they were leading him away to execution," continues the martyrologist, " as he passed by the prison where many more were sluit up for the faith, he cried with a loud voice, ' Behold ! my dear brethren, I have set my foot upon the threshold of martyrdom ; have courage, like brave soldiers of Jesus Christ, and being stirred up by my example, defend the truths of the Gospel against all unrighteousness.' He had no sooner said this than he was answered by a shout of joy, triumph, and clapping of hands by the prisoners ; and at the same time they honoured his martyrdom with ecclesia.stical hymns, singing the Te Deum Latalamus, Certamen Mwj- num, and 0 heata Martyruvi Soleiimia. Nor did they cease till he had given up the ghost. When he was at the stake, he cried, ' O death ! where is thy sting I O grave ! where is thy victory 1 ' And again, ' Death is swallowed iip in the victory of Christ.' And last of all, ' Lord Jesus, forgive them, for they know not what they do. O Son of God ! remember me, and have mercy u2)on me.' Ajid thus, after they had stopped his breath, he departed as in a sweet sleep, without any motions or convulsions of his head and body, or contortions of his eyes. This was the end of John de Bakker, the fii'st martyr in Holland for the doctrine of Luther. The next day Bernard the monk, Gei-ard Wormer, William of Utrecht, and perhaps also Gnaphwus himself, were to have been put to death, had not the constancy of our proto-martyr softened a little the minds of his judges."' CHAPTER IV. ABDICATION OF CHARLES V. AND ACCESSION OF PHILIP II. Decrepitude of the Emperor— Hall of Brabant Palace-Speech of the Emperor— Failure of his Hopes and Labours— PliiUp II.— His Portrait— Slender Endowments— Portrait of WiUiam of Orange— Other Netherlaud Nobles— Close of Pageant. In the midst of his cruel work, and, we may say, in the midst of liis yeai-s, the em|ieror was over- taken by old ago. The sixteenth century is waxing in might around him ; its great forces are showing no sign of exliaustion or decay ; on the contrary, their vigour is gi'owing from one year to another ; it is plain that they arc only in the opening of their career, while in melancholy contrast Charles V. is closing his, and yielding to tlie decrei)itn(le that is creeping over hinist^lf and his empire. The sceptro and the faggot — so closely united in his case, and to be .still more closely united in that of his suc- cessor— he must hand over to his son Philip. Let us place ourselves in the hall where the act of abdication is about to take place, and be it ours not to record the common-places of imperial flat- tery, so lavishly bestowed on this occasion, nor to describe the pomjis under which the gi'eatest ' Brandt, vol. i., p. 53. CHARLES RESIGNS THE EMPIRE. 15 monarch of his age so adroitly liid his fall, but to sketch the portraits of some of those men who await a great part in the future, and whom wo shall frequently meet in the scenes that are about to open. We enter the great hall of the old palace of Brabant, in Brussels. It is the 25th of October, 1555, and this day the Estates of the Netherlands have met here, sunmioned by an imperial edict, to be the witnesses of the surrender of the sovereignty of his realms by Charles to his son. With the act of abdication one tragedy closes, and another and bloodier tragedy begins. No one in that glittering throng could forecast the calamitous future which was coming along with the new master of the Sjjanish monarchy. Charles V. enters the gor- geously tapestried hall, leaning his arm on the shoulder of William of Nassau. Twenty-five ye.irs before, we saw the emperor enter Augsbiu'g, bestriding a steed of " brilliant whiteness," and exciting by his majestic port, his athletic frame, and manly countenance, the enthusiasm of the spectators, who, with a touch of exaggeration par- donable in the circumstances, pronounced him "the handsomest man in the empire." And now what a change in Charles ! How sad the ravages which toil and care have, during these few years, made on this iron frame ! The bulky mould in which the outer man of Chai-les was cast still remains to him — the ample brow, the broad chest, the mus- c\dar limbs; but the force that animated that ])owerful framework, and enabled it to do such feats in the tournament, the bull-ring, and the battle-field, has departed. His limbs totter, he lias to suiiport his steps with a crutch, his hair is white, his eyes have lost their brightness, his shoulders stoop — in short, age has withered and crippled hini all over ; and yet he has seen only fifty-five years. The toils that had worn him down he briefly and affeotingly summarised in his address to the august assemblage before him. Resting this hand on his crutch, and that on the .shoulder of the young noble by his side, he proceeds to count up forty expeditions undertaken by him since he was .seventeen — nine to Germany, six to S]>ain, seven to Italy, four to France, ten to the Netherlands, two to England, and two to Africa. He had made eleven voyages by sea ; he had fought foiu- battles, won victories, held Diets, framed tn^a- tie.s — so ran the tale of work. He had passed niglits and nights in anxious deliberation over the gi-owth of Protestantism, and he h.ad sought to alk^viate the mingled mortification and akuTii its jirogress caused him, by fulminating one persecut- ing edict after another in the hope of arresting it. In addition to marches and battles, thousands of halters and stakes had he erected ; but of these he is discreetly silent. He is silent too regarding the success which had crowned these mighty efforts and projects. Does he retire because he has suc- ceeded ? No ; he retires because he has failed. His infirm frame is but the image of his once magnificent empiie, over which decrepitude and disoi'der begin to creep. One young in years, and alert iii bod}', is needed to recruit those ai'mies which battle has wasted, to replenish that exchequer which so many campaigns have made empty, to restore the military j)restige which the flight from Innspruck and succeeding disasters have tarnished, to quell the revolts that are springing up in the various kingdoms which form his vast monarchy, and to dispel those dark clouds which his eye but too plainly sees to be gathering all round the horizon, and which, should he, with mind enfeebled and body crippled, continue to linger longer on the scene, will assuredly burst in ruin. Such is the true meaning of that stately ceremonial in which the actoi'S played so adi'oitly, each his part, in the Brabant palace at Bnissels, on the 25tli of October, 1555. The tj'rant apes the father; the murderer of his subjects would fain seem the paternal ruler ; the disappointed, baflled, fleeing opponent of Pro- testantism puts on the airs of the conqueror, and strives to hide defeat under the pageantiies of State, and the symbols of victory. The closing scene of Charles V. is but a repetition of Julian's confession of discomfiture — " Thou hast overcome, O Galilean." We turn to the son, who, in almost all outward respects, presents a complete contrast to the father. If Charles was prematurely old, Philij), on the other hand, looked as if he never had been young. He did not attain to middle height. His small body was mounted on thin legs. Nature had not fitted him to shine in either the sports of the tournament or the conflicts of the l^attle-field ; and both he shunned. He had the ample brow, the blue eyes, and the aquiline nose of his father ; but these agreeable features were forgotten in the ugliness of the under part of his face. His lower jaw protruded. It was a Burg\uidian deformity, but in Philip's case it liad received a larger than the usual family develojjment. To this disagree- able feature was added another repulsi\e one, also a family peculiarity, a heavy hanging \inder-lip, which enlarged the apjiarent size of his mouth, and strengthened the impiession, which the unpleasant protrusion of the jaw made on the spectatoj-, of animal voracity and savageness. The puny, meagre, sickly-looking m:ui who stood 16 HISTOEY OF PROTESTANTISM. beside the warlike aiul once rolmst form of Charles, was not more unlike his father in body than he was unlike him in mind. Not one of his father's gi'eat qualities did he possess. He lacked his statesman- bhij) ; he had no knowledge of men, he could not enter into their feelings, nor accommodate himself to theii- ways, nor manifest any sympathy in what engaged and engrossed them ; he, therefore, shiumed them. He had the shy, shrinking air of the vale- tudinarian, and looked around with something like the scowl of the misanthrope on his face. Charles moved about from province to province of his vast dominions, speaking the language and conform- ing to the manners of the people among whom he chanced for the time to be ; he was at home in all places. Philip was a stranger everywhere, save in Spain. He spoke no language but his mother tongue. Amid the gay and witty Italians — amid the familiar and courteous Flemings — amid the frank aiul open Germans — Philip was still the Spaniard : austere, haughty, taciturn, imappi-oach- able. Only one quality did he share with his father • — the intense passion, namel}', for extinguishing the Reformation.' From the two central figures we turn to glance at a third, the young noble on whose shoulder the emperor is leaning. He is tall and well- formed, ^vith a lofty brow, a brown eye, and a peaked beard. His service in camps has bronzed his complexion, and given him more the look of a Spaniard than a Fleming. He is only in his twenty-third year, but the quick eye of Charles had discovered the capacity of the young soldier, and placed him in command of the army on the frontier, where resource and coui'age were specially needed, seeing he had there to confront some of the best generals of France. Could the emperor, who now leaned so confidingly on his shoulder, liave foreseen liis future career, how suddenly would he have ■withdrawn his arm ! The man on whom lie re- posed was destined to be the great antagonist of his son. Despotism and Liberty stood em- bodied in the two forms on either hand of the abdicating emperor — Philiji, and William, Prince of Orange ; for it wa.s he on whom Charles leaned. The contest between them was to shake Cliristen- dom, bring down from its pinnacle of power that ' Badovaro MS.. "/<«<' Motley, Rise of the Dutch Repuhlic. pt. i., chap. 1 ; Edin., 1859. great monarchy which Charles was bequeathing to his son, raise the httle Holland to a pitch of commercial prosperity and literary glory which Spain had never known, and leave to William a name in the wars of liberty far surpassing that which Charles had won by his many campaigns — a name which can perish only with the Netherlands themsehes. Besides the three principal figures there were others in that brilliant gathering, who were either then, or soon to be, celebrated throughout Europe, and whom we shall often meet in the stirring scenes that arc about to open. In the glittering throng around the platform might be seen the bland face of the Bishop of Arras ; the tail form of Lamoral of Egmoiit, with his long dark hair and soft eye, the representative of the ancient Frisian kings ; the bold but sullen facv, and fan-shaped beard, of Count Horn ; the debauched Brederodc ; the in- famous Noii'carmes, on whose countenance played the blended lights of ferocity and greed ; the small figure of the learned Viglius, with his yellow hair and his gi'een glittering eye, and round rosy face, from which depended an ample beard ; and, to close our list, there was the slender form of the cele- brated Spanish grandee, Ruy Gomez, whose coal- black hair and burning eye were finely set off by a face which intense application had rendered as colourless almost as the marble. The pageant was at an end. Charles had handed over to another that vast possession of dominion which had so severely taxed his manhood, and which was crushing his ago. The princes, knights, war- rior's, and counsellors have left the hall, and gone forth to betake them each to his own several road — Charles to the monastic cell which he had inter- posed between him and the grave ; Philip to that throne from which he Wiis to dkect that fearful array of armies, inquisitore, and executioners, that was to make Em-ope swim in blood ; AVilliam of Orange to prepare for that now not distant struggle, which he saw to be inevitable if bounds were to be set to the vast ambition and fanatical fury of Spain, and some remnants of liberty preserved in Christendom. Othera went forth to humbler yet import;vnt tasks ; some to win true glory by worthy deeds, others to leave behind them names which should be an execration to jiosterity ; but nearly all of them to expire, not on the bed of i)caco, but on the liattle-field, on the scafibld, or by the poignard of the assassin. ATROCIOUS EDICTS. 17 CHAPTER V. I'HILIP ARRANGES THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NETHERLANDS, AND DEPARTS FOR SPAIN. Philii) II. Renews the E diet of 1533of liia Fatlier— Other Atrocious Edicts — Further Martyrdoms— Inquisition introduced into the Low Countries — Indignation and Alarm of the Netherlanders — Tliii-teen New Bishops — The Spanish Troops to bo left in the Country — Violations of the Netherland Charters — Bishop of Arras — His Craft and Ambition — Popular Discontent— Margaret, Duchess of Parma, appointed Eegent— Three Councils — Assembly of the States at (ilient— The States request the Suppression of the Edicts— Anger of Philip — He sets Sail from Flusliing — Stonu — Arrival in Spain. c Some few years of comparative tranquillity were to intervene between the accession of Philip II., and the commencement of those terrible events wliich made liis riign one long dark tragedy. But oven now, though but recently seated on the throne, one startling and ominous act gave wai'n- iiig to the Netherlands and to Europe of what was in store for them under the austere, bigoted, priest-ridden man, whom half a world had the mis- fortune to call master. In 1559, four years after his accession, Philip renewed that atrociously in- human edict which his father had promulgated in 15-10. This edict had imported into the civilised Netherlands the disgusting spectacles of savage lauds; it kept the gallows and the stake in constant operation, and made such havoc in the ranks of the friends of freedom of conscience, that the more moderate historians have estimated the number of its victims, as we have already said, at 50,000. The commencement of this work, as our leaders know, was in 1521, when the emperor issued at "SV^orms his famous edict against " Martin," who was " not a man, but a devil under the form of a man.' That bolt passed harmlessly over Luther's head, not because being " not a man," but a spirit, even the imjierial sword could not slay him, but simply liecause he lived on German soil, where the euii)eror might issue as many edicts as he pleased, but could not execute one of them wthout the consent of the prineas. But the shaft that missed Luther struck deep into the unhappy .subjects of Chailes's Paternal Estates. " Death or foi-feiture of goods" was the sentence decreed against all Liitheraus in tlie Netherlands, and to efTeet the unsparing and vigorous execution of the decree, a new court was erected in Belgium, which Viore a startling resem- blance to the Incjuisition of Sp.ain. In Antweqi, in Brussels, and in other towns piles began straightway to blaze. The fires once kindled, there followed similar edicts, which kojrt the flames from going out. These made it death to pray with a few friends in private ; death to read a page of the Scriptures ; death to discuss any article of the faith, not on the streets only, but in one's own house ; death to mutilate an image ; death to have in one's possession any of the writings of Luther, or Zwingle, or QScolampadius ; death to express doubt respecting the Sacraments of the Church, the authority of the Pope, or an}' siuiilar dogma. After this, in 1535, came the edict of which we have just made mention, consigning to the horrors of a living grave even I'epentant heretics, and to the more dreadful horrors, as they were deemed, of the stake, obstinate ones. There was no danger of these cruel laws remaining inoperative, even had the emperor been less in earnest than he was. The Inquisition of Cologne, the canons of Louvain, and the monks of Mechlin saw to their execution ; and the obsequiousness of iVLiry of Hungary, the regent of the kingdom, pushed on the bloody work, nor thought of pause till she should have reached the verge of " entire depopula- tion." When Philip II. re-enacted the edict of 1540, he re-enacted the whole of that legislation which had disgraced the last thirty years of Charles's reign, and which, while it had not extinguished, nor even lessened the Lutheranism against which it was directed, had crijipled the industry and commerce of the Low Countries. There had been a lull in the terrible work of beheading and burning men for conscience sake during the few last yeai-s of the emperor's leign ; Charles's design, doi;btless, being to smooth the way for his son. The fires were not extinguished, but they were lowered ; the scaffolds were not taken down, but the blood that flooded them was less deep ; and as duiing the last years of Charles, so also during the first years of Philip, the furies of persecution seemed to slumber. But now they awoke ; and not only was the old con- dition of things brought back, but a new machineiy, more sure, swift, and deadly than that in use under Charles, was constructed to carrj' out the edicts which Philip had piiblished anew. The emperor liad established a court in Flanders that sufficiently i-esembled the Inquisition; but Philip II. made a 18 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. still nearer ai)proacli to that rcdoiilituUle institution, which has ever been the pot engine of the bigot and ])ersecutor, and the execration of all free men. The court now established l)y Philii) was, in fact, the Inquisition. It did not receive the name, it is true ; but it was none the less the Inquisition, and kicked nothing wliich the " Holy Office " in Spain pos- sessed. Like it, it had its dungeons and screws and racks. It had its apostolic inquisitors, its secretaries and sergeants. It liad its ftimiliars dispersed throughout the Provinces, and who acted as spies and 'informers. It apprehended men on suspicion, examined them by torture, and condemned them witliout confronting them with the ^vitnesses, or pei-mitting them to lead proof of their innocence. It permitted the civil judges to concern themselves with prosecutions for heresy no ftirther than merely to carry out the sentences the inquisitors had pro- nounced. The goods of the victims were confiscated, and denunciations were encouraged by the promise of rewards, and also the assurance of impunity to informers who had been co-i-eligionists of the accused. Even among the submissive natives of Italy and Spain, the estaljlishment of the Inquisition had encountered opposition ; but among the spirited and wealthy citizens of the Netherlands, whose privileges had been expanding, and whose love of liberty had been growing, ever since the twelfth century, the introduction of a ooui-t like this was regarded with universal horror, and awakened no little indigna- tion. One thing was certain. Papal Inquisition and Netherland freedom could not stand together. The citizens beheld, in long and t<>rrible vista, calamity coming upon calamity ; tlieir dwellings entered at midnight by mask'jd familiars, their jiarents and chihlren dragged to secret prisons, their civic digni- taries led through the streets with halters round their necks, the foreign Protestant merchants fleeing from their country, their commerce dying, anios dafe blazing in all their cities, and liberty, in the end of the day, sinking under an odious and merci- less tyranny. There followed another measure which intensified the alarm and anger of the Netherlanders. The number of bishops was increased by Philip from four to seventeen. The existing sees were those of Arras, Cambray, Tournay, and Utrecht ; to these thirteen new sees were adderought to Flanders by C!ount Horn, who had been on a visit to Madrid, ami liad parted from the king in a fnme at the impertinence of the two Flemish noblemen. His majesty expected them to give attendance at the Council-board as aforetime, with- out, however, holding out to them any hope that they would be allowed a larger share than heretofore iti the business transacted there. The gulf between Orange and Cardinal Granvelle was widening. The cardinal did not abate a jot of his tyranny. He knew that Philip would support him in the policy he was pursuing ; indeed, that he could not retain the favour of his master unless he gave ligorous execution to the edicts. He must go forward, it mattered not at what amount of odium to himself, and of hanging, burning, and buiying alive of Philip's subjects of the Netherlands. Granvelle sat alone in his " smithy " — for so was his country house, a little outside the walls of Brussels, de- nominated— ■writing daily letters to Philip, in- sinuating or dii-ectly advancing accusations against the nobles, especially Orange and Egmont, and craftily suggesting to Philip the policy he ought to pm'sue. In I'eply to these letters would come fresh orders to liimself and the regent, to adopt yet sterner measures toward the refractoiy and the heretical Netherlanders. He had suspended the glory of his reign on the trampling out of heresy in this deeply-infected portion of his dominions, and by what machinery could he do this unless by that which he had set up — the edicts, the bishops, and the Inquisition 1 — the triple wall ^vithin which he had enclosed the heretics of the Low Countries, so that not one of them should escajie. The Flemings are a patient and much-enduring people. Their patience has its limits, however, and these limits once passed, then determination and ii-e are in proportion to their former forbear- ance. As yet their submissiveness had not been exhausted ; they permitted their houses to be entered at midnight, and themselves dragged from their beds and conducted to the Inquisition, with the meekness of a lamb that is being led to the slaughter ; or if they opened then- mouths it was only to sing one of Marot's psalms. The familiars of this abhorred tribunal, therefore, encountered hardly any resistance in executing their dreadful office. The nation as yet stood by in silence, and saw the agents of Granvelle and Philip he^^-ing their victim;; in pieces with axes, or strangling them with halters, or drowaiing them in ponds, or digging graves for then- li\"ing entombment, and gave no sign. But all the while these cruelties were writing on the nation's heart, in ineffaceable characters, an abhon-ence of the Spanish t3Tant, and a stern unconquerable resolve, when the hour came, to throw off his yoke. In the crowd of tjiose HEROISM OF FLEMISH MARTYRS. 27 monsters who were now revelling in the blood and lives of the Netherlanders, there stands out ono cons])icuous monster, Peter Titlemann by name ; not that he was more cruel than the rest of the crew, but because his cruelty stands horridly out against a gi-im pleasantry that seems to have cha- racterised the man. " Contemporary chroniclers," says Motley, " give a picture of him as of some grotesque yet terrible goblin, careering through the country by night or day, alone, on horseback, smiting the trembling peasants on the head with a great club, spreading dismay fiir and wide, dragging suspected persons from theii- firesides or their beds, and thrusting them into dungeons, airesting, tor- turing, strangling, burning, with hardly the shadow of warrant, information, or process." ^ The whole face of the Low Countries during the years of which we write (1560 — 65), was crossed and recrossed with lines of blood, traced by the cruel feet of monsters like tliis man. It was death to pray to God in one's own closet ; it was death not to bow when an image was carried past one in the street ; it was death to copy a hymn from a Genevese psalter, or sing a psalm ; it was death not to deny the heresy of which one was suspected when one was questioned, although one had never uttered it. The monster of whom we ha\e made mention above one day arrested Robei't Ogier of Ryssel, wth hLs wife and two sons. The crime of which they were accused was that of not going to mass, and of practising woi-ship at home. The civil judges before whom Titlemann brought them examined them toucliing the rites they practised in j)rivate. One of the sons answered, " We fall on our knees and pray that God may enlighten our minds and pardon our sins; we pray for our sovereign, that his reign may be prosjierous, and his life happy ; we pray for our magistrates, that God may preserve them." This artless answer, from a mere boy, touched some of the judges, even to tears. Nevertheless the father and the eldsr son were adjudged to the flames. " O God," prayed the youth at the stake, " Eternal Father, acce]>t the saciifice of our lives hi the name of thy beloved Son!" "Thou Uest, scoundrel!" fiercely interrupted a monk, who was lighting the fire. " God is not your father ; ye are the devil's chikh-en." The flames rose ; again the boy ex- claimed, " Look, my father, all heaven is opening, and I see ten hmidred thousand angels rejoicing over us. Let us be glad, for we are dying for the truth." " Thouliest, thou liest," again screamed the monk ; " I see hell opening, and ten thousand devils waiting to thrust you into eternaJ tire." The father and son were heard talkmg with one another in the midst of the flames, even when they wore at the fiercest ; and so they continued till botli expLred.- If the fury of the persecutor was grejit, not les.s was the heroism of these martyrs. They refused all communion with Rome, and worshipped in the Protestant foi-ms, in the face of all the dreadful penalties with which they were menaced. Nor was it the men only who were thus coiu'ageous ; women — nay, young gii'ls — animated by an equal faith, displayed an equal fortitude. Some of them refused to flee when the means of escape from prison were ofiered to them. Wives would take their stand by their husband's stake, and whUe he was enduring the tire they would whisper words of solace, or sing psalms to cheer him ; and so, in their own words, woidd they bear him company while "he was celebrating his last wedding feast." Young maidens would lie down in their living gi-ave as if they were entering into then- chamber of nightly sleep ; or go forth to the seaflbld and the fire, di'essed in theii- best apparel, as if they were going to theii- marriage.' In April, 1654, GaleLn de Mulere, schoolmaster at Oudenard, was ar- rested by Inquisitor Titlemann. The poor man was in great straits, for he had a -vrife and five young children, but he feared to deny God and the truth. He endeavoured to extricate himself from the dilemma by demanding to be tried before the magistrate and not by the Inquisition. " You are my prisoner," replied Titlemann ; " I am the Pope's and the emperor's plenipotentiary." The school- master gave, at first, evasive answers to the ques- tions put to him. "I adjure thee not to trifle with me," said Titlemann, and cited Scripture to enforce his adjuration ; " St. Peter," said the terrible inquisitor, " commands us to be i-eady always to give to every man that asketh us, a reason of the hope that is in us." On these woixis the schoolmaster's tongue broke loose. " My God, my God, assist me now according to thy promise," prayed he. Then tiu'ning to the inquisitors he said, " Ask me now what you please, I shall plainly answer." He then laid open to them his whole belief, concealing nothing of his abhorrence of Popery, and his love for the Saviour. They used all imaginable ai-ts to induce him to recant ; and finding that no argument would i>rcvail with him, " Do you not love your wife and children V said they to him as the last appeal. " You know," ' Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic, vol. i., p. 170; Edm., 1850. = Brandt, vol. i., pp. 108, 109. ' Xbid., vol. i., p. 93. HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. replied he, " that I love them from my luiut ; iiud I tell you truly, if the whole world were turned iiito gold, and given to me, I woidd freely resign it, so that I might keep these dear pledges with me in my confinement, though I should live upon bread and water." " Forsake then," said Titlemami, " your heretical opuuons, and then you may live ■\vith your wife and children as formerly." " I shall never," he replied, " for the sake of wife and chilcken renounce my religion, and sin against God and my conscience, as God shall strengthen me ■with his grace." He was pronounced a heretic; and being delivered to the secular arm, he was strangled and burned.' The very idiots of the nation lifted up their voice in reproof of the tyrants, and in condemna- tion of the tyramiy that was scourging the country. The following can hardly be read without horroi'. At Dixmuyde, in Flanders, lived one Walter Capel, who abounded in almsgiving, and was much lie- loved by the poor. Among others whom his bounty had fed was a poor simple creature, who hearing that his benefactor was being condemiied to death (1553), forced his way into the presence of the judges, and cried out, " Ye are murderers, ye are murderers ; ye spill innocent blood ; the man has done no ill, but has given me bi-ead." When Capel was buniing at the stake, this man would have thrown himself into the flames and died with his patron, had he not been restrained by force. Nor did his gi-atitude die ■with his bene- factor. He went daily to the gallows-field where the half-burned carcase was fastened to a stake, and gently stroking the flesh of the dead man ■with his hand, he said, " Ah, poor creature, you did no hann, and yet they have spilt your blood. You gave me my bellyful of victuals." When the flesh was all gone, and nothing but the bare skeleton remained, he took down the bones, and laying them upon his shoiddei-s, he cai-ried them to the house of one of the burgomasters, -with whom it chanced that several of the magistrates were at that moment feasting. Throwing his ghastly burden at their feet, he cried out, "There, you murderers, first you have eaten his flesh, now eat his bones." - The following tlirco martyrdoms connect them- selves with England. ChrLstian de Qiieker, Jacob Die)issart, and Joan Konings, of Stienwerk, in Flanders, had found an asylum in England, under Queen Elizabeth. In 1559, luning visited th(,'ir native country on their private ufl'airs, they fell into the bands of Peter Titlemann. Being brouglit before the inqui.sitoi"s, they fi-eely confessed their opiniorts. Meanwhile, the Dutch congregation in London procured lettei-s from the Archbishop of Canterbury and other English prelates, wliich were forwarded to the magistrates of Furness, where they were confined in prison. The writers said that they had been informed of the ajjprehension of the three travellers ; that they were the subjects of the Queen of England; that they had gone into the Low Countries for the dLspatch of their private aflaii's, ■with intent to return to England; that they had avoided disputes and contest by the way, and therefore could not be charged with the breach of any law of the land ; that none of the Flemings had been meddled with in England, but that if now those who had put themselves under English jvu-is- diction, and were members of the English Church, were to be thus treated in other countries, they should be likewise obliged, though muoh against their wills, to deal out the same measure to foreigners. Nevei-theless, they expected the magis- trates of Fiu-ness to show prudence and justice, and abstain from the spilling of innocent blood. The magistrates, on i-eceipt of this letter, deputed two of their' number to proceed to Bnissels, and lay it before the Council. It was read at the Board, but that was all the attention it received. The Coimcil resolved to proceed with the prisoner according to the edicts. A few days thereafter they were conducted to the court to receive their sentence, their brethren in the faith lining the way, and encouraging and comforting them. They were condemned to die. They went cheerfully to the stake. A voice addi-essing them from the crowd was heard, saying, "Joan, behave valiantly; the cro%vn of glory is prepared for you." It was that of John Bels, a Carmelite friar. While the executioner was fastening them to the stake, with chains put round their necks and feet, they sang the 130th Psalm, " Out of the depths have I cried to thee, O Lord ;" whereupon a Dominican, John Campo, cried out, " Now we jjerceive you are no Christians, for Christ went weeping to his death ;" to which one of the bystanders immediately made answer, " That's a lie, you false prophet." The martyrs were then strangled and scorched, and their bodies publicly hung in chains in the gallows- field. Their remains were soon after taken down by tlie Protestants of Furness, and buried.'' These men, although in number amounting to many thousands, were only the first rank of that gi'eater army of mai-tyrs which was to come after them. With the exception of a very few, we do not > Brandt, vol. i., p. 94. = find., vol. i., p. 93. 3 Brandt, vol. i., p. 135. THE TRUE NOBLES OF THE NETHERLANDS. 29 know even the names of the men who so will- ingly oflered theu- lives to plant the Gospel in theii- native land. They wei"e known only in the town, or village, or district in which they resided, and did not receive, as they did not seek, wider fame. But what mattei-s it i They themselves are safe, and so too are their names. Not one of them but Ls inscribed in a record more lasting than the liistorian's page, and from which they can never be blotted out. They were mostly men in humble station — weavers, tapestry-workers, stone-cutters, tanners ; for the nobles of the Netherlands, not even excepting the Prince of Orange, had not yet abjured the Popish faith, or embraced that of Pro- testantism. While the nobles were fuming at the pride of Granvelle, or luimbly but uselessly petition- ing Philip, or fighting wordy battles at the Council- board, they left it to the middle and lower classes to bear the brunt of the great war, and jeopardise their lives in the high places of the field. These humble men were the true nobles of the Nether- lands. Their blood it was that broke the power of Spain, and redeemed their native land from vassal- age. Their halters and stakes formed the basis of that glorious edifice of Dutch freedom which the next generation was to see rising proudly aloft, and which, but for them, would never have been raised. CHAPTER VII. RETIREMEXT OF GRANVELLE — BELGIC CONFESSION OF FAITH. Tumults at Valencieimes— Rescue of Two Martyrs— Terrible Revenge— Rhetoric Clubs— The Cardinal Attacked in Plays, Farces, and Lampoons— A Caricature— A Meeting of the States Demanded and Refused — Orders from Spain for the more Vigorous Prosecution of the Edicts — Orange, Egmont, and Horn Retire from the Council — They Demand the Recall of Granvelle— Doublings of Piiilip II.— Granvelle under pretence of Visiting his Mother Leaves the Netherlands— First Belgic Confession of Faith— Letter of Flemish Protestants to Philip II.— Toleration. The murmui-s of the popular discontent grew louder every day. In that land the storm is heard long to mutter before the sky blackens and the tempest bursts ; but now there came, not indeed tlie hurricane — that was deferred for a few years — but a premonitory burst like the sudden wave which, wliile all as yet is calm, the ocean sends as the herald of the storm. At Valenciennes were two ministers, Faveau and Mallart, whose jn-eacliing attracted large congregations. They were condemned in the autumn of 1561 to lie Inirned. When the news spread in Valenciennes that their favourite preachers had been ordered for execution, the inhabitants turned out upon the street, now chanting Clement Marot's psalms, and now hurling menaces at the magistrates should they dare to touch then- preachers. The citizens crowded round the prison, encouraging the mini- sters, and promising to rescue them should an attemjjt be made to put them to death. These commotions were continued nightly for the space of six months. The magistrates were in a strait l)etween the two e\-ils — the anger of the cardinal, who w;is daily sending them peremptory orders to have the heretics burned, ajad the wrath of the people, which was expressed in furious menaces should they do as Granvelle ordered. At last they made up their minds to brave what they took to be the lesser evil, for they trusted that the people would not dare openly to resist the law. The magistrates brought forth Faveaii and Mallart one Monday morning, before sunrise, led them to the market-place, where preparations had be&n made, tied them to the stake, and were about to light the fires and consume them. At that moment a woman in the crowd threw lier shoe at the stake ; it was the preconcerted signal. The mob tore down the baiTiers, scattered the faggots, and chased away the executionei's. The guard, however, had adroitly canied off the prisoners to their dungeon. But the people were not to be batilked ; they kept pos- session of the street ; and when night came they broke open the prison, and brought forth the two ministers, who made their escape from the city. This was called " The Day of the Ill-bumed," one of the ministei-s ha-ving been scorched by the jiartially kindled faggots before he was rescued.' A terrible revenge was taken for the slur thus 1 Brandt, vol. i., pp. 138. 139. 30 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM, cast upon the Inquisition, and the affront offered to the authority of Granvelle. Troops were poured into tlie ill-fated city. The prisons were filled with men and women who had participated, or were sus- pected of having participated, in the riot. The magistrates who had trembled before were furious now. They beheaded and burned almost indLs- ei-iminately ; the amount of blood spUt was truly frightful — to be remembered at a future day by the nation, and atonement demanded for it. We return to the Council-board at Brussels, and the crafty tyrannical man who presided at it — the minion of a craftier and more tyrannical — and who. buried in the depths of his cabinet, edited his edicts of blood, and sent them forth to be executed by his agents. The bickerings still continued at the Council-table, much to the disgust of Granvelle. But besides the rough assaults of Egmont and Horn, and the delicate wit and ridicule of Orange, other assailants arose to embitter the cardinal's exis- tence, and add to the diflBculties of his position. The Duchess of Parma became alienated from him. As regent, she was nominal head of the government, but the cardinal had reduced her to the position of a |)uppet, by gi-asping the whole power of the States, and learaig to her only an empty title. However, the cardinal consoled himself liy reflecting that if lie had lost the favour of Margaret, lie could very thoroughly rely on that of Philip, who, he knew, jilaeed before every earthly consideration the execu- tion of his edicts against heresy. But what gave more concern to Granvelle was a class of foes that now ai'ose outside the Council-chamber to annoy and sting him. These were the membei's of the " Rhe- toric Clubs." We find similar societies springing up in other countries of the Reformation, especially in France and Scotland, and they owed their existence to the same cause that is said to make wit flourish under a despotism. These clubs were composed of authors, poetasters, and comedians ; they wi-ote plays, pamphlets, pasquDs, in which they lashed the vices and superstitions, and attacked the despotisms of the age. They not only assailed error, but in many instances they were also largely instrumental in the diffusion of truth. They dis- charged the same service to that age which the new.spaper and the platform fulfil in ours. The literatui'e of these poems and plays was not high ; the wit was not delicate, nor the satire polished — the wood-carving that befits the interior of a cathe- dral would not STiit for the sculpture-work of its fi"ont — but the writers were in earnest ; they went straight to the mark, they expressed the pent-u]> feeling of thousands, and they created and intensi- fied the feeling which they expressed. Such was the battery that was now opened upon the minion of Spanish and Papal tp-anny in the Low Countries. The intelligent, clever, and witty artisans of Ghent, Bruges, and other towns chas- tised Granvelle in theii- plays and lampoons, ridiculed him in their forces, laughed at him in their burlesques, and held him up to contempt and scorn in their caricatures. The weapon was rough, but the wound it inflicted was rankling. These farces were acted in the street, where all could see them, and the poem and pasquU were posted on the walls where all could read them. The members of these clubs were indi^'iduaUy insignificant, but collectively they were most formidable. Neither the sacredness of his own piu'ple, nor the dread of Philip's authority, could afford the cardinal any protection. As numerous as a crowd of insects, the annoyances of his enemies were ceaseless as theii- stings were countless. As a sample of the broad humour and rude but truculent satire with which Philip's unfortunate manager in the Netherlands was assailed, we take the following caricature. In it the woi-thy cardinal was seen occupied in the maternal labour of hatching a lirood of bishops. The ecclesiastical chickens were in all stages of development. Some were only chi]i- ping the shell ; some had thrust out their heads and legs ; others, fairly disencumbered from their original envelopments, were running about with mitres on theii- heads. Each of these fledglings bore a whim- sical resemblance to one or other of the new bishops. But the coarsest and most cutting part of the caricature remains to be noticed. Over the cardinal was seen to hover a dark figure, with certain appendages other than appertain to the human form, and that personage was made to say, " This is my beloved son, hear ye him." ' Such continued for some years to be the imsatis- factory and eminently dangerous state of aftaii's in the Low Coimtries. The regent Margaret, humi- liated by the ascendency of Granvelle, and trembling at the catastrophe to which his rigotir was driving matters, proposed that the Stjites should lie sum- moned, in order to concert measures for i-estoring the tranquillity of the nation. Philip would on no account permit such an assembly to be con- voked. Margaret had to yield, but she resorted to the next most likely expedient. She summoned a meeting of the Knights of the Golden Fleece and the Stadtholders of the Provinces. Viglius, one of the members of Council, but less obnoxious than Granvelle, was chosen to .address the knights. He was a leai-ned man, and discoursed, with much ' Hooft, ii. 42— opud Motley, i. 178. Brandt, i. 127, 128. ORATION OF VIGLIUS. 31 plausibility and in the purest Latin, on the dis- turbed state of the country, and the causes which had brought it into its present condition. But it wiis not eloquence, but the abolition of the edicts Orange called a meeting of the nobles at his own house, and the discussion that took place, although a stoiniy one, led to an underetanding among them touching the course to be pursued in the future. li CAl'KL UHAUIXi; TllK SfHU'TU ItKS Tu HIS KAl'l^ llTKll. and the su])prcssion of the luqui.sition, that was needed, and this was the very thing which Philip w.a.k. iv., p. 79; Lend., 1667. 2 Strada, bk. iv., p. 80. 3 Brandt, vol. i., p. 143. THE BELGIC CONFESSION OF FAITH. 33 the Augsburg Confession under the liead of the Lord's Supper, inasmuch as it i-epudiates the idea of consiibstantiation, and teaches that the bread and wine are only syiiibols of Chiist's presence, and signs and seals of the blessing. In respect of the true catholicity of the Church, the doctrine of human merit and good works, and the justification of sLuners by faith alone, on the righteousness of Christ, and, in short, in all the fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures, the Belgic Confession is in agi-ee- ment vnth the Augustine Creed, and very specially with the Confession of Helvetia, France, Bohemia, England, and Scotland. The Reformation, as we have seen, entered the Low Countries by the gate of Wittemberg, rather than by the gate of Geneva : nevertheless, the Belgic Confession has a closer resemblance to the theology of those coimtries termed Reformed than to that of those usually styled Lutheran. The proximity of Flanders to France, the asylum sought on the soil of the Low Countries by so many of the Huguenots, and the numbers of English merchants trading with the Netherlanders, or resident in their cities, natui-ally led to the greater prominence in the Belgic Con- fession of those doctrines which have been usually held to be peculiar to Calvinism ; although we cannot help saying that a very general misappre- hension prevails upon this point. With the one exception stated above, the difl'erence on the Lord's Supper namely, the theology of Luther and the theology of Calvin set forth the same views of Divine truth, and as respects that class of questions confessedly in their full conception and reconcile- ment beyond the reach of the human faculties, God's sovereignty and man's free agencj', the two great chiefs, whatever dilierences may have come to exist between their respective followers, were at one in then- theology. Liither was quite as Calvinistic as Calvin himself The Belgic Creed Ls notable in another respect. It first saw the light, not in any synod or Church assembly, for as yet the Church of the Low Counti-ies as an organised body did not exist ; it had its ))eginning with a few private believers and preachers in the Netherlands. This is a very natural and very beautiful genesis of a creed, and it admii-ably illustrates the real object and end of the Refonners in framing their Confessions. They compiled them, as wc see these few Flemish teachers doing, to be a helj) to themselves and to their fellow-believers in understanding the Scri))- tures, and to show the world what they believed to be the truth as set forth in the Bible. It did not enter into their minds that they were forging a yoke for the conscience, or a fetter for the understandiiig, and that they were setting u]) a Ijarrier beyond which men were not to adventure in the inquiry after truth. Nothing was further from the thoughts of the Reformers than this; they claimed no lordship over the consciences of men. The documents which they compiled and presented to the world they styled not a decree, or a rule, much less a creation, but a Confession, and they issued their Confessions under this reservation, that the Bible alone possessed inherent authority, that it alone was complete and perfect, and that their confession was only an approximation, to be re- viewed, altered, amended, enlarged, or abbreviated according as believers advanced in the more precise, full, and accurate iinderstanding of the meaning of the Spii'it speaking in the Word. We have no- where found the views of the Reformers on this point so admii'ably set forth as in the celebrated John a Lasco's preface to his book on the Sacra- ments ; and as this is a matter on which great misapprehension has been spread abroad, we shall here give his words. Speaking of the union of the Churches of Zurich and Geneva on the doctiine of the Lord's Supper, he says: "Our union is not so to be understood as if we designed to exclude the endeavours of all such as shall attempt to introduce a gi-eater purity of doctiine. We perceive, indeed, that many things are now taught much better than formerly, and that many old ways of speaking, long before used in the Church, are now altered. In like manner it may hereafter happen, that some of our forms of speaking being changed, many things may be better explained. The Holy Ghost will doubtless be present with others, in the Church of Christ after us, as he has vouchsafed to be with us and our ancestors ; for he proceeds gradually, or by steps, and gives an in- sensible increase to his gifts. And since we find that all things tend to farther perfection, I do not know, I own, whether it becomes us to endeavour to confine the gradual increase of his gifts within the compass of our forms of speaking, as within certain palisades and entrenchments ; as if that same Spirit were not at liberty, like the vnad, to blow how, and when, and where he listeth. I do not pretend to give a loose to the sowing of all kinds of new-fangled doctrines, but I contend for the liberty of adorning and explaining the founda- tions when once laid, and %vith design to show that the Spirit of God does not cease from daily im- parting to us more and more light." How truly catholis ! and how happily the mean is here sti-uck between those who say that Confessions ought to be abolished because they tyrannically forbid progi-ess, and those who hold that they are 34 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. to be changed in not one iota, because they are already perfect ! This Confession of Faith, being revised by a synod that met in Antwerp in May, 1566, was in that year reprinted and published.' Following the example of Calvin in his celebrated letter to the King of France, which accompanied his Insti- tutes, the Reformed in the Netherlands pre- faced theu- Confession of Faith wth a letter to the King of Spain. Theu- Confession was theii- defence against the charges of heresy and disloyalty which had been preferred against them ; it was then- " protestation before God and his angels" that what they sought was " to enjoy the liberty of a pure conscience in serving God, and reforming themselves according to his Word and Holy Commandments ; " and it was their appeal to be freed from " the excommunications, imprisonments, banishments, racks and tortures, and other num- berless oppressions which they had undergone." They remind the king that it was not then- weakness which prompted this appeal to his com- passion ; and that if they did not resist, it was not because they were few in number — " there being," say they, " above one hundred thousand souls in these Provinces who profess the same religion, of which they presented him the Confession " — but to prevent his " stretching out his hand to embue and embathe it in the blood of so many poor innocent men," and thereby bringing calamity upon liis kingdom and throne. They appended to their CT"fession a " Repre- sentation" to the magistrates and higher powei-s throughout the Low Countries. In this Represen- tation we see these Flemish Protestants taking theu* stand at the very threshold of tho modern religious liberties. Nay, they so state the functions of the magistrate, and so define his jurLsdiction, that fairly interpreted their words approximate very nearly, if not altogether, to our own idea of toleration. They indeed condemn those who taught that it is " un- lawful for the magistrate to .speak of the Scripture, or to judge of doctrines and matters of religion." But these words in their mouths have a very dif- ferent meaning from that which they would have in ours. The Church of Rome said to tlic m.igis- trates. You are not to speak of Scripture, nor to judge of doctrines ; that belongs exclusively to us : you are to believe that whatever we call hei'esy, is heresy, and, without farther inquiiy, are to punish it with the sword. On the contrary, the Flemish Protestants vindicated the rights of princes and magistrates in this matter. They were not to be the blind tools of the Church in putting to death all whom she may choose to condemn as heretical. They must, for their own guidance, though not for the coercion of others, judge of doctrines and matters of religion. "They are not for going so far," they say, " as those good old fathers who say that our consciences are not to be molested, much less constrained or forced to believe, by any powers on earth, to whom the sword is only entrusted for the punishment of robbers, murderers, and the like disturbers of civil government." " We acknowledge," they add, " that the magistrate may take cognisance of heresies." But let us mark what sort of heresies they are of wliich the magistrate may take cognisance. They are heresies which involve " sedition and uproars against the government." ^ Thus again, when they explain themselves they come back to their grand idea of the freedom of conscience, as respects all human authority, in matters appertaining to God and his worship. Toleration had its birth in the same hour with Pro- testantism ; and, like the twins of classic story, the two powei-s have flourished together and advanced by equid stages. Luther exhibited toleration in act ; Calvin, ten years before the time of which wc wiite, began to formulate it, when he took heresy, strictly so called, out of the jurisdiction of the magistrate, and left him to deal with blasphemj', "which unsettled the foundation of civil order;" and now we behold the Protestants of the Low Coimtries treading in the steps of the Refoi-mer of Geneva, and pei-mitting the magistrate to take cog- nisance of heresy only when it shows itself in dis- tui'bances and uproars. It is important to bear in mind that the Reformers had to fight two battles at once. They had to contend for the emancipation of the magistrate, and they had to contend for the emancipation of the conscience. When they chal- lenged for the magistrate exemption from the authority of Rome, they had to be careful not to appear to exempt him from the authority of the law of God. The Papists were ever i-eady to accuse them of this, and to say that the Reformation had assigned an atheistic position to princes. If at times they aj)pear to deny the toleration which at other times they teach, much, if not all, of this is owing to the double battle which the times imposed upon them — the emancipation of the magistrate from the enslavement of the Church, and the emancipation of the conscience from the enslavement of both the magistrate and the Church. 1 Brandt, vol. i., 158. = Biaudt, vol. i., pp. 158, 159. THE PRINCE OF OEANGE'S SPEECH. 35 CHAPTER VIII. THE RISING STORM. Speech of Prince of Orange at the Council-table — Egmont sent to Spain— Demand for the States-General, and the Abolition of the Edicts — Philip's Keply — More Martyrs — New and More Rigorous Instructions from Philip— The Nobles and Cities Remonstrate— Ai'rogance of the Inquisitors — New Mode of putting Protestants to Death — Rising Indignation in the Low Countries — Rumoui-s of General Massacre— Dreadful Secret Imparted to Prince of Orange— Council of Trent — Programme of Massacre. The cardinal had taken flight and was gone, but the Inquisition remained. So long as the edicts were m foi-ce, what could be expected but that the waves of popular tumult would continue to flow i Never- theless, the three lords — Orange, Egmont, and Horn ■ — -came to the helm which Granvelle had been com- )ielled to let go, and, along with the regent, worked hard, if haply the shipwi-eck that appeared to im- pend over the vessel of the State might be averted. The clear eye of Orange saw that there was a deeper evil at work in the country than the car- tUnal, and he demanded the removal of that evU. Two measures he deemed essential for the restora- tion of quiet, and he strenuously lu-ged the instant adoption of these : — fii'st, the assembling of the States-General ; and secondly, the abolition of the edicts. The pi-ince's proposition struck at the evil in both its roots. The States-General, if permitted to meet, would resume its go^'el•nment of the nation after the ancient Flemish fashion, and the abolition of the edicts would cut the ground from under the feet of the bishops and the inquisitors — in short, it would break in pieces that whole macliinery by which the king was coercing the consciences and burning the bodies of his subjects. These two measures would have allayed all the ferment that was fast ripening into revolt. But what hope was there of their adoption"! None whatever while Pliilip existed, or Spain had a single soldier at her ser\'ice or a single ducat in her treasury. The Prince of Orange and his two fellow-councillors, however, let slip no opportunity at the Council-board of urging the expediency of these measures if the country was to be saved. " It was a thing altogether impracti- cable," they said, " to extiqjate .such a multitude of lioretics by the methods of fire and sword. On the contrary, the more these means wore emjiloyed, the fuster would the heretics multiply." ' Did not I'acts attest the truth and wisdom of their observii- tion 1 Neither cords nor stakes had been spared, ' Brandt, vol. i., p. 149. and yet on every hand the complaint was heard that heresy was spreading. Waxing yet bolder, at a meeting of Council held towards the end of the year (1.564), the Prince of Orange energetically pleaded that, extinguishing their fires, they should give liberty to the people to exercise theii' religion in theu' own houses, and that in public the Sacrament should be administered under both kinds. "With commotions and reforma- tions on every side of them, "he said, "it was madness to think of maintaining the old state of matters by means of placards, inquisitions, and bishops. The king ought to be plainly informed what were the wishes of his subjects, and what a mistake it was to propose enforcing the decrees of the Council of Ti-ent, while their neighboiu's in Germany, as well Roman Catholics as Protestants, had indignantly rejected them." "As for himself," he said, in conclusion, " although resolved to adhere to the Roman Catholic religion, he could not approve that princes should aim at any dominion over the souls of men, or deprive them of the freedom of their faith and religion." The prince warmed as he spoke. His words flowed like a torrent. Hour passed after hour, and yet there were no signs of his oration drawing to a close. The coimcillors, who usually sat silent, or contented themselves witli merely giving a decorous assent to the propositions of Granvelle, might well be astonished at the eloquence that now resomided through the Council-chambei*. It was now seven o'clock of the evening, and the orator would not have ended even yet, had not the Duchess of Parma hinted that the dinner-hour liad arri\'ed, and that the debate must be adjourned for the day. Viglius, who had taken the place of the cardinal at the Council-table, went home to his liouse in u sort of stupefaction at what he had witnes-sed. He lay awake all night ruminating on the line of argiunent he .should adojjt in reply to Or.uigs. He felt how necessar}' it was to etlhcc the impression the prince's eloquence had niiulc. The dawn fouiul him still 36 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. perturbed and perplexed. He got up, and was dressing himself, when a stroke of apoplexy laid him senseless upon the floor. The disease left him It was resolved to dispatch Count Egmont to Madrid, to petition PliDip for permission to the States-General to meet, as also for some mitigation VIEW OF THE CHAPEL OF " SAINT SANG " (hOLY DLUdIi), ]ll:li.K^ shattered in mind as in body, and his place at the CouncU-board had to be supplied by his friend Joachin Hopper, a professor of Louvain, but a man of very humble parts, and entirely subservient to the regent.' > Brandt, vol. i., p. 150. of the edicts. But first the terms of Egmont's in- stnictions had to be adjusted. The people must not cry too loudly, lest their- tyrant should heat their fimiace seven-fold. But it was no easy matter to find mild epithets to designate burning wi-ongs. Words that might appear sufficiently humble and loyal on the comparatively free soil EGMONT AT THE COURT OF PHILIP. 37 of the Low Countries, might sound almost like treason when uttered in the Palace of Spain. Tliis delicate matter arranged, Egmont set out. A most com-teous reception awaited the deputy of the Netherlands on liis an-ival at Madrid. He was caressed by the monarch, feted and flattci'ed by the nobles, loaded with rich gifts ; and these blandish- professed to defer much to Egmont's opinion ; he gave no promise, howe^-er, that he would change his policy as regarded religious matters, or soften in aught the rigour of the edicts. But to show Egmont, and the seigniors of the Netherlands through him, that in this he was impelled by no caprice of cruelty or bigotry, but on the contrary was acting from •K^^= CARDINAL GRANVELLE. (Front a Portrait of tlte jjcn'od in the BiUiothequc Naiionale.) ments and arts had the effect, which doubtless they were meant to produce, of cooling his ardour as the advocate of his country. If the terms of the re- monstrance which Egmont was to lay at the foot of the throne had been studiously selected so as not to grate on the royal ear, before the ambassador left Flandei-s, they were still further softened by Egmont now that he stood on Spanish soil. Philip fre- quently admitted him to a private aiidience, and consulted with him touching the matters respecting which he had been deputed to his court. The king 108 high and conscientious motives, Philiji assouiblrd a council of divines, at which Egmont assisted, and put to them the question, whether he was bound to gi-ant that liberty of conscience which some of the Dutch tovniH so earnestly craved of him ? The jiulgment of the majority was that, taking into account the present troubles in the I^ow Countiies — which, unless means were found for allaying them, might result in the Pro\inces falling away from their obedience to tlio king's authority and to theii- duty to the one tnic Church — his Majesty 38 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. might accord them some freedom iii matters of religion without sinning against God. On tliis judgment being intimated to Philip, he informed the Fathers that they had misapprehended the special point of conscience he wished to have resolved, \\1iat lie desired to know was, whether he must, not whether he miyht grant the liberty his Flemish subjects desired. The ecclesiastics made answer plainly that they did not think that the king was bound in conscience so to do. Whereupon Philip, falling down before a crucifix, addressed it in these woi'ds : — " I beseech thee, O God and Lord of all things, that I may persevere all the days of my life in the same mind as I am now, never to be a king, nor called so of any country, where thou art not acknowledged for Lord." ' Egmont's embassy to the court of Spain being now ended, he set out on liis return to the Low Countries. He was accompanied on his journey by the young Prince Alexander of Parma, the nephew of Philip, and son of Slargaret, Regent of the Netherlands, and whose destiny it was in after- years to bo fatally mixed up wth the tragic woes of that land on which he now set foot for the first time. The results of Egmont's mission were already known at Brussels by letters from Spain, which, although ^VTitten after his depai-tiu'e from jNIadrid, had arrived before him ; nevertheless, he appeared in the Council on the 5th of May, 1565, and gave in a report of the measures which the king had in contemplation for the pacifica- tion of the Provinces. The Prince of Orange clearly saw that the "holy water" of the coui-t had been sprinkled on Egmont, and that the man who had gone forth a patriot had come back a courtier and apologist. The deputy informed the Council that on the matter of the edicts no relaxa- tion was to be expected. Heresy must be rooted out. Touching the meeting of the States-General, the king would send his decision to the regent. This was all. Verily Egmont had gone far and brought back little. But he had a little codicil or ])ostscript in resei-N'e for the Council, to the ettect that Philip graciously granted leave for a synod of ecclesiiustics, with a few civilians, to convene and concert measures for the in- struction of the peo[)le, the reformation of the schools, and the purgation of heresy. And further, if the i)enal laws now in use did not serve their end, they h.ad Philip's pel-mission to substitute others " more efficacious." The Prince of Orange and others were willing to belic\-e that by the "more efliaicious" methods against heresy, milder methods only could be intended, seeing that it would be hard to invent mejisures more rigorous than those now Ln use ; such, however, was not the meaning of Philip." During the absence of Egmont, the persecution did not slacken. In February, Joost de Cruel was beheaded at Rosen. He had been first drawn to the Reformed faith by a sermon by Peter Title- manii. Dean of Rosen, who had since become the furious persecutor we have described above. In the same month, John Disreneaux, a man of seventy years, was burned at Lisle. At the same time, John de Graef was strangled and burned at Hulst, with the New Testament hung round his neck. His persecutors had subjected him while in prison to the extremities of hunger, and thirst, and cold, in the hope of subduing him. Mortification had set in, and he went halting to death, his frost-bitten toes and feet refusing then- oftice. Tranquil and coiu'ageous, notwithstanding, he exhorted the by-standers, if they had attained a knowledge of the truth, not to be deterred by the fear of death from confessing it. In the following month, two youths were discovered outside the town of Tournay reading the Scriptures. An intimacy of the closest kind, hallowed by theii- love of the Gospel, had knit them together all their lives j nor were they parted now. They were strangled and burned at the same stake.'' Con- sidering the number and the barbarity of these executions, it does not surprise one that Orange luid his associates believed that if the methods of ex- tirpating heiesy were to be changed, it could only Ije for milder inflictions. They had yet to learn the fertility of Philip's inventive genius. Scarcely had Egmont given in his report of his mission, when new instructions arrived from Philip, to the eflect that not only were the old placaixls to be ligorously enforced, but, over and abo^■e, the canons of the Council of Trent were to be promul- gated as law throughout the Netherlands. These canons gave the entire power of trying and jiunish- ing heretics to the clergy. In short, they delivered over the inhabitants of the Netherlands in all matters of opinion to the sole irresponsible and merciless jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Alarm, terror, and consternation overspread the Pro- vinces. The nobles, states, and cities sent deputies to the governor to remonstrate against the outrage on their ancient rights about to be perpetrated, and the destruction into which such a policy was ' Stvacla, p. 183— »rm( Braudt, vol. i., Laval, vol. iii., p. 134. pp. 150, 151. - Brandt, vol. i., p. 1.54. 3 Brandt, vol. i., p. 153. Laval, vol. iii., p. 134 POSITION OF THE DUCHESS OF PARMA. 39 sure to drag the country. " There couhl be no viler slavery," they said, " than to lead a trembling life in the midst of spies and informers, who registered every word, action, look, and even every thought which they pretended to read from thence." The four chief cities of Brabant, Loiivain, Brussels, Antwerp, and Bois le Due sent deputies to the Chancellor and Council of that Province, to say plainly that the orders of Pliilip were sounding the death-knell of the Province ; the foreign merchants were making haste to get away, the commerce of theii- States was hastening to extinction, and soon their now flourishing country would be a "mere wilderness." The Prince of Orange wrote to the Duchess of Pai-ma to the effect that if this business of burning, beheading, and drowning was to go on, he begged that some other might be invested Avith the functions with which his sovereign had clothed hira, for he would be no party to the ruin of his country, which he as clearly foresaw as he was powerless to avert. Other Stadtholders wrote to the Duchess of Parma, in reply to her earnest exhortations to assist in cariying out the edicts, saying that they were not inclined to be the life- guards of the Inquisition. One of the chief magis- trates of Amsterdam, a Roman Catholic, happening one day to meet a sheriff who was very zealous in the work of persecution, thus addressed him : " You would do well, when called to appear before the tribunal of God, to have the emperor's placards in your hand, and observe how far they will bear you out." Papers were being daily .scattered in the streets, and posted on the gates of the palace of Orange, and of other nobles, calling on them to come to their country's help in its hour of need, to the end that, the axe and the halter being abolished in the affairs of religion, every one might be able to live and die according to his conscience. On the other hand, the governor was besieged by remonstrances and outcries from the bishops and monks, who complained that they were withstood in carrying out their sovei-eign's wish in the matter of the execution of the edicts. The aid they had been encouraged to expect in the work of the extirpation of heresy was withheld from them. The tribunals, prisons, and scaffolds of the coimtry had been made over to them, and all magistrates, constables, and gaolers had been constituted their servants ; never- theless, they were often denied the use of thiit machinery which was altogether indispensable if their work Wius to be done, not by halves, but effectually. They h.ad to bear odium and calumny, nay, sometimes they were in danger of their lives, in their zeal for the king's service and the Church's glory. On all sides is heard the cry that heresy is increasing, continued these much- injured men; but how can it be that heretics should not multiply, they asked, when they were denied the use of prisons in which to shut them up, and fires in which to burn them '! The position of the Duchess of Parma was anything but pleasant. On the one side she was assailed by the screams and hootings of this brood of Inquisitors ; and on the other was heard the muttered thunder of a nation's wi-ath.' Rocked thus on the gi-eat billows, the Duchess of Parma wrote to her brother, letting him know how difficult and dangerous her position had be- come, and craving his advice as to how she ought to steer amid tempests so fierce, and every hour growing fiercer. Philip replied that the edicts must ever be her beacon-lights. Philip's will was unalterably fixed on the extiii^ation of heresy in his kingdom of the Netherlands, and that will must be the duchess's pole-star. Nevertheless, the tyi-ant was pleased to set his wits to work, and to devise a method by which the flagrancy, but not the cnielty, of the persecution might be abated. Instead of bringing forth the heretic, and beheading or burn- ing him at midday, he was to be put to death in his prison at midnight. The mode of execution was as simple as it was barbarous. The head of the prisoner was tied between his knees with a rope, and he was then thrown into a large tub full of water, kept in the prison for that use. This Christian invention is said to have been the original device of the "most Catholic king." The plea which Bishop Biro of Wesprim set up in defence of the clemency of the Chiu'ch of Rome, would have been more appropriate in Philip's mouth, its terms slightly altered, than it was in the mouth of the bisliop. " It is a calumny to say that the Church of Rome is bloodthirsty," said the worthy prelate, Biro ; " that Church has always been content if heretics were burned" A new and dreadful rumour which began to cir- odate through the Netherlands, added to the alarm and teiTors of the nation. It was during this same summer that Catherine de Medici and the Duke of Alva held their celebrated conference at Bayonne. Soon thereafter, whispei-s which jta.ssed from land to land, and from mouth to mouth, reached the Low Countries, that a dark plot had been concocted between these two personages, having for its object the utter extirpation of the new opinions. These rumours corresponded with what was said to have been agi-eed upon at one of the last sessions of the ' Brandt, vol. i., pp. 154, 155. Laval, vol. iii., pp. 130, 137. 40 HISTORY OF TROTESTANTISM. Council of Trent, wliich lirtd closed its sittings the year before, and on that account greater stress was laid on these whispei-s. They appeared to receive still further authentication, at least in the eyes of William, Prince of Orange, from the circumstance that a plot ])recisely identical had been disclosed to him six years before, by Heniy II., when the king and the prince were hunting togethei' in the Wood of Vincennes. The rest of the hunting-party had left them, Henry and William were alone, and the mind of the French king being full of the project, and deeming the prince, then the intimate friend both of Philip II. and the Duke of Alva, a safe depositary of the great secret, he unhappily for himself, but most happily for humanity, communi- cated to the jn-ince the detail.s of the plan.' Henry II. told him how apprehensive he was of his throne being swept away in the flood of Protestantism, but he hoped, -Nvith the help of his son-in-law Philip II., soon to rid France of the last Huguenot. The monarch went on to explain to the prince how this was to be done, by entrapping the Protes- tants at the first convenient moment, de.stroying them at a single blow; and extending the same thorough purgation to all countries to which heresy liad spread. William could not have been more astounded although the earth had suddenly yawned at his feet ; however, he carried the secret in his breast from that dark wood, without permitting the French king to read, by word or look of his, the shock the disclosure had given him. And he retained it in his breast for years, without speaking of it to any one, although from the moment of his coming to the knowledge of it, it began to shape his conduct. It is from this circumstance that he received the significant name of " William the Silent." All three — the rumours from Bayonne, the tiding..5, 25G. 2 Motley, vol. i., p. 234. Laval, vol. iii., p. 138. 3 Brandt, vol. i., p. 165. THE CONFEDERATES OR "BEGGARS." 45 After defending himself and his associates from curtain insinuations wliich liad been thrown out against their loyalty, ho read the petition which luul been drafted in view of being presented to the duchess, in order that she might convey it to Pliilip. The petition set forth that the country could no longer bear the tyranny of the edicts : that rebellion was rearing its head, nay, was even at the palace- gates ; and the monarcli was entreated, if he would not imperil his empire, to abolish the Inquisition and convoke the States-General. Pending the king's answer, the duchess was asked to suspend the edicts, and to stop all executions for religious opinion.' When Brederode had finished, the duchess sat silent for a few minutes. Her emotion was too great to be disguised, the tears rolling down her cheeks.- As soon as she had found words .she dismissed the Confederates, telling them that she would consult witli her coimcillors, and give her answer on the morrow. The discussion that fol- lowed in the council-hall, after Brederode and his followers had withdrawn, was a stormy one. The Prince of Orange argued strongly in favour of liberty of conscience, and Count Berlaymont, a ke(!n partisan of Rome and Spain, argued as vehe- mently, if not as eloquently, against the Confede- rates and the liberty which they craved. This debate is famous as that in which Berlaymont first applied to the Confederates an epithet which he meant should be a brand of disgi'ace, but which the)' accepted with pride, and wore as a badge of honovu', and by which they are now known in history. " Why, madam," asked Berlaymont of the duchess, observing her emotion, " why should yoii be afraid of these beggars V The Confederates caught up the words, and at once plucked the sting out of them. " Boggai-s, you call us," said they; "henceforth we sliall be known a.s beggars."' The term came soon to bi^ the distinguishing apjiellatiou for all those in the Netherlands who declared for the liberties of their country and the rights of conscience. They never met at festival or funeral without saluting e.ach other a-s " Beggars." Their cry was " Long live the Beggars!" They had medals struck, fii-st of wax and wood, and afterwards of silver and gold, stamped uu the one side with the king's effigies, and on the other with a beggar's scrip or bag, held in two clasped right hands, with the motto, " Faitliful to the king, even to beggary." Some adopted grey 1 Brandt, vol. i., pp. Ifi."). ICC. - Pontus Peyeu, ii., MS.—apud Motley, vol. i., p. 254. ^ Ouexix. It is a French word, "and seems to be de- rived," says Brandt, " from the Dutch Quiis, which signi- fies !is much as rogxies, vagabonds, or sturdy beggars.' cloth an livery, and wore the common felt hat, and displayed on then- breasts, or suspended i-ound their beavers, a little beggar's wooden bowl, on which was wrought in silver, Vive le Gueux. At a great entertainment given by Brederode, after drinking the king's health out of wooden bowls, they hung the dish, together with a beggar's scrip, round their necks, and continuing the feast, they pledged themselves at each potation to play their part manfully as " Beggars," and ever to yield a loyal adhei'ence and stout defence to the Coi\- federacy.* The duchess gave her answer next da)'. She promised to send an envoy to Spain to lay the petition of the Confederates before Philip. She had no power, she said, to suspend the Inquisition, nevertheless she would issue orders to the inquisi- tors to proceed with discretion. The discretion of an inquisitor ! Much the Beggars marvelled what that might mean. The new project shortly after- wards enlightened them. As elaborated, and pub- lished in fifty-three articles, that project amounted to this : that heretics, instead of being burned, wei-e to be beheaded or hanged ; but they were to be admitted to this remarkable clemency only if they did not stu- up riots and tumults. The people appear to have been but little thankful for this uncommon " moderation," and nicknamed it " murderatiou." It would appear that few were deemed worthy of the Government's mercy, for not only did blood continue to flow by the axe, but the stake blazed nearly as frequently as before. About this time, four martyi's were bunied at LUle. " They all four'," says Brandt, " sung as ■with one mouth the first verse of tlie twenty- seventh Psalm, and concluded their singing and their life together with the hymn of Simeon, ' Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.' " A tapestry weaver of Oudenard, near Ghent, by name John Tiscan, who had committed the indis- cretion of snatching the wafer from the hand of the priest and crumbling it into bits, to show the people that it was bread and not God, had liis hand cut off, and afterwards his body cast into the flames. Some there were, however, who were judged to fall withm the scope of tJic Government's indulgence, and were pemiitted to die by the sword. John Cornelius Winter had been mmister in the town of Horn, and had spent some thirty yeara in the quiet but zealous diffu- sion of the truth. He was apprehended and thro^v^l first into prison at the Hague, and after- wards into the Bishop of Utrecht's prisons, and ■* Braudt, vol. i., p. 1G7. Laval, vol. iii., p. 139. 46 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. now this year he vras brought forth to be beheaded. He submitted himself cheerfully, and it was ob- served that, singing the Te Ueuiii on the scaffold, the executioner stnick, and his head was severed from his body just as he had finished the line, "All the martyrs praise thee."" CHAPTER X. THE F I ELD- P R E A C H I N Gf The Protestants Eesolve to Worship in Public— First Field- Preaching near Ghent— Herman Modet— Seven Thou- sand Hearers— The Assembly Attacked, but Stands its Ground— Second Field-Preaching— ^iTangements at the Field-Preaching — Wall of Waggons — Sentinels, &c. — Numbers of the Worsliippers— Singing of the Psalms— Field-Preaching near Antwerp— The Governor Forbids them— The Magistrates unable to put them down— Field- Preaching at Tournay — Immense Congregations — Peregrine de la Grange — Ambrose Wille — Field-Preaching in Holland — Peter Gabriel and John Arentson — Secret Consultations — First Sermon near Horn — Enormous Con- venticle near Haarlem — The Town Gates Locked — The Imprisoned Multitude Compel their Opening — Grandeur of the Conventicle — Difference between the Field-Preachers and the Confederates— Preaching at Delft— Utrecht— The Hague — Arrival of more Preachers. The Confederates had been given proof of what was meant by the discretion of the inquisitors, and the Protestants were able to judge how far their condition was likely to be improved under the pro- mised " Moderation of the Placards." It neither blunted the sword nor quenched the violence of the stake. If the latter blazed .somewhat less frequently, the former struck all the oftener ; and there was still no diminution of the numbers of those who were called to seal their testimony wth their Ijlood. Desj)airing of a Government that was growing daily milder in word, but more cruel in act, the Protestants resolved that from this time forward they would hold their worshipping assem- blies in public, and try what effect a display of their numbers would have upon their oppressors. At a meeting held at Whitsuntide, 1566, at which the Lord of Aldegonde — who was destined to play tlie most distinguished part, next to Orange, in the coming drama — was present, it was resolved that " the ch\irches should be opened, and divine service publicly performed at Antwerp as it was already in Flanders." This resolution was immediately acted upon. In some places the Eefonned met together to the number of 7,000, in others to that of 15,000.' From West Flanders, where preaching in public took its rise, it passed into Brabant, and tlience into other provinces. The worshippers at the beginning sought the gloom and seclusion of wood and forest. As they grew bolder, they assem- bled in the plains and open places ; and last of all, Laval, vol. iii., p. 140. they met in villages, in towns, and in the .suburbs of gi-eat cities. They came to these meetings, in the first instance, unarmed ; but being threatened, and sometimes attacked, they appeared with sticks and stones, and at last provided themselves with the more formidable weapons of swords, pistols, and muskets.^ It is said that the first field-preaching in the Netherlands took place on the 14th of June, 1566, and was held in the neighbourhood of Ghent. Tlie preacher was Herman Modet, who had formerly been a monk, but was now the Reformed pastor at Oudenard. " This man," says a Popish chro- nicler, " was the first wlio ventured to preach in public, and there were 7,000 pereons at his first sermon."^ The Government " scout," as the head of the executive was named, ha^•ing got scent of the meeting, mounted liis horse and galloped off to disperse it. Arriving on the scene, he boldly rode in amongst the multitude, holding a drawn sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, and made a dash at the minister with intent ,to ap])rehend him. Modet, making off quickly, con- cealed himself in a neighbouring wood. The people, surprised and without arms, appeared for a moment as if they would disperse ; but their courage rally- ing, they plentifully supplied themselves with stones, in hick of other weapons, and saluted the officer with such a shower of missiles on all sides = Brandt, vol. i., pp. 168, 169. 3 Ihid., p. 171. ■• N. Burgund, Mist. Belg., lib. iii., p. 21S—apud Brandt, vol. i., p. 171. THE PROTESTANT FIELD-PREACHINGS. 47 that, throwing iiwuy his sword and pistol, he begged for quarter, to which his captoi'S admitted liini. He escaped witli his life, although badly liriiised. The second great lield-preaching took place on tlie 23rd of July following, the people assembling iu a large meadow in the vicinity of Ghent. The '• Word" was precious in those days, and the people, thirsting to hear it, jjrepared to remain two days consecutively on the ground. Their arrangements more resembled an army pitching their camp than a peaceful multitude assembling for worship. Ai'oimd the worshippers was a wall of barricades in the shape of carts and waggons. Sentinels were planted at all the entrances. A i-ude pulpit of planks was hastily run ujj and placed aloft on a. cart. Modet was preacher, and around him were many thousands of hearei's, who listened with their pikes, hatchets, and guns lying by their side, ready to be grasped on a sign from the sentuaels who kept watch all around the assembly. In front of the entrances were erected stalls, whereat pedlars oflered prohibited books to all who wshed to buy. Along the roads running into the country were stationed certain persons, whose office it was to bid the casual jiassenger turn in ,and hear the Gospel. After ser- mon, water was fetched from a neighbouring brook, and the Sacrament of baptism dispensed. When the services were finished, the multitude would repair to other districts, where they encamped after the same fashion, and remained for the same space of time, and so passed through the whole of West Flanders. At these conventicles the Psalms of David, which had been translated into Low Dutch from the version of Clement Marot, and Theodore Beza, were always sung. The odes of the Hebrew king, pealed forth by from live to ton thousand voices, and borne by the breeze over tlie woods and meadows, might be heard at great distances, arresting the ploughman as he tin-ned the furrow, or the traveller as he )im-sued his way, and making him stop and wonder whence the minstrelsy jiroceeded. Heresy had been flung into the air, and was spreading like an infection far and near over the Low Countries. The contagion already pervaded all Flanders, and now it appeared in Brabant. The first jHiblic sennon in this part of the Nether- lands was preached on the 24th of June, in a wood belonging to the Lord of Berghen, not far from Ant- werj). It being St. John's-tide, and so a holiday, from four to five thousand jjersons were present. A rumour had been circulated that a descent would be made on the wor.shippers by the military; and armed men were ])osted at all the avenues, some on foot, othei-s on horseback : no attack, however, took place, and the assembly concluded its worship in peace.' Tidings having reached the ear of the governor that field-preachings had commenced at Antwerp, she wrote to the magistrates of that city, command- ing them to forbid all such assemblies of the people, and if holden, to disperse them by force of amis. The magistrates replied that they had not the power so to do, nor indeed had they ; the burgher-guai'd was weak, some of them not very zealous in the business, and the conventicle-holders were not only numerous, but every third man went armed to the meeting. And as regai-ds the Pro- testants, so little were they terrified by the threats of the duchess, that they took forcible possession of a large common, named the Laer, within a mile of Antwei-p, and having fortified all the avenues lead ing into it, by massing waggons and branches of trees in front, and planting armed scouts all around, they preached in three several jilaces of the field at once.'^ The pestilence, which to the alarm and horror of the authorities had broken out, they sought to wall in by placards. Every day, new and severer pro- hibitions were arriving from the Duchess of Parma against the field-preachings. In the end of June, she sent orders to the magistrates of Antweqi to disperse all these assemblies, and to hang all the preachers." Had the duchess accompanied these orders with troops to enforce them, theu- execution might have been possible : but the governor, much to her chagi-ia, had neither soldiers nor money. Her musketeers and cross-bowmen were them- selves, in many instances, among the frequenters of these illegal meetings. To issue placards in these cii-'cumstances was altogether idle. The magistrates of Antwerp replied, that while they would take care that no conventicle was held in the city, they must decline all responsibility touching those vast masses of men, amoiuiting at times to from fifteen to twenty thousand, that were in the practice of going outside the walls to sermon. About this time Tournay became famous for its field-preachings. Indeed, the town may be said to have become Protestant, for not more than a si.xth of its population remained with the Roman Church. Adjoining France its preachers were Walloons — that is. Huguenots — and on the question of the Sacra- ment, the main doctrinal difl'erence between the Lutheran and the Reformed, the citizens of Tour- nay were decided Calvinists. Nowhere in the Netherlands had the Protestants as yet ventured on i)reachuig publicly within the walls of a city, > Brandt, vol. i., p. 172. 3 ifrtd., p.174. Vni.., p. 173. 48 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. and the inhabitants of Tom-nay, like those of all the Flemish towTis, repaired to the fields to wor- ship, lea^'ing for the time the streets sUent. One day in the beginning of July, 1566, some 10,000 citizens passed out at its gates to hear Peregiine de la Grange, an eloquent preacher from Provence. La Grange had brought to the Low Countries the warm and impulsive temperament and lively oratory of the South ; he galloped -mth the air of a cavalier to the spot where thousands, gathered round a hastily prepared pulpit, waited his coming; and when he stood up to begin, he would fire a pistol over the heads of his immense audience as a signal to listen. Other two days passed, and another enormous conventicle assembled outside Tournay. A preacher even more popular than Peregrine de la Grange was this day to occupy the pulpit in the fields, and the audience was twice as large as that which had assembled two days before. Ambrose WUle had sat at the feet of Calvin, and if the stream of his eloquence was not so rapid, it was richer and deeper than that of the Provencal ; and what the multitudes which thronged to these field-preachings sought was not so much to have their emotions stirred as to have their under- standings informed by the truths of Scripture, and above all, to have their consciences set at rest by healing the way of pardon clearly explained to them. The risks connected with attendance were far too tremendous to be hazarded for the sake of mere excitement. Not only did the minister preach •with a price set upon his head, but eveiy one of these 20,000 now before him, by the mere fact of hearing him, had violated the edicts, and incurred the penalty of death. Their silence bespoke then- intense anxiety and interest, and when the sermon had ended, the hcaitiness of their psalm testified to the depth of their joy. It was at the peiil of their lives that the inhabitants of the Netherlands sought, in those days, the bread of their souls in the high places of the fields. The movement steadily maintained its march northwards. It advanced along that famous sea- board, a mighty sUent power, bowing the hearts of young and old, of the noble and the artisan, of the wealthy city merchant and the landward tiller of the soil, and gathering them, in defiance of fiery j)lacards, in tens of thousands round that tree whereon w;i,s offered the true Saci-ifice for the sins of the world. We have seen the movement advance from Flanders into Brabant, and now we are to follow it from Brabant into Holland. In vain does Philip bid it stop ; in vain do the placards of the governor threaten death ; it continues its majestic march from province to province, and from city to city, its coming, like that of morning, heralded by songs of joy. It is interesting to mark the first feeble begimiings of Protestant preaching in a country where the Reformation was destined to win so many brilliant triumphs. In an obscui-e street of Amsterdam, there lived at that time Peter Gabriel, formerly of Bruges, with his wife Eliza- beth, who wa.s childless. He had been a monk, but having embraced the Protestant faith, he threw off the frock, and was now accustomed to explain the Heidelberg catechism every Sunday to a small congregation, who came to him by twos and threes at a time for fear of the magistrates, who were animated by a sangiunary zeal against the Reforma- tion, and trembled lest the jilague of field-preaching should invade then- city. There also dwelt at Kampen at the same time John Arentson, a basket- maker by trade, but gifted with eloquence, and jiossessed of a knowledge of the Scriptures. Him a few pious bui'ghers of Amsterdam invited to meet them, that they might confer touching the steps to be taken for commencing the public preaching of the Gospel in Holland. They met near St. An- thony's Gate, outside Amsterdam, for Arentson dui-st not venture into the city. They w-ere a little congregation of seven, including the ]ireacher ; and having prayed for Divine guidance in a crisis so important for their country, they deliberated ; and having weighed all the difficulties, they resolved, in spite of the danger that threatened their lives, to essay the public jireaching of the Word in Holland. Before breaking xip they agreed to meet on the same spot, the same afternoon, to devise the jirac- tical steps for carrying out then- resolution. As they wei'e re-entering Amsterdam, by separate gates, they lieard the great bell of the Stadthouse ring out. Repaii-ing to the market-place they found the magistrates promulgating the last placard wdiich had been transmitted from the court. It threatened death against all preachers and teachere, as also against all their harbourei-s, and divers lesser penalties against such as should attend their preaching. The six worthy burghers were some- what stumbled. Nevertheless, in the afternoon, at the appointed hour, they returned to their old rendezvous, and having again earnestly prayed, they decided on the steps for having the Gospel openly preached to the people in all parts of Holland. On the Mth of July the first sermon was preached by Arentson, in a field near Horn, in North Holland, the people flocking tliither from all the vdllages around. In the humble basket-maker we see the pioneer of that numerous band of eloquent preachers THE MAGISTRATES OP HAARLEM. 49 and erudite divines, by which Holland was to be distinguished in days to come.' The movement thus fairly commenced soon gathered way. News of what had taken place at Horn spread like lightning all over Holland, and on the following Sunday, the 21st of July, an enormous gathering took place at Ovcreen, near canals converging on Haarlem were crowded. The burgomasters of Amsterdam sent notice to the magistrates of Haarlem of what was impending. The Stadthouse bell was rung at nine o'clock of the evening of Saturday, and the magistrates hastily assembled, to be told that the plague of which they had heard such dreadful reports at a distance, was Haarlem. Proclamation of the intended field- preacliing had been made on the Exchange of Am- sterdam on the previous day. The excitement was immense ; all the boats and waggons in Amsterdam were hired for the transport of those who were eager to be present. Every village and town I)Oured out its inhabitants, and all the roads and Brandt, vol. i., pp. 178, 179. at last at their gates. Haarlem was already full of strangers ; not an inn in it that was not crowded with persons who purposed being present at the field-preaching on the coming day. The magistrates deliberated and thought that they had found a way by which to avert the calamity that hung over them : they would imprison this whole multitude within the walls of their town, and so extingiush the projected conventicle of to-morrow. The magis- trates were not aware, when they hit on this clever expedient, that hundreds had already taken up their position at Overeen, and were to sleep on the gi-ound. On Sunday morning, when the travellei-s awok(! and sallied out into the street, they found 109 50 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. the city gates locked. Hour passed after hour, still the gates wi're kept closed. The more adven- tiu'ous leaped from the walls, swam the moat, and leaving their imprisoned companions behind them, hastened to the ]ilace of meeting. A few got out of the towni when the watch opened the gates to admit the milk-women, but the great bulk of the conventiclers were still in durance, and among others Peter Gabriel, who was that day to be preivcher. It was now eleven o'clock of the fore- noon ; the excitement on the streets of Haarlem may be imagined ; the magistrates, thinking to dispel the tempest, had shut themselves in with it. The mui-murs grew into clamours, the clamours into threatenings, every moment the tempest might be expected to burst. There was no alterna- tive but to open the gates, and let the imprisoned multitude escape. Citizens and strangers now poured out in one vast stream, and took the road to Overeen. Last of all arrived Peter Gabriel the minister. Two stakes were driven perpendicularly into the groimd, and a bar was laid across, on which the minister might place his Bible, and rest his arms in speaking. Around this rude pulpit were gathered first the women, then the men, next those who had arms, forming an outer ring of defence, which however was scarcely needed, for there was then no force in Holland that would have dared to attack this multitude. The worship was commenced with the singing of a psalm. First were heard the clear soft notes of the females at the centre ; next the men struck in with their deeper voices ; last of all the martial forms in the outer cii'cle joined the symphony, and gave completeness and strength to the music. When the psalm had ended, prayer was offered, and the thrilling peals that a moment before had tilled the vault overhead were now exchanged for a silence ytit more thrilling. The minister, opening the Bible, next read out as his text the 8th, 9th, and 10th verses of the second chapter of the Ei)istle to the Ephesians : " For by gi'ace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yom'selves : it is tlie gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanshij), created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Here in a few vei'scs, said the minister, was the essence of the whole Bible — the " marrow " of all true theology : — " the gift of God," salvation ; its source, " the grace of God ;" the way in which it is received, " through faith ;" and the fruits ordained to follow, "good works." It was a hot midsummer day ; the audience was not fewer than 5,000 ; the preacher was weak and infirm in body, but his spirit was strong, and the lightning-power of his words held liis audience captive. The sermon, which was commenced soon alter noon, did not terminate till past four o'clock. Then again came pi-ayer. The preacher made supplication, says Brandt, " for all degi'ees of men, especially for the Government, in such a mamier that there was hardly a dry eye to be seen." ' The worshij) was closed as it had been commenced, with the melodious thunder of 5,000 voices raised in praise. So passed tliis gi-eat movement through Holland in the coiu-se of a few weeks. '^Tierever it came it stiiTed the inhabitants not into wrath, nor into denunciations of the Government, and much less into seditions and insurrections ; it awoke within them thoughts which were far too serious and solemn to fimd vent in tunndt and noise. They asked, " What must we do to be saved V It was the hoj)e of having this the gi-eatest of all ques- tions answered, that drew them out into woods and wildernesses, and ojien fields, and gathered them in thousands and tens of thousands around the Book of Life and its exjjositor. While Brederode and his fellow Confederates were traversing the country, making fiery speeches against the Govern- ment, wi'itiug lampoons vipon the bishops, draining huge bowls of wine, and then hanging them round then- necks as political badges — in short, rousing passions which stronger passions and firmer wills were to quell — these others, whom we see searching the Scriptures, and gathering to the field-preach- ings, were fortifying themselves and lea\ening their comitrymen with those convictions of truth, and that inflexible fidelity to God and to duty, which alone could carry them through the un- speakably awful conflict before them, and form a 1>asis strong enough to sustain the glorious fabric of Dutch liberty which was to emerge from that conflict. By the middle of August there was no city of note in all Holland where the free preaching of tlie Gospel had not been established, not indeed ■vvithiu the walls, but outside in the fields. The magis- trates of Amsterdam, of all others, ofiered the most determined resistance. They convoked the town militia, consisting of thirty-six train-bands, and asked them whether they would supjjort them in the suppi-ession of the field-conventicles. The militia replied that they would not, although they would defend with theu' lives the magistrates and city against all insiuTections." The authoi-ities • Memoirs of Laurence Jacobson Eeal, an eye-witness — apud Brandt, vol. i., pp. 179— 181. 2 Brandt, vol. i., p. 183. PROTESTANT PREACHERS IN HOLLAND. 51 were thus under the necessity of tolerating the public sermon, which was usually preached outside the Haarlem gate. The citizens of Delft, Leyden, Utrecht, and other places now took steps for the free preaching of the Gospel. The fii'st sermon was preached at Delft by Peter Gabriel at Horn- brug, near the city. The concourse was great. The next city to follow was the Hague. Twenty waggons filled with the burghers of Delft accom- panied the preacher thither ; they alighted before the mansion of the president, Cornelius Suis, who had threatened the severest measures should such a heretical novelty be attempted in his city. They made a ring with the waggons, placing the preacher in the centre, while his congregation filled the enclosure. The armed portion of the worshippers remained in the waggons and kept the peace. They sang their psalm, they offered their prayer, the preaching of the sennon followed ; the hostile president surveying all the while, from his own window, the proceedings which he had strin- gently forbidden, but was quite powerless to pre- vent. There were only four Protestant ministers at this time in all Holland. Their laboui-s were incessant ; they preached all day and journeyed all night, but their utmost efforts could not overtake the vastness of the field. Every day came urgent requests for a preacher from towns and villages which had not yet been visited. The friends of the Gospel turned their eyes to other countries ; they cried for help ; they represented the greatness of the crisis, and prayed that labourers might be sent to assist in reaping fields that were already white, and that promised so plenteous a harvest. In answer to this appeal some ten pastors were sent, mainly from the north of Germany, and these were distributed among the cities of Holland. Other preachers followed, who came from other lands, or arose from amongst the converts at home, and no long time elapsed till each of the chief towns enjoyed a settled ministra- tion of the Gospel. CHAPTER XL THE IMAGE-BREAKINGS. The Confederate Envoys— Philip's Cruel Purpose— The Image-Breakers— Their Character— Their Devastations— Over- spread the Low Countries in a Week— Pillage of 400 Churches— Antwerp Cathedral— Its Magnificence— Its Pillage— Pillage of the Rest of the Churches— The True Iconoclast Hammei-— The Preachers and their People take no part in the Image-Breakings— Image-Breaking in Holland- Amsterdam and other Towns— What Protes- tantism Teaches concerning Image-Breaking— The Popular Outbreaks at the Reformation and at the French Revolution Compared. We have seen the procession of the 300 noblemen who, with Count Brederode at their head, on the 5th of April, 1.566, walked two and two on foot to the old palace of Brabant in Brussels, to lay the grievances under which their nation groaned at the feet of Margaret, Regent of the Netherlands. We have also heard the answer which the regent re- turned. She promised to send their petition by special envoys to Philip, with whom alone the power lay of granting or withholding its request ; and meanwhile, though she could not close the Inquisition, she would issue orders to the inquisitors to proceed " with discretion." The noblemen whom Margaret selected to carry the Confederate Petition to Spain were the Marquis de Berghen and the Baron de Montigny. They gladly undertook the mission entrusted to them, little suspecting how fniitless it would prove for their countiy, and how fatidly it would end for tliemselve-s. The tyrant. as we shall afterwards see, chose to consider them not as ambassadors, but as conspiratora against his Government. Philip took care, however, to keep the dark purpose he harboured in connec- tion therewith in his breast; and meanwhile he professed to be deliberating on the answer which the two deputies, who lie purposed should see the Nethei'lands no more, were to can-y back. While Philij) was walking in " leaden shoes," the country was Imrrying on wth " winged feet." The progress of the movement so far had been peaceful. The psalms sung and the prayei's ofiei-ed at the field-preachings, and above all the Gospel published from the pulpits, tended only to banish thoughts of vengeance, and inspu'e to amity and good-wll. The consideration of the forgiveness of Heaven, freely accorded to the most enormous offences, disposed all who accepted it to forgive in theii' turn. But numerous other causes were in 52 HISTOKY OF PROTESTANTISM. openition tending to embroil the Protestant move- ment. The whole soil of the Netherlands Wius volcanic. Though the voice of the pulpit was peace, the harangues which the Confederates were diiily tiring off breathed only war. The Protestants were becoming conscious of their strength ; the re- membrance of the thousands of their brethi'en who had been barbarously miu'dered, rankled in their minds — nay, they were not permitted to forget tlie past, even had they been willing so to do. Did not their pastors preach to them ynth a price set upon their heads, and were not their bi'ethren being dragged to death before their eyes ? With so many inflammable materials all about, it needed only a spark to kindle a Ijlaze. A mighty conflagi-ation now buret out. On the lith of August, the day before the fete of the Assumption of the Vii-gin, there sud- denly appeared in Flanders a band of men armed with staves, hatchets, hammers, ladders, and ropes; some few of them carried guns and swords.^ This party was composed of the lowest of the people, of idlei-s, and women of disreputable character, " hallooed on," says Grotius, " by nobody knows whom."" They had come forth to make war upon images ; they prosecuted the campaign with sin- gular energy, and, being unopposed, with complete success. As they marched onwards the crosses, .shrines, and saints in stone that stood by the road- side fell before them. They entered the villages and lifted up their hammers upon all theii' idols, and smote them in pieces. They next visited the gi-eat town-s, where they pulled down the crucifixes that stood at the corners of the streets, and broke the statues of the Virgin and saints. The churches and cathedrals they swept clean of all their conse- crated symbols. They extinguished the tapers on the altars, and mounting the wall of the edifice with their ladders, pulled down the pictures that adorned it. They overturned the Madomias, and throwing their ropes around the massive crosses that surmounted altars and chapels, bore them to the gi'ound ; the altars too, in some cases, they demolished ; they took a special delight in soiling the rich vestments of the priests, in smeaiing their shoes with the holy oil, and trampling imder foot the consecrated bread ; and they departed only when there was nothing moic to break or to profane. It was in vain that the dooi-s of some clmrches and convents were hastily banicaded. Tliis iconoclast army was not to be withstood. Some sturdy image-hater would swing his hammer against the closed portal, and ^vith one blow thi-ow it open. The mob would i-ush in, and nothing would be heard but the clang of axes and the crash of falling pictures and overtm-ned images. A few minutes would suflice to complete the desolation of the place. Like the brook when the rains descend, and a himdi-ed mountain torrents keep pouring then- waters into it, till it swells into a river, and at last Aiadens into a devastating flood, so this little band of iconoclasts, swelled by recruits from every village and town through wliich they passed, grew by minutes into an army, that army into a far-extending host, which pursued its march over the country, bursting open the doors of cathedrals and the gates of cities, chasing burgomasters before it, and striking monk and militia-man alike with terror. It seemed even as if iconoclasts were rising out of the soil. They would start up and begin their ravages at the same instant in provinces and cities widely ajjart. In thi'ee days they had spread themselves over all the Low Countries, and in less than a week they had plundered 400 churches.^ To adapt to this destroy- ing host the words of the prophet, descriptive of the ravages of another army — before them was a garden, clothed in the rich blossoms of the Gotliic genius and art, behind them was a wilderness strewn over vnth ruins. Tliese iconoclasts appeared first in the district of St. Omer, in Flanders, where they sacked the con- vent of the Nuns of Wolverghen. Emboldened by their success, the cry was raised, " To Ypres, to Ypres!"'' "On their way thither," says Strada, " their number increased, like a snowball rolling from a mountain-top into the valley." ^ They pm-ged the roads as they advanced, they ravaged the churches around Ypres, and entering the town they inflicted imsparing demolition upon all the images in its sanctuaries. " Some set ladders to the walls, with hammers and staves battering the jnctures. Others broke asunder the iron-work, seats, and pulpit. Others casting i-opes about the great statues of Our Saviour Christ, and the saints, pulled them down to the ground."" The day following there gathered " another flock of the like bii-ds of prey," wliich directed their flight towards Courtray and Douay, ravaging and jikindering as they went onward. Not a penny of property did they ajipro- jn'iate, not a hau- of the head of monk or nun did they hm-t. It was not plunder but destruction which they sought, and their wrath if fierce was dis- > Strada, lib. v. • Orotius, Annales, lib. i., p. 22—apud Brandt, vol. i., p. 191. 3 Hooft, lib. iii., p. 99. Strada, lib. v., p. 260. Brandt, vol. i., p. 191. ■" Strada, lib. v. '' Ibid. '' Ibid. THE ICONOCLAST MOB IN ANTWERP CATHEDRAL. 63 charged not on liuman beings, but on graven images. Tliey smote, and defaced, and broke in pieces, with exterminating fury, the statues and pictures in the churches, wthout permitting even one to escape, " and that with so much security," says Strada, "and with so little regard of the magistrate or pre- lates, as you would thiak they had been sent for by the Common Council, and were in pay of the city." ' Tidings of what was going on in Flanders were speedily carried into Brabant, and there too the tempest gathered -svith like suddenness, and ex- pended itself with like fury. Its more terrific burst was in Antwerp, which the wealth and de- votion of preceding ages had embellished with so many ecclesiastical fabrics, some of them of superb architectural magnificence, and all of them filled with the beautiful creations of the chisel and the ■pencil. The crowning glory of Antwerp was its cathecb-al, which, although begun in 1124, had been finished only a few yeai's before the events we are nan-ating. There was no chiu-ch in all Northern Europe, at that day, which could equal the Notre- Dame of the commercial capital of Brabant, whether in the imposing grandeur of its exterior, or in the variety and richness of its internal decorations. The magnificence of its statuary, the beauty of its paintings, its mouldings in bronze and carvings in wood, and its vessels of silver and gold, made it the pride of the citizens, and the delight and wonder ot strangers from other lands. Its .spire shot up to a height of 500 feet, its nave and aisles stretched out longitudinally the same length. Under its lofty roof, borne up by columns of gigantic stature, hung round w^th escutcheons and banners, slept mailed warriors in their tombs of marble, while the boom of organ, the chant of priest, and the whispered prayers of niimberless worshippers, kept eddying continually roimd their beds of stUl and deep and never-ending repose. When the magistrates and wealthy burghers ot Antwerp heard of the storm that was raging at no great distance from their gates, theii- hearts began to foil them. Should the destructive cloud roll hither, how much will remain a week hence, thoy asked themselves, of all that the wealth and skill and penitence of centuries have gathered into the Church of Our Lady l It needed not that the very cloud that was devastating Flanders should transport itself to the banks of the Scheldt; the whole ail- was electrical. In e\ery quarter of the firmament the same dark clouds that hung over Flanders were appearing, and wherever stood Virgin, or saint, or crucifix, there the lightnings were seen to fall. The first mutterings of the storm were heard at Antwerp on the fete-day of the Assump- tion of the Vii-gin. " Whilst," says Strada, " her image in solemn procession was carried upon men's shoulders, from the gi-eat chui-ch through the streets some jeering rascals of the meaner sort of artificers first laughed and liissed at the holy solemnity, then impiously and impudently, with mimic salutations and reproachful words, mocked the efiigies of the Mother of God."- The magistrates of Antwerp in their wisdom hit upon a device which they thought would guide the iconoclast tempest past their un- rivalled cathedral. It was their little manoeu\Te that cU-ew the storm upon them. The great annual fair was being held in their city;^ it was usual during that concom-se for the image of the Virgin to stand in the open nave of the cathedral, that her votaries might the more conveniently ofier her theii- worship. The ma Brandt, vol. i., p. 194. = Ibid., p. 258. 3Braiidt,vol.i.,p.l96. 4jiid.,p. 197. ^ Motley, i., 282. THE OUTRAGES OP THE IMAGE-BREAKERS. 57 iind purged. At Dort, Gouda, Rotterdam, Haar- lem, and other places, the magistrates anticipated the coming of the iconoclasts by giving orders beforehand for the removal of the images. Whether the pleasure or the mortification of the rioters was the gi-eater at having the work thus taken off their hands, it would be hard to affirm. At Amsterdam the matter did not pass off so quietly. The magis- trates, hearing that the storm was travelling north- wards, gave a hint to the jariests to remove theii- valuables in time. The precaution was taken with more haste than good success. The priests and friars, lading themselves with the plate, chalices, patens, pyxes, and mass-vestments, hmi-ied with ihem along the open street. They were met by tlie operatives, who were returning from their labour to dinner. The articles were deemed public property, and the clergy in many cases were re- lieved of their burdens. The disturbances had begim. The same evening, after vespers had been sung, several children were brought for baptism. While the priest was performing the \isual exor- cisms one of the crowd shouted out, " You priest, forbear to conjure the devil out of him ; baptise the child in the name of Jesus, as the apostles were wont to do." The confusion increased ; some mothers had theii" infants hastily baptised in the mother tongue, others hun'ied home with theii-s unbaptised. Later in the evening a pointer named Jasper, sauntering near that part of the church where the pyx is kejit, happened to light upon a placard hanging on the wall, having reference to the mystery in the pyx. " Look here," said he to the bystanders, at the same time laying hold on the board and reading aloud its inscription, which ran thus : " Jesus Christ is locked up in this box ; whoever does not believe it is damned." There- upon he threw it with violence on the floor ; the crash echoed through the church, and gave the signal for the breakings to begin. Cei-tain boys began to throw stones at the altar. A woman threw her slipper at the head of a wooden Mary — an act, by the way, which afterwards cost her her own head. The mob rushed on : images and cruci- fixes went dowai before thorn, and soon a heap of jiicturcs, vases, crosses, and saints in .stone, broken, liruised, and blended iindistinguishably, covered with their Siicred ruins the floors of the churches.' It does not appear from the naiTatives of con- temporary historians that in a single instance these outrages were .stimulated, or approved of, by the Protestant ]ireachers. On the contraiy, they did all in theii- power to prevent them. They wished ' Hooft, lib. iii.— opud Brandt, vol. i., pp. 199, 200. to see the removal of images from the churches, knowing that this method of worship had been for- bidden ill the Decalogue ; but they hoped to accom- plish the change jaeacefully, by enlightening the public sentiment and awakening the pubHc con- science on the matter. He is the true iconoclast, they held, who teaches that " God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spii'it." This is the hammer that is to break in pieces the idols of the nations. Nor can the destruction of these images, with truth, be laid at the door of the Protestant con- gi'egations of the Low Coimtries. There were fanatical persons in their ranks, no doubt, who may have aided the rioters by voice and hand ; but the great body of the Refoiiuers — all, in short, who were worthy of the name, and had really been baptised into the spirit of Protestantism — stood aloof from the work of destruction, knowing it to be as useless as it was culpable. These outrages were the work of men who cared as little for Protes- tantism, in itself, as they did for Roman Catholicism. They belonged to a class found in every Popish country, who, mitaught, vindictive, vicious, are ever ready to break out into violence the moment the usual restraints are withdrawn. These re- straints had been greatly relaxed in the Low Coun- tries, as in all the countries of Christendom, by the scandals of the priesthood, and yet more by the atrocious cruelty of the Government, which had associated these images in the minds of the people with the 30,000 victims who had been sacrificed duiing the three or four- decades past. And most of all, perhaps, had Protestantism tended to relax the hold which the Church of Rome exercised over the masses. Protestantism had not enlightened the authors of these outrages to the extent of convincing them of its own truth, but it had enlightened them to the extent of satisfying them that Popery was a cheat ; and it is of the nature of the human mind to avenge itself upon the impositions by which it has been deluded and duped. But are we therefore to say that the reign of impostiu-e must be eternal ? Are we never to unmask delusions and expose fiilsehoods, for fear that whirlwinds may come in with the light 'i How many absurdi- ties and enormities must we, iii that case, make uj) our minds to peqietuate ! In no one path of reform should we ever be able to advance a step. We should have to sternly interdict progress not only in religion, but in science, in politics, and in every department of social well-being. And then, how signally unjust to blame the remedy, and hold it accoiuitable for the ilisturbances that accompany it, and acquit the evil that made the remedy neces- sary ! Modern times have presented us with two 68 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. grand disruptions of the bonds of authority ; the fii-st was that produced by Protestantism in the sixteenth centiuy, and the second was that caused by the teachings of the French Encyclopiedists in the end of the eighteenth century. In both cases the masses hxrgely broke away from the control of the Roman Church and her priesthood ; but every candid mind \vill admit that they broke away not after the same fashion, or to the same effect. The revolt of the sixteenth centuiy was attended, as we have seen in the Low Countries, by an immense and, we shall grant, most merciless execution of images ; the revolt of the eighteenth was followed by the slaughter of a yet greater number of vic- tims ; but in this case the victims were not images, but living men. Both they who slew the images in the sixteenth century, and they who slew the human beings in the eighteenth, were reared in the Church of Rome ; they had learned her doctrines ;ind had received theii- first lessons from her priests ; and though now become disobedient and rebellious, they had not yet got quit of the instincts she had planted in them, nor were they quite out of her leading-strings. CHAPTER XII. REACTION — SUBMISSION OF THE SOUTHERN NETHERLANDS. Treaty between the Governor and Nobles — Liberty given the Reformed to Build Churches — Remonstrances of Margaret— Reply of Orange — Anger of Philip — His Cruel Resolve — Philip's Treachery— Letters that Read Two Ways— the Governor raises Soldiers — A Great Treachery Meditated — Egmont's and Horn's Compliance with the Court, and Severities against the Reformed — Horn at Tournay — Forbids the Reformed to Worship inside the Walls— Permitted to erect Churches outside — Money and Materials — the Governor Violates the Accord— Re- formed Religion Forbidden in Tournay and Valenciennes — Siege of Valenciennes by Noircarmes — Sufferings of the Besieged— They Surrender — Treachery of Noircarmes — Execution of the Two Protestant Ministers — Terror inspired by the Fall of Valenciennes — Abject Submission of the Southern Netherlands. The first effect of the tumults was favoui-able to the Reformers. The insurrection had thoroughly alarmed the Duchess of Paima, and the Protestants obtained from her fear concessions which they would in vain have solicited from her sense of justice. At a conference between the leading nobles and the governor at Brussels on the 25th of A\igust, the following treaty was agi-eed to and signed :— The duchess promised on her part " that the Inquisition should be abolished from this time forward for ever," and that the Protestants should have liberty of worship in all those places where their worahip had been previously established. These stipulations were accompanied with a promise that all past offences of image-breaking and Beg- gar manifestoes should be condoned. The nobles undertook on their part to dissolve their Confede- r.icy, to retui-n to the service of the State, to see that the Reformed did not come armed to their assemblies, and that in their sermons they did not inveigh against the Popish religion. ' Thus a gleam broke out through the cloud, and the storm was succeeded by a momentary calm. ' GrotiuB, AnnaUs, lib. i., p. 23. Brandt, vol. i., pp. 204, 205. On the signing of this treaty the princes went down to their several provinces, and earnestly laboured to restore the public peace. The Piince of Orange and Counts Egmont, Horn, and Hoog- straten were especially zealous in this matter, nor were their efforts without success. In Antwerp, where Orange was governor, and where he was gi'eatly l)eloved, quiet was speedily re-established, the great cathedral was again opened, and the Romish worship resumed as aforetime. It was agreed that all the consecrated edifices should remain in the possession of the Roman Catholics, but a convention was at the same time made with the Dutch and Walloon congi-egations, empowering them to erect places of worship witliin the city- walls for their own use. The latter arrangement, • — the privilege, namely, accorded the Reformed of worshipping within the walls — was a concession which it cost the bigotry of Margaret a giiidge to make. But Orange, in reply to her remonstrances, told her that, in the first place, this was exjiedient, seeing assemblies of 20,000 or 2.5,000 persons were gi-eater menaces to the public peace outside the walls, where they were removed from the eye of the magistrate, than they could possibly PHILIP'S DOUBLE-DEALING. 59 be within the city, where not only were their con- gregations smaller, tlieii- numbers seldom exceeding 10,000, but their language and bearing wei'e more modest ; and, in the second place, this concession, ho reminded the duchess, was necessary. The Reformed were now 200,000 strong, they were determined to enjoy their rights, and he had no soldiers to gainsay their demands, nor could he prevail on a single burgher to bear arms against them. ' In a few days the Walloon congregation, availing themselves of their new liberties, laid the first stone of theii' futuie church on a .sjjot which had been allotted them ; and their example was speedily followed by the Dutch Reformed congrega- tion. Through the eflbrts of Orange the troubles were quieted all over Holland and Brabant. His success was mainly owing to the great weight of his personal character, for soldiei's to enforce sub- mission he had none. The churches were given back to the pz-iests, who, doffing the lay vestments in wliich many of them had encased themselves in their terror, resumed the public celebration of their rites ; and the Protestants were contented with the liberty accorded them of worshipping in fabrics of thcii' own creation, which in a few places were situated witliin the walls, but in the great majority of cases stood outside, in the suburbs, or the open country. Meanwhile the news of churches sacked, images destroyed, and holy things profaned was travelling to Spain. Philip, who during his stay in Brussels had been wont to spend his nights iu the stews, or to roam masked through the streets, satiating his base appetites upon their foul garbage, when the tidings of the profanation reached him, first shuddered with horror, and next trembled with rage. Plucking at his beard, he exclaimed, " It shall cost them dear, I swear it by the soul of my father."- For every image that had been mutilated hundreds of living men were to die ; the afiront oU'ercd to the Roman Catholic faith, and its saints iu stone, nuist be washed out in the blood of the inhabitants of the Netherlands. So did the tyrant resolve. Meanwhile keeping secret the temble purpose iu his breast, he began to move toward it with his usual slowness, but with more than his usual doggedncss and duplicity. Before the news of the image- lireaking had arrived, the king had written to Mar- garet of Parma, m answer to the petition which the two envoys, the Marquis of Berghen and the Count ' Hooft, p. 111. Strada, p. 268. Brandt, vol. i., p. 206. - Letterof Morillon to Granvelle, 29th September, 15GG, in Gachard, Annal. Belg., 254— apwd Motley, vol. i., p. 2&t. de Montigny, had brought to Madrid, saying to her ■ — so bland and gi-acious did he seem — that he would pardon the guilty, on certain conditions, and that seeing there was now a full staff of bishops in the Provinces, able and doubtless willing vigilantly to guard the members of their flock, the Inquisition was no longer necessary, and should henceforth cease. Hei'e was pardon and the abolition of the Inquisition : what more coidd the Netherlanders ask 1 But if the letter was meant to I'ead one way in Brussels, it was made to read another way in Madrid. No sooner had Philip indited it than, summoning two attorneys to his closet, he made them draw out a formal protest in the presence of witnesses to the effect that the promise of pardon, being not voluntary but compulsory, was not binding, and that he was not obliged thereby to spare any one whom he chose to consider guilty. As regarded the Inquisition, Philip wi-ote to the Pope, telling him that he had indeed said to the Netherlanders that he would abolish it, but that need not scandalise his Holiness, inasmuch as he neither could nor would abolish the Inquisition iin- less the Pope gave his consent. As regarded the meeting of the Assembly of the States for which the Confederates had also petitioned, Philip replied with his characteristic j)rudence, that he forbade its meeting for the moment ; but in a secret letter to Margaret he told her that that moment meant for ever. The two noblemen who brought the petition were not permitted to carry back the answer : that would have been dangerous. They might have initiated their countrymen into the Spanish reading of the letter. They were still, upon various pre- tences, detained at Madrid. Along with this very pleasant letter, which the governor was to make known to all Philip's sub- jects of the Netherlands, that they might know how gracious a master they had, came another communication, which Margaret was not to make known, but on the contrary keep to herself. Philip announced in this letter that he had sent the gover- nor a sum of money for raising soldiers, and that he wished the new battalions to be enlisted ex- clusively from Papists, for on these the king and the duchess might rely for an absolute compliance with their -will. The regent was not remiss in executing this order; she immediately levied a body of cavalry and five regiments of infantry. As her levies increased her fears left her, and the conciliatory spirit which led her to consent to the Accord of the 25th of Augtist, was changed to a mood of mind very diflerent. But if the Accord was to be kept, the good effects of which had been seen in a jiacified coimtry, 60 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. and if the gnilty were to be pardoned and tlie Inquisition abolished, as the king's letter had pro- mised, where was the need of raising armaments 1 Surely these soldiere are :iot merely to string beads. A great treachery is meditated, said Orange and his companions, Egmont and Hor]i. It is not the abolition of the Inquisition, but a rekindling of light. The train-bands of the tyrant were gathering round the country, and the circle of its jirivileges and its liberties was contracting from one hour to another. The regent had no cause to complain of the lukewarmness of Egmont and Horn, what- ever suspicions she might entertain of Orange. The prince wa.s now a Lutheran, and he had VILLAGE GRBIiN IN HOLLAND. (After Van dfr ITci/dcn.) its fires on a still larger scale, that awaits us ; and instead of a resun-ection of Flemish liberty by the assembling of the States-General, it is the entire effacement of whatever traces of old rights still remain in these unha))))y countries, and the esta- blishment of naked despotism on the ruins of freedom by an anned force, that is contemplated. Of that these levies left Orange in no doubt. In the Council all three nobles expressed their dis- approbation of the measure, as a rekindling of the flames of civil discord and sedition. E\Try day new proofs of this wen^ comiug to calmed the iconoclastic tumults all over Brabant, Holland, and Zealand, without staining his hands with a single drop of blood. The Counts Egmont and Horn were Romanists, and their suj)pression of the image-breakings in Flanders and Tournay had been marked by great severity towards the Reformers. Egmont showed himself an ardent partisan of the Government, and his proceedings spread terror tlu-ough Flanders and Artois. Thou- sands of Protestants fled the country ; tlieir wives and fainilies were left destitute ; the public pro- fession of the Refomied religion was forbidden. 110 62 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. despite the Accord ; and numbei-s of its adherents, including ministei-s, hanged.' The chief guilt of these cruelties rests with Egmont's secretar}', Bak- kerzeel, who had great influence over tlie count, and who, along with his chief, received his reward in due time from the Government they so zealously and unscnipulously served. It was much after the same fashion that Toui-nay was pacified by Count Horn. Five-sixths of the inhabitants of that imiioi-tant place were Calvinists ; Horn, therefore, feared to forbid the public preach- ings. But no church and no spot inside the walls would Horn permit to be defiled by the Protestant worahip ; ne^'ertheless, three places outside the gates were assigned for sermon. The eloquent Ambrose Wille, whom we have already met, was the preacher, and his congregation generally numbered from fifteen to twenty thousand hearers. Permission was at last given for the erection of churches on the tlu-ee spots where the field-preachings had been held ; and Councillor Tafien made what he judged an eminently reasonable pro25osal to the magistrates toucliiug the cost of their erection. The Papists, he said, who were not more than a fourth of the citizens, retained all the old churches; the other tti-ee-fourths, who were Protestants, were compelled to build new ones, and in these circumstances he thought it only fair that the community should defray the expense of their erection. The Romanists exclaimed against the proposal. To be compelled to refrain from burning the heretics was much, but to be taxed for the support of heresy was an tmheard-of oppression. Money and materials, however, wei-e forthcoming in abundance : the latter were somewhat too plentiful ; fragments of broken images and demolished altars were lying about everywhere, and were freely but indiscreetly used by the Protestants in the erection of their new fabrics. The sight of the tilings wliich they had worshipped, built into the walls of a heretical temple, stung tlie Romanists to the cpiick as the last disgi-ace of their idols. The levies of the regent were coming in rapidly, and as her soldiers increased her tone waxed the bolder. The Accord of the 25tli of August, which wa.s the charter of the Protestants, gave her but small concern. She had made it in her weakness with the intention of breaking it when she should be strong. She confiscated all the liberties the Refomied enjoyed \mder that an-angement. The sermons were forbidden, on the ridiculous pretext that, although the liberty of preaching had been conceded, that did not include the other exercises ' Brandt, vol. i., p. 24.3. commonly pi-actised at the field assemblies, such as singing, pi-aying, and dispensing the Sacraments. Gan-isons were placed by the regent in Tournay, in Valencieiuies, and many other towns ; the profes- sion of the Reformed religion was suppressed in them ; the Roman temples were re-opened, and the Popish rites restored in their former splendour. The fiill of Valenciemies as a Protestant city exerted so disastrous and decisive an influence upon the whole coimtiy, that it must detain us for a little while. In the end of the year 1566 — the last year of peace which the Netherlands were to see for more than a generation — the regent sent the truculent Noircarmes to demand that Valenciennes should Oiieu its gates to a gai-rison. Strongly forti- fied, Protestant to all but a fourth or sixth of its population, courageous and united, Valenciennes refused to admit the soldiei-s of Margaret. Her general thereupon declaimed it in a state of siege, and invested it ■with his troops. Its fate engaged the interest of the siu-rounding villages and dis- tricts, and the peasants, armed with pitchforks, picks, and rusty muskets, assembling to the num- ber of 3,000, marched to its relief. They were met by the troops of Noircarmes, discomfited, and almost exterminated. Another company also marching to its assistance met a similar fate. Tliose who escaped the slaughter took refuge in the church of Watrelots, only to be overtaken Ijy a inore dreadful death. The belfry, into which they had retreated, was set on fire, and the whole perished. These disasters, however, did not dispirit the besieged. They made vigorous sallies, and kept the enemy at bay. To cut ofi" all communication between the city and the suiTOunding countrj', and so i-educe the besieged by famine, orders were given to the soldiers to lay the district waste. The villages were pillaged or burned, tlie inhabitants slaughtered in cold blood, or stripped naked in the dead of winter, or roasted alive over slow fires to amuse a brutal soldiery. Matrons and ^-ii-gins were sold in public auction at tuck of drum. While these horrilile butcheries were being enacted outside Valenciennes, Noii'carmes was di-awing his lines closer about the city. In answer to a summons from Margaret, the inhabitants offered to surrender on certain condi- tions. These were indignantly rejected, and Nou-- carmes now commenced to bombard Valenciennes. It was t*he morning of Palm-Sunday. Tlie bells in the steeples were chiming the air to which the 22nd Psalm, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Tnel" as versified by Marot, was com- monly sung. The boom of the cannon, the quaking of the houses, the toppling of the chimneys, mingling -with the melancholy chimes EXECUTION OF DE BEAY AND LA GRANGE. 63 of the steeples, and tlie wailings of the women and children in the streets, formed a scene depress- ing indeed, and which seems to have weighed down the spiiits of the inhabitants into despair. The city sent to Noircarmes offering to surrender on the simple condition that it should not be sacked, and that the lives of the inhabitants should be spared. The general gave his promise only to break it. Nou'carmes closed the gates when he had entered. The wealthy citizens he arrested ; some hundreds were hanged, and others were sent to the stake.' Tliere was no regular sack, but the soldiei's were quartered on the inhabitants, and m\irdered and rol.ibed as they had a mind. The elders and deacons and priuciital members of the Protestant congi-egation were put to death." The two Protestant preaehei-s. Guide de Bray and Peregi-ine de la Grange, the eloquent Huguenot, made their escape, but being discovered they were brouglit back, cast into a tilthy dungeon, and loaded with chains. In their prison they were visited by the Countess of Iveux, wlio asked them how they could eat and drink and sleep with so heavy a chain, and so terrible a fate in prospect. " My good cause," replied De Bray, " gives me a good conscience, and my good conscience gives me a good ajipetite." " My bread is sweeter, and my sleep sounder," he I continued, " than that of my persecutors." " But your heavy ii-onsl" intei-jiosed the countess. "It is guilt that makes a chain heavy," replied the prisoner, " innocence makes mine light. I gloiy in . my chains, I account them my badges of honour, I their clanking is to my ear as sweet music ; it re- freshes me like a psalm." ' They were sentenced to be hanged. When their fate was announced to them, says Brandt, "they received it as glad tidings, and prepared as cheer- fully to meet it as if they had been going to a wedding-feast." De Bray was careful to leaA-e liehind lum the secret of his sound sleep in heavy ^ irons and a filthy dungeon, that others in like cir- j cumstances might enjoy the same trancpiillity. "A good conscience, a good conscience ! " " Take care," said he to all tliose who had come to see him die, •' Take cai-e to do notliing against your con.science, otherwise you will have an executioner always at your heels, and a pandemonium buruuig witliin you." Peregrine de la Grange addressed tlie spectators fi-om the ladder, " taking heaven and eartli to witness that he died for no cause save that of ' Valenciennes MS. (Koman Motley, vol. i., p. 32.5. - Laval, vol. iii., p. lt-3. ^ Brandt, vol. i., pp. '250, 251. Catliolicl, quotetl by having preached the pure Word of God." Guido de Bray kneeled on the scaffold to pray ; but the executioner instantly raised him, and compelled him to take his place on the ladder. Standing with the rope round his neck he addressed the people, bidding them give all due reverence to the magistrate, and adhere to the Word of God, which he had pui-ely preached. His discourse was stojiped by the hang- man suddenly throwing him off. At the instant a strange frenzy seized the soldiers that guarded the market-place. Breaking their ranks, they ran about the town in great disorder, " nobody knowing what aUed them," firing off their muskets, and woiniding and kOling Papists and Protestants indiscrimi- nately.^ We stand on the threshold of a second gi-eat era of persecution to the Church of the Netherlands. The hoiTors of this era, of which the scaffolds of these two learned and eloquent divines mai'k the commencement, were to be so awful that the suf- ferings of the past forty years would not be remeni- bered. The severities that attended the fall of the powerful and Protestant Valenciennes discouraged the other cities ; they looked to see the tenible Noircannes and his soldiers arrive at their gates, offeiing the alternative of accepting a garrison, or enduring siege with its attendant miseries as wit- nessed in the case of Valenciennes. They made up their minds to submission in the hope of better days to come. If they could have read the future : if they had known that submission would deepen into slavery ; that one teirible woe would depart only to make room for another more terrible, and that the despot of Spain, whose heart bigotry had made hard as the nether mOlstone, would never cease emptying upon them the vials of his wrath, they would have chosen the bolder, which would also liave been the better part. Had they accepted conflict, the hardest-fought fields would have been as nothing compared with the humiliations and inflictions that submission entailed upon them. Far better would it have been to have died with anns in their hands than with halters round their necks ; far Ijetter would it have been to struggle with the foe in the breach or in the field, than to oft'er their limbs to the inquisitor's rack. But the Flemings knew not the gi-eatness of the crisis : their hearts fainted in the day of trial. The little city of Geneva had withstood single-handed the soldiers of tlie Duke of Savoy, and the threats of France and Spain : tlio powerful Proxinces of Brabant and Flanders, with their numerous inhabitiints, their- strong and opulent < Brandt, vol. i., p. 251. Pontus Peyen MS.— aj>i«J Motloy, vol. i., I>. 325. 64 HISTORY OF PEOTESTANTISM. cities, and tbeir burghal militia, yiokled at the firet summons. Even Valenciennes sun-endered while its walls were yet entire. The other cities seem to have been conquered by the very name of Noir- carmes. The Konianists themselves were astonished at the readiness and abjectness of the submission. " The capture of Valenciennes," wrote Noii-carmes to Granvelle, " has worked a mii'acle. The other cities all come forth to meet me, putting the rope round then- o-svn neck."' It became a saying, "The governor has found the keys of all the rest of the cities at Valenciennes."- Cambray, Hasselt, Maseik, and Maestricht surrendered themselves, as did also Bois-le-Duc. The Reformed in Cambray had ikiven away the ai-chbishop ; now the archbishop returned, accompanied with a party of soldiers, and the Re- formed fled in their turn. In the other towns, where hardly a single image had escaped the iconoclast tempest, the Romish worship was restored, and the Protestants were compelled to conform or leave the place. The Prince of Orange had hardly quitted Antwerp, where he had just succeeded in preventing an outbreak which threatened fearful destruction to propeiiy and life, when that commercial metro- polLs submitted its neck to the yoke wliich it seemed to have cast off wtli contempt, and returned to a faith whose very symbols it had so recently trampled down as the mii-e in the streets. Antwerj) was soon thereafter honoured with a visit from the governor. Margaret signalised her coming by ordeiing the churches of the Protestants to be pulled down, their chikb'en to be re-baptised, and as many of the church-plunderei-s as could be discovered to be hanged. Her commands were zealou-sly earned out by an obsequious magisti-acy.^ It was tnily melancholy to witness the sudden change which the Southern Netherlands underwent, Tliousands might be seen hurrying from a shore where freedom and the arts had found a home for centuries, where proud cities had arisen, and whither were wafted vnth every tide the various riches of a world-wide commerce, lea^-ing by their flight the arts to languish and commerce to die. But still more melancholy was it to see the men who remained casting themselves prostrate before altars they had so recently thi'O'wn down, and participating in rites which tkey had repudiated with abhorrence as magical and idolatrous. CHAPTER XIII. THE COUNCIL OP BLOOD. Orange's Penetration of Philip's Mind— Conference at Dendermonde— Eesolution of Egmont— WiUiam Eetires to Nassau in Germany— Persecution Increased — The Gallows Full— Two Sisters— PhUip resolves to send an Army to the Netherlands— Its Command given to the Duke of Alva— His Character- His Person— His Fanaticism and Bloodtliirstiness- Character of the Soldiers— An Ai-my of Alvas— Its March— Its Morale— Its Entrance Unopposed —Margaret Eetires from the Netherlands— Alva Ai-rests Egmont and Horn— Eefugees— Death of Berghen and Montigny— Tlie Council of Blood— Sentence of Death upon all the Inhabitants of the Netherlands— Constitution of the Blood Council— Its Terrible Work — Shrovo-tide — A proposed Holocaixst- Sentence of Spanish Inquisition upon the Netherlands. "Whirlwinds from the terrible land of the South " — in literal terms, edicts and soldiere from Spain — were what might now be looked for. Tlie land had been subjugated, but it had yet to be chastised. On every side the priests lifted up the head, the burghers hung theii's m shame. The psalm pealed forth at the field-pi'caching rose no longer on the breeze, the orison of monk came loud and clear instead ; the gibbets were filled, the piles were re- lighted, and thousands were fleeing from a country ' Gachard, Preface to William the Silent— apud Motley, vol. i., p. 326. " Brandt, vol. i., p. 251. wliich seemed only now to be opening the dark page of its history. The future in reserve for the Low Countries was not so closely locked up in the breast of the tyi-ant but that the Prince of Orange could read it. He saw into the heart and soul of Philip. He had studied him in his daily life ; he had studied him in the statesmen and councillors who sei-ved him ; he had studied him in his public policy; and ho had studied him in those secret pages in which Philip had put on record, in the depth of his own closet, the projects that he was revolving, and which, opened and read while 3 Brandt, vol. i., p. 254. EETIEEMENT OF THE PEINCE OF ORANGE. Ga PLilip slept, by tlie spies wHch WiUiam liad placed around liim, were communicated to this watcliful friend of his coimtry's liberties ; and all these several lines of observation had led him to one and the same conclusion, that it was Philip's settled purpose, to be pursued through a thousand windings, chicaneries, falsehoods, and solemn hypo- crisies, to drag the leading nobles to the scaffold, to hang, burn, or bury alive every Protestant in the Low Countries, to put to death every one who should hesitate to yield absolute compliance with liis ^vill, and above the gi'ave of a murdered nation to plant the twin fabrics of Spanish and Romish despotism. That these were the purposes which the tyrant harboured, and the events which the future would bring forth, unless means were found to prevent them, William was as sure as that the revolution of the hours brings at length the night. Accordingly he invited Horn, Egmont, Hoog- straaten, and Count Louis to an interview at Den- dermonde, in order to concert the measures which it might be advisable to take when the storm, -with which the air was already thick, should burst. The sight of Egmont and the other nobles un- happily was not so clear as that of William, and they refused to believe that the danger was so great as the prince represented. Count Egmont, who was not yet disenthralled from the spell of the court, nor fated ever to be till he should arrive at the scaffold, said that " far from taking paii in any measure offensive to the king, he looked upon every such measure as equally imprudent and undutiful." Tliis was decisive. These thi-ee seigniors must act in concert or not at all. Combined, they might have hoped to make head against Philip ; singly, tliey could accomplish nothing' — nay, in all likeli- hood would be cruslied. The Prince of Orange resigned all his offices into the hands of the regent, and retired with his family to his ancestral estate of Nassau in Germany, there to await events. Before leaving, however, he warned Count Egmont of the fate that awaited liim shoaild he remain in Flandei-s. " You are the bridge," said he, " by which the Spanish army will pass into the Nether- lands, and no sooner shall they have passed it than they will break it do%vn."' The warning was un- heeded. The two friends tenderly embraced, and parted to meet no more on earth. No sooner was William gone (April, l.'jGT) than a cloud of woes descendud upon the Netherlands. The disciples of the Reformation fled as best they could from Amsterdam, and a gari-ison entered it. At Horn, Clement Martin preached his farewell sermon a mouth after the departureof William, and next day he and his colleague were expelled the town. About the same time the Protestants of Enkhuizen heard theii' last sermon in the open air. Assemblies were held over-night in the houses of certain of the burghers, but these too were dis- continued in no long time. A deep silence — "a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord" — fell upon the land. The ministers were chased from many of the cities. The meetings held in out-of-the- way places were surprised by the soldiers ; of those present at them some were cut in pieces or shot down on the spot, and others were seized and carried off to the gallows. It was the special delight of the persecutors to apprehend and hang or behead the members of the consistories. " Thus," says Brandt, " the gallows were filled with carcases, and Ger- many with exiles." The minister of Cambray first had his hand cut oft", and was then hanged. At Oudenard and other towns the same fiite was in- flicted on the pastoi-s. Monks, who had ceased to coimt beads and become heralds of the glorious Gospel rather than return to the cloister, were content to rot in dimgeons or die on scaffolds. Some villages furnished as many as a hundi-ed, and others three hundred victims.- A citizen of Bommel, Hubert Selkart by name, had the courage to take a Bible to the market-place, and disprove the errors of Pojjcry in presence of the people assembled there. A night or two thereafter he was put inte a sack and thro\vn into the liver WaeL There were no more Scripture expositions in the market- place of Bommel. All the Protestant churches in cour.se of erection were demolished, and their timbers taken for gallows to hang their biulders. Two young gentlewomen of the Province of Over- Issel were sentenced to the fire. One of the sisters was induced to abjure on a promise of mercy. She thought she had saved her life by her abjuration, whereas the mercy of the placards meant only an easier death. When the day of execution arrived, the two sisters, who had not seen each other since they received their sentence, were brought forth together upon the scaffold. For the one who re. raained steadfast a stake had been prepared; the other saw with horror a coffin, half filled witli sand, waiting to receive her corpse as soon as the axe should have severed her head from her body. "This," said the strong sister to the weak one, " this is all you have gained by denying Ilim before whom you are within an hour to appear." Con- science-stricken she fell upon her knees, and with strong cries besought pardon for her gi-eat sin. ' Strada, bk. vi., p. 286. Meteren, voV ii., f. 45. GG HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. Tlien rising up — a sudden calm succeeding the sudden tempest — she boldly declared herself a Protestant. The executioner, fearing the efftct of her words upon the spectators, instantly stop])od her by putting a gag into her mouth, and then he bound her to the same stake with her sister. A moment before, it seemed as if the two were to be parted for ever; but now death, which divides others, had united them in the bonds of an eternal fellowship :' they were sLstera evei-more. As regarded the Netherlands, one would have thought that their cup of suffering was already full ; but not so thought Philip. New and more terrible severities were in course of pi'eparatiou at Madrid for the unliappy Provinces. Tlie King of Spain, after repeated delibe- rations in his council, resolved to send a powerful army under the command of the Duke of Alva, to chastise those turbu- lent citizens whom he had too long treated with gentleness, and exact a full measure of vengeance for that outbreak in which they had discovered an equal contempt for the true i-eligion and the royal authority. The Duke of Alva, setting s^iil from Carthagena (May 10th, 1.5C7), landed in the north of Italy, and repairing to Asti, there assembled under his standard about 10,000 picked soldiers fix)m the army in Italy, consisting of 8,700 foot and 1,200 cavalry.- He now set out at the head of this host to avenge the insulted majesty of Rome and Spain, by drowning Netherland heresy in the blood of its professors. It was a holy war : those against whom it was to be waged were more execrable than Jews or Saracens : they were also greatly richer. The wealth of the world was trea- sured up in the cities of the Netherlands, and their gates once forced, a stream of gold would be jioured into the coffers of Spain, now beginning to be i)ar- tially deplenished bj' the many costly entei-prises of Philip. A fitter instrument for the dreadful work which Philij) had now in linnil tlian the Duke of Alva, it would have been impo.ssible to find in all Euroiie. A daring and able soldier, Alva was a very great f\xvourite with the Emperor Charles V., under whom he hnd served in both Eui'ope and Africa, and some of the more brilliant of the victories tliat were gained by the armies of Charles were owing to his luiquestionable ability, but somewhat headlong courage. He had wan-ed against l>oth the Turks and Lutherans, and of the two it is likely that the latter were the objects of his greatest avei-sion and deepest hatred. He was now sixty, but his years had neither impaired the vigour of his body nor quenched the fire of his spirit. In person he was thin and tall, with small head, leathern fiice, twink- ling eyes, and silvery beard.^ He was cool, patient, cruel, .selfish, \-indictive, and though not greedy of wine and the pleasures to which it often in- cites, was inflamed with a most insatia- ble greed of gold. Haughty and over- bearing, he could not tolerate a rival, and the zeal he afterwards showed in dragging Count Egmont to the scaffold is thought to have been inspired, in part at least, by the renown Egmont had ac- quii-ed over the fii'st generals of France, and which had thrown Alva somewhat into the shade, being compelled to occupy an inglorious position in the north of Italy, while his rival was distinguishing himself on a far more consi)icuo\as theatre. But the master-passion of this man'.s soul was a ferocious fanaticism. Cruel by natiu'e, he had become yet more cruel by bigotry. This overbearing passion had heated his instincts, and crazed his judgment, till in stealthy bloodthirstiness he had ceased to be the man, and become the tiger. As was the general, so were the soldiers. The Duke of Alva was, in fact, leading an army of Alvas across the Alps. Their courage had been hardened and their .skill perfected in various climes, and in numerous cam])aigns and battles ; they were haughty, stern, and cruel beyond the ordi- nary measure of Spanish soldiers. Deeming them- ' Brandt, vol. i., p. Strada. bk. vi., p. 29. 2 Badovai-o MS. apvd Motley, vol. i., p. 339. THE MARCH OF ALVA'S AEMY. C7 selves champions of the Cross, the holy war in which they were figliting not only wai'rauted, but e.en .sanctified in their eyes, the indulgence of the most vindictive and sanguinary passions against those men whom they were marching to attack, and whom they held to be worthy of death in the raine,' attended by two armies of ooservation, the French on this side and tlie Swiss on that, to see that they kept the straight road. Their march resembled the progress of the Ijoa-constrictor, which, resting its successive coils upon the same spot, moves its glittering but deadly body forwards. THE DIKE or \M \ (Fiom thi Paiiiait Ij Titian.) most terrible form in which they coidd possiljly inflict it. Climbing the steep sides of Mont Cenis, the duke himself leading the van, this invading host gained the summit of the pass. From this poinl, where nothing is visible save the little circular lake that fills the crater of a now exhausted volcano, and the naked i)eaks that environ it, the Spaniards descended through the narrow and sublime gorges of the mountains to Savoy. Continuing their march, they passed on through Bui-gundy and Lor- Where the van-guard Iiad encamped this niglit, tlie main body of the army was to Jialt the next, and the rear the night following. Thus this Apollyon host went onward. It was the middle of August when the Si>aniards arrived at the frontier of the Low Countries. They found the gates 0])en, and their entrance un- opposed. Those who would have .suffered the in- ' Strada, bk. vi., p. 30. Le Clerq, Hist, des Provinces Unies des Pays Bas, torn, i., livr. ii., p. 13 ; Amsterdam, 1723. 68 HISTOEY OF PEOTESTANTISK vaders to ciitei- oiilj' over their dead botlies were in tlieir graves; the nobles were divided or in- different ; the cities were paralysed by the triumph of the royal arms at Valenciennes ; thousands, at the firet rising of the tempest, had retreated into the Church of Eome as into a harbour of safety ; tameness and terror reigned throughout the coimtry, and thus the i»werful Netherlands permitted Philip to put his chidii upon its neck without striking a blow. The only princijile wluch could have averted the humiliation of the present hour, and the miseries of the long years to come, had meanwhile beeia smitten down. Cantoning his soldiers in the chief cities, the Duke of Alva in the end of August took up Ids residence in Brussels, Count Egmont riding by liis side as he entered the gates of the Belgian capital. He soon showed that he had arrived with a plenitude of power ; that, in fact, he was king. Margaret felt her authority over- topped by the higher authority of the duke, and resigned her office as regent. She accompanied her retirement with a piece of ad\'ice to her brother, which Wios to the effect that if the mciV sures that she feared were in contemplation should be carried out, the result would be the ruin of the Netherlands. Although Philip had been as sure of the issue as Margaret was, he would ha\-e gone forward all the same. Meanwhile his repre- sentative, without a moment's delay, opened his career of tyranny and blood. His lii-st act was to arrest the Counts Egmont and Horn, and in manner as crafty as the deed was cruel. He in- vited them to his house on pretence of consulting with them respecting a citadel which he meant to erect at Antwerp. When the invitation reached these noblemen, they were seated at a banquet given by the Prior of the Knights of St. John. " Take the fleetest horse in your stable," whispered the prior in the ear of Egmont, " and flee from this place." The infatuated nobleman, instead of making his escape, went straight to the palace of the duke. After the business of the citadel had been discussed, the two counts were conducted into separate rooms. " Count Egmont," said the captain of the duke's guard, " deliver your sword ; it is the will of the king." Egmont made a motion as if he would flee. A door was thrown open, and he was showai the ne.\t apartment filled with Si)anish mus- keteers. Eesistance was vain. The count gave up his sword, saying, " By this sword the cause of the king has Ijcen oftener than once successfully defended."' He was aonducted ujj-stairs to a tein- ' Strada jiorary prison; the windows were closed; the walls were hung in black, and lights were burned in it night and day — a sad presage of the yet gloomier fate that awaited him. Count Horn was treated in a precisely similar way. At the end of fourteen days the two noblemen were conducted, under a strong guard, to the Ciistle of Ghent. At the same time two other important arrests were made Bakkerzeel, the secretary of Egmont; and Straalen, the wealthy Burgomaster of Antwerp. - These arrests spread terror over the whole country. They convinced Eomanists equally with Protestants that the policy to be pursued was one of indiscriminate oppression and violence. Count Egmont had of late been, to say the least, no luke- warm friend of the Government ; his secretiuy, Bakkerzeel, had signalised his zeal against Protes- tantism by spilling Protestant blood, yet now both of these men were on the road to the scaflbld. The very terror of Alva's name, before he came, had driven from the Low Countries 100,000 of their inhabitants. The dread iiLsjiii-ed by the arrests now made compelled 20,000 more to flee. The weavers of Bruges and Ghent carried to England their art of cloth-making, and those of Antwerp that of the sQk mMiufacture. Nor was it the disciples of the Eeformation only that sought asylum beyond seas. Thomas Tillius forsook his rich Abbey of St. Bernard, in the neigh- bourhood of Antwerp, and repaii-ed to the Duchv of Cleves. There he threw ofl" hLs frock, manied, and afterwards became pastor, first at Haarlem, and next at Delft.^ Every day a deeper gulf opened to the Nether- lands. The death of the two Flemish envoys, the Marquis of Berghen and the Baron de Montigny, was immediately consequent on the departure of the duke for the Low Countries. The precise means and manner of their destruction can now never be known, but occun-ing at this moment, it combined with the imprisonment of Egmont and Horn in prognosticating times of more than usual calamity. The next measure of Alva was to erect a new tribunal, to which he gave the name of the " Council of Tumults," but ■ which came to be known, and ever u-ill be known in history, by the more dreadful appellative of the " Council of Blood." Its erection meant the overthrow of every other institution. It proscribed all the ancient charters of the Netherlands, with the rights and liberties in which they vested the citizens. - Bentivoglio, lib. ii., cap. 3, pp. 50, 51. Hooft, vol. iv., pp. 1.50, 151. Brandt, vol. i., p. 260. 2 Brandt, vol. i., p. 260. A EEIGN OF TERROR AND ATROCITY. 69 The Council of Tumults assumed absolute and sole j urisdiction in all mattei-s gi-owing out of the late troubles, in opposition to all other law, jmis- diction, and authority whatsoever. Its work was to search after and punish all heretics and traitors. It set about its work by first defining what that treason was which it was to punish. This tribunal declared that " it was treason against the Divine and human Majesties to subscribe and pre.sent any petition against the new bishops, the Inquisition, or the placards ; as also to suffer or allow the exercise of the new religion, let the occasion or necessity be what it would." ' Further, it was treason not to have opi)Osed the image-breaking ; it was treason not to have opposed the field-preachings ; it was treason not to have opposed the presenting of the petition of the Confederate nobles; in fine, it was treason to have said or thought that the Tribunal of Tumults was obliged to confonn itself to the ancient charters and privileges, or " to have asserted or insinuated that the king had no right to take away all the privileges of these Provinces if he thought fit, or that he was not discharged from aU his oaths and promises of pardon, seeing all the inhabitants had been guilty of a ci-ime, either of omission or of commission." In short, the King of Spain, in this fulmination, declai-ed that all the inliabitants of the Low Countries were guilty of treason, and had incurred the penalty of death. Or as one of the judges of this tremendous tribunal, with memoi-able simplicity and pithiness, put it, "the heretical in- habitants broke into the churches, and the orthodo.x: inhabitants did nothing to hinder it, therefore they ought all of them to be hanged together." - The Council of Blood consisted of twelve judges ; the majority were Spaniards, and the rest fost fi-iends of the Spanish interest. The duke himself was president. Under the duke, and occupying his place in his absence, was Vargas, a Spanish lawyer. Vargas was renoAvned among his country- men as a man of insatiable gi-eed and measureless cruelty. He it was who proposed the compendious settlement of the Netherlands question to which we have just refen-ed, namely, that of hanging all the inhaljitants on one gallows. " Tlie gangixuio of the Netherlands," said the Spaniards, " has need of a sharp knife, and such is Vargas."' This man was well mated with another Spaniard nearly a-s cruel and altogether as imscrupulous, Del Rio. Tliis council pronounced what sentences it pleased, and it penuitted no appeal. ' Brandt, vol. i., p. 260. Meteren, lib. iii., p. CG. " Iljid., vol. i., p. 261. ' IjO Clerq, Hist, des Provinces Unies, SiC, torn, i., livr. ii., p. 14. It would be both wearisome and disgusting to follow these men, step by step, in theu' path of blood. Theii- council-chamber resembled nothing so much as the lair of a wild beast, vnth its precincts covered with the remains of ^^ct^ms. It was simply a den of murder ; and one could see in imagination all its approaches and avenues soaked in gore and strewn with the mangled carcases of men, women, and children. The subject is a horrible one, upon which it is not at all pleasant to dwell. All was now ready ; Alva had erected his Council of Blood, he had distributed his soldiers over the country in such formidable bodies as to overawe the inhabitants, he was erecting a citadel at Antwerp, forts in other places, and compelling the citizens to defray the cost of the instruments of their oppression ; and now the Low Countries, renowned in former days for the mildness of their government and the happiness of theu- people, became literally an Aceldama. We shall pei-mit the historian Brandt to .summarise the horrors with which the land was now overspread. " There was nothing now," says he, " but imprisoning and racking of all ages, sexes, and conditions of people, and oftentimes too without any previous accusation against them. Infinite numbers (and they not of the Religion neither) that had been but once or twice to hear a sermon among the Reformed, were put to death for it. The gallows, says the Heer Hooft in his history, the wheels, stakes, and trees in the highways were loaden with carcases or limbs of such as had been hanged, beheaded, or roasted, so that the air which God had made for the respu-a- tion of the living, was now become the common grave or habitation of the dead. Every day pro- duced fresh objects of pity and mourning, and the noise of the bloody passing-bell was continually heard, which by the martyrdom of this man's cousin, or t' other's friend or brother, rung dismal peals in the hearts of the sur\dvors. Of banish- ment of persons and confiscations of goods there was no end ; it was no matter whether they had i-eal or pei-sonal estates, free or entailed, all was seized upon ^vithout regarding the claims of credi- tors or others, to the unspeakable prejudice both of rich and poor, of convents, hospitals, widows and orphans, who were by knavish evasions deprived of theu- mcomes for many years."' Bales of denunciations were sent in. These were too vohuninous to be read by Alva or Vargas, and were remitted to the other councils, that still re- tained a nominal existence, to be read and i-eported ■I Brandt, vol. i., p. 261. HISTORY OF PROTESTAISTISM. on. Tlioy knew tlie sort of report tliat was expected from them, and took care not to disappoint tlie expectations of tlie men of the Blood Council. With shai-p reiterated knell came the words, " Guilty : the gallows." If by a rare chance the accused was said to be innocent, the report was sent back to be amended : the recommendation to death was always carried out within forty-eight hours. This bloody harvest was gathered all over the country, evei-y town, village, and hamlet fur- nishing its group of victims. To-day it is Valen- cieuues that yields a batch of eighty-four for the stake and the gallows ; a few days thereafter, a miscellaneous crowd, amounting to ninety-five, are brought in from diiferent places in Flanders, and handed over by the Blood Council to the scafibld ; next day, forty-six of the irJiabitants of Malines are condemned to die ; no sooner are they disposed of than another crowd of thirty-five, collected from various localities by the sleuth-hounds of the Blood Council, ai-e ready for the fire. Thus the Iioriible work of atrocity went on, prosecuted with unceasing vigom- and a zeal tliat was truly awful. Shrovetide (1568) was approaching. The in- habitants of the Netherlands, like those of all Polish countries, were Avont to pass this night in rejoicings. Alva resolved that its songs shoidd be turned into bowlings. Wliile the citizens should Ije making meriy, he would throw his net over all who were kno^vn to have ever been at a field-preaching, and prepare a holocaust of some thousand heads fittingly to celebrate the close of " Holy Week." At midnight his m^Tmidons were sent forth ; they burst open the doors of all su.s- pected persons, and dragging them from then- beds, hauled them to prison. Tlie number of aiTests, liowever, did not answer Alva's expectations ; some had got thuely warning and had made theii- escaiie; those who remained, having but little heart to rejoice, were not so much ofl" their guard, nor so easy a prey, as the officers expected to find them. Alva had enclosed only .")00 disciples or favourers of the Gospel in his net — too many, alas ! for sueli a fate, but too few for the vast desires of the per- secutor. Tliey were, of coui-se, ordered to the scafibld.' Terror was chasing awaj- the inhabitants in thousands. An edict was issued threatening severe penalties against all carriers and shiji-masters who should aid any subject of the Netherlands to escape, but it was quite inefiectual in checking tlie emigration ; the cities were becoming empty, and the land comiiaratively depojiulated. Neverthe- less, the per.secutioii went on -n-ith unrelenting fury. Even Viglius coimselled a little lenity ; the Pope, it is said, alarmed at the issue to wliich matters were tending, was not indisposed to moderation. Such advisers ought to liave had weight with the King of Spain, but Philip refused to listen even to them. Vargas, whom he consulted, declared, of course, for a continuance of the persecution, telling his sovereign that in the Netherlands he had found a second Indies, where the gold was to be had without even the trouble of digging for it, so numerous were the confiscations. Thus avarice came to the aid of bigotry. Philip next submitted a "Memorial and Representation" of the state of the Low Countries to the Spanish Inquisition, craving the judgment of the Fathers upon it. After deliberating, the inquisitors pronounced their de- cision on the 16th of Februaiy, 1-568. It was to the efiect that, " with the exception of a select list of names which had been Iianded to them, all the inliabitants of the Netherlands were heretics or abettors of heresj', and so had been guilty of the crime of high treason." On the 26th of the same month, Philip confirmed this sentence by a royal proclamation, in which he commanded the decree to be can-ied into immediate execution, without favour or respect of persons. The King of Spain actually passed sentence of death upon a whole nation. We behold him erecting a common scaf- fold for its execution, and digging one vast grave for all the men, and women, and children of tlie Low Countries. " Since the beginning of the world," says Brandt, " men have not seen or heard any jjarallel to this horrible sentence."' Brandt, vol. i., p. 263. IIM., p. 2GC. THE PEINCE OF ORANGE PREPARES FOR WAR. CHAPTER XIV. WILLIAM UNFURLS HIS STANDARD EXECUTION OF EGIIONT AND HORN. William cited by the Blood Council— His Estates Confiscated — Solicited to Unfurl the Standard against Spain— Funds raised — Soldiers Enlisted — Tlie War waged in the King's Kame— Louis of Nassau — The Invading Host Marches — Battle at Dam— Victory of Count Louis — Eage of Alva — Executions — Condemnation of Counts Egmont and Horn— Sentence intimated to them — Egmont's Conduct on the Scaffold — Executed — Death of Count Horn— Battle of Gemmingen— Defeat of Count Louis. The Prince of Orange liad fled from the Nether- lands, as we have ah-eady seen, and retired to his patrimonial estates of Nassau. Early in the year 1.5G8 the Duke of Alva cited him to appear before the Council of Blood. It was promised that the greatest lenity would be shown him, should be obey the summons, but William was far too sagacious to walk into tliis trap. His brother Louis of Nassau, liis brother-in-law Count van den Berg, and the Counts Hoogstraaten and Culemberg were sum- moned at the same time ; thrice fourteen days were allowed them for putting in an appearance ; should they fail to obey, they were, at the expiration of that period, to incur forfeiture of their estates and perpetual banishment. It is needless to say that these noblemen did not resjoond to Alva's citation, and, as a matter of course, theu" estates were con- fiscated, and sentence of banishment was recorded against them. Had they succeeded in ensnaring William of ©range, tlie joy of Philip and Alva would have been nnbounded. His sagacity, his strength of character, and his influence witli his countrymen, made his capture of more importance to the success of their desigirs than that of all the rest of the Flemish nobility. Their mortiiication, when tliey found that he had escaped them, was therefore extreme. His figure I'ose menacingly before them in tiieir closets ; he disturbed all their calculations ; for while this sagacious and dauntless friend of his country's lilierties wiis at large, they could not be sure of retaining their hold on the Netherlands, their prey might any day be -wrested from them. But thougli his ])erson had escaped them, his property was witliiu their rcacli, and now his numerous estates in France and the Low Coun- tries were confiscated, their revenues appropriated for the uses of Philip, and his eldest son, Count van Buren, a lad of thirteen, and at the time a student in the LTniversity of Lo\ivain, was seized as a hostage and carried oft' to Spain. There was but one man to whom the inhabitants, in the midst of their ever-accumulating misery and despair, could look with the smallest hope of de- liverance. That was the man whom we have just seen stripped of his property and declared an outlaw. The eyes of the exiles abroad were also turned to William of Orange. He began to be earnestly importuned by the refugees in England, in Grer- many, in Cleves and other parts, to unfurl the standard and strike for his country's liberation. William wished to defer the enterprise in the hope of seeing Spain involved in war with some other nation, when it would be more easy to compel her to let go her hold upon the unhappy Netherlands. But the exiles were importunate, for their numbers were being daily swelled by the new horrors that were continually darkening their native country. William therefore resolved to delay no longer, but instantly to gird himself in obedience to the cry from so many countries, and the yet louder cry, though expressed only in groans, that was coming to him from the Netherlands. His fii-st care was to raise the necessary funds and soldiei-s. He could not begin the war with a less sum in hand than two hundred thousand florins. The cities of Antwerp, Haarlem, Amster- dam, and otliers contributed one-half of that sum ; tlie refugee merchants in London and elsewhere subscribed largely. His brother. Count John of Nassau, gave a considerable sum ; and the pxince himself completed the amount needed by the sale of his plate, furniture, tapestiy, and jewels, which wei-e of gi-eat value. In this way were the funds provided. For troops the chief relianeoof Williaui was on the Protestant princes of Germany. He rej)rcscnted to them the danger with which their own prosperity and liberties would be menaced, should the Nether- lands be occupied by the Spaniards, and their ti-ado destroyed by the foreign occupation of the seaboard, and the conversion of its great connnercial cities into camps. The Gennan princes were not insensible to these considerations, and not only did they advance him sums of money — they winked at his levy- ing recruits within tlicir territories. He reckoned, HISTOEY OF PROTESTANTISM. too, on receiving help from tlie Huguenots of Fi-ance ; nor would the Protestant Queen of Eng- land, he trusted, be lacking to him at this crisis. He could confidently reckon on the Flemish refugees scattered all over the northern countries of Europe. They had been warriors as well as traders in their own country, and he could rely on their swelluig his ranks with brave and jiatriotic soldiers. With these resources — how diminutive when compared with the treasures and the armies of that Power to which he was throwing down the gage of battle ! — William resolved on beginning his gi'eat struggle. By a fiction of loyalty this war against the king was made in the nanie of the king. William nnfui'led his standard to diive out the Spaniards from Philiji's dominions of the Netherlands, in order that he might serve the interests of the king by saving the land from utter desolation, the inhabit- ants from dire slavery, the charters and privileges from extinction, and religion from utter overthrow. He gave a commission to his brother, dated Dillen- burg, Gth AprU, 1.568, to levy troops for the war to be waged for these objects. Louis of Nassau was one of the best soldiers of the age, and had the cause as niuch at heart as the prince himself The count was successful in raising levies in the north of Germany. The motto of his arms was " The freedom of the nation and of conscience," and blazoned on his liannei-s were the words "Victory or death."' Besides the soldiers I'ccruited in the north of Germany by Count Louis, levies had been raised in France and in the Duchy of Cleves, and it was arranged that tlie liberating army should enter the Netherlands at four points. One di\'ision was to march from the south and enter by Artois ; a second was to descend along the Meuse from the east J Count Louis was to attack on the north; and the prince himself, at the head of the main body of liberators, was to strike at the heart of the Nether- lands by occujjyiiig Brabant. The attacking forces on the south and east were repulsed with great slaughter ; but the attack on the north under Count Louis was signally successful. On the 2-tth April, 1.568, the coimt entered the Provinces and advanced to Dam, on the shores of the Bay of Dollart, the site of thirty-three villages till drowned in a mighty inundation of the ocean. Troops of volunteers were daily joining his standard. Here Count Aremberg, who had been sent by Alva with a body of Spanish and Sardinian troops to oppose him, joined battle with him. The Count of Nassau's little army was strongly posted. Bi'a.ndt, vol. i., p. 267. On the right was placed his cavalry, under the com- mand of his brother Count Adolphus. On the left his main army was defended by a hill, on which ho had planted a strong band of musketeei-s. A wood and the walls of a convent guarded his rear ; while in front stretched a nicrass full of pits from which peat had been dug. When the Spaniards came in sight of the enemy dra\ra up in two little squares on the eminence, they were impatient to begin battle, deeming it impossible that raw levies could withstand them for a moment. Their leader, who knew the natui-e of the ground, strove to restrain their ardour, bvit in vain : accusations of treachery and cowardice were hurled at him. "Let us march," said Ai'emberg, his anger kindled, " not to victory, but to be overcome." The soldiers rushed into the swamp, but though now sensible of their error, they could not retreat, the front ranks being piished forward by those in the rear, till they were fairly under the enemy's fire. Seeing the Spaniards entangled in the mud, Comit Louis attacked them in front, while his brother broke in upon their flank with the cavalry. The musketeers poured in then- shot upon them, and one of the squares of foot wheeling round the base of the hill took them in the rear; thus assailed on all sides, and un;il>le to resist, the Spanish host was cut in pieces. Both Adolphus, brother of Louis of Nassau, and Arem- berg, the leader of the Spaniards, fell in the battle. The artillery, baggage, and military chest of the Spaniards became the booty of the conquerors." This issue of the affair was a gi-eat lilovr to Alva. He knew the effect which the prestige of a first victory was sure to have in favour of William. He therefore hastened his measiu'es that he might march against the enemy and inflict on him summary vengeance for having defeated the veteran soldiers of Spain. The fii-st burst of the tyrant's rage fell, however, not on the patriot army, but on those unhappy persons who were in prison at Brussels. Nineteen Confederate noblemen, who had been condemned for high treason by the Council of Blood, were ordered by Alva for immediate execu- tion. They were all beheaded in the horse-market of Brussels. Eight died as Eoman Catholics, and their bodies received Christian burial ; the remain- ing eleven professed the Reformed laith, and their heads stuck on poles, and their bodies fastened to stakes, were left to moidder in the fields.' The next day four gentlemen suflfered the same fate. Comit Culemberg's house at Bnissels was razed - Bentivoglio, lib. ii., cap. 3, p. 52. Strada, "lib. vii Brandt, vol. i., p. 267. •* Strada, lib. vii. 74 IIISTOEY OF PEOTESTANTISM. to the gi-oiintl, and Lii the centre of the desolated site a phicard was set up, announcing that the ill- omened spot had been made an execration because the great " Beggar Confederacy " against king and Church had been concocted here. These minor tragedies but heralded a gi'eater one. The last houi-s of Counts Egmont and Horn were now come. Tliey had lain nine months in the Castle of Client, and conscious of entire loyalty to the king, they had not for a moment apprehended a fatal issue to their cause ; but both Philip and Alva had from the first determined that they should die. The secretary of Egmont, Bakkerzeel, was subjected to the torture, in the hope of extorting from him condemnatory matter against his master. His tormentors, however, failed to extract anything from him which they could use against Egmont, whereat Alva Wixs so enraged that he ordered the miserable man to be pulled in pieces by wild horses. The condemnation of the unfoi-tunate noblemen was proceeded with all the same. They were brought from Ghent to Brussels under a strong escort. Alva, taking up one of the blank slips with Philip's signature, of which he had brought a chestful from Spain, drafted upon it the sentence of Egmont, con- demning him to be beheaded as a traitor. The same formality was gone through against Count Horn. The main accusation against these noble- men was, that they had been privy to the Con- fedei-acy, which had been formed to oppose the inti'oduction of the Inquisition and edicts ; and that they had met with the Prince of Orange at Den- dermonde, to deliberate about opposing the entrance of the king's army into the Netherlands. They knew indeed of the Confederacy, but they had not been members of it ; and as regai'ded the conference at Dendernionde, they had been present at that meeting, but thej' had, as our readers will remem- ber, Tlisapproved and opposed the proposition of Louis of Nassau to unite their endeavours against the entrance of the Spanish troops into Flanders. But innocence or guilt were really of no account to , the Blood Council, when it had fixed on the victim to be sacrificed. The two counts were roused from sleep at midnight, to have the sentence of death in- timated to them by the Bishop of Ypres. At eleven o'clock of the following day (5th of May) they were led to execution. The scafibld had boen erected in the centre of the great square of Brussels, standing hard by if not on the identical spot where the stake of the first martjTS of the Reformation in the Netherlands had been set iiji. It was covered with black cloth ; nineteen com- panies of soldiere kept guard around it ; a vast a.ssembly occupied the space beyond, and the windows of the houses were crowded with spec- tators, among whom was Alva himself, who had come to witness the tragedj' of his o%™ ordering. Count Egmont was the first to ascend the scaflbld, accompanied by the Bishop of Ypre.s. He had walked thither, reciting the 51st Psalm : " In the multitude of thy compassions, O Go'.l, blot out all mine iniquities," &c. He conducted himself with dignity upon the scaflbld. It was vain to think of addressing the spectators ; those he wished to reach were too far ofl" to hear him, and his words would have fiillen only on the ears of the Spanish soldiei-s. After a few minutes' conversation with the bishop, who presented him with a silver cross to kiss, and gave him his benediction, the count put oft' his black mantle and robe of red damask, and taking the Cross of the Golden Fleece from his neck, he knelt down and put his head on the block. Joining his hands as if in the act of supplication, he cried aloiid, " O Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit." Thereupon the executioner emerged from underneath the scafibld, where till that moment he had been concealed, and at one blow severed his head from his body. Count Horn was next led upon the scaflbld. He inquired whether Egmont were already dead. His eye was directed to a bkck cloth, which had been hastUy thrown over the tnink and severed head of that nobleman, and he was told that the remains of Egmont were underneath. " We have not met each other," he observed, " since the day we were apprehended." The crucifix presented to him he did not kiss ; but he kneeled on the scaflbld to pray. His devotions ended, he rose up, laid his head on the block, and uttering in Latin the same exclamation which Egmont had used, he received the stroke of the sword. The heads of the two counts were stuck up on iron poles on the scaflbld, between burning torches, and exhibited till late in the afternoon. This horrible deed very much deepened the detestation and abhorrence in which both Philip and Alva were held by the Nether- landers.' The dismal tragedy ended, Alva was at liberty to turn his attention to the war. He set out from Brussels with an army of 12,000 foot and 3,000 horse to meet Louis of Nassau. He came up with him (14th of July, 1.568) in the neighbourhood of Groningen. On the approach of the duke, Count Louis retreated to the small town of Gcnnningen on the Ems, where he encamped. His position was not unlike that in which he had joined battle with Aremberg, being strongly defended by 1 Straila, lib. vii. Brandt, vol. i., p. 207. THE TWO WIDOWS OF UTRECHT. V5 morasses and swamps. The soldiers under him were somewhat inferior in numbers, but far more inferior in discipline, to the troops led by Alva. But Count Louis was more in want of money than men. The pay of his soldiers was gi-eatly in arrear, and when they saw the Spaniards approach, and knew that a battle was imminent, tliey refused to figlit till fiKt their aiTears had been paid. Intelli- gence of this mutinous disposition was duly carried to Alva by spies, and he accordingly chose that moment to attack. Count Louis and the Flemish exiles fought bravely, but deserted by tlie Cierman mutineers, they were compelled at last to retreat. The Spanish army rushed into the camp ; most of the Germans who had refused to fight were put to the sword ; Count Louis, with the remains of his routed host, escaped across the river Ems, and soon thereaftei', in company with Coimt Hoogstraaten, he set out for Germany to join his brother, the Prince of Orange.' CHAPTER XV. ■ FAILURE OF William's first campaign. Execution of Widow van Dieman— Herman Schinkel— Martyrdoms at Ghent— .T,t Bois-le-Duc— Peter van Kulen and his Maid-servant— A New Gag Invented— William Approaches with liis Army— His Manifesto— His Avowal of his Faith— William Crosses the Rhine— Alva Declines Battle-WiUiam's Supplies Fail— Flanders Refuses to Rise— William Retires— Alva's Elation— Erects a Statue to himself— Its Inscription— The Pope sends him Congratulations, etc.- Synod of the Church of the Netherlands— Presbyterian Church Government Established. From the battle-field of Gemmingen, Alva went on his way by Amsterdam and Utrecht and Bois-le-Duc to Biiissels, instituting inquiries in every district through which he passed, touching tliose of the inliabitants wlio had been concerned in the late tumults, and leaving his track marked thro\ighout by halters and stakes. At Bois-le-Duc he pa.ssed sentence on sixty refugees whom he foiind in tliat town, sending some to the gallows and others to the fire. Some noblemen and councillors of Utrecht were at the same time executed, and their estates confiscated. Many in those days perished for no other crime but that of being rich. A gentle- woman of eighty-four years, widow of Adam van Dieman, a foi-mer Burgomaster of Utrecht, and who had received imder her roof for a single night the minister John Arentson, was sentenced to die. When the day came, the executioner made her sit in a chair till he should strike ofi" her head. Being a Romanist she knew that her gi-eat wealth had as much to do with her death as the night's lodging she had given the Refonned pastor, for when brought Tipon the scaffold she asked if there was no room for pardon. Tlie officer answered, " None." " I know what you mean," replied the brave old lady ; " the calf is fat, and must therefore be killed." Then tm-ning to the executioner, and jesting playfully on her giieat age, which ought to have proe\u-ed lier respect and favour, she said, " I hope your sword is sharp, for you will find my neck somewhat tough." The executioner struck, and her head fell." A month after (2.5th of September) the widow of Egbert van Broekhuissen, a wine merchant at Utrecht, was beheaded. Her sentence set forth that she had been at a conventicle, but it was strongly rumoured that her real offence was one on which the judicial record was silent. One of the commissioners of the Council of Blood was a customer of her husband's, and was said to be deep in his debt. It would seem that the judge took this way of paying it, for when the effects of the widow were confiscatetl for the king's use, the ledger in which the debt was posted could not be found.' About the same time three persons were hanged at Haarlem. One of them had mutilated an image; another had Iteen a soldier of Brederode's, the Con- federate leader; the third had written a poem, styled the Eecho, satirising the Pope. This man was the father of eight children, whose mother was dead. His own mother, a woman of eighty years, earnestly interceded that he might be spared for liis children's sake. But no compassion could be sho-svn him. His two companions had already been strangled ; his own foot was on the ladder, when a sudden tumult arose round the scaffold. But the per- secutoi-s were not to be defrauded of their prey. • Strada, lib. vii. Watson, PUlip II., vol. i., pp. 329, 330. = Brandt, vol. i., pp. 269, 270. ' Ibhl. 76 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. Tliey ImiTied ofi" their victim to the burgomaster's chamber; there they tied him to a ladder, and having strangled liim, they hung np his corpse on the public gallows beside the other two. At Delft, Herman Schiukel, one of the lettered printers of those days, was condemned to die for having printed the " Psalm-book, the Catechism, and the Confes- sion of Faith," or short confession of the Christian doctrine from the Latin of Beza. He made a powerful defence before his judges, but of what avail was it for innocence and justice to plead before such a tribunal l He composed some verees in Latin on his death, which he sent to a friend. He wrote a letter to his infant son and daughters, breathing all the tenderness of a father ; and then he yielded uji his life.' In Brabant and Flanders the persecution was still more severe. At Ghent, Giles de Meyer, the Reformed pastor, was condemned to the gallows. But the Spaniards who lay there in garrison, deeming this too good a death for the heretical preacher, changed it to one more befitting his demerits. Putting a gag into his mouth, and throwing him in, bound hand and foot, among a stack of faggots, they set fire to the heap and burned him. Meyer was one of four ministers who all sealed their doctrine with their blood in the same diocese. In the towns and villages around Ghent, men and women were being every day hanged — some simply for having taught children to sing psalms ; others for having two years before given the use of their barns for sermon. At Bois-le-Duc, on the 28th of August, 1.568, 110 men and three women were cited by toll of bell. Every few days a little batch of prisonei-s were brought foi-th, and distributed between the gallows and the block, on no principle that one can see, save the caprice or wliim of the executioners. Thus the altars of per- secution continually smoked; and strangled bodies and headless trunks were perpetually before the eyes of the miserable inhabitants. Peter van Kulen, a goldsmith liy trade, and an elder of the congregation at Breda, was thrown into prison. He had a maid-servant, a fellow-disciple of the same Lord and Master, who ministered to him in his bonds. She brought him his daily meal in the prison ; but other Bread, which the guards saw not, she also conveyed to him — namely, that destined for the food of the soiil; and many a sweet and refreshing repast did he enjoy in his dun- geon. His faith and courage were thereby greatly strengthened. This went on for nine months. At last the guards suspected that they had a greater hei-etic in the servant than in the master, and threw her also into prison. After two months both of them were condemned, and brought out to be burned. As, with cheerful and constant aspect, they were being led to the scaffold, some of their townswomen forced their way through the guards to take their last farewell of them. "Van Kulen had the commiseration sho-mi him of being fii-st strangled, and then committed to the fire ; but for his pious maid-sei'vant the more pitiless doom was reserved of being burned alive. This woman con- tinued to encourage her master so long as he was capable of understanding her ; when her words could no longer be useful to him, she was heard by the bystanders, with invincible coui"age, magnifj'ing the name of God in the midst of the flames.- It was now that a more dreadful instrument than any which the cpiick invention of the per- secutor had yet devised, was brought into play to prevent the martyrs speaking in tlieir last moments. It was seen how memorable were words spoken in circumstances so awful, and how deep they sank into the hearts of the hearere. It had been usual to put a wooden gag or ball into the mouth of the pereon to be burned, but the ball would roll out at times, and theia the martyr would confess his faith and glorify God. To prevent this, the following dreadful contrivance was resoi-ted to : two small bits of metal were screwed down upon the tongTie ; the tip of the tongue was then seared with a red- hot iron ; instant swelling ensued, and the tongue could not again be drawn out of its eaiclosure. The pain of burning made it wriggle to and fro in the mouth, yielding " a hollow sound," says Brandt, " much like that of the lirazen bull of the tyrant of Sicily." "Arnold van Elp," continues the historian, " a man of known sincerity, relates that whilst he was a spectator of the martyrdom of some who were thus tongue-tied, he heard a friar among the ci'owd saying to his companion, ' Hark ! how they sing : should they not dance too V"' From this horrible, though to Alva congenial, work, the viceroy was called away by intelligence that William of Orange was approaching at the head of an army to invade Bi-abant. To open the gates of the Netherlands to his soldiers, William issued a manifesto, setting forth the causes of the war. " There was," he said, " no resource but arms, unless the ancient charters were to be utterly extinguished, and the country itself brought to ruin by a tyi'anny exercised, not by the king " (so he still affected to believe), " but by Spanish coun- cillors in the king's name, and to the destruction ' Brandt, vol. i., p. 271. = Brandt, vol. i., p. 275. ALVA ERECTS A STATUE OF HIMSELF. 77 of tlie king's interest." To avei-t tbi.s catastroplie was he now in arms. The cause, he aihrmed, was that of every man in the Low Coiintries, and no Netlicrhuider " could remain neutral in this struggle without becoming a traitor to his countrj'." In this manifesto the prince made the first public amxomicement of that great change which his own religious sentiments had undergone. All that is noble in human character, and heroic in himian achievement, must spring from some great ti'uth realised in the soul. Willianr of Orange gave a forecast of his future career — his unselfish devo- tion, his unwearied toil, his inextinguishable hope of his country — when he avowed in tliis manifesto liis conviction that the doctrines of the Reformed Church were more in accordance with the "Word of God than were those of the Roman Church. This elevated the contest to a higher basis. Hence- forward it was no longer for ancient Flemish chai"ters alone, it was also for the rights of con- science ; it allied itself with the great movement of the human soul for freedom. The Prince of Oi'ange, advancing from Germany, crossed the Rhine near Cologne, with an army, in- cluding horse and foot, not exceeding 20,000. The Spanish host was equal in numbers, but better furnished with military stores and pro- visions. William approached the banks of the Meuse, which he crossed, much to the dismay of Alva, by a bold expedient, to which Julius Caesar had had recourse in similar circumstances. He placed his cavalry in the river above the ford, and the force of the current being thus broken, the army was able to effect a passage. But Alva declined battle. He knew how slender were the finances of William, and that could he prolong the campaign till the appi-oach of winter, the prince would be under the necessity of disbanding his army. His tactics were completely successful. Whichever way William turned, Alva followed him ; always straitening him, and making it im- possible for him to enter any fortified town, or to find provisions for his army in the open country. The autumn wore away in marches and coimter- marches, Alva skOfully avoiding battle, and en- gaging only in slight skirmishes, which, barren of result to William, were jirofitable to the Spanisli general, inasmuch as they helped to consume time. William had expected that Brabant and Flanders would rise at the sight of his standards, ;;nd shake off the Spanish yoke. Not a city opened its gates to him, or hoisted on its walls the fiag of defiance to the tyi-ant. At last both money and provisions failed him. Of the .300,000 guilders which the Flemish Protestants at home and abroad had undertaken to furnish towards the deliverance of the country, barely 12,000 were forthcoming. His soldiers became mutinous, and the prmce had no alternative but to lead back liis army into Germany and there disband it. The Flemings lost far more than William did. The offer of freedom had come to their gates wiih the bamiers of William, but they failed to perceive the hour of their opportunity. With the retreating standards of the Deliverer liberty also dejiarted, and Belgium sank down under the yoke of Spain and Rome. The Duke of Alva was not a little elated at his success, and he set about rearing a monument which should perpetuate its fame to after-ages. He caused the camion taken in the battle of Gem- mingen to be melted, and a colossal bronze statue of himself to be cast and set up in the citadel of Antwerp. It pleased Alva to be i-epresented in complete armour, trampling on two prostrate figures, which were variously interpreted, but from the petitions and axes which they held in their hands, and the symbolical devices of the Beggars hung round theii- necks, they were probably meant to denote the image-breaking Protestants and the Confederates. On the pedestal was the following inscription in Latin : " To the most faithful minister of the best of kings, Ferdinand Alvarez, Duke of Alva, Governor of the Low Countries for Philip II., King of Spain, who, after having extinguished the tumults, expelled the rebels, restored religion, and executed justice, has established peace in the nation." A truly modest inscription ! The duke, moreover, decreed himself a triumphal entry into Brussels, in the cathedral of which a Te Beuia was sung for his victory. Nor was this all. Pius V. sent a special ambassador from Rome to congratulate the conqueror, and to present him with a consecrated hat and sword, as the special champion of the Roman Catholic religion. The sword was richly set, being chased with gold and precious stones, and was presented to tlie duke liy the hands of the Bishop of Mechlin, in church after the celebration of mass. The afternoon of the same day was devoted to a splendid toinnament, the place selected for the spectacle being the same square in which the bloody tragedy of the execution of Counts Egmont and Horn had so recently been enacted.' It was in the midst of these troubles that the persecuteil disciples of the Gosi)el in the Nether- lands met to perfect the organisiition of their Church. A synod or assembly wiis at this time held at Embden, at which Jasper von Heiden, then minister at Franken-deal, presided. At this synod ' Strada, lib. vii. Brandt, vol. i., p. 276. 78 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. LAMORAL, COLM OF EGMO^T l^Fiom a Poibait of the petiod, m the Bibhothtiue Natwnah ) niles were made for the holding of consistories or kii-k-sessions, of chasses or presbyteries, and sjniods. The firet article of the constitution ordained for the Netherland Church was as follows : — " No Church shall have or exercise dominion over another ; no minister, elder, or deacon shall bear nile over another of the same degree ; but eveiy one shall beware of liis attempting or giving the least cause of suspicion of his aiming at such dominion." "This article," says Brandt, " was levelled chiefly at the prelatic order of Rome, as also at the episcopacy established in some of the countries of the Refor- mation." Tlie ministers assembled signed the Confession of Faith of the Church of the Nether- land.s, " as an evidence of their uniformity in doctrine;" as also the Confession of the Churches of France, " to .show their iniion and conformity with them." It was agreed that all the ministers then absent, and all who should thereafter be admitted to the office of the ministry, shoidd be exhoi-ted to subscribe these articles. It was also agi'eed that the Geneva catechism shoidd be used in the French or Walloon congregations, and the Heidelberg catechism in those of the Dutch ; but if it happened that any of the congregations made use of any other catechism agreeable to the Word of God, they were not to be required to change it.' WhUe Alva was scatteiing and burn- ing the Netherland Chiu'ch, its members, regardless of the tyrant's fury, were linking themselves to- gether in the bonds of a scriptiu'al organisation. While his motto was " Raze, raze it," the founda- tions of that spiritual edifice were being laid deeper and its walls raised higher than before. ' Brandt, vol. i., p. 294. BliABANT CHOOSES THE WORSE PART. 79 PHILIP MONTMORENCY, COUNT OF HORN. (From o PoHrait of the period, in the Bibliotheque Nationale.) CHAPTER XVI. THE " BEGGARS OF THE SEA," AND SECOND CAMPAIGN OF ORANGE. Brabant Inactive — Trials of the Blood Council— John Hassels— Executions at Valenciennes— The Year 15G8— More Eilicts — Individual Martyrdoms— A Martyr Saving the Life of his Persecutor— Burning of Four Converted Priests at the Hague-William enters on his Second Campaign — His Appeal for Funds— The Refugees- The " Beggars of the Sea"— Discipline of the Privateer Fleet— Plan for Collecting Funds— Elizabeth— De la Marck— Capture of Brill by the Sea Beggars— Foundations laid of the Dutch Republic— Alva's Fury— Bossu Fails to Retake Brill — Dort and Flushing declare against Spain— Holland and Zealand declare for William— Louis of Nassau takes Mons— Alva Besieges it— The Tenth Penny— Meeting of the States of Holland— Speech of St. Aldegonde— Tolera- tion—William of Orange declared Stadtholder of Holland. William, Pi-ince of Orange, hanng consecrated liis life to the great sti-uggle for the rights of con- science, earned the first offer of deliverance to Brabant. Had its gi-eat and powerful cities heartily entered into his spirit, and risen at the sound of the advancing steps of then- deliverer, the issue woidd have been far different from what it was. But Brabant .saw that the struggle must be tremendous, and, rather than gird itself for so terrible a fight, preferred to lie still ingloriously iu ;S0 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. its cliaiiis. Sad in heart William retired to a -distance, to await what further ojienings it might please that great Power, to whose service he had consecrated himself^ to present to him. The night of horrors which had descended on the Low Countries continued to deepen. The triumph vof Alva, instead of soothing him, made him only the more intolerant and fierce. There came new and severer edicts from Spain ; there were gathered yet greater crowds of innocent men for the gallows iind the stake, and the outflowing tide from that doomed shore continued to roll on. A hundred thousand houses, it is thought, were now left empty. Their inmates transported their trade and handi- crafts to other nations. Wives must not correspond with their exiled husbands ; and .should they venture to visit them in then- foreign asylum, they must not return to their native land. The j'outh of Flanders were forbidden to go abroad to acquire a foreign tongue, or to learn a trade, or to study in any university save that of Rome. The carelessness with which the trials of the Blood Council were conducted was shocking. Batches were sent off to the gallows, including .some whose cause had not been tried at all. When •such were inquired for to take their trial, and it was found that their names had been inserted in .the death-list, and that they had been sent to the ■gallows — a discovery which would have startled and discomposed most judges — the news was very coolly received by the men who constituted this terrible tribunal. Vargas on those occasions would console his fellow-judges by saying that "it was all the better for the souls of such that they were in- nocent." One member of the Blood Council, John Hassels by name, was accustomed on the bench to sleep tlirough the examinations of the prisoners, and -»vhen awakened to give his vote, he would rub his eyes and exclaim, " To the gallows ! to the gallows !"' In Valenciennes, in the space of three days, fifty-seven citizens of good position were beheaded. But Alva wanted more than their blood. He had boasted that he would make a stream of gold, three feet in depth, flow from the Netherlands to Spain, and he proceeded to make good his words. He imposed heavier subsidies aipon the inhabitants. He demanded, fii-st, the hundredth penny of every man's estate ; secondly, the twentieth penny of all immovable property; and, thirdly, the tenth penny of all movable goods. 'This last was to be paid every time the goods were sold. Tims, if they changed hands five times it is ' " Ad patibulum, ad patibulum." (Brandt.) clear that one-half theu- value had passed to the Government ; and if, as .sometimes happened, they changed hands ten times, their entii'e value was swallowed up by the Government tax. Under such a law no market could be kept open ; all buying and selling must cease. Tlie Netherlanders refused to siibmit to the tax, on the gi-ound that it would bring what remained of theii- commerce to an utter end, and so defeat itself. After many cajoleries and threats, Alva made a vii'tue of necessity, and modified the tax. Such is the melancholy record of the year 1.568. Its gloom deepened as the months rolled on. First came the defeat of Count Louis, and the overcast- ing of the fair morning of a hoped-for deliverance for the miserable Provinces. Next were seen the scaflblds of Egmont and Horn, and of many others among the more patriotic of the Flemish nobility. Then followed the disastrous issue of the attempt of William to emancipate Brabant, and with it the loss of all his funds, and many thousands of lives, and a tightening of the tyrant's grasp upon the country. Wherever one tm-ned one's eye there was a gibbet ; wherever one planted one's foot there was blood. The cities were becoming silent ; the air was thick with terror and despair. But if 1.568 closed in gloom, 15 69 rose in a gloom yet deeper. In the beginning of this year the sword of per- secution was still further sharpened. There came a new edict, addressed to the Stadtholders of the Provinces, enjoining that " when the Host or the holy oil for extreme unction was carried to sick people, strict notice should be taken of the be- havioui', countenance, and words of every person, and that all those in whom any signs of irre^'erence were discovered should be punished ; that all such dead bodies to which the clergy thought fit to deny Chx-istian burial and the consecrated ground, should be thrown out on the gallows-field ; that notice of it should be given to him (Alva), and theii' estates registered ; and that all midwivcs should report every bu-th within twenty-foiu' hours after the child had come into the world, to the cud that it might be known whether the children were baptised after the Roman manner."- The carrying out of this order necessitated the creation of a new class of agents. Spies were placed at the corners of all the streets, whose duty it was to watch the counte- nances of the passers-by, and pounce on those whose looks were ill-favoured, and hale them to pri.son. These spies were nick-named the " Sevenpeiuiy Men," because the wages of their odious work was • Braiidt, vol. i., p. : EXAMPLES OF MARTYRDOM. 81 paid tliem iii pieces of that value. Thus the gallows and the stake coutiuued to be fed. The crowd of martyi-s utterly defies enumeration. Many of theni were of low estate, as the world accounts it, but they were rich in faith, noble in spii-it, and heii-s of a greater kingdom than Philip's, though they had to pass through the fii'e to receive IX)8session of it. The deaths of all were the same, yet the circumstances in which it was endured were so varied, and iu many cases so peculiar and tragic, that each diflers from the other. Let us give a very few examples. On the 8th of July, 15G9, William Tavart was led to the place of execution in Antwerp, in order to undergo death by burning. Wliile hLs executioners were binding liLs hands, and putting the gag into liLs mouth, being a man of eighty years, and infirm, he fainted in their hands. He was thereupon carried back to his prison, and drowned. Another martyr, also very aged, worn out moreover by a long imprisonment, was kneeling on the faggots in prayer before being bound to the stake. The executioner, thinking that he was spending too much time in his devotions, rushed forward to raise him up and put him into the fire. He found that the old man was dead. The mai-tji- had ofiered up his life in intention, and his gracious Master, compassionating his age and frailties, had given him the crown, yet spai-ed him the agony of the stake. Richard Willemson, of Aspern, being pursued by an oflicer of the Blood Council, was making his escape on the ice. The ice gave •way, and the oflScer fell in, and woidd have been drowned but for the humanity of the man whom he was pursuing, who, percei\'ing what had happened, turned back, and stretching out his hand, at the risk of being himself dragged in, pulled out his enemy. The magnanimous act touched the heart of the officer, and ho would have let his deliverer escape; but unhappOy the burgomaster happened to come up at the moment, and called out sharply to him, " Fulfil your oath." Thereupon he seized the poor man who but a moment before had saved his life, and conducted him to prison. He was con- demned to the fire, and burned without the walls of Aspern, on the side next to Leerdam. While at the stake, a strong east wind springing up, the flames were blown away from the uii[>er part of his body, leaving the lower extremities exposed to the torment of a slow fire. His cries were heard as far as Leerdam. In this fashion was he rewarded for saving his enemy's life at the peril of his own. About the same time, four pai-ish priests were dcgi-aded and burned at the Hague. The bishop first clothing them with their mass-garaients, and then striiiping them, a-s is usual on such occasions, said, in the Latin tongue, " I divest you of the robe- of Righteousness." " Not so," replied one of the four ; " you divest us of the robe of Um-ighteous» ness." "Nor can you," added the other three, "strip us of our salvation as you strip us of these vestments." Whereupon the bishoji, with a grave countenance, laid his hand upon his breast, and calling on God, solemnly declared that " he believed from his heart that the Romish religion was the most certain way to salvation." " You did not always think so," replied Arent Dirkson, a man of seventy yeai-s, and known to be learned and judicious ; " you knew the truth formerly, but yon have maliciously rejected it, and you must answer for it at the gi-eat Day of Judgment." The words of the old man found a response in the conscience of the apostate. The bishop shook and trembled before his own prisoner. Nevertheless he went on with the condemnation of the four men, delivering them to the temporal arm with the usual prayer that the magistrate would deal tenderly -with them. Upon this, the grey-haii-ed pastor again buret out, " Qiiam j^harisalce! How pharisaically do they treat us!" They were sent back to prison. The same night they celebrated the Lord's Supper for their mutual consolation, and continued till break of day in singing psalms, in reading the Holy Scrij)- tures, and in prayer. The hour of execution being come, the father of one of the martyrs, mingling in the crowd, waited till his son should pass to the stake, that he might whisper a few words of en- couragement. " My dear son," said he, when he saw him approach, " fight manfully for the crown of everlasting life." The guards instantly dragged' the old man away to prevent him sa3'ing more.. His sister now came forward, and spoke to him with equal courage. " Brother," cried she, " be constant ; it will not last long ; the gate of eternal life is open for you." The scene made a deep im- jwession upon the spectators. A burgher and bargeman of Amsterdam, Gerrit Cornelison by name, was one day brought out to be burned. In prison he had twice been tortured to force him to betray his associates, but no paiir could overcome his constancy. Turning to the jieople at the stake, he cried, " Good iioople,, eternity is so long, and our sufl'ering here Ls so short, and yet the combat is very sharp and! cniel. Alas ! how am I distressed ! O my flesh, bear and resist for a little, for this is th_y last combat." This, his li\st battle, he fought courage- ously, and received the crown.' "^ While these humble men were dying for theii- ' Brandt, vol. i., pp. 286, 287. 82 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. faith, Providence was preparing in higli quarters for the deliverance of the country. After the close of his fii-st unsuccessful campaign, William of Orange reth-ed for a short time to France, and was present at the battle of Jarnac, where he wit- nessed the disaster which there befel the Huguenot arms. It seemed as if a thick cloud was every- where gathering above the Protestant cause. In a few months he was recalled by his friends to Germany. Disguising himself as a peasant, and accompanied by onlj' five attendants, he crossed the French lines, traversed Flanders in safety, and reached his principality of Nassau. He there learned all that had passed in the Netherlands during his absence. He was told that every day the tyranny of Alva waxed gi-eater, as did also the odium in which both his person and government were held. The uirliappy country had but one hope, and if that should misgive it, it must abandon itself to utter despair. That hope was himself. From all sides, from Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, from the exiles abroad and from the sufferers at home, came the most urgent appeals to him to again unfurl the standard of battle. He had consecrated his life to tlie defence of the Reformed religion, and the maintenance of his country's liberties, and was ready to respond to the appeal of those who had no human help save in his wisdom and courage. But he recollected what had so largely contributed to the failure of liLs first attempt, and before un- sheatliing the sword he set about collecting the sinews of war. William had already all but beggared himself in his attempt to break the yoke from the neck of the Netherlands ; his plate and jewels and furniture had all been sold to pay his soliliers; his paternal estates were heavily biu-dened; he would give what remained of his possessions, together with his courage and blood, in pi'omotion of the cause; but others also, at home and abroad, must contribute both tlieii- money and their blood, and in no stinted measure, if success was to crown their efforts. William took the first step by fonn- ing a comprehensive plan for raising the necessary funds. The FlemLsh refugees in London and other pai-ts liad united together, and had fitted out a gi-eat niunber of aimed vessels. These they sent to cruise on the English and Flemish seas, and make jn-izc of all Spanish ships that came in their way. Their skill and daring were rewarded by numerous rich captures. As the growing fury of Alva swelled the number of refugees in London and other cities, so did the strength of the privateeiing fleet continue to increase. While Alva was gathering his taxes on land, they were reaping a rich harvest at sea. T'iiey scoured the English Channel, they hovered on the coast of the Netherlands, and preyed upon the merchandise of Spain These cruisera became renowned under the title of the " Sea Beggai-s." It occurred to the Prince of Orange that these " ten-ible beggars " might do good service in the cause of their country's emancipation ; and it was ultimately arranged that a fiifth of the value of all the prizes which they made should be given to officers appointed by William, and the sum de- voted to the support of the war of liberation. Measures were at the same time adojjted to improve the morale and disciplitie of a fleet that was becoming the terror of Alva and the Spaniards. No one was to exercise authority in it save those to whom William himself should grant commissions. Every ship was to carry a Protestant minister on board, whose duty it was to conduct regular religious service ; and no one who had ever been convicted of a crime was to be permitted to serve in the fleet. The ships of all friendly Powers were to pass untouched, and Alva and his adherents only were the Sea Beggars to regard as lawful prey. At the same time the prince adopted another method of improving his finances in prospect of the coming war of independence. Commissions were given to the Protestant preachers, who traversed the Provinces in disguise, and collected money from all who were disaffected to the Spanish Govern- ment, or inimical to the Romish religion. None knew so well as they to whom to apply, or were so able by their eloquence to recommend the cause. William, besides, acquired by then- means an intimate and accurate knowledge of the dispositions of all classes in the Netherlands. Their mission was specially successful in Holland and Zealand, where the Reformed religion had made greater progress than in the southern Provinces, and where the people, enjoying the natiu-al defences of canals, rivers, and sea-friths, felt less the terror of the Spaniards. On these grounds, too, William re- solved to seek in these northern parts a fii-st footing for his enterprise. While these mca- sm-es were being vigorously prosecuted in Holland, a tnistworthy agent, Sonoy, was sent to canva.ss the Governments and people of Germany, ad- juring them in the name of a common faith and a common liberty to put their shomlder to the great enterprise. Not a whisper of what was in prepara- tion was wafted to the ears of Alva, although the jn-ince's designs must have been known to a vast number of persons, so universal was the detestation in which the tyrant was held. AJva himself uncon- sciously helped to prepare the way for William, and to draw down the tii'st blow of the "reat conflict. THE SEA BEGGARS. 8S It was about the end of March, 1572, and the fleet of tlie Beggars of the Sea was lying off Dover. Spain, smarting from the damage that these darmg sea-rovera were constantly inflicting on her mer- chandise, comi)lained to England that she opened her ]iarbour.s to Flemish i)irates, and permitted tlie goods stolen by them from Spanish subjects to be sold in her dominions, and so violated the treaties subsisting between the Spanish and English crowns. Elizabeth, though secretly friendly to the Flemish exiles, was yet unwilling to come to an open rupture with Philip, and accordingly she ordered tlieir ships to quit her ports, ' and forbade lier subjects to supply ^jrovisions to their crews. The Sea Beggars insfcmtly weighed anchor, and shot across the German Sea. Half famished they arrived off the mouth of the Meuse, and sailed up its Ijioad channel to Brill. The fleet was under tlie command of Admiral de la Marck, wlio held a commission fi'om William of Orange. Coming to anclior opposite Brill, Dc la Marck sent a herald to summon the town to surrender. "The people," says Strada, " supposed them at first to be mer- cliautmen cast upon their coast by storm, but b;-fore they were aware they brouglit war, not merchandise."- Brill, thougli a small place, was strongly foitified, but the summons of the Beggars of the Sea inspired such a terror that the magistrates fled, and were followed by many of the inliabitants. De la Jlarck's soldiers battered open the gates, and having entered they lioisted their flag, and took jiossession of Brill, in the name of William of Orange. Thus on the 1st of April, 1572, were laid the foundations of tlie Free Protestant Holland, and thus was opened a conflict whose course of thirty years was to be marked by alternate defeats and triumphs, by the tragedies and crimes of a colossal tyranny, and the heroism and self-devotion of a not less colossal virtue and patriotism, till it sliould end in the overthrow of the mighty Empire of Spain, and the elevation of the little tenitory of Holland to a more stable prosperity, and a more enviable greatness and renown, tlian Pliilip's kingdom could boast in its palmiest days. Meanwhile Alva was giving reins to a fury wliich had risen to madness. He was burning tlie Prince of Orange in eftigy, he was dragging his escutclieon through the streets at the tails of horses, and pro- claiming William and his ofl'spring infamous to all pcstcrity. At the same time he was fighting with the inhabitants about "the tenth penny." The consequences of enforcing so ruinous a tax, of wliicli ho liatl been warned, had now been realLsed : all buying and selling was suspended : the shops were- shut, and the citizens found it impossible to purcliase even the most common necessaries- Thousands were thrown out of employment, and' tlie towns swarmed with idlers and beggars. Em-aged at being thus foiled, Alva resolved to read? the shopkeepers of Brussels a lesson which they should not soon forget. He made arrangements that when they awoke next morning they should see- eighteon of the leading members of their fraternity hanged at the doors of their own shoj)s. The. hangman liad the ropes and ladders prepared over- night. But morning brought with it other things- to occupy Alva's attention. A messenger an-ivedl with the news that the great Sea Beggar, De la Marck, had made himself master of the town o£ Brill, and that the standard of William was floating; on its walls. Alva was thunderstruck.' The duke,- instantly dispatched Count Bossu to retake tlie- town. The Spaniards advanced to the walls of Brill and began to batter them with their cannon^ A carpenter leaped into the canal, swam to a sluice- and with liis axe hewed it open, and let in the sea.. The rising waters comjielled the besiegers to remove to the soutli side of the to^\ai, which chanced to be- that on which De la Marck had jilanted his largest cannon. While the Sjianiards were thundering at tliis gate, La Marck's men, issuing out at the opposite one, and rowing to the Spanish ships, set lire to them. When the Spaniards saw their ships beginning to blaze, and marked the waves steadily rising round them, they were seized with panic, and made a hasty retreat along the dyke. Many perished in the waves, the rest escaping to the fleet crowded into the vessels that remained unliurned, weighed anchor and set sail. The inhabitants who had fled at the first surprise novi- returned, their names were registered, and all swore allegiance to the Prince of Orange, as Statltholder for Philip.' Misfortune continued to dog the steps of the- Spaniards. Bossu led his troops toward Dort, but the inhabitants, who had lieard of the capture of Brill, closed their gates against him.'^ He next took his way to Eotterdaui. There too his demand for admission to a garrison in the king's name was met with a refusal. The crafty Spaniard had re- course to a stratagem. He a.sked leave for liis. companies to pass tlirough one by one ; tliis was given, but no sooner liad the fii-st company entered than Bossu, regardless of his promise, made his ' Strada, lib. vii. ' Brandt, vol. i., p. 295. * Watson, Philip II., vol i., pp. 426—431. ' Str;ula, lib. viL 81 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. soldiers keep open the gates for Lis wliole army. Tlie citizens atteinjited to close the gates, but were hewn down ; and the Spaniards, giving loose to their fury, spread themselves over the city, and butchered 400 of the inhabitants. The sanguinary and brutal ravages which Bossu's soldiers inflicted on Rotterdam had nearly as great an eflect as the capture of Brill in spreading the spirit of revolt over Holland. Flushing, an important town from its position at the mouth of the Scheldt, was the next to mount the flag of defiance to the Spaniards. They cb'ove out the garrison of Alva, and razed the foundations of a citadel which the governor was preparing as the chain wherewith to bind them. Next day the Spanish fleet appeared in their harbour ; the citizens were deliberating in the market-place when a drunken fellow proposed, for three guilders, to mount the ramparts, and fire one of the great guns upon the ships. The efiect of that one unexpected shot was to strike the Spaniards with panic. They let slip their cables and stood out tc sea. Two hundred years afterwards we find Flushing commemorating its deliverance from the j'oke of Alva. The minutes of the consistory inform us " that the minister, Justus Tgeenk, preached [April 5th, 1772] in commemoration of Flushing's delivery from Spanish tyranny, which was stopped here on the 6th April, 1572, when the citizens, unassisted and unsupported by any foreign Power, drove out the Walloons and opened their gates, and laid the comer-stone of that singular and always remarkable revolution, which placed seven small Provinces in a state of independency, in despite of the utmost efibrts of Philip II., then the most powerful monarch in Europe." The Sunday after (April 1 2th), the Lord's Supper was dispensed, and " at the table," say the minutes, was used " a silver chalice," the property of the burgomaster E. Clyver, " wherein two hundred years ago the Protestants in this town had, for the first time, celebrated the Lord's Supjjer in a cellar here at the head of the Great Market, on account of the unrelenting persecution."' In a few months all the more important towns of Holland and Zealand followed the example of Brill and Flushing, and hung out upon their walls the standai-d of the man in whom they recognised their deliverer.- Haarlem, Leyden, Gouda, Horn, Alkmaar, Enkliuizen, and many others broke their chain. No soldier of the pi-ince, no sea-rover of De la Marck's incited them to revolt : the movement was a thoi'oughly spontaneous one ; it originated with the citizens themselves, the gi'eat majority of whom cherished a hatred of the Roman fiiith, and a detestation of Spanish tyranny. Amsterdam was the only exception that is worth noting in Holland. The flame which had been kindled spread into Friesland, and Utrecht and other towns placed their names on the distinguished list of cities that came forth at this gi-eat crisis to the help of conscience and of liberty against the mighty. A small incident which happened at this moment was fraught with vast consequences. Count LouLs of Nassau, approaching from France, made himself master of the frontier to^vn of Mens in the south.'' Alva was excessively mortified by this mishap, and he was bent on recovering the place. He was counselled to defer the siege of Mons till he should have extinguished the rising in th.e north. He was reminded that Holland and Zealand were deeply infected with heresy ; that thei'e the Prince of Orange was personally popular ; that nature had fortified these Provinces by intersecting them with rivers and arms of the sea, and that if time were given the inhabitants to strengthen then- canals and cities, nuiny sieges and battles might not sufiice to reduce them to their obedience. This advice was eminently wise, but Alva stopped his ear to it. He went on with the siege of Mons, and while " he was plucking this thorn out of his foot," the con- flagi-ation in the north of the Netherlands had time to spread. He succeeded eventually in ex- tracting the thorn — that is, he took Mons — but at the cost of losing Holland. William himself had not yet anived in the Netherlands, but he was now on his way thither at the head of a new army wellnigh 20,000 strong, which he had raised in Germany. He caused to be distributed before him copies of a declaration, in which he set forth the grounds of his taking up arms. These were, in brief, " the security of the rights and privileges of the country, and the freedom of conscience." In the instructions which he issued to his deputy in Holland, Diedrich Sonoy, he required him, " first of all, to deliver the towns of that Province from Spanish slavery, and to restore them to their ancient liberties, rights and pri\-ileges, and to take care that the Word of God be preached and published there, but yet by no means to sufller that those of the Romish Church should be in any sort prejudiced, or that any impediment should be offered to them in the exercise of their religion."* MeimwhUe, Alva was left literally without a ' Steven, Hist. Scottish Church, Rotterdam, p. 304 ' Strada, lib. vii. ^ Bentivoglio, lib. ii., p. 54. < Brandt, vol. i., p. 298. VIKNV 01' THE UATli Oi- UUllT Oil DOllDUECllT 112 86 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. penny; and, finding it hard to prosecute tlie siege of Mons on an empty military chest, he announced his \\'illingness to remit the tax of the tenth penny, provided the States-General would give him " the aiuiual twenty tims of gold " ' (about two millions of florins) which they had formerly promised him in lieu of the obnoxious tax ; and he summoned the States of Holland to meet at the Hague, on the 15th of July, and consider the matter. The States of Holland met on the day named, not at the Hague, but at Dort ; and in obedience to the summons, not of Alva, but of William. Nor liad they assembled to deliberate on the proposal of Alva, and to say whether it was the "tenth penny" or the " twenty tmis of gold" that they were hence- forth to lay at his feet. The banner of freedom now floated on their walls, and they had met to devise the means of keeping it waving there. The battle was only beginning : the liberty which had 1)een proclaimed had yet to be fought for. Of this we fijid then- great leader reminding them. In a letter which William addressed at this time to the States of Holland, he told them, in words as plain as they were weighty, that if in a quarrel like this thej' .should show themselves sparing of theii- gold, they would incur the anger of the gi'eat Rider, they would make themselves the scorn of foreign nations, and they would bind a bloody yoke on themselves and their posterity for ever. William was not present in the assembly at Dort, but he was ably represented by St. Aldegonde. This eloquent pleni- potentiary addressed the members in a powerful speech, in which he rehearsed the efibrts the Prince of Orange had already made for the deliverance of the land from Spanish cruelty; that he had embarked the whole of his fortune in the struggle; tliat the failure of the expedition of 1568 was owing to no fault of his, but entirely to his not being adequately supported, not a Fleming liaving lifted a linger in the cause ; that he was again in the field with an army, and that supplies must be found if it was to be kept there, or if it was to accom- 1 Brandt, vol. i., p. 298. plish anything for the country. "Arouse ye, then," were the thrilling words in which St. Aldegonde concluded his oration, "awaken your own zeal and that of your sister cities. Seize Opportunity by the locks, who never appeared faii-er than she does to-day." St. Aldegonde was fin-ther instructed by the prince to state the broad and catholic aims that he proposed to himself in the struggle which they were to wage together. If that struggle should be crowned with success, the Papist woidd have not less cause to rejoice than the Protestant ; the two should divide the spoils. " As for religion," said St. Aldegonde, " the desires of the i)rince are that liberty of conscience should be allowed as well to the Reformed as to the Roman Catholics ; that each party should enjoy the public exercise of it in churches or chapels, without any molestation, hiii- dx'ance, or trouble, and that the clergy should remain free and unmolested in their several functions, pro- vided tliey showed no tokens of disafl'ection, and that all things should be continued on this footing tUl the States-General otherwise directed." In these intentions the States expressed themselves as at one with the prince. A patriotic response was made to the prince's appeal by the Northern Netherlands. All classes gii-ded themselves for the gi-eat struggle. The aristocracy, the guilds, the religious houses, and the ordinary citizens came forward mth gifts and loans. Money, plate, jewellery, and all kinds of valuables were poured into the common treasury. A unani- mous resolution of the States declared the Prince of Orange Stadtholder of Holland. The ta.xes were to be levied in his name, and all naval and land ofiicers were to take an oath of obedience to him. What a contrast between the little territory and the greatness of the contest that is about to be waged ! We behold the inhabitants of a small platform of earth, walled in by dykes lest the ocean should drown it, heroically offering themselves to tight the world's battle against that great combination of kingdoms, nationalities, and armies that compose the mighty monarchy of Sjinin ! WILLIAM BEGINS HIS SECOND CAMPAIGN. 87 CHAPTER XVII. William's second campaign, and submission of brabant and flanders. William's New Levies — He crosses the Rhine — Welcome from Flemish Cities — Sinews of War — Hopes in France — Disappointed by the St. Bartholomew Massacre — Reverses— Mutiny — William Disbands his Army — Alva takes Revenge on the Cities of Brabant— Cruelties in Mons— Mechlin Pillaged — Terrible Fate of Zutphen and Naarden— Submission of the Cities of Brabant — Holland Prepares for Defence— Meeting of Estates at Haarlem — Heroic Resolution— Civil and Ecclesiastical Reorganisation of Holland — Novel Battle on the Ice — Preparations for the Siege of Haarlem. WlLLiAiM, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder and virtual King of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, if the prayers and suffrages of an entii-e people can avail to invest one vnth. that august office, was ap- proaching the Netherlands at the head of his newly - enrolled levies. He crossed the Rhine on the 7th of July, 1572, with an army of 17,000 foot and 7,000 horse. Advancing as far as Roermonde, he halted before that town to demand a supply of provisions for his sol- diers. The government of the place was in the hands of zealous Roman Catholics, and the refusal of Roermonde to comply with the i-equest of the Liberator was rendered still more ungracious by the haughtiness and insolence with which it was accompanied. William stormed the city and took it. Unhappily his soldiere here dishonoured the cause for which the prince was in arms, by putting to death certain priests and monks under circum- stances of great barbarity. Germany was at that time a magazine of mercenary soldiers, from which both the Prince of Orange and Alva drew supplies, and troops of this class were but little amenable to discipline when theii- pay fell into aiTears, as was now the case. But William felt that such excesses must be checked at all hazai-ds, otherwise his cause would be disgraced and ultimately ruined; and accordingly he issued an order forbidding all such barbarities in future umler pain of death.' For some time his mai-ch was a triumphal one. The standards of William shed a gleam through the darkness that shrouded Brabant, and the spirits of its terror-stricken inhabitants for a moment revived. On the first occasion when the Deliverer approached their cities, the Flemings abode within their gates, but now they seemed as if they would rise at his call, and redeem themselves from the yoke of Spain. The important city of Mechlm declared in his favour. Louvain refused to admit a garrison of his soldiers, but sent him a contri- bution of 16,000 ducats. Tirlemont, Termondc, > Bor, vi. 398, 399. Strada, vii. 75; Lond., 1667. Oudenarde, Nivelles, and many other towns and villages opened their gates to the prince ; the most part spontaneously, in the eager hope of de- liverance from a tyranny which threatened to cease its ravages only when nothing more shoidd be left in the Netherlands to destroy. A successful beginning of the great struggle had been made, but now the piince began to be in straits. The friends of the cause had not yet realised its full grandeur or its immense difficulty, and their scale of giving was totally inadequate. If the tide of bigotry and tyranny now overflowing Christendom was to be stemmed, the friends of liberty, both at home and abroad, must not be sparing either of their blood or their gold. But as yet it was hardly understood that all must be parted with if the pearl of freedom was to be won. But if the States of Holland, and the refugees in England and other countries, were sending supplies which were disproportionate to the enormous ex- pense to which William had been put in levying, equipping, and maintaining his troops, he had the best hopes of succours from France. The net was being then woven for the Huguenots, and their great chief, Admiral Coligny, was being caressed at the court of the Louvre. " I will fight Philip of Spain on the soil of the Netherlands," said that consummate dissembler, Charles IX. " William of Orange shall not want for money and soldiera," continued he, with a frankness that seemed the guarantee of a perfect sincerity. Coligny sufiered himself to be persuaded of the good faith of the king, and laboured to produce the same conviction in the mind of the Prince of Orange, bidding him expect him soon at the head of 15,000 Huguenots. William, believing that France was at his back, thought that the campaign could have but one issue — namely, the expulsion of the Spaniards, and the liberation of the Netherlands from their unbearable yoke. But his hopes wore destined to a cruel overthrow. Instead of an army of Huguenots to help him on to victory, there came tidings that felled him to the earth. Three weeks 88 HISTOEY OF PROTESTANTISM. from the date of Coligny's letter, William re- ceived tlie ten-ible news of the St. Bartholomew Massacre. The men who were to have emanci- pated the Low Countries were watering \nth their blood and strewing with then- corpses the plains of theii- nati\e land ! The Prince of Orange opened his eyes on blank desolation ; he saw the campaign ending in inevitable failure, and the dark night of Spanish oppression agaui closing in around a countiy wluch he had believed to be as good as emancipated. The shock was terrible, Ijut the lesson was salutary. Those instnunents whom Providence selects to fight the holy battles of religion and freedom need a higher training than ordinary warriors. To genius and courage heroes of this class must add faith ; but this quality they can acquii-e only in the school of repeated disap- pointment. They can never learn this virtue in the midst of numerous and victorious hosts, where success is won by mere numbers, and where victory is of that ordinary and vulgar sort wliich the worst as well as the best of causes can command. The fate of his second campaign had been decided at Paris wlien the St. Bartholomew was struck, but William still continued to prosecute the war. His attempts, however, to stem the swelling tide of Spanish tyranny were without success. Fii'st, he failed to relieve liis brother, who was shut up in the city of Mons, besieged by Alva ; next, he himself naiTowly escaped being captured by the Spaniards in a night attack on his camp, in which 600 of his soldiers were slain. He owed his escape to a small spaniel which he kept in his bed-chambei', and which awoke him by scratching his face.' There followed a mutiny of his troops, provoked by the repeated disasters that had befallen them, and the an-eai-s due to them, but which the prince was imable to discharge ; they talked, indeed, of delivering him up to Alva. They soon became ashamed of having harboured so base a design, but the incident convinced William that he had no alternative but to disband liis army and retire to Holland, and this course he now adopted. The departure of the Prince rf Orange was the signal for Alva to take a tenible revenge on those cities in Brabant which had hoisted the flag of the Deliverer. Mons surrendered, but the terms of the capitulation were most perfidiously violated by the Spaniards. The citizens were sent in hundreds to the gallows ; murder and spoliation ran riot in its streets ; the axe and the halter rested not for well-nigh a whole year, till the awful silence pro- claimed that Mons was now little else than a charnel-house. Its commercial prosperity never recovered this tei-rible blow. Those of its mer- chants and artisans who had escaped the gibbet were driven away, and only beggars and idlers were left in th«ir i-oom — a meet population, surely, to wear the yoke of Spain. In the eyes of Alva, the archiepiscopal city of Mechlin was a greater oflender than even Mons, and he resolved to vvreak upon it, if possible, a yet more terrible vengeance. Considering the strength of its Romanism, and the rank and influence of its clergy, one would have expected that it woidd bo the last city in Brabant to ojien its gates to William ; it was, as we have seen, the first. The conqueror resolved that it should sufler as pre-eminently as it had sinned. His regiments had recently received no pay, and Alva pointed ^to the rich city of tho priests, and bade them seek their wages in it. The soldiers threw themselves upon the town, like a pack of hungry wolves upon their prey. Some swam the moat, others battered open the gates, while hundreds, by the help of scaling-ladders, climbed the walls, and swarmed down into the city. Along every street and lane poured a torrent of furious men, robbing, murdering, violating, without making the least distinction between friend and foe, Papist and Protestant. No age, nor sex, nor rank, nor profession had exemjftion from the sword, or the worse brutality of the soldieiy. Blood flowed in torrents. Chm'ches, monasteries, private dwell- ings, and public estabHshments were broken into and pillaged to the last penny. Altars were pidled down, the chalices and other rich vessels used in the mass were carried ofl', the very Host itself was profaned and trodden under foot by men who pro- fessed to regard it as the body and soul of Christ, and who had come from a distant land to avenge the insults which had been offered to it by others. Then- rage far exceeded that of the iconoclasts, who had vented then- fury on idols alone. Three days this ikeadful work went on," and then the soldiers of Alva collected their booty, and carrying it on board ship, sent it off to Antweii), to be conv ex-ted into money.' The inhabitants of the other cities which had submitted to William were permitted to redeem theii- lives by the \kij- ment of an enormous ransom. Not so, however, the cities of Zutphen and Naarden. Zutphen was subjected to the same shocking barbarities which had been inflicted on Mechlin. Here the spoil to be gathered was less, for the town was not so rich as Mechlin, but the licence jriven to the sword was on that account all * Strada, vii. 76. ■ Sti-ada, vii. 77. 3 Bor, vi. 409—415. FALL OF ZUTPHEN AND NAARDEN. 89 the gi'eater ; and when the soldiers grew weary with slaughtering, they threw their victims into the Issel, and indulged themselves in the horrid pastime of pelting the drowning men and women with missiles as they rose to the surface before finally sinking. We record the fate of Naarden last, because its doom was the most appalling of the three ; for it is a series of horrors which we are thus briefly tracing to its climax. Naarden opened its gates to Don Frederic de Toledo, the son of Alva, on a promise of immunity from sack for a slight equivalent. The promise of Toledo was \'iolated with a shocking perfidy. First the male population were put to the sword ; then their wives and daughters were bnitally outraged, and after- wards nearly all were massacred. The dwellings, the convents, and the hospitals were ransacked for treasure and spoil ; and when the fiends had satiated to the utmost their bloodthirstiness, lust, and greed, they drove out the few miserable inhabitants that remained into the open fields, and setting fire to Naarden they burned it to the ground. A blackened spot covered with charred ruins, ashes, and the vc- mains of human carcases marked where the city had stood. It was amid these clouds and tempests that the year 1572 closed. What a contrast to the brilliant promise vnth which it had opened, when city after city was hanging out the banner of WilHam upon its walls, and men were congratu- lating themselves that the black night of Spanish usurpation and oppression had come to an end, and the fair morning of independence had dawned ! Smitten down by the mailed hand of Alva, the cities of Brabant and Flanders are again seen creeping back into their chains. ' Occupied in the siege of Mons and the reduction of the revolted towns in the Southern Netherlands, the Spanish army were compelled meanwhile to leave the Northern Pro\ances in peace. The leisure thus aflbrdod them the Hollanders wisely turned to account by increasing the number of their ships, repaiiing the fortifications of then- to-\vns, and enrolling soldiers. They saw the terrible legions of Alva coming nearer every day, their path marked in ruins and blood ; but they were not without hope that the preparations they had made, joined to the natural defences of their country, here intersected by rivers, there by arms of the sea, would enable them to make a more successful resistance than Brabant and Flanders had done. Wlicn the tyrant should ask them to bow again their necks to the yoke, they tiiisted to l)e able to say, "No," witliout undergoing the temble alterna- tive with which Alva chii-stised refusal in the case of the Brabant cities — namely, haltera for them- selves, and horrible outrage for their families. Meanwhile they waited anxiously for the coming of William. He would breathe courage into theii hearts, ready to faint at the dreaded prowess of the Spaniards. At length William arrived in Holland ; Irat ho came alone ; of the 24,000 troops which he had led into the Netherlands at the opening of his second campaign, only seventy horsemen now remained ; nevertheless, his arrival was hailed with joy, for the Hollanders felt that the wisdom, patriotism, and bravery of the prince would be to them in- stead of an army. William met the Estates at Haarlem, and deliberated with them on the course to be taken. It was the darkest hour of the Nether- lands. The outlook all round was not only dis- couraging, but appalliiig. The wealthy Flandei-s and Brabant were agam under the heel of the haughty and cruel vSpaniard. Of their populous cities, blackened ruins marked the site of some ; those that existed were sitting in sullen silence with the chain around their neck ; ths battle for liberty of conscience had been forced back into the Northern Holland ; here the last stand must be made; the result must be factory or utter ex- termination. The foe with whom the Hollanders were to do battle was no ordinary one ; he was exasperated to the utmost degree ; he neither re- spected an oath nor spared an enemy ; if they should resist, they had in Naarden an awful monu- ment before their eyes of what their own fate would be if their resistance wei-e unsuccessful ; and yet the alternative ! Submission to the Spanish yoke ! Rather ten deaths than endure a slavery so vile. The resolution of the Convention was prompt and decided : they would worship according to then- consciences or die. William now began to prepare for the great struggle. His sagacity taught him that Holland needed other defences besides ships and walls and soldiers, if it was to bear the immense strain to which it was about to be subjected. Fii-.stof all, he settled the boundaries of his own power, by volun- tarily agi-eeing to do nothing but ^^•ith the consent of the States. By limiting he strengthened his in- fluence. Next he consolidated the union of the nation by admitting twelve new cities into tjie Convention, and giving them the same voice in public affairs as the older towns. Ho next set about re-organising the civil service of the country, which had fallen into great disorder during thase unsettled times. Many of the iirincipal inhabitants had fled; numbere of the judges and oUicei-s of the revenue had abandoned their jjosts, to the great detiiment of justice and the loss of the finances. William 90 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. filled up these vaciincies with Protestants, deem- ing them the only thoroughly trustworthy persons in a contest that was to determine which of the two faiths was t« be the established religion of Holland. Before opening the campaign, the Prince of Orange took a step toward the settlement of the religious question. It was resolved that both Papists and Protestants should enjoy the public exercise of their worship, and that no one should be molested on account of his religion, provided he lived quietly, and kept no correspondence with the Spaniards.' In this William obeyed the wishes of the great body of the people of Holland, who had now es])0used the Reformed faith, and at the same time he laid a basis for unity of action by purging out, so far as he could, the anti-national element from the public service, and took reason- able precautions against sui'prise and treachery when Holland should be waging its great battle for existence. At the moment that the Hollanders were not un- naturally oppressed with grave thoughts touching the issue of the struggle for which they were girding themselves, uncertain whether their country was to become the burial-place of their liberties and their persons, or the theatre of a yet higher civilisation, an incident occurred that helped to enliven their .spirit.s, and confirm them in their resolution to resLst. The one city in Holland that remained on the side of Alva was Amsterdam, and thither Toledo, after the biitchery at Naarden, marched with his army. In the shallow sea around Amster- dam, locked up in the ice, lay part of the Dutch fleet. The Spanish general sent a body of troops over the frozen waters to attack the ships. Their advance was perceived, and the Dutch soldiers, fastening on their skates, and grasping their mus- kets, descended the ships' sides to give battle to the Spaniards. Sweeping with the rapidity of a cloud towards the enemy, they poured a deadly volley into his ranks, and then wheeling round, they retreated with the same celerity out of reach of his fire. In this fashion they kept advancing and retreating, each time doing murderous exec\ition upon the Spanish lines, while their own ranks remained unbroken. Confounded by this novel method of 1 Brandt, vol. i., bk. i., p. 298. battle, the Spaniards were compelled to quit the field, leaving some hundreds of their dead upon the ice. Next day a thaw set in, which lasted just long enough to permit the Dutch fleet to escape, while the returning frost made pursuit impossible. The occurrence was construed by the Dutch as a favourable omen. Established at Amsterdam, the Spanish sword had cut Holland in two, and from this central point it was resolved to carry that sword over North and South Holland, making its cities, should they resist, so many Naardens, and its inliabitants slaves of Alva or corpses. It was agreed to begin with Haarlem, which was some twelve English miles to the south-west of Amsterdam. Toledo essayed first of all to wdn over the citizens by mediation, thinking that the fate of Naarden had inspired them with a salutary terror of his arms, and that they only waited to open their gates to him. The tragic end of Naarden had just the opposite effect on the citizens of Haarlem. It showed them that those who submitted and those who resisted met the same fearful destruction. Notwithstanding, two of the magistrates, moved by ten-or and cowardice, secretly opened negotiations -with Toledo for the surrender of Haarlem ; but no sooner did this come to the ears of Rijiperda, a Friesland gentleman, to whom William had committed the government of the town, than he assembled the citizens and garrison in the market-place, and warned them against entertaining the idea of submission. What have those gained, he asked, who have trusted the promise of the Spaniards ? Have not these men shown that they are as devoid of faith as they are of humanity"? Their assurances are only a stratagem for snatching the arms from your hands, and then they will load you wth chains or butcher you like sheep. From the blood-sprinkled graves of Mechlin, of Zutphen, and of Naarden the voices of our brethren call on you to resist. Let us remember our oath to the Prince of Orange, whom we have acknowledged the only lawful governor of the Province ; let us tliink of the righteousness of our cause, and resolve, rather than live the slaves of the Spaniards, to die with arms in our hands, fighting for our religion and our laws. This appeal was responded to by the stout- hearted citizens with enthusiastic shouts. As one man they proclaimed their resolution to resist the Spaniard to the death. 92 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. CHAPTER XVIII. THE SIEGE OF ^AARLE^r. Haarlem— Its Situation— Its Defences— Army of Amazons— Haze on the Lake— Defeat of a Provisioning Party- Commencement of tlie Cannonade — A Breach— Assault — Kepulse of the Foe — Haarlem Eeinforced by William — Eeciprocal Barbarities— The Siege Renewed — Mining and Countermining— Battles below the Earth — New Breach —Second Eepulse of the Besiegers — Toledo contempLates Raising the Siege— Alva Forbids him to do so— The City more Closely Blockaded— F.amine — Dreadful Misery in the City— Final Effort of William for its Deliverance— It Fails— Citizens offer to Capitulate — Toledo's Terms of Surrender— Accepted— The Surrender— Dismal Appearance of the City— Toledo's Treachery— Executions and Massacres — Moral Victory to the Protestant Cause— William's Inspiriting Addi-ess to the States. Both sides began to prepare for the inevitable struggle. The Prince of Orange established himself at Leyden, the town nearest to Haarlem on the south, and only some ten English miles distant from it. He hoped from tliis point to be able to dii-ect the defence, and forward provisions and reinforce- ments as tlie brave little town might need them. Alva and his son Toledo, on the other hand, when they learned that Haarlem, instead of opening its gates, had resolved to resist, were filled with rage, and immediately gave orders for the march of their troops on that presumptuous little city which had dared to throw down the gage of battle to the whole power of Spain. Advancing along the causeway which traverses the narrow isthmus that separates the waters of tlie Haarlem Lake from the Zuyder Zee, the Spanisli army, on the 11th of December, 1572, sat down before Haarlem. Regiment continued to an-ive after regiment till tlie beleaguering army was swelled to 30,000,' and the city was now com- pletely invested. Tliis force was composed of Spaniards, Gennans, and Walloons. The popula- tion of Haarlem did not exceed 30,000 ; that is, it was only equal in number to that of the host now encamped outside its walls. Its ramparts were far from strong ; its garrison, even when at the highest, was not over 4,000 men,- and it was clear that the defence of the town must lie mainly with the citizens, whom pati-iotism had con- verted into heroes. Nor did the war-spirit bum less ardently in the breasts of tlie wives and daugli- ters of Haarlem than in those of their fathers and husbands. Three Iiundred women, all of them of unblemished character, and some of liigh birth, enrolled themselves in defence of the city, and donning armour, mounted the walls, or sally- ing from the gates, mingled with their husbands and brothers in the fierce conflicts waged with the enemy under the ramparts. This army of amazons was led by Kenau Hasselaer, a widow of forty-seven yeai's of age, and a member of one of the first families of Haarlem.^ " Under her command," says Strada, " her females were emboldened to do soldiei's' duty at the bulwarks, and to sally out among the firelocks, to the no less encouragement of their own men than admii'ation of the enemy." Toledo's preparations for the siege were favoured by a thick mist which hung above the Lake of Haarlem, and concealed his operations. But if the haze favoured the Spanish general, it befriended still more the besieged, inasmuch as it allowed pro- visions and reinforcements to be brought into the city before it was finally invested. Moving on skates, hundreds of soldiers and peasants sped rapidly past the Spanish lines unobserved in the darkness. One body of troops, however, which liad been sent by William from Leyden, in the hope of being able to enter the town before its blockade, was attacked and routed, and the cannon and pro- visions destined for the besieged were made the booty of the Spaniards. About a thousand were slain, and numbers made prisoners and carried off" to the gibbets which already bristled all round tlie walls, and from this time were never empty, relay after relay of unhappy captives being led to execu- tion upon them. Don Frederic de Toledo had fixed his head- quai-ters at the Gate of the Cross. This was the strongest part of the fortifications, the gate being defended by a ravelin, but Toledo held the besieged in so great contempt that he deemed it a matter of not the least consequence where lie should begin his assault, whether at the weakest or at the strongest point. Hiiarlem, he believed, following the example of the Flemish cities, would capitulate at almost the ' Motley, vol. ii., p. 58. Strada, vii. 7i. ' Strada, vii. 74. HEROISM OF HAAHLEM. 93 iii-st sound of Lis carmen. He allotted one week for the captui-e, and another for the massacring and ravishing. This would be ample time to finish at Haarlem ; then, passuig on in the same fashion from city to city, he woidd lay waste each in its turn, till nothing but ruins should remain in Holland. With this j^rogrammo of triumph for himself, and of overthrow for the Dutch, he set vigorously to work. His cannon now began to tlnuider against the gate and ravelin. In three day.s a breach was made in the walls, and the soldiers were ordered to cross the ditch and deliver the assault. Greedy of jihmder, they rushed eagerly into the breach, but the Spaniards met a resistance which they little anticipated. The alarm-bell in Haarlem was I'ung, and men, women, and children swarmed to the wall to repel the foe. They opened then- cannon iipon the assailants, the musketry poured in its fire, but still more deadly was the shower of miscellaneous yet most destructive mis- siles rained from the ramparts on the hostile masses below. Blocks of stone, boiling pitch, blazing ii'on hoops, which clung to the necks of those on whom they fell, live coals, and other projectiles equally dreadful, which even Spanish ferocity could not withstand, were hurled against the invaders. After contending some time with a tempest of this sort, the attacking party had to retii-e, leaving 300 dead, and many oflicers killed or wounded. This repulse undeceived Toledo. He saw that behind these feeble waUs was a stout spii-it, and that to make himself master of Haarlem would not be the easy achievement he had fancied it would prove. He now began to make his preparations on a scale more commensurate with the difficulty of the entei-prise; but a whole month passed away before he was ready to renew the assault. Meanwhile, the Prince of Orange exerted himself, not unsuccess- fully, to reinforce the city. Tlie continuance of the frost kept the lake congealed, and he was able to introduce into Haarlem, over the ice, some 170 sledges, laden with munitions and provisions, besides 400 veteran soldiers. A still larger body of 2,000 men sent by the prince were attacked and routed, having lost their way in the thick mist which, in these winter days, hung almost per- petually ai'ound the city, and covered the camp of the besiegers. Koning, the second in command of this expedition, being made prisoner, the Spaniards cut off his head and threw it over the walls into the citj% with an inscription which bore that " this Koning or King was on liis road, with two thousand auxiliaries, to raise the siege." The rejomder of the Haarlemers was in a vein of equal bai-baiity. Thoy decapitated twelve of theii' prisoners, and, putting then- heads into a cask, they rolled it down into the Spanish trenches, with this label affixed : — " The tax of the tenth penny, with the interest due thereon for delay of payment." The Spaniards re- taliated by hanging up a group of Dutch pi-isoners by the feet in view of their countrymen on the walls; and the besieged cruelly responded by gibbeting a number of Sjianish prisoners in sight of the camp. These horrible reciprocities, begun by Alva, were continued all the whUe that he and his son re- mained in the Netherlands. By the end of January, 1573, Toledo was ready to resume the operations of the siege. He dug trenches to protect his men from the fire of the ramparts, a precaution which he had neglected at tlie beginning, owing to the contempt in which he held the foe. Three thousand sappers had been sent him from the mines of Liege. Thus reinforced he resumed the cannonade. But the vigilance and heroism of the citizens of Haarlem long rendered his eflbrts abortive. He found it hard by numbera, however gi'eat, and skill, however perfect, to batter down walls which a patriotism so lofty defended. The besieged would sally forth at unexpected moments ujDon the Spanish camp, slay hmidreds of the foe, set fire to his tents, seize his cannon and provisions, and return ia triumph into the city. When Toledo's artdlery had made an opening ia the walls, and the Spaniards crowded into the breach, instead of the instant massacre and phmder which their imaginations had pictured, and which they panted to begin, they would find themselves in presence of an inner battery that the citizens had run up, and that awaited the coming of tho Spaniards to rain its murderous fire upon them. The sajjpers and miners would push their imder- ground trenches below the ramparts, but when just about to emerge upon the streets of the city, as they thought, they would find theii- progress sud- denly stopped by a counter-mine, which brought them face to face in the nari'ow tmmel with the citizens, and they had to wage a hand-to-hand battle with them. These underground combats were of frequent occurrence. At other times the Haar- lemers would dig deeper than the Spaniards, and, undermining them, would fill the excavation with gunpowder and set fire to it. The ground would BuddeiJy open, and vomit forth vast masses of earth, stones, mining implements, mixed horribly with the dissevered limbs of human being.s. After some days' cannonading, Toledo succeeded in battering down tho wall that extended between the Gate of the Cross and that of St. Jolm, and now he resolved to storm the breach with all his forces. Hoping to take the citizens by surprise, he assem- 94 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. bled his troops ovei'-night, and assigning to each liis post, and particularly instructing all, he ordered them to advance. Before the sentinels on the walls were aware, several of the storming party had gained the summit of the breach, but here their progress was arrested. The bells of Haarlem rang out the alarm, and the citizens, roused from sleep, hurried en vmsse to the ramparts, where a fierce struggle began with the Spaniards. Stones, clubs, tire-brands, eveiy sort of weapon was employed to repel the foe, and the contest was still going on when the day broke. After morning mass in the Spanish camp, Toledo ordered the whole of his army to advance to the walls. By the sheer force of numbers the ravelin which defended the Gate of the Cross was carried — a conquest that was to cost the enemy dear. The besiegers pressed tiimultuously into the fortress, expecting to find a clear path into the city; but a most mortifying check awaited them. The inliabitants, labouring incessantly, had reared a kalf-moon battery behind the breached portion of the wall,' and instead of the various spoil of the city, for which the Spaniards were so greedily athii'st, they beheld the cannon of the new erection irowning defiance upon them. The defenders opened fire upon the mass of their assailants pent up beneath, but a yet greater disaster hung over the enemy. The ravelin had been previously undermined, the citizens foreseeing its ultimate capture, and now when they saw it crowded vfith. the besiegei's they knew that the moment was come for firing it. They lighted the match, and in a few moments came the peal of the explosion, and the huge mass, with the hundreds of soldiers and oflicers whom it enclosed, Wiis seen to soar into the air, and then descend in a mingled shower of stones and mangled and mutilated bodies. The Spaniards stood aghast at the occurrence. The trumjiet sounded a reti'cat ; and the patriots issuing forth, before the consternation had subsided, chased the besiegers to their encampments." Toledo saw the siege was making no progress. As fast as he battered down the old walls the citizens erected new defences ; their constant sallies were taxing the vigilance and thinning the numbers of his troops ; more of his men were perishing by cold and sickness than by battle ; his supi)lies were often intercepted, and scarcity was beginning to be felt in his camp ; in these circumstances he began to entertain the idea of raising the siege. Not a few of his oflicers concurred with him, deeming the possession of Haarlem not worth the labour and lives which it was costing. Others, however, were opposed to this course, and Toledo referred the matter to his father, the duke. The stern Alva, not a little scandalised that his son should for a moment entertain such a thought, wrote commanding him to prosecute the siege, if he would not show himself unworthy of the stock from which he was sprung. He advised him, instead of storming, to blockade the city ; but in whatever mode, he must prosecute the siege tUl Haarlem had fallen. If he was unwilling to go on, Alva said he would come himself, sick though he was ; or if his illness should make this impossible, he would bring the duchess from Spain, and place her in command of the army. Stung by this sai'casm, Toledo, re- gardless of all difficulties, resumed the operations of the siege. In the middle of February the frost went ofi', and the ice dissolving, the Lake of Haarlem became navig- able. In anticipation of this occurrence, the Prince of Orange had constructed a number of vessels, and lading them with provisions, dispatched them from Leyden. Sailing along the lake, with a favourable wind, they entered Haarlem in safety. This was done oftener than once, and the spectre of famine was thus kept at a distance. The besi€ged were in good spirits ; so long as they held the lake they would have bread to eat, and so long as bread did not fail them they would defend their city. Mean- while they gave the besiegers no rest. The sallies from the town, sometimes from one quarter, some- times from another, were of almost daily occurrence. On the 25th of March, 1,000 of the soldier-citizens threw themselves upon the outposts of Toledo's army, drove them in, burned 300 tents, and captured camion, standards, and many waggon - loads of provisions, and returned with them to the city. The exploit was perfornred in the fiice of 30,000 men. This attacking party of 1,000 had slain each his man nearly, having left 800 dead in the Spanish camp, while only four of their own number had fallen.' The citizens were ever eager to provoke the Spaniards to battle ; and mth this view they erected altars upon the walls in sight of the camp, and tricked them out after the Romish fashion ; they set up images, and walking in pro- cession dressed in canonicals, they dei'ided the Popish rites, in the hope of stinging the champions of that faith into fighting. They feared the approach of fiimine more than they did the Spanish sword. Alva was amazed, and evidently not a little mortified, to see such valour in rebels and heretics, and was unable to withhold the exjiression of his astonishment. " Never was a place defended Hooft, vii. 293. •" Tliaunus, torn, iii., p. 218. THE FAMINE IN HAARLEM. 95 with such skill and bravery as Haarlem," said he, writing to Philip; "it was a war such as never was seen or heard of in any land on earth." ' But now the tide began to turn against the heroic champions of Protestant liberty. Haarlem was more closely invested than ever, and a more terrible enemy than the Spaniards began to make its a])pearance, gaunt famine namely. Count Bossu, the lieutenant of Toledo, had mustered a fleet of armed vessels at Amsterdam, and entei-mg the Lake of Haarlem, fought a series of naval battles with the ships of the Prmce of Orange for the posses- sion of that inland sea. Being a vital point, it was fiercely contested on both sides, and after much bloodshed, victory declared for the Spaniards. This stopped nearly all supplies to the city by water. On the land side Haarlem was as com- pletely blockaded, for Alva had sent forward additional reinforcements; and although William was most assiduous in dispatching relief for tlie besieged, the city was so strictly watched by the enemy that neither men nor provisions could now enter it. In the end of May bread failed. The citizens sent to make William aware of their desperate straits. The prince employed a carrier pigeon as the bearer of his answer.'' He bade them endure a little longer, and to encourage them to hold out he told them that he was assembling a force, and hoped soon to be able to throw pro- visions into their city. Meanwhile the scarcity became gi-eater every day, and by the beginning of Jiuie the famine had risen to a most dreadful height. Ordinary food was no longer to be had, and tlie ^v^•etched inhabitants were reduced to the necessity of subsisting on the most loathsome and abominable substitutes. They devoured horses, dogs, cats, mice, and similar vermin. When these failed, tliey boiled the hides of animals and ate them; and when tliese too were exhausted, they searched the graveyards for nettles and rank grass. Groups of men, women, and children, smitten down by the famine, were seen dead in the streets. But though their numbers diminished, their courage did not abate. Tliey stUl showed themselves on the walls, "the few performed the duties of many;"= and '^ Correspondance de Philippe II., ii. 1230. - "They rcTived," says Strada,;" the ancient invention of carrier pigeons. For a while before they wore blocked up they sent to the prince's fleet, and to the neai'cst towns of their own party, some of these pigeons. . . By these winged posts the Prince of Orange encouraged the towns- men to hold out for the last three months ; till one of them, tired with flying, lighted upon a tent, and being shot by a soldier, ignorant of the stratigem, the mystery of the letters was discovered." (Bk. vii.j p. 71.) ^ Strada, bk. vii., p. 74. if a Spanisli helmet ventured to appear above the earth-works, a bullet from the ramparts, shot with deadly aim, tumbled its owner into the trenches. They again made the prince aware of the misery to which they were reduced, adding that unless succours were sent ivithin a very short time they would be compelled to surrender. William turned his eyes to the Protestant Queen of England, and the Lutheran princes of Germany, and implored them to intervene in behalf of the heroic little city. But Elizabeth feared to break with Philip; and the tide of Jesuit reaction in Germany was at that moment too powerful to permit of its Protestants undei-takmg any enterprise beyond their own borders; and so the sorely beleaguered city was left wholly in the hands of the prince. He did all which it was possible for one in his circumstances to do for its deliverance. He collected an army of 5,000, cliiefly bui-ghers of good condition in the cities of Holland, and sent them on to Haarlem, with 400 waggon-loads of provisions, having first given notice to the citizens by means of can-ier pigeons of their approach. This expedition William wished to conduct in person, but the States, deem- ing his life of more value to Holhuid than many cities, would not sufier him to risk it, and the enterprise was committed to the «harge of Count Battenburg. The expedition set out on the evening of the 8th of July, but the pigeons that carried the letters of Orange having been shot, the plan of relief became known to the Spaniards, and their whole army was put under arms to await the coming of Battenbui-g. He thought to have passed their slumbering camp at midniglit, but suddenly the whole host surrounded him; his fresh troops were unable to withstand the onset of those veterans ; 2,000 were slain, including their leader ; tlie rest were dispersed, and the convoy of pro- visions fell into the hands of the victors. William could do no more — the last hope of Haarlem was gone.'' The patriots now offered to surrender on condition that the town wei'e exempt from pillage, and the gamson permitted to march out. Toledo replied that the surrender must be unconditional. The men of Haarlem understood this to mean tliat Toledo had devoted them to destruction. Tliey had before them deatli by starvation or death by the Spaniards. The latter they regarded as by niueli the more dreadful alternative. The fighting men, in theii- despair, resolved on cutting their way, sword in [hand, through the Spanish cainp, in the liojie that the enemy would put a curb on his ferocity * Bor, vi. 440. Hooft, viii. 312. Motley, vol. ii., p. 68. Watson, vol. ii., pp. 82, 83. 96 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. when he found only women iuul children, and these emaciated and woe-struck, in tlie city. But the latter, terror-stricken at the thought of being aban- doned, threw themselves down before their husbands and brothers, and clinging to thcrr knees, piteously implored them not to leave them, and so melted them that they could not carry out their purpose. They next resolved to form themselves into a hol- low square, and placing their wives and children in the centre, march out and conquer or die. Toledo learned the de-sperate attempts which the men of Haarlem were revolving; and knowing that there was nothing of which they were not capable, and that should it happen that only ruins were left him, the fruits and honours of his dearly- won victory would escape him, he straightway sent a trumpeter to say that on jiayment of 200,000 guilders the city would be spared and all in it pardoned, with the exception of lifty-seven persons whom he named.' The exceptions were important, for those who had rendered the greatest service iii the siege were precisely those who were most obnoxious to Toledo. It was ■with agony of mind that the citizens dis- cussed the proposal, which would not have been accepted had not the German portion of the gar- rison insisted on surrender. A deputation was sent to Toledo on the 12th of July, to announce the submission of the city on the proposed terms. At the very moment that Toledo gave the solemn pro- mise which led to this surrender, he had in his possession a letter from the Duke of Alva, com- manding him to put the garrison to the sword, with the exception of the Germans, and to hang all the leading citizens of Haarlem.- The first order issued to the Haarlemers after the surrender was to deposit their arms in the town-house; the second was to .shut themselves up, the men in the Monastery of Zyl, and the women ill the cathedral. Toledo now entered the city. Implacable, indeed, must that revenge have been which the sights of woe that now met his gaze could not extinguish. After an exposure for seven mouths to the Spanish cannon, the city was little better than a heaj) of burning ruins. The streets were blocked up with ])iles of rubbish, mingled with the skeletons of animals from which the flesh had been torn, and the unburied bodies of those wlio had fallen in the defence, or died by tlie fiimine. But of all the memoiials of the siege the most affect- ing were the survivors. Their protruding bones, parchment skin, hollow cheeks, and sunken eyes ' Hooft, viii. 313. ' Correspondance de Philippe II., ii. 1253. made them seem corpses that still retained the power of moving about. If they had been guilty of a crime in defying the soldiers of Spain, surely they had sufficiently atoned for then- presumption. On the third day after the surrender the Duke of Alva visited HaLU-lem, rode round it, and then took his departure, leaving it to his son to carry out the sequel. The treachery and barbarity of Naardeii were repeated here. We shall not shock our readers \vitli details. The fifty-seven persons ex- cepted from the amnesty were, of course, executed ; but the murders were far from ending with these. The garrison, with the exception of the Germans, were massacred ; 900 citizens were hanged as if they had been the vilest malfefactors ; the sick ill the hospitals were carried out into the court- yard and disjjatched ; the eloquent Ripperda, whose patriotic address, already recorded, had so largely contributed to excite the men of Haarlem to resist, was beheaded in company of several noted citizens. Several hundreds of French, English, and Scotch soldiers were butchered. Five executioners, each with a staff of assistants, were kept in constant employment several days. At last, tired of labours and sick with horrors, they took 300 victims that still remained, tied them back to back in couples, and threw them into the lake.' The number put to death in cold blood is estimated at about 2,300, in addition to the many thousands that perished in the siege. So awful was the tragedy of Haarlem ! It wore outwardly the guise of victory for the Spaniards and of defeat to the Hollanders ; and yet, when closely examined, it is seen to be just the reverse. It had cost Alva 12,000 men; it had emptied his treasury ; and, what was worse, it had broken the spell of invincibility, which lent such power to the Spanish arms. Eui'ope had seen a little town defy the power of Philip for seven long months, and surrender at last only from pressure of famine. There was much here to encourage the other cities of Holland to stand for their liberties, and the renewed exhibition of perfidy and cruelty on the part of Toledo deepened their resolution to do so. It was clear that Spain could not accept of many such victories without eventually overthrowing her own power, and at the same time investing the cause of the adversary she was striving to crush with a moral prestige that would in the issue con- duct it to triumph. Such was the view taken by the Prince of Orange on a calm survey of all the cii'cumstances attending ' Brandt, vol. i.,p.303, Bor,vi.441. Hooft, viii. 315, 316. Motley, vol. ii., p. 70. WILLIAM UNDISMAYED. 97 the fall of Haarlem. He saw notliing in it that Holland, to mspiiit the States to resist the power should cause him to thiiik for one moment of of Spain to the death. "Though God," he said, abandoning the prosecution of his great design, or " had suflered Haarlem to fall, ought men therefore VIEW or THE HOTEL DE VILLE, MIDDELr.VllG. that should shake his confidence in the ultimate to forsake his Word ! Was not their cause a tiiumph of his cause; and without abating a jot of righteous one! was not the Di\ine ami still able courage he wrote to his deputy, Sonoy, in North to uphold both it and them ! Was the destniction 113 98 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. of one city the ruin of the Church ? The calamities and woes of Haarlem well deserved their commi- seration, but the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church, and ha'V'ing now had a full disclosure made to them of the character and inten- tions of their enemy, and that in the war he was waging for the utter extii'pation of truth, he shrunk from no perfidy and cruelty, and trampled on all laws, Di\-ine and human, they ought the more courageously to resist him, convinced that the great Ruler would iii the end appear for the vindication of the cause of righteousness, and the overthi-ow of ■wickedness. If Haarlem had fallen, other and stronger towns still stood, and they had been able to put themselves into a better jiosture of defence from the long detention of the Spaniards under the walls of Haarlem, which had been subdued at la.st, not by the power of the enemy, but by the force of famine." The prince wound up his address with a reply to a question the States had put to him touching his foreign alliances, and whether he had secured the friendship of any powerful potentate abroad, on whose aid they could rely in the war. The answer of the prince reveals the depth of his piety, and the strength of his faith. " He had made a strict alliance," he informed the States, " ^vith the Prince of princes for the defence of the good Christians and others of this oppressed country, who never forsook those who trusted in him, and would assuredly, at the last, confound both his and their enemies. He was therefore resolved never to forsake his dear coimtry, but by venturing both life and fortime, to make use of those means which the Lord of Hosts had supi^lied him with."' CHAPTER XIX. SIEGE OF ALK.M.\AE, AND EECALL OF ALVA. Alkmaar— Its Situation — Its Siege— Sonoy's Dismay — Courageous Letter of the Prince — Savage Threats of Alva — Alkmaar Cannonaded — Breach— Stormed — Fury of the Attack — Heroism of the Eepulse— "WTiat Ensign Solis saw within the Walls— The Spaniards Eefuse to Storm the Town a Second Time— The Dutch Threaten to Cut the Dykes, and Drown the Spanish Camp — The Siege Raised— Amsterdam— Battle of Dutch and Spanish Fleets before it— Defeat of the Spaniards — Admiral Bossu taken Prisoner — Alva Eecalled— His Manner of Leaving — Number Executed during his Government — Medina Coeli appointed Governor — He Eesigns — Eequesens ap- pointed—Assumes the Guise of Moderation — Plain Warning of William — Question of Toleration of Koman AVorship — Eeasoniiigs— The States at Leyden Forbid its Public Celebration — Opinions of William of Orange. The Duke of Ah-a soon found that if he had taken Haarlem he had crippled himself The siege had emptied liis military chest; he was gi-eatly in arrears with his troops, and now his soldiers broke out into mutiny, and absolutely refused to march to Alkmaar and commence its siege till the simis Giving them were paid. Six weeks passed away before the army was reduced to obedience, and the duke enabled to resume his programme of the war. His own prestige as a disciplinarian had also suffered immensely. Alkmaar was situated at the extremity of the peninsula, amid the lagunes of North Holland. It Was late in the season when the Spanish army, 16,000 strong, sat down before this little town, ■with its gan-ison of 800 soldier.s, and its 1,300 citizens capable of bearing arms. Had it been invested earlier in the summer it must have fallen, for it was then comparatively defenceless, and its population di\'ided between the prince and the duke ; but while Ah'a was quelling the mutiny of his troops, Alkmaar ■was strengthening its defences, and William was furnishing it with provisions and garrisoning it wth soldiers. The commander of the besieging army was still Toledo. When Governor Sonoy saw the storm rolling up from the soiith, and when he thought of his own feeble resources for meeting it, he became somewhat despondent, and ^vl•ote to the prince expressmg a hope that he had been able to ally himself with some powerful potentate, who would supply him with money and troops to resist the terrible Spaniard. William replied to his deputy, gently chiding him for his want of faith. He had indeed contracted alliance, he said, ■with a mighty King, who would provide armies to fight his ovm battles, and he bade Sonoy not grow faint-hearted, as if the anu of that King had gro^wn weak. At the very moment that William was striving to inspirit him- self and his followers, by lifting his eyes to a Brandt, vol. i., p. 304. ATTACK AND REPULSE AT ALKMAAR. 99 mightier throne than any on earth, Alva was taking the most effectual means to raise up invin- cible defenders of Holland's Protestantism, and so realise the expectations of the prince, and justify his confidence in that higher Power on whom he mainly leaned. The duke took care to leave the people of Alkmaar in no doubt as to the fate in resei-ve for them should their city be taken. He had dealt gently with Haarlem; he had hanged only 900 of its citizens ; but he would wreak a full measure of vengeance on Alkmaar. " If I take Alkmaar," he wrote to Philip, " I am resolved not to leave a single creature alive ; the knife shall be i)at to every throat. Since the example of Haarlem has proved of no use, perhaps an example of cruelty will bring the other cities to theii' senses."' Alva thought that he was rendering certain the submission of the men over whose heads he hung that terrible threat : he was only preparing dis- comfiture for liimself by kindling in theii' breasts the flame of an luiconquerable courage. Toledo planted a battery on the two opposite sides of the town, in the hope of dividing the garrison. After a cannonade of twelve houre he had breached the walls. He now ordered his troops to stoiin. They advanced . in overwhelming numbers, confident of victory, and rending the air with their shouts as if they had already won it. Thej' dashed across the moat, they swarmed up the bi-each, but only to be grappled with by the courageous burghera, and flung headlong into the ditch below. Thrice were the murderous hordes of Alva repulsed, thrice did they return to the assault. The rage of the assailants was inflamed with e;ich new check, but Spanish fiuy, even though sustained by Spanish discipline, battled in vain against Dutch intrepidity and patriotism. The round-shot of the cannon ploughed long vacant lines in the beleaguer- ing masses ; the musketry jxiured in its deadly volleys ; a terrible rain of boiling oil, pitch, and water, mingled with tarred burning hoops, unslaked lime, and great stones, descended from the fortifi- cations ; and such of the besiegers as were able to force their way up through that dreadful tempest to the toj) of the wall, found that they had scaled the ramparts only to fall by the daggers of their defenders. The whole population of the town bore its part in the defence. Not only the matrons and virgins of Alkmaar, but the very children, were constantly passing between the arsenal and the walls, car)-ying ammunition and missiles of all sorts to their husbands, brothers, and fathers, careless of the shot that was falling thick around them. The ' Correapondance de Philippe II., ii. 12&1. apprehension of those far more ten-ible calamities that were sure to follow the entrance of the Spaniards, made them forgetful of every other danger. It is told of Ensign Solis, that havin" mounted the breach he had a moment's leisure to survey the state of matters within the city, before he was seized and flung from the fortifications. Escaping with his life, he was able to tell what that momentary glance had revealed to him within the walls. He had beheld no masses of military, no men in armour ; on the streets of the beleaguered town he saw none but plain men, the most of whom wore the garb of fishermen. Humiliating it was to the mailed chivalry of Spaiii to be checked, flung back, and routed by " plain men in the garb of fishermen." The burghers of Alkmaar wore their breastplates under their fisherman's coat — the consciousness, namely, of a righteous cause. The assault had commenced at tkree of the after- noon ; it was now seven o'clock of the evening, and the darkness was closing in. It was evident that Alkmaar would not be taken that day. A thousand Spaniards lay dead in the trenches,^ while of the defenders only thirteen citizens and twenty-four of the garrison had fallen. The trumpet sounded a recall for the night. Next morning the cannonade was renewed, and after some 700 shot had been discharged against the walls a breach was made. The soldiers were again ordered to storm. The army refused to obey. It was in vain that Toledo threatened this moment and cajoled the next, not a man in his camp would venture to approach those terrible ramparts which were defended, they gravely believed, by invisil)le powers. The men of Alkmaar, they had been told, worshipped the devil, and the demons of the pit fought upon the walls of their city, for how other- wise could plain burghers have inflicted so terrible a defeat upon the legions of Spain t Day passed after day, to the chagrin of Toledo, but still the Spaniards kept at a safe distance from those dreaded bulwarks on which invisible champions kept watch and ward. The rains set in, for the seiuson was now late, and the camping-gi'ound became a marsh. A 3'et more terrible disaster impended over them, provided they remained much longer before Alk- maar, and of this they had certain information. The Dutch had iigreed to cut their dykes, and bury the countay round Alkmaar, and the Spanish camp with it, at the bottom of the ocean. Already two sluices had been opened, and the waters of the North Sea, driven by a strong north-west wind, had rushed in and partially inundated the land ; this " Uooft, viii. 324. Bor, vi. 453. Watson, ii. 95, 96. 100 HISTOKY OF PROTESTANTISM. was only a begiiuiing : the Hollanders had resolved to sacrifice, not only their crops, but a vast amount of property besides, and by piercing their two gi-eat dykes, to bring the sea over Toledo and his soldiers. The Spaniards had found it hard to contend against the burghers of Alkmaar, they would find it still harder to combat tlie waves of the North Sea. Accordingly Don Frederic de Toledo summoned a council of his oiScers, and after a short delibera- tion it was resolved to raise the siege, the council having first voted that it was no disgrace to the Spanish army to retire, seeing it was fleeing not before man, but before the ocean. The humiliations of Alva did not stop here. To reverses on land were added disasters at sea. To punish Amsterdam for the aid it had given the Spaniards in the siege of Haarlem, North Holland fitted out a fleet, and blockaded the narrow en- trance of the Y which leads into the Zuyder Zee. Shut out from the ocean, the trade of the great commercial city was at an end. Alva felt it in- cumbent on him to come to the help of a town which stood almost alone in Holland in its ad- herence to the Spanish cause. He constructed a fleet of still krger vessels, and gave the command of it to the experienced and enterprising Count Bossu. The two fleets came to a trial of strength, and the battle issued in the defeat of the Spaniards. Some of their ships were taken, others made their escape, and there remained only the admiral's galley. It was named the Inquisition, and being the largest and most powerfully armed of all in the fleet, it oSered a long and desperate resistance before striking its flag. It was not till of the 300 men on board 220 were killed, and all the rest but fifteen were wounded, that Bossu sui'ren- dered himself prisoner to the Dutdi commander.' Well aware that it was of the last consequence for them to maintain their superiority at sea, the Dutch hailed this victory -with no common joy, and ordered public thanks to be offered for it in all the churches of Holland. Witli the turn in the tide of Sjianish successes, the eyes of Philip began to open. Alva, it is true, in all his barbarities had but too faithfully carried out the wishes, if not the express orders, of his master, but that master now half suspected that this policy of the sword and the gallows was des-tined not to succeed. Nor was Philip alone in that opinion. There were statesmen at Madrid who were strongly counselling the monarch to make trial of more lenient measures with the ' Thaunus, lib. Iv., sec. vol. ii., p. 99. Metcren, p. 23. Watuoii, Netherlanders. Alva felt that PMlip was growing cold toward him, and alleging that his health had sustained injury from the moist climate, and the fatigues he had undergone, he asked leave to retire from the government of the Low Countries. The king immediately recalled him, and appointed the Duke de Medina Cceli, governor in his room. Alva's manner of taking leave of Amsterdam, where he had been staying some time, was of a piece with all his previous career. He owed vast sums to the citizens, but had nothing wherewith to pay. The duke, however, had no difficulty in finding his way out of a position which might have been embar- rassing to another man. He issued a proclamation, inviting his creditors to present their claims in per- son on a certain day. On the night previous to the day appointed, the duke attended by his retinue quitted Amsterdam, taking care that neither by tuck of di'um nor saivo of cannon should he make the citizens aware that he was bidding them adieu. He travelled to Spain by way of Germany, and boasted to Count Louis van Koningstein, the uncle of the prince, at whose house he lodged a night, that during his government of five and a half years he had caused 18,000 heretics to be put to death by the hands of the executioner, besides a much greater number whom he had slain with the sword in the cities which he besieged, and in the battles he had fought. " When the Duke de Medina Coeli an-ived in the Netherlands, he stood aghast at the terrible wreck his predecessor had left behind him. The treasury was empty, the commerce of the country was destroyed, and though the inhabitants were im- poverished, the taxes which were still attempted to be wrung from them were enormous. The cry of the land was going up to heaven, from Roman Catholic as well as Protestant. The cautious governor, see- ing more difficulty than glory m the administration assigned to him, •' slipped his neck out of the collar," says Brandt, and returned to Spain. He was succeeded by Don Luis de Requesens and Cuniga, who had been governor at Milan. The Netherlanders knew little of their new ruler, but they hoped to find him less the demon, and more the man, than the monstrous compound of all iniquity who for five years had revelled in their blood and treasure. They breathed more freely for a little space. The first act of the new governor was to demolish the statue which Alva had erected of himself in the citadel of Antwerp ; Requesens wished the Netherlanders to infer from this begin- ning that the policy of Alva had been disavowetl = Hooft, lib. viii. 332. Brandt, vol. i., p. 300. TOLERATION OF THE EOMTSH WOKSHIP. 101 at head-quarters, and that from this time forward more lenient measures would be pursued. William w;\s not to be imposed upon by this shallow device. Fearing that the lenity of Requesens might be even more fotal in the end tlian the ferocity of Alva, he issued an address to the States, in which he re- minded them that the new deputy was still a Spaniard — a name of terrific import in Dutch ears — that he was the servant of a despot, and that not one Hollander could Requesens slay or keep alive but as Philip willed ; that in the Cabinet of Madrid there were abysses below abysses ; that though it might suit the monarch of Spain to wear for a moment the guise of moderation, they might depend upon it that liLs aims were fixed and unalterable, and that what he sought, and would pursue to the last soldier in hLs army, and the last hour of his earthly existence, was the destruction of Dutch liberty, and the extermination of the Protestant faith ; that if they stopped where they were — in the middle of the conflict — all that they had already sufiered and sacrificed, all the blood that had been shed, the tens of thousands of their brethren hanged on gibbets, biuned at stakes, or slain in battle, theii' mothers, wives, and daughters subjected to horrible outrage and murder, all would have been endured in vain. If their desii-e of peace should reduce them into a compromise with the tyrant, it would assuredly happen that the abhorred yoke of Spain would yet be riveted upon their necks. The conflict, it was true, was one of the most awful that nation had ever been called to wage, but the part of wisdom was to fight it out to the end, assui-ed that, oome when it might, the end would be good ; the righteous King would crown them with victory. These words, not less wise than heroic, revived the spirits of the Dutch. At this stage of the struggle (1.57.3) a question of the gravest kind came up for discussion — namely, the public toleration of the Roman worship. In the circumstances of the Netherlanders the delicacy of this question was equal to its difiiculty. It was not proposed to proscribe belief in the Romish dogmas, or to punish any one for his faitli ; it was not proposed even to forbid the celebration in l)vivate of the Romish rites ; all that was inoposed was to forbid their public exercise. There were some who argiied that their contest was, at bottom, a contest against the Roman faith ; the first object was liberty, but they sought liberty that their consciences might be free in the matter of worship; their opponents were those who professed that faith, and who sought to reduce them under its yoke, and it seemed to them a virtual repudiation of the justness of their contest to tolerate what in fact was their real enemy, Romanism. This was to protect with the one hand the foe they were fighting against with the other. It was replied to this that the Romanist detested the tyranny of Alva not less than the Protestant, that he fouglit side by side on the ramparts with his ProtestMit fellow-subject, and that both had entered into a confederacy to oppose a tyrant, who was their com- mon enemy, on condition that each should enjov liberty of conscience. Nevertheless, not long after this, the States of Holland, at an assembly at Leyden, resolved to l^rohibit the public exei'cise of the Romish religion. The Prince of Orange, when the matter was firet broached, expressed a repugnance to the public discussion of it, and a strong desire that its decision should bo po.stponed ; and when at last the resolu- tion of the States was arrived at, he intimated, if not his formal dissent, his non-concurrence in the judgment to which they had come. He tells us so in his Apology, published in 1580 ; but at the same time, in justification of the States, he adds, " that they who at the first judged it for the interest and advantage of the country, that one religion should be tolerated as well as the other, were afterwards convinced by the bold attempts, cunning devices, and treacheries of the enemies, who had insinuated themselves among the people, that the State was in danger of inevitable destruction unless the exercLse of the Roman religion were suspended, since those who professed it (at least the priests) had sworn allegiance to the Pope, and laid greater sti'ess ou their oaths to him than to any others which they took to the civU magistrate." The prince, in fact, had come even then to hold what is now the geiierally received maxim, that no one ought to suflfer the smallest deprivation of his civil rights on account of his religious belief; but at the same time he felt, what all have felt who have anxiously studied to harmonise the rights of conscience with the safety of society, that there are elements in Romanism that make it impossible, without en- dangering the State, to apply this maxim in all its extent to the Papal religion. The maxim, so just in itself, is applicable to all religions, and to Romanism among the rest, so far as it is a religion ; but AVilliam found that it is more than a religion, that it is a government besides ; and while there may be a score of religions in a country, there can be but one government in it The first duty of every government is to maintain its own unity and supremacy ; and whan it prosecutes any secondary end — and the toleration of conscience is to a government but a secondary end — when, we say, it prosecutes any secondary object, to the jjarting in 102 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. twain of the State, it contravenes its own primary end, and overthrows itself. The force with which this consideration pressed itself upon the mind of William of Orange, tolerant even to the measure of the present day, is seen from what he says a little farther on in his Apology. " It was not just," lie adds, " that such people should enjoy a privilege by the means of which they endeavoured to bring the land under the power of the enemy ; they sought to betray the lives and fortunes of the subjects by depriving them not of one, two, or thi-ee privileges, but of all the rights and liberties which for im- memorial ages had been preserved and defended by their predecessors from generation to generation." ' From this time forward the Reformed religion as taught in Geneva and the Palatinate was the one faith publicly professed in Holland, and its worship alone was practised in the national churches. No Papist, however, was required to renounce his faith, and full liberty was given him to celebrate his worship in private. Mass, and all the attendant ceremonies, continued to be performed in private houses for a long while after. To all the Protestant bodies in Holland, and even to the Anabaptists, a full toleration was likewise accorded. Con- science may err, they said, but it ought to be left free. Should it invade the magistrate's sphere, he has the right to repel it by the sword ; if it goes astray within its o^\ti domain, it is equally foolish and criminal to compel it by foi'ce to return to the right road ; its accountability is to God alone. CHAPTER XX. THIRD CAMPAIGN OF WILLIAM, AND DE.\TH OF rOUNT LOUIS OF NASSAU. Middelburg— Its Siege— Capture by the Sea Beggars— Destruction of One-half of the Spanish Fleet— Sea-board of Zealand and Holland in the hands of the Dutch— William's Preparations for a Third Campaign— Funds — France gives Promises, but no Money — Louis's Army — Battle of Moot — Defeat and Death of Louis — William's Misfortunes— His Magnanimity and Devotion — His Greatness of the First Rank— He Retires into Holland — Mutiny in Avila's Army — The Mutineers Spoil Antwerp — Final Destruction of Spanish Fleet— Opening of the Siege of Leyden— Situation of that Town— Importance of the Siege— Stratagem of Philip— Spirit of the Citizens. The only town in the important island of Wal- cheren that now held for the King of Spain was Middelburg. It had endured a siege of a year and a half at the hands of the soldiers of the Prince of Orange. Being the key of the whole of Zealand, the Spaniards struggled as hard to retain it as the patriots did to gain possession of it. The garrison of Middelburg, reduced to the last extremity of famine, were now feeding on horses, dogs, rats, and other revolting substitutes for food, and the Spanish commander Mondrogon, a brave and resolute man, had sent word to Requesens, that unless the town was succoured in a very few days it must neces- saiily surrender. Its fall would be a great blow to the interests of Phili]i, and his Go^■emo^ of the Low Countries exerted himself to the utmost to throw supjjlies into it, and enable it to hold out. He collected a fleet of seventy-five sail at Bergen- op-Zoom, another of thirty ships at Antwerp, and storing them with provisions and military equip- ments, he ordered them to steer for Middelburg and relieve it. But unhappily for Requesens, and ' Brandt, vol. i., pp. 307, 308. the success of his project, the Dutch were masters at sea. Their ships were manned by the bravest and most skilful sailors in the world ; nor were they only adventurous seamen, they were firm patriots, and ready to shed the last drop of their blood for their country and their religious liberties. They served not for wages, as did many in the land armies of the prince, which being to a large extent made up of mercenaries, were apt to mutiny when ordei-ed into battle, if it chanced that their pay was in arrears ; the soldiers of the fleet were enthu- siastic in the cause for which they fought, and accounted that to beat the enemy was suflicient reward for their valour and blood. The numerous fleet of Requesens, in two squad- rons, was sailing down the Scheldt (27th January, 1.574), on its way to raise the siege of Middelburg, when it sighted near Romerswael, drawn up in battle array, the ships of the Sea Beggars. The two fleets closed in conflict. After the first broadside, ship grappled with shij), and the Dutch leaping on board the Spanish vessels, a liand-to-hand combat with battle-axes, daggers, and pistols, was com- menced on the deck of each galley. The admiral's 104 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. ship ran foul of a sand-bank, and was then set fire to by the Zealanders ; the other commander, Romers, hastened to his relief, but only to have the flames communicated to his own ship. Seeing his galley about to sink, Romers jumped overboard and saved his life by s-n^imming ashore. The other ships of the Spanish fleet fared no better. The Zealanders burnt some, they sunk othei's, and tlie rest they seized. The victory was decisive. Twelve hundred Spaniards, including the Admu-al De Glimes, perished in the flame.s of the burning ves- sels, or fell in the fierce struggles that raged on tbeir decks. Requesens himself, from the dyke of Zacherlo, had witnessed, without being able to avert, the destruction of his fleet, which he had con- Btracted at great expense, and on which he built such great hopes. "When the second squadron learned that the ships of the first were at the bottom of the sea, or in the hands of the Dutch, its com- mander instantly put about and made haste to return to Antwerp. The surrender of Middelburg, which immediately followed, gave the Dutch the command of the whole sea-board of Zealand and Holland. Success was lacking to the next expedition im- dertaken by William. The time was come, he thought, to rouse the Southei'n Netherlands, that had somewhat tamelj' let go their liberties, to make .another attempt to recover them before the yoke of Spain should be irretrievably riveted upon their neck. Accordmgly he instructed his brother, Count LouLs, to raise a body of troops in German)^ where he was then residing, in order to make a third invasion of the Central Provinces of the Low Coun- ti'ies. There would have been no lack of recruits Lad Louis possessed the means of paying them ; but his finances were at zero ; his brother's fortune, a-s well as his own, was already swallowed up, and before enlisting a single soldier, Louis had first of all to provide funds to defray the expense of the projected expedition. He trusted to receive some help from the German princes, he negotiated loans from his own relations and friends, but his main hopes were rested on France. The court of Charles IX. was then occupied with the matter of the election of the Duke of Anjou to the throne of Poland, and that monarch was desirous of appearing friendly to a cause wliich, liut two years befoi'e, he had endeavoured to crush in the St. Bar- tholomew Massacre ; and so Count Louis received from France as many promises as would, could he have coined them into gold, have enabled him to equip and keep in the field ten armies ; but of sterling money he had scarce so much as to defray the expense of a single battalion. He succeeded, howevei', in levying a force of some 4,000 horse and 7,000 foot ' in the smaller German States, and with these he set out about the beginning of Feb- ruary, 1575, for Brabant. He crossed the Rhine, and advanced to the Meuse, opposite Maestricht, in the hope that his friends in that town would open its gates when they saw him approach. So gi-eat was their horror of the Spaniards that they feared to do so ; and, deeming his little army too weak to besiege so strongly fortified a place, he continued his march down the right bank of the river till he came to Roeremonde. Here, too, the Protestants were overawed. Not a single person durst show himself on his side. He continued his course along the river-banks, in the hope of being joined by the troops of his brother, accordmg to the plan of the campaign ; the Spanish armj', imder Avila, followmg him all the whUe on a parallel line on the opposite side of the river. On the 13th of April, Louis encamped at the -^'illage of Mook, on the confines of Cleves ; and here the Spaniards, having suddenly crossed the Meuse and sat do^vn right in his path, oifered him battle. He knew that his newly- levied recruits would fight at great disadvantage with the veteran soldiers of Spain, yet the count had no alternative but to accept the combat ofiered liim. The result was disastrous in the extreme. After a long and fierce and bloody contest the patriot army was completely routed. Present on that fatal field, along with Count Louis, wei-e his brother Henry, and Duke Christo])her, son of the Elector of the Palatinate ; and repeatedly, during that terrible day, they intrepidly rallied their sol- diers and turned the tide of battle, but only to be overpowered in the end. AVhen they saw that the day was lost, and that some 6,000 of their followers lay dead ai'ound them, they mustered a little band of the survivors, and once more, with fierce and desperate courage, charged the enemy. They were last seen fighting in the 'melee. From that conflict they never emerged, nor were their dead bodies ever discovered ; but no doubt can be entertained of theii- fate. Falling in the general butchery, their corpses would be undistinguishable in the ghastly heap of the slain, and would receive a common burial with the rest of the dead. So fell Count Louis of Nassau. He was a bril- liant soldier, an .able negotiator, and a firm patriot. In him the Protestant cause lost an enthusiastic and enlightened adherent, his country's liberty a most devoted champion, and his brother, the prince, one who was "his right hand" as regarded the prompt and able execution of his j)lans. To Orange 1 Thauuus, lib. Iv. Metereii, p. 133. DEATH OP COUNT LOUIS OF NASSAU. 105 the loss was iiTcpai'able, and was felt all the more at this moment, seeing that St. Aldegonde, upon whose sagacity and pati'iotism Orange placed such reliance, was a captive in the Spanish camp. This was the third brother whom William had lost in the struggle against Spain. The repeated deaths in the circle of those so dear to him, as well as the many other friends, also dear though not so closely re- lated, who had fallen in the war, could not but alllict him with a deep sense of isolation and loneli- ness. To abstract his mind from his sorrows, to forget the graves of his kindred, the captivity and death of his friends, the many thousands of his followers now sleeping their last sleep on the battle-field, his own ruined fortune, the vanished splendour of his home, where a once princely afflu- ence had been replaced by something like penury, his escutcheon blotted, and his name jeered at — to rise above all these accumulated losses and dire humiliations, and to prosecute with unflincliing resolution his gi-eat cause, required indeed a stout heart, and a firm faith. Never did the prince appear greater than now. The gloom of disaster but brought out the splendour of his virtues and the magnanimity of his soul. The burden of the great struggle now lay on him alone. He had to provide funds, raise armies, arrange the plan of campaigns, and watch over their execution. From a sick-bed he was often called to dii-ect battles, and the siege or defence of cities. Of the friends who had commenced the struggle with him many were now no more, and those who survived were coun- selling submission; the prince alone refused to despair of the deliverance of his country. Through armies foiled, and campaigns lost, through the world's pity or its scorn, he would march on to that triumph which he saw in the distance. When friends fell, he stayed his heart with a sublime confidence on the eternal Ann. Thus stripped of human defences, ho displayed a pure devotion to country and to religion. It was this that placed the Prince of Orange in the first rank of greatness. There liave been men who have been borne to greatness upon the steady current of continuous good foi-tune; they never lost a battle, and they never sufiered check or repulse. Their labours have been done, and their achievements accomplished, at the head of victorious armies, and in the presence of admii-ing senates, and of applauding and grateful nations. These are great ; but there is an order of men who are gi-eater still. There have been a select few who have ren- dered the very liighest ser^•ices to mankind, not with the ajiphmse and succour of those they sought to benefit, but in spite of their opposition, amid the contempt and scorn of the world, and amid ever- blackening and ever-bursting disasters, and who lifting their eyes from armies and thrones have fixed them upon a great unseen Power, in whose righteousness and justice they confided, and so have been able to struggle on till they attained their sublime object. These are the peers of the race, they are the first magnates of the world. In this order of great men stands William, Prince of Orange. On receiving the melancholy intelligence of the death of his brother on the fatal field of Mook, William retreated northward into Holland. Ho expected that the Spaniards would follow him, and improve their victory while the terror it inspired was .still recent; but Avila was prevented pur- suing him by a mutiny that broke out in his anny. The pay of his soldiers was three years in aiTears, and instead of the bai'reu pursuit of William, the Spanish host turned its steps in the direction of the rich city of Antwerp, resolved to be its own pay- master. The soldiers quartered themselves upon the wealthiest of the burghers. They took possession of the most sumptuous mansions, they feasted on the most luxurious dishes, and daily drank the most delicate wines. At the end of three weeks the citizens, wearied of seeing their substance thus devoured by the army, consented to pay 400,000 cro^vns, which the soldiers were willing to receive as part payment of the debt due to them. The mutineers celebrated their victoiy over the citizens by a great feast on the Mere, or pi-incipal street of Antwerp. They were busy carousing, gambling, and masquerading when the boom of cannon struck ujDon theii- ears. William's admiral had advanced up the Scheldt, and was now engaged with the Spanish fleet in the river. The revellers, leaving their cups and grasping their muskets, humed to the scene of action, but only to be the witnesses of the destruction of their ships. Some were blazing in the flames, others were sinking with their crews, and the patriot admiral, having done his work, was sailing away in triumjjh. We have recorded the destruction of the other division of Philip's fleet; this second blow completed its ruia, and thus the King of Spain was as far as ever from the supre- macy of the sea, without which, as Ecquesens assured him, ho would not be able to make himself master of Holland. Another act of the great drama now opened. Wo have already recorded the fall of Haarlem, after unexampled horrors. Though little else than a city of ruins and corpses when it fell to the Spaniards, its possession gave them gi-eat advantages. It wa-s an encampment between North and South Holland, 106 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. and cut the country in two. They were desii-ous of strengthening their position by adding Leyden to Hiuirlem, the town next to it on the south, and a ])lace of yet gi'eater importance. Accordingly, it wius first blockaded by the Spanish troops in the winter of 1574 ; but the besiegers were withdrawn in the spring to defend the frontier, attacked by Count Louis. After his defeat, and the extinction of the subsequent mutiny iir the Spanish army, the soldiers returned to the siege, and Leyden was invested a second time on the 26th of May, 1574. The siege of Leyden is one of the most famous in history, and had a most important bearing on the establishment of Protestantism in Holland. Its devotion and heroism in the cause of libei'ty and religion have, like a mighty torch, illumined other lands besides Holland, and fired the soul of more peoples than the Dutch. Leyden Ls situated on a low plain covered -with rich pastures, smiling gardens, fruitful orchards, and elegant villas. It is washed by an arm of the Rhine, that, on approaching its walls, parts into an infinity of streamlets which, flowing lan- guidly through the city, fill the canals that travei"se the streets, making it a miniature of Venice. Its canals are sjjanned by 150 stone bridges, and lined by rows of limes and poplars, which soften and shade the arcliitectxire of its spacious streets, that present to the view public buildings and sumptuous private mansions, churches with tall steeples, and universities and halls with imposing facades. At the tune of the siege the city had a numerous population, and was defended by a deep moat and a strong wall flanked -with bastions. The city was a jjrize well worth all the ardour dis- played both in its attack and defence. Its standing or falling would determine the fate of Holland. When the citizens saw themselves a second time shut in by a beleaguering army of 8,000 men, and a bristling chain of sixty-four redoubts, they reflected with pain on their neglect to introduce provisions and reinforcements into their city during the two months the Spaniards had been withdrawal to defend the frontier. They must now atone for their lack of jirevision by i-elying on theii- own stout arras and bold hearts. There wei'e scarce any troops in the city besides the burghal guard. Orange told them plainly that three months must pass over them before it would be possible by any efforts of their friends outside to raise the siege ; and he entreated them to bear in mind the vast conse- quences that must flow from the struggle on which they were entering, and that, according as they should bear themselves in it with a craven heart or with an heroic spu'it, so would they transmit to their descendants the vile estate of slavery or the glorious heritage of liberty. The defence of the to'wn was entrusted to Jean van der Does, Lord of Nordwyck. Of noble birth and poetic genius. Does was also a brave soldier, and an illustrious pati-iot. He breathed his own heroic spirit into the citizens. The women as well as men worked day and night upon the walls, to strengthen them against the Spanish guns. They took stock of the provisions in the city, and aiTanged a plan for their economical distribution. They passed from one to another the terrible words, " Zutphen," " Naarden," names suggestive of hori'ors not to be mentioned, but which had so bui-ned into the Dutch the detestation of the Spaniards, that they wei'e resolved to die rather than surrender to an enemy whose instincts were those of tigers or fiends. It was at this moment, when the struggle around Leyden was about to begin, that Philip attempted to filch by a stratagem the victory which he found it so hard to van by the sword. Don Luis de Requesens now published at Brussels, in the king's name, a general pai'don to the Netherlandei-s, on condition that they went to mass and received abso- lution from a priest. ' Almost aU the clergy and many of the leading citizens were excepted from this indemnity. "Pardon!" exclaimed the indig- nant Hollanders when they read the king's letter of grace ; " before we can receive pardon we must first have committed oflence. We have suffered the wrong, not done it ; and now the wrongdoer comes, not to sue for, but to bestow forgiveness ! How grateful ought we to be !" As regarded going to mass, Philip could not but know that this was the essence of the whole quarrel, and to ask them to submit on thLs point was simply to ask them to surrender to him the victory. Then- own reiterated vows, the thousands of their bretlu-en martyred, their own consciences — all forbade. They would sooner go to the halter. There was now scarcely a native Hollander who was a Papist ; and speaking in their name, the Prince of Orange declared, " As long as there is a living man loft in the country, we will contend for our liberty and our religion."- The king's pardon had fiiUed to open the gates of Leyden, and its siege now went forward. 1 Brandt, vol. i., p. 310. - Archives ih la Maison d'Orange, v. '27—apud Motley, vol. ii., p. 122. THE DYKES CUT. 107 CHAPTER XXI. THE SIEGE OF L E Y D E N , Lcyden — Provisions Fail— William's Sickness — His Plan of Letting in the Sea — The Dykes Cut— The Waters do not Kise— The Flotilla cannot be Floated — Dismay in Leyden— Terrors of the Famine — PestUence — Deaths — Unabated Kesolution of the Citizens— A Mighty Fiat goes forth — The Wind Shifts— The Ocean Overflows the Dykes— The Flotilla Approaches— Fights on the Dykes— The Fort Lammen— Stops the Flotilla — Midnight Noise— Fort Lammcn Abandoned — Leyden Relieved — Public Solemn Thanksgiving — Another Prodigy — The Sea Eolled Back. For two months the citizens manned tbeii' walls, and with stern courage kept at bay the beleaguering host, now rLsen from 10,000 to three times that number. At the end of this period pro'i'i.sions failed them. For some days the besieged subsisted on uudtcake, and when that was consumed they had recourse to the flesh of dogs and horses. Numbers died of staiwation, and others sickened and perished through the iinnatm'al food on which the famine had thrown them. Meanwhile a greater calamity even than would have been the loss of Leyden seemed about to overtake them. Struck down by fever, the residt of ceaseless toil and the most exhausting anxiety, William of Orange lay apparently at the point of death. The illness of the prince was carefully concealed, lest the citizens of Leyden should give themselves up alto- gether t despaix'. Before lying down, the prince had aiTangcd the only plan by which, as it appeared to him, it was possible to drive out the Spaniards and raise the siege ; and in spite of his illness he issued from his sick-bed continual orders respecting the execution of that project. No force at his dis- l)Osal was sufficient to enable him to break through the Spanish lines, and throw provisions into the starving city, in which tlic suflertng and misery had now risen to an extreme pitch. In this desjDerate strait he thought of having recourse to a more terrible weapon than cannon or armies. He would summon the ocean against the Spaniards. He would cut the dykes and sink the country beneath the sea. The loss would be tremendous ; many a rich meadow, many a fruitful orchard, and many a lovely villa would be drowned beneath the waves ; Imt the loss, though great, would be recoverable : the waves would again restore what they had swallowed up ; whereas, should tlic country be over- whelmed by the power of Spain, never again would it be restored : the loss would be eternal. What the genius and patriotism of William had dared, his eloquence pi-evailed upon the States to adopt. Putting their spades into the gi-eat dyke that shielded thcii' land, they said, " Better a drowned country than a lost country." Besides the outer and taller rampart, within which the Hollanders had sought safety from theii' enemy the sea, there rose concentric lines of inner and lower dykes, all of which had to be cut through before the waves could flow over the country. The work was executed with equal alacrity and perseverance, but not ynth the desired result. A passage had been dug for the waters, but that ocean which had appeared but too ready to ovenvhelm its baniers when the inhabi- tants sought to keep it out, seemed now un^\illing to overflow then- country, as if it were in league mth the tyrant from whose fui-y the Dutch besought it to cover them. Strong north-easterly ^vinds, prevailing that year longer than usual, beat back the tides, and lowering the level of the German Sea, prevented the ingress of the waters. The flood lay only a few inches in depth on the face of Hol- land ; and unless it should rise much higher, William's plan for relieving Leyden would, after all, prove abortive. At great labour and expense he had constructed a flotilla of 200 flat-bottomed vessels at Rotterdam and Delft ; these he had mounted ■with guns, and manned with 800 Zealanders, and stored with provisions to be thrown into the famine- stricken city, so soon as the depth of water, now slowly lising over meadow and corn-field, should enable his ships to reach its gates. But the flotilla lay immovable. The expedition was committed to Admiral Boisot; the crews were selected from the fleet of Zealand, picked veterans, with faces hacked and scarred with wounds which they had received in their former battles with the Spaniards ; and to add to their ferocious looks they wore the Crescent in their caps, with the motto, "Turks rather than Spaniards." Ships, soldiera, and ^ictuals— all had William provided ; but unless the ocean should co-operate all had been provided in vain. Somctliing like panic seized on the besiegers when they beheld this new and tenible power advancing to assail them. Danger and death in every conceivable form they had been used 108 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. to meet, but they never dreamt of liaving to coirtront tlie ocean. Against such an enemy what could their or any liumaii power avail 1 But when they saw that the rise of the waters was stayed, their alarm subsided, and they began to jeer and mock at the stratagem of the prince, which was meant to be grand, but had proved contemptible. He had summoned the ocean to his aid, but the ocean would not come. In the city of Leyden de- spondency had taken the place of elation. When informed of the expedient of the prince for their deliverance they had rang their bells foi' very joy ; biit when they saw the ships, laden with that bread for lack of which some six or eight thousand of their number had already died, after entering the gaps in the outer dyke, arrested in their jorogress to their gates, hope again forsook them. Daily they climbed the steeples and towers, and scanned with anxious eyes the expanse around, if haply the ocean was coming to their aid. Day after day they had to descend with the same depressing rejsort ; the wind was still adverse ; the waters refused to rise, and the ships could not float. The starvation and misery of Leyden was greater even than that which Haarlem had endured. For seven weeks there had not been a morsel of bread within the city. The ^'ilest substitutes were greedily devoui'ed; and even these were now almost exhausted. To complete then- suffering, pestilence was added to famine. Already reduced to skeletons, hundreds had no strength to withstand this new attack. Men and women every hour dropped dead on the streets. Whole families were found to be corpses when the doors of their houses were forced open in the morn- ing, and the survivors had hardly enough strength left to bury them. The dead were carried to their graves by those who to-morrow would need the same office at the hands of others. Amid the awful reiteration of these dismal scenes, one passion still survived — resistance to the Spaniards. Some few there were, utterly broken down under this accumu- lation of sorrows, who did indeed whisper the word "sun-ender," deeming that even Spanish soldiei-s could inflict nothing more terrible than they were already enduring. But these proposals were in- stantly and indignantly silenced by the great body of the citizens, to whom neither famine, nor pestilence, nor death appeared so dreadful as the entrance of the Spaniards. The citizens anew ex- changed vows of fidelity with one another and with the magistrates, and anew ratified their oatli.s to that Power for whose truth they were in arms. Abandoned outside its walls, as it seemed, by all : pressed within by a host of tenible evils : succour neither in heaven nor on the earth, Leyden never- theless would hold fast its religion and its liberty, and if it must perish, it would perish free. It was the victory of a sublime faith over despair. At last heaven heard the cry of the suti'ering city, and issued its liat to the ocean. On the 1st of October, the equinoctial gales, so long delayed, gave signs of their immediate approach. On that night a strong wind sjjrung up from the north-west, and the waters of the rivers were forced back into theii- channels. After blowing for some hom-s from that quarter, the gale shifted into the south-west with increased fury. The strength of the winds heaped up the waters of the German Ocean upon the coast of Holland ; the deep lifted up itself ; its dark flood driven before the tempest's breath with mighty roar, like shout of giant loosed from his fetters and rushing to assail the foe, came surging onwards, and poured its tumultuous billows O'ver the broken dykes. At micbiight on the 2nd of October the flotilla of Boisot was afloat, and under weigh for Leyden, on whose walls crowds of gaunt, famished, almost exanimate men waited its coming. At every short distance the course of the ships was disputed by some half-submerged Spanish fort, whose occupants were not so much awed by the terrors of the deep which had risen to overwhelm them as to be unable to offer battle. But it was in vain. Boisot's fierce Zealanders were eager to grapple with the hated Spaniards ; the blaze of cannon lighted up the darkness of that awful night, and the booming of artillery, rising above the voice of the tempest, told the citizens of Leyden that the patriot fleet was on its way to their rescue. These naval engage- ments, on what but a few days before had been cornland or woodland, but was now ocean — a waste of water blackened by the scowl of tempest and the darkness of night — formed a novel as well as awful sight. The Spaniards fought with a desperate Ijravery, but everywhere without success. The Zealanders leaped from their flat-bottomed vessels and pursued them along the dykes, they fired on them from their boats, or, seizing them with hooks fixed to the ends of long poles, dragged them down from the causeway, and put them to the sword. Those who escaped the daggers and harpoons of the Zealanders, were drowned in the sea, or stuck fast in the mud till ovei-taken and dispatched. In that flight some 1,.500 Spaniards perished. Boisot's fleet had now advanced within two miles of the walls of Leyden, but here, at about a mile's distance from the gates, rose the strongest of all the Spanish forts, called Lammen, blocking up the way, and threatening to render all that had been gained without avail. Tlie admiral reconnoitred it; it stood liigh above the water; it was of gi-eat LEYDEN DELIVERED. 109 strength and full of soldiers ; and lie liesitated attacking it. The citizens from the walls saw his fleet behind the fort, and understood the difficulty tliat prevented the admii-al's nearer approach. They had been almost delii'ious with joy at the prospect of immediate relief Was the cup after all to be dashed from their lips ? It was arranged by means of a carrier-pigeon that a combined assault shouhl take place upon the fort of Lammcn at dawn, the large portion of the city walls of Leyden had fallen over-night, and hence the noise that had caused such alarm. The Spaniards, had they known, might have entered the city at the last hour and massacred the inhabitants ; instead of this, they wei-e seized with panic, believing these terrible sounds to be those of the enemy rushing to attack them, and so, kindling their torches and lanterns, they fled when no man pursued. Instead of the cannonade which citizens assailing it on one side, and the flotilla bombarding it on tlie other. Night again fell, and seldom has blacker night descended on more tragic scene, or the gloom of nature been more in unison with the anxiety and distress of man. At midnight a terrible crash was heard. What that ominous sound, so awful in the stillness of the night, could be, no one could conjecture. A little after came a strange apparition, equally inexplicable. A line of lights was seen to issue from Lammen and move over the face of the deep. The darkness gave ten-or and mystery to eveiy occurrence. All waited for the coming of day to exjilain the.se appearances. At last the dawn broke ; it was now seen that a 114 was this morning to be opened against the formid- able Lammen, the fleet of Boisot sailed under the silent guns of the now evacuated fort, and entered the city gates. On the morning of the 3rd of October, Leyden was relieved. The citizens felt that their first duty was to ofl'er thanks to that Power to whom exclusively they owed their deliverance. Despite their own heroism and Boisot's valour they would have fallen, had not God, by a mighty ^\-ind, brought up the ocean and o\erwhelmed their foes. A touching i)rocession of haggard but heroic forms, headed by Admiral Boisot and the magistrates, and followed b^y the Zealanders and sailora, walked to the great church, no HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. and there united in solemn prayer. A hjniin of thanksgi\'ing was next raised, but of the multitude of voices by which its fii-st notes were pealed forth, few were able to continue singing to the close. Tears choked theii* voices, and sobs were mingled with the music. Tlioughts of the a-\vful scenes through which they had passed, and of the many who had shared the conflict with them, but had not lived to join in the hymn of victory, rushed with overmastering force into their minds, and compelled them to mingle tears with their 2'raises. A letter was instantly dispatched to the Prince of Orange with the great news. He received it while he was at wor.ship in one of the churches of Delft, and instantly handed it to the minister, to be read from the pulpit after sermon. That moment recompensed him for the toil and losses of years ; and his joy was heightened by the fact that a nation rejoiced with him. Soon thereafter, the States as.sembled, and a day of public thank.sgiving was appointed. This series of wonders was to be fittinglj- closed by yet another prodigy. The fair land of Holland lay drowned at the bottom of the sea. Tlie whole vast plain from Rotterdam to Leyden was under water. What time, what labour and expense would it require to recover the country, and restore the fertilitj- and beauty which had been so sorely marred ! The very next day, the 4th of October, the wind shifted into the north-east, and blowing with great violence, the watei-s rapidly assuaged, and in a few days the land was bare again. He who had broiight up the ocean upon Holland with his mighty hand rolled it back. CHAPTER XXII. MAUCII OF THE SPANISH ARMY THROUGH THE SEA SACK OF ANTWERP. The D.arkest Hour Passed— A University Founded in Leyden— Its Subsequent Eminence — Mediation— Pliilip Demands the Absohite Dominancy of the Popish Worsliip-The Peace Negotiations Broken off— The Islands of Zealand— The Spaniards March through the Sea— The Islands Occupied— Tlie Hopes that Philip builds on this— These Hopes Dashed— Death of Governor Requesens— Mutiny of Spanish Troops— They Seize on Alost— Pillage the Country around— The Spanish Army Join the Mutiny— Antwerp Sacked— Terrors of the Sack— Massacre, Eape, Burning— The "Antwerp Fury"- Ketribution. The night of this great conflict was far from being at an end, but its darkest hour had now passed. With the clieck received by the Spanish Power before the walls of Leyden, the first streak of dawn may be said to have broken ; but cloud and tem- pest long obscured the rising of Holland's day. The country owed a debt of gi-atitude to that heroic little city which had immolated itself on the altar of the nation's religion and liberty, and before resuming the great contest, Holland must first mark in some signal way its sense of the service wliich Leyden had rendered it. The dis- tinction awarded Leyden gave happy aiigury of the brilliant destinies awaiting that land in yeai^s to come. It was resolved to found a university within its walls. Immediate effect was given to this reso- lution. Though the Spaniard was still in the land, and the strain of ai-mies and battles was ujion William, a gi-and procession was organised on the 5th of Febniaiy, 1.575, at which symbolic figures, drawn through the streets in triumphal cars, were employed to represent the Divine fonu of Chris- tianity, followed by the fair train of the arts and sciences. The seminary thus inaugurated ^^■as richly endowed ; men of the greatest learning were sought for to fill its chairs, their fame attracted crowds of students from many countries ; and its printing presses began to send forth works which have instructed the men of two centuries. Thus had Leyden come up from the " sea's devouring depths " to be one of the lights of the world.' There came now a bi-ief pause in the conflict. The Emperor INIaximilian, the mutual friend of Philip of Spain and William of Orange, deemed the moment opportune for mediating between the parties, and on the 3rd of March, 1575, a congress assembled at Breda with the view of devising a basis of peace. The prince gave his consent that the congress should meet, although he had not the slightest hope of fruit from its labours. On one con- dition alone could peace be established in Holland, and that condition, he knew, was one which Philip 1 Brandt, vol. i., pp. 312, 313. THE MARCH OF THE SPANIARDS THROUGH THE SEA. Ill would never grant, and wliich the States could never cease to demand — namely, the free and open profession of the Reformed religion. When the com- missioners met it was seen that William had judged rightly in believing the religious difficulty to be insurmountable. Philip would agree to no peace unless the Roman Catholic religion were installed in sole and absolute dominancy, leaving professors of the Protestant faith to convert their estates and goods into money, and quit the country. In that case, replied the Protestants, duly grateful for the wonderful concessions of the Catholic king, there will hardly remain in Holland, after all the heretics shall have left it, enough men to keep the dykes in repair, and the country had better be given back to the ocean at once. The conference broke up without accomplishing anything, and the States, with William at theii' head, prepared to resume the contest, in tlie hope of conquering by theii- own jierseverance and heroism what they desimired ever to obtain from the justice of Philip. The war was renewed with increased exasperation on both sides. The opening of the campaign was signalised by the capture of a few small Dutch towns, followed by the usual horrors that attended the triumph of the Spanish arms. But Governor Requesens soon ceased to push his conquests in that direction, and turned his whole attention to Zealand, where Philip was exceedingly desirous of acquiring harbours, in order to the reception of a fleet which he was buUding in Spain. This led to the most brilliant of all the feats accomplished by the Spaniards in the war. In the sea that washes the north-east of Zealand are situated three large islands — Tolen, Duyveland, and Schowen. Tolen, which lies nearest the main- land, was already in the hands of the Spaniards; and Requesens, on that account, was all the more desirous to gain possession of the other two. He had constructed a flotilla of flat-bottomed boats, and these would soon have made him master of the coveted islands ; but he dared not launch them on these waters, seeing the estuaries of Zealand were swept by tliose patriot buccaneers whose bravery suffered no rivals on their own element. Reque- sens, in his gi-eat strait, bethouglit him of another expedient, but of sucli a nature tliat it miglit well seem madness to attempt it. The island of Duyveland was separated from Tolen, the foothold of the Sjianiards, by a strait of about five miles in width ; and Requesens learned from some traitor Zcalanders that there ran a naiTOW flat of sand from shore to shore, on which at ebb-tide there wiis not more than a depth of fi-om four to five feet of water. It was possible, therefore, though certainly extremely hazardous, to traverse this submarine ford. The governor, however, determined that his soldiers should attempt it. He assigned to 3,000 picked men the danger and the glory of the enter- prise. At midnight, the 27th September, 1575, the host descended into the deep, Requesens himself witnessing its departure from the shore, " and witli him a pi-iest, praying for these poor souls to the Prince of the celestial militia, Christ Jesus."' A few guides well acquainted with the ford led the way ; Don Osorio d'Ulloa, a commander of dis- tinguished courage, followed ; after him came a regiment of Spaniards, then a body of Germans, and lastly a troop of Walloons, followed by 200 sappers and miners. The night was dark, with sheet-lightning, which bursting out at frequent intervals, shed a lurid gleam upon the face of the black waters. At times a moon, now in her fourth quarter, looked forth between the clouds upon this novel midnight march. The soldiers walked two and two ; the water at times reached to their necks, and they liad to hold their muskets above their head to prevent their being rendered use- less. The path was so narrow that a single step aside was fatal, and many sank to rise no more. Nor were the darkness and the treacherous waves the only dangers that beset them. The Zealand fleet hovered near, and when its crews discerned by the pale light of the moon and the fitful lightning that the Spaniards were crossing the firth in this mest extraordinary fashion, they drew theu- ships as close to the ford as the shallows would permit, and opened their guns upon them. Their fiji-e did little harm, for the darkness made the aim tmcertain. Not so, however, the harpoons and long hooks of the Zealanders ; their throw caught, and numbers of the Spaniards were dragged down into the sea. Nevei'tlieless, they pursued their dreadful path, now struggling with the waves, now fighting with their assailants, and at last, after a marcli of six hours, they approached the opposite shore, and ^vitll ranks greatly thinned, emerged from the deep.- Wearied by theii- fight with the sea and witli the enemy, the landing of the Spaniards miglit have been withstood, but accident oi- treachery gave them possession of the island. At the moment that they stepped upon the shore, the commander of the Zealanders, Charles van Boisot, fell bv a shot — whether from one of his owi men, or from the enemy, cannot now be determined. The in- cident caused a panic among the patriots. The • Strada, bk. viii., p. 11. - Bor, lib, viii., pp. Gi8— 050. Strada, bk. viii., pp. 11,12. 112 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. strangeness of the enemy's advance — for it seemed iis if the sea had miraculously opened to aflbrd them passage — helped to increase the consternation. The Zealanders fled in all directions, and the in- vading force soon found themselves in possession of Duyveland. So far this most extraordinary and daring at- tempt had been successful, but the enterprise could not be regarded as completed till the island of Schowen, tlie outermost of the three, had also been occupied. It was divided from Duyveland by a narrow strait of only a league's width. Emboldened by their success, the Spaniards plunged a second time into the sea, and waded through the iii'th, the defenders of the island fleeing at theii- approach, as at that of men who had conquered the very elements, and ^yii\l whom, tlierefore, it was madness to contend. The Spanish commander immediately set about the reduction of all the forts and cities on the i.sland, and in this he was successful, though the work occupied the whole Spanish army not less than nine months.' Now fully master of these three islands (-June, 1576), though their ac- quisition had cost an immense expenditure of both money and lives, Requesens hoped that he had not only cut the communication between Holland and Zealand, but that he had secured a rendezvous for the fleet which he expected from Spain, and that it only remained that he should here fix the head-quarters of his power, and assemble a mighty naval force, in order from this point to extend his conquests on every side, and reconquer Holland and the other Provinces which had revolted from the sceptre of Philip and the faith of Rome. He seemed indeed in a fair way of accomplishing all this ; the sea itself had parted to give him a fulci-um on which to rest the lever of this great expedition, but an incident now fell out which upset his calcu- lations and dashed all his fondest hopes. Holland was never again to own the sceptre of PhUip. Vitelli, Marquis of Cetona, who was without con- troversy the ablest general at that time in the Netherlands, now died. His death was followed in a few days by that of Governor Requesens. These two losses to Philip were quickly succeeded by a third, and in some respects gi-eater, a foi'midable mutiny of the troops. The men who had jier- formed all the valorous deeds we have recited, had received no pay. PhOip had exhausted his treasury in the war he was carrying on with the Turk, and had not a single guelden to send them. The soldiers had been disappointed, moreover, in the booty they expected to reap from the conquered to\n)is of ' Strada, bk. viii., pp. 13, 14, Schowen. These labourers were surely worthy of their hii'e. What dark deed had they ever refused to do, or what enemy had they ever refused to face, at the bidding of their master I They had scaled walls, and laid fertile provinces waste, for the pleasure of Philip and the glory of Spain, and now they were denied their wages. Seeing no help but in becoming their own paymasters, they flew to arms, deposed theii' officers, elected a com- mander-in-chief from among themselves, and taking an oath of mutual fidelity over the Sacrament, they passed over to the mainland, and seizing on Alost, in Flanders, made it their head-quarters, intending to sally forth in plundering excursions upon the neighbouring to'svns. Thus all the labour and blood with which their recent conquests had been won were thrown awr.y, and the hojies which the King of Spain had built upon them were frus- trated at the very moment when he thought they were about to be realised. As men contemplate the passage of a dark cloud charged with thunder and destruction through the sky, so did the cities of Brabant and Flanders watch the march of this mutinous host. They knew it held pillage and murder and rape in its bosom, but their worst fears failed to anticipate the awful vengeance it was destined to inflict. The negotia- toi-s sent to recall the troops to obedience reminded them that they were tai'nishing the fame acquired by years of heroism. Wliat cared these mutineers for glory ? They wanted shoes, clothes, food, money. They held their way j)ast the gates of Mechlm, past the gates of Biiissels, and of other cities ; but swarming over the walls of Alost, while the inhabitants slept, they had now planted themselves in the centre of a rich country, where they promised themselves store of booty. No sooner had they hung out their flag on the walls of Alost than the troops stationed in other parts of the Netherlands caught the iiofection. By the beginning of Septem- ber the mutiny was universal ; the whole Spanish army in the Netherlands were united in it, and all the forts and citadels being in their hands, they completely dominated the land, plundered the citizens, pillaged the country, and murdered at their pleasure. The State Council, into whose hands the government of the Netherlands had fallen on the sudden death of Requesens, were powerless, the mutineers holding them prisoners in Brussels ; and though the Coimcil prevailed on Philip to issue an edict against his revolted army, denouncing them as rebels, and cmpowermg any one to slay this rebellious host, cither singly or in whole, the soldiers paid as little respect to the edict of theii" king as to the ex- hortations of the Council. Thus the instrument THE "AJSTTWERP FURY." 113 of oppression recoiled upon the hands that were \vielding it. War now broke owt between the Flemings and the army. The State Council raised bands of militia to awe the proscribed and lawless troops, and bloody skirmishes were of daily occurrence be- tween them. The carnage was all on one side, for the disciplined veterans routed at little cost the peasants and artisans who had been so suddenly transformed into soldiers, slaughtering them in thousands. The rich cities, on which they now east greedy eyes, began to feel their vengeance, but the awful calamity which overtook Antwerp has efl'aced the memory of the woes which at their hands befel some of the other cities. Antwerp, since the beginning of the troubles of the Netherlands, had had its own share of calamity; its cathedral and religious houses had been sacked by the image-breakers, and its warehouses and mansions had been partially pillaged by mutinous troops ; but its vast commerce enabled it speedily to surmount all these losses, and return to its foimer flourishing condition. Antwerp was once more the richest city in the world. The ships of all nations unloaded in its harbour, and the treasures of all climes were gathered into its warehouses. Its streets were spacious and magnificent; its shops were stored with silver and gold and precious stones, and the palaces of its wealthy merchants were filled with luxui'ious and costly furniture, and embellished . with precious ornaments, beautiful pictures, and tine statues. This nest of riches was not likely to escape the greedy eyes and rapacious hands of the mutineers. Immediately outside the walls of Antwerp was tlio citadel, with its garrison. The troops joined the mutiny, and from that hour Antwerp was doomed. The citizens, having a presentiment of the ruin that hung above their heads, took some very inefl'ectual measures to secure themselves and their city against it, which only ch-ew it the sooner \ipon them. The mutineers in the citadel were joined by the I'ebellious troops from Alost, about 3,000 in number, who were so eager to begin the plundeiing that they refused even to refresh themselves after their march before throwing themselves upon the ill-fated city. It was Sunday, the 4th of November, and an hour before noon the portals of Alva's citadel were opened, and 6,000 men-at-ai-ms rushed forth. They swept along the esplanade leading to the city. They crashed through the feeble barrier which the burghers had reai'ed to protect them from the ap- prehended assault. They chased before them the Walloons and the militia, who had come out to with- stand them, as the furious tempest drives the cloud before it. In another minute they were over the walls into the city. From every street and lane poured forth the citizens to defend their homes; but though they fought with extraordinary courage it was all u\ vain. The battle swept along tlie streets, the Spanish hordes bearing down all before them, and follo\ving close on the rear of the vanquished, till they reached the magnificent Place de Mere, where stood the world-reno%vned Exchange, in which 7,000 merchants were wont daily to a.ssemble. Here an obstinate combat ensued. The citizens fought on the street, or, retreating to their houses, fired from their windows on the Spaniards. The carnage was gi'eat ; heaps of corpses covered the pavement, and the kennels ran with blood ; but courage availed little against regular discipline, and the citizens were broken a second time. The battle was renewed with equal obstinacy in the Grand Place. Here stood the Guildhall, accounted the most magnificent in the world. Torches were brought and it was set fire to and burned to the gi-ound. The flames caught the surrounding buildings, and soon a thousand houses, the finest in the city, were ablaze, their conflagration lighting up the pin- nacles and the unrivalled spire of the neighbourinn- cathedral, and throwing its ruddy gleam on the combatants who were struggling in the area below. The battle had now spread over all the city. In eveiy street men were fighting and blood was flowing. Many rushed to the gates and sought to escape, but they found them locked, and were thrown back upon the sword and tii-e. The battle was going against the citizens, but their rage and hatred of the Spaniards made them continue the fight. Goswyn Verreyck, the margrave of the city, com- bated the foe with the burgomaster lying dead at his feet, and at last he himself fell, adding his corpse to a heap of slain, composed of citizens, soldiers, 'and magistrates. While the fii-e was devouring hundreds of noble mansions and millions of treasure, the sword was busy cutting off the citizens. The Spaniard made no distinction between friend and foe, between Papist and Protestant, between jioor and rich. Old men, women, and children ; the father at the hearth, the bride at the altar, and the priest in the sanctuary — the blood of all flooded the streets of their city on that terrible day. Darkness fell on this scene of horrors, and now the barbarities of the day were succeeded by the worse atrocities of the night. The fii-r;t object of these men was plunder, and one would have thought there was now enough within their reach to content the most boundless avarice. Without digging into the earth or crossing the sea, they could gather the treasures of all regions, which a thousand ships had 114 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. carried thither, and stored up in that city of which they were now masters. They rifled the shops, they troke into tlie warehouses, they loaded themselves ■n-ith the money, the plate, the wardrobes, and the jewels of private citizens; but their greed, like the "rave, never said it was enough. They began to search for hidden treasures, and they tortured their supposed possessors to compel them to reveal what often did not exist. These crimes were accompanied by infamies of so foul and revolting a character, that by their side murder itself grows pale. The narrators of the "Antwerp Fury," as it has come to be styled, have recorded many of these cruel and shameful deeds, but we forbear to chronicle them. For three days the work of murdering and plundering went on, and when it had come to an end, how awful the spectacle which that city, that three days before had been the gayest and wealthiest upon earth, presented ! Stacks of blackened ruins rising where marble palaces had stood ; ya\vning hovels where princely mansions had been ; whole streets laid in ashes ; corpses, here gathered in heaps, there lying about, hacked, mutilated, half-burned — some naked, others still encased in armour ! Eight thousand citizens, according to the most trustworthy accounts, were slain. The value of the property consumed by the fire was estimated at £-4,000,000, irre.spective of the hundreds of magnificent edifices that were de- stroyed. An equal amount was lost by the pillage, not reckoning the merchandise and jewellery appro- priated in addition by the Spaniards. Altogether the loss to the mercantile capital of Brabant was incalculable ; nor was it confined to the moment, for Antwerp never recovered the prosperity it had enjoyed before the bloody and plundering hand of the Spaniard was laid upon it.^ But this awful calamity held in its bosom a great moral. During fifty years the cry had been going up to heaven from tens of thousands of scaflblds, where the axe was shedding blood like water ; from prisons, where numberless victims were writhing on the rack ; from stakes, where the martyr was con- suming amid the flames ; from graveyards, where corpses were rotting above-gi-ound ; from trees and door-posts and highway gibbets, where hiiman bodies were dangling in the air ; from gi-aves which had opened to receive living men and women ; from sacked cities ; from violated matro"" ond maidens ; from widows and orphans, reared in affluence but now begging their bread ; from exiles wandering de.solate in foreign lands — from ali these had the cry gone up to the just Judge, and now here was ' Bor, ix. 728-732. Hoof t, xi. 460—465. Meteren, vi. 110. Strada, viii. 21, 22. Brandt, i. 325. Motley, ii. 18.5—195. the beginning of vengeance. The powerful cities of the Netherlands, Antwerp among the rest, saw all these outrages committed, and all these men and women ckagged to prison, to the halter, to the stake, but they " forbore to deliver," they " hid themselves from their o^vll flesh." A callous indifl'erence on the part of a nation to the wTongs and sufierings of others is always associated with a blindness to its own dangers, which is at once the consequence and the retribution of its estranging itself from the public cause of humanity and justice. Once and again and a third time had the Southern Netherlands manifested this blindness to the mighty perils that menaced them on the side of Spain, and remained deaf to the call of patriotism and religion. When the standards of William first approached theii- fron- tier, they were unable to see the door of escape from the yoke of a foreign tyrant thus opened to them. A tithe of the treasure and blood which were lost in the " Antwerp Fury " would have carried the banner of William in triumph from Valenciennes to the extreme north of Zealand ; but the Flemings cared not to think that the hour had come to strike for liberty. A second time the Deliverer approached them, but the ease-lo\-ing Netherlanders understood not the offer now made to them of redemption from the Spanish yoke. When Alva and his soldiers — an incarnated ferocity and bigotry — entered the Low Countries, they sat still : not a finger did they lift to oppose the occupation. When the cry of Naarden, and Zutphen, and Haarlem was uttered, Antwerp was deaf. Wrapt in luxury and ease, it had seen its martyrs burned, the disciples of the Gospel driven away, and it returned to that faith which it had been on the point of abandoning, and which, by retaining the soul in vassalage to Rome, per- petuated the serfdom of the Spanish yoke ; and yet Antwerp saw no immediate evil effects follow. The .ships of all nations continued to sail up its river and discharge their cargoes on its wharves. Its wealth continued to increase, and its palaces to gi-ow in splendour. The tempests tliat smote so terribly the cities ai'ound it rolled harmlessly past its gates. Antwerp believed that it had chosen at once the easier and the better part ; that it was vastly preferable to have the Romish faith, with an enriching commerce and a luxurious ease, than Protestantism with battles and loss of goods ; till one day, all suddenly, when it deemed calamity far away, a lilow, terrible as the bolt of heaven, dealt it by the cham])ions of Romanism, laid it in the dust, together with the commerce, the wealth, and the splendour for the sake of which it had parted with its Protestantism. JE MAIMTIE WILLIAM THE SILENT, misCE OF OUASGE. (From the Portrait in Joannis ileursii Ather,,^.) 116 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. CHAPTER XXIII. THE " PACIFICATION OF GHENT," AND TOLERATION. William of Orango more than King of Holland— The "Father of the Country"— Policy of the European Powers— Elizabeth— France— Germany— Coldness of Lutheranism — Causes— Hatred of German Lutherans to Dutch Calvinists — Instances— William's New Project— His Appeal to aU the Provinces to Unite against the Spaniards —The "Pacification of Ghent"— Its Articles— Toleration— Services to Toleration of John Calvin and William the Silent. The gi'eat struggle which William, Prince of Orauge, was maintaining on this foot-breadtli of territory for the religion of Refox-med Christendom, and the liberty of the Nethei-lands, had now reached a well-defined stage. Holland and Zealand were united under him as Stadtholder or virtual monarch. The fiction was still maintained that Philip, as Count of Holland, was the nominal monarch of the Netherlands, but this was nothing more than a fiction, and to Philip it must have appeared a bitter satire ; for, according to this fiction, Philip King of the Netherlands was making war on Philip King of Spain. The real monarch of the United Provinces of Holland and Zealand was the Prince of Orange. In his hands was lodged the whole administrative power of the country, as also wellnigh the whole legislative functions. He could make peace and he could make war. He appointed to all oflices ; he disposed of all afiairs ; and all the revenues of the kingdom were paid to him for national uses, and especially for the prosecution of the gi'eat struggle in which he was engaged for the nation's independence. These revenues, given spontaneously, were larger by far than the sums which Alva by all his taxa- tion and terror had been able to extort from the Provinces. William, in fact, possessed more than the powers of a king. The States had unbounded trust in his wisdom, his patriotism, and his uprightness, and they committed all into his hands. They saw in him a sublime example of devotion to his country, and of abnegation of all ambitions, save the one ambition of maintaining the Pro- testant religion and tlie freedom of Holland. They knew that he sought neither title, nor power, nor wealth, and that in him was perpetuated that order of men to whicli Lutlier and Calvin belonged — men not merely of prodigious talents, but what is infinitely more rare, of heroic faith and magnani- mous souls; and so "King of Holland" appeared to them a weak title — they called him the " Father of their Country." The gi'eat Powers of Europe watched, with an interest bordering on amazement, this gigantic struggle maintained by a handful of men, on a diminutive half-submerged territory, against the greatest monarch of his day. The heroism of the combat challenged theii- admiration, but its issues awakened their jealousies, and even alarms. It was no mere Dutch quarrel ; it was no question touching only the amount of liberty and the kind of religion that were to be established on this sand- bank of the North Sea that was at issue ; the cause was a world-wide one, and yet none of the Powers interfered either to bring aid to that champion who seemed ever on the point of being overborne, or to expedite the victory on the powerful side on which it seemed so sure to declare itself ; all stood aloof and left these two most unequal combatants to fight out the matter between them. There was, in truth, the same play of rivalries around the little Holland which there had been at a former era aroxmd Geneva. This rivalry reduced the Pro- testant Powers to inaction, and prevented theii" assisting Holland, just as the Popish Powers had been restrained from action in presence of Geneva. In the case of the little city on the shores of the Leman, Providence plainly meant that Protest- antism should be seen to triumph in spite of the hatred and opposition of the Popish kingdoms ; and so again, in the case of the little country on the shores of the North Sea, Providence meant to teach men that Protestantism could triumph independently of the aid and alliance of the Powers friendly to it. The great ones of the earth stood aloof, but WOliam, as he told his friends, had con- tracted a firm alliance with a mighty Potentate, with him who is King of kings ; and seeing this invisible but omnipotent Ally, he endured in the awful conflict till at last liis faith was crowned with a glorious victory. In England a crowd of statesmen, divines, and private Christians followed the banners of the Prince of Orange with theii' hopes and their prayers. But nations then had found no channel for the expression of their sympathies, other than the inadequate one of the policy of their sove- reign ; and Elizabeth, though secretly friendly to LUTHERAN LUKEWARMNESS. 117 William and the cause of Dutch independence, had to sliape hei" conduct so as to balance con- flicting interests. Her throne was surrounded with intrigues, and her person with perils. She had to take account of the pretensions and par- tisans of the Queen of Scots, of the displeasure of Philip of Spain, and of the daggers of the Jesuits, and these prevented her supporting the cause of Protestantism in Holland with arms or, to any adequate extent, with money. But if she durst not accord it public patronage or protection, neither could she ojienly declare against it; for in that case France would have made a show of aiding "William, and Elizabeth would have seen -with envy the power of her neighbour and rival consider- ably extended, and the influence of England, as a Protestant State, proportionately curtailed and weakened. France was Roman Catholic and Protestant by turns. At this moment the Protestant fit w;is upon it : a peace had been made with the Huguenots which promised them everything but secured them nothing, and which was destined to reach the term of its brief ciuTency within the year. The protean Mcdici-Valois house that ruled that counti-y was ready to enter any alliance, seeing it felt the obligation to fidelity in none ; and the Duke of Anjou, to spite both Philip and Elizabeth, might have been willing to have taken the title of King of the Netherlands, and by championing the cause of Dutch Protestantism for an hour ruined it for ever. This made France to William of Orange, as well as to Elizabeth, an object of both hope and fear ; but happily the fear predominating, for the horror of the St. Bartholomew had not j^et left the mind of William, he was on his guard touching oSers of help from the Court of the Louvre. But what of Germany, with which the Prince of Orange had so many and so close relationships, and wliich lay so near the scene of the great conflict, whose issues must so powerfully influence it for good or for ill t Can Germany fail to sec that it is its own cause that now stands at bay on the extreme verge of the Fatherland, and that could the voice of Liithcr speak from the tomb in the Schloss-kirk of Wittemberg, it would summon the German princes and knights around the banner of William of Orange, as it formerly summoned them to the standard of Frederick of Saxony t But since Luther was laid in the gi'ave the gi'eat heart of Gennany had waxed cold. Many of its princes seemed to be Protestant for no other end but to be able to increase their revenues by appropriations from the lands m\d hoards of the Roman establish- ment, and it was liardly to be- expected that Protestants of this stamp would feel any lively interest in the gi-eat struggle in Holland. But the chief cause of the coldness of Germany was the unhappy jealousy that divided the Lutherans from the Reformed. That difl'erence had been widening since the evil day of Marburg. Luther on that occasion had been barely able to receive Zwingle and his associates as brethren, and many of the smaller men who succeeded Luther lacked even that small measure of charity ; and in the times of William of Orange to be a Calvinist was, in the eyes of many Lutherans, to be a lieretic. AVhen the death of Edward VI. compelled the celebrated John Alasco, with his congregation, to leave England and seek asylum in Denmark, West- phalus, a Lutheran divine, styled the wandering congregation of Alasco " the martyrs of the devil;" whilst another Lutheran, Bugenhagius, declared that " they ought not to be considered as Christians ; " and they received intimation from the king that he would " sooner suffer Papists than them in his dominions ;" and they were compelled, at a most inclement season, to embark for the north of Germany, where the same persecutions awaited them, the fondness for the dogma of con- substantiation on the part of the Lutheran ministers having almost stifled in their minds the love of Protestantism.' But William of Orange was an earnest Calvinist, and the opinions adopted by the Church of Holland on the subject of the Sacra- ment were the same with those received by the Churches of Switzerland and of England, and hence the coldness of Germany to the great battle for Protestantism on its borders. WUliam, therefore, seeing England irresolute, France treacherous, and Germany cold, withdrew his eyes from abroad, in seeking for allies and aids, and fixed them nearer home. Might he not make another attempt to consolidate the cause of Pro- testant liberty in the Netherlands themselves'! The oft-recuri-ing outbreaks of massacre and rapine were deepening the detestation of the Spanish rule in the minds of the Flemings, and now, if he should try, he might find them ri])e for joining with their brethren of Holland and Zealand in an effort to throw off" the yoke of Philip. The chief difficulty, he foresaw, in the way of such a confederacy was the difference of religion. In Holland and Zealand the Reformed faith wa.s now tlio established re- ligion, whereas in the other fifteen Provinces the Roman was the national faith. Popery had had a marked revival of late in the Netherlands, the date • Krasinski, Ulavonia, p. 213. 118 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. of this second growth being that of their submission to Alva ; and now so attached were the great body of the Flemings to the Church of Rome, that they were resolved " to die rather than renounce their faith." This made the patriotic project which William now contemplated the more difficult, and the negotiation in favour of it a matter of great delicacy, but it did not discoiu-age him from attempting it. The Flemish Papist, not less than the Dutch Calvinist, felt the smart of the Spanish steel, and might be roused to vindicate the honour of a common country, and to expel the massacring hordes of a common tyrant. It was now when Eequesens was dead, and the government was for the time in the hands of the State Council, and the fresh atrocities of the Spanish soldiers gave added weight to his energetic words, that he wrote to the people of the Netherlands to the effect that " now was the time when they might deliver themselves for ever from the tyranny of Spain. By the good pro^'idence of God, the government had fallen into theii' own hands. It ought to be their unalterable resolve to hold fiist the power which they possessed, and to employ it in delivering their fellow-citizens from that intolerable load of misery under which they had so long gi-oaned. The measure of the calamities of the people, and of the iniquity of the Spaniards, was now full. There was nothing worse to be dreaded than what they had akeady suffered, and nothing to deter them from resolving either to expel their rapacious tyrants, or to perish in the glorious attempt."' To stimulate them to the effort to which he called them, he pointed to what Holland and Zealand single-handed had done ; and if " this handful of cities " had accomplished so much, what might not the combined strength of all the Pro- vinces, with their powerful cities, achieve ? This appeal fell not to the ground. In November, 1576, a congress composed of deputies from all the States assembled at Ghent, which re-echoed the patriotic sentiments of the prince ; the deliberations of its members, quickened and expedited by the Antwerp Fury, which happened at the veiy time the congi-ess was sitting, ended in a treaty termed the "Pacification of Ghent." This "Pacification" was a monument of the diplomatic genius, as well as patriotism, of William the Silent. In it the prince and the States of Holland and Zealand on the one side, and the fifteen Provinces of the Netherlands on the other, agreed to bury all past differences, and to unite their arms in order to effect the expulsion of the Spanish soldiers from ' Watson, Philip II., toI. ii., p. 180. See also Letter to States of Brabant, in Bor, lib. ix., p. 685. their country. Their soil cleared of foreign troops, they were to call a meeting of the States-General on the plan of that gi-eat assembly wliich had accepted the abdication of Charles V. By the States- General all the affair's of the Confederated Provinces were to be finally regulated, but till it should meet it was agi-eed that the Inquisition should be for ever abolished ; that the edicts of Philip touching heresy and the tumults should be suspended ; that the ancient forms of government should be revived ; that the Reformed faith should be the i-eligion of the two States of Holland and Zealand, but that no Romanist should be oppressed on account of his opinion ; while in the other fifteen Provinces the religion then professed, that is the Roman, was to be the established worship, but no Protestant was to sufler for conscience sake. In short, the basis of the treaty, as concerned religion, was toleration.' A great many events were crowded upon this point of time. The Pacification of Ghent, which united all the Provinces in resistance to Spain, the Antwerp Fury, and the recovery of that portion of Zealand which the Spaniards by their feats of daring had wrested from William, all arri^■ed contemporaneously to signalise this epoch of the struggle. This was another mile-stone on the road of the Prince of Orange. In the Pacification of Ghent he saw his past eflbrts beginning to bear fruit, and he had a foretaste of durable and glorious triumphs to be reaped hereafter. It was an hoiu- of exquisite gladness in the midst of the soitow and toil of his great conflict. The Netherlands, participating in the prince's joy, hailed the treaty with a shout of enthusiasm. It was read at the market-crosses of all the cities, amid the ringing of bells and the blazing of bonfires. But the greatest gain in the Pacification of Ghent, and the matter which the Protestant of the present day will be best pleased to contemplate, is the advance it notifies in the march of toleration. Freedom of conscience was the basis on which this Pacification, which foreshadowed the future Dutch Republic, was formed. Cah-in, twenty years be- fore, had laid down the maxim that no one is to be disturbed for his religious opinions unless they are expressed in words or acts that are inimical to the State, or prejudicial to social order. William of Orange, in laying the first foundations of the Batavian Republic, placed them on the principle of = Bor, lib. ix. , pp. 738—741 . Brandt, vol. i., pp. 327, 328. Sir William Temple, United Provinces of the Netherlands, p. 33; Edin., 1747. Watson, Philip II., vol. ii., pp. 193—195. FNEQUAL YOKEFELLOWS. 119 toleration, as his master Calvin liad defined it. To these two great men — John Calvin and William the Silent — we owe, above most, this great advance on the road of progress and human freedom. The first liad defined and inculcated the principle in his •wi-itmgs ; the second had embodied and given practical eflect to it in the new State which his genius and patriotism had called into existence. CHAPTER XXIV. ADMINISTRATION OF DON JOH^•, AND FIRST SYNOD OF DORT. Little and Great Countries— Their respective Services to Eeligion and Liberty— Tlie Pacification of Ghent brings with it an Element of Weakness— Divided Counsels and Aims — Union of Utrecht— The new Governor Don John of Austria— Asked to Eatify the Pacification of Ghent— Refuses— At last Consents— " The Perpetual Edict"— Perfidy meditated — A Martyr— Don John Seizes the Castle of Namur — Intercepted Letters — William made Governor of Brabant — His Triumplial Progress to Brussels— Splendid Opportunity of achieving Independence— Eomau Catholicism a Dissolvent — Prince Mattliias — His Character— Defeat of the Army of the Netherlands — Bull of the Pope — Amsterdam — Joins the Protestant Side — Civic Revolution — Progress of Protestantism in Antwerp, Ghent, &c. — First National Synod — Their Sentiments on Toleration — " Peace of Eeligion " — The Provinces Disunite— A Great Opportunity Lost— Death of Don John. The gi'eat battles of religion and liberty have, as a rule, been fought not by the gi-eat, but by the little countries of the world. History supplies us witli many strikmg examples of this, both in ancient and in modern times. The Pacification of Ghent is one of these. It defined the territory which was to be locked in deadly straggle -with Spain, and greatly enlarged it. By the side of the little Holland and Zealand it placed Brabant and Flanders, with their populous towns and their fertile fields. With this vast accession of strength to the liberal side, one would have expected that henceforth the combat would be waged with gi-eater vigour, promptitude, and success. But it was not so, for from this moment the battle began to languish. William of Orange soon found that if lie had widened the area, he had diminished the power of the liberal cause. An element of weak- ness had crept in along with the new ten'itories. How this happened it is easy to explain. The struggle on both sides was one for religion. Philip had made ^■oid all the charters of ancient freedom, and abolished all the privileges of the cities, that he might bind down upon the neck of the Netherlands the faith and worship of Rome. On tlie other hand, William and the States that were of his mind strove to revive these ancient charters, and innnemorial privileges, that under their shield they might enjoy freedom of conscience, and he able to profess the Protestant religion. None but Pro- testants could be hearty combatants in such a battle ; religion alone could kindle that heroism which was needed to bear the strain and face the perils of so great and so prolonged a conflict. But the fifteen Provinces of the Southern Netherlands were now more Popish than at the abdication of Charles V. The Protestants whom they contamed at that era had since been hanged, or burned, or chased away, and a reaction had set in which had supplied their places with Romanists ; and there- fore the Pacification, which placed Brabant alongside of Holland in the struggle against Spain, and which gave to the Dutch Protestant a-s his companion in arms the Popish Fleming, was a Pacification that in fact created two armies, by proposing two objects or ends on the liberal side. To the Popish inhabitants of the Netherlands the yoke of Spain would in no long time be made easy enough ; for the edicts, the Inquisition, and the bishops were things that could have no great terrors to men who did not need their coercion to believe, or at least profess, the Romish dogmas. The professors of the Romish creed, not feeling that. wherein lay the sting of the Spanish joke, could not be expected therefore to make other than half-hearted efforts to throw it ofl'. But far different was it with the other and older com- batants. They felt that sting in all its force, and therefore could not stop half-way in their great struggle, but must necessarily press on till they had plucked out that which was the root of the whole Spanish tjTanny. Thus William found that the Pacification of Ghent had introduced aniong the Confederates divided counsels, dilatory action, and uncertain aims; and tlu-ee yeai-s after (1579) the Pacification had to be rectified by the '■ Union 120 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. of Utrecht," which, without dissolvmg the Con- federacy of Ghent, created an inner alliance of seven States, and thereby vastly quickened the working of the Confederacy, and presented to the world the original framework or first constitution of that Commonwealth which has siiice become so renowned under the name of the " United Provinces." Meanwhile, and before the Union of Utrecht had come into being, Don John of Austria, the newly-appointed go^■el•nor, arrived in the Low Countries. He brought with him an immense prestige as the son of Charles V., and the hero of Lepanto. He had made the Cross to triumph over the Crescent in the bloody action that reddened the waters of the Lejiantine Gulf ; and he came to the Netherlands with the puqwse and in the hope of making the Cross triumphant over heresy, although it should be by dyeing the plains of the Low Countries with a still greater caniage than that ■with which he had crimsoned the Greek seas. He an-ived to find that the seventeen Provinces had just banded themselves together to drive out the Spanish anny, and to re-assert theii' independence ; and before they would permit him to enter they demanded of him an oath to execute the Pacification of Ghent. This was a preliminary which he did not relish ; but finding that he must either accejit the Pacification or else return to Spain, he gave the promise, styled the "Perpetual Edict," demanded of him (17th February, 1577), and entered upon his government by dismissing all the foreign troops, which now returned into Italy.' With the depar- ture of the soldiers the brilliant and ambitious young governor seemed to have abandoned all the great hopes which had lighted him to the Nether- lands. There were now gi-eat rejoicings in the Pro\-inces : all their demands had been conceded. But Don John trusted to recover by intrigue what he had surrendered from necessity. No sooner was he installed at Brussels than he opened nego- tiations with the Prince of Orange, in the hope of dl•a^ving him from " the false jjosition " in which he had placed himself to Philip, and winning him to his side. Don John had hatl no experience of such lofty spirits as William, and coidd only see the whims of fanaticism, or the aspirings of ambition, in VIEW ON THE CAN'AL, GHENT. the profound piety and grand aims of William. He even attemjited, througli a malcontent party that now arose, headed by the Duke of Aerschot, to > Strada, bk. iz., p. 32. DON JOHN'S DESIGNS. 121 work the Pacification of Ghent so as to restore the Roman religion in exclusive dominancy in Holland and Zealand, as well as in the other Provinces. But these attempts of Don John were utterly futile. William had no difficulty in ])ene- tratiiif' the true character and real design of the a tailor by trade, and a man of most exemplary lite, and whose only crime had been that of hearing a sermon from a Reformed minister in the neighbour- hood of Mechlin. The Prince of Orange made earnest intercession for the martyr, imploring the governor " not again to open the old theatres of \iceroy. He knew that, although the Spanish troops liad been sent away, Philip had still some 15,000 German mercenaries in the Provinces, and held in his hands all the great keys of the country. William immovably maintained his attitude of opposition despite all the little arts of the viceroy. Step by step Don John advanced to his design, which was to restore the absolute dominancy at once of Philip and of Rome over all the Provinces. His first act was to condeuni to death Peter Panis, 116 tyranny, which had occasioned the shedding of rivers of blood;"' notwithstanding the poor man was beheaded by the order of Don John. The second act of the viceroy, which was to seize on the Castle of Namur, revealed his real purpose with even more flagrancy. To make himself master of that stronghold he hatl recourse to a stratagem. Setting out one morning with a band of followei"s. ' Brandt, vol. i., p. 333. 122 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. attired as if for the chase, but with arms concealed under their clothes, the governor and his party took their way by the castle, which they feigned a great desire to see. No sooner were they admitted by the castellan than they drew their swords, and Don John at the same instant winding his horn, the men-at-arms, who lay in ambush in the surrounding woods, nished in, and the fortress was captured.' As a frontier citadel it was admirably suited to receive the troops which the governor expected soon to return from Italy ; and he remarked, when he found himself in possession of the castle, that this was the first day of hLs regency : it might with more propriety have been called the first day of those calamities that pursued him to the gi-ave. Intercepted letters from Don John to Philip II. fully unmasked the designs of the governor, and completed the astonishment and alarm of the States. These letters m-ged the speedy return of the Spanish troops, and dilating on Ihe inveteracy of that disease which had fastened on the Nether- lands, the letters said, " the malady admitted of no remedies but fire and sword." This discovery of the viceroy's baseness raised to the highest intch the admiration of the Flemings for the sagacity of William, who had given them early warning of the duplicity of the governor, and the cniel designs he was plotting. Thereupon the Provinces a third time thi-ew off their obedience to Philip II., de- claring that Don John was no longer Stadtholder or legitimate Governor of the Provinces.- Calling the Prince of Orange to Brussels, they installed him as Governor of Brabant, a dignity which had been bestowed hitherto only on the Viceroys of Spain. As the prince passed along iu his barge from Antwerp to Brussels, thousands crowded to the banks of the canal to gaze on the great patriot and hero, on whose single shoulder rested the weight of this struggle with the mightiest empire then in existence. The men of Antwerp stood on this side of the canal, the citizens of Bnissels lined the opposite bank, to ofier their respectful homage to one gi-eater than kings. They knew the toils he had borne, the dangers he had braved, the jirincely fortune he had sacrificed, and the beloved brothers and friends he had seen sink around him in the contest ; and when they saw the head on which all these storms had burst still erect, and prepared to brave tempests not less fierce in the future, rather than permit the tyranny of Spain to add his native country to the long roll of unhappy kingdoms which it had already enslaved and ci-ushed, their ' Bentivoglio, lib. x., pp. 192—165. - Bor, lib. xi., p. 916. admiiution and enthusiasm knew no bounds, and they saluted him with the glorious appellations of the Father of his Country, and the guardian of its liberties and laws.'' This was the thii'd time that liberty had oflered herself to the Flemings ; and as this was to be the last, so it was the fiiirest opportunity the Provinces ever had of placing their independence on a firm and permanent foundation, in .spite of the despot of the Escorial. The Spanish soldiers were ^vith- dra^^'n, the king's finances were exhausted, the Provinces were knit together in a bond for the jirosecution of their common cause, and they had at their head a man of consummate ability, of incorruptible patriotism, and they lacked nothing but hearty co-operation and union among themselves to guide the straggle to a glorious issue. With liberty, who could tell the gloi-ies and prosperities of that future that awaited Pro^■inces so populous and rich 1 But, alas ! it began to be seen what a solvent Romanism was, and of how little account were all these great opportunities in the presence of so disuniting and dissolving a force. The Roman Catholic nobles grew jealous of William, whose great abilities and pre-eminent influence threw theirs into the shade. They affected to believe that liberty was in danger from the man who had sacrificed all to ■vindicate it, and that so zealous a Calvinist must necessarily persecute the Roman religion, despite the eflbrts of his whole life to secure toleration for all creeds and sects. In short, the Flemish Catholics would rather wear the Spanish yoke, with the Pope as their spiritual father, than enjoy free- dom under the banners of William the Silent. Sixteen of the grandees, chief among whom was the Duke of Aerschot, opened secret negotiations with the Archduke Matthias, brother of the reigning emperor, Rudolph, and invited him to be Governor of the Netherlands. ]Matthias, a weak but ambi- tious youth, gi'eedUy accepted the invitation ; and without reflecting that he was going to mate liimself with the first politician of the age, and to conduct a struggle against the most powerful monarch in Christendom, he departed from Vienna by night, and arrived in Antwer]), to the astonishment of those of the Flemings who were not in the intrigue. ' The archduke owed the permission given him to enter the Provinces to the man he had come to supplant. William of Orange, so far from taking oflcnce and abandoning his post, continued to con- secrate his gi-eat powers to the liberation of his country. He accepted Matthias, though forced upon ' Watson, Philip II., vol. ii., p. 221. •• Bor, lib. si., p. 900. Strada, bk. is., p. 38. NEW PAPAL BULL. 123 him by an intrigue ; he prevailed upon the States to accept him, and install him in the rank of Governor of the Netherlands, he himself becoming his lieutenant-general. Matthias remained a puppet by the side of the great patriot, nevertheless his presence did good ; it sowed the seeds of enmity between the German and Spanish branches of the House of Austria, and it made the Roman Catholic nobles, whose plot it was, somewhat obnoxious in the eyes both of Don John and Philip. The cause of the Netherlands was thus rather bene- fited by it. And moreover, it helped William to the solution of a problem which had occupied his thoughts for some time past — namely, the pemia- nent form which he should give to the government of the Provinces. So far as the matter had shaped itself in his mind, he purposed that a head or Governor should be over the Netherlands, and that under this vii-tual monarch should be the States-General or Parliament, and under it a State Council or Executive ; but that neither the Governor nor the State Council should have power to act without the concurrence of the States-General. Such was the programme, essentially one of consti- tutionalism, that William had sketched in his own mind for his native land. Whom he should make Governor he had not yet determined : most certainly it would be neither himself nor Philip of Spain; and now an intrigue of the Roman Catholic nobles had ]>laced Matthias of Austria in the post, for which William knew not where to find a suitable occupant. But first the country had to be liberated ; every other work must be postponed for this. The Netherlands, their former Confedei'acy rati- fied (December 7th, 1577) in the "New Union" of Brussels — tlie last Confederacy that was ever to be formed by the Provinces — had thi'own do'wn the gauntlet to Philip, and both sides prej)ared for war. The Prince of Orange strengthened himself by an alliance with England. In this treaty, formed through the Marquis of Havree, the States ambas- sador, Elizabeth engaged to aid the Netherlanders with the loan of 100,000 j)ounds sterling, and a force of 5,000 infantry and 1 ,000 ca\alry, then- commander to have a seat in the State Council. Nor was Don John idle. He hud collected a con- siderable army from the neighbouring Provinces, and these were joined by veteran troops from Italy and Spain, which Philip had ordered Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, to lead back into tlie Netherlands. The States army amounted to about 10,000; that of Spain to 1.5,000; the latter, if superior in numbe^rs, were still more superior in discipline. On joining battle at Gemblours the army of the Netherlands encountered a terrible overthrow, a result which the bulk of the nation attributed to the cabals and intrigues of the Roman Catholic nobles. At this stage the two great antagonistic princi- ples which were embodied in the respective policies of Philip and William, and whose struggles with one another made themselves audible in this clash of arms, came again to the front. The world was anew taught that it vas a mortal combat between Rome and the Reformation that was proceeding on the theati'e of the Netherlands. Tlie torrents of blood that were being poured out were shed not to i-ev'-"e old charters, but to rend the chains from conscience, and to transmit to generations unborn the heritage of religious freedom. In this light did Pope Gregory XIII. show that he regarded the struggle when he sent, as he did at this time, a bull in favour of all who should fight under the banner of Don Jolm, " against heretics, heretical rebels, and enemies of the Romish faith." The bull was drafted on the model of those which his predecessors had been wont to fulminate when they wished to rouse the faithful to slaughter the Saracens and Turks ; it offered a plenar}' indulgence and remis- sion of sins to all engaged in this new crusade in the Low Countries. The bull further authorised Don John to impose a tax upon the clergy for the support of the war, " as undertaken for the defence of the Romish religion." The banners of the Spanish general were blazoned with the sign of the cross, and the following motto : In hoc signo vici Turcos: in hoc siyno vincam hereticos (" Under this sign I have vanquished the Turks : under this sign I will vanquish the heretics "). And Don John was reported to have said that " the king had rather be lord only of the ground, of the trees, shrubs, beasts, wolves, waters, and fishes of this country, than sufier one single person who has taken up amis against him, or at lea.st who has been jiolluted with heresy, to live and remain in it."' On the other side Protestantism also lifted itself up. Amsterdam, the capital of Protestant Holland, still remained in the hands of the Romanists. This state of matters, which weakened the religious power of the Northern States, was now rectified. Mainly by the mediation of Utrecht, it was agreed on the 8th of February, 1578, that Amsterdam should enroll itself with the State.s of Holland, and swear allegiance to tin; Prince of Orange as its Stadtholdcr, on condition that the Roman faith were the only one pi;blicly professed in the city, with right to all Protestants to jiractise their ovn\ worshiji, without molestation, outside the 1 Brandt, vol. i., p. 333. I2i HISTOKY OF PiluTESTANTlriM. walls, and privilege of burying their dead in uuconsecratcd but conveuieut ground, provided that neither was psalm sung, nor pi'ayer offered, nor any religious act performed at the grave, and that tlie corpse was followed to the tomb by not more than twenty-six persons. To this was added a not less important concession — namely, that all who had been driven away on account of difference of religious opinion should have liberty to return to Amsterdam, and be admitted to their former rights and privileges.' This last stipulation, by attracting back crowds of Protestant exiles, led to a revolution in the government of the city. The Reformed faith had now a vast majoi-ity of the citizens — scarcely were there any Romanists in Amsterdam save the magistrates and the friars — and a plot was laid, and very cleverly executed, for chauging the Senate and putting it in harmony with the popular sentiment. On the 26th May, 1578, the Stadthouse was sur- i-ounded by armed citizens, and the magistrates were made prisoners. All the monks were at the same time secured by soldiers and others dispersed through the city. The astonished senators, and the not less astonished friars, were led through the streets by their captors, the crowd following them and shouting, " To the gallows ! to the gallows with them, whither they have sent so many better men before them!" The prisoners trembled all over, believing that they were being conducted to execu- tion. They were conveyed to the river's edge, the magistrates were put on board one boat, and the friars, along with a few priests who had also been taken into custody, were embarked in another, and both were rowed out into deep water. Their pallid faces, and despairing adieus to their relations, bespoke the apprehensions they entertained that the voyage on which they had set out was destined to be fatal. The vessels that bore them would, they believed, be scuttled, and give them burial in the ocean. No sucii martyrdom, however, awaited them ; and the worst infliction that befell them was the terror into which they had been put of a water}' death. They were landed in safety on St. Anthony's Dyke, and left at liberty to go wherever they would, with this one limitation, that if ever again they entered Amsterdam they forfeited their lives. Three days after these melo-dramatic occurrences a body of new senators was elected and installed in office, and all the churches were closed during a week. They were then opened to the Reformed by the magisti'ates, who, accompanied by a number of carpenters, had previously visited them and removed all their images. Thus, without the effusion of a 1 Brandt, vol. i., p. 334. drop of blood, was Protestantism established in Amsterdam. The first Reformed pastors in that capital were John Reuolielin and Peter Hardenberg.- The Lutherans and Anabaptists were permitted to meet openly for their worship, and the Papists were allowed the private exercise of theirs. With this prosperous gale Protestantism made way in the other cities of Holland and of Brabant. This progress, profoundly peaceful in the majority of cases, was attended with trunult in one or two instances. In Haarlem the Protestants rose on a Communion Sunday, and coming upon the priests in the cathedral while in the act of kindling then- tapers and unfurling then- bamiers for a grand procession, they dispossessed them of their church. In the tumult a priest was slain, but the soldier who did the deed had to atone for it with his life ; the other rioters were summoned by tuck of drum to restore the articles they had stolen, anol the Papists were assui-ed, by a public declaration, of the free exercise of their religion.^ The jiresence of the Prince of Orange in Brussels, and the Pacification of Ghent, wliich shielded the Protestant worship from violence, had infused new courage into the hearts of the Reformed in the Southern Netherlands. From their secret conventicles in some cellar or dark alley, or neighbouring wood, they came foi'th and practised their worshijj in the light of day. In Flanders and Brabant the Protestants were increasing daily in numbers and courage. On Sunday, the 16th of ]\Iay, in the single city of Antwerp, Protestant sermons were preached in not less than sixteen places, and the Sacrament dispensed in fourteen. In Ghent it was not uncommon for Protestant congregations to convene in several places, of four, five, and six hundred persons, and all this in spite of the Union of Brussels (1577), which trenched upon the toleration accorded in the Pacification of Ghent. ■* The first National Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church met at Dort on the 2nd of June, 1578. This body, in a petition equally distinguished for the strength of its reasonings and the liberality of its sentiments, urged the States-General to make provision for the free exercise of the Reformed i-eligion, as a measure righteous in itself, and the surest basis for the peace of the Provinces. How truly catholic were tlie Dutch Calvuiists, and how much the cause of toleration owes to them, can lie seen only from their own words, addressed to the Archduke Matthias and the Council of State. After having proved that the cnielties practised upon them had led only to an increase of their numbers, with the = Brandt, vol. i., p. 338. ■'' Hid., p. 3;!9. •" Hid., p. 339. THE "PEACE OP RELIGION." 125 loss nevertheless of the nation's welfare, the desola- t ion of its cities, the banishment of its inhabitants, and the ruin of its trade and prosperity, they go on to say that the refusal of the free exercise of their religion reduced them to this dilemma, " either that they must live mthoiit any religion, or that they themselves mxist force a way to the public exercise of it." They object to the fir.st alternative as leading to an epicurean life, and the contempt of all laws liuraan and divine; they dread the second as tending to a breach in the union of the Provinces, and pos- siljly the dissolution of the present Government. But do they therefore ask exclusive recognition or supre- macy '( Far from it. " .Since the experience of past years had taught them," they .say, " that by reason of their sins they could not all be reduced to one and the same religion, it was necessary to consider how both religions could be maintained without damage or prejudice to each other. As for the ob- jection," they continue, " that two religions are in- compatible in the same country, it had been refuted by the experience of all ages. The heathen emperors had found their account more in tolerating the Christians, nay, even in using their service in their wars, than in persecuting them. The Christian emperors had also allowed public churches to those who were of a quite different opinion from them in religious matters, as might be seen in the history of Constantine, of his two sons, of Theodosius, and others. The Emperor Charles V. found no other expedient to extricate himself from the utmost distress than by consenting to the exercise of both religions." After citing many other examples they continue thus : " France is too near for us to be ignorant that the rivers of blood with which that kingdom is overflowed can never be dried up but by a toleration of religion. Such a toleration formerly produced peace there ; whereas being interrupted the said kingdom was immediately in a flame, and in danger of being cpiite consumed. We may likewise learn from the Grand Seignior, who knows how to tyrannise as well as any prince, and yet tolerates both Jews and Christians in his dominions without ap])rchending either tumults or defections, though there be more Christians in liLs territories who laevcr owned the authority of the Pope, than tliero are in Europe that sicknowledge it." And tliey concluded by cra^^ng "that both religions might bo equally tolerated till God should be pleased to reconcile all the opposite notions that reigned in the land." ' ' Brandt, vol. i., pp. 339— S-tl.— Motley in his great hi.story. The Rise of the Dutch Republic, when speak- ing of the intolerance and bigotry of the religious bodies of the Netherlands, specially emphasises tho In accordance with the petition of the Synod of Dort, a scheme of " Religious Peace," drafted bv the Prince of Orange and signed by Matthias, was presented to the States-General for adopticHi. Its general basis was the equal toleration of bolli religions throughout the Netherlands. In Holland and Zealand, where the Popish worship had been suppressed, it was to be restored in all places where a Imndred resident families desired it. In the Popish Provinces an equivalent indulgence was to be granted wherever an equal number of Protestant families resided. Nowhere was the private exercise of either faith to be obstructed ; the Protestants were to be eligible to all oflices for which they were qualified, and were to abstain from all trade and labour on the great festivals of the Roman Church. This scheme was approved by the States-General, under the name of the " Peace of Religion." William was overjoyed to behold his most ardent hopes of a united Fatherland, and the vigorous prosecution of its great battle again.st a common tyranny, about to be crowned. But these bright hopes were only for a moment. The banner of toleration, bravely uplifted by WUUam, had been waved over the Netherlands only to be fiu'led again. The Roman Catholic nobles, with Aerschot and Champagny at their head, refused to accept the " Peace of Religion." In theii- immense horror of Protestantism they forgot their dread of the Spaniard, and rather than that heresy should defile the Fatherland, they were 'svilling that the yoke of Philip should Ije bound do'wn upon it. Tumults, violences, and conflicts broke out in many of the Pro\'inces. Revenge begat revenge, and animosity on the one side kindled an equal animo- sity on the other. Something like a civil war raged in the Southern Netherlands, and the sword that ought to have been drawn against the common foe was turned against each other. These strifes and bigotries wi'ought at length the separation of the Walloon Provinces from the rest, and in the issue occasioned the loss of the greater ])art of the Netherlands. The hour for achieving liberty had passed, and for three centuries nearly these unwise and uidiappy Provinces were not to know inde- pendence, but were to be thrown about a.s mere political make-weights, and to be the property now of this master and now o' that. Meanwhile the two armies lay inactive in th« presence of each other. Both sides had recently intolerance of the Calvinists. It is strange, with the above document and simihar proofs before him. tlxat the historian should bo unable to see that the French Huguenots and the Dutch Calvinists were the only champions of toleration then in Christendom, 126 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. receivi'd an aiigiiR'ntation of strength. The Nother- land.s army liad been increa.sed to sometliing like 30,000, first by an English levy led by John Casimir, and next Ijy a French troop under the command of the Duke of Aleni^on, for the Nether- lands had become the pivot on which the rival jKjlicies of England and France at this moment revolved. The sinews of war were lacking on both .suddenly changed its splendoui's into blackness, and transformed the imagined theatre of triumph into one of misfortune and defeat. Fortune forsook her favourite the moment his foot touched this charmed soil. Withstood and insulted by the obstinate Netherlanders, outwitted and baffled by the great William of Orange, suspected by his jealous brother Pliiliji II., by whom he was most inadequately HON JOHN OF ArSTRIA. Ihe Fortran hu Jfassarcl in (lie Galcric Uistoriqnr, T'lrsnillfs.) sides, and hence the pause in hostilities. The scenes were about to shift in a way that no one anticipated. Struck down by fever, Don John lay a corpse in the Castle of Namur. How different the destiny he had pictured for himself when he entered this fatal land ! Young, biilliant, and ambitious, he had come to the Netherlands in the hope of adding to the vast renown he had already won at Lepanto, and of making for himself a gi-eat place in Christen- dom— of mounting, it might be, one of its thrones. But a mysterious finger had touched the scene, and supported with men and money, all his hours were onil)ittere(l l;y toil, disappointment, and chagrin. The constant dread in which he was kept by the perUs and pitfalls that surrounded him, and the continual circumspection which he was compellec to exercise, furrowed his brow, dimmed his eye sapped his strength, and broke his spii-it. At last came fever, and fever was followed by delirium. He imagined himself upon the battle - field : he shouted out his orders : his eye now bi-ightened, now faded, as he fancied victory or defeat to be 128 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. attending his arms. Again came a lucid interval,' his thii'tieth year. Another hammer, to use Beza's b\it only to fade away into the changeless dark- metaphor, had been worn out on the anvil of the ness of death. He died before he had reached Chui-ch.- CHAPTER XXV. ABJURATION OP PHILIP, AND RISE OF THE SEVEN UNITED PROVINCES. Alosantler, Duko of Parma — His Character — Divisions in the Provinces — Siege of Maestricht — Defection of tlio Walloons— Union of Utrecht — Bases of Union — Germ of the United Provinces — Their Motto— Peace Congress at Cologne— Its Grandeur — Pliilip makes Impossible Demands — Pailiu'e of Congress — Attempts to Bribe William — His Incorruptibility — Ban Fulminated against liim — His "Apology " — Arraignment of Phihp — The Netherlands Abjure Philip II. as King — Holland and Zealand confer their Sovereignty on WiUiam — Greatness of the Kevolu- tion — Its Place in the History of Protestantism. Don John having on his death-bed nominated Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, to succeed him, and the choice having soon afterwards been ratified by Philip II., the duke immediately took upon him the burden of that terrible struggle which had crushed his predecessor. If brilliant abilities could have commanded cor- responding success, Parma would have speedily re-established the dominion of Spain throughout the whole of the Netherlands. His figure was finely moulded, and his features were handsome, despite that the lower part of his face was biuied in a bushy beard, and that his dark eye had a scjuint wlucli warned the spectator to be on his guard. His round compact head was one which a gladiator might have envied; his bearing was noble ; he was temperate, methodical in business, but never pei-mitted its pressure to prevent his attendance on morning mass ; his coolness on the battle-field gave confidence to his soldiers ; and while his courage and skill fitted him to cope with his antagonists in war, his wisdom, and cunning, and patience won for him not a few victories in the battles of diplomacy. His conduct and valour considerably retrieved at the beginning the affairs of Philip, but the mightier intellect with which he was confronted, and the destinies of the cause against which he did battle, attested in the end their superiority over all the gi-eat talents and dextero\is arts of Alexander of PaiTna, seconded by the powerful armies of Spain. After the toil and watchfulness of years, and .after victories gained with much blood, to yield not fruit but ashes, he too had to retire from the scene dis- appointed, baffled, and vanquished. A revived bigotry had again split up the lately • Strada, bk. x., p. 16. united Fatherland, and these divisions opened an entrance for the arts and the arms of Parma. Gathering up the %vreck of the army of Don John, and reinforcing the old battalions by new recruits, Parma set vigorously to work to reduce the Pro- vinces, and restore the supremacy of both Philip and Rome. Sieges and battles signalised the open- ing of the camjjaign ; in most of these he was successful, but we cannot stay to give them indivi- dual narration, for oiir task is to follow the footsteps of that Power which had awakened the conflict, and which was marching on to victory, although through clouds so dark and tempests so fierce that a few only of the Netherlanders were able to follow it. The first success that rewarded the arms of Parma was the capture of Maestricht. Its massacre of three days renewed the horrors of former sieges. The cry of its agony was heard three miles off; and when the sword of the enemy rested, a miserable remnant (some three or four hundred, say the old chroniclers)^ was all that was spared of its thirty-four thousand - Of the transport of his body through France, and its presentation to Pliilip II. in the Escorial, Strada (bk. s.) gives a minute but horrible account. "To .avoid those vast expenses and ceremonious contentions of magistrates and priests at city gates, that usually waylay the progress of princes whether alive or dead, he caused liim to be taken in pieces, and the bones of his arms, thighs, legs, breast, and head (the brains being taken out), with other the severed parts, filling three mails, were brought safely into Spiiin ; where the bones being set again, with small wires, they easily rejointed all the body, wliieh being filled with cotton, armed, and richly habited, they presented Don John entire to the king as if he stood only resting himself upon his commander's-staff, looking as if he lived and bi-eathed." On presenting himself thus before Philip, the monarch was graciously pleased to permit Don John to retire to liis grave, whicli he had wished might be beside that of his father, Charles V., in the Escorial. 3 Bor, lib. xiii., p. 65; Hooft, lib. xv., p. 633. THE CONGRESS AT COLOGNE. 129 inhabitants. Crowds of idlers from tlie Walloon countiy flocked to the empty city ; but though it was easy to repeople it, it was found impossible to revive its industry and prosperity. Nothing be- sides the grass that now covered its streets woidd flourish in it but vagabondism. The loss which the cause of Netherland liberty sustained in the fall of Maastricht was trifling, compared with the injury inflicted by another achievement of Parma, and which he gained not by arms, but by diplomacy. Knowing that the Walloons were fanatically at- tached to the old religion, he opened negotiations, and ultimately prevailed with them to break the bond of common brotherhood and form themselves upon a separate treaty. It was a masterly stroke. It had separated the Roman from the Batavian Netherlands. William had sought to unite the two, and make of them one nationality, placing the key-stone of the arch at Ghent, the capital of the SouSheru Provinces, and the second city in the Netherlands. But the subtle policy of Parma had cut the Fatherland in twain, and the project of William fell to the ground. The Piince of Orange airxiously considei'ed how best to parry the blow of Parma, and neutralise its damagmg efiects. The master-stroke of the Spaniard led William to adopt a policy equally masterly, and fruitful beyond all the measures he had yet employed ; this was the " Union of Utrecht." The alliance was formed between the States of Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Guelder- land, Zutphen, Overyssel, and Groniugen. It was signed on the 23rd of January, 1579, and .six days thereafter it was proclaimed at Utrecht, and hence its name. This " Union" constituted the iirst foundation-stone in the subsequently world- renowned Commonwealth of the United Provinces of the Low Countries. The primary and main object of the Confederated States was the defence of then- common liberty ; for this end they resolved to remain hereafter and for ever united as one Province — \vitho\it prejudice, however, to the ancient privileges and the peculiar customs of each several State. As i-cgarded the business of religion, it was resolved that each Province should determine that question for itself — with this provi.ro, that no one should be molested for his opinion. The toleration previously enacted by the Pacification of Ghent was to rule throughout the bounds of the Confederacy.^ When the States contrasted their own insignificance with *lu> might of then- gi-eat enemy, seven little Pro- vinces banding themselves against an aggregate of • See Articles of TTnion in full in Brandt; Sir W. Temple ; "Watson, Philip II. ; Motley, Dutch liepuhUc, &c. nearly twice that number of powerful Kingdoms, they chose as a fitting representation of thcii- doubtful fortimes, a ship labouring amid the waves without sail or oars, and they stamped this device upon theii- first coins, with the words Incertum quo fata ferant " (" We know not whither the fates shall bear us"). Certamly no one at that hour was sanguine or bold enough to conjecture the splendid future awaiting these seven adventui-ous Provinces. This attitude on their part made the King of Spain feign a desire for conciliation A Congi-ess was straightway assembled at Cologne to make what was represented as a hopeful, and what was certainly a laudable, attempt to heal the breach. On the Spanish side it was nothing more than a feint, but on that account it wore externally aU the gi-eater pomp and stateliness. In these respects nothing was lacking that could make it a success. The first movers in it were the Pope and the emperor. The deputies were men of the first rank in the State and the Chm-ch ; they were princes, dukes, bishops, and the most renowned doctors in theology and law. Seldom indeed have so many mitres, and princely stars, and ducal coronets gi-aced any assembly as those that shed their brilliance on this ; and many persuaded themselves, when they beheld this union of rank and oflice with skill in law, in art, and diplomacy, that the Congress would give birth to something correspondingly magnificent. It met in the begimiing of May, 1579, and it did not separate till the middle of November of the same year. But the six mouths during which it was in session were all too short to enable it to solve the problem which so many conventions and conferences since the breaking out of the Reformation had attempted to solve, but had faUed — namely, how the absolute de- mands of authority are to be reconciled with the equally inflexible claims of conscience. There were only two ideas promulgated in that assembly ; so far the matter was simple, and the prospect of a set- tlement hopeful ; but these two ideas were at opposite poles, and all the stars, coronets, and mitres gathered there could not bridge over the gulf between them. The two ideas wei-e those to which we have already referred — Prerogative and Conscience. The envoys of the Netherland States presented fourteen articles, of which the most imj)ortant was the one referring to religion. Theii- proposal wiis that "His Majesty should be pleased to tolerate the exercise of the Reformed religion and the Confession of Augsburg in such towns and places where the same were at that time publicly professed. That the States should also on their part, presently after - Temple, United Province!, &c., chap, i., p. 88. 130 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. the peace was declared, restoi-e the exercise of tlie Roman Catholic religion in all the aforesaid towns and places, upon certain equitable conditions wliich should be inviolably preserved." " The Chiistian religion," said the envoys in supporting their pro- posal, " was a great mystery, in promoting of which God did not make use of impious soldiere, nor of the sword or bow, but of his own Spirit and of the ministry of pastors, or shepherds sent by him. That the dominion over sovils and consciences belonged to God only, and that he only was the righteous Avenger and Punisher of the abuses committed in matters of religion. They insisted particularly upon the free exercise of religion." ' The deputies on the king's side refused to listen to this proposal. They would agree to nothing as a basis of peace, save that the Roman Catholic religion — all others excluded — should be professed in aU the Provinces ; and as regarded such as might refuse to return to the Roman faith, time would be given them to settle their aflaii-s, and retire from the countiy." Half the citizens well- nigh would have had to exile themselves if this condition had been accepted. Where so large a body of emigrants were to find new seats, or how the towns left empty by their departure were to be re-peopled, or by what hands the arts and agi'iculture of the country were to be carried on, does not seem to have been provided for, or even thought of, by the Congress. William of Orange had from the first expected nothing from this Conference. He knew Philip never would grant what only the States could accept — the restoration, namely, of their chartei's, and the free exercise of then- Protestant faith ; he knew that to convene such an assembly was only to excite hopes that could not possibly be fulfilled, and so to endanger the cause of the Provinces ; he knew that mitres and ducal coronets were not argimients, nor could render a whit more legiti- mate the claims of prerogative ; that ingenious and quirky expedients, and long and wordy dis- cussions, would never bring the two parties one hair'sbreadth nearer to each other ; and as he had foreseen, so did it turn out. When the Congress ended its sitting of six months, the only results it had to show were the thousands of golden guilders needed for its expenses, and the scores of hogsheads of Rhenish wine which had been con- sumed in moistening its dusty delibei-ations and debates. Contemporaneously with this most august and ' Brandt, vol. i., p. 36G. 2 Bor. lib. liii., pp. 58, 59. Brandt, vol. i., p. 366. most magnificent, yet most resultless Congress, attempts were made to detach the Prince of Orange from his party and win him over to the king's side. Private overtures were made to him, to the eftect that if he would forsake the cause of Nether- land independence and retu-e to a foreign land, he had only to name his " price " and it should be instantly forthcoming, in honour, or in money, or in both. More particularly he was promised the payment of his debts, the restitution of his estates, reimbm-sement of aU the expenses he had incuiTed in the war, compensation for his losses, the liberation of his son the Count of Buren, and should William retire into Germany, his son would be placed in the Government of Holland and Utrecht, and he himself shoidd be indemnified, ^vitli a million of money as a gratuity. These oifers were made in Philip's name by Coimt Schwartzenbui'g, who pledged his faith for the strict performance of them. This was a mighty sum, but it could not buy William of Orange. Not all the honours which this monarch of a score of kingdoms could bestow, not all the gold which this master of the mines of Mexico and Peru could ofier, could make William sell himself and betray his country. He was not to be turned aside from the lofty, the holy object he had set before him, the glory of redeeming from slavery a people that confided in him, and of kindling the lamp of a pure faith in the land which he so dearly loved. If his presence were an obstacle to peace on the basis of his country's liberation, he was ready to go to the ends of the earth, or to his grave ; but he would be no party to a plot which had only for its object to deprive the country of its head, and twine round it the chain of a double slaveiy.^ The gold of Philip had failed to cori-upt the Patriot : the King of Spain next attempted to gain his end by another and a diSerent stratagem. The dagger might rid him of the man whom armies could not conquer, and whom money could not buy. This " evil thought " was first suggested by Car- dinal Granvelle, who hated the prince, iis the vile hate the upriglit, and it was eagerly embraced by Philip, of whose policy it was a radical pi-inciple that " the end justifies the means." The King of Spain fubninated a ban, dated 15th March, 1580, against the Prince of Orange, in which he oflered " thirty thousand crowns, or so, to any one who should deliver liim, dead or alive." The preamble of the ban set forth at great length, and with due ■■' Reidanus, ann. ii., 29. Grachard, Covrespondance de Ouillawme le Tacit, vol. iv.. Preface. Bor, lib. liii., p. 95. THE "APOLOGY" OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE. L31 formality, the " crimes," iii other words the sei-vices to liberty, which had induced his patient aud loving sovereign to set a price upon the head of William, and make him a mark for all the mvir- derers in Christendom. But the indignation of the \irtuous king can be adequately understood only by perusing the words of the ban itself. " For these causes," said the documeut, " we declare him traitor and miscreant, enemy of ourselves and of the country. As such we banish him perpetually from all our realms, forbidding all our subjects to administer to him victuals, drink, lire, or other necessaries We expose the said William ;is an enemy of the human race, giving his property to all who may seize it. And if any one of our subjects, or any stranger, should be found suffi- ciently generous of heart to rid us of this liest, delivering him to us, dead or alive, or taking his life, we will cause to be furnished to him, imme- diately after the deed shall have been done, the sum of twenty-live thousand crowns of gold. If he have committed any crime, however heinous, we promise to pardon him; and if he be not already noble we will ennoble him for his valour." The dark, revengeful, cowardly, and bloodthirsty nature of Philip II. appears in every line of this jiroclamation. In an evil hour for himself had the King of Spain lamiched this fulminatiou. It tLxed the eyes of all Europe upon the Prince of Orange, it gave him the audience of the whole world for his justification; and it compelled him to bring forward facts which remain an eternal monument of Philip's inhumanity, infamy, and crime. The Vindication or "Apology" of William, addressed to the Con- federated States, and of which copies were sent to all the courts of Europe, is one of the most l)recious documents of history, for the light it throws on the events of the time, and the expo- sition it gives of the character and motives of the actors, and more especially of himself and Philip. It is not so much a Defence an an Arraignment, which, breaking in a thunder-peal of moral indig- nation, must have made the occupant of the throne over which it rolled to shake and tremble on his lofty seat. After detailing his own efforts for the emancipation of the down-trodden Provinces, he turns to review the acts, the policy, and the character of the man who had fulminated against him this ban of assassination and murder. He charges Philij) witlx the destnictiou, not of one nor of a few of thoie liberties which he had sworn to maintain, but of all of them ; and that not once, but a thousand times ; he ridicules the idea that a people remain bound while the monarch has re- leased himself from every promise, and oath, and law; he hurls contempt at the justification set up for Philip's perjuries — namely, that the Pope had loosed him from his obligations — branding it as adding blasphemy to tyranny, and adopting a principle which is subversive of faith among men; he accuses him of having, through Alva, concerted a plan wth the French king to extirpate from France and the Netherlands all who favoured the Reformed religion, giving as his informant the French king himself. He pleads guilty of having disobeyed Philip's orders to put certain Protestants to death, and of having exerted himself to the utmost to prevent the barbarities and cruelties of the '■ edicts." He boldly charges Philip with living in adultery, with having contracted an incestuous marriage, and opening his way to this foul couch by the murder "of his former wife, the mother of his children, the daughter and sister of the kings of France." He crowns this list of crimes, of which he accuses Philip, with a yet more awful deed — the murder of his son, the heir of his vast dominions, Don Carlos. With withering scorn he speaks of the King of Spain's attempt to frighten him by raising against liim " all the malefactors and criminals in the world." " I am in the hand of God," said the Christian patriot, " he will dispose of me as seems best for his glory and my salvation." The jjiince concludes his Apology by dedicating afresh what remained of his goods and life to the service of the Stiites. If his departure from the country would remove an impediment to a just peace, or it' his death could bring an end to their calamities, Philip should have no need to hire assassins and poisoners : exUe would be sweet, death would be welcome. He was at the disposal of the States. They had only to speak — to issue their orders, and he would obey ; he would depart, or he would remain among them, and continue to toil in their cause, till death should come to release him, or liberty to crown them with her blessings.' This Apology was read in a meeting of the Confederated Estates at Delft, the 13th of De- cember, 1580, and their mind respecting it was sufficiently declared by the step they were led soon thereafter to adopt. Abjuring their- allegiance to Philip, they installed the Prince of Orange in his room. Till this time Philip had remained nominal sovereign of the Netherlands, and all edicts and deeds were passed in his name, but now this for- mality was dropped. The Prmce of Orange had before this been earnestly entreated by the States ' The Apology is given at nearly full length in "Watsou, Philip II., vol. iii.. Appendix. 132 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. to assume the sovereignty, but he had persistently declined to allow himself to be clothed with this office, saj-ing that he would give no ground to Philip or to any enemy to say that he had begun the war of independence to obtain a crown, and that the aggrandisement of liis family, and not the liberation of his country, was the motive which had prompted him in all his efforts for the Low Coun- tries. Now, however (5th July, 1581), the dignity so often put aside was accepted conditionally, the prince assuming, at the solemn request of the States of Holland and Zealand, the " entire authority, as sovereign and chief of the land, us long as the war should continue."' This step was finally concluded on the 26th of July, 1581, by an assembly of the States held at tlie Hague, consisting of deputies from Brabant, Guelderland, Zutphen, Flanders, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Overy.ssel, and Friesland. The terms of their "Abjuration" show how deeply the breath of modern constitutional liberty had entered the Low Countries in the end of the sixteenth century; its preamble enunciates tniths which must have shocked the adherents of the doctrine of Divine right. The "Abjuration" of the States declai-ed " that the people were not created by God for the sake of the prince, and only to submit to his com- mands, whether pious or impious, right or wrong, and to serve him and his slaves ; but that, on the contrary, the j)rince was made for the good of the people, in order to feed, preserve, and govern them according to justice and eqtiity, as a father his chil- dren, and a shepherd his flock : that whoever in opposition to these principles pretended to nde his subjects as if they were his bondmen, ought to be deemed a tjTant, and for that reason might be rejected or deposed, especially by virtue of the re- solution of the States of the nation, in case the subjects, after having made use of the most humble supplications and prayers, could lind no other means to divert him from his tyrannical purposes, nor to secure theii- own native rights. "-' They next proceed to apply these principles. They till column after column with a history of Philip's reign over the Low Countries, in justifi- cation of the step they had taken in deposing him. The document is measured and formal, but the horrors of these flaming years shine through its di-y technicalities and its cold phraseology. If ever there was a tp-ant on the earth, it was Philip II. of Spain ; and if ever a people was warranted in renouncing its allegiance, it was the men who • Uor, lib. XV., pp. 181—185. - Br.andt, vol. i., p. 383. now came forward ^nth this terriljle tale of vio- lated oaths, of repeated perfidies, of cruel wars, of extortions, banishments, executions, martyrdems, and massacrings, and who now renounced solemnly and for ever their allegiance to the piince who was loaded with all these crimes. The act of abjuration was carried into immediate execution. Philip's seal was broken, his anus were torn down, his name was forbidden to be used in any letters-patent, or public deed, and a new oath was administered to all persons in pulilic otfice and emploj'uient. This is one of the great revolutions of history. It realised in fact, and exhibited for the first time to the world. Representative Con.stitutional Govern- ment. This revolution, though enacted on a small theatre, exemplified principles of univereal applica- tion, and furnished a precedent to be followed in distant realms and by powerful kingdoms. It is im- portant to remark that this is one of the mightiest of the bu-ths of Protestantism. For it was Pro- testantism that inspii'ed the struggle in the Low Countries, and that maintained the martyr at the stake and the hero in the field till the conflict was crowned with this ever-memorable victory. The mere desii-e for liberty, the mere reverence for old charters and municipal privileges, would not have carried the Netherlanders through so awful and protracted a combat ; it was the new force awakened by religion that enabled them to struggle on, sending relay after relay of martyrs to die and heroes to fight for a free conscience and a scriptural faith, without which life was not worth ha\ing. In this, one of the greatest episodes of the gi'eat drama of the Reformation, we l^ehold Protestantism, which had been proceeding step by step in its great work of creating a new society — a new world — making another great advance. In Germany it had produced disciples and churches ; in Geneva it had moulded a theocratic republic ; in France it had essayed to set up a Reformed throne, but, fiiUing in this, it created a Reformed Church so powerful as to include well-nigh half the nation. Making yet another essay, we see it in the Netherlands dethroning Philip of Spain, and elevating to his place William of Orange. A constitutional State, simimoned into being by Protestantism, is now seen amid the despotisms of Christendom, and its appearance was a presage that in the centuries to follow. Protestantism would, in .some cases by its direct agency, in others by its reflex influence, revolutionise all the governments and effect a transference of all the cro\ras of Europe. THE UNITED PROVINCES. 133 ALEXAXIlKr, lAKXESE, DUKE OF I'AIIMA. (I'mn a Portrait 0/ Ihc perM in the Gallcr-'j 0/ I'crsaiUciiJ CHAPTER XXVI. ASSASSINATION OF WILLIAM THE SILENT. WTiat the United Provinces are to boeome— The Walloons Return to Philip— William's Sovereignty— Brabant and the Duke of Anjou— His Entry into the Netherlands— His Administration a Failure— Matthias Departs— Tho Netherlands o£fer their Sovereignty to William— He Declines- Defection of Flanders— Attempt on William's Life— Anastro, the Spanish Banker— The Assassin— He Wounds the Prince— Alarm of the Provinces- Recovery of William— Death of his Wife-Another Attempt on William's Life— Balthazar Gerard- His Project of Assassinating the Prince— Encouraged by the Spanish Authorities— William's Murder— His Character. number of their inhabitants, the splendour of their The Seven United Provinces — the foir flower of Netherhmd Protestantism — had come to the birth. The clouds and tempests that overhung the cradle of the infant States were destined to roll away, the sun of pi'osperity and power was to shine forth upon them, and for the space ef a full centui-y the 116 cities, the beauty of their country, the vastness of their commerce, the gi-owth of their wealth, the number of their ships, the strength of their ai-mies, and the gloiy of their lettere and arts, were to make them the admiration of Europe, and of the 134 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. world. Not, however, till that man who had helped above all others to find for Protestantism a seat wher'e it might expand into such a miiltifonn mag- nificence, had gone to his gi'ave, was this stupendous growth to be beheld by the world. We have now to attend to the condition in which the dissolution of Philip's sovereignty left the Netherlands. In the one land of the Low Countries, there were at tliis moment three commimities or nations. The Walloons, yielding to the influence of a common faith, had returned under the j'oke of S}iain. The Central Pro\'inces, also mostly Popish, had ranged themselves under the sovereignty of the Duke of Anjou, brother of Henry III. of France. The Pro\'inces of Holland and Zealand had elected (1581), as we have just seen, the Prince of Orange as theii- king.' His acceptance of the dignity was at first provisional. His tenure of sovereignty was to last only during the war ; but afterwards, at the earnest entreaty of the States, the priace consented that it should be perpetual. His lack of ambition, or his exceeding sense of honoui-, made him decline the sovereignty of the Central Provinces, although this dignity was also repeatedly pressed upon him ; and had he accepted it, it may be that a happier destiny would have been in store for the Nether- lands. His persistent refusal made these Provinces cast theii- eyes abroad in search of a chief, and in an evil hour their choice lighted upon a son of Catheiine de Medici. The Duke of Anjou, the elect of the Pro\T.nces, inherited all the vices of the family from which he was .spinmg. He was trea- cherous in principle, cruel in disposition, jirofuse in liis habits, and deeply superstitious in his faith ; but his true character had not then been revealed ; and the Prince of Orange, influenced by the hope of enlisting on the side of the Netherlands the powerful aid of France, supported his candidature. France had at that moment, with its habitual vacillation, withdrawn its hand from Philip II. and given it to the Huguenots, and this seemed to justify the prmce in indulging the hope that this gi-eat State would not be unwilling to extend a little help to the feeble Protestants of Flanders. It was rumoured, moreover, that Anjou was aspiring to the hand of Elizabeth, and that the English queen favoured his suit ; and to have the husband of the Queen of England as King of the Netherlands, was to have a tolerable bulwark against the excesses of the Spanish Power. But all these prudent calculations of bringing aid to Protestantism were destined to come to nothing. Tlie duke made his entry (February, 1582) into the Netherlands amid > Bor, lib. IV., pp. 185, 18G. the most joyous demonstrations of the Provinces ;- and to gi-atify Jiim, the public exercise of the Popish religion, which for some time had been prohibited in Antwerjj, was restored in one of the churches. But a cloud soon overcast the fair morning of Anjou's sovereignty in the Netherlands. He quickly showed that he had neither the prin- ciple nor the ability necessary for -so lUthcult a task as he had undertaken. Bitter feuds sprang up between him and his subjects, and after a short administration, which neither reflected honour on himself nor conferred benefit on the Provinces, he took his departure, followed by the reproaches and accusations of the Flemings. The cause of Pro- testantism was destined to owe nothing to a son of Catherine de Medici. Matthias, who had dwindled in William's overshadowing presence into a non- entity, and had done neither good nor evO, had gone home some time before. Thi'ough neither of these men had the intrigues of the Romanists borne fruit, except to the prejudice of the cause they were intended to further. The Duke of Anjou being gone, the States of Brabant and Flanders came to the Prince of Orange (August, 1583) with an offer of then- crown ; but no argument could induce him to accept the sceptre they were so anxious to thrust into his hand. He took the opportunity, however, which his declinature oflered, of tendering them some wholesome advice. They must, he said, bestir themselves, and contribute more generously, if they wished to speed in the great conflict in which they had embarked. As for himself, he had nothing now to give but his services, and his blood, should that be required. All else he had already parted with for the cause : his fortune he had given ; his brothers he had given. He had seen with pleasure, as the fruit of his long struggles for the Fatherland and freedom of conscience, the fan- Provinces of Holland and Zealand redeemed from the Spanish yoke. And to think that now these Pro\THces were neither oppressed by Philip, nor darkened by Rome, was a higher rewai'd than would be ten cro'wns, though they could place them upon his head. He would never put it in the power of Phili]) of Spain to say that William of Orange had sought other recompense than that of rescuing his native land from slavery.'' William, about this time, was dee] ily wounded by the defection of some friends in whom he had reposed confidence as sincere Protestants and good - Bor, lib. xvii., pp. 297-301. Hooft, lib. six., p. 295. 3 Message of William to tbo States-Genoral, MS.— apud Motley, vol. ii., p. 437. ATTEMPTS TO ASSASSINATE WILLIAM. 135 patriots, and he was not less mortified by the secession of Flanders, with its powerful capital, Ghent, from the cause of Netherland independence to the side of Parma. Thus one by one the Pro- vinces of the Netherlands, whose hearts had gi'own faint in the struggle, and whose "strength was weakened Ln the way," crejDt back under the shadow of Spain, little dreaming what a noble heritage they had forfeited, and what centuries of insignificance, stagnation, and serfdom .spiritual and bodily awaited them, as the result of the step they had now taken. The rich Southern Provinces, so stocked with cities, so finely clothed, so full of men, and so replenished \vith commercial wealth, fell to the share of Rome : the sand-banks of Holland and Zealand were given to Protestantism, that it might convert the desert into a garden, and rear on tills naiTOw and obscure theatre an empire which, mighty in arms and resplendent in arts, should fill the world with its light. The ban which PhiUp had fulminated against the prince began now to bear fruit. Wonderful it would have been if there had not been found among the malefactoi's and murderers of the world some one bold enough to risk the pei-il attendant on gi-asping the golden prize which the King of Spain held out to them. A year only had elapsed since the publication of the ban, and now an attempt was made to destroy the man on whose head it had set a price. Gaspar Anastro, a Spanish banker in Antwerp, finding himself on the verge of bank- ruptcy, bethought him of earning Philip's reward, and doing the world a service by ridding it of so great a heretic, and helping himself, at the same time, by retrieving his iiiined fortimes. But lack- ing courage to do the bloody deed with his own hand, he hired his servant to execute it. This man, having received from a priest absolution of his sins, and the assurance that the dooi-s of paradise stood open to him, repaii-ed to the mansion of the prince, and waited an opi)ortunity to commit the horrible act. As Orange was crossing the hall, from the dinner-table, the miscreant approached him on pre- tence of lianding him a petition, and putting his pistol, loaded with a single bullet, close to his head, dischai-ged it at the prince. The ball, entering a little below the right ear, passed out through the left jaw, carrying with it two teeth. The wound bled profusely, and for some weeks the prince's life was despaired of, and vast crowds of grief-stricken citizens repaired to the churches to beseech, ^^dth supplications and tears, the Great Disposer to inter- pose his power, and save from death the Father of his Country. Tlie prayer of the nation was heard. William recovered to resume his liurden, and con- duct another stage on the road to freedom the two Provinces wliich he had rescued from the paws of the Spanish bear. But if the husband survived, the wife fell by the mm-derous blow of Philip. Charlotte de Bourbon, so devoted to the prince, and so tenderly beloved by him, worn out with watcliing and anxiety, fell ill of a fever, and died. William sorely missed from his side that gentle but heroic spii-it, whose words had so often revived him in liis hours of darkness and sorrow. The two years that now followed witnessed the progressive disorganisation of the Southern Nether- lands, under the combined influence of the mis- management of the Duke of Anjou, the intrigues of the Jesuits, and the diplomacy and arms of the Duke of Parma. Despite all warnings, and their own past bitter experience, the Pro^dnces of Brabant and Flanders again opened their ear to the " cunning charmers " of Spain and the " sweet singers " of Rome, and began to think that the yoke of Philip was not so heavy and galling as they had accoimted it, and that the pastures of " the Church " were richer and more pleasant than those of Protestantism. Many said, " Beware ! " and quoted the maxim of the old Book : " They who wander out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead." But the Flemings turned away from these counselloi-s. Divi- sions, distractions, and perpetual broils made them fain to have peace, and, to use the forcible metaphor of the Burgomaster of Antwerp, " they confessed to a wolf, and they had a wolf's absolution." It was in the Northern Provinces only, happily under the sceptre of William, who had rescued them from the general shipwreck of the Netherlands, that order prevailed, and that anything like steady progi-ess could be traced. But now the time was come when these States must lose the wisdom and courage to which they owed the freedom they already enjoyed, and the yet greater degi-ee of prosperity and power in store for them. TSventy years had William the SUent "judged " the Low Countries : now the tomb was to close over him. He had given the labours of his life for the cause of the Fatherland : he was now to give his blood for it. Not fewer than five attempts had been made to assassinate him. They had failed ; but the sixth was to succeed. Like all that had preceded it, this attempt was directly instigated by Philip's proscription. In the summer of 1584, William was residing at Delft, liaving married Louisa de Coligny, the daughter of the admiral, and the widow of Teligny. who perished, as we have seen, in the St. Bartholomew. A yoimg Burgimdian, who hid great duplicity and some talent under a 13b HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. mean and insignificant exterior, had that spring been introduced to tlie prince, and liad Leen em- ployed by liiiu in some business, though of small moment. This stranger professed to be a zealous Calvinist, the son of a French Protestant of the name of Guion, who had died for his faith. His real name was Balthazar Gerard, and being a fanatical Papist, he had long wished to " serve God and the king" by taking off the arch-heretic. He made known his design to the celebrated Franciscan, Father Gery of Tournay, by whom he was " much comforted and strengthened in his determination." He revealed his project also to Philip's Governor of the Low Countries. The Duke of Parma, who had at that time four ruffians lurking in Delft on the same business, did not dissuade Gerard from his design, but he seems to have mistrusted his fitness for it ; although afterwards, being assm-ed on this point, he gave him some encouragement and a little money. The risk was great, but so too were the inducements — a fortune, a place in the peerage of Spain, and a crown in paradise. It was Tuesday, the 10th of July, 1584. The prince was at dinner with his wife, his sister (the Princess of Schwartzenberg), and the gentlemen of his suite. In the shadow of a deep arch in the wall of the vestibule, stood a mean-looking personage with a cloak cast round him. This was Balthazar Gerard. His figure had caught the eye of Louisa de Coligny as, leaning on her husband's arm, she passed thi-ough the hall to the dining-room, and his pale, agitated, and darkly sinister countenance smote her with a presentiment of evil. " He has come for a passport," said the prmce, calming her alarm, and passed into the dining-hall. At table, the pidnce, thinking nothing of the muffled spectre in the ante-chamber, was cheerful as usual. The Burgomaster of Leeuwarden was present at the family dinner, and William, eager to inform himself of the religious and political condition of Friesland, talked much, and with great animation, mth his guest. At two o'clock William rose from table, and crossed the vestibule on his way to his private apartments .above. His foot was ah-eady on the second step of the stairs, which he was ascending leisurely, when the assassin, i-ushing from his hiding- place, fired a pistol loaded with three balls, one of wliich passed tlu'ough the p)-inco's body, and struck the wall opposite. On receiving the shot, William exclaimed : " O my God, have mercy on my soul ! O my God, have mercy on this poor people!"' He was carried into the dining-room, laid u]ion a ' " Mon Dieu, ayez pltiC- ilc luou ilmu ! mou Ditu, ;i,m pitifi de ce pauvre peuple ! " couch, and in a few minutes he breathed his last. He had lived fifty-one years and sixteen days. On the 3rd of August he was laitl in his tomb at Delft, mourned, not by Holland and Zealand oidy, but by all the Netherlands — the Walloons excepted — as a father is mourned. - So closed the great career of William the Silent. It needs not that we paint his character : it has portrayed itself in the actions of his life which we have narrated. Historians have done ample justice to his talents, so various, so hannonious, and each so colossal, that the combination presents a cha- racter of surpassing intellectual and moral grandem- such as has rarely been equalled, and yet more rarely excelled. But as the ancient tree of Nether- land liberty never could have borne the goodly fruit that clothed its boughs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries unless the shoot of Protest- antism had been gi'afted upon it, and new sap infused into the old decaying charters, so the talents of William of Orange, vai'ied, beautiful, and biillijuit though they wei-e, unless linked with something diviner, could not have evolved that noble character and done those great deeds which have made the name of William the Silent one of the brightest on the page of history. Humanity, however richly en- dowed with genius, is a weak thing in itself ; it needs to be grafted with a higher Power in order to reach the full measure of greatness. In the case of William of Orange it was so gi-afted. It was his power of realising One unseen, whose will he obeyed, and on whose arm he leaned, that constituted the secret of his strength. He was the soldier, the statesman, the patriot; but before aU he was the Christian. The springs of his gi'eatness lay in his faith. Hence his lofty aims, which, rising high above fame, above power, above all the ordinary objects of ambition, aspii-ed to the only and supreme good. Hence, too, that inflexible principle wliich enabled him, without turning to the right or to the left, to go straight on through all the intricacies of his path, making no compromise ^\•ith falsehood, never listening to the solicitations of self-interest, and alive only to the voice of duty. Hence, too, that luifaltering perse- verance and midying hope that upheld lum in the darkest hoiu', and amid the most terrible calamities, and made him confident of ultimate victory where - The original authority from which the liistorians Bor, Meteren, Hooft, and others have di-awn their details of the assassination of William of Orange is the " Official Statement," compiled by order of the States-General, of which there is a copy in the Royal Library at the Hague. Tho basis of this "Statement" is the Confession of balthazar Gerard, written by liimself. There is a recent edition of tliis Confession, printed from an ohl MS. copy, and published by M. Gachaid. PROTESTANTISM IN THE NETHERLANDS. 137 another would Imvc abanrloncd tlio conflict as hopeless. William of Orange persevered and triiiinjihed where a Cassar or a Napoleon would liave despaii-ed and lieen defeated. Tlie man and the country are alike : both ai-e an epic. (Supremely tragic outwardly is the history of both. It is defeat .succeeding defeat ; it is disaster heaped upon dis- aster, and calamity piled upon calamity, till at last there stands jiersonified before us an lUad of woes. But by some marvellous touch, by some transform- ing fiat, the whole scene is suddenly changed : the blackness kindles into glorious hght, the roar of the tempest subsides into sweetest music, and defeat grows into victory. The man we had expected to see prostrate beneath tlie ban of Philip, rises up greater than kings, crowned wth the wreath of a deathless sovereignty ; and the little State which Spam had thought to consign to an eternal slavery, rends the chain from her neck ; and from her seat amid the seas, she makes her light to cii'culate along the shores of the islands and con- tinents of the deep, and her power to be felt, and her name reverenced, by the mightiest kingdoms on the earth. CHAPTER XXVII. ORDER AND GOVERNMENT OF THE NETHERLAND CHURCH. Tlie Spiritual Movement beneath the Armed Struggle — The Infant Springs — Gradual Development of the Chm'ch of the Netherlands— The "Forty Ecclesiastical Laws "—Their Enactments respecting the Election of Ministers — Examination and Admission of Pastors— Care for the Purity of the Pulpit — The "Fortnightly Exercise "— Yeai-ly Visitation— Worship and Schools— Elders and Deacons— Power of the Magisti-ate in the Church— Controversy respecting it— Efforts of the States to Compose these Quarrels— Synod at Middelburg— It Completes the Constitution of the Dutch Church. The development of the religiovis pi-inciple is some- what overshadowed by the sti-uggle in arms which Protestantism had to maintain in the Low Coun- tries. But the well-defined landing-place at which we have anived, permits lis to pause and take a closer view of the iimer and sjimtual conflict. Amid the ai-mies that are seen marching to and fro over the soil of the Netherlands ; amid the liattles that shake it from side to side ; amid the blaze of cities kindled by the Spaniard's torch, and fields drowned in blood by the Spanish sword, wc can recognise the silent yet not inefficacious pre- sence of a great power. It Is here that wc find the infant springs of a movement that to the outward eye seems so very martial and complex. It is in closets where the Bible is being read ; it is in little a.ssemblies gathered in cellar or tliicket or cave, where prayer is being offered up and the Scriptures are being searched ; it is in the prison where the confessor languishes, and at the stake whei-e the martyr is expu-ing, that we fijid the beginnings of that imjndse which brought a nation into the field with arms in its hands, and raised up William of Orange to withstand the power of Spain. It was not the old charters that kindled the fire in the Netherlands. These were slowly and silently re- turning to dust, and the Provinces were sinking with them into slavery, and both would have con- tinued uninterruptedly theii- quiescent repose had not an old Book, which claims a higher than human authorship, awakened conscience, and made it more indispensable to the men of the Netherlands to have freedom of worsliip than to enjoy goods or estate, or even life itself. It was this inexorability that brought on the conflict. But was it not a misfortmic to transfer such a controversy to the arena of the battle-field ? Doubtless it was; but for that calamity the dis- ciples of the Gospel in the Netherlands are not to blame. Thoy waited long and endured much before they betook them to arms. Nearly half a cen- tury passed away after the burning of the fu-st martyrs of Protestantism in Brussels till the first sword was unsheathed in the war of independence. During that period, speaking generally — for the exact number never can be ascertained — from 50,000 to 100,000 men and women had been ])ut to death for religion. And when at last war came, it came not from the Protestants, but from the Spaniards. We have seen the power- ful army of soldiers which Alva led across the Alps, and we have seen the terrible work to which they gave themselves when they entered the coim- try. The Blood Council was set uj), the preacliing of the Gospel was forbidden, the ministers were hanged, whole cities were laid in ashes, and, the gibbets being full, the trees of the field were con- verted into gallows, and their boughs were seen 138 HISTORY OP PROTESTANTISM. laden with tlie corpses of men ;inil women whose only crime was that they were, or were suspected of being, convei-ts to Protestantism. As if this were not enough, sentence of death was ])assed upon all the inhabitants of the Netherlands. Not even yet had a sword been drawn in opposition to a tp-anny that had converted the Provinces, recently so floiu-ishing, into a slaughter-house, and that threatened speedily to make them as silent as a gi-aveyard. Nor did Philip mean that his strang- lin^s, bumings, and massacrings should stoji at the Netherlands. The orders to liis devastating hordes were to follow the steps of Protestantism to every land where it had gone ; to march to the shores of the Leman ; to the banks of the Thames ; to France, should the Guises fail in the St. Bar- tholomew they were at that moment plotting : every^vhere " extennination, utter extermination," was to be inflicted. Protestantism was to be torn up by the roots, although it should be necessaiy to tear up along with it all human rights and liberties. It is not the Netherlands, with William at their head, for whom we need to offer vindication or apology, for coming forward at the eleventh hour to save Chiistendom and the world from a cata- strophe so imminent and so tremendous ; the parties that need to be defended are those more powerful States and princes who stood aloof, or rendered but inadequate aid at this supreme crisis, and left the world's battle to Ije fought by one of the smallest of its kingdoms. It is no doubt true, as we are often reminded, that the great Defender of the Church is her heavenly King ; but it is equally true that he saves her not by miracle, but by blessing the counsels and the arms, as well as the teacliing and the blood of her disciples. There is a time to die for the truth, and there is a time to fight for it ; and the part of Christian wisdom is to discern the " times," and the duty which they call for. Leaving the armed struggles that are seen on the surface, let us look at the under-current, which, from one houi' to another, is waxing in breadth and power. Protestantism in the Nethei'lands does not form one great river, as it did in some other coun- tries. For half a century, at least, it is a congeries of fountains that bin-st out here and there, and send forth a multitude of streamlets, that are seen flowing through the country and refreshing it with li\-ing water. The course of Netherland Protest- antism is the exact reverse of that of the great river of the land, the Rhine, which long keeping its floods united, divides at last into an infinity of streams, and falls into the ocean. Netherland Protestantism, long parted into a multitude of courses, gathers at length its waters into one chamiel, and forms hence- forth one gi'eat river. This makes it somewhat diflicult to obtaiii a clear view of the Netherland Protestant Church. That Church is first seen in her martyrs, and it may be truly said that her martyrs are her glory, for they are excelled in numbers, and in holy heroism, by those of no Church in Christendom. The Netherland Church is next seen in her individual congi'egations, scat- tered through the cities of Flanders, Brabant, and Holland ; and these congregations come into view, and anon disappeai", according as the cloud of per- secution now rises and now falls ; and last of all, that Church is seen in her Synods. Her days of battle and martyrdom come at length to an end ; and under the peaceful sceptre of the princes of the House of Orange, her courts regularly convene, her seminaries flourish, her congregations fill the land, and the writings of her theologians are diSiised through Christendom. The schools of Germany have ceased by this time to be the crowded resort of scholare they once were ; the glory of the French Huguenots has waxed dim ; and the day is going away in Geneva, where in the middle and end of the sixteenth century it had shone so brightly ; but the light of Holland is seen burning purely, form- ing the link between Geneva and the glory destined to illuminate England in the seventeenth century. The order and government established in the Church of Holland may be clearly ascertamed from the " Forty Ecclesiastical Laws," which in the year 1577 were drawn up and published in the name of the Prince of Orange as Stadtholder, and of the States of Holland, Zealand, and their aJlies. The preamble of the Act indicates the great principle of ecclesiastical jurisprudence entertained by the framers, and which they sought to embody in the Dutch Church. " Haraig," say they, " nothing more at heart than that the doctrine of the holy Gospel may be propagated in its utmost purity in the towns and other places of our jurisdiction, we have thought tit, after mature deliberation, to make the following rules, which we will and require to be inviolably preserved ; and we have judged it necessary that the said rules should chiefly relate to the administration of Church government, of which there are to be found in Holy Scripture four principal kinds : 1. That of Pastors, who are likewise styled Bishops, Presbyters, Ministers in the Word of God, and whose office cliiefly consists in teaching the said Word, and in the administra- tion of the Sacraments. 2. That of Doctors, to whose ofiice is now substituted that of Professors of Divinity. 3. That of Elders, whose main business is to watch over men's morals, and to bring transgressors again into the right way by friendly 140 HISTORY OF PEOTESTANTISM. admonitions ; and 4. That of Deacons, who have tlie care of the sick." According to tliis programme of Chm-ch govern- ment, or body of ecclesiastical canons, now enacted by tlie States, the appointment of ministers was lodged in the hands of the magistrates, who were to act, however, upon " the information and with the advice of the ministers." Towns whose magis- trates had not yet embraced the Reformed religion, were to be supplied with pastors from a distance. No one was to assume at his own hands an office so sacred as the ministry : he must receive admission from the constituted authorities of the Church. The minister " elect " of a city had iirst to vmdergo exammation before the elders, to whom he must give proofs that his learning was competent, that his pulpit gifts were such as might enable him to edify the people, and, above all, that his life was pure, lest he should dishonour the pulpit, and bring reproach upon "the holy office of the ministry." If found qualified in these three par- ticulars, " he shall be presented," say the canons, " to the magistrate for his approliation, in order to his preaching to the people," that they, too, may be satisfied as to his fitness to instruct them. There still awaits him another ordeal befoi'e he can enter a pulpit as pastor of a flock. He has been nominated by the magistrate with advice of the ministers ; he has been examined by the elders ; he has been accepted by the people ; and thus has given guarantees as to his learning, his life, and his power of communicating insti-uction ; but before being ordained to the office of the ministry, " his name shall be published from the pulpit," say the canons, " three Sundays successively, to the end that if any man has aught to object against liim, or can show any cause why he should not be admitted, he may have time to do it." We shall suppose that no objections have been ofiered — at least none such as to form a bar to his admission — the oath of allegiance is then administered to him. In that oath he swears obedience to the lawful authorities " in all things not contrary to the will of God." To this civil oath was appended a solemn vow of spii-itual fidelity, in these words : " More- over, I swear that I will preach and teach the Word of God after the jnirest manner, and with the gi-eatest diligence, to the end it may biing forth much fniit in this congi-egation, as becomes a true and faithful shepherd Neither will I forsake this ministry on account of any advantage or disadvantage." It was to the eccle- siastical authorities that this promise was commonly given in other Presbyterian Churches, but in Hol- land it was tendered to the nation through the magistrate, the autonomy of the Church not being as yet complete. The act of ordinatien was to be preceded by a sermon on the sacred function, and followed by prayers for a blessing on the pastor and his flock. So simple was the ritual, in studied contrast to the shearings, the anoint- ings, and the investitures of the Roman Church, which made the entrance into sacred orders an afl'air of so much mystic pomp. "This," the canons add, " we think sufficient, seeing that the ancient cei-emonies are degenerated into abominable insti- tutions," and they might have added, had failed to guard the piu-ity of the priesthood.' In these canons we see at least an earnest desire evinced on the part of the civil authorities of Holland to secure learned and pious men for its pulpits, and to provide guarantees, so far as himaan foresight and arrangement could do so, against the indolent and unfaithful discharge of the office on the pai-t of those entrusted with it. And in thi.s they showed a wise care. The heart of a Protes- tant State is its Church, and the heart of a Church is its pulpit, and the centuries wliich have elapsed since the era of the Reformation furnish us ■with more than one example, that so long as the pulpit retains its purity, the Church will preserve her vigour ; and while the Church pi-eserves her vigom-, the commonwealth will continue to flourish ; and that, on the other hand, when languor invades the pidpit, corruption sets-in in the Church, and from the Church the leprosy quickly extends to the State ; its pillars totter, and its bulwarks fall. Following an example fii-st originated at Geneva, the ministei-s of a city and of the parishes aroimd met every fortnight to confer together on religious matters, as also on their studies, and, in short, on whatever concerned the welfare of the Chiu'ch and the efficiency of her pastors. Every minister, in his turn, preached before his brethren ; and if hi ■ sermon was thought to contain anytliing contrary to sound doctrine, the rest admonished him of his error. In order still more to guard the purity aird keep awake the vigilance of the ministry, a com- mission, consisting of two elders and two ministers of the chief town, was to make a yearly circuit through the dependent Provinces, and report the state of matters to the magistrate on their retm-n, " to the end," say the canons, " that if they find anything amiss it may be seasonably redi-essed." Not fewer than three sermons a week were to be preached " in all public places," and on the after- noon of Sunday the Heidelberg Catechism was to be expounded in all the chiu-ches. Baptism was to 1 Brandt, vol i., pp. 318, 319. THE NETHERLAND REFORMED CHURCH. 141 \»' adminLstered by a minister only ; it was not to be denied to any infant ; it was " pious and jjraiseworthy " for the parent himself to bring the chUd to be baptised, and the celebration was to take place in the chiu-ch in presence of the con- gregation, unless the child were sick, when the ordinance might be dispensed at home " in pre- sence of some godly persons." The Lord's Supper was to be celebrated foiu- times yearly, care being taken that all who approached the table were well instructed in the faith. The canons, more- over, prescribe the duty of ministers touching the ■visitation of the .sick, the care of prisoners, and attendance at funerals. A body of theological pro- fessors was provided for the University of Leyden ; and the magistrates planted a school in every town under theii- jurisdiction, selecting as teachera only those who professed the Reformed faith, " whose business it shall be to instU into them principles of true religion as well as leai'ning." The ciders were chosen, not by the congre- gation, but by the magistrates of the city. They were to be .selected from then' own body, "good men, and not inexperienced in the matters of reli- gion ; " they were to sit wth the pastors, consti- tuting a court of morals, and to rejjort to the Government such decisions and transactions as it might concern the Government to know. To the deacons was assigned the care of the poor. The Htate aiTangements in Holland for this class of the community made the office of deacon well- nigh superfluous ; nevertheless, it was instituted as being an integral part of the Church machinery ; and so the canons bid the magistrates take care " that fit and godly stewards be appointed, who understand how to assist the poor according to their necessities, by which means the trade of beg- ging may be prevented, and the poor contained within the bounds of theii- duty ; this will be easily brought about as soon as an end shall be put to oiu' miseries by peace and public tranquillity."' This firet framework of the Netherland Refoi-med Church left the magistrate the highest functionary in it. The final decision of all matters lay -with him. In matters of administration and of disci- ]>line, in questions of morals and of doctrine, he was the colu^; of last appeal. This presents us wth a notable difference between the Protestant Church of the Netherhmds and the Chiu-ches of Geneva and France. Calvin aimed, as wc have seen, at a complete separation of the civil and the spiritual domain ; ho sought to exclude entirely the power of the magistrate in things purely spiritual. and he eflected this in the important point of admission to the Communion-table ; but in Geneva the Cliui-oh being the State, the two necessarily touched each other at a gi-eat many points, and the Reformer failed to make good the perfect autonomy which he aimed at conferiing on the Church. In France, however, as we have also seen, he realised his ideal fully. He established in that country an ascending gi-adation of Church courts, or spiritual tribunals, according to which the final legislation and administration of all spiritual affaii-s lay within the Church herself. We behold the French Protestant Church taking her place by the side of the French Government, and exliibiting a scheme of spiritual administration and i-ule as distinct and complete as that of the civil govern- ment of the country. But in the Netherlands we fail to see a marked distinction between the spiritual and the civil power : the ecclesiastical courts merge into the magistrate's tribunal, and the head of the State is to the Church in room of National Synod and Assembly. One reason of the difference is to be found in the fact that whereas in France the magistrate was hostile, in the Low Countries he was friendly, and was oftener found in the van than in the rear of the Refoi-m. Moreover, the magistrates of Holland could plead a very vener- able and a vei-y unbroken precedent for theii- interference in the affairs of the Church : it had been, they affirmed, the practice of princes from the days of Justinian downwards. - This was one source of the troubles which after- wards afflicted the States, and which we must not pass wholly wthout notice. Peter Cornelison and Gaspar Koolhaes, ministers in Leyden, were (1579) the fii'st to begin the war which raged so long and so fiercely in Holland on the question of the authority of the Civil Government in Ecclesiastical mattei-s. Peter Cornelison maintained that elders and deacons ought to be nominated by the Con- sistory and proposed to the congi-egation without the intervention of the miigistrate. Gaspar Kool- haes, on tho contrary, maintained that elders imd deacons, on being nominated by the Consistory, should be approved of by the magistrates, and afterwards presented to the congregation. TIic dispute came before the magistrates, and decision was given in favour of the latter method, that elders and deacons elect should receive the ap- jiroval of the magistnitc before being presented to the people. The States of Holland, with the view of preserving the public peace and putting > Brandt, vol. i., pp. 321, 32-J. ^ See "Reasons of prescribing these Ecclesiastical Laws "—Brandt, vol. i., p. 322. 142 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. an end to these quarrels, appointed certain divines to deduce from Scripture, and embody in a concise treatise, the Relations of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Powers — in other words, to give an answer to the question, what the magistrate may do and what he may not do in tlie Churcli. It is almost un- necessary to say that theii- dissertation on this difficult and delicate question did not meet the views of all parties, and that the tempest was not allayed. The worthy divines took somewhat decided views on the magistrate's functions. His duty, they said, was " to hinder those who corrupt the Word of God from disturbing the external peace of the Church, to fine and imprison them, and inflict cor- pora] punishments upon them." As an illustration Peter Comelison, the champion of the Consistorial rights, was dismissed from his charge in Leyden, an apology accompanying the act, in which the magistrates set forth that they " did not design to tyrannise over the Church, but to rid her of violent and seditious men," adding "that the Church ought to be governed by Christ alone, and not by minis- ters and Consistories." This looked like raising a false issue, seeing both parties admitted that the government of the Church is in Christ alone, and only disputed as to whether that government ought to be administered through magistrates, or through ministers and Consistories.' The National Synod which met at Dort in 1578, and which issued the famous declaration in favour of toleration, noticed in a previous chapter, agreed that a National Synod should be convened once every three years. In pursuance of that enact- ment, the Churches of Antwerp and Delft, to whom the power had been given of convoking the as- sembly, issued circular letters calling the SjTiod, which accordingly assembled in 1581 at Middelburg in Zealand. The constitution of the Netherland Refonned Church — so ftir framed by the " Eccle- sia.stical Laws " — this Synod completed on the French model. The Consistories, or Kirk-sessions, it placed under classes or Presbyteries ; and the Presbyteries it placed imder particular Synods. The other regulations tended in the direction of curtailing the power of the magistrate in Chui'ch matters. The Synod entii-ely shut him out in the choice of elders and deacons, and it permitted him to interfere in the election of ministers only so far as to approve the choice of the people. The Synod likewise decreed that all ministers, elders, deacons, and professors of divinity should subscribe the Confession of Faith of the Netherland Church. In the case of KooLhaes, who had maintained against Cornelison the right of the magistrate to intervene in the election of elders and deacons, the Synod found his doctrine erroneous, and or- dained him to make a public acknowledgment. Nevertheless, he refused to submit to this judgment, and though excommunicated by the Synod of Haar- lem next year, he was sustained in the spiritual functions and temporal emoluments of his office by the magistrates of Leyden. The matter was abun- dantly prolific of strifes and divisions, which had all but ruined the Church at Leyden, until it ended in the recalcitrant resigning his ministry and adopting the trade of a distUler.- CHAPTER XXVIIL DISORGANISATION OF THE PROVINCES. Vessels of Honour and of Dishonour— Memorial of the Magistrates of Leyden— They demand an Undivided Civil Authority— The Pastors demand an Undivided Spiritual Authority— The Popish and Protestant Jurisdictions —Oath to Observe the Pacification of Ghent Refused by many of the Priests— The Pacification Violated— Dis- orders—Tumults in Ghent, etc.— Dilemma of the Eomanists— Tlieii- Loyalty— Miracles— The Prince obliged to Withdraw the Toleration of the Roman Worship— Priestly Charlatanries in Brussels— William and Toleration. In projiortion as the Reformed Cliurch of the Netherlands rises in power and consolidates her order, the Provinces around her foil into dis- organisation and weakness. It is a process of selec- tion and rejection that is seen going on in ' Abridgment of Brandfs History, vol. i., pp. 200—202. the Low Countries. All that is valuable in the Netherlands is drawn out of the heap, and gathered round the gi'eat principle of Protestantism, and set apart for liberty and glory ; all that is worthless is thrown away, and left to be burned in the fii-e of 2 Brandt, vol. i., pp. 381, 382. MAGISTRATES AND MINISTERS. 143 despotism. Of the Seventeen Provuices seven are taken to be fashioned into a "vessel of honour," ten are left to become a " vessel of dishonour." The first become the "head of gold," the second are the " legs and feet of clay." Notwithstanding the efforts of the Synod of Middelburg, the peace at large was not restoi-ed; there was still war between the jjastors and some of the municipalities. The next move in the battle came from the magistrates of Leyden. Their pride Iiad been hiu-t by what the Synod of Middelburg had done, and they presented a complaint against it to the States of Holland. In a Synod vested with the power of enacting canons, the magistrates of Leyden saw, or professed to see, another Papacy rising up. The fear was not unwan-anted, seeing that for a thousand years the Church had tyrannised over the State. " If a new National Synod is to meet every three years," say the magistrates in theii- memorial to the States, " the number of ecclesiastical decrees \vill be so great tliat we shall have much ado to find the beginning and the end of that link." It was a second canon law which they dreaded. " If we receive the decrees of Synods we shall become their vassals," they reasoned. "We demand," said they in conclusion, " that the civil authority may stOl reside in the magistrates, whole and undivided ; we dcsii-e that the clergy may have no occasion to usurp :i new jurisiUction, to raise themselves above the Government, and rule over the subjects." The ministers and elders of the Chiu-ches of Hol- liind met the demand for an undivided civil autho- rity on the part of the magistrates by a demand for an undivided spiritual authority on the part of the Church. They asked that " the govei-nment of the Church, which is of a spiritual nature, should still reside, whole and undivided, in the pastors and overseers of the Chiu-ches, and that politicians, and jjarticularly those who plainly showed that they were not of the Reformed religion, should have no occasion to exercise an luu-easonable power over the Church, which they could no more endure than the yoke of Popery." And they add, " that having escaped from the Poiiish tyranny, it behoved them to see that the people did not fall into unlimited lit^entiousness, or libertinage, tending to nothing but disorder and confusion. The bhmted rod should not bo thrown away lest peradventurc a sharper should grow up in its room." ' It is true that both tlio Popish and the Protestant Churches claim a spiritual jurisdiction, but there is this essential dif- ference between the two powers claimed — the former is lawless, the latter is regulated by law. Tlie Popish juiisdiction cannot be resisted by conscience, because, claiming to be infallible, it is above conscience. The Protestant jurisdiction, on" the contrary, leaves con- science free to resist it, should it exceed its just powers, because it teaches that God alone is Lord of the conscience. But to come to the root of the unhappy strifes that now tore up the Netherlands, and laid the better half of the Provinces once more at the feet of Rome — there were two nations and two faiths struggling in that one country. The Jesuits had now had time to bring their system into full operation, and they succeeded so far in thwarting the measures which were concerted by the Prince of Orange ^vith the view of uniting the Pi'ovinces, on the basis of a toleration of the two faiths, in a common struggle for the one liberty. Led by the discijiles of Loyola, the Romanists in the Nether- lands would neither be content with equality for themselves, nor would they grant toleration to the Protestants wherever they had ^he power of re- fusing it ; hence the failure of the Pacification of Ghent, and the Peace of Religion. The Fathers kept the populations in contiinial agitation and alarm, they stiri-ed up seditions and tumults, they coerced the magistrates, and they provoked the Protestants in many jilaces into acts of imprudence and violence. On the framing of the Pacification of Ghent, the Roman Catholic States issued an order requii-ing all magistrates and priests to swear to observe it. The secular priests of Antwerp took the oath, but the Jesuits refused it, " because they had sworn to be faithful to the Pope, who favoured Don John of Austria."^ Of the Franciscan monks in the city twenty swore the oath, and nineteen refused to do so, and were thereupon conducted peaceably out of the town along with the Jesuits. The Franciscans of Utrecht fled, as did those of other towns, to avoid the oath. In some places the Peace of Religion was not accepted, and in others where it had been formally accepted, it was not only not kept, it was flagrantly violated bj^ the Romanists. The basis of that treaty was the tolera- tion of both worsliips all over the Netherlands. It gave to the Protestants in the Roman Catholic Provuices — in all places where they numbered a Inindred — the right to a chapel in which to colc- Inate their worship ; and wliero their numbers did not enable them to claim this privilege, they were nevertheless to be jiermittcd the unmolested exer- cise of their worship in private. But in many places the rights accorded by the treaty were denied them : they could have no chapel, and even > Brandt, vol. i., pp. 384—386. ' Abridgment of Brandt's Sistory, vol. i., p. 185. 144 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. tlie private exercise of their worship exposed them to molestations of various kinds. The Protestants, incensed b_v this anti-national spirit and bad faith, and emboldened moreover by theii' own grov\dng numbers, seized by force in many cities the rights which they could not obtain by peaceable means. Disorders and seditions were the consequence. Ghent, the city which had given its name to the Pacification, led the van in these disgraceful them into cannon, and having fortified the town, and made themselves masters of ii, they took several villages in the neighbourhood and en- acted there the same excesses.' These deplorable disorders were not confined to Ghent ; they ex- tended to Antwerp, to Utrecht, to Mechlin, and to other towns — the Protestants taking the initiative in some pliices, and the Romanists in othei-s ; but all these \'iolences grew out of the rejection of the VIEW IN HAARLEM : THE COKX M.VP.KET. tumults; and it was remarked that nowhere was the Pacification worse kept than in the city where it had been framed. The Reformed in Ghent, excited by the harangues delivered to them from the pulpit by Peter Dathenus, an ex-monk, and now a Protestant high-fiicr, who condemned the toleration granted to the Romanists as impious, and styled the prince who had framed the treaty an atheist, rose vipon the Popish clergy and chased them away, voting them at the same time a yearly pension. They pillaged the abbeys, pulled do^vn the con- vents, broke the images, melted the bells and cast Peace of Religion, or out of the flagrant violation of its articles.- The commanding influence of the Prince of Orange succeeded in pacifying the citizens in Ghent and other towns, but the tumults stOled for a moment broke out afresh, and raged with greater violence. The coimtry was torn as by a civil war. This state of matters led to the adoption of other measures, which still more complicated and 1 Brandt, vol. i., p. 342. - Abridgment of Brandt's History, vol. i., p. 196. THE FLEMISH EOMAN CATHOLICS. 145 embarrassed the movement. It was becoming evident to William that his basis of operations must be narrowed if he would make it stable ; tliat tlie Pacification of Ghent, and the Peace of Re- ligion, in themselves wise and just, embraced peoples that were diverse, and elements that were irreconcilable, and in consequence wei-e failing of their ends. A few Romanists were staunch l)atriots, but the great body were showing them- selves incapable of symjiathising with, or heartily and danger. There came a sudden outburst of propagandist zeal on the part of the priests, and of miraculous vii-tue on the part of statues and relics. Images began to exude blood, and from the bones of the dead a healing power went forth to cure the diseases of the living. These prodigies gi'eatly edified the piety of the Roman Catholics, but they inflamed then" joassions against their Protestant fellow- sub- jects, and they rendered them decidedly hostile to the cause of then- country's emancipation. The viE'w or rLisiii co-operating in, the great sti-uggle for the libera- tion of their native land. Their consciences, in the guidance of the Jesuits, stifled tlieii- patriotism. They were awkwardly jilaced between two altema- ti\cs : if Philip should conquer in the war they would lose their country, if victory should declare for the Prince of Orange they would lose their faith. From this dilemma they co\dd be delivered only by becoming Protestants, and Protestants they were determined not to become ; they sought escape by the other door — namely, that of perauading or com- pelling the Protestants to become Romanists. Their desire to solve the difficidty by this issue introduced still another element of disorganisation 117 jirince had always stood up for the full toleration of their worship, but he now began to perceive tliat what the Flemish Romanists called worship was what otlier men called political agitation ; antl though still holding by the truth of his great maxim, and as ready to tolerate all religions as ever, he did not hold himself bound to tolerate charlatanry, especially when practised for the over- throw of Netherland liberty. He had proclaimed toleration for the Roman worship, but he had not bound himself to tolerate everything which the Romanist might substitute for worship, or whicli it might please liim to call worsliip. The prince came at length to the conclusion that he had no altema- 146 HISTORY OF PEOTESTANTISM. tive but to withdraw by edict the toleration which he had pi-ochiimed by edict ; nor in doing so did he feel that he was trenching on the rights of con- science, for he recognised on the pai-t of no man, or body of men, a right to plead 'conscience for feats of jugglery and tricks of legerdemain. Accord- ingly, on the 26th of December, 1581, an edict was published by the prince and the States of Holland, forbidding the public and private exercise of the Roman religion, but leaving opinion free, by forbidding inquisition into any man's conscience.' This was the first " placard " of the sort published in Holland since the States had taken up arms for their liberties ; and the best j'roof of its necessity is the fact that some cities in Brabant, where the bulk of the inliabitants were Romanists — Antwerp and Brussels in particular — were compelled to have recoiu-se to the same measure, or submit to the humiliation of seeing their Government bearded, and their public peace hopelessly embroiled. Antwerp chose six " discreet ecclesiastics " to baptise, marry, and visit the sick of then- own commiinion, gi-anting them besides the use of two little chapels ; but even these functions they were not pennitted to luidertake till first they had sworn fidelity to the Government. The rest of the priests were requii'ed to leave the town within twenty-four hoiu's under a penalty of 200 crowns.- In Brussels the suppression of the Popish worship, which was occasioned by a tumult raised by a seditious ciu'ate, brought with it an exposure of the arts which had rendered the edict of sup- pression necessary. " The magistrates," says the edict, " were convinced that the thi'ee bloody Hosts, which were sho-svn to the people by the name of the Sacrament of Mii'acles, were only a stained cloth ; that the clergy had exposed to the people some bones of animals as relics of saints, and deceived the simple many other ways to satisfy theii- avai'ice ; that they had made them worehip some pieces of alder-tree as if they had been a pai-t of oiu- Saviour's cross ; that ra some statvies several holes had been discovered, into which the priests poured oil to make them sweat ; lastly, that in other statues some sjarings had been found by which they moved several parts of tlieu- bodies."^ These edicts, unlike the terrible placards of Philip, erected no gibbets, and dug no gi'aves for living men and women ; they were in aU cases temporary, "till public tranquillity should be re- stored ; " they did not proscribe opinion, nor did they deny to the Romanist the Sacraments of his Chiu-ch ; they suppressed the public assembly only, and they sujjpressed it because a himdred proofs had demonstrated that it was held not for worship but sedition, and that its fruits were not piety but tumults and distiu'bances of the public peace. Most unwilling was the Prince of Orange to go even this length; it placed him, he saw, in ap- parent, not real, opposition to his formerly declared views. Nor did he take tliis step till the eleventh horn-, and after being perfectly persuaded that ■without some such measure he could not preserve order and save libei-ty. CHAPTER XXIX. THE SYNOD OP DORT. First Moments after William's Death— Defection of the Southern Provinces— Courage of Holland— Prince Maurice — States offer their Sovereignty to Henry III. of Prance— Treaty with Queen Elizabeth— Earl of Leicester— Retires from the Government of the Netherlands— Growth of the Provinces- Dutch Reformed Church— Calvinism the Common Theology of the Reformation— Arminius— His Teaching— His Party— Renewal of the Controversy touching Grace and Free-will— The Five Points— The Remonstrants— The Synod of Dort— Members and Delegates— Remonstrants Summoned before it — Tlieir Opinions Condemned by it— Remonstrants Deposed and Banished— The Reformation Theology of the Second Age as compared with that of the Fii'st. William, Prince of Orange, had just fallen, and tlie murderous blow that deprived of life the gi'eat foimder of the Dutch Republic was as much the act of Philip of Sjiain as if his own hand had fii-ed 1 Brandt, vol. i., p. 383. 2 Ibid., p. 382. the bidlet that passed through the prince's body, and laid him a corpse in the hall of his own dwelling-house. Grief, consternation, despaii- over- spread the Provinces. The very cluldren cried in 2 Abridgment of Brandt, vol. i., p. 207. THE UNITED PROVINCES AND ELIZABETH. 147 the streets. Father William had fallen, and the Netherlands had fallen with hini ; so did men believe, and for a time it verily seemed as if the calamity had all the frightful magnitude in which it presented itself to the nation in the fii'st mo- ments of its surprise and terror. The geni^ls, wisdom, courage, and patriotism of which the assassin's shot had deprived the Low Countries could not possibly be replaced. William could have no successor of the same lofty stature as himself. While he lived all felt that they had a bulwark between them and Spanish tyranny ; but now that he was dead, the shadow of Rome and Spain seemed again to approach them, and all trembled, from the wealthy merchant on the ex- changes of Antwerp and Brussels, to the rude fisherman on the solitary coast of Zealand. The gloom was imiversal and tragical. The diplomacy of Parma and the ducats of Spain wei-e instantly set to work to corrupt and seduce the Provinces. The faint-hearted, the lukewarm, and the secretly hostile were easily drawn away, and induced to abandon the gi'eat struggle for Netherland liberty and the Protestant faith. Ghent, the key-stone of that arch of which one side was Roman Catholic and the other Protestant, reconciled itself to Philip. Bruges, Brussels, Antwerp, Mechlin, and other towns of Brabant and Flandei-s, won by the diplomacy or vanquished by the arms of Pai-ma, returned under the yoke. It seemed as if the free State which the laboiu's and sacrifices of William the Silent had called into existence was about to disappear from the scene, and accompany its founder to the tomb. But the work of WUliam was not so to vanish ; its root was deeper. When the first moments of panic were ovei-, the .spu'it of the fallen hero asserted itself in Holland. The Estates of that Province passed a resolution, the very day of his murder, "to maintain the good cause, by God's help, to the uttermost, without sparing gold or blood," and they communicated their resolve to all commanders by land and sea. A State Council, or provisional executive board, was established for the Seven Provinces of the Union. At the head of it was placed Prince Maurice, William's second son, a lad of seventeen, who already manifested no ordinary decision and energy of character, and who in obedience to the summons of the States now quitted the University of Leyden, where he liad been pursiiing his studies, to be invested with many of his father's commands and honours. The blandishments of the Duke of Panna the States strenuously repelled, decreeing that no overture of reconciliation should be received from "the tyrant;" and the city of Dort enacted that whoever should bring any letter from the enemy to any private pei-son " should forthwith be hanged." It was Protestantism that had fired Holland and her six sister Provinces with this great resolve ; and it was Protestantism that was to build up theii' State in the face of the powerful enemies that sur- roimded it, and in spite of the reverses and disasters to which it still continued to be liable. But the Hollanders were slow to understand this, and to see wherein their great strength lay. They feared to trust their future to so intangible and invisible a protector. They looked abroad in the hope of finding some foreign prince who might be willing to accept their crown, and to employ his power in their defence. They hesitated some time between Henry III. of France and Elizabeth of England, and at last their choice fell on the former. Heniy was nearer them, he could the more easily send them assistance ; besides, they hoped that on his death his crown would devolve on the King of Navarre, the futui-e Henry IV., in whose hands they believed their religion and liberty would be safe. Willingly would Henry III. have enlianced the splendoiir of his cro'vvn by adding thereto the Seven United Provinces, but he feared the wi-atli of the League, the intrigues of Philip, and the ban of the Pope. The infant States next repau'ed to Elizabeth with an offer of their sovereignty. This ofler the Protestant queen felt she could neither accept nor decline. To accept was to quarrel with PhUip; and the state of Ireland at that moment, and the num- bers and power of the Roman Catholics in England, made a war mth Spain dangerous to the stability of her own throne ; and yet should she decline, what other resource had the Provinces but to throw themselves into the arms of Philip? and, reconciled to the Netherlands, Spain would be stronger than ever, and a stage nearer on its road to England. The prudent queen was in a strait between the two. But though she could not be the sovereign, might she not be the ally of the Hollanders 1 This she resolved to become. She concluded a treaty with them, "that the queen should furnish the States with f),000 foot and 1,000 horse, to be com- manded by a Protestant general of her appointment, and to be paid by her during the continuance of the war; the to\vns of Brill and Flushing being meanwjiilc put into her possession as security for the reimbui-sement to her of the war expenses." It was further stipulated " that should it be found expedient to employ a fleet in the common cause, the States should furnish the same number of ships as the queen, to be coumianded by an English admiral." 148 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. The force agreed upon was immediately des- patched to Holland under the command of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Leicester posses.sed but few qualities fitting him for the weighty business now put into his hands. He was vain, frivolous, gi'cedy, and ambitious, but he was an immense favourite with the queen. His showy accomplish- ments blmded at the first the Hollanders, who entertained him at a series of magnificent banquets (December, 1585), loaded him with honoiu-s and j)Osts, and treated him more as one who had already achieved theii- deliverance, than one who was only beginning that difficult and doubtful task. The Provincas soon began to see that their independence was not to come from the hand of Leicester. He proved no match for the genius and address of the Duke of Parma, who was daily winning victories for Spain, while Leicester could accomplish nothing. His pnidence failing him, he looked askance on the grave statesmen and honest patriots of Holland and Zealand, while he lavished his smiles on the artful and the designing who .submitted to his caprice and flattered his vanity. HLs ignorance imposed re- strictions on their commerce which greatly fettered it, and would \iltimately have ruined it, and he gave still deeper offence by expressing contempt for those ancient charters to which the Dutch were unalterably attached. Misfortune attended all that he undertook in the field. He began to intrigue to make himself master of the coimtry. His designs came to light, the contempt of the Provinces deepened into disgust, and just a year after his first arrival in Holland, Leicester retiu-ned to Eng- land, and at the desh-e of EUzabeth resigned his govei-nment. The distractions which the incapacity and treachery of the earl had occasioned among the Dutch themselves, offered a most inviting oppor- tunity to Parma to invade the Provinces, and doubtless he would have availed himself of it but for a dreadful famine that swept over the Southern Netherlands. The famine was followed by pestOence. The number of the deaths, added to the many bauLshments which had previously taken place, nearly emptied some of the gi-eat towns of Brabant and Flanders. In the country the peasants, owing to the ravages of war, had neither horses to plough their fields laor seed wherewith to sow them, and the harvest was a comjjlete fiiilure. In the ten-ible desolation of the country the beasts sf prey so multiplied, that within two miles of the once populous and wealthy city of Ghent, not fewer than a hundred persons were de- vom'ed by wolves. Meanwhile Holland and Zealand presented a pictiu'e which was in striking contrast to the desolation and ruin that overspread the Southern and rieher Provinces. Although torn by factions, the residt of the intrigues of Leicester, and bur- dened with the expense of a war which they wei'e compelled to wage wth Parma, their inhabitants contmued daily to multiply, and their wealth, comforts, and power to grow. Crowds of Protes- tant refugees flocked into the Northern Provinces, which now became the seat of that industry and manufacturing skill wliich for ages had enriched and embellished the Netherlands. Ha^•ing the command of the sea, the Dutch transported then- products to foreign markets, and so laid the foundation of that world-wide commerce which was a source of greater riches to Holland than were the gold and silver mines of Mexico and Peru to Spain.' We have seen the thi-oes and agonies amid which the Dutch Republic came to the bu-th, and before depicting the prosperity and power in wliich the State cidmmated, it is necessary to glance at the condition of the Dutch Church. From and after 1603, dissensions and di\'isions broke out in it, which tended to weaken somewhat the mightj'' influences springmg out of a free conscience and a pure faith, which were liftmg the United Provinces to prosperity and renown. Up till the year we have named, the Church of the Netherlands was strictly Calvinistic, but now a party in it began to divei'ge from what liad been the one common theology of the Reformation. It is an error to suppose that Calvin held and propagated a doctrine peculiar to himself or difl'erent from that of his fellow-Reformei's. His theology contained nothing- new, being essentially that of the gi'eat Fathers of the early Christian Chiu-ch of the West, and agi-ee- ing very closely with that of his illustrious fellow labourers, Luther and Zwingle. Our readers will remember the battles which Luther waged with the champions of Rome in defence of the Paulme teaclmig imder the head of the corruption of man's whole nature, the moral inability of his will, and the absolute sovereignty of God. It was on the same great lines that Calvin's views developed themselves. On the doctrine of Di^ane sovereignty, for instance, we find both Luther and Zwingle expressing themselves in terms fully stronger than Calvin ever employed. Calvin looked at both sides of the tremendous subject. He mamtained the free agency of man not less strenuously than he did God's eternal fore-ordination. He felt that both were gi-eat facts, but he doubted whether it 1 Meteren, lib. iv., p. 434. THE "FIVE POINTS." 149 lay within the power of created intelligence to reconcile the two, and he confessed that he was not able to do so. Many, however, have made this attempt. There have been men who have denied the doctrine of God's eternal fore-ordination, think- ing thereby to establish that of man's free agency ; and there have been men who have denied the doctrine of man's free agency, meaning thereby to strengthen that of the eternal fore-ordination of all things by God ; but these reconcilements are not solutions of this tremendous question — they are only monuments of man's inability to grapple with it, and of the folly of expending .strength and wasting time in such a discussion. Heedless of the warnings of past ages, there arose at this time in the Eeformed Church of Holland a class of di\'ines who renewed these discussions, and attempted to solve the awful problem by attacking the common theology of Luther, and Zwingle, and Calvin^ on the doctrines of grace and of the eternal decrees. The controversy had its begimiing thus : the famous Francis Junius, Professor of Divinity at Leyden, died of the plague in 1602; and James Arminius, who had studied theology at Geneva under Beza, and was pastor at Amsterdam, was appointed to succeed liim.- Arminius was op- posed by many ministers of the Dutch Church, on the ground that, although he was accounted learned, eloquent, and pious, he was suspected of holding views inconsistent with the Belgic Con- fes.sion and the Heidelberg Catechism, which since l.'iTO had possessed authority in the Church. Promulgating his views cautiously and covertly from his chaii-, a controversy ensued between him and his learned colleague, Gomarus. Arminius rested God's predestination of men to eternal Hfe on his foresight of theii" piety and virtue ; Gomarus, on the other hand, taught that these were not the causes, but the fruits of God's election of them to life eternal. Arminius accused Gomarus of instil- ling the belief of a fatal necessity, and Gomarus i-eproached Arminius with making man the author of his o^vn salvation. The controversy between the two lasted till the death of Armmius, which took place in 1609. He died in the full hope of everlasting life. He is said to have chosen for liis motto. Bona conscieniia Paradisus." After his death, his disciple Simon Episcopius became the head of the party, and, as usually happens in such cases, gave fuller development to the views of his master than Ainiinius himself had 1 See Calv.. Tnst, lib. iii., cap. 21, 22, &c. - Brandt (abridg.), vol. i., bk. xviii., p. 267. 2 Brandt—" A good couacience is Pai-adise." done. From the university, the controversy passed to the pulpit, and the Chm-ch was divided. In 1610 the followers of Ai-minius presented a Piemonstranco to the States of Holland, complaining of being falsely accused of seeking to alter the faith, but at the same time craving revision of the standard books of the Dutch Church — the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism — and demanding toleration for their views, of which they gave a sum- mary or exhibition in five points, as follow — I. That the deci-ee of election is gi-ounded on foreseen good works. II. That Christ died for all men, and pro- cured remission of sins for all. III. That man cannot acquire saving faith of himself, or by the strength of his free-will, but needs for that purpose the grace of God. IV. That, seeing man cannot believe at first, nor continue to believe, without the aid of this co-operating grace, his good works are to be ascribed to the grace of God in Jesus Chi-ist. V. That the faithful have a sufiicient strength, through the Divine grace, to resist all temptation, and finally to overcome jt. As to the question whether those who have once believed to the sa\-ing of the soul can again fall away from faith, and lose the grace of God, the authors of the Remonstrance were not prepared to give any answer. It was a point, they said, that needed further examination ; Ijut the logical train of the previous propositions clearly pointed to the goal at which theii- views touching the " perseverance of the saints " must necessarily arrive ; and accordingly, at a subsequent stage of the controversy, they declared, " That those who have a tnie faith may, nevertheless, fall by theii' own fault, and lose faith wholly and for ever."'' It is the fii'st receding wave witliiii the Protestant Church which we are now contemplating, and it is both instructive and curious to mark that the ebb from the Pieformation began at what had been the starting-point of the Reform movement. We have remarked, at an early stage of our history, that the que.stion touching the Will of man is the deepest in theology. Has the Fall left to man the power of willing and doing what is spiritually good ? or has it deprived him of that power, and inflicted upon his will a moral inability ? If we answer the first question affii-matively, and maintain that man still retains the power of willing and doing what is spiritually good, we advance a proposition from which, it might be argued, a whole system of Roman theology can be worked out. And if wo answer the second question affirmatively, we lay a foundation from which, it might be contended on the other hand, a whole system of Protestant * Brandt (abridg.), vol. i., bk. xix., pp. 307, i 150 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM, theology can be educed. Pursuing the one line of reasoning, if man still has the power of willing and doing actions spiritually good, he needs only co- operating grace in the matter of his salvation ; he needs only to be assisted in the more difficult parts of tliat work which he himself has begun, and which, uuiinly in the exercise of his own powers, to life eternal. The point, to an ordinaiy eye, seems an obscure one — it looks a purely speculative point, and one from which no practical issues of moment can flow ; nevertlieless, it lies at the foundation of all tlieology, and as such it was the fii-st great battle-ground at the period of the Reformation. It was tlip question so keenly contested, as we ha^-e 0. (Frt JAMI.S .\IlMINns. I oJil Eivjmrino ni (he BiUioUiiim: Nalionale.) lie himself carries on to the end. Hence the doctrine of good works, with all the dogmas, rites, penances, and merits that Rome has built ujion it. But, following the other lino of reasoning, if man, by his fall, lost the power of doing what is si)iritually good, then he must be entirely dependent \ipon Divine gj-ace for his recovery — he must owe all to God, from whom must come the beginning, the continuance, and the end of his salvation ; and hence the doctrines of a sovereign election, an effec- tual calling, a free justification, and a perseverance already narrated, between Dr. Eck on the one side, and Carlstadt and Luther on tlie otlier, at Leipsic' This question is, in f\ict, the dividing line between the two theologies. Of the fi^c points stated above, the third, fourth, and fifth may be viewed as one ; they teach the same doctrine — namely, that man fallen still possesses such an amount of spiritual strength as that he may do no inconsiderable \>art of ' See ante, vol. i., bk. v., chap. 15. 152 HISTOEY OF PROTESTANTISM. the work of his salvation, and needs only co- operating gi-ace ; and had the authors of the Re- monstrance been at Leipsic, they must liave ranged themselves on the side of Eck, and done battle for the Roman theology. It was this which gave the affaii- its gi'ave aspect in the eyes of the majority of the pastors of the Church of Hol- land. They saw in the doctrine of the " Five Points " the gi'Oiind surrendered which had lieen won at the beginning of the Reformation ; and they saw seed anew deposited from which had sprung the great tree of Romanism. This was not concealed on either side. The Remonstrants — so called from the Remonstrance given in by them to the States — put forward their views avowedly as intermediate between the Protestant and Roman systems, in the hope that they might conciliate not a few members of the latter Church, and lead to peace. The orthodox party could not see that these benefits would flow from the course their opponents were pursuing ; on the contrary, they believed that they could not stop where they were — that their views touching the fixll and the power of free-will must and would find theii' logical development in a greater divergence from the theology of the Pro- testant Churches, and that by remo\T:ng the great boundaiy-line between the two theologies, they were opening the way for a return to the Church of Rome ; and hence the exclamation of Gomarus one day, after listening to a statement of his views by Arminius, in the University of Leyden. Rising up and leaving the hall, he uttered these words : " Henceforward we shall no longer be able to oppose Popery."' Peace was the final goal which the Remonstrants sought to reach ; but the first-fruits of theii- labours were schisms and dissensions. The magistrates, sensible of the injury they were doing the State, strove to put an end to these ecclesiastical wars, and with this view they summoned certain pastors of both sides before them, and made them discuss the points at issue in their presence; but these conferences had no effect in restoring harmony. A disputation of this sort took place at the Hague in IGll, but like all that had gone before it, it failed to reconcile the two parties and establish concord. The orthodox pastors now began to demand the assembling of a National Synod, as a more legitimate and competent tribunal for the examination and decision of such matters, and a more likely way of putting an end to the dissen- sions that prevailed ; but the Remonstrant clergy opposed this proposal. They had influence enough ' Brandt (abridg.), vol. i., bk. xviii., p. 285. with the civil authorities to prevent the calling of a Synod for several years; but the war waxing louder and fiercer every day, the States-General at last convoked a National Synod to meet in November, 1G18, at Dort. Than the Synod of Dort there is perhaps no more remarkable Assembly in the annals of the Protestant Church. It is alike famous whether we regard the numbers, or the leai-ning, or the eloquence of its members. It met at a great crisis, and it was called to review, re-examine, and authenticate over again, in the second generation since the rise of the Reformation, that body of tiiith and system of doctrine which that great movement had pub- lished to the world. The States-General had agreed that the Synod .shoidd consist of twenty-six di- vines of the United Provinces, twenty-eight foreign divines, five theological professors, and sixteen lay- men. The sum of 100,000 florins was set apart to defray its estimated expenses. Its sessions lasted six months. Learned delegates were present in this Assembly from almost all the Reformed Churches of Europe. The Churches of England, Scotland, Switzerland, Geneva, Bremen, Hesse, and the Palatinate were represented in it. The French Church had no delegate in the Synod. That Chm-ch had deputed Peter du Moulin and Andrew Rivet, two of the most distinguished theologians of the age, to repre- .sent it, but the king forbade theii' attendance. From England came Dr. George Carleton, Bishop of Llandafi'; Joseph Hall, Dean of Worcester; John Davenant, Professor of Theology and Master of Queen's College, Cambridge ; and Samuel Ward, Archdeacon of Taunton, who had been appointed to proceed to Holland and take part in the pro- ceedings at Doi't, not indeed by the Church of England, but by the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Walter Balcanqual represented Scot- land in the Synod." The Synod was opened on the 16th of November, 1618, with a sermon by Balthazar Lydius, minister of Dort. Thereaftei-, the members repau-ed to the hall appointed for then- meeting. Lydius oflered a pi-ayer in Latin. The commissioners of the States sat on the right of the president, and the English divines on his left. An empty seat was kept for the French deputies. The rest of the delegates took their places according to the rank of the country from which they came. John Bogennan, minister of Leeuwarden, was cho.sen president ; Daniel Heinsius was appointed secretary. Heinsius was an accomplished Latin scholar, and it had been - B.andt (abridg.), vol. ii., bk. xxiii., p. 394. THE SYNOD OF DORT. 153 agi-eed thiit that language should he used iii all the transactions of the Assembly, for the sake of the foreign delegates. There came tliii-ty-six ministers and twenty elders, instead of the twenty -six pastors and sixteen laymen which the States-General had appointed, besides deputies from other Provinces, thus swelling the roll of the Synod to upwards of a hundred. The Synod summoned thirteen of the leading Remonstrants, including Episcopius, to appear within a fortnight. Meanwhile the Assembly occu- j)ied itself with an-angements for a new translation of the Bible into Dutch, and the framing of rules about other matters, as the catechising of the young and the training of students for the ministry. On the 5th of December, the thirteen Remonstrants who had been summoned came to Dort, and next day presented themselves before the Assembly. They were saluted by the moderator as " Reverend, famous, and excellent brethren in Jesus Clu'ist," and accommodated with seats at a long table in the middle of tlie hall. Episcopius, their spokes- man, saluting the Assembly, craved more time, that himself and his brethren might prepare them- selves for a conference with the Synod on the disputed points. They were told that they had been sunmioned not to confer with the Spiod, but to submit their opinions for the Synod's decision, and were bidden attend next day. On that day Episcopius made a speech of an hour- and a half's length, in which he discovered all the art and power of an orator. Thereafter an oath was ad- ministered to the members of Synod, in which they swore, in all the discussions and determinations of the Synod, to "use no human ^VTiting, but only the Word of God, which is an infallible rule of faith," and " only aim at the glory of God, the peace of the Church, and especially the preservation of the purity of doctrine." The Remonstrants did battle on a gi-eat many preliminaiy points : the jurisdiction of the court, the manner in which they were to lay their opinions before it, and the extent to which they were to be permitted to go in vindicating and defending their five points. In these debates much time was wasted, and the patience and good temper of the Assembly were severely tried. When it was found that the Remonstrants persisted in declining the au- thority of the Synod, and would meet it only to discuss and confer with it, but not to be judged by it, the States-General was iufoi-med of the dead- lock into which the aflair had come. The civil authority issued an order requiring the Remon- strants to submit to the S}Tiod. To this order of the State the Remonstrants gave no more obedience than they had done to the authority of the Church. They were willing to argue and defend then- opinions, but not to submit them for judgment. After two months spent in fruitless attempts to bring the Remonstrants to obedience, the Assembly resolved to extract their \'iews from their writings and speeches, and give judgment upon them. The examination into theii' opinions, and the deliberations upon them, engaged the Assembly till the end of April, by which time they had completed a body of canons, that was signed by all the members. The canons, which were read in the Cathedi-al of Dort with gi-eat solemnity, were a summing-up of the doctrine of the Reformation as it had been held by the first Reformers, and accepted in the Protestant Churches ■without division or dissent, the article of the Eucharist excepted, until Ai-minius arose. The decision of the Synod condemned the ojjinions of the Remonstrants as innovations, and sentenced them to deprivation of all ecclesiastical and academical functions.' The States-General followed up the spiritual part of the sentence by banishing them from theii- country. It is clear that the Government of the United Provinces had yet a good deal to learn on the head of toleration ; but it is fair to say that while they punished the disciples of Ai'minius ^vith exile, they would permit no inquisition to be made into theii' consciences, and no injiuy to be done to their persons or property. A few years thereafter (1626) the decree of banish- ment was recalled. The Remonstrants returned to theii- country, and were permitted freely to exercise their worship. They established a theological semi- nary at Amsterdam, which was adoraed by some men of great talents and emdition, and became a renowned fountain of Arminian theology. The Synod of Dort was the first great attempt to arrest the begun decline in the theology of the Reformation, and to restore it to its pristine purity and splendour. It did -this, but not with a perfect success. The theology of Protestantism, as seen in the canons of Dort, and as seen in the writings of the first Reformers, does not api)ear quite the same theology : it is the same in dogma, but it lacks, as seen in the canons of Dort, the warm hues, the freslmess, the freedom and breadth, and the stii-ring spiritual vitalities it possessed as it flowed from the pens, or was tlumdered from the pulpits, of the Reformers. The second generation of Protestant divines was much inferior, both ui intellectual endowments and in spii-itual gifts, to the firet. In the early days it was the sun of genius that ' Biandt (abridg.)> vol. u., bks. zxiii.-xzTili., pp. 397-504. 154 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. irradiated the heavens of the Chui'ch : now it was the moon of culture that was seen in her waning skies. And in proportion to the more restricted faculties of the men, so the theology was narrow, stinted, and cold. It wa.s formal and critical. Turning away somewhat from the grander, objec- tive, soul-inspii-ing truths of Christianity, it dealt much with the abstruser questions, it searched into deep and hidden things ; it was quicker to discern the apjjarent antagonisms than the real harmonies between truth and ti-uth ; it was prone to look only at one question, or at one side of a question, forgetful of its balancings and modifications, and so was in danger of distortmg or even caricatuiing truth. The empiiical treatment wliich the doctrine of predestination received — perhaps we ought to say on both sides — is an examjile of tliis. Instead of the awe and reverence with which a question involving the character and government of God, and the eternal destinies of men, ought ever to inspii'e those who undertake to deal with a subject so a\vful, and the solution of which so far trans- cends the human faculties, it was approached in a proud, self-sufficient, and flippant spirit, that was at once imchristian and unphilosophical. Election and reprobation were singled out, separated from the great and surpassingly solemn subject of which they are only parts, looked at entu'ely dissociated from their relations to other necessary truths, subjected to an iron logic, and compelled to yield consequences which were impious and revolting. The very interest taken in these questions marked an age more erudite than religious, and an intellect which had become too subtle to be altogether sound ; and the prominence given them, both in the discussions of the schools and the ministrations of the pulpit, reacted on the nation, and was jiroduc- tive of animosities and dissensions. Nevertheless, these evils were sensibly abated after the meeting of the Synod of Dort. The fountains of truth were again purified, and peace restored to the churches and tlie schools. The nation, again reunited, resumed its onward march in the path of progress. For half a centm-y the imiversity and the pulpit continued to be mighty powei-s in Holland — the professors and pastors took their place in the firet rank of theologians. Abroad the canons of the Synod of Dort met with a very general acquiescence on the part of the Protestant Churches, and continued to regulate the teaching and mould the theology of Christendom. At home the people, imbued with the spii'it of the Bible, and impregnate with that love of liberty, and that respect for law, wliich Protestantism ever engenders, made their homes bright with vii'tue and their cities resplendent with art, while their land they taught by their industry and frugality to bloom in beauty and overflow with riches. CHAPTER XXX. GRANDEUR OF THE UNITED PROVINCES. The One Source of Holland's Strength— Prince Maurice made Governor— His Character— Dutch Statesmen- Spanish Power Sinking— Philip's Many Projects— His Wars in Franco— Successes of Maurice— Death of the Duke of Parma— Mighty Growth of Holland— Its Vast Commerce— Its Learning— Desolation of Brabant and Flanders- Cause of the Decline of Holland— The Stadtholder of Holland becomes King of England. We have narrated the ill success that attended the government of the Earl of Leicester in the Low Countries. These repeated disappointments re- buked the Provinces for looking abroad for defence, and despising the mightier source of strength which existed within themselves ; and in due time they came to see that it was not by the arm of any foreign prince that they were to be holden up and made strong, but by the nurturing vii-tue of that gi'eat principle which, rooted in theii- land by the blood of their martyrs, had at last found for their nation a champion in William of Orange. This principle had laid the foundations of their free Commonwealth, and it alone could gi\'e it stability and conduct it to greatness. Accordingly, after Leicester's departure, at a meeting at the Hague, the 6th of February, 1587, the States, after asserting then- own supremfe authority, xmanimously chose Prince Maurice as their governor, though still ■\vith a reservation to Queen Elizabeth. It was not respect alone for the memory of his gi'eat father which induced the States to repose so great a trust, at so momentous a period of theii- existence, in one who was then DECLENSION OF THE SPANISH POWER. 155 only twenty-one years of age. From his earliest jouth the prince had given proof of his superior prudence and capacity, and in the execution of his iiigh command he made good the hopes entertained f)f liim when he entered upon it. If he possessed in lower degree tlian liis illustrious sire the faculty of governing men, lie was nevertheless superior to him in the military art, and this was the science Jiiost needed at this moment by the States. Maurice liecame the greatest captain of his age : not only was he famous in the discipline of his armies, but his genius, rising above the maxims then in vogue, enabled him to invent or to perfect a system of fortification much more complete, and which soon liccame common.' The marvellous political ability of William, now lost to the States, was supplied in some sort by a school of statesmen that arose after his death in Holland, and whose patriotic honesty, allied with an uncommon amount of native sagacity and .shrewdness, made them a match for the Machia- vellian diplomatists with wluch the age abounded. Philip II. was at that time getting ready the Ai-mada for the subjugation of England. The Duke of Parma was required to furnish his con- tingent of the mighty fleet, and while engaged in this labour he was unable to undertake any opera- tion in the Netherlands. Holland had rest, and the military genius of Prince Maurice found as yet no opportunity of displaying itself. But no sooner had Philip's " invincible " Armada vanished in the North Sea, pursued by the English admiral and the tempests of heaven, than Parma made haste to renew the war. He made no acquisition of mo- ment, however — the gains of the campaign remained with Prince Mamice ; and the power of Spain in the Low Countries began as visibly to sink as that of Holland to rise. From this time foi-ward blow after blow came upon that colossal fabric wliich for so long a period had not only darkened the Netherlands, but had overshadowed all Christendom. Tlie root of the Spani.sh Power was dried up, and its branch began to wither. Philip, aiming to be the master of the world, plunged into a multitude of schemes which drained liis resources, and at length broke in pieces that mighty empire of which he was the monarch. As Ms years gi'ew his projects multiplied, tUl at last he found himself warring with the Turks, the Morescoes, the Portuguese, the French, the English, and the Netherlandere. The latter little comitry he would most certainly have subdued, had liis ambition pei-mitted him to concentrate his power ' Miiller, fJniversa; Histoi'v, iii. 67. Sir William Temple, United Provinces, chap, i., p. 48 ; Edin., 1747. in the attempt to crash it. HappUy for the Low Countries, Philip was never able to do this. And now another dream misled him — the hope of seizing tlie crown of Fi'ance for himself or his daughter,- Clara Eugenia, during the troublous times that followed the accession of Henry of Navarre. In this hope he ordered Pai'ma to withdraw the Spanish troops ft-om the Netherlands, and help the League to conquer Henry IV. Parma remon- strated against the madness of the scheme, anil the danger of taking away the army out of the country ; but Philip, blinded by his ambition, refused to listen to the prudent counsels of his general. The folly of the King of Spain gave a breathing-space to the young Republic, and enabled its governor. Prince Mam-ice, to display that re- som-ce, prudence, and promptitude which gained him the confidence and esteem of his subjects, and wliich, shining forth yet more brilliantly in future campaigns, won for him the admiration of Europe. When Parma returned from France (1590) he foimd Holland greatly stronger than he had left it : its frontier was now fortified; several towns beyond the boundary of the United Provinces had been seized by their army ; and Parma, with a treasuiy drained by his campaign, and soldiers mutinous because ill-paid, had to undertake the work of recovei-ing what had been lost. The campaign now opened was a disastrous one both for himself and for Spain. After many battles and sieges he found that the Spanish Power had been compelled to retreat before the arms of the infant Republic, and that his own prestige as a soldier had been eclipsed by the renown of his opponent, acquired by the prudence with which his enterprises had been concerted, the celerity with which they had been executed, and the success with which they had been crowned. The Duke of Parma was a second time ordered into France to assist the League, and pave Philip's way for moiuiting the throne of that country ; and foolish though he deemed the order, he had nevertheless to obey it. He returned broken in health, only to iind that in his absence the Spanish Power had sustained new losses, that the United Provinces had acquired additional strength, and that Prince Maurice had suiromided his name with a brighter glory than ever. In short, the affairs of Spain in the Low Countries he perceived were becoming hopeless. Worn out with cares, eaten up -wnith vexation and chagi-in, and compelled the while to strain every nerve in the execution of projects which his judgment con- demned as chimerical and ruinous, his sickness 3 Mttller, iii. 68. 156 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. increased, and on the 3rd of December, 159:2, he expired in the forty-seventh year of his age, and the fourteenth of Ids government of the Netherlands. " Witli the Duke of Parma," says Sir William Temple, " died all tlie discipline, and with that all the fortunes, of the Spanish arms in Flanders."' There now oj)eued to the United Provinces a career of prosperity that was as uniform and un- interrupted iva their previous period of distress and calamity had been continuous and unbroken. The success that attended the arms of Prince Maurice, the vigour with which he extended the dominions of the Republic, the prudence and wisdom -with which he administered alfaii's at home, the truce with Spain, the League with Henry IV. of France, and the various circumstances and methods by which the prince, and the upright and wise counsellors that surrounded him, advanced the credit and power of the United Provinces, belong to the civil history of the country, and hardly come within the scope of our special design. But the mighty growth of the United Provinces, which was the direct product of Protestantism, is one of the finest proofs wliich history furnishes of the spirit and power of the Reformation, and affords a lesson that the ages to come will not fail to study, and an example that they will take care to imitate. On the face of all the earth there is not another such instance of a nation for whom nature had done literally nothing, and who had all to create fiom their soil upwards, attaining such a pitch of greatness. The Dutch received at the be- ginning but a sand-bank for a country. Then- patience and laborious skill covered it with verdure, and adorned it with cities. Theii- trade was as truly their own creation as their soD. The narrow limits of their land did not furnish them -with the materials of their manufactures ; these they had to import from abroad, and having worked them up into beautiful fabrics, they carried them back to the countries whence they had obtained the raw materials. Thus their land became the magazine of the world. Notwithstanding that their country was washed, and not unfrequently inundated, by the ocean, nature had not given them harboure ; these, too, they had to create. Their scanty territory led them to make the sea their country; and their wars with Spain compelled them to make it still more their home. They had an infinity of ships and sailors. They sent their merchant fleet over every sea — to the fertile islands of the West, to the rich continents of the East. They erected forts on pro- montories and creeks, and their settlements were • The United Provinces, chap, i., p. 49. dispersed throughout the world. They fonned com- mercial treaties and political alliances with the most powerful nations. The various wealth that was wafted to theii' shores was even greater than that which had flowed in on Spain after the discovery of the mines of Mexico and Peru. Theii- land, wliich yielded little besides mUk and butter, overflowed with the necessaries and luxuries of all the earth. The wheat, and wine, and oil of Southern Euroi)e ; the gold and silver of Mexico ; the spices and diamonds of the East ; the furs of Northern Europe ; silk, cotton, precious woods, and marbles — every- thing, in short, which the earth produces, and which can contribute to clothe the person, adorn the dwelling, supply the table, and enliance the comfort of man, was gathered into Holland. And while every wind and tide were bringing to their shores the raw materials, the persecutions which raged in other countries were daily sending crowds of skilful and industrious men to work them nj). And with every increase of their population came a new expansion of then- trade, and by consequence a new access to the wealth that flowed from it. With the rapid gro'wth of material riches, their I'espect for learning, theii' taste for intellectual pursuits, and their love of independence still con- tinued with them. They were plain and frugal in habit, although refined and generous in disposition. The sciences were cultivated, and theii' universities flourished. To be learned or eloquent inferred as great eminence in that country as to be rich or high-born did in others. All this had come out of theii' great struggle for the Protestant faith. And, as if to make the lesson still plainer and more striking, by the side of this little State, so illustrious for its virtue, so rich in all good tilings, and so powerful among the nations of the world, were seen those unhappy Provinces which had re- treated within the jiale of Rome, and submitted to the yoke of Philip. They were fallen into a condition of poverty and slavery which was as complete as it was deplorable, and which, but a few years before, any one who had seen how populous, industrious, and opulent they were, would have deemed impossible. Commerce, trade, nay, even daily bread, had fled from that so recently prosperous land. Bankers, merchants, farmers, artisans — all were sunk in one gi'eat iiiin. Antwerp, the emporium of the com- merce of Europe, with its river closed, and its harbour and wharves forsaken, was reduced to beggary. The looms and forges of Ghent, Bruges, and Namur were idle. The streets, trodden erewhile by armies of workmen, were covered with grass ; fail' mansions were occupied by paupers ; the fields ■were falling out of cultivation ; the farm-houses KISE AND FALL OF THE UNITED PROVINCES. 157 were sinking into ruins ; and, in the absence of men, the beasts of the field were strangely multi- plying. To these evils were added the scourge of a mutinous soldiery, and the incessant rapacious demands of Philip for money, not knowing, or not cai-ing to know, into what a plight of misery and 1666 we find Holland and her sLster States at the acme of theii- jirosperity. They are populous in men; they have a revenue of 40,000,000 florins ; they possess a land army of 60,000 men, a fleet of above 100 men-of-war, a countless mei'cantile navy, a world-wide commerce, and, not content with being rniNCE MAiiucE or , Versailles). penury his tyranny had ah-eady sunk them. Spain itself, towards the close of the ninetoonth centui y, is still a.s gi-eat a wreck ; but it required three hundred years for despotism and Popery to ri|icn their fruits in the Iberian Peninsula, whereas in the Southern Netherlands their work was consum- mated in a very few years. We turn once more to tlioir northern sister. The era of the flourishing of the United Provijiccs was from 1.J79, when the Union of Utrecht was formed, till 1C72— that is, ninety-three years. In the year 118 one of the great Powers of Europe, they are con- testing with England the supremacy of the seas.' It is hardly j)0Rsiblc not to ask what led to the decline and fall of so groat a Power 1 Sir William Temple, who had studied with the breadth of a statesman, and the insight of a philosopher, both the rise and the fall of the United Provinces, lays their decay at the door of the Amiinian con- troversy, wliich had parted the nation in two. ' Sir William Temple, chap. 7, p. 174. 158 HISTOKY OF PEOTESTANTISM. At least, this he makes the primaiy cause, and the oue that led on to others. The Prince of Orange or Oalvinist fection, he tells ns, contended for the purity of the faith, and the Anuinian faction for the liberties of the nation ; and so far this was true, but the historian forgets to say that the contest for the purity of the foith coTered the nation's liberties as well, and when the sacred fire •wliich had kindled the conflict for liberty was permitted to go out, the flame of freedom sunk down, the nation's heart waxed cold, and its hands grew feeble in defence of its independence. The decay of Holland became marked from the time the Arminian party gained the ascendency. ' But though the nation decayed, the line of William of Orange, the great founder of its liberties, continued to flourish. The motto of Prince INIanrice, Tandem Jit surculas arbor (" The twig will yet become a tree"); was made good in a higher sense than he had dreamed, for the epics of history are gi-ander than those of fiction, and the Stadtholder of Holland, in due tune, mounted the throne of Great Britain. PROTESTANTISM IN POLAND AND BOHEMIA. CHAPTER I. RISE AND SPREAD OF PROTESTANTISM IN POLAND. The '■'Catholic Eostoration" — First lutroduction of Christianity into Poland — Influence of TVicIiffe and Huss— Luther— The Light Shines on Dantzic — The Ex-Monk Knade— Eashness of the Dantzic Eeformers— The Movement thrown back — Entrance of Protestantism into Thorn and other Towns — Cracow — Secret Society, and Queen Bona Sforza— Efforts of Eomish Synods to Arrest the Truth— Entrance of Bohemian Pi-otestants into Poland — Their great Missionary Success — Students leave Cracow : go to Protestant Universities — Attempt at Coercive Measures —They Fail— Cardinal Hosius— A Martyr— The Priests in Conflict with tlie Nobles— National Diet of 1552— Auguries— Abolition of the Temporal Jurisdiction of the Bishops. We are now appi'oaching the era of that gi'eat " Catholic Restoration " which, cumiingly devised and most perseveringly carried on by the Jesuits, who had now perfected the organisation and discipline of their corps, and zealously aided by the arms of the Popish Powers, scourged Germany with a desolating war of thiity yeai's, trampled out many flourishing Protestant Churches in the east of Europe, and nearly succeeded in rehabilitating Rome in her ancient dominancy of all Christendom. But before entering on the history of these events, it is neces.sary to follow, in a brief recital, the rise and progi'css of Protestantism in the countries of Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, and parts of Austria, seeing that these were the Churches which fell before the spiritual cohorts of Loyola, and the militaiT' hoi'des of Au.stria, and seeing also that these were the lands, in conjunction with Germany, which became the seat of that great struggle which seemed as though it wei-e destined to overthrow Protestantism wholly, till all suddenly, Sweden sent forth a champion who rolled back the tide of Popish success, and restored the balance between the two Churches, which has remained much as it was then settled, down to almost the present hour. We begin with Poland. Its Reformation opened with biilliant promise, but it had hardly reached what seemed its noon when its light was overcast, and since that disastrous hour the farther Poland's stoiy is pursued, it becomes but the sadder and more melancholy ; nevertheless, the historj^ of Pro- testantism in Poland is franght with great lessons, specially applicable to all free countries. Chris- tianity, it is believed, was introduced into Poland by missionaries from Great Moravia in the ninth century. In the tenth we find the sovereign of the country receiving baptism, from which we may infer that the Christian faith was still spreading in Poland. - It is owing to the simplicity and apostolic zeal of Cyi-illus ' and Methodius, two pastors from ' Sir 'William Temple. Compare chap, i., p. 59, with chap, viii., p. 179. - Krasinski, History Reform, in Polam.l, vol. i., p. 2; Lond.; 1838. ^ A remaiiable man, the inventor , of the Slavonic alphabet . THE POLISH REFOEMERS. 159 Thessalonica, that the nations, the Shivoiiiaus .among the rest, who iiiliabited the wide temtories lying between the Tp-ol and the Danube on the one side, and the Baltic and Vistula on the other, were at so early a period visited with the light of the Gospel. Their first day was waxing dim, notwithstanding that they were occasionally visited by the Wal- denses, when Wiclifle arose in England. This splendour which had biu'st out in the west, travelled, as we have already narrated, as far as Bohemia, and from Bohemia it passed on to Poland, where it came in tune to arrest the return of the pagan night. The voice of Huss was now resound- ing through Bohemia, and its echoes were heard in Cracow. Poland was then intimately comiected with Bohemia ; the language of the two countries was almost the same ; numbers of Polish youth resorted to the University of Prague, and one of the first martyrs of Huss's Reformation was a Pole. Stanislav Pazek, a shoemaker by trade, suffered death, along wth two Bohemians, for opposing the indulgences which were pr'eached in Prague in 1411. The citizens interred their bodies with gi-eat respect, and Huss preached a sermon at their funeral.' In 1431, a conference took place in Craeow, between certain Hussite missionaries and the doctors of the university, in presence of the king and senate. The doctors did battle for the ancient faith against the " novelties " imported from the land of Huss, which they described as doc- trines for which the missionaries could plead no better authority than the Bible. The disputation lasted several days, and Bishop Dlugosh, the his- torian of the conference, complains that although, " in the opinion of all present, the heretics were vanquished, they never acknowledged then- defeat." - It Ls interesting to find these three countries — Poland, Bohemia, and England — at that early period turning their ftices toward the day, and hand-in-hand attempting to find a path out of the darkness. How nuich less happy, one cannot help reflecting, the fate of the first two countries than that of the last, yet all three were then directing their steps into the same road. ]Nrany of the first fiuuilies in Poland embraced openly the Bohemian doctruies ; and it is an interesting fact that one of the professors in the univei-sity, Andrea.s Galka, exjjounded the works of Wiclifle at Cr.acow, and wi-oto a poem in honour of the English Ee- foiTiier. It is the earliest production of the Polish muse in existence, a jxiem in praise of the Virgin ' Krasinski, Hist. Reform. PoUmd, vol. i., p. 61. 2 Krasinski, Slavonia, p. 174. excepted. The author, addressing "Poles, Gcrmaiw, and all nations," says, " Wiclifle speaks the truth ! Heathendom and Christendom have never had a gi-eater man than he, and never will." Voice after voice is heard in Poland, attesting a growing opposition to Rome, till at last in 1515, two years before Luther had spoken, we find the seminrd principle of Protestantism proclaimed by Bernard of Lublin, in a work wliich he published at Cracow, and in which he says that " we must believe the Scriptures alone, and reject human ordinances." •* Thus was the way prepared. Two years after came Lutlier. The lightnings of his Theses, which flashed through the skies, of all countries, lighted up also those of Polish Prussia. Of that flourishing province Dantzic was the capital, and the chief emporium of Poland with Western Europe. In that city a monk, called James Knade, threw off" his habit (1518), took a wife, and began to preach publicly against Rome. Knade had to retire to Thorn, where he continued to diff'use his doctrines under the protection of a powerful nobleman ; but the seed he had sown in Dantzic did not perish ; there soon arose a little band of j)reachers, cemposed of Polish youths who had sat at Luther's feet in Wittemberg, and of pi-iests who had found access to the Reformer's wi-itings, who now proclaimed the truth, and made so numerous converts that in 1524 five churches in Dantzic were given up to their use. Success made the Reformers rash. Tlie town council, to whom the king, Sigismund, had hinted his dislike of these innovations, lagged behind in the movement, and the citizens resolved to replace that body with men more zealous. They sur- rounded the council, to the number of 400, and with arms in their hands, and cannon pointed on the coimcU-hall, they demanded the resignation of the members. No sooner had the council dis- solved itself than the citizens elected another from among themselves, The new council proceeded to complete the Reformation at a stroke. They sup- pressed the Roman Catholic worship, they closed the monastic establishments, they ordered that the convents and other ecclesiastical edifices should bo converted into schools and hospitals, and declared the goods of the " Church " to be public property, but left them initouched.* This violence only threw back the movement ; the majority of the in- habitants were still of the old faith, and had a right to exercise its worship till, enlightened in a better way, they should be pleased voluntarily to abandon it. 5 Krasinski, Slavonia, p. 182 ; Lond., 1849. * Ki-asinski, Hist. Reform. Poland, vol. i., pp. 115, 116, 160 HISTORY OF mOTESTANTISM. Tlic dei)0scd coiuicilloi-s, seating themselves in carriages liung in black, and encircling their heads ■with crape, set out to appear before the king. They implored him to interpose his authority to save his city of Dantzic, which was on the point of being d^■o^^^led in liQi-csy, and re-establish the old order of things. The king, in the main upright and tolerant, at first temporised. The members of council, by whom the late changes had been made, were summoned before the king's tribunal to justify then- doings ; but, not obej-ing the summons, they were outlawed. In April, 152G, the king in per- son visited Dantzic ; the citizens,' as a precaution against change, received the monarch in arms ; but the royal troops, and the anned retainere of the Popish lords who accompanied the king, so greatly outnumbered the Reformers that they were over- awed, and submitted to the court. A royal decree restored the Roman Catholic worship ; fifteen of the leading Reformers were beheaded, and the rest banished ; the citizens were ordered to return within the Roman pale or quit Dantzic ; the priests and monks who had abandoned the Roman Church were exiled, and the churches aj^propriated to Protestant worship were given back to mass. This was a sharp castigation for leaving the peaceful jjath. Never- theless, the movement in Dantzic was owly arrested, not destroyed. Some years later, there came an epidemic to the city, and amid the sick and the dying there stood up a pious Dominican, called Klein, to preach the Gospel. The citizens, awakened a second time to eternal things, listened to him. Dr. Eck, the fiimous opponent of Luther, impor- tuned King Sigismund to stop the preacher, and held up to him, as an example wortliy of imitation, Henry VIII. of England, who had just published a book against the Reformer. "Let King Hemy write against Martin," i-eplied Sigismund, " but, with regard to myself, I shall be king eqiially of the sheep and of the goats.'" Under the following reign Protestantism triumphed in Dantzic. About the same time the Protestant doctrines began to take I'oot in other towns of Polish Prussia. In Thorn, situated on the Vistula, these doctrines appeared in 1520. There came that year to Thorn, Zacharias Fereira, a legate of the Pope. He took a truly Roman way of warning the inhabitants against the heresy which had invaded their town. Kindling a gi-ewt fire before the Church of St. John, he solemnly connnitted the eftigies and VTitings of Lutlier to the flames. The fixggots had hardly begun to lilaze when a shower of stones from the towns- men saluted the legate and his ti'ain, and they were ' Krasinski, Slavonia, p. 185. forced to flee, before they had had time to con- summate theii- auto-da-fe. At Bi-aunsberg, the seat of the Bishop of Ermeland, the Lutheran woi-ship was publicly introduced in 1520, without the bishop's taking any steps to prevent it. When re- proached by Ms chapter for his supLneness, he told his canons that the Reformer foimded all he said on Scripture, and any one among them who deemed himself competent to refute him was at liberty to do so. At Elbing and many other towns the light was spreading. A secret society, composed of the first scholars of the day, lay and cleric, was formed at Cracow, the university seat, not so much to projiagate the Pro- testant doctrines as to investigate the grounds of their truth. The queen of Sigismund I., Bona Sforza, was an active member of this society. She had for her confessor a learned Italian, Father Lismanini. The Father received most of the Pro- testant publications that appeared in the vai-ious countries of Em'ope, and laid them on the table of the society, with the view of their being read and canvassed by the members. The society at a future jjeriod acquired a greater but not a better reuo\vn. One. day a priest named Pastoiis, a native of Bel- gium, rose in it and avowed his disbelief of the Ti'init}', as a doctrine inconsistent ^^'ith the imity of the Godhead. The members, who saw that this was to ovei'throw revealed religion, were mute with astonishment ; and some, believing that what they had taken for the path of reform was the path of destruction, drew back, and took final refuge in Romanism. Others declared themselves disciples of the priest, and thus were laid in Poland the foundations of Socinianism.^ The rapid dittusion of the light is best attested by the vigorous eftbrts of the Romish clergy to suppress it. Numerous books appeared at this time in Poland against Luther and his doctrines. The Synod of Lenczyca, in 1527, recommended the re-establishment of the " Holy Inquisition." Other Synods drafted schemes of ecclesiastical reform, which, in Poland as in all the other countries where such projects were broached, were never realised save on papei-. Others recommended the appointment of popular preachers to instnict the ignorant, and guide their feet past the snares which were being laid for them in the writings of the heretics. On the principle that it would be less troublesome to prevent the planting of these snares, than after they were set to guide the unwary past them, they prohibited the introduction of such works into the country. The Synod of Lenczyca, - Krasinski, Hlsi. Reform. Poland, vol. i., pp. 138—140. THE BOHEMIAN TILGEIMS. 161 in 1532, went a step foitlier, and in its zeal to preserve the "sincere faith" in Pohiud, recom- mended the banishment of " all heretics beyond the bounds of Sannatia."' The Synod of Piotrkow, in 15i2, i)ublislied a decree prohibiting all students from resorting to universities conducted by heretical professors, and threatening with exclusion from all offices and dignities all who, after the passing of the edict, should repair to such universities, or who, being already at such, did not instantly return. This edict had no force in law, for besides not being recognised by the Diet, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction was carefully limited by the constitutional liberties of Poland, and the nobles still continued to send their sons to interdicted miiversities, and in par- ticular to Wittemberg. Meanwhile the national legislation of Poland began to flow in just the opposite channel. In 1539 a royal ordinance esta- blished the liberty of the press; and in 1513 the Diet of Cracow gi-anted the freedom of studying at foreign univereities to all Polish subjects. At this period an event fell out which gave an additional impulse to the diii'usiou of Protestantism in Poland. In 1518, a severe persecution, which vriW come under our notice at a subsequent stage of our history, arose against the Bohemian brethi-en, the descendants of that valiant host who had com- bated for the faith under ZLska. In the year above-named Ferdinand of Bohemia published an edict shutting up their churches, imprisoning theii- ministei-s, and enjoining the brethren, under severe penalties, to leave the country within forty-two days. A thousand exiles, marshalling themselves in three bands, left their native villages, and began their march westward to Prussia, where Albert of Brandenburg, a zealous Reformer, had promised them asylum. The pilgrims, who were under the conduct of Sionius, the chief of their community — "the leader of the people of God," as a Polish historian styles him — had to pass through SUesia and Poland on their way to Prussia. Arriving iu Posen in Jmie, 1518, they were welcomed by Andreas Gorka, first magistrate of Grand Poland, a man of vast possessions, and Pro- testant opinions, and were offered a settlement iii his States. Here, meanwhile, their journey ter- minated. The pious wanderers erected churches and celebrated their worship. Their Iiymns chanted in the Bohemian language, and their sermons preiiched in the same tongue, drew many of the Polish iuliabitants, who.se speech was Slavonic, to listen, and ultimately to embrace their opinions. A Eiissionai-y army, it looked to them as if Providence had guided their steps to this spot for the conver- sion of all the provinces of Gi-and Poland. The Bishop of Posen saw the danger that menaced his diocese, and rested not till he had obtained an order from Sigismund Augustus, who had just succeeded his father (1518), enjoining the Bohemian emigrants to quit the territory. The order might possibly have been recalled, but the brethren, not wishing to be the cause of trouble to the grandee who had so nobly entertained them, resumed their journey, and arrived in due time in Prussia, where Duke Albert, agreeably to his promise, accorded them the rights of naturalisation, and full religious liberty. But the seed they had sown in Posen remained behind them. In the following year (1519) many of them returned to Poland, and resumed their propagation of the Reformed doctrines. They pro- secuted their work without molestation, and with great success. IMany of the principal families embraced theii- opinions; and the ultimate result of their labours was the formation of about eighty congregations in the provinces of Grand Poland, besides many in other parts of the kingdom. A quarrel broke out between the students and the university authorities at Cracow, which, al- though originating in a street-brawl, had important bearings on the Protestant movement. The breach it was found impossible to heal, and the students resolved to leave Cracow in a body. " The schools became silent," says a contemporary writer, "the halls of the university were deserted, and the churches were mute."^ Nothing but farewells, lamentations, and groans resounded through Cracow. The pilgrims assembled in a suburban church, to hear a farewell mass, and then set forth, singing a sacred hymn, some taking the road to the College of Goldbei'g, in Silesia, and others going on to the newly-erected University of Konigsberg, iu Prussia. The first-named school wixs under the direction of Frankeudorf, one of the most eminent of Melanc- thon's jmpils; Konigsberg, a creation of Alljert, Duke of Prussia, was already fulfilling its founder's intention, which was the diffusion of scriptural knowledge. In both seminaries the predominating influences were Protestant. The consetpience was that almost all these students returned to then- homes imbued with the Reformed doctrine, and powerfully contributed to spread it in I'oland. So stood the movement when Sigismund Augustus a-scended the throne in 1548. Protestant truth was widely spread throughout the kingdom. In the towns of Polish Prussia, wkerc many Germans re- Conslitutioncs Sitjnodorum—apud Krasiuski. = Zalaszowski, Jus Puhlicum Regni PoZoii«s— Krasiuski, Hist. Ecfoi-m. Poland, vol. i., p. 157. 1G2 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. sided, the Reformation was received in its Lutheran expression ; in the rest of Poland it was embraced in its CalvinLstic form. Many powerful nobles had abandoned Romanism ; nimibere of priests taught the Protestant faith ; but, as yet, there existed no organLsation — no Church. This came at a later period. The priesthood had as yet erected no stake. They thought to stem the torrent by violent denxmcia- tions, thundered from the pulpit, or sent abroad over the kingdom through the press. They raLsed their voices to the loftiest pitch, but the torrent continued to flow broader and deeper every day. They now began to make trial of coercive measiu-es. Nicholaiis Olesnicki, Lord of Pinczov, ejecting the images from a church on hLs estates, established Protestant woi"sliip in it according to the forms of Geneva. This wa-s the first oj^en attack on the ancient oi'der of things, and Olesnicki was sum- moned before the ecclesiastical tribunal of Cracow. He obeyed the summons, but the crowd of friends and retainers who accompanied him was such that the court was ten-ified, and dared not open its sittings. The clergy had taken a first step, but had lost ground thereby. Tlie next move was to convoke a Synod (1552) at Pioti'kow. At that Convocation, the afterwards celebrated Cardinal Hosius produced a summary of the Roman fiiith, which he proposed all priests and all of senatorial and eqviestrian degi-ee should be made to subscribe. Besides the fundamental doc- trines of Romanism, tliLs creed of Hosius made the subscriber express his belief in purgatory, in the wonshij) of saints and images, in the eflicacy of holy water, of fasts, and similar rites.' The sugges- tion of Hosius was adopted ; all priests were ordered to subscribe this test, and the king was petitioned to exact subscription to it from all the oflicci-s of his Government, and all the nobles of his realm. The Synod further resolved to set on foot a vigorous war against heresy, to support which a ta.x was to be levied on the clergy. It was sought to i)urchase the a.ssistance of the king by offei-ing him the confiscated property of all con- demned heretics.- It seemed as if Poland was about to be lighted up with martyi-piles. A beginning was made with Nicholaus, Rector of Kurow. This good man began in 1550 to preach the doctrine of salvation by grace, and to give the ' Vide Hosii Opera, Antverpise, 1571 ; and Stanislai Hosii Vita autore Roscio, Romse, 1567. Subscription to the above creed by the clergy was enjoined because many of the bishops were suspected of heresy — "quod multi inter episcopos erant suspecti." - Bzovius, ann. 1551. Communion in both kinds to his parishionei-s. For these offences he was cited before the ecclesiivstical tribunal, where he coui'ageously defended himself. He was afterwards thrown into a dungeon, and deprived of life, but whether by starvation, by poison, or by methods more violent still, cannot now be known. One victim had been offered to the insulted majesty of Rome in Poland. Con- temporaiy ckroniclers speak of others who were immolated to the intolerant genius of the Papacy, but their execution took place, not in open day, but in the secresy of the cell, or in the darkness of the prison. The next move of the priests landed them in open conflict with the popular sentiment and the chartered rights of the nation. No country in Europe enjoyed at that hour a gi-eater degree of liberty than did Poland. The towns, many of which were flourishing, elected their own magis- trates, and thus each city, as regarded its internal afl'au's, was a little republic. The nobles, who formed a tenth of the population, were a peculiar and privileged class. Some of them were owners of vast -domains, i^abited castles, and lived in gi-eat magnificence. Others of them tilled their O'vvn lands ; but all of them, grandee and husband- man aUke, were equal before the law, and neither their persons nor property could be disposed of, save by the Diet. The king himself was subject to the law. We find the eloquent but versatile Orichovius, who now thundered against the Pope, and now threw himself prostrate before him, saying in one of his philippics, " Your Romans bow their knees before the crowd of your menials; they bear on their necks the degi-ading yoke of the Roman scribes ; but such is not the case -svith us, where the law lilies even the throne." The free consti- tution of the country was a shield to its Protes- tantism, as the clergy had now occasion to experience. Stanislav Stadnicki, a nobleman of large estates and great influence, having embraced the Reformed opinions, established the Protestant worshii) accord- ing to the forms of Geneva on his domains. He was summoned to answer for his conduct before the tribunal of the bishop. Stadnicki replied that he was quite ready to justify both his opinions and his acts. The court, however, had no wish to hear what he had to say in behalf of his faith, and condemned him, by default, to civil death and loss of property. Had the clergy wished to raise a flame all o^'er the kingdom, they coidd have done nothing more fitted to gain their end. Stadnicki assembled his fellow-nobles and told them what the priests had done. The Polish grandees had ever been jealous of the throne, but here was an eccle- PEOTEST AGxUNST ECCLESIASTICAL TYUANNY. 163 MEW OF THE COl KT 01 THE l,M\tK>.IT\ 01 tUVC)W siastical body, acting under an irresponsible foreign cliief, a-ssuming a power which the king had never ventured to exercise, disposing of the lives and properties of the nobles without reference to any will or any tribunal save their own. The idea waij not to bo endiux'd. There rung a loud outcry 164 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. against ecclesiastical tyranny all througliout Poland; and the indignation was brought to a height by numerous apprehensions, at that same time, at the instance of the bishops, of influential persons — among otliei's, priests of blameless life, who had olfeuded iigainst the law of clerical celibacy, and whom the Roman clergy sought to put to death, but could not, simply from the cii-cumstance that they could find no magistrate willing to execute their sentences. At this juncture it happened that the National Diet (1.552) assembled- Unmistakable signs were apparent at its opening of the strong anti-Papal feeling that animated many of its members. As usual, its sessions were inaugurated by the solemn performance of high mass. Tlie king in Ids robes was present, and with him were the ministers of liis council, the officers of liis household, and the generals of his army, bearing the symbols of their office, and wearing the stars and insignia of their rank; and there, too, were the senators of the Upper Chamber, and the members of the Lower House. All that could be done by chants and iiicense, by sjilendid vestments and priestly rites, to make the service impressive, and revive the decay- ing veneration of the worshippers for the Roman Church, was done. The great words which efl'ect the prodigy of transubstantiation had been spoken ; the trumpet blared, arid the clang of grounded arms rung thi'ough the building. The Host was being elevated, and the king and his court fell on theii- knees ; but many of the deputies, instead of pros- trating themselves, stood erect and turned away their faces. Raphael Leszczynski, a nobleman of high character and great possessions, expressed his ilissent from Rome's gi-eat mystery in mamier even more marked : he wore his hat all throngh the performance. The priests saw, but dared not re- prove, this contempt of theii- rites.' The auguries with which tjie Diet had opened did not fail of finiling ample fulfilment in its sub- sequent proceedings. The assembly chose as its president Leszczynski — the nobleman who had remained uncovered during mass, and wlio had previously resigned liis senatorial dignity in order ' Krasinskij Hist. Reform. Poland, vol. i., pp. 186 — 188. to become a member of the Lower House.- The Diet immediately took into consideration the juris- diction wielded by the bishops. The question put in debate was this — Is such jurisdiction, carryuig civil eftects, compatible with the rights of the crown and the freedom of the nation ] The Diet decided that it was consistent with neither the pre- rogatives of the sovereign nor the liberties of the people, and resolved to abolish it, so far as it had force in law. King SigLsmund Augustus thought it very possible that if he were himself to mediate in the matter he would, at least, succeed in softening the fall of the bishops, if only he could persuade them to make certain concessions. But he was mistaken : the ecclesiastical dignitaries were per- verse, and resolutely refused to yield one iota of of their powers. Thereupon the Diet issued its decree, wliich the king ratified, that the clergy should retain the power of judging of heresy, but have no jiower of intiictmg civil or criminal punish- ment on the condemned. Their spiritual sentences were henceforward to carry no temporal effects whatever. The Diet of 1553 may be regarded as the epoch of the downfall of Roman Catholic pre- dominancy in Poland, and of the establishment in that country of the liberty of all religious confes- sions."' The anger of the bishops was inflamed to the utmost. They entered their- solemn protest against the enactment of the Diet. The mitre was shorn of half its splendour, and the crozier of more than half its power, by being disjoined from the swonL They left the Senate-hall in a body, and threatened to resign their senatorial dignities. The Diet heard then- threats unmoved, and as it made not the slightest efl'ort either to prevent their departure or to recall them after they were gone, but, on the contraiy, went on with its busmess as if nothing miusual had occurred, the bishops returned and took their seats of their own accord. - This nobleman was the descendant of that Wences- laus of Leszna who defended Jolrn Huss at the Council of Constance. He had adopted for his motto, Malo jien- culosam Ubcrtatem quam tutam scrvitium — "Better tho dangers of liberty than the safeguards of slavery." 3 Vide Krasinski, Hist. Reform. Poland, vol. i.. pp. 188, 189, where the original Polish authorities are cited. KING SIGISMUND AUGUSTUS. 1C3 CHAPTER II. JOHN ALASCO, AND REFORMATION OF EAST FRIESLAND. No One Loader— Many Secondary Ones— King Sigismiind Augustus— His Cliaracter— Favourably Disposed to Pro- testantism—His Vacillations— Project of National Reforming Synod— Opposed by the Roman Clergy— John Alasco— Education— Gfoes to Louvain — Visits Zwingle — His Stay with Erasmus— Recalled to Poland — Purges himself from Suspicion of Heresy — Proffered Dignities— He Severs himself from the Roman Church — Leaves Poland — Goes to East Friesland — Begins its Reformation — Difficulties — Triumi)h of Alasco — Goes to England — Friendship wltli Cranmer — Becomes Superintendent of the Foreign Church in Loudon— Retires to Denmark on Death of Edvrard VI.— Persecutions and Wanderings— Returns to Poland— His Work there— Prince Rad- ziwill— His Attempts to Reform Poland— His Dying Charge to liis Son— His Prophetic AVords to Sigismund Augustus. We sec the movement marching on, but we can see no one leader going before it. The place filled )jy Lnther in Germany, by Calvin in Geneva, and by men not dissimilarly endovced in other countries, is vacant in the Keformation of Poland. Here it is a ^^'aldensian missionaiy or refugee who is quietly sowing the good seed wliiuli he has drawn from the gamer of some manuscript copy of the New Te.stix- ment, and there it is a little band of Bohemian brethren, who liave pi'eserved the traditions of John Huss, and ai'e trying to plant them in tliis new sod. Here it is a university doctor who is expounding the writings of Wicliffe to his pupils, and there it is a Polish youth who has just returned from Wittem- berg, and is anxious to communicate to his country- men the knowledge which he has there learned, and which has been so sweet and refreshmg to himself. Nevertheless, although amid all these labourers we can discover no one who first gathers all the forces of the new life into himself, and agam sends them forth over the land, we yet behold the darkness vanis4ung on every side. Poland's Reformation is not a sunrise, but a daybreak : the first dim streaks are succeeded by others less doubtful ; these are followed by brighter shades still ; till at la.st some- thing like the clearness of day illuminates its skj'. The truth has visited some nobleman, as the light will strike on some tall mountain at the morning liour, and straightway his I'ctainei'S and tenantrj- licgin to worsliip as their chief worships ; or some cathedral abbot or city priest has embraced tlio fJospel, and their flocks follow in the stops of their shepherd, and find in the doctrine of a free salvation a peace of soul which they never expe- rienced amid the burdensome rites and meritorious seiwices of tlio Church of Rome. There are no combats; no stakes; no mighty hindrances to be vanr|uished ; Poland seems destined to enter without struggle or bloodshed into possession of that precious inheritance which other nations are content to buy with a great price. But althougli thei'e is no one who, in intellectual and spiritual statiu'e, towers so far above the other workers in Poland as to be styled its Reformer there are three names connected with the history of Protestantism in that country so outstanding as not to be passed without mention. The fii'st is that of King Sigismund Augustus. Tolerant, ac- complished, and pure in life, this monarch had read the Institutes, and was a correspondent of Calvm, who sought to inflame him with the ardour of making his name and reign glorious by labouring to eftect the Reformation of his dominions. Sigis- mund A\igustus was favourably disposed toward the doctrines of Protestantism, and he had nothing of that abhorrence of heresy and teiTor of revolu- tion which made the kings of France drive the Gospel from then- realm with fire and sword ; but he vacillated, and could never make up his mind between Rome and the Reformation. The Polisli king would fain have seen an adjustment of the differences that divided his subjects into two great parties, and the dissensions quieted that agitated his kingdom, but he feared to take tlie only eflectual steps that could lead to that end. He was sur- rounded constantly with Protestants, who cheiished the hope that he would yet abandon Rome, and declare himself openly in favour of Protestantism, but he always drew l)ack when the moment came for deciding. We have seen him, in conjunction with the Diet of 15.53, pluck the sword of persecu- tion from the hands of the bishops ; and he was willing to go still further, and make trial of any means that promised to amend the administration and reform the doctrines of the Roman Church. He was exceedingly fa^•ourable to a project nuieh talked of in his reign — namely, that of convoking a National Synod for reforming the Church on tlie 166 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. basis of Holy Scnpture. Tlie necessity of such an assembly had been mooted in the Diet of 1552 ; it was revived in the Diet of 1555, and more earnestly pressed on the king, and thus contemporaneously with the abdication of the imperial sovereignty by Charles V., and the yet unfinLshed sittings of the great Council of Trent, the probability was that Christendom would behold a truly Oecumenical Council assemble in Poland, and put the topstone upon the Reformation of its Church and kingdom. The projected Polish assembly, over which it was proposed that King Sigismund Augustus should preside, was to be composed of delegates from all the religious bodies in the kingdom — Lutherans, Calvinists, and Bohemians — who were to meet and deliberate on a perfect equality with the Roman clergy. Nor was the constituency of this Synod to be confined to Poland ; other Churches and lands were to be represented in it. All the living Re- formers of note were to be invited to it ; and, among others, it was to include the great names of Calvin and Beza, of Melancthon and Vergei'ius. But this Synod was never to meet. The clergy of Rome, kno^ving that tottering fabrics can stand only in a calm air, and that their Church was in a too shattered condition to sur\'ive the shock of free discussion conducted by such powerful antagonists, threw every obstacle in the way of the Synod's meeting. Nor was the king very zealous in the affair. It is doubtful whether Sigismund Augustus was ever brought to test the two creeds by the gi-eat question which of the twain was able to sustain the weight of his soul's salvation; and so, with convictions feeble and ill-defined, his purpose touching the reform of the Church never ripened into act. The second name is that of no vacillating man — we have met it before — it is that of John Alasco. John Alasco, born in the last year save one of the fifteenth century,^ was sprung of one of the most illustrious families in Poland. Destined for the Church, he received the best education which the schools of his native land could bestow, and he afterwards visited Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium in order to enlarge and perfect his studies. At the University of Louvain, renowned for the purity of its orthodoxy, and whither he resoi'ted, probably at the locoramendation of his uncle, who was Primate of Poland, he contracted a close friendship with Albert Hardenberg.- After a short stay at Louvain, finding the air murky with ' Gerdesius, Hist. Reform., vol. iii., p. 146. - Tbid. Tliis is the (late (1523) of their friendship as given by Gerdesius ; it is doubtful, however, -wlietlicr it began so early. scholasticism, he turned his steps in the direction of Switzerland, and aniving at Zurich, he made the acquaintance of Z^vingle. " Search the Scrip- tures," said the Reformer of Zurich to the young Polish nobleman. Alasco turned to that great light, and from that moment he began to be delivered from the darkness which had till then encompassed him. Quitting Zurich and crossing the Jura, he entered Basle, and presented himself before Erasmus. This great master of the schools was net slow to discover the refined grace, the beaiitiful genius, and the many and great acquirements of the stranger who had sought his acquaintance. Erasmus was charmed with the young Pole, and Alasco on his part was equally enamoured of Erasmus. Of all then living, Erasmus, if not the man of highest genius, was the man of highest culture, and doubt- less the young scholar caught the touch of a yet greater suavity from this prince of lettei-s. as Erasmus, in the enthusiasm of liis friendship, con- fesses that he had growii young again in the society of Alasco. The Pole lived about a year (1525) under the roof," but not at the cost of the great scholar ; for Ms disposition being as generous .as liis means were ample, he took upon hhnself the expenses of housekeeping ; and in other ways he ministered, with equal liberality and delicacy, to the wants of his illustrious host. He purchased his library for 300 golden crowns, leaving to Erasmus the use of it during his life-time.'' He formed a friendship with other eminent men then living at Basle ; in particulai-, with Qicolampadius and Pellicanus, the latter of whom initiated him into the study of the Hebrew Scriptures. His uncle, the primate, hearing that his nephew had fallen into " bad company," recalled him by urgent letters to Poland. It cost Alasco a pang to tear himself from his friends in Basle. He carried back to his native land a heart estranged from Rome, but he did not dissever himself from her communion, nor as yet did he feel the necessity of domg so ; he had tested her doctrines by the intellect only, not by the conscience. He was received at court, where his youth, the refinement of his mamiers, and the brilliance of his talents made him a fivvouritc. The pomps and gaieties amid which he now lived weakened, but did not wholly eflace, the impressions made upon him at Zurich and Basle. Destined for the highest offices in the Church of Poland, his uncle demanded that he shoidd purge himself by oath from the suspicions ^ " Is in iisdem cum Erasmo jedibus vixerat Basilese.' (Gerdesius, vol. iii-, p. 146.) ■* Krasinski, Hist. R^orm. Poland, vol. i., p. 247. ALASCO'S LABOURS IN FEIESLAND. 167 of heresy wliicli had hung about him ever since his return from Switzerhind. Alasco complied. The document signed by him Ls dated in 1526, and in it Alasco promises not to embrace doctrines foreign to those of the Apostolic Roman Church, and to submit in all lawful and honest things to the authority of the bishops and of the Papal See. " This I swear, so help me, God, and his holy Gospel.'" This fall was meant to be the first step towards the primacy. Ecclesiastical dignities began now to be showered upon him, Init the duties which these imposed, by bringing him into close contact with clerical men, disclosed to him more and more every day the corruptions of the Papacy, and the need of a radical reform of the Church. He re- sumed his readings in the Bible, and renewed his correspondence with the Reformers. His spiritual life revived, and he began now to try Rome by the only infallible touch-stone — " Can I, by the per- fonuance of the works she prescribes, obtain peace of conscience, and make myself holy in the sight of God?" Alasco was constrained to confess that he never should. He must therefore, at whatever cost, separate himself from her. At this moment two n^itres — that of Wesprim in Himgary, and that of Cujavia in Poland — were jjlaced at his accept- ance." The latter mitre opened his way to the jirimacy in Poland. On the one side were two kings proffering him golden dignities, on the other wa.s the Gospel, with its losses and afflictions. \^^lich shall he choose t " God, iir his goodness," said he, writing to Pellicanus, " has brought me to myself" He went straight to the king, and frankly and boldly avowing his convictions, de- clined the Bishopric of Cujavia. Poland was no place for Alasco after such an avowal. He left his native land in l.')3G, uncertain in what country he should spend what might yet remain to him of life, which was now wholly devoted to the cause of the Reformation. Sigis- mund, who knew his worth, would most willingly have retained Alasco the Romanist, but perhaps he was not sony to see Alasco the Protestant leave his dominions. The Protestant jtrinces, to whom his illustrious birtli and great parts had made him known, vied with each otlicr to seoire his ser\ices. The Countess Regent of East Friesland, where the Reformation had been commenced in lo28, urged him to come and complete the work by assinning the .superintendence of the churches of that jiro- vince. After long deliberation he went, but the ' Alasco, Opp., vol. ii., p. 548— aputJ D'AubignC-, vii. 5-10. ^ Gerdesius, Hist. Reform., vol. iii., p. U7. task was a difficult one. The country had become the battle-ground of the sectaries. All things were in confusion ; the churches were full of images, and the worship abounded in mummeries ; the people were nide iii manners, and many of the nobles dissolute in life ; one less resolute might have been dismayed, and retired. Alasco made a commencement. His quiet, yet persevering, and powerful touch was telling. Straightway a tempest arose around him. The wrangling sectaries on the one side, and the monks on the other, united in assailing the man in whom Ijoth recognised a common foe. Accusations were carried to the court at Brussels against him, and soon there came an impei-ial order to expel " the fii-e-brand" from Friesland. "Dost thou hear the gi-owl of the thunder?"^ said Alasco, writing to his friends ; he expected that the bolt would follow. Anna, the sovereign princess of the king- dom, terrified at the threat of the emperor, began to cool in her zeal toward the supermtendent and his work; but in proportion as the clouds grew black and danger menaced, the courage and resolu- tion of the Reformer waxed strong. He addressed a letter to the princess (1543), in which he deemed it " better to be unpolite than to be unfoithful," warning her that should she " take her hand from the plough" she would have to "give account to the eternal Judge." " I am only a foreigner," he added, "burdened with a family,'' and having no home. I wish, therefore, to be friends with all, but .... as fiir as to the altar. This barrier I cannot pass, even if I had to reduce my family to beggary. "■■ This noble appeal brought the princess once more to the side of Alasco, not again to withdraw her support from one whom she had found so devoted and so courageous. Prudent, yet resolute, Alasco went on steadily in his work. Gradually the rem- nants of Romanism were weeded out ; gradually the images disappeared from the temples ; the order and discipline of the Church were reformed on the Genevan model ; the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was established according to the doctrine of Calvin;" and, as regarded the monks, they were permitted to occujiy their convents in peace, but were forbi., vol. ii., p. 558. ■' In 15t0, Alasco had married at Mainz, to put an in- Burmoimtable ban-ior between himself and Rome. •'■ Alasco, OpiK, vol. ii., p. 5G0. " Gerdesius, Hist. Reform., vol. iii., p. 14S. JOHN ALAbCU i^■LI lllb CO.M..1.J.UA IIU.N L1.AVI.NU E-NOL.LND. ALASCO'S WANDERINGS. 169 of the Church of East Friesland. It was a great service. He had prepared an asylum for the Protestants of the Netherlands during the evil days that were about to come upon them, and he )iad helped to pave the way for the appearance of William of Orange. The Church order established by AJasco in Friesland was that of Geneva. This awoke against him the hostility of the Lutherans, and the ad- herents of that creed continuing to multiply in Friesland, the troubles of Alasco multiplied along with them. He resigned the general direction of ecclesiastical aflairs, which he had exercised as superintendent, and limited his sphere of action to the ministry of the single congi'ogation of Emden, the capital of the country. But the time was come when John Alasco was to be removed to another sphere. A pressing letter now reached him from Archbishop Cranmei', in- viting him to take part, along with other distin- guished Continental Reformer.s, in completing the Reformation of the Church of England.' The Polish Reformer accepted the invitation, and tra- versing Brabant and Flanders in disguise, he arrived in London in September, 1548. A six motiths' residence with Cranmer at Lambeth satis- fied him that the archbishop's views and his own, touching the Reformation of the Church, entirely coincided; and an intimate friendship sprang up between the two, which bore good fiuits for the cause of Protestantism in England, where Alasco's noble character and great learning soon won him high esteem. After a short visit to Friesland, in L^IO, he returned to England, and was nominated by Edward VI., in 1550, Superintendent of the German, French, and Italian congi-egations erected in London, numbering between 3,000 and 4,000 persons, and which Cranmer hoped would yet prove a seed of Reformation in the vaiious countries from which persecution had driven them,- and woidd also excite the Church of England to pursxie the path of Protestantism. And so, doubtless, it would have been, had not the death of Edward VI. and the ac- ' GerdesiuB, Hist. Reform., vol. iii., p. 150. ' Strype, Cranmer, pp. 234—2-10. The young king granted him letters patent, erecting Alasco and the other ministers of the foreign congregations into a body cor- porate. Tlie affairs of each congregation were managed by a minister, ruling elders and deacons. Tlie oversight of all was committed to Alasco as s\ipcrintendent. He had greater trouble but no more authority than tho others, and was subject equally with them to the disci- pline of tho Church. Although he allowed no superiority of ofliee or authority to superintendents, ho considered that they were of Divine appointment, and that Peter held this rank among t)i9 apostles. (Vide M<:Crie, Life oj Knox, vol. i., f. 407, notes.) 119 cession of Mary suddenly changed the whole aspect of affairs in England. The Friesian Reformer and his congregation had now to quit our shore. They embarked at Gravesend on the 15th of September, 1553, in the presence of thousands of English Pro- testants, who crowded the banks of the Thames, and on bended knees supplicated the blessing and pi-otection of Heaven on the wanderers. Setting sail, their little fleet was scattered by a storm, and the vessel which bore John Alasco entered the Danish harbour of Elsinore. Chris- tian III. of Denmark, a mild and pious prince, received Alasco and his fellow-exiles at first with gi-eat kindness ; but soon their asylum was invaded by Lutheran intolerance. The theologians of the court, Westphal and Pomeranus (Bugenliagen), poisoned the king's mind against the exiles, and they were compelled to re-embark at an inclement season, and traver.se tempestuous seas in quest of some more hospitable shore.' This shameful breach of hospitality was afterwards repeated at Lubeck, Hamburg, and Rostock ; it kindled the indigna- tion of the Churches of Switzerland, and it drew from Calvin an eloquent letter to Alasco, in which he gave vent not only to his deep sympathy with him and his companions in suffering, but also to his astonishment " that the barbarity of a Christian people should exceed even the sea in savageness."' Driven hither and thither, not by the hatred of Rome, but by the intolerance of brethren, Gustavus Vasa, the reforming monarch of Sweden, gave a cordial welcome to the pastor and his flock, should they choose to settle in his dominions. Alasco, however, thought better to repair to Friesland, the scene of his former labours ; but even here the Lutheran spirit, which had been growing in his absence, made his stay unpleasant. He next sought asylum in Frankfort-on-the-Maine, where he established a Church for the Protestant refugees from Belgium.'' During his stay at Frankfort he essayed to heal the breach between the Lutheran and the Calvinistic branches .of the Reformation. The mischiefs of that division he had amply expe- rienced in his own person; but its noxious influeuco was felt far beyond tho little comnuiuity of which he was the centre. It was the grent scandal of Protestosoni of the Roman Church, and to repair to the utmost of his power the injury his father had done the Papal See, he expended .5,000 ducats in purchasing copies of his father's Bible, which he burned publicly in the market-place of VUna. On the leaves, now sinking in ashes, might be read the following words, addressed in the dedication to the Polish monarch, and which we who are able to compare the Poland of the nuieteenth century with the Poland of the sixteenth, can hardly help re- garding as prophetic. •' But if your Majesty (which may God avert) continiung to be deluded by this world, unmindful of its vanity, and fearing still some hypocrisy, will persevere in that error which, according to the prophecy of Daniel, that impudent priest, the idol of the Roman temple, has made abundantly to grow in his infected \'ineyard, like a true and real Antichrist ; if your Majesty wUl follow to the end that blind chief of a genera- tion of vipers, and lead us the faithful people of God the same way, it is to be feared that the Lord may, for such a rejection of his tnith, condemn us all ^viiil your ]\Iajesty to shame, humiliation, and destruction, and afterwards to an eternal pci-- dition." ' CHAPTER III. ACME OF PROTESTANTISM IX POLAND. Arts of the Pope's Legate — Popish Synod — Judicial Murder — A Miracle— The King asks the Pope to Eeform the Churcli— Diet of 1563 — National Synod craved — Defeated by the Papal Legate — His Representations to the King — Tlie King Gained over — Project of a Religious Union — Conference of tlie Protestants — Union of Sandomir — Its Basis— The Encharistic Doctrine of the Polish Protestant Church — Acme of Protestantism in Poland. In following the labours of those eminent men whom God inspired with the wish to emancipate their native land from, the yoke of Rome, we have gone a little way beyond the point at which we had an-ivcd in the history of Protestantism in Poland. We go back a stiige. We have seen the Diet of 1.5.52 inflict a great blow on the Papal power in Poland, by abolishing the civil jurisdiction of the bishops. Four years after this (1556) John Alasco returned, and began his labours in Poland ; the.se he was prosecuting with success, when Lip- pomani was sent from Rome to undo his woi'k. Lippomani's mission bore fniit. He revived the fainting spirits and rallied the wavering coui-agc of the Romanists. He sowed -sWth subtle art sus- picions and dissensions among the Protestants ; he stoutly promised in the Pope's name all necessary ecclesiastical reforms ; this fortified the king in liis vacillation, and furnished those within the Roman Church who had been demanding a reform, witli an excuse for relaxing their- eflbrts. They would wait "the good time coming." The Pope's managei- with skilful hand lifted the veU, and the Romanists saw in the future a purified, imited, and Catholic Church as clearly as the traveller sees the mirage in the desert. Vergerius laboured to convince them that what they saw was no lake, but a shim- mering vapour, floating above the burning sands, but the phantasm was so like that the king and the bulk of the nation chose it in preference to the reality which John Alasco would liave given them. Sleanwhile the Diet of 1552 had left the bLshops crippled; their temporal arm h.ad been broken, and their care; now was to restore this most im- portant branch of their jurisdiction. Lippomani assembled a General Synod of the Popish clergy at Lowicz. This Synod passed a resolution declaring that heretics, now springing up on every side, ought to be visited with pains and penalties, and then proceeded to make trial how far the king and ' Krasinski, Hist. Reform . Poland, vol. i., p. 309, foot-note. A ROMAN CATHOLIC! MIRACLE. 173 nation would permit them to go in restormg their punitive power. Tliey summoned to theii- bar the Canon of Przemysl, Lutomirski by name, on a sus- picion of here.sy. The canon appeared, but with liim came his friends, all of them provided with Bibles — the best weapons, they thouglit, for such a battle as that to which they were advancing ; but when the bishops saw how they were armed, they closed the dooi-s of their judgment-hall and shut them out. The fii'st move of the prelates had not improved their position. Theu- second was attended with a success that was more disastrous than defeat. They accused a l)Oor girl, Dorotliy Lazecka, of having obtained a consecrated wafer on pretence of communicating, and of selling it to the Jews. The Jews carried the Host to their sjTiagogue, where, being pierced v\ith needles, it emitted a quantity of blood. The miracle, it was said, had come opportunely to show how unnecessary it was to give the cup to the laity. But further, it was made a criminal charge agaiiLst both the girl and the Jews. The Jews pleaded that such an accusation was absurd ; that they did not believe in transubstantiation, and woidd never thuik of doing anything so prepos- terous as experimenting on a wafer to see whether it contained blood. But in spite of theii' defence, they, as well as the unfortunate gu-1, were con- demned to be burned. This atrocious sentence could not be carried out without the royal exe- quatur. The king, when applied to, refused hLs consent, declaring that he could not believe such an absiu-dity, and dispatched a messenger to Sochaczew, where the parties were confined, with orders for their release. Tlie Synod, however, was deter- mined to complete its work. Tlie Bishop of Chelm, who was Vice-Chancellor of Poland, attached the royal seal without the knowledge of the king, and immediiitely sent ofi" a messenger to have the sen- ti'uce instantly executed. The king, upon being informed of the forgery, sent in haste to counteract the nefarious act of his minister ; but it was too late. Before the royal messenger arrived the stake had been kindled, and the innocent persons con- sumed m the flames.' This deed, combining so many crimes in one, filled all Poland with horror. The legate, Lip- l>omani, disliked before, was now detested tenfold. Assailed in pamphlets and caricatures, he quitted the kingdom, followed by the execration of the nation. Nor was it Lippomani alone who was struck by the recoil of this, in eveiy way, unfor- ' Baynaldus, ad ann. 1556. StarowolsM, Epitoma: Syno- dov.—apud Kraeinski, Hist. Reform. Poland, voL i., p. 305. tunate success ; the Polish hierarchy suffered lUs- grace and damage along with him, for the atrocity showed the nation what the bishops were prepared to do, should the sword which the Diet of 1552 had plucked from their hands ever agam be gra,sped by them. An attempt at miracle, made about this time, also helped to discredit the chai-acter and weaken the influence of the Roman clergy in Poland. Christopher Radziwill, cousm to the famous Prince Radziwill, grieved at Ids relative's lapse iuto what he deemed heresy, made a pilgi image to Rome, in token of his own devotion to the Papal See, and was rewarded v,-ith a box of precious relics from the Pope. One day after his retiu-n home with his inestimable treasure, the friars of a neighbouring convent waited on him, and telling him that they had a man possessed by the deyH under theit- care, on whom the ordinary exorcisms had failed to eflect a cure, they besought him, in pity for the poor demoniac, to lend them his box of relics, whose vii'tue doubtless would compel the foul spirit to flee. The bones were given with joy. On a certain day the box, with its contents, was placed ou the high altar; the demoniac was brought for- ward, and in presence of a vast multitude the relics were applied, and with complete success. The evU spirit, departed out of the man, ydih the usual con- tortions and grimaces. The spectators shouted, "Miracle!" and Radziwill, overjoyed, lifted eyes and hands to heaven, in wonder and gi'atitude." In a few days thereafter his servant, smitten in conscience, came to him and confessed that on their journey from Rome he had carelessly lost the true relics, and had replaced them with common bones. This intelligence was somewhat disconcerting to Radziwill, but greatly moi'e so to the friars, seeing it speedily led to the disclosui'e of the impostiu-e. The pretended demoniac confessed that he had simply been playing a part, and the monks like- wise were constrained to acknowledge their share in the pious fraud. Great scandal arose ; the clergy bewailed the day the Poi)e's box had crossed tlie Alps ; and Christopher Radziwill, receiving from the relics a virtue he had not anticipated, was led to the perusal of the Scriptures, and finally embraced, with his whole fiimHy, the Protestant faith. "When his great relative. Prince Radziwill, died in 1565, Chi-istopher came forward, and to some extent supplied his loss to the Protestant cause. The king, still pursuing a middle coui-se, solicited from the Pope, Paul IV., a Refoi-mation which he - Kjasiuski, HUl. Reform. Poland, vol. i., pp. 310, 311. Bayle, art. "Kadziwill." 174 HISTOBY OF PROTESTANTISM. might have had to better effect from liis Protestant clergy, if only he would have permitted them to meet and begin the work. Sigismiind Augustus ad- dressed a letter to the Pontiff at the Council of Trent, demanding the five following things : — 1st, the performance of mass in the Polish tongue; 2ndly, Communion in both kinds ; 3rdly, the marriage of priests; -ithly, the abolition of annats ; 5thly, the convocation of a National Council for the reform of abuses, and the reconcilement of the various opinions. Tlie effect of these demands on Paul IV. was to in-itate this very haughty Pontiff; he fell into a fume, and expuessed in animated terms liis amazement at the arrogance of his Majesty of Poland ; but gradually cooling down, he declined civilly, as might have been foreseen, demands which, though they did not amount to a veiy gi-eat deal, were more than Eome coidd safely grant.' This rebuff taught the Protestants, if not the king, that from the Seven Hills no help would come — that their trust must be in themselves ; and they grew bolder eveiy day. In the Diet of Piotrkow, 1.559, an attempt was made to deprive the bishops of theu- seats in the Senate, on the gi-ound that their oath of obedience to the Pope was wholly in-econcilable to and subversive of their allegi- ance to their sovereign, and their duty to the nation. The oath was read and commented on, and the senator who made the motion concluded his speech in support of it by saying that if the bishops kept their oath of spiritual obedience, they must necessarily violate their vow of temporal allegiance; and if they were faithful siibjects of the Pope, they must necessarily be traitore to their king. ^ The motion was not carried, probably be- cause the vague hope of a more sweeping measure of reform still kept possession of the minds of men. The next step of the Poles was in the direction of realising that hope. A Diet met in 1563, and passed a resolution that a General Synod, in which all the religious bodies in Poland would be rejjre- sented, should be a.ssembled. The Pi'imate of Poland, Archbishop Uchanski, who was known to be secretly inclined toward the Reformed doctrines, was favour- able to the proposed Convocation. Had such a Council been convened, it might, as mattei-s then stood, with the first nobles of the land, many of the gi-eat cities, and a large portion of the nation, all on the side of Protestantism, have had the most decisive effects on the Kingdom of Poland and its future destinies. " It would have upset," saya Kra.sinski, " the dominion of Rome in Poland for ever."' Rome saw the danger in all its extent, and sent one of her ablest diplomatists to cope with it. Cardinal Commendoni, who had given efficient aid to Queen Mary of England in 1553, in her attempted restoration of Popery, was sti'aightway dispatched to employ his great abilities in arrest- ing the triumph of Protestantism, and averting ruin from the Papacy in the Kingdom of Poland. The legate put forth all his dexterity and art in his important mission, and not without effect. He directed his main efforts to influence the mind of Sigismund Augustus. He drew with masterly hand a frightfid pictme of the revolts and seditions that were sure to follow such a Council as it was contemplated holdmg. The warring winds, once let loose, would never cease to rage till the vessel of the Polish State was di-iven on the rocks and ship- wrecked. For every concession to the heretics and the blind mob, the king would have to part with as many rights of his own. His laws contemned, his throne in the dust, who then would lift him up and give hiin back liis crown t Had he forgotten the Colloquy of Poissy, which the King of France, then a child, had been pei-suaded to permit to take jilace ] What had that disputation proved but a trumpet of revolt, wliich had banished peace from France, not since to return ? In that unhappy coimtry, whose iiiliabitants were parted by bitter feuds and contending factions, whose iields were reddened by the sword of civil war, whose throne was being continually shaken by sedition and revolt, the king might see the picture of what Poland would become should he give his consent to the meeting of a Council, where all doctrines would be brought into question, and all things reformed without reference to the canons of the Church, and the authority of the Pope. Commendoni was a skilful limner ; he made the king hear the roar of the tempest which he foretold ; Sigismund Augustus felt as if his throne were already rocking beneath him ; the peace-loving monarch revoked the permission he had been on tlie point of giving ; he would not permit the Council to convene.'' If a National Council could not meet to essay the Reformation of the Church, might it not be possible, some influential persons now asked, for the three Protestant bodies in Poland to unite in one Church 1 Such a union woidd confer new strength ' Pietro Soave Polano, Hist. Counc. Trent, lib. r., p. 399 ; Loud., 1629. - " Episcopi sunt non custodes sed proditores reipub- licK." (Krasinski, Hist. Ueform. Poland, vol. i., p. 312.) ^ Krasinski, Slavonia, p. 232, foot-uo*-n. ■• Yie de Commendoni, par Gratiani, Fr. Trans., p. 213 et seq, — apud Krasinski, Ulavonia, pp. 232—234. 176 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. on Protestantism, would remove the scamlal oflered by the dLsseusions of Pi-otestants among themselves, and would enable them in the day of battle to unite their arms against the foe, and in the hour of peace to conjoin their labours in building \ip their Zion. The Protestant communions in Poland were — 1st, the Bohemian ; 2ntlly, the Reformed or Calvinistic ; and 3rdly, the Lutheran. Between the first and second there was entire agreement in point of doctrine ; only inasmuch as the first pastors of the Bohemian Church had received ordination (1467) from a Waldensian superintendent, as we have pre\-iously narrated,' the Bohemians had come to lay stress on this, as an order of succession j^ecu- liarly sacred. Between the second and third there was the important divergence on the subject of the Eucharist. The Lutheran doctrine of consubstantia- tion approached more nearly to the Roman doctrme of the mass than to the Reformed doctrine of the Lord's Supper. If change there had been since the daj-s of Luther on the question of consubstantiation, it was in the du-ection of still greater rigidity and tenacity, accompanied with a gi'owing intolerance toward the other branches of the great Protestant family, of which some melancholy proofs have come before us. How much the heart of John Alasco was set on healing these divisions, and how small a measure of success attended his eflbrts to do so, we have already seen. The project was again revived. The main opposition to it came from the Lutherans. Tlie Bohemian ChTirch now numbered upwards of 200 congregations in Moravia and Poland,- but the Lutherans accused them of heing heretical. Smaiting from the reproach, and judging that to clear their orthodoxy would pave the way for union, the Bohemians submitted their Confession to the Protestant princes of Germany, and all tlie leading Reformers of Europe, including Peter Martyi- and Bullinger at Zurich, and Calvin and Beza at Geneva. A unanimous verdict was returned that the Bohemian Confession was " conformable to the doctrines of the Gospel." This judgment silenced for a time the Lutheran attacks on the purity of the Bohemian creed ; but this good understanding being once more disturbed, the Bohemian Church in 1.568 sent a delegation to Wittemberg, to submit their Confession to the theological faculty of its university. Again their creed was fully approved of, and this judgment carrying great weight with the Lutherans, the at- tacks on the Bohemians from that time ceased, and the negotiations for union went prosperously forward. At last the negotiations bore fruit. In 1.569, the leading nobles of the three communions, having met together at the Diet of Lublin, I'esolved to take measures for the consummation of the union. They were the more incited to this by the hope that the king, who had so often expressed his desii-e to see the Protestant Chiu-ches of hLs realm become one, would thereafter declare himself on the side of Protestantism. It was resolved to hold a Sjaiod or Conference of all three Churches, and the town of Sandomu- was chosen as the place of meeting. The Synod met in the beginning of April, 1570, and was attended by the Protestant grandees and nobles of Poland, and by the ministers of the Bohemian, Reformed, and Lutheran Churches. After several days' discussion it was found that the assembly was of one heart and mind on all the fundamental docti-ines of the Gospel ; and an agi-ee- ment, entitled " Act of the Religious LTnion between the Churches of Great and Little Poland, Russia, Lithuania, and Samogitia," was signed on the 14th of April, 1570.' The subscribers place on the front of their famous document their unanimity in " the doctrines about God, the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of the Son of God, Justification, and other princijial points of the Christian religion." To give eflect to this unanimity they " enter into a mutual and sacred obligation to defend unanimou.sly, and according to the injunctions of the "Word of God, this theii- covenant in the true and pure religion of Christ, against the followei-s of the Roman Church, the sectaries, as well as all the enemies of the truth and Gospel." On the vexed qiiestion of the Saci-ament of the Lorfl's Supper, the United Church agreed to declare that " the elements are not only elements or vain sjnnbols, but are sufficient to believers, and impart by faith what they signify." And in order to express themselves with still gi-eater clearness, they agreed to confess that " the substan- tial presence of Christ is not only signified but really represented in the Communion to those that receive it, and that the body and blood of our Lord are really distributed and given with the sj'mbols of the thing itself ; which according to the nature of Sacraments are by no means bare signs." " But that no disputes," they add, " shoiild originate from a diS"erence of expi-essions, it Las been resolved to add to the articles inserted into our Confession, the article of the Confession of the Saxon Churches relatuig to the Lord's Supper, which was ' See anie, bk. iii., chap. 19, p. 212. = Krasinski, ilisf. Reform. Poland, vol. i., p. 368. ' This union is known in history as the Consensus Saiidomiricnsis, THE UNION OF SANDOMIR. 177 scut ill 1551 to the Council of Trent, and whicli wc acknowledge as pious, and do receive. Its expres- .sicms are as follows : ' Baptism and the Lord's Supper are signs and testimonies of gi'ace, as it has been said before, which remind us of the promise and of the rodemption, and show that the benefits of the Gospel belong to all those that make use of these rites. . . . In the established use of the Communion, Christ is sub.stantially present, and the body and blood of Christ are tiidy given to those who receive the Communion.'" ^ Ttie confedei-ating Churclies further agreed to " abolish and bury in eternal oblivion all the conten- tions, troubles, and dissensions which have hitherto impeded the progress of the Gospel," and leaving free each Church to administer its own discipline and practise its own rites, deeming these of " little importance " provided " the foundation of our faith and salvation remain pure and unadulterated," they say : " Having mutually given each other our hands, we have made a sacred promise faithfully to main- tain the peace and faith, and to promote it every day more and more for the edification of the Word of God, and carefully to avoid all occasions of dis- sension." ' There follows a long and brOliant list of palatines, nobles, superintendents, pastors, elders, and deacons belonging to all the three communions, who, forget- ting the party-questions that had divided them, gathered round this one standard, and giving their hands to one another, and lifting them up to heaven, vowed liencefoi"\vard to be one and to con- tend only against the common foe. Tliis was one of the triumphs of Protestantism. Its spirit now gloriously prevailed over the pride of church, the rivali-y of party, and the naiTOwness of bigotry, and in this victory gave an auguiy — alas ! never to be fulfilled — of a yet greater triumph in days to come, by which this was to be completed and crowned. Tlu-ee years later (1573) a gi-eat Protestant Con- vocation was held at Cracow. It was presided ' These articles are a compromise betweeurthe Lutheran and Calvinistic theologies, on tho vexed question of the Eucharist. Tlie Lutherans soon began loudly to complain that though their phraseology was Lutheran their sense was Calviuistic, and the union, as shown in the text, was shoi-t-lived. '- Ki-asinski, Hist. Reform. Poland, vol. i., chap. 0. oxer by John Firley, Grand Mai-shal of Poland, a leading member of the Calviuistic communion, and the most influential grandee of tlie kingdom. The regulations enacted by this Synod sufficiently show the goal at which it was anxious to arrive. It aimed at refonning the nation in life as well as in creed. It forbade " all kinds of wickedness and luxuiy, accursed gluttonj- and inebiiety." It pro- hibited lewd dances, games of chance, profane oaths, and night assemblages in taverns. It enjoined lando\vners to treat then- peasants with " Christian charity and humanity," to exact of them no op- pressive labour or hea\'y taxes, to permit no markets or faii-s to be held upon their estates on Sunday, and to demand no service of their peasants on that day. A Protestant weed was but the means for creating a virtuous and Christian people. There is no era like this, before or since, in the annals of Poland. Protestantism had reached its acme in that country. Its churches numbered upwards of 2,000. They were at jjcace and floui-Lsli- ing. Theii- membership included the firet dignitaries of the cro'wii and the first nobles of the land. In some parts Romanism almost entirely disappeared. Schools were planted througliout the country, and education flourished. The Scriptures were trans- lated into the tongue of the people, the reading of them was encouraged as the most efficient weapon against tlie attacks of Rome. Latin was already common, but now Greek and Hebrew began to be studied, that dii-ect access might be had to the Divine fountains of truth and salvation. The national intellect, invigorated by Protestant tiiith^ began to expatiate in fields that had been neglected hitherto. The printing-press, which rusts unused wherePopery dominates, was vigorously wi'ought, and sent forth works on science, jurisprudence, theology, and general literature. This was tho Augustan era of letters in Poland. The toleration which was so freely accorded in that country di-ew thither crowds of refugees, whom persecution had driven from their homes, and who, can-ying with them the arts and manufactures of their own lands, enriched Poland with a material pro.sperity which, added to the political power and literary glory that already encompassed her, raised her to a high jjitch of rfrcatncss. 178 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. CHAPTER IV. ORGANISATION OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH OF POLAND. Several Clmrch Organisations in Polanel— Causes — Church Government in Poland a Modified Episcopacy— Tlie Superintendent— His Powers — The Senior, &c. — The Civil Senior— Tlie Synod the Supreme Authority— Local and Provincial Synods — General Convocation— Two Defects in this Organisation — Death of Sigismund Augustus— "Who shall Succeed him ? — Coligny proposes the Election of a French Prince — Montluc sent as Ambassador to Poland— Duke of Anjou Elected— Pledges — Attempted Treaclieries— Coronation — Henry Attempts to Evade the Oath — Firmness of the Polish Protestants— The King's Unpopularity and Flight. The shoi-t-livecl golden age of Poland was now waning into the silver one. But before recording the slow gathering of the shadows — the paissing of the day into twilight, and the deepening of the t\\'ilight into night — we must cast a momentaiy glance, first, at the constitution of the Polish Pro- testant Church as seen at this the period of her fullest development ; and secondly, at certain poli- tical events, which bore with powerful effect upon the Protestant character of the nation, and sealed the fate of Poland as a free country. In its imperfect unity we trace the absence of a master-hand in the construction of the Protestant Church of Poland. Had one great mind led in the Reformation of that country, one system of ecclesiastical government would doubtless from the first have been given to all Poland. As it was, the organisation of its Church at the be- ginning, and in a sense all throughout, differed in different provinces. Other causes, besides the want of a gi-eat leader, contributed to this diver- sity in i-espect of ecclesiastical government. The nobles were allowed to give what order they pleased to the Protestant churches which they erected on their lands, but the same liberty was not extended to the inhabitants of towns, and hence very considerable divei-sity in the eccle- siastical an-angements. Tliis diversity was still farther increased by the circumstance that not one, but three Confessions had gained gi-ound in Poland — the Bohemian, the Genevan, and the Lutheran. The necessity of a more perfect organ- isation soon came to be felt, and repeated attempts were made at successive Synods to imify the Chm-ch's government. A gi-eat step was taken in this direction at the Sjmod of Kosmin, in 15.').'), when a union was concluded between the Bohemian and Genevan Confessions ; and a still greater advance was made in 1.570, as we h.ave naiT.ated in the preceding chapter, when at the Sjmod of Sandomir the three Protestant Cliurches of Poland — the Bohemian, the Genevan, and the Lutheran — agreed to merge all theii- Confessions in one creed, and com- bine their several organisations in one government. But even this was only an approximation, not a full and complete attainment of the object aimed at. All Poland was not yet iided spiritually from one ecclesiastical centre ; for the three great poli- tical divisions of the comitry — Great Poland, Little Poland, and Lithuania — had each its independent ecclesiastical establishment, by which all its religious affairs were i-egidated. Nevertheless, at intervals, or when some matter of gi-eat moment arose, all the pastore of the kingdom came together in Synod, thus presenting a gi-and Convocation of all the Protestant Churches of Poland. Despite this tri-partition in the ecclesiastical authority, one form of Church government now extended over all Poland. That form was a modi- fied episcopacy. If any one man was entitled to be styled the Father of the Polish Protestant Church it was John Ala.sco, and the organisation which he gave to the Reformed Church of his native land was not unlike that of England, of which he was a great admii-er. Poland was on a gi-eat scale what the foreign Church over which John Alasco presided in London was on a small. First came the Superintendent, for Alasco pre- ferred that term, though the more learned one of Senior Primarins wa-s sometimes used to designate this dignitary. The Superintendent, or Senioi- Primarnis, corresponded somewhat in rank and powers to an archbishop. He convoked Synods, presided in them, and executed their sentences ; but he had no judicial authority, and was subject to the Synod, which could judge, admonish, and depose him.' Over the Churches of a disti-ict a Sub-Super- intendent, or Senior, presided. The Senior corre- sponded to a bishop. He took the place of the Superintendent in his absence ; he convoked the Synods of the district, and possessed a certain ' Krasinski, Hist. Reform. Po}an Krasinski, Uisl. Jtefonii. Poland, vol. ii., pp. 15— 3t. ' Hosius wrote in the same terms from Rome to the Archbishop and clergy of Poland : "Que co que le Eoi avait promis h Paris n'etait qu'une feinte et dissimula- tion ; et qu'aussitfit qu'il serait eouronn^, il chasserait hers dii I'oyaume tout cxevcice de religion autre que la Komainc." (MS. of Dupuis in the Library of Eiehelicu at Paris — apud Krasinski, Hist. Reform. Poland, vol. ii., p. 39.) STEPHEN BATHORY, KING OF POLAND. 183 Popish bishops ; and, emboldened by a patronage unkno\\n to tiieni during former reigiis, they boldly declared the designs they had long harboured, but whieh they had hitherto only whispered to their most trusted confidants. The great Protestant nobles were discountenanced and discredited. The king's shameless profligacies consummated the discontent and disgust of the nation. The patriotic Firley was dead — it was believed in many quartei-s that he had been poisoned — and civil war was again on the point of breaking out when, fuituuutely for the unhapjiy country, the flight of tlie monarch saved it from that great calamity. His brother, Charles IX., had died, and Anjoii took his seci-et and quick departure to succeed liim on the throne of France. CHAPTER V. TURNING OF THE TIDE OP PROTESTANTISM IN POLAND. Stephen Bathory Elected to the Throne— His Midnight Interview — Abandons Protestantism, and becomes a Eomanist —Takes the Jesuits under his Patronage- Builds and Endows Colleges for them— Eoman Synod of Piotrkow— Subtle Policy of the Bishops for Recovering their Temporal Jurisdiction— Temporal Ends gained by Spiritual Sanctions— Spiritual Terrors versus Temporal Punishments — Begun Decadence of Poland — Last Successes of its Arms— Death of King Stephen— Sigismund III. Succeeds—" The King of the Jesuits." After a year's iuteiTegnum, Stephen Bathory, a Transylvanian prince, who had married Anne Jagellon, one of the sisters of the Emperor Sigis- mund Augustus, was elected to the crown of I'oland. His worth was so great, and his popu- larity so high, that although a Protestant the Roman clergy dared not oppose his election. The Protestant nobles thought that now their cause was gained ; but the Romanists did not despair. Along with the delegates commLssioned to announce his election to Bathory, they sent a prelate of emi- nent talent and learning, Solikowski l)y name, to conduct their intrigue of bringing the new king over to their side. The Protestant deputies, guessing Solikowski's errand, were careful to give him no opportunity of conversing with the new sovereign in private. But, eluding their vigilance, lie obtauied an interview by night, and succeeded in jKjrsuading Bathory that he should never be able to maintain himself on the throne of Poland unless he made a public jjrofession of the Roman faith. The Protestant deputies, to their dismay, next morning beheld Slei)hen Bathory, in whom they had placed their hoi>es of triumph, devoutly kneel- ing at niiuss.' The new reign had opened with no auspicious omen ! ' The fact that Bathory before his election to the throne of Poland was a Protestant, and not, as historians commonly assert, a Romanist, was first published by Kraslnski, on the authority of a MS. history now in the Library at St. Petersburg, written by Orsolski, a con- temporary of the events. (Krasinski. Hist, neform. PoJaml, Tol. ii., p. 48.) Nevertheless, although a pervert, Bathory did not become a zealot. He repressed all attempts at persecution, and tried to hold the balance wntli tolerable impartiality between the two pai'ties. But he sowed seeds destined to yield tempests in the future. The Jesuits, as we shall afterwards see, had already entered Poland, and as the Fathers were able to persuade the king that they were the zealous cultivators and the most efficient teachers of science and letters, Bathory, who was a patron of literature, took them under his patronage, and built colleges and seminaries for theii' use, endow- ing them with lands and heritages. Among other institutions he founded the University of Vilna, which became the chief seat of the Fathers in Poland, and whence they spread themselves o\er the kingdom. - It was during the reign of King Stephen that the tide began to turn in the fortunes of this great, intelligent, and free nation. The ebb (ii'st showed itself in a piece of subtle legislation wliich was achieved by the Roman Synod of Piotrkow, in 1577. That Synod decreed excommunication against all who held the doctrine of religious toleration.' But toleration of all religions was one of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and the enactment of the Synod wa.s levelled against this law. True, they coidd not blot out the law of the State, nor could they corai)el the tribunals of the nation to enforce their own ecclesiastical edict; - Krasinski, Hist. Eeform. Poland, vol. ii., p. 53. » Ihid., vol. ii., pp. *), 50. 18i HISTOKY Oh' PROTESTANTISM. nevei-theless tbeiv sentence, though spiritual iii its form, was very decidedly temporal in both its substance and its issues, seeing excommunication carried with it many grievous civil and social in- flictions. This legislation was the commencement of a stealthy policy which had for its object tlie recovery of that temporal jurisdiction of which, as we have seen, the Diet had stripped them. This first encroachment being permitted to pass unchallenged, the Roman clergy ventured on other njid more violent attacks on the laws of the State, and the liberties of the people. The Synods of the diocese of Warmia prohibited mixed marriages; they forbade Romanists to be sponsors at the baptism of Protestant chilcb-en; they interdicted the use of books and hymns not sanctioned by eccle- siastical authority; and they declared hei'etics incajDable of inheriting landed property. All these enactments wore a spiritual guise, and they could be enforced only by spii'itual sanctions; but they were in antagonism to the law of the land, and by implication branded the laws with which they conflicted as immoral; they tended to widen the breach between the two great parties in the nation, and they disturbed the consciences of Romanists, by subjecting them to the alternative of incurring certain disagi'eeable consequences, or of doing what they were taught was nnIa^vful and sinful. Sti-etching their powers and prerogatives still farther, the Roman bishops now claimed joayment of their tithes from Protestant landlords, and attempted to take back the churches which had been converted from Romanist to Protestant uses. To make trial of how far the nation was disposed to yield to these demands, or the tribunals pre- pared to endoi'se them, they entered pleas at law to have the goods and possessions which they claimed as theii-s adjudged to them, and in some instances the courts gave decisions in their favour. But the hierairchy had gone farther than meanwhile was prudent. These arrogant demands roused the alai-m of the nobles; and the Diets of 1.581 and l.')S2 administered a tacit rebuke to the hierarchy liy annulling the judgments which had been pro- nounced in their favour. The bishops had learned that they must walk slowly if they would walk safely ; but they had met with nothing to convince them that their course was not the right one, or that it would not succeed in the end. Nevertheless, under the appearance of having sufi'ered a rcbuft', the hierarchy had gained not a few substantial advantages. The more extreme of their demands had been disallowed, and many thought that the contest between them and the civil coiu-ts was at an end, and that it had ended adversely to the spiritual authority; but the bishops knew better. They had laid the founda- tion of what would grow with every successive Synod, and each new edict, into a body of law, divei-se from and in opposition to the law of the land, and which presenting itself to the Romanist with a higher moral sanction, would ultimately, in his eyes, deprive the civil law of all force, and transfer to itself the homage of his conscience and the obedience of his life. The coercive power wielded by this new code, which was being stealthily put in operation in the hfeart of the Polish State, was a power that could neither be seen, nor heai'd ; and those who were accustomed to execute theii' behests through the force of ai'mies, or the majesty of tribimals, were apt to contemn it as utterly unable to cope with the power of law ; nevertheless, the result as wrought out in Poland showed that this infliience, apparently so weak, j'et jienetrating deeply into the heart and soul, had in it an omnipotence comjiared with which the power of the sword was but feebleness. And farther there was this danger, jiei'haps not foreseen or not much taken into account in Poland at the moment, namely, that the Jesuits were busy manipu- lating the youth, and that whenever public opinion should be ripe for a concordat between the bishops and the Government, this .S2Jiritual code would start xq> into an undisguisedly temporal one, having at its service all the powers of the State, and enforcing its commands with the sword. What was now introduced into Poland was a new and more refined policy than the Church of Rome had as yet employed in her battles with Pro- testantism. Hitherto she had filled her hand with the coarse weapons of material force — the armies of the Empire and the stakes of the Inquisition. But now, appealing less to the bodily senses, and more to the faculties of the sold, she began at Trent, and continued in Poland, the plan of creating a body of legislation, the pseudo-divine sanctions of which, in many instances, received submission where the teiTors of punishment would have been withstood. [The sons of Loyola came first, moulding opinion'; and the bishojjs came after, framing canons in conformity with that altered opinion — gathering where the others had strewed — and noiselessly achieving victory where the swords of their soldiers would have Init sustained defeat. No doubt the liberty enjoyed in Poland necessitated this alteration of the Roman tactics ; but it was soon seen that it was a more efiectual method than the vulgar weapons of force, and that if a revolted Christendom was to be brought back to the Papal obedience, it must be mainly, though CARDINAL HOSIUS. 185 not exclusively, by the means of this sijii-itual artillery. It was under the same reign, that of Stephen Bathory, that the political influence of the Kingdom of Poland began to wane. The ebb in its national prestige was almost immediately consequent on the ebb in its Protestantism. The victorious wars which Bathory had carried on with Russia were ended, mainly through the counsels of the Jesuit Posscvinus, by a peace which stripped Poland of the advantages she was entitled to expect from her victoi-ies. This was the last gleam of military success that shone upon the country. Stephen Bathory died in 1586, ha\'ing reigned ten years, not without glory, and was succeeded on the throne of Poland by Sigismund III. He was the son of John, King of Sweden, and grandson of the re- nowned Gustavus Vasa. Nurtui-ed by a Romish mother, Sigismund III. had abandoned the faith of his famous ancestor, and during his long reign of well-nigh half a century, he made the grandeur of Rome his first object, and the power of Poland only his second. Under such a prince the fortunes of the nation continued to sink. He was called " the King of the Jesuits," and so far was he from being ashamed of the title, that he gloried in it, and strove to prove himself worthy of it. He surrounded him- self with Jesuit councillors ; honours and riches he showered almost exclusively upon Romanists, and especially upon those whom interest had converted, but argument left unconvLnced. No dignity of the State and no post in the public service was to be obtained, unless the aspirant made friends of the Fathers. Their colleges and schools midtiplied, their hoards and territorial domains augmented from year to yeai". The education of the youth, and especially the sons of the nobles, was almost wholly ill their hands, and a generation was being created brimful of that "loyalty" which Rome so highly lauds, and which makes the understandings of her subjects so obdurate and their necks so supple. The Protestants were as yet too powerful in Poland to permit of direct persecution, but the way was being prepared in the continual decrease of their numbers, and the systematic diminution of their influence ; and when Sigismund III. went to his grave in 1632, the glory which had illuminated the country during the short reign of Stephen Bathory had departed, and the night was fiist closing in around Poland. CHAPTER VI. THE JESUITS ENTER POLAND — DESTRUCTION OF ITS PROTESTANTISM. Cardinal Hosius— His Acquirements— Prodigious Activity— Brings the Jesuits into Poland— Tlicy rise to vast Influence —Their Tactics- Mingle in all Circles— Labour to Undermine the Influence of Protestant Ministers— Extra- ordinary Methods of doing this — Mob Violence— Churches, &c., Burned— Graveyards Violated— The Jesuits in the Saloons of the Great— Their Schools and Method of Teaching— They Dwarf the National Mind— They Extinguish Literature— Testimony of a Popish Writer — Eeign of Vladislav — John Casimir, a Jesuit, ascends the Throne — Political Calamities— Eevolt of the Cossacks — Invasion of the Eussians and Swedes— Continued Decline of Protestantism and Oppression of Protestants— Erhaustion and Euin of Poland — Causes which contributed along with the Jesuits to the Overthrow of Protestantism in Poland. The Jesuits had been introduced into Poland, and the turning of the Protestant tide, and the begun decadence of the nation's political power, which was almost contemporaneous with the retrogression in its Protestantism, was mainly the work of the Fathers. The man who opened the door to the disciples of Loyola in that country is worthy of a longer study than we can bestow ujion him. His name was Stanislaus Hosen, better known as Cardinal Hosius. He was born at Cracow in 1504, and thus in bii-th was nearly contemporaneous with Knox and Calvin. He was sprung of a family of German descent which l^ad been engaged in trade. and become rich. His great natural powers had been perfected by a finished education, first in the schools of his own country, and afterwai-ds in the Italian universities. He was unwearied in liis apiflication to business, often dictating to .several secretaries at once, and not unfrequently dis- patching important matters at meals. He was at home in the controversial literature of the Refonna- tion, and knew how to employ in his own cause the arguments of one Protestant polemic against another. He took care to inform himself of eveiy- thing about the life and occupation of the leading Refoi-mers, his contemporaries, wliich it was im- 186 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. portant for him to know. His works are numerous; they are in various languages, written with equal elegance in all, and with a wonderful adaptation in their style and method to the genius and habit of thought of each of the various peoples he addressed. The one grand object of liis life was the overthrow of Protestantism, and the restoration of the Roman Church to that place of power and glory from which the Reformation had cast her down. He brought the concentrated forces of a vast knowledge, a gigantic intellect, and a strong will to the execution of that task. History has not recorded, so far as we are aware, any immorality in his life. He could boast the refined manners, liberal sentiments, and humane disposition which the love and culti- vation of letters usually engender. Nevertheless the marvellous and mysterious power of that system of which he was so distinguished a cham- pion asserted its superiority in the case of this richly endowed, highly cultivated, and noble-minded man. Instead of imijai-ting his virtues to his Church, she transferred her vices to him. Hosius always urged on fitting occasions that no faith should be kept with heretics, and although few could better conduct an argument than himself, he disliked that tedious process with heretics, and recommended the more summary one of the lictor's axe. He saw no sin in spilling heretical blood ; he received with joy the tidings of the St. Bartholomew Massacre, and writing to congi-atulate the Cardinal of Lorraine on the slaughter of Coligny, he thanked the Almighty for the great boon be- stowed on France, and implored him to show equal mei'cy to Poland. His great understanding he pi-ostrated at the feet of his Church, but for whose authority, he declared, the Scriptures would have no more weight than the Fables of JEsoj). His many acquirements and great learning were not able to emancipate him from the thrall of a gloomy asceticism ; he grovelled in the observance of the most austere performances, scourging liimself in the belief that to have his body streaming with blood and covered with wounds was more pleasing to the Almighty than to have his soul adorned with virtues and replenished wth graces. Such was the man who, to use the words of the historian Krasinski, " (leseiwed the eternal gratitude of Rome and the curses of his own country," l)y introducing the Jesuits into Poland.' Returning from the Council of Trent in 1.564, Hosius saw with alarm the advance which Protes- ' See his Life by Resoius (Roszka), Rome, 1587. Nu- merous editions have been published of his works ; the best is that of Cologne, 1584, containing his letters to many of the more eminent of his contempor.iries. tantism had made in his diocese during his absence. He immediately addressed himself to the general of the society, Lainez, requesting him to send him some members of his order to aid him in doing what he despaired of accomplishing by his own single arm. A few of the Fathers were dispatched from Rome, and being joined by others from Germany, they were located in Braunsberg, a little town in the diocese of Hosius, who richly endowed the infant establishment. For six years they made little progress, nor was it till the death of Sigismund Augustus and the accession of Stephen Bathory that they began to make then- influence felt in Poland. How they ingi-atiated themselves with that monarch by their vast pretensions to learning we have already seen. They became gi-eat fixvourites with the bishops, who finding Protestantism increasing in their dioceses, looked for its repression rather from the intrigues of the Fathers than the labours of their own clergy. But the golden age of the Jesuits in Poland, to be followed by the iron age to the people, did not begin until the bigoted Sigismund III. mounted the throne. The fiivours of Stephen Bathory, the colleges he had founded, and the lands with which he had endowed them, were not remembered in comparison with the far higher consideration and vaster wealth to which they were admitted under his successor. Sigis- mund reigned, but the Jesuits governed. They stood by the fountain-head of honours, and they held the keys of all dignities and emoluments. They took care of their friends in the distribution of these good things, nor did they forget when enriching others to enrich also themselves. Con- versions were numerous ; and the wanderer who had returned from the fatal path of heresy to the safe fold of the Church was taught to express his thanks in some gift or service to the order by whose instructions and prayei-s he had been rescued. The son of a Protestant father commonly expressed his penitence by building them a college, or be- queathing them an estate, or expelling from his lands the confessors of his father's faith, and re- j)lacing them with the adherents of the Roman creed. Thus all things were prospering to their wish. Every day new doors were opening to them. Their missions and schools were springing up in all corners of the land. They entered all houses, from the baron's do^vnward ; they sat at .all tables, and listened to .all conversations. In .all assemblies, for whatever purpose convened, whether met to mourn or to make merry, to trans.act business or to seek amusement, there were the Jesuits. They were present at baptisms, at marriages, at funei-als, and .at foirs. While their learned men taught Ml \ 01 r 11 lUMl Ul V NL \ UN IN 1 188 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISJI. the young noliles in tlic universities, they hivcl their itinerant orators, who visited villages, fre- quented markets, and erecting their stage in public exhibited scenic representations of Bible histories, or of the combats, martyrdoms, and canonisations of the saints. These wandering apostles were furnished, moreover, with store of relics and wonder-working charms, and by these as well as by pompous processions, they edified and awed the crowds that gathered round them. They strenuously and systematically laboured to destroy the influence of Protestant ministei-s. They strove to make them odious, sometimes by malevolent whispei-ings, and at other times by open accusations. The most blameless life and the most venerated character afforded no protection against Jesuit calumny. Volanus, whose ninety years bore witness to his abstemious life, they called a dnuikard. Sdrow.ski, who had incurred then- anger by a work written against them, and whose learning was not excelled by the most erudite of their order, they accused of theft, and of having once acted the pai-t of a hangman. Adding ridicule to calumny, they strove in every way to hold up Protestant sermons and assemblies to laughter. If a Synod convened, there was sure to appear, in no long time, a letter from the devil, addressed to the members of court, thanking them for their zeal, and instructing them, in familiar and losing phrase, how to do then- work and his. Did a minister marry, straightway he was complimented with an epithalamium from the ready pen of some Jesuit scribe. Did a Protestant pastor die, before a few days had passed by, the leading members of his flock were favoured with letters from their de- ceased minister, duly dated from Pandemoiiixun. These effusions were comjiosed generally in doggerel verse, but they were barbed with a venomous wit and a coarae humour. The multitude read, laughed, and believed. The calumnies, it is true, were refuted by those at whom they were levelled ; but that signified little, the falsehood was repeated again and again, till at last, by dint of perseverance and audacity, the Protestants and thcu' worship were brought into general hatred and contempt.^ The defection of the sons of Radziwill, the zea- lous Reformer of whom we have previously made mention, was a groat blow to the Protestantism of Poliwid. That family became the chief support, after the crown, of the Papal reaction in the Polish ' Lukaszewicz (a Popish author). History of the Hel- veHan Churches of Lilhuania, vol. i., pp. 47, 85, and vol. ii., p. 102 ; Posen, 1842, 184S—apud Krasmsld, Slavonia, pp. 289, 294. dominions. Not only were their influence and wealth freely employed for the spread of the Jesuits, but all the Protestant churches and schools which their father had built on hLs estates were made over to the Church of Rome. The example of the Radziwills was followed by many of the Lithuanian nobles, who i-eturned within the Roman pale, bringing with them not only the edifices on their lands formerly used in the Protestant service, but their tenants also, and expelling those who refused to conform. By this time the populace had been sufficiently leavened with the spirit and principles of the Jesuits to be made theii- tool. Mob violence is commonly the fu'st form that persecution assumes. It was so in Poland. The caves whence these popular tempests issued were the Jesuit colleges. The students inflamed the passions of the multitude, and the public peace was bi-oken by tumult and outrage. Protestant worshipping assemblies began to be assailed and dispersed, Protestant chin-ches to be wrecked, and Protestant libraries to be given to the flames. The churches of Cracow, of Vilna, and other towns were pillaged. Pro- testant cemeteries were violated, their monuments and tablets destroyed, the dead exhumed, and their remains scattered about. It was not possible at times to cari-y the Protestant dead to theii- gi-aves. In June, 1578, the funeral procession of a Protes- tant lady was attacked in the streets of Cracow by the pujiils of All-hallows College. Stones were thrown, the attendants were driven away, the body was torn from the coffin, and after being dragged through the streets it "was thro^^^^ into the Vistula. Rarely indeed did the authorities interfere; and when it did happen that punishment followed these misdeeds, the infliction fell on the wretched tools, and the guiltier instigators and ringleaders were sirfFered to escape.'' While the Jesuits were smiting the Protestant mmisters and members ^^•ith the arm of the mob, they were bowing the knee in adulation and flattery before the Protestant nobles and gentry. In the saloons of the gi'cat, the same men who sowed from their chairs the jninciples of sedition and tumult, or vented in doggerel rhyme the odious calumny, were transformed into paragons of mildness and inoffcnsiveness. Oh, how they loved order, aliominated coarseness, and anathematised all im- charitableness and violence ! Having gained access into Protestant fiimilies of rank b^^ their whining manners, their showy accomplishments, and some- times by important services, they strove by every - Albert Wengiersi. JESUIT INTRIGUES IN POLAND. means— by argument, by wit, by insinuation — to convert them to the Roman faith ; if tliey failed to pervert tlie entire family they generally succeeded with one or more of its members. Thus they established a foothold in the household, and had fatally broken the peace and confidence of the family. The anguish of the perverts for their parents, doomed as they believed to perdition, often so alfected these parents as to induce them to follow their children into the Roman fold. Rome, as is well kno\vn, has made more victories by touching the heart than by convincing the reason. But the maiia arai with which the Jesuits operated in Poland was the school. They had among them a few men of good talent and gi-eat erudition. At the beginning they were at pains to teach well, and to send foi-tli fi-om theii- semi- )iaries accomplished Latin scholars, that so they might establish a reputation for efficient teaching, and spread theii- educational institutions over the kingdom. They were kind to their pupils, they gave their instructions without exacting any fee ; and they were thus able to compete at great advantage with the Protestant schools, and not unfrequently did they succeed in extinguishing theii- rivals, and drafting the scholars into their own seminaries. Not only so : many Protestant parents, attracted by the high repute of the Jesuit schools, and the brilliant Latin scholars whom they sent forth from time to time, sent their sons to be educated in the institutions of the Fathers. But the national mind did not grow, nor did the national literature flourish. This was the more remarkable from contrast with the brilliance of the era that had preceded the educational efforts of the Jesuits. The half-century during which the Pro- testant influence was the predominating one was " the Augustan age of Polish literature ;" the half- century that followed, dating from the close of the sixteenth century, showed a marked and most melancholy decadence in every department of mental exertion. It was but too ob\'ious that decrepitude had smitten the national intellect. The press sent forth scarcely a single work of merit ; capable men were disappearing from professional life ; Poland ceased to have statesmen fitted to counsel in the cabinet, or soldiers able to lead in the field. The sciences were neglected and the arts lan- guished ; and even the veiy language was becoming corrupt and feeble ; its elegance and fire ^vei'e sink- ing in the ashes of formalism and barbarism. Nor is it difficult to account for tliis. Without freedom there can bo no vigour ; but the Jesuits dared not leave the mind of their jmpils at liberty. That the intellect should make fv\ll jiroof of its powers by ranging freely over all subjects, and in- vestigating and discussing unfettered all questions, was what the Jesuits could not allow, well knowing that such freedom would overthrow their own autho- rity. They led about the mind iir chains as men do wild beasts, of whom they fear that should they slip their fetters, they would turn and rend them. The art they studied was not how to edu- cate, but how not to educate. They intrigued to shut up the Protestant schools, and when thej' had succeeded, they collected the youth into their own, that they might keep them out of the way of that most dangerous of all things, knowledge. They taught them words, not things. They shut the page of history, they barred the avenues of science and philosophy, aiad they drilled their pupils exclusively in the subtleties of a scholastic theology. Is it wonderful that the eye kejit perpetually poring on such objects should at last lose its power of vision ; that the intellect confined to food like this should pine and die ; and that the foot-prints of Poland ceased to be visible in the fields of literature, in the world of commerce, and on the ai-ena of politics l The men who had taken in hand to educate the nation, taught it to forget all that other men strive to remember, and to remember all that other men strive to forget ; in short, the education given to Poland by the Jesuits was a most ingemous and successful plan of teaching them not how to think right, but how to think -svi-ong ; not how to reason out truth, but how to reason out falsehood ; not how to cast away prejudice, break the shackles of autho- rity, and rise to the independence and noble freedom of a rational being, but how to cleave to error, hug one's fetters, hoot at the light, and yet to be all the while filled with a proud conceit that this darkness is not darkness, but light ; and this folly not folly, but wisdom. Thus metamorphosed this once noble nation came forth from the schools of the Jesuits, the light of their eye quenched, and tJio strength of then- arm dried up, to find that they were no longer able to keep their place in the sti-uggles of the world. They were p\it aside, they were split up, they were trampled down, and at last thoy perished as a nation ; and yet their re- mains were not put into the sepulchre, but wei-c left lying on the fiice of Euroi>e, a melancholy monument of what nations become when they take the Jesuit for their schoolmaster. This estimate of Jesviit teaching is not more severe than that whicli Popish authors themselves have expressed. Their system was admu-ably de- scribed by Broscius, a zealous Roman Catholic clergy- man, professor in the University of Cracow, and one of the most learned men of his time, in a work pul> 190 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. lished originally in Polish, in the beginning of the seventeenth century. He says : " The Jesuits teach chiUlion the grammar of Alvar,' which it is very (lillicult to umlerstaml and to learn; and much time is spent at it. This they do for many reasons : first, that by keeping the child a long time in the school they may receive in gifts from the parents of the children, whom they pretend gratuitously to educate, much more than they would have got had there been a regular payment; second, that by keeping the children a long while in the school they may become well acquainted with their minds ; third, that they may train the boy for their o\vn plans, and for their own purposes ; fourth, that in case the friends of the boy wish to have him from them, they may have a pretence for keeping him, saying, give him time at least to learn grammar, which is the foundation of every other knowledge ; fifth, they want to keep boys at school till the age of manliood, that they may engage for their order those who show most talent or expect large in- heritances ; but when an individual neither pos- sesses talents nor has any expectations, they \vill not retain liim."- Sigismund III., in whose reign the Jesuits had become firmly rooted in Poland, died in 1632, and was succeeded by his eldest son Vladislav IV. Vladislav hated the disciples of Loyola as much as his father had loved and courted them, and he sti-ove to the utmost of his power to counteract the evil effects of his father's partiality for the order. He restrained the persecution by mob riots ; he was able, in some instances, to visit with punish- ment the ringleaders in the burning down of Pro- testant churches and schools ; but that spirit of intolerance and bigotry which was now diffused throughout the nation, and in wliich, with few ex- ceptions, noble and peasant shared alike, he could not lay ; and when he went to his grave, those bitter hatreds and evil passions which had been engendered during his father's long occupancy of the thi'one, and only slightly repressed during his own short I'oign, broke out afresh in all their violence. Vladislav was succeeded by his brother John Casimir. C;isimir was a member of the Society of Jesus, and had attained the dignity of the Roman ' A Spanish Jesuit who compiled a grammar which the Jesuits used in the schools of Poland. " Dialnqve of a Landowner with a Parisli Priest. The work, puljlishcd about 1020, excited the violent anger of the Jesuits; but being imable to wreak their ven- geance on the author, the printer, at their instigation, was publicly flogged, and afterwards banished. (See Krasiuski, Slavonia, p. 296.) purple ; but when his brother's death opened his way to the throne, the Pope relieved him from his vows as a Jesuit. The heart of the Jesuit rcmain(.'d mthin him, though his vow to the order had licen dissolved. Nevertheless, it is but justice to say that Casimir was less bigoted, and less the tool of Rome, than his father Sigismrmd had been. Still it was vain to hope that under such a monarch the prospects of the Protestants would be materially improved, or the tide of Popish reaction stennned. Scarcely had this disciple of Loyola ascended the throne than those political tempests began, which continued at short intei'vals to burst over Poland, till at length the nation was destroyed. The first calamity that befell the unhappy country was a terrible revolt of the Cossacks of the Ukraine. The insurgent Cossacks were joined by crowds of peasants belonging to the Greek Church, whose passions had been roused by a recent attempt of the Polish bishops to compel them to enter the Communion of Rome. Poland now began to feel what it was to have her soul chilled and her bonds loosened by the touch of the Jesuit. If the insur- rection did not end in the dethronement of the monarch, it was owing not to the valour of his troops, or the patriotism of his nobles, but to the compassion or remorse of the rebels, who stopped short in their victorious .career when the king was in then- power, and the nation had been brought to the brink of ruin. The cloud which had thieatened the kingdom with destruction rolled away to the half-ci%ilised regions whence it had so suddenly issued ; but hardly was it gone when it was again seen to gather, and to advance against the inihappy king- dom. The perfidy of the Romish bishops had brought this second calamity upon Poland. The Archbishop of Kioff, Metropolitan of the Greek Church of Poland, had acted as mediator between the rebellious Cossacks and the king, and mainly through the archbishop's friendly ofliccs had that peace been effected, which rescued from immi- nent peril the throne and life of Casimir. One of the conditions of the Pacification was that the archbishop should have a seat in the Senate ; but when the day came, and the Eastern prelate entered the hall to take his place among the senators, the Roman Catholic bishops rose in a body and left the Senate-house, saying that they ne^er would sit with a schismatic. The Archbishop of Kioff had lifted Casimir's throne out of the dust, and now he had his services repaid with insult. The warlike Cossacks held themselves afl'rontcd in the indignity done their spiritual chief ; and hence the second invasion of the kingdom. This THE DOWNFALL OF POLAND. 191 time the insurgents were defeated, but that only broiiglit greater evils upon the country. The Cossacks tlu'ew themselves into the arms of the Czar of Muscovy. He espoused their quarrel, feeling, doubtless, that his honour also was in- volved in the disgrace put upon a high dignitary of his Church, and he descended on Poland with an immense army. At the same time, Charles Gustavus of Sweden, taking advantage of tlie discontent which prevailed against the Polish monarch Ca.simir, entered the kingdom with a chosen body of troops ; and such were his own talents as a leader, and such the discipline and valour of his army, that in a short time the prin- cipal pai't of Poland was in his possession. Casimir had, meanwhile, sought refuge in Silesia. The crown was ofl'ered to the valorous and magnani- mous Charles Gustavus, the nobles only craving that before assuming it lie should permit a Diet to assemble and formally vote it to him. Had Gustavus ascended the throne of Poland, it is probalile that the Jesuits would have been driven out, that the Protestant spirit would have been reinvigorated, and that Poland, built up into a powerful kingdom, would have proved a protect- ing wall to the south and west of Europe against the barbaric masses of the north ; but this hope, wdth all that it implied; was dispelled by the reply of Charles Gustavus. " It did not need," he said, " that the Diet should elect him king, seeing he was already master of the country by his sword." The self-love of the Poles was wounded ; the war was renewed ; and, after a great struggle, a jieace was concluded in 1000, under the joint mediation and guarantee of England, France, and Holland. Jolni Casimir returned to resume his reign over a country bleeding from the swords of two armies. The Cossacks had exercised an indiscriniinate ven- geance : the Popish cathedral and the Protestant church had alike been given to the flames, and Protestants and Papists had been equal sufferers in the calamities of the war. The first act of the monarch, after his return, was to place his kingdom under the special pro- tection of the " Blessed Virgin." To make himself and his dominions the more worthy of so august a suzerainty, he i-egistered on the occasion two vows, both well-pleasing, as he judged, to liis celestial patroness. Casimir promised in the first to redress the grievances of the lower orders, and in the second to convert the heretics— in other words, to persecute the Protestants. The first vow it wa.s not even attempted to fulfil. All the efforts of the sovereign, therefore, were given to the second. But (ho shieid of Eu'daud and Hollan.l was at that time extended over the Protestants of Poland, who were still numerous, and had amongst them some influential families ; the monarch's eflbrts were, in consequence, restricted meanwhile to the conversion of the Socinians, who were numerous in his kingdom. They were offered the alternative of return to the Roman Church or exile. They seriously proposed to meet the prelates of the Roman hierarchy in conference, and con\ince them that there was no fundamental difference between theii- tenets and the dogmas of the Roman Church.' The conference was declined, and the Socinians, with great hardship and loss, were driven out of the kingdom. But the persecution did not stop there. England, with Charles II. on her throne, grew cold in the cause of the Polish Protestants. In the treaty of the peace of 1 GOO, the rights of all religious Confessions in Poland had been secured ; but the guaranteeing Powers soon ceased to enforce the treaty, the Polish Government paid but small respect to it, persecution in the form of mol) violeiace was still continued ; and when the reign of John Casimir, which had been fatal to the Protestants throughout, came to an end, it was found that their ranks were broken up, that all the gi-eat families who had belonged to their communion were extinct or had passed into the Church of Rome, that their sanctuaries were mostly in ashes, their- congregations all dispersed, and their cause hopeless.- There followed a succession of reigns which oidy furnished evidence how weak the throne had become, and how powerful the Jesuits and the Roman hierarchy had grown. Religious equality was still the law of Poland, and each new sovereign swore, at his coronation, to maintain the rights of the anti-Romanists, but the transaction was deemed a mere fiction, and the king, however much disposed, had not the power to fulfil his oath. The Jesuits and the bishops were in this matter above the law, and the sovereign's tribunals could not enforce their own edicts. What the law called rights the clergy stigmatised as abuses, and de- manded that they should be abolished. In 1732 a law was passed excluding from all public ofliccs those who were not of the communion of the Church of Rome.'' The public service was thus deprived of whatever activity and cnli.i;htonmcnt of mind yet existed in Poland. The country had no need of this additional stimulus : it was already pur- suing fast enough the road to ruin. For a century, ' Kiasinski, Slavonia, p. 333. - Krasinski, Hist. Keform. Polami, vol. ii., chap.1'2. •■• Krasinski, Slavonia, p. 350. 192 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. one disaster aftor another liad devastated its soil and people. Its limits had been curtailed by the lass of several provinces ; its population had been diminished by the emigration of thou.sands of Protestants ; its i-esources had been drained by its efibrts to quell revolt within and ward off inviision from without ; its intelligence had been obscured, and well-nigh extinguished, by those who claimed the exclusive right to instruct its youth ; for in that laud it was a greater misfortune to be educated than to grow np untaught. Ovei'spread by torpor, Poland gave no signs of life save sucli as indicate paralysis. Placed luider foreign tutelage, and sunk in dependence and helplessness, if she was cared for by her powerful protectors, it was as men care for a once noble palace which they have no thought of rebuilding, but from whose fallen masses they hope to extract a column or a topstone that may helj) to enlarge and embellish their own dwelling. Justice requires that we should state, before dis- missing this part of oiu- subject, with its many solemn lessons, that though the fall of Protestantism in Poland, and the consequent ruin of the Polish State, was mainly the work of the Jesuits, other causes co-operated, though in a less degree. The Protestant body in Poland, from the first, was parted into three Confessions : the Genevan in Lithuania, the Bohemian in Great Poland, and the Lutheran in those towns that were inhabited by a population of German descent. This was a source of weakness, and this weakness was aggi-avated by the ill-will borne by the Lutheran Protestants to the adherents of the other two Confessions. The evil was cured, it was thought, liy the Union of Sandoniir ; but Lutheran exclusiveuess and in- tolerance, after a few years, again broke uj) the united Chui'ch, and deprived the Protestant cause of the strength which a common centre always gives. The short lives of John Alasco and Prince liadziwill are also to be reckoned among the causes wliich contributed to the failure of the Reform movement in Poland. Had their labours been pro- longed, a deeper seat would have been given to Protestant truth in the general population, and the throne might have been gained to the Reformation. The Christian chivalry and jjatriotism with which the great nobles placed themselves at the head of the movement are worthy of all praise, but the people must ever be the mainstay of a religious Reformation, and the great landowniers in Poland did not, we fear, take this fact .sufficiently into ac- count, or bestow the requisite pains in imbuing their tenantry with great Scriptural principles : and hence the conipai'ative ease with which the people were again transferred into tlie Roman fold. But an influence yet more hostUe to the triumph of Protes- tantism in Poland was the rise and rajjid diffusion of Socinian views. These sprang up in the bosom of the Genevan Confession, and inflicted a blight on the powerful Protestant Chiu-ches of Lithuania. That blight very soon overspread the whole land ; and the gi-een tree of Protestantism began to be touched with the sere of decay. The Socinian was followed, iis we have seen, by the Jesuit. A yet deeper desolation gathered on his track. Decay became rottenness, and blight deepened into death ; but Protestantism did not perish alone. The throne, the country, the people, all went down with it in a catastro]>he so awful that no one could have eHected it but the Jesuit. CHAPTER VII. BOHEMIA — ENTR.\NCE OF IIEFORMATION. D.arkness Concealing Boliemiau Martyrs— John Huss— First Preachers of the Eofoi-mctl Doctrine in Bohemia- False Brcthron — Zaliera — Passek— Tlioy Excite to rersGcutions — Martyrs— Nicolas Wrzetenarz— The Hostess Clai-a — Martha von Porzicz— The Potter and Girdlor— Pate of tlio Persecutors— Ferdinand I. Invades Bohoiiila — Perse- cutions and Emigrations -Flight of the Pastoi-s— John Augusta, &c. — A Heroic Sufferer — The Jesuits brought into Boliemia— Ma.\imilian II.— Persecution Stopped— Bohemian Confession— Rudolph— The Majostats-Brief— Full Liberty given to the Protestants. In resuming the story of Bohemia wo re-enter a tragic field. Our rehearsal of its conflicts and suflcrings will in one sense be a sorrowful, in another a truly triumphant task. What we arc about to witness is not the victorious march of a nation out of bondage, with banners xmfurled, and singing the song of a recoverctl Gosjiel ; on the contrary, it is a crowd of sufferers and martyrs that is to pass before lis ; and when the long procession begins to draw to an end, we shall have to confess UNRECORDED MARTYRDOMS. 193 that tliese are but a few of that gi-eat army of partially dispelled. Their names and sufferings arc confessors who in this land gave their lives for the locked up in the imperial arcliivcs of Vienna, iu tlie triitli. Where are the rest, and why are not their arcliiepiscopal archives of Prague, in the liljraric;; viKw IS I'UAnvE: the powder toweu. deaths liere recorded I They still abide under that of Leitmeritz, Koniggi-iitz, Wittingau, and other darkness with wliich their martjTdoms were on places. For a full revelation wo must wait (ho purpose covered, and which as yet lias been only coming of that day when, in the eniphaUc l.iu- 121 l'J4 HISTORY OF niOTEaTANTlSM. giiage of Scripture, " The earth also shall disclose her blood, aud shall no more cover her slaiii."' Ill a former book - we brought down the history of the Bohemian Church' a century beyond the stake of Huss. Speaking from the midst of the flames, as we have already seen, the martyr said, " A hundred years and there will arise a swan whose singing you shall not be able to silence." ^ The century had revolved, and Luther, with a voice that was rolling from east to west of Chris- tendom, loud as the thunder but melodious as the music of heaven, was preaching the doctrine of justification by faith alone. We resume our history of the Bohemian Church at the point where we broke it ofl". Though fire and sword had been ■wasting the Bohemian confessors duiing tlie- greater part of the century, there were about 200 of their congregations in existence when the Reformation broke. Imperfect as was their knowledge of Divine truth, their presence on the soil of Bohemia helped powerfully toward the reception of the doctrines of Luther in that country. Many hailed his appearance as sent to resume the work of their martyred countryman, and recognised in his preaching the " song " for which Huss had bidden them wait. As early as the year 1519, Matthias, a hermit, arriving at Prague, preached to great crowds", which assem- bled round him in the streets and market-place, though he mingled with the doctrines of the Reformation certain opinions of Ins own. The Calixtine.s, who were now Romanists in all save the Eucharistic rite, which they received in both kinds, said, " It were better to have our pastors ordained at Wittemberg than at Rome." Many Bohemian youths were setting out to sit at Luther's feet, and those who were debarred the journey, and could not benefit by the living voice of the gi-eat doctor, eagerly possessed themselves, most commonly by way of Nuremberg, of his tracts and Ijooks ; and those accounted themselves happiest of all who could secure a Bible, for then they could drink of the Water of Life at its fountain- head. In January, 1523, we find the Estates of Bohemia and JMoravia assembling at Prague, and having summoned several orthodox pastors to ' Isaiah xxvi. 21. - See ante, vol. I., bk. iii. » Wo have in the sauio place narrated the origin of the "United Brethren," tlieir election by lot of three men who were afterwards ordained by Stephen, associated ■with whom, in the laying on of hands, were other 'Wal- densian pastors. Conieniiis, who relates tlie transaction, terms Stephen a chief man or bisliop among the W.al- denses. He afterwards suffered martyi'dom for the faith. * See ante, vol. i., hk. iii., chap. 7, p. 1G2. assist at their deliberations, they promulgateil twenty articles — " the forerumiers of the Refor- mation," as Comenius calls them — of which the following was one : " If any man shall teach the Gospel without the additions of men, ho shall neither be reproved nor condemned for a heretic." "" Thus from the banks of the Moldau was coming an echo to the voice at Wittemberg. " False brethren " were the first to raise the cry of heresy against John Huss, and also the most zealous in dragging him to the stake. So was it again. A curate, newly returned from Wittemberg, where he had daily taken his place in the crowd of students of all nations who assembled around the chair of Luther, was the fu'st in Prague to call for the punishment of the disciples of that very doctrine which he professed to have embraced. His name was Gallus Zahera, Calixtme pastor in the Church of Lieta Curia, Old Prague. Zahera joined himself to John Passek, Burgomaster of Prague, " a deceitful, cruel, and superstitious man," who headed a powerful faction in the Council, which had for its object to crush the new opinions. The Papal legate had just arrived in Bohemia, and he wrote in bland terms to Zahera, holding out the prospect of a union between Rome and the Calixtines. The Calixtine pastor, forgetting all he had learned at Wittemberg, instantly replied that he had " no dearer wish than to be found constant in the body of the Churc'i by the unity of the faith ; " and he went on to speak of Bohemia in a style that mu.st have done credit, in the eyes of the legate, at once to his rhetoric and his orthodoxy. " For truly," says he, " our Bohemia, supporting itself on the most sure foundation of the mast sure rock of the Catholic faith, has sustained the fury and broken the force of all those waves of error wherewith the neighbouring countries of Germany have been shaken, and as a beacon placed in the midst of a tempestuous sea, it has held forth a clear light to every voyager, and shown him a safe harbour into which he may retreat from ship- wreck;" and he concluded by promising to send forthwith deputies to expedite the business of a union between the Roman and Calixtine Churches." When asked how he could thus oppose a faith he had lately so zealously jirofessed, Zahera replied that he had jilaced himself at the feet of Luther that he might be the better able to confute him: "An excuse," observes Comenius, " that might have become the mouth of Judas." ' Comenius, Hisioria PcrsecuHonum Ecclesia Boheniica; cap. 28, p. 98; Lugd. Batav., 1C47. 6 Ibid., cap. 28, p. 29. TWO VENERABLE MARTYRS. lys Zaliera and Passek were uot the men to stop at half-measures. To pave the way for a union with the Roman Church they framed a set of articles, which, ha\'ing obtained the consent of the king, they required the clergy and citizens to subscribe. Those who refused were to be banished from Prague. Si.v pastors declined the test, and were driven from the city. The pastors were followed into exile by sixty-five of the leading citizens, including the Chancellor of Prague and the fonner burgomaster. A pretext being sought for severer measures, the malicious ijivention was spread abroad that the Lutherans liad conspired to mas- sacre all the CalLxtines, and three of the citizens were put to the rack to extort from them a con- fession of a conspiracy which had never existed. They bore the torment' rather than witness to a falsehood. An agreement was next concluded by the influence of Zahera and Passek, that no Lutheran shoidd be taken into a workshop, or ad- mitted to citizenship. If one owed a debt, and wius unwilling to pay it, he had only to say the other was a Lutheran, and the banishment of the creditor gave him riddance from his importunities.- Branding on the forehead, and other marks of ignominy, were now added to exile. One day Louis Victor, a disciple of the Gospel, happened to be among the hearers of a certain Barbarite who was entertaining liis audience with ribald stories. At tlie clo.se of his sermon Louis addressed the monk, saying to him that it were " better to in- struct the peojile out of the Gospel than to detain them ^\'ith such fables." Straightway the preacher raised such a clamom' that the excited ci'owd lai>f Bohemia, . Joachim Neuhaus, to Vienna, to jiersuade tin? emperor to renew the old edicts against the Protestants. The ai-tful insinuations of the chancellor prevailed over the easy temper of the monarch, and Maximilian, although -mth deposited in his chest. He was crossing the bridge of the Danube when the oxen broke loose from his carriage, and the bridge breaking at the same instant, the chancellor and his suite were precipi- tated into tlie river. Six knights struck out and swam ashore ; the rest of the attendants were drowned. The chancellor was seized hold of by his gold chain as he was floating on the current of the Danube, and was kept partially above water till some fishermen, who were near the scene of the accident, had time to come to the rescue. He was drawn from the water into their boat, but found to be dead. Tlie box containing the letters patent sank in the deep floods of the Danube, and was never seen more — nor, indeed, \\as it ever sought for. Thaunus says that this catastrophe happened on the fourth of the Ides of December, 1565. Comenius, cap. 39, pp. 126, 127. PROTESTANT UNION IN BOHEMIA. 199 111 Maximilian's reign, a measure was passed tli:it helped to consolidate the Pi'otestantism of Lolicmia. In 1575, tlie king assembled a Par- liament at Prague, which enacted that all the Churches in the kingdom which received the Sacrament under both kinds — that is, the Utra- quists or Calixtines, the Bohemian Brethren, the Lutherans, and the Calvinists or Picardines — were at liberty to drav.' up a common Confession of their Entirely different in disposition and character was his son, the Emperor Rudolph II., by whom he was succeeded. Educated at the court of his cousin Philip II., Rudolph brought back to his native dominions the gloomy superstitions and the tyramiical maxims that prevailed in the Escorial. Nevertheless, the Bohemian Churches were left ill peace. Their sleepless foes were ever and anon intriguing to procure some new and hostUe edict faith, and unite into one Church. In spite of the eftbrts of the Jesuits, the leading pastors of the four communions consulted together and, animated by a spu'it of moderation and wisdom, they compiled a common creed, in the Bohemian language, which, although never rendered into Latin, iior jirinted till 1G19, and therefore not to be found in the "Harmony of Confessions," was ratified l)y the king, who promised his protection to the subscribers. Had this Confession been universally signed, it would have been a bulwark of strength to the Bohemian Protestants.' Tiie reign of the Emperor Maximilian came all too soon to an end. lie died in 157G, leaving a name dear to the Protestants and venerated by all parties. ' Comenius, cap. 39. Reform, and Anti-Re/oim. in Iiohem., vol. i., pp. 105, 107. from the king; but Rudolpli was too much engrossed in tlie study of astro- logy and alchemy to pursue steadily any one line of policy, and so these edicts slept. His brother Matthias -Z" was threatening liis throne; this made it necessary to conciliate all cla.sscs of his subjects ; hence originated the famous Majestiits-Brief, one object of which was to empower the Protestants in Bohemia to open churches and schools wliorever they pleased. This " Royal Charter," moreover, made over to them * - Krasinsld, Slavonia, pp. 115. 1 16. 200 HISTORY OF TROTESTANTISiM. tlie University of Prngup, and permitted them to appoint a piililic administrator of their affairs. It was in vii-tue of this last very important conces- sion that the Protestant Church of Bohemia now attained more nearly than ever, before or since, to a perfect union and a settled government. CHAPTEP. VIII. OVERTHROW OF PROTESTANTISM IN BOHEMIA. Protestantism Flourishes— Constitution of Bohemian Church — Its Government— Concord between Eomanists and Protestants— Temple of Janus Shut— Joy of Bohemia — Matthias Emperor — Election of Ferdinand II. as King of Bohemia — Reaction — Intrigues and Insults — Council-chamber — Three Councillors Thrown out at the Window —Ferdinand II. elected Emperor— "War— Battle of the White Hill — Defeat of the Protestants — Atrocities — Amnesty — Apprehension of Nobles and Senators — Their Frightful Sentences — Their Behaviour on the Scaffold — Their Deaths. The Protestant Church of Bohemia, now in her most flourishing condition, deserves some attention. That Church was composed of the three follo'vving bodies : the Calixtines, the United Brethren, and the Protestants — that is, the Lutheran and Calvinist communions. These three formed one Church under the Bohemian Confession — to which reference has lieen made in the pre\-ious chapter. A Consistory, or Table of Government, was constituted, consisting of twelve ministers chosen in the follo\ving manner : three were selected from the Calixtines, three from the United Brethren, and three from the Lutheran and Calvinistic communions, to whom were added three professors from the univei-sity. These twelve men were to manage the affairs of their Chui'ch in all Bohemia. The Consistory thus constituted was entirely independent of the archiepiseopal chair in Prague. It was even provided in the Royal Charter that the Consistory should " du-ect, con- stitute, or reform anything among their Churches without hindrance or interference of his Imperial Majesty." In case they were imable to determine any matter among themselves, they were at liberty to advise with his Llajesty's councillors of state, and with the judges, or with the Diet, the Protestant members of which were exclusively to have the power of deliberating on and determining the matter so referred, " without hindrance, either from their Majesties the future Kings of Bohemia, or the party sub una " — that is, the Romanist members of the Diet.' From among these twelve ministers, one was to be chosen to fill the office of administrator. He was chief in the Consistory, and the rest sat with him as assessors. The duty of this body was to determine in all matters appertaining to the doctrine and wor.slup of the Church — the dispensation of Sacraments, the ordination of ministers, the inspec- tion of the clergy, the admiiristration of discipline, to which was added the care of widows and orphans. There was, moreover, a body of laymen, termed Defenders, who wei'e charged with the financial and secular affairs of the Church. Still further to sti'engthen the Protestant Church of Bohemia, and to secure the peace of the king- dom, a treaty was concluded between the Romanists and Protestants, in which these two parties bound themselves to mutual concord, and agreed to certain rides which wei'e to regulate their relations to one another as regarded the possession of churches, the right of burial in the public cemeteries, and similar matters. This agi-eement was entered upon the registers of the kingdom ; it was sworn to by the Emperor Rudolph and his councillors ; it was laid up among the other solemn charters of the nation, and a protest taken that if hereafter any one should attempt to disturb this arrangement, or abridge the liberty conceded in it, he shoidd lie held to be a disturber of the peace of the kingdom, and punished accordingly." Thus did the whole nation unite in closing the doors of the Temple of Janus, in token that now there was peace throughout the whole realm of Bohemia. Another most significant and fitting act signalised this happy time. The Bethlehem Chapel — the scene of the ministry of John Huss — the spot where that day had dawned which seemed now to have reached its noon — was handed over to the Protestants as a jmblic recognition that they were ' P.eform. and Anii-Rcform. in Bohem., vol. i., p. 187. - Comenius, cap. 40. Bcfoni Bohem., vol. i., p. VJ"> et seq. \,rl Anii-Rr/orm. in EENEWED PERSECUTION OF PROTESTANTS. 201 the true otispoi-Lng of the gi-eat Pioformor and mai-tjr. Bohemia loiiy be said to be now Protestant. '■ Religion flourished throughout the whole king- dom," says Comenius, '• so that there was scarcely one among a hundred who did not profess the Reformed doctrine." The land was glad ; and the people's joy found vent in such unsophisticated couplets as the following, which might Ije read upon the doors of tlie churches : — " Oped are the temples ; joys Bohemia's lion : What Max protected, Kudolph does maintain." ' j.. But even in the hour of triumph there were some who felt anxiety for the future. They already saw ominous symptoms that the tranquillity would not be lasting. The great security which the Church now enjoyed had brought with it a relaxation of morals, and a decay of piety. "Alas !" said the more thoughtful, " we shall yet feel the mailed hand of some Ferdinand." It was a true presage ; the little cloud was even now appearing on the homou that was I'apidly to Idacken into the tempest. The Archduke Matthias renewed his claims upon the crown of Bohemia, and supporting them by arms, he ultimately deposed his brother Rudolph, and seated himself upon his throne. Matthias was old and had no son, and he bethought him of adopting his cousin Ferdinand, Duke oi Styria, who had been educated in a bigoted attach- ment to the Roman faith. Him Matthias persuaded the Bohemians to crown as their king. They knew something of the man whom they were calling to reign over them, but they relied on the feeble security of his promise not to interfere in religious matters while INIatthias lived. It soon became apparent that Ferdinand had sworn to the Bohe- mians with the mouth, and to the Pope with the heart. Their old enemies no longer hung their heads, but began to walk about with front erect, and eyes that presaged victory. The principal measures brought to bear against the Protestants were the work of the college of the Jesiuts and the cathedral. The partisans of Ferdinand oj)enly declared that the Royal Charter, having been extorted from the monarch, was null and void ; that although Matthias was too weak to tear in pieces that rag of old parchment, the j>ious Ferdinand would make short work with this bond. By little and little the persecution wa.s initiated. The Protestants were forbidden to jirint a single line except with the approbation of the chancellor, while their opponents were ' Comenius, cap. 40, pp. 131 — 136. circulating without let or hindiance, lar and near, pamphlets filled with the most slanderous accusations. The pastors were asked to produce the original titles of the churches in their j)os- session ; in short, the device painted upon the triumphal arch, which the Jesuits had erected at Olmutz in honour of Ferdinand — namely, the Bo- hemian lion and the Moravian eagle chained to Austria, and underneath a sleeping hare with open eyes, and the words "I am used to it"- — expressed the consummate craft with which the ■T suits had worked, and the criminal drowsuiess into which the Bohemians had permitted them- selves to fall.^ No method was left unattempted against the Protestants. It was sought by secret intrigue to invade their rights, and by open injury to sting them into insurrection. At last, in 1618, they rushed to arms. A few of the principal barons having met to consult on the steps to be taken in this crisis of their aflaiis, a sudden man- date arrived forbiddmg their meeting under pain of death. This flagrant violation of the Royal Charter, following on tlie destruction of several of then- churches, irritated the Reformed party beyond endurance. Their anger was still more inflamed by the reflection that these bolts came not fi'om Vienna, but from the Castle of Prague, where they had been forged by the jmito whose head-quartera were at the Hardschin. Assembling an armed force the Protestants crossed the Moldau, climbed the narrow street, and presented themselves before the Palace of Hardschin, that crowns the height on which New Prague is built. They marched right into the council-chamber, and seizing on Slarata, Martiuitz, and Secretary Fabricius, whom» they believed to be the chief authoi-s of their troubles, they threw them headlong out of the window. Falling on a heap of soft earth, sprinkled over with torn papers, the councilloi-s sustained no harm. " They have been saved by mu-acle," said their friends. " No," replied the Protestants, " they have been spared to be a scoiu'ge to Bohemia." This deed was followed by one less violent, but more w isi; — the expulsion of the Jesuits, who were for- bidden under pain of death to return.^ The issue was war ; but the death of Matthia.s, which happened at this moment, delayed for a little whde its outbreak. The Bohemian States met to - "Adsuevi." (Comenius.) 3 Comenius, cap. 42. Krasinski, Shivonia, p. 14G. ■■ Balbin assures us that some Jesuits, despite the order to withdraw, remained in Pra^me disguised as coal- fire men. (Reform, anil Anti-Reform, in Bohem., vol. i., p. 336.) 202 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. deliberate whether they sliouIJ contmue to owii Ferdinand after Lis flagrant violation of the Jlajestiits-Brief They voted him no longer their sovereign. The imperial electors were then sitting at Fmukfort on thc-Maine to choose a new emperor. The tloliemiiins sent an amba.ssador thither to sny that they had deposed Ferdinand, and to beg the electors not to recognise him as King of Bohemia by admitting him to a seat in the electoral college. Not only did the electors admit Ferdinand as still sovereign of Bohemia, but they conferred upon him i the vacant diadem. The Bohemians saw that the ', were in an evil case. The bigoted Ferdinavia, whom they had made more then- enemy than ever by repudiating him as theii- king, was now the head of the " Holy Roman Empii-e." The Bohemians had gone too far to retreat. They could not prevent the electors conferring the imperial diadem upon Ferdinand, bxit they wei-e resolved that he should never wear the crown of Bohemia. They chose Frederick, Electoi'-Palatine, as their sovereign. He was a Calvinist, son-in-law of James I. of England : and five days after his arrival in Prague, he and his consort were cro\vned with very gi-eat pomp, and took possession of the palace. Scarcely had the bells ceased to ring, and the cannon to thunder, by which the coronation was celebrated, when the nation and the new monarch were called to look in the face the awful struggle they had invited. Ferdinand, raising a mighty army, was already on his march to chastise Bohemia. On the road to Prague he took several towns inhabited by Protestants, and put the citizens to the sword. Advancing to the capital he encamped on the White Hill, and there a decisive battle was fought on the 8th of November, 1620.' The Protestant army was completelj^ beaten ; the king, whom the unwelcome tidings inteiTupted at his dinner, lied ; and Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia lay prostrated at the feet of the conqueror. The generals of Ferdinand entered Prague, " the conqueror promising to keep articles," says the chronicler, " but aftei'wards performing them ac- cording to the manner of the Council at Constance." The ravages committed by the soldiery were most frightful. Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia were devastated. Villages were set on fii-e, cities were pillaged, churches, schools, and dwellings pulled down ; the inhabitants were slaughtered, matrons and maidens violated ; neither the cliild in its cradle nor the corpse in its grave was spared. Prague was given as a spoil, and the soldiers boasted ' Comenius, cap. 41, p. 15-i. that they had gathered some millions from the Protestants ; nor, large as the sum Ls, is it an unlikely one, seeing that all the valuables in the countrj' had been collected for security into the capital. But by far the most melancholy result of this battle was the overthrow, as sudden as it was complete, of the Protestantism of Bohemia. The position of the two parties was after this com- pletely reversed; the Romanists were now the masters ; aud the decree went forth to blot out utterly Protestant Bohemia. Not by the sword, the halter, and the wheel in the first instance. The Jesuits were recalled, and the work was committed to them, and so skilfully did they conduct it that Bohemia, which had been almost entirely Protestant when Ferdinand II. ascended the throne, was at the close of his reign almost as entirely Popish. No nation, perhaps, ever ruiderwent so great a change in the short term of fifteen years as Bohemia. Instead of settmg up the scaffold at once, the conquerors published an amnesty to all who should lay down theii- arms. The proclamation was as welcome as it was unexpected, and many were caught who otherwise would have saved theii- lives by flight. Some came out of their hiding-places in the neighbourhood, and some returned from distant countries. For three months the talk was only of peace. It was the sweet piping of the fowler till the birds were snai-ed. At length came the doleful 20th of February, 1621. On that evening fifty chiefs of the Bohemian nation were seized and thrown into prison. The capture was made at the supper-hour. The time was chosen as the likeliest for finding every one at home. The city captains entered the house, a wagon waited at the door, and the prisoners were ordered to enter it, and were driven off to the Tower of Prague, or the prisons of the magistrate. The thing was done stealthily and smftly ; the silence of the night was not broken, and Prague knew not the blow that had fallen upon it. The men now swept off to prison were the jjersons of deepest jiiety and highest intelligence in the land. In short, they were the flower of the Bohemian nation." They had passed their youth in the study of useful ai-ts, or in the practice of arms, or in foreign travel. Their manliood had been devoted to the service of their country. They had been councillors of state, ambassadors, judges, or professors in the university. It was the wisdom, the experience, and the corn-age which they had brought to the defence of their nation's liberty, and s "Lumina et columina patris." (Comenius, cap. 59.) THE PATitlOT MAHTYiiS OF BOHEMIA. 203 tlie promotion of its Reformation, es^)ec•iulIy in tlie recent times of trouble, which hud drawn upon them the displeasure of the emperor. The majority were nobles and barons, and all of them were venerable by age. On the day after the transaction we have recorded, ■wiits were issued summoning all now absent from the kingdom to appear- within six weeks. When the period expired they were again summoned by a herald, but no one appearing, they were proclaimed traitors, and theii- heads were declared forfeit to the law, and their estates to the king. Their execution was gone through in their absence by the nailing of theii' names to the gallows. On the day following sentence was passed on the heirs of all who had fallen in the insurrection, and theii' properties passed over to the royal exchequer.' In prison the patriots were strenuously urged to beg pardon and sue for life. But, conscious of no crime, they refused to compromise the glory of their cause by doing anything that might be con- strued into a confession of guilt. Despairing of tlieir submission, theii- enemies proceeded with their trial in May. Count Schlik, while undergoing his e.Kamination, became wearied out with the impor- tunities of his judges and inquisitors, who tried to make him confess what had never existed. Ho tore open his vest, and laymg bare his breast, exclaimed, " Tear this body in pieces, and examine my heart ; nothing shall you find but what wc have already declared in our Apology. The love of liberty and religion alone constrained lis to draw the sword ; but seeing God has permitted the emperor's sword to conquer, and has delivered us into your hands, His will be done." Budowa and Otto Losz, two of his co-patriots, expressed them- selves to the same efl'ect, adding, " Defeat has made our cause none the worse, and victory has made yours none the better." - On Saturday, the 1 9th of June, the judges assem- bled in the Palace of Hardschm, and the piisoners, brought before them one by one, heard each his sentence. The majority were doomed to die, some were consigned to ))erpetual imp-isonment, and otlici-s were sent into exile. Ferdinand, that he might have an opportunity of appearing more cle- ment and gracious than liis judges, ordered the sentences to be sent to Vienna, where some of them were mitigated in tlieir details by the roj-al )ien. We take an instance : Joachim Andreas Schlik, whose courageous reply to his examiners wc have ' Comenius, pp. 209—211. Refomi. and Anti-Reform, in Bohem., pp. 287—290. - Comoniiis, pp. 211, 212. ali-eady quoted, was to have had his hand cut ofl", then to have been beheaded and quartered, and his limbs exjjosed on a stake at a cross-road ; but this sentence was changed by Ferdinand to beheading, and the affixing of his head and hand to the tower of the Bridge of Prague. The sentences of nearly all the rest were similarly dealt with ]>y the merciful monai'ch. The condemned were told that they were to die witliin two days, that is, on the 21st of June. This intimation was made to them that they might have a Jesuit, or a Capuchin, or a clergyman of the Augsburg Confession, to prepare them for death. They were now led back to prison : the noblemen were conducted to the Castle of Prague, and the citizens to the prisons of the pra;tor. Some "fellows of the baser sort," suborned for the purpose, in- sulted them as they were being led through the streets, crying out, " Why don't you now sing, 'The Lord reigneth"!" The ninety-ninth Psalm was a favourite ode of the Bohemians, wherewith they had been wont to kindle their devotion in the sanctuary, and their courage on the battle- field. Scarcely had they re-entered theii- prisons when a flock' of Jesuits and Capuchin monks, not waiting till they were called, gathered round them, and began to earnestly beseech them to change theii- religion, holding out the hope that even yet theii- Hves might be spared. Not wishing that hours so precious as the few that now remained to them should be wasted, they gave the intruders plainly to imderstand that they were but losing their pains, whereupon the good Fathers withdrew, loudly bewailing their ob.stinacy, and calling heaven and earth to witness that they were guiltless of the blood of men who had put away fi-oni them the gi-ace of God. The Protestant ministers were next introduced. The barons and nobles in the tower were attended by the minister of St. Nicholas, Rosacius by name. The citizens in the prisons of Old Prague were waited on by Werbenius and Jakessius, and tliose in New Prague by Clement and Hertwiz. The whole time till the hour of execution was sjient in religious e.xercises, in sweet converse, in earnest prayers, and in the siuguig of psalms. " Lastly," says the chronicler of the persecutions of the Bohemian Church, "they did prepare the holy martyi-s by the administration of the Lord's Supper for the future agony." On the evening of Sunday, as the ])risouers shut up in Old Prague were conversing with their pastor 3 " Ut muscic atlvolabunt." (Comeuiua.) 204 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. Werbenius, the cliief gaoler entered and announced the hour of supper. Tliey looked at each other, and all declared that they desired to eat no more on earth. Nevertheless, that their bodies might not be faint when they should be led oiit to exeoxi- tion, they agi-eed to sit down at table and partake of something. One laid the cloth, another the plates, a third brought water to wash, a fourth said grace, and a fifth observed that this was their last meal on earth, and tliat to-morrow they should sit fellow-martyrs : " Yea, for thy sake we arc killed all the day long ; . . . Rise, Lord, cast us not off for ever." A great crowd, struck with consternation at seeing their greatest and most venerated men led to death, followed them with sighs and tears. This night was spent as the preceding ono had been, in prayers and psalms. They exhorted one another to be of good courage, saying that as the glory of going first in the path of martyrdom had been awarded them, it behoved them to leave Vir.W or THE I'ALACE OV THE UOHEMIAN KINGS, AND THE CATHEDRAL OF HARDSCHIK. down and sup with Christ in heaven. The remark was overheard by the Prefect of Old Prague. On going out to his friends he observed jeeringly, "What think ye? These men believe that Christ keeps cooks to regale them in heaven ! " On these words being told to Jakessius, the minister, he replied that " Jesus too had a troublesome spectator at his last supper, Judas Iscariot." Meanwhile they were told th.at the barons and noblemen wore passing from the tower to the court- house, near to the market-place, where the scaffold on which they were to die had already been erected. They hastene WERE AmXlil 122 206 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. them be content to have as sufficient token from God, even this, " that that death whicli was bitter to the world he made sweet to tliem." . When the day liad broken tlicy Wi\slied and changed their clothes, j)utting on clean apparel as if they were going to a wedding, and so fitting their doublets, and even then- frills, that they might not iie<'d to re-arrange theu* dress on the scafibld. All tJie while John Kntnaiicr was praying fer\'ently that some token might be voiiclisafed them as a testimony of their innocence. In a little the sun rose, and the broad stream of the Moldau, as it rolled between the two Pragucs, and the roofs and steeples on either side, began to glow in the light. But soon all eyes were turned up^^ai'ds. A bow of dazzling brilliance was seen spanning the heavens.' There was not a cloud in the sky, no rain liad fallen for two days, yet tliere was this bow of mar- ToUoas brightness hung in the clear aii-. Tlie soldiers and townspeople rushed into the street to gaze at the strange phenomenon. The martyrs, who beheld it from their windows, called to mind the bow which greeted the eyes of Noah when he camo forth from the Ark. It was the ancient token of a faithfulness more steadfast than the pillars of eaxth;' and their feelings in witnessing it were doubtless akin to those -with which the second great father of the human family beheld it for the first time in the young skies of the post-dilu-vian world. The bow soon ceased to be seen, and the loud discliarge of a caimon told them that the hour of execution had arrived. The martj'rs arose, and embracmg, they bade each other be of good dieer, as did also the muiisters present, who exhorted them not to faint now when about to receive the cro^vn. The .scaffold had been erected Lard by in the great square or market-place, and several squadrons of caviilry and some companies of foot wei'e now seen tiiking up their position ai'ound it. The imperial judges and senatoi's next came forward and took their seats on a theatre, whence they could command a full view of the scaffold. XJndci' a canoj)y of state s.at Lichtcnstein, the Governor of Prague. " Vast numbers of spec- tators," says Oomcnius, "crowded the market-place, tlie streets, and all the ho\ises." The martjTS were called to go forth and die one after the other. When one had offered his life the ' "Nuntiatur formosiasiinus caelum cinxisse arcus." (Comonius.) ' Comeniue, pp. 223, 22-1. city officei's r'etunied and summoned the next. As if called to a banquet they rose with alacrity, and with faces on which shone a serene cheerfulness they walked to the bloody stage. All of them sub- mitted with undaunted courage to the stroke of the headsman. Rosacius, who was with them all the while, noted down their words, and ho tells us that when one was called to go to the scaffold he would addi-ess the rest as follows : " Most beloved friends, farewell. God give you the comfort of his Spuit, patience, and courage, that what before you con- fessed with the heart, the mouth, and the hand, you may now seal by your glorious death. Behold I go before you, that I may see the glory of my Lord Jesus Christ ! You ^\'ill follow, that we may to- gether behold the face of om- Father. This hour ends our sorrow, and begins our everlasting joy." To whom those who remained behind would make answer and say, " May God, to whom you go, prosper your joui-ney, and gi-ant you a happy passage from this vale of miseiy into the heavenly countiy. May the Lord Jesus send his angels to meet thee. Go, brother, before us to our Father's house.; we follow thee. Presently we .shall re- assemble in that heavenly glory of which we are confident throiigh him in whom we have be- lieved."'' The beaming faces and meek yet courageous utterances of these men on the scaffold, exhibited to the spectators a more certain token of the good- ness of their cause than the bow which had atti'acted their wondering gaze in the morning. Many of the senators, as well as the soldiere who guarded the execution, were moved to tears ; nor could the crowd have withheld the same tribute, had not the incessant beating of dnims, and the loud blaruig of trumpets, drowned the words spoken on the scaflbld. But these words were noted down by theii- pas- tors, who accompanied them to the block, and as the heroism of the scaffold is a spectacle more sublime, and one that will better repay an attentive study, than the heroism of the Ijattle-fiold, we shall permit these martyr-patriots to pass before ns one by one. The clamour that di'owned their dying words has long since been hushed ; and the voices of the scaffold of Pi-ague, rising clear and loud above the momentary noise, have travelled down the years to us. ' Comenius, p. 225. PALM-BEAEEES. 207 CHAriER IX. AN A n 51 Y OF MARTYRS Count Schlik — His Cruel Sentence — The B:u-oii of Biulowa — His Last Hours — Ar^es with the Jesuits — His Execu- tion— Christopher Harant— His Travels— His Death— Baron Kaplirz — His Dream — Attires himself for the Scaffold— Procopius Dworschezky— His Martyrdom— Otto Losz — His Sleep and Execution— Dionysius Czernin —His Behaviour on the Scaffold— Kochan—Steffek—Jessenius— His Learning — His Interview with the Jesuits- Cruel Death— Kliobr — Schulz— Kutnauer— His gi'eat Courage- His Death— Talents and Eank of these Martyi-s —Their Execution the Obsequies of their Country. Joachim Andreas Schlik, Count of Passau, and cliief justice under Frederick, comes first in the glorious host that is to march past us. He was descended of an ancient and ilhistrious family. A man of magnanimous spii-it, and excellent piety, lie united an admirable modesty with gi-eat business capacity. When he heard his sentence, giving his body to be quartered, and his limbs to be exposed at a cross-road, he said, " The loss of a sepulchre is a small nuUter." On hearing the gun in the morn- ing fired to announce the executions, " This," said lie, " is the signal ; let me go first." He walked to the soafibld, dressed in a robe of black silk, lioldijig a prayer-book in liis hands, and attended l>y four German clergymen.' He mounted the scaffold, and then marking the gi'eat brightness of the sun, he broke out, " Christ, thou Sim of righteousness, grant that through the darkness of death I may pass into the eternal light." He [laced to and fro a little while upon the scaffold, o^-idently meditating, but with a serene and dig- nified countenance, so that the judges could scarce icfrain from weeping. Having prayed, his page .'issisted him to undress, and then he kneeled down on a black cloth laid there for the purpose, and which was removed after each execution, that the next to die might not see the blood of the victim who had preceded him. While engaged in sUent pniyor, the executioner struck, and the head of Bohemia's gi-eatest son i-olled on the scaffold. His right hand was then stnick off and, together with his head, wa-s fixed on a spear, and set up on the tower of the Bridge of Prague. His body, un- touched by the executioner, was wraiiped in a cloth, and carried from the scaffold by four men in black masks. .Scarcely inferior in weight of character, and superior in the variety of his mental acconiiilish- ments to Count Schlik, was the second who was called to die— Wenceslaus, Baron of Budowiu He ' The Reformation and Anti-Reforn vol. i., p. 401. niton til Bohemia, was a nuan of incomparable talents and great learn- ing, which he had further improved by travelling through all the kingdoms of Western and Southern Em-ope. He had filled the highest oflices of the State under several monarch.s. Protestant writers speak of him as " the glory of his countiy, and the bright shining star of the Church, and as rather the father than the lord of his dependents." T[\e Romanist historian, Pelzel, equally extols his up- rightness of character and his renown in learning. When urged in prison to beg the clemency of Ferdinand, he replied, " I will rather die than see the ruin of my country." When one told him that it was rumoured of him that he had died of grief, he exclaimed, " Died of grief ! I never experienced such happiness as now. See here," said he, point- ing to his Bible, " this is my paradise ; never did it regale me with such store of delicious fruits as now. Here I daily stray, eating the manna of heaven, and drinking the water of life." On the third day before receiving his sentence he dreamed that he was walking in a pleasant meadow, and musing on the issue that might be awaiting his affairs, when lo ! one came to him, and gave him a Ijook, which when he had opened, he found the leaves were of silk, white as snow, with nothing written upon them save the fifth verse of the thirty-seventh Psalm : " Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in him ; and he shall bring it to pass." While he was poudeiing over these words there came yet another, carrying a white robe, which he cast over him. Wlien he awoke in the moniing he told his dream to his sen'ant. Some days after, when he moiuited the scaffold, " Now," said he, " I attire my.self in the white robe of my Savioiir's rigl i tcousness. " Early on the morning of his execution there came two Jesuits to him. who, complimenting him on his gi'cat learning, said that tlicy desired to do him a work of mercy by gaining his soul. " Would," he said, " you were as sure of your sal- vation as I am of mine, through the blood of the L;imb." "Good, my lord," .said they, ''but do not 208 HISTOEY OF PROTESTANTISM. presume too much ; for doth not the Scripture say, ' No man knoweth whetlicr he deserves gi-ace or ■wrath' ? " " Where find you that wTitten ? " lie asked ; " ]iei"c is the Bible, show me the words." " If I be not deceived," said one of them, " in the Epistle of Paul to Timothy." "You would teach me the way of sah'ation," .said the baron somewhat angrily, " thou wlio knowest thy Bible .so ill. But that the lielievcr may be sxii'e of his salvation is proved by the words of St. Paul, ' I know whom I Lave believed,' and also, ' there is laid up for me a crown of lighteousness.' " " But," rejoined the Jesuit, " Paul saj's this of himself, not of othere." " Thou art mistaken," said Budowa, '■ for it continues, ' not for me only, but for all them who love his aj^eaiing.' Depart, and leave me iii peace." He ascended the scaftbld with undaunttd look, and stroking his long white beard — for he was a man of seventy — he said, " Behold ! my gi'ey haii's, what honour awaits you ; this daj' you shall be crowned with martyrdom." After this he diiected Lis speech to God, praying for the Chiu-ch, for his country, for his enemies, and ha\'ing commended Lis soul to Christ he yielded his head to the e.xecu- tioner's swoi'd. That head was exposed by the side of that of his fellow patriot and martyi', Schlik, on the tower of the Bridge of Prague. The third who was called to ascend the scaffold was Christopher Harant, descended from the ancient and noble family of the Harauts of Pohdcz and Bezdruzicz. He had travelled in Europe, Asia, and Afiica, visiting Jerusalem and E^ypt, and publishing in his native tongue his travels in these various lands. He cultivated the sciences, wrote Greek and Latin verses, and had filled high office under several emperors. Neither his many accomplishments nor his great seiwices could redeem his life from the block. "VMien called to die he said, "I have travelled in many countries, and among many barbarous nations, I have undergone dangers manifold by land and sea, and now I sufl'er, though innocent, in my own country, and by the hands of those for whose good both my ancestors and myself have spent our fortunes and our lives. Father, forgive them." WLen he went forth, he prayed, " In thee, O Lord, have I i^ut my trust; lot me not be confounded." WLen he stejjped upon tLc scaffold Le lifted up Lis eyes, and said, " Into thy hands, O Lord, I com- mend my spirit." Taking off his doublet, he stepped upon the fatal cloth, and kneeling down, again prayed. The executioner from some c;iuse delaying to strike, he again broke out into sup- plication, " Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me, and receive my spii-it." TLe sword now fell, and Lis prayer and life ended togetlier. ■ Tlie fourtli to offer up Lis life was Caspar, Baron Kaplirz of Sulowitz, a kniglit of eighty-six yeai-s of age. He had faithfully served four emperors. Before going to the scaffold he called for Rosacius, and said, "How often Lave I entreated that God would be pleased to take me out of this life, but instead of granting my wi.sh, Le Las reserved me as a sacrifice for Limself Let God's will be done." " Yester- day," said Le, continuing his speech, " I was told tliat if I would petition PiLiice LicLtenstein for pardon mj' life would be spared. I never offended tlie jirince : I will desire pardon of Him against whom I have committed many sins. I have lived long enough. When I cannot distinguish the taste of meats, or relish tLe sweetness of drinks ; wLen it is tedious to sit long, and u-ksome to lie ; wLen I camiot walk imless I lean on a staff", or be assisted by otLers, what profit would such a life be to me 1 God forbid that I should be pulled from this holy company of martyi's." On the day of execution, when the minister who was to attend him to the scaflbld came to him, he said, " I laid this miserable body on a bed, but what sleep could so old a man have 1 Yet I did sleep, and saw two angels coming to me, who wiped my face with fine linen, and bade me make ready to go along with them. But I trust in my God that I have these raigels present with ■ me, not by a dream, but in truth, who minister to me while I live, and shall carry my soul from the scaflbld to the bosom of Abraham. For although I am a sinner, yet am I purged by the blood of my Redeemer, who was made a propitiation for our sins." Having put on Lis usual attire, Le made a robe of tLe finest linen be tlu'own over him, covering his entire person. " Behold, I put on my wedding gai-ment," he said. Being called, he arose, put on a velvet cloak, bade adieu to all, and went forth at a slow pace by reason of liis great age. Fear- ing lest ill mounting the scaffold he should fall, and his enemies flout him, he craved permission of the minister to lean upon him when .ascending the steps. Being come to the fatal spot, he had much ado to kneel down, and his head hung so low that the executioner feared to do his office. " My lord," said Pastor Rosacius, " as you have commended your soul to Christ, do you now lift up yourself toward heaven." He raised himself up, saying, " Lord Jesus, into thy hands I com- mend my spirit." The executioner now gave his ' Comenius, cap. 63. LAST WORDi^. 209 stroke, his grey head sank, and hLs body lay pros- trate on the scatibkl.' The fiftli to fall beneath the executioner's sword Wiis Procopius Dworschezky, of Olbraniowitz. On receiving his sentence he said, " If the emperor promises himself anything when my head is ofl', let it be so." Ou passing before tlie judges ho said, " Tell the emperor, as I now stand at his tribunal, the day comes when he shall stand before the juilgment-seat of God." He was procealing in his addi-ess, when the drums beat and drowned his words. When he had undressed for the exe- cutioner, he took out his purse containing a Hungarian ducat, and gave it to the minister who attended him, saying, " Behold my last riches ! these are unprofitable to me, I resign them to you.' A gold medal of Frederick's coronation, that hinig round his neck, he gave to a bystander, saying, " When my dear King Frederick shall sit again upon his throne, give it to him, and tell him that I wore it on my breast till the day of my death." He kneeled down, and the sword fall- ing as he was praying, his spiiit ascended with his last words to God." Otto Losz, Lord of Komarow, came next. A man of great parts, he had travelled much, and discharged many important offices. When he re- ceived liis sentence he said, " I have seen barbarous nations, but what cruelty is this ! Well, let them send one part of me to Rome, another to Spain, another to Turkey, and throw the fourth into the sea, yet will my Redeemer bring my body together, and cause me to see him with these ejes, praise him with this mouth, and love him with this heart." Wlien Rosacius entered to tell him that he wa.s called to the scaflbld, " he rose hastily out of his seat," says Comenius, " like one in an ecstacy, saying, ' O, how I rejoice to see you, that I may tell you what has happened to me ! As I sat here grieving that I had not one of my own communion [the United Brethren] to dispense the Eucharist to me, I fell asleep, and behold my Saviour appeared unto me, and said, ' I purify thee with my blood,' and then infused a drop of his blood into my heart ; at the feeling of this I awaked, and leaped for joy : now I uudei-stand what that is. Believe, (Did thou hast eaten. I fear death no longer." As he went ou his way to the scaffold, Rosacius said to him, " That Jesus who appeared to you in your sleep, will now appear to you in hLs glory." " Yes," replied the martyi-, " he will meet me ' Comemus, cap. 64. TJie Reformation and Anti-Rcfur- mation in Bohernia, vol. i., pp. 41G, 417. ' Comenius, c.ip. C3. with liLs angels, and conduct me into the banquet- ing-chamber of an everlastincj n-.arriage." Being come to the scaffold, he fell on hi.s face, and prayed in silence. Then rising up, he yielded himself to the executioner. He was followed on the scaflfold by Dionysius Czernin, of Chudonitz. This sufferer was a Ro- manist, but his counsels not ])lc;ising the Jesuits, he fell under the suspicion of heresy ; and it is probable that the Fathers were not sorry to see him condemned, for his death served as a pretext for aihrming that these executions were for politiwiJ, not religious causes. Wlicn the other prisoners were declaring their faith, Czernin protested that this was his faith also, and that in this faith did he die. When the othei-s received the Lord's Supper, he .stood by dissolved in tears, pra3ing most fervently. He was offered the Eucharistic cup; but smiting on his breast, and sighing deeply, he said, " I rest in that grace which hath come imto me." He was led to the scaflbld by a canon .and a Jesuit, but gave small heed to their exhortationa Declining the " kiss of peace," and turning his back upon the crucifix, he fell on his face, and prayetl softly. Then raising himself, and looking up into the heavens, he said, "They can kill the body, they camiot kill the soul ; that, O Lord Jesus, I commend to thee," and died. There followed other noblemen, whose behavioui- on the scaflbld was equally courageous, and whose dying words were equally im])ressive, but to record them all would unnecessai-Uy prolong our naiTation. We take a few examples from among the citizens whose blood was mingled with that of the nobles in defence of the religion and liberty of theii" native land. Valentine Kochan, a learned man, a Go- vernor of the Umvei-sity, and Secretary of Prague, protested, when Ferdinand II. was thrust upon them, that no king should be elected without the consent of Moravia and Silesia. This caused him to be marked out for vengeance. In his la.st hours he bewailed the divisions that had prevailed among the Protestants of Bohemia, and which had opened a door for their calamities. " O ! " said he, " if all the States had employed more thought and diligence in maintaining union; if there had not been so much hatred ou both sides ; if one had not sought preference before another, and had not given way to mutual suspicions ; moreover, if tlie clergy and the laity had assisted each other witli counsel and action, in love, unitj-, and peace, we should never have been thus far misled."' On the •■' The Reformation and Anti- Reformation in Bohemia, vol. i., p. 423 210 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. scaflfold he sang the last verse of the sixteenth Psalm : " Thou wilt show me the path of life ; in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy i-iglit hand arc pleasiu-es for evenuore;" and then yielded his head to the exeoitioner. Tobias Steffek was a man of equal modesty and piety. He liad been chosen to fill impoi-tant tnists by his fellow-citizens. " Jlany a cup of blessing," said he, " have I received from the hand of the Lord, and shall I not accept this cup of affliction ? I am going by a narrow path to the heavenly king- dom." His time in prison was mostly passed in sighs and tears. Wlien called to go to the scafibld, he looked up with eyes suffused with weeinng, yet with the hope shining throngh his teai-s that the same stroke that should sever his head from his body wouLI wipe them away for ever. In this hope he died. John Jessenius, professor of medicine, and Chancellor of the University of Prague, was the next whose blood was spilt. He was famed for his medical skill all over Europe. He was the intimate friend of tlie illustrious Tycho Brahe, and Physician in OnUnaiy to two emperors — Rudolph ind Matthias. He it was, it is said, who intro- luced the study of anatomy into Prague. Being i, man of eloquent addi-ess, he was employed on an important embassy to Hungary, and tliis made him a marked object of the vengeance of Ferdinand II. His sentence was a cruel one. He was fii-st to liave his tongue cut out, then he was to be be- headed, and afterwai'ds quartered. His head was to be affixed to the Bridge-tower, and his limbs were to be exposed on stakes in the four quarters of Prague. On hearing this sentence, he said, " You use us too cruelly ; but know that tliere wDl not be wanting some who ^vill take dovm the heads you thus ignominiously expose, and lay tlieni in the grave."' The Jesuits evinced a most lively desire to bring this learned man over to their side. Jessenius listened as they enlarged on the efficacy of good works. " Aks !" replied he, "my time is so short that I fear I shall not be able to lay up such a "stock of merits as will suffice for my salvation." Tlie Fathers, thinking tlie \-ictory as good as won, exclaimed, " My dear Je.ssenius, though you should ' This anticipation was realised in 16.31. After the victory of Gustavus Adolphus at Loipsic, Prague was entered, and Count Thorn took down the heads from the Bridge-tower, and conveyed them to the Tein Church, followed by a lai-ge assemblage of nobles, pastors, and citizens, who had returned from exile. They were after- ■w.irds buried, but the spot was concealed from the knowledge of the Romanists. (Comenius, cap. 73.) die this verj' moment, we promise you that yon shall go straight to heaven." "Is it soV replied the confessor; " then where is your Purgatory for those who are not able to fill up the number of tlieii' good deeds here?" Finding themselves but befooled, they departed from him. On mounting the scafibld, the executioner ajv proached him, and demanded his tongue. He at once gave it — that tongue which had pleaded the cause of his country before princes and States. It was drawn out with a pail- of tongs. He then dropped on his knees, his hands tied behind his back, and l^gan to {iray, " not siieaking, but stuttering," says Comenius. His head was stnick ofi", and affixed to the Bridge-tower, and his body was taken below the gallows, and dealt with ac- cording to the sentence. One of the lights, not of Boliemia only, but of Europe, had been put out. Chi-istoplier Khobr was the next whose life was demanded. He was a man of heroic mind. Speaking to his fellow-sufierers, he said, " How glorious is the menaoi-y of Huss and Jerome ! And ■\vhy1 because they laid down theii- lives for the truth." He cited the words of Ignatius — "lam the com of God, and shall be ground with the teeth of beasts." " We also," he added, " are the corn of God, so^\^l in the field of the Chui-ch. Be of good cheer, God is able to raise up a thousand witnesses from every drop of our blood." He went with firm step, and face elate, to the place where he was to die. Standing on the scaffi3ld, he said, "Must I die hei-e? No! I shall live, and declare the works of tlie Lord in the land of the living." Kneeling down, he gave his head to the execu- tioner and his spirit to God. He was followed by John Schulz, Burgomaster of Kuttenberg. On being led out to die, he sent a message to his friends, saying, " The bitterness of this parting will make our reunion sweet indeed." On mounting the scafibld, he quoted tlie words of the Psalm, " Whj^ art tliou cast down, O my soul V When he had gone a few paces forward, he continued, " Tiiist in God, for I shall yet praise him." Advancing to the spot where lie was to die, he threw himself on his face, and spread forth his hands in prayer. Then, rismg up, he received that stroke which gave him at once temporal death and eternal Kfe. In this procession of kingly and glorious spirits who travel by the crimson road of the scafibld to the everlasting gates, there are others whom we must permit to pass on in silence. One other martyr only shall we notice ; lie is the youngest of them all, and we have seen him liefore. He is John Kutnauer, senator of Old Prague, tlie same whom 212 HISTORY OF mOTESTANTISM. wo siiw praying that there might be given some " token" to the martyi-s, and who, when the bow apiM'iiroJ a little after sunrise spanning the heavens al)Ove Prague, accepted it as the answer to his ti:-iyor.' No one of all that heroic company was more courageous than Kutnauer. When the Jesuits came round him, he said, "Depart, gentlemen; why slioidd you persist in labour so unprofitable to yourselves, and so troublesome to us!" One of the Fathers observed, "These men are as hard as rocks." " We arc so, indeed," said the senator, " for we are joined to that rock which is Christ." When summoned to the scaflbld, his friends threw themselves upon him, overwhelming him with their embraces and tears. He alone did not weep. " Refrain," he said, "let us be men; a little while, and we shall meet in the heavenly glory." And then, says the chronicler, " with the face of a lion, as if going to battle, he set forward, singing in his own tongue the German hymn : ' Behold the hoiu- draws near,' &c. " Kutnauer was sentenced to die by the rope, not by the sword. On the scaffold he gave his purse to the executioner, and then placed himself beneath the beam from which he was to be suspended. He cried, or rather, says the chronicler, " roared," if haply he might be heard above the noise of the di-imis and tnmipets, placed around the scaffold on pui'pose to drown the last words of the suf- ferers. " I have plotted no treason," he said ; " I have committed no murder; I ha\e done no deed worthy of death. I die because I have been faithful to the Gospel and my country. O God, pardon my enemies, for they know not what they do. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He was then thrown ofl' the ladder, and gave up the ghost." We close this gi-and procession of kings, this march of palm-bearers. As they pass on to the axe and the halter there is no pallor on theii' coun- tenances. Theii- step is firm, and their eye is bright. They are the men of the greatest talents and the most resplendent virtues in their nation. They be- long to the most illustrious families of their country. Tliey had filled the greatest offices and they wore the highest honours of the State ; yet we see them led out to die the death of felons. The day that saw these men expire on the scaflbld may be said to have witnessed the obsequies of Bohemia. CHAPTER X. SUPPRESSION OF PROTESTANTISJI IN BOHEMIA. rolicy of Ferdinand II. — Murder of Ministers by the Troops— New Plan of Persecution— Kindness and its Effects — Expulsion of Anabaptists from Moravia — The Pastors Banished— Sorrowful Partings- Exile of Pastors of Kuttenberg— The Lutherans "Graciously Dismissed" — The Churches Eazud — Tlie New Clergy — Purification of the Chiu'ches — The Schoolmasters Banished — Bibles and Religious Books Burned — Spanish Jesuits and Lichtenstein's Dragoons — Emigration of the Nobles— Eeigu of Terror in the Towns — Oppressive Edicts— Ransom-Money — Unprotestantising of Villages and Rural Parts— Protestantism Trampled out — Bohemia a Desert— Testimony of a Popish Writer. The sufferings of that cruel time were not confined to the nobles of Bohemia. The pastors were their companions in the horrors of the persecution. After the first few months, during which the con- queror lured back by fair promises all who had fled into exile, or had hidden themselves in secret places, the policy of Ferdinand II. and his advisers was to crush at once the chief men whether of the nobility or of the ministry, and afterwards to deal with the common people as they might find it expedient. ' This how is mentioned by both Protestant and Popish writers. The people, after gazing some time at it, admir- ing its beauty, were seized with fear, and many rushed in terror to their houses. either by the rude violence of the hangman or the subtle craft of the Jesuit. This astute policy was pursued with the most unflinching resolution, and the issue was the almost entire. trampling out of the Protestantism of Bohemia and !Moravia. In closing this sad story we must briefly narrate the tortures and death which were inflicted on the Bohemian pastoi's, and the manifold woes that befell the unhappy country. Even before the victory of the Weissenberg, the ministers in various parts of Bohemia suflered dreadfidly from the licence of the troop.s. No ■ Comenius, cap. 78. The Reformation and Anti-Refor- mation in Bohemia, vol. i., pp. 429, 430. A NEW "REFORMATION." 31S soonci' had the Austrian array crossed the frontier, than the soldiers began to plunder and kill as thej- had a mind. Pastors found preaching to theii- flocks were murdered in the pul[)it ; the sick were shot in their beds ; some were lianged on trees, othei'S were tied to posts, and their extremities scorched with fire, while others wore tortured in various cruel ways to compel them to disclose facts which they did not know, and give up trea- sure wliich they did not possess. To the barbarous murder of the father or the husband wa.s sometimes added the brutal outi-age of his family. But when the victory of the Weis.senberg gave Bohemia and its capital into the power of Ferdi- nand, the persecution was taken out of the hands of the soldiers, and committed to those who knew how to conduct it, if not more humanely, yet more systematically. It was the settled purpose of the emperor to bring the whole of Bohemia back to Rome. He was ten'ified at the spirit of liberty and patriotism which he saw rising in the nation ; he ascribed that spirit entii'cly to the new religion of which John Huss had been the gi-eat apostle, since, all down from the martyi-'s daj', he could trace the popular con^iilsions to which it had given rise : and he despaired of restoring quiet and order to Bohemia till it shoiUd again be of one religion, and that religion the Roman. Thus political were blended with religious motives in the terrible per- secution which Ferdinand now commenced. It was nearly a year till the plan of persecution was arranged; and when at last the plan was settled, it was resolved to baptise it by the name of " Reformation." To restore the altai-s and images which the preachers of the new ftiith had cast out, and again plant the old faith in the defm-med churches, was, they affirmed, to effect a real Reformation. They had a perfect right to the word. Tliey appointed a Commission of Reformers, having at its head the Archbishop of Prague and several of the Bohemian grandees, and miited -n-ith them was a numerous body of Jesuits, who bore the chief burden of this new Reformation. After the executions, which we have described, were over, it was resolved to proceed by kincbiess and jier- suasion. If the Reformation could not be completed without the axe and the halter, these would not be wanting ; meanwhile, mild measures, it was thought, would best succeed. The monks who dispersed themselves among the people assured them of the emperor's favour should they embrace the emperor's religion. The times were hard, and such as had fallen into straits were assisted with money or with seed-coni. Tiie Protestant poor were, on the other hand, refused alms, and at times could not even buy bread with money. Husbands were separated from their wdves, and children from their parents. DisfranchLsement, expulsion from corporations and offices, the denial of burial, and similar oppressions were inflicted on those who evinced a disposition to remain steadfast in their Protestant profession. If any one declared that he would exile himself rather than apostatise, he wa.s laughed at for his folly. " To what land will you go," he was asked, " where j'ou shall find the liberty you desire % Everywhere you shall find heresy proscribed. One's native soil is sweet, and you will be glad to return to yours, only, it may be, to find the door of the emperor's clemency closed." Numerous convei-sions were efiected before the adoption of a single harah measure ; but wherever the Seriptui-al knowledge of Huss's Reformation had taken root, there the monks found the work much more difficult. The first gi-eat tentative measure was the expul- sion of the Anabaptists from Moravia. The most uubefriended, they were selected as the fii-st \'ic- tims. The Anabaptists wei'e gathered into some forty-five communities or colleges, where they had all things in common, and were much i-espected by their neighbours for their quiet and orderly lives. Then- lands were skilfully cultivated, and their taxes dul_y paid, but these qualities could procure them no favour in the eyes of theii- sove- reign. The order for their banishment arrived in the beginning of autumn, 1622, and was all the more severe that it mferrod the loss of the labours of the year. Lea-\-ing their fields mireaped and their gi-apes to rot upon the bough, they arose, and quitted house and lands and vineyards. The chil- dren and aged they placed in carts, and setting forward in long and soi'ro'n'ful troops, they held on then- way across the Moravian plains to Hungary and Transylvania, where they fovnid new habita- tions. The}' were happy in being the first to be compelled to go away ; greater sevei'ities awaited those whom they left behind. Stop the fountains, and the streams will dry up of themselves. Acting on this maxim, it was resolved to banish the pastors, to shut up the chiu'ches, and to burn the books of the Protestants. In pursuance of this programme of pei-secution, the ministers of Prague had si>: articles laid before them, to which their submission was demanded, as the condition of their remaining in the country. The first called on them to collect among them- selves a sum of several thousand pounds, and give it as a loan to tlie emperor for the pajmient of the troops employed in suppressing the rebellion. Tlie remaining five articles amounted to an abandon- 2U HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. ment of the Pi-otestant faith. Tlie ministcr.s re- plied imanimoxisly that " they would do nothing against their consciences." The decree of Ixinish- ment wa.s not long defen-ed. To pave the way for it, an edict was issued, which threw the -whole blame of the war upon the ministers. They were stigmatised as "turbulent, rash, and seditious men," who had " made a new king," and who even now " were plotting pernicious confederacies," and preparing new insurrections against the empei-or. They must therefore, said the edict, be driven from a kingdom which coidd know neither quiet nor .safety so long as they were in it. Accordingly on the 1.3th of December, 1621,' the decree of banish- ment was given forth, ordering all the ministers in Prague within three days, and all others through- out Bohemia and the United Provinces within eight days, to remove themselves beyond the bounds of the kingdom, " and that for ever." If any of the proscribed should presume to remain in the countr^y, or should retiu-n to it, they were to suffer death, and the same fate was adjudged to all who should dare to harbour them, or who should in the least favour or help them.^ But, says Comenius, " the scene of their depar- tiu-e cannot be described," it was so overwhelmingly soiTowful. The pastoi-s were followed by their loving flocks, bathed in tears, and so stricken with anguish of spirit, that they gave vent to their grief in sighs and groans. Bitter, thrice bitter, were their forewells, for they knew they should see each other no more on earth. The churches of the banished ministers were given to the Jesuits. The same sorrowful scenes were repeated in all the other towns of Bohemia where there were Protestant ministers to be driven away ; and what town was it that had not its Protestant pa.stor? Commissaries of Reformation went from town to town with a troop of horse, enforcing the edict. Many of the Romanists sympathised with the exiled pastors, and condemned the cruelty of the Govern- ment ; the populations generally were friendly to the ministers, and their departure took jilace amid public tokens of mourning on the part of those among whom they had lived. The crowds on the streets were often so great that the wagons that bore away then- little ones could with difficulty move forward, while sad and tearful fiioes looked down upon the departing troop from the windows. On the 27th of Jidy, 1G23, the ministers of Kut- teuberg were commanded to leave the city before bi-eak of day, and remove beyond the bounds of the kingdom within eight day.s. Twenty-one ministers j);ussed out at the gates at early morning, followed by some hundreds of citizens. After they had gone a little way the assembly halted, and dra^ving aside from the highway, one of the minis- tei-s, John Matthiades, preached a farewell sermon to the multitude, from the words, " They shall cast you out of the synagogues." Earnestly did the preacher exhort them to constancy. The whole assembly was di-owned in teai-s. When the sermon had ended, " the heavens rang again," says the chronicler, " with their songs and their lamenta- tions, and with mutual embraces and kisses they commended each other to the grace of God."' The flocks returned to the city, and their exiled shep- herds went on their way. The first edict of proscription fell mainly upon the Calvinistic clergy and the ministers of the United Brethren. The Lutheran pastors were left unmolested as yet. Ferdinand II. hesitated to give offence to the Elector of Saxony by driving his co-religionists out of his dominions. But the Jesuits took the alai-m when they saw the Cal- vinists, who had been deprived of their own pastors, flocking to the churches of the Lutheran clergy. They complained to the monarch that the work was only half done, that the pestilence could not be arrested till every Protestant minister had been banished from the land, and the urgencies of the Fathers at length prevailed over the fears of the king. Ferdinand issued an order that the Lu- theran ministers should follow their brethren of the Calvinistic and Moravian Communion into exUe. The Elector of Saxony remonstrated against this violence, and was politely told that it was very far indeed from being the fact that the Lutheran clergy had been banished — they had only received a " gracious dismissal."'' The razing of the chm-ches in many places was consequent on the expulsion of the pastors. Better that they should be ruinous heaps than that they should remain to be occupied by the men who were now brought to till them. The lowest of the priests were drafted from other places to enjoy the ^^acaui livings, and fleece, not feed, the desolate flocks. There could not be found so many cui'ates as there were now empty churches in Bohemia; and two, six, nay, ten or a dozen parishes were committed to the care of one man. Under these hirelings the peoi)le learned the value of that Gospel which they had, l)erhaps too easily, permitted to be taken from them. Comenius, cap, 51, p. 181. 3 " Tandem cantu et fletu resouante ccelo, amplexibus ct osculis umtuis Divina; so commendarunt gratiae." (Comenius, p. 19.5.) ■• TJte Reformalion and Anti-Rfformation in Bohemia. vol. ii., pp. 32, 33. GRADUAL RUIN OF BOHEMIA. 215 in tlic persons of Hieir banished pastors. Some cliurches remained without a priest foryeare; "but the people," says Comcnius, " found it a less afflic- tion to lack wholesome instraction than to resort to poisoned pastures, and become the prey of wolves." ' A number of monks were impoi-ted from Poland, that countiy being near, and the language similar, but their dissolute lives were the scandal of that Christianity which they w-ere brought to teach. On the testimony of all historians, Popish as well as Protestant, they were riotous livers, insatiably gi-eedy, and so shamelessly profligate that abomin- able crimes, unknown in Bohemia tUl then, and not fit to be named, say the chroniclers, began to pollute the land. Even the Pojiish historian Pelzel says, " they led vicious lives." Many of them had to retmni to Poland faster than they had come, to escape the popular venge^-iuee which their misdeeds had awakened against them. Bohemia was doubly scourged : it had lost its pious ministers, and it had received in their room men who were fitter to occupy the culprit's cell than the teacher's chair. The cleansing of the chui-ches which had been occupied by the Protestant ministers, before being again taken possession of by the Eomish clei-g}-, presents us with many tilings not only fooli.sh, but droll. The pulpit was first whipped, next sprinkled ■with holy water, then a priest was made to enter it, and speaking for the pulpit to say, "I have sinned." The altars at which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper had been dispen.sed were dealt vdth much in the same waj'. When the Jesuits took possession of the church in Prague which had been occupied by the United Brethren, they first strewed gunpowder over its floor, and then set fire to it, to disinfect the buUding by flame and smoke from the poison of heresy. Tlie " cup," the well-known Bohemian symbol, erected over church portals and city gates, was pulled down, and a statue of the Virgin put up in its stead. If a church was not to be used, because it was not needed, or because it was incon- veniently situated, it was either razed or shut up. If only shut up it was left unoonsecrated, and in that dreadful condition the Romanists were afraid to cuter ii. The churchyards shared the fate of the churches. The monumental tablets- of the Protes- ttint dcail were broken in pieces, the inscriptions were eflticed, and the bones of the dead in many inst.ances were dug up and burned.^ AAer the pastore, the iron hand of jiersecution fell upon the schoolmasters. All teachei's who refused to conform to the Church of Rome, and teacli the new catechism of the Je.siiit Canisius, were banished. The destiiiction of the Protestant University of Prague followed. The non-Catholic professors were exiled, and the building was de- livered over to the Jesuits. The third great raeasiire adopted for the overthrow of Protestantism was the destruction of all religious books. A com- mission travelled from town to town, which, assembling the people by the tolling of the bells, explained to them the cause of their visit, and " exhorted them," says George Holyk, " in kind, sweet, and gentle words, to bring all their books." If gentle words failed to draw out the peccant volumes, threats and a strict inquisition in every house followed. The books thus collected were examined by the Jesuits who accompanied the commissioners, and while immoral works escaped, all in which was detected the slightest taint of heresy v.-ere condemned. They were carried away iu baskets and carts, piled up in the market- place, or under the gallows, or outside the city gates, and there burned. Many thousands of Bohemian Bibles, and countless volumes of general literature, were thus destroyed. Since that time a Bohemian book and a scarce book have been .synonymous. The past of Bohemia was blotted out ; the great writers and the illustrious warriors who had flourished in it were forgotten ; the noble memories of early times were buried in the ashes of these fires ; and the Jesuits found it easy to make their pupils believe that, previous to theu- arri\-al, the country had been immersed Ln darkness, and that with them came the first streaks of light in its sky.-' The Jesuits who were so helpful in tliLs " Refor- mation " were Spaniards. They had brought with them the new order of the Brethren of Mercy, who proved their most efficient coadjutors. Of these Brethren of Mercy, Jacobeus gives the fol- lowing graphic Init not agi-eeable picture : — " They ■were saints abroad, but furies at home ; their dre-ss was that of paupers, but their tables were those of gluttons ; they had the maxims of the ascetic, but the morals of the rake." Other allies, perhajjs even more efficient iii promoting convei-sions to the Roman Church, came to the aid of the Jesuits. These were the well-known Lichtenstein dragoons. These men hiul never faced an enemy, or leai-ned on the battle-field to be at once brave and merciful. Comonius, cap. 51, p. 103. 1 Anii-Bfformalion in Bohemia, - The lUforwdiion vol. ii., pp. 10—10. ' ComeniuB, cap. 10."). The Refomiaiion »nd Anti-Refor. vialion in Bohcmiii, vol. ii., chap. 3. ;io HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. They wore a set of viL-Ious and cowiudly ruffians, wlio delighted in terrifying, torturing, and mur- dering the pious peasants. They drove them like cattle to church with the sabre. When billeted on Protestant families, they conducted themselves like incarnate demons ; the members of the household had either to declare themselves Romanists, or flee to the woods, to be out of the reach of their violence and the hearing of their oaths. As the Jesuits were boasting at Rome in presence of the Pope of having converted Bohemia, the famous Capuchin, Valerianus Magnus, who was present, said, " Holy Father, give me soldiers as they were given to the Jesuits, and I will convert the whole world to the Catholic faith."' We have already narrated the executions of the most illustrious of the Bohemian nobles. Those whose lives were spared were overwhelmed by burdensome taxes, and reiterated demands for sums of money, on various pretexts. After they had been tolei'ably fleeced, it was resolved to banish them from the kingdom. On Ignatius Loyola's day, the 31st of July, in the year 1627, an edict appeared, in which the emperor declared that, having " a fathei ly care for the salvation of his kingdom," he would permit none but Catholics to live in it, and he commanded all who refused to return to the Chiuch of Rome, to sell their estates within six months, and depart from Bohemia. Some there were who parted with " the treasure of a good conscience " that ihey might remain in their native land ; but the greater part, more steadfastly -minded, sold theii- estates for a nominal price in almost every instance, and went forth into exile." The decree of banishment was extended to widows. Their sons and daughters, being minoi-s, were taken forcible possession of by the Jesuits, and were shut up in colleges and convents, and their goods managed by tutors ap- pointed by the priests. About a hundred noble families, forsaking their ancestral domains, were dispei^sed throughout the neighbouring countries, and among these was the gi-ey-headed baron, Charles Zierotin, a man highly respected throughout all Boiiemia for his piety and courage. The places of the banished grandees were filled by persons of low degree, to whom the emperor could give a patent of nobility, but to whom he coidd give neither elevation of soul, nor dignity of character, nor grace of niamiers. The free cities were placed under a reign of teiroiism. New governors ?.nd imperial jv.dges .vere appointed to ride them ; but from what class of the popidutioa were these oflicials drawn ? The first were selected from the new nobility ; the second, says Comenius — and his statement was not denied by his contem- poraries— were taken from " banished Italians or Germans, or apostate Bohemians, gluttons who had squandered theii- fortimes, notorious mmderers, bastards, cheats, fiddlers, stage-players, mutineers, even men who were unable to read, without pro- perty, wthout home, without conscience." * Such were the judges to whom the goods, the liberties, and the lives of the citizens were committed. The less infamous of the new officials, the governors namely, were soon removed, and the " gluttons, murderers, fidcUers, and stage-players " were left to tjTamiise at pleasure. No complaint was listened to; extortionate demands were enforced by the military; marriage was forbidden except to Roman Catho- lics ; funeral rites were prohibited at Protestant bui'ials; to harbour any of the banished ministers was to incur fine and imprisonment ; to work on a Popish holiday was punishable \vith imprisonment and a fine of ten florins ; to laugh at a priest, or at his sermon, inferred banishment and confiscation of goods ; to eat flesh on prohibited days, without an indulgence from the Pope, was to incur a fine of ten florins ; to be absent from Church on Siuiday, or on festival-mass days, to send one's .son to a non- Catholic school, or to educate one's family at home, was forbidden under heavy penalties ; non-Catholics were not i^ermitted to make a will ; if nevertheless they did so, it was null and void ; none were to be admitted into arts or trades unless they first em- braced the Popish faith. If any should speak unbecomingly of the '• Blessed Virgin the Motlicr of God," or of the " illustrious House of Austiia," " he shall lose his head, without the least favour or pardon." The poor in the hospitals were to be con- verted to the Roman Catholic faith before the feast of All Saints, otherwise they were to be turned out, and not again admitted till they had entered the Church of Rome. So was it enacted in July, 1624, by Charles, Prince of Lichtenstein, as " the con- stant and unalterable will of His Sacred Majesty Ferdinand 11."^ In the Hiuim year (1624) all the citizens of Prague who had not renounced their Protestant faith, and entered the Roman communion, were informed by public edict that they had forfeited their estates by rebellion. Nevertheless, their ' The Reformation and Anti-Reformation in Bohemia, vol. ii., p. 114. ^ Comeniusj cap. 89. ' "Lurcones qui sua docoxerant, homicidas infames, spurios, mangones, fiJieines, comajdos, cinifloncs, qnos- dam etiam alphabeti igiiaros homines," lic. (Comenius, cap. 90, p. 313.) ■■ Comenius, cap. 91. " UNPEOTESTANTISING " VILLAGES. 217 gracious monarch was willing to admit them to pardon. Each citizen was required to declare on oath the amount of goods which he possessed, and his pardon-money wa.s fixed accordingly. The "i-ansom" varied from 100 up to G,000 guilders. The next " thunderbolt " that fell on the non- Catholics was the deprivation of the rights of citizenship. No one, if not in communion with the Church of Rome, could cany on a trade or business in Prague. Hundreds were and once Protestant Pra;,aie bowed its neck to the Papal yoke.' In a similar way, and with a like success, did the " Commissioners of the Pieforma- tion " carry out their instructions in all the chief cities of Bohemia. After the same foshion were the villages and rural parts "unprotestantised." The Emperor Matthias, in 1610, had guaranteed the peasantry of Bohemia in the free exercise of the Protestant religion. This jsrivilege was now abolished. VIEW OF THE GROSSE RING, PR.IGUE, VTUERE THE M.iRTYKS WERE EXECVTED. sunk at once by this decree into poverty. It was next resolved to banish the more considerable of those citizens who still remained " unconverted." First four leading men liad sentence of exile re- corded against them ; then seventy othei-s were expatriated. Soon thereafter several hundreds were sent into banishment ; and the crafty persecutoi's now paused to mark the effect of these sevei'ities upon the common people. Terrified, ground down into poverty, suflbring from impi-isonment and other inflictions, and deprived of their leaders, they found the people, as they had hojied, veiy ]iliant. A small number, wlio voluntarily exiled themselves, excepted, the citizens conformed. Thus the populous 123 beginning was made in the villages, where the flocks were deprived of their shepherds. Theii- Bibles and other religious books were next taken £i-om them and destroyed, that the flame might go out when the fuel was withdrawn. The ministers and Bibles out of the way, the monks ajipcared on tlie scene. They entered with soft words and smiling faces. They confidently promised ligliter burdens and happier times if the people would only forsake then- heresy. They even showed them the beginning of this golden age, by bestowing upon the more ne- cessitoiis a few small benefactions. When the ' Comenius, cap. 92. 218 HISTOKY OF PROTESTANTISM. con^-cv.sions did not answer tlic fond expectations of tlic Ftitliers, tliey changed their fii-st bland utterances into rough words, and even threats. The peasantry were commanded to* go to mass. A list of the parishioners was given to the clerk, that the absentees from church might be marked, and A^isited with fine. If one was detected at a secret Protestant conventicle, he was punished vdth fiagellatiou and imprisonment. Marriage and bap- tism were next forbidden to Proteistants. The peasants were sunnnoned to the towns to be examined and, it might be, punished. If they fiHed to obey the citation they were sm'prised over- night by the soldiers, taken from their beds, and driven into the towns like herds of cattle, where they were thrust into prisons, towers, cellars, and stables ; many perishing through the hunger, thirst, cold, and stench which they thei-e endured. Other tortures, still more horrible and disgusting, were invented, and put in practice upon these miserable creatures. Many renounced their faith. Some, unwilling to abjure, and yet unable to bear their pi-olonged tortures, earnestly begged their pei-secutoi-s to kill them outright. "No," would tlieir tormentors reply, "the emperor does not thii-st for your blood, but for your salvation." Tliis sufficiently accounts for the paucity of martyi-s unto blood in Bohemia, notwithstanding the lengthened and cniel persecution to which it was subject. There were not wanting many who would have braved death for their faith ; but the Jesuits studiously avoided setting up the stake, and pre- ferred rather to wear out the disciples of the Gospel by tedious and cruel tortures. Those only whose condemnation they could colour mtli some political pretext, as was the case ^vith the noblemen whose martyrdoms we have recorded, did they bring to the scaffold. Thus they were able to suppress the Protestantism of Bohemia, and yet they could say, with some little plaitwibility, that no one had died for his religion. But in trampling out its Protestantism the jiersecutor trampled out the Bohemian nation. First of all, the flower of the nobles perished on the scaffold. Of the great families that remained 185 sold their castles and lands and loft the kingdom. Hundreds of the aristoci-atic families followetl the nobles into exUe. Of the common people not fewer than 36,000 families emigrated. There was hardly a kingdom in Europe where the exiles of Bohemia were not to bo met with. Scholars, merchants, traders, fled from a land which was given over as a prej^ to the disciples of Loyola, and the dragoons of Ferdinand. Of the 4,000,000 who inhabited Bohemia in 1020, a miserable remnant, amo^mting not even to a fifth, were all that remained in 1 648.' Its fenatical sovereign is reported to have said that he would rather reign over a desert than over a kingdom peopled by heretics. Bohemia was now a desert. This is not our opinion only, it is that of Popish historians also. "Until that time," says Pelzel, " the Bohemians appeared on the field of battle as a separate nation, and they not unfrequently earned glory. They were now thrust among other nations, and their name has never since resounded on the field of battle. . . . Till that time, the Bohemians, taken as a nation, had been brave, dauntless, passionate for gloi-y, and enterprising ; but now they lost all corn-age, all national pride, all spirit of enter^irise. They fled into forests like sheep before the Swedes, or suffered themselves to be trampled under foot Tlie Bohemian language, which was used in all public transactions, and of which the nobles were proud, fell into contempt. ... As high as the Bohemians had risen in science, literature, and arts, in the reigns of Maximilian and Budolph, so low did they now sink in all these respects. I do not know of any scholar who, after the expulsion of the Protestants, distinguished himself in any learning. . . . With that period the history of the Bohemians ends, and that of other nations in Bohemia begins." - • Ludwig Hiiusser, Period of the Befonnatioji, vol. ii., p. 107 ; Lond., 1873. - Pelzel, GeschicMe von Bohmen, p. 185 et seq. Kra- sinski, Slavonia, p. 158. HUNGARY AND THE REFORMATION. 219 iBook CtDfiitirtlj. PKOTESTjV^vTISJI in HUNGARY AND TRANSYLVANIA. CHAPTER I. PLANTING OF PROTESTANTISM. Early History of Hungary— Entrance of Protestantism — Its Rapid Diffusion— Causes— First Preachers —Henkel and Queen Mary of Hungary— Persecuting Edicts -Tlie Turk Appears— John Zapolya — Louis II.— Count Pemflinger— Battle of Mohiicz— Slaughter of King and Nobility— Protestantism Progresses— Zapolya and Ferdinand Contest the Sovereignty— Matthias Devay — His Zoal and Success as a Reformer— Imprisoned— The Blacksmith — Count Nadasdy — His Efforts for the Reform of Hungary — Discussion before Ferdinand I.— Defeat and Wrath of the Bishops — The King Protects Devay — Character of Ferdinand I. Crossing the fiontier of Bohemia, we entei- those far-extendiug phiins which, covered with corn and the \'ine, watered by the Danube, the Theiss, and other great rivei-s, and enclosed bj^ the majestic chain of the Carpathians, constitute tlie Upper and Lower Hungary. Invaded by the Romans before the Christian era, this rich and magnificent territory passed under a succession of conquerors, and was occupied by various peoples, till finally, in the ninth century, the Magyars from Asia took posses- sion of it. The well-known missionaries, CyrUlus and Methodius, ariiviug soon after this, found the inhabitants worshipping Mars, and summoning their tribes to the battle-field by sending round a sword. In the tenth century, the beams of a pm-er faith began to shine through the pagan darkness Lhr.t covered them. The altars of the god of war were forsaken for those of the '^Prince of Peace," and this warlike people, which had been wont to cany back captives and blood-stiiined booty from their plundering excursions into Germany and France, now began to practise the husbandry and cultivate the arts of Western Europe. The Christianity of those days did not go deep into either the individual or the national heart ; it was a rite rather than a life; there were 1.50 "holy places " in Hungary, but very few holy lives ; miracles were as common as virtues were rare ; and soon the moral condition of the nation under the Roman was as deplorable as it had been under tlic pagan worship. Hungaiy was in this stiite, wlieji it was suddenly and dee])ly startled by the echoes from Luther's hammer on the church door at Wittemberg. To a people sunk in physical oppres- sion and spiritual misery, the soimds appeared like those of the silver trumpet on the day of Jubilee. Perhaps in no country of Europe were the doc- trines of the Reformation so instantaneously and so widely diffused as in Hungary. Many causes con- tributed to this. The spread of the doctrines of Huss in that country a century previous, the number of German settlers in Hungarian towns, the intro- duction of Luther's tracts and hymns by the Ger- man soldiers, who came to fight in the Hungarian armies against the Turk, the free civil constitution of the kingdom — all helped to prepare the soil for the reception of the Reformation. Priests in dif- ferent pai-ts of the land, who had gi'oaned under the yoke of the hiei'archy, appeared all at once as preachers of the Reformed faith. " The Living AVord, coming from hearts warmed by con^-iction, produced a wondrous effect, and in a short time whole parishes, villages, and towns — yes, perhaps the half of Hungary, declared for the Reformation."' In 1.523 we find Giyna3us and Viezheim, both in the Academy of Ofen (Buda-Pesth), in Hungary, teaching the doctrines of Luther. Two years after- wards we find them in exile — the former in Basle, teaching philosophy ; and the latter at Wittemberg, as professor of Greek. John Henkel, the friend of Erasmus, and the chaplain of Queen Mary — the sister of Charles V., and wife of Louis II. — was a friend of the Gospel, and he won over the queen to the same side. We have already met her at the Diet at Augsburg, and seen her using her influence with her brother, the emperor, in behalf of the Protestants. She always earned about with her a Latin New Testament, which was afterwards found to be full of annotations in her own handwriting. In several of the free cities, and among the Saxons of Tran.sylvania, the reception given to the Re- formed doctrines was instant and coixlial. Merchants ' History of the Protestant Church in Hungary, compiled from original and authentic Documents. Translated by the Rev. Dr. Craig, Hamburg ; with Preface by Dr. Merle D'Aubignc. Page 33. Lond., 1854 220 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. anil hawkers brought the \mtings of Luther to Hiniaanstadt. The eflfect which theii- perusal pro- duccil was greatly deepened by the arrival of two monks from Silesia, converts of Luther, who, joined by a thii-d, John Surdaster, preached, sometimes in the open air, at other times in the Elizabethan church, to gi-eat crowds of citizens, including the members of the town council. After dismissing theii- congregations they held catechisings in the public squares and market-places. Thus was the tire kindled in the heart of the mountains of Transylvania. Many of the citizens began to scoff at the Popish ceremonies. " Do our priests suppose God to be blind," said they, when they saw the magnificent procession of Corpus Christi sweeping past, '-seeing they light candles to him at midday?" Othei-s declared that the singing of the " hoiu'S " to Our Lady in the cathedral was folly, foi- the Lord had taught them to pray, " Oiu- Father who art in heaven." The priests were occasionally ridiculed while occupied in the performance of theu-wor.ship; some of them were turned out of office, and Protes- tant preachei-s put in then- room ; and others, when they came to gather in their tithes, were sent away wthout their " ducks and geese." This cannot be justified ; but surely it ill becomes Rome, in presence of her coimtless crimes, to be the tiret to cast a stone at these offenders. Rome saw the thunder-cloud gathering above her, and .she made haste to dispel it before it should biu-st. At the instigation of the Papal legate, Cajetau, Louis II. issued the terrible edict of 152.3, which ran as follows : — " All Lutherans, and those who favoiu" them, as well as all adherents to their sect, shall have their property confiscated, and themselves be punished with death, as heretics, and foes of the most holy Vu'gin Mary." A commission wa.s next appointed to search for Lutheran books in the Transylvaniau moiuitains and the Hungarian towns, and to burn hem. Many an cmto-da-fe of heretical volumes blazed in the public squai-es ; but these S2)ectacles did not stop the progi-ess of heresy. " Hennanstadt became a second Wittemberg. The Catholic ministers themselves confessed that the new doctx'ine was not more powerful in the town where Luther resided."' It was next resolved to burn, not Lutheran books merely, but Lutherans them.selves. So did the Diet of l.TS.^ command : — '• All Lutherans shall be rooted out of the land ; and wherever they ai-e found, either by clergymen or laymen, they may be seized and burned. "- ' Secret History of the Austrian Government, compiled from Official Documents, by Alfred Michaels. Page 91. Lond., 1859. - Baronius, Annal., art. 4, anu. 1525. These two decrees appeared only to inflame the courage of those whom they so terribly menaced. The heresy, over which the naked sword was now suspended, spread idl the faster. Yoimg men began to resort to Wittemberg, and returned thence in a few years to preach the Gospel in their native land. Meanwhile the king and the piiests, who had bent the bow and were about to let fly the aiTOw, found other matters to occupy them than the execution of Lutherans. It was the Turk who suddenly stepped foi^ward to save Protestantism in Hiuigary, though he was all iuiawai"e of the ser\-ice wliich he performed. Solimau the Magnificent, setting out from Constan- tinople on the 23rd of April, 1526, at the head of a mighty aimy, which, recei^'ing accessions as it marched onward, was swollen at last to 300,000 Turks, was coming nearer and nearer Hungary, like the " wasting levin." The land now shook with terror. King Louis was without money and without soldiere. The nobility were divided into factions ; the priests thought only of pursuing the Protestants ; and the common people, deprived of their laws and then- liberty, were without spirit and without patriotism. Zapolya, the lord of seventy-two castles, and by far the most powerful gi'andee in the country, sat still, expecting if the king were overthrown! to be called to mount the vacant throne. Meanwhile the terrible Tiu-k was ajiproaching, and demanding of Louis that he should pay him tribute, luider the threat of planting the Crescent on all the churches of Hungary, and slaughtering him and his grandees like "fat oxen." The edict of death passed against the Protestants still remained in foi-ce, and the monks, in the face of the black tempest that was rising in the east, were stirring up the peojsle to have the Lutherans put to death. The powerful and pati'iotic Comit Penifliuger had received a message from the king, commanding him to put in execution his cruel edicts against the heretics, thi-eatening him with his severest displeasure if he should refuse, and pro- mising him gi'eat rewards if he obeyed. Tlie comit shuddered to execute these horrible commands, nor could he stand silently by and see others execute them. He set out to tell the king that if, instead of pei-mitting his Protestant subjects to defend their country on the battle-field, he should di-ag them to the stake and burn them, he would bring down the ■«Tath of Heaven upon himself and his kingdom. On the road to Buda, where the king resided, Pemflinger was met by terrible news. WliUe the coimt was exerting himself to shield the Protestants, King Louis had set out to stop the ad\ance of the powerful Soliman. On the MATTHIAS DEVAY, EVANGELIST. 221 29tli of August his little army of 27,000 met the multitucliuous hordes of Turkey at Mohiicz, on the Danube. Solimau's force was fifteeu times greater than that of the king. Louis gave the com- aiand of his army to the Archbishop of Cologne — an ex-FrancLscan monk, more familiar- with the sword than the chaplet, and wlio had won some glory in the art of war. Wlieu the king put on his armour on the morning of the battle he was observed to be deadly pale. All foresaw the issue. " Here go twenty-seven thousand Himgariaus," exclaimed Bishop Perenyi, as the host defiled past him, " into the kingdom of heaven, as martyrs for the faith." He consoled himself with the hojie that the chancellor would survive to see to their canonisation by the Pope.' The issue was even more terrible than the worst anticipations of it. By evening the plain of Mohiicz was covered with the Hungarian dead, piled up in gory heaps. Twenty-eight prmces, five hundi'ed nobles, seven bishops, and twenty thou- sand warriors lay cold in death. Escaping fi-om the scene of carnage, the king and the Papal legate sought safety in fliglit. Louis had to cross a black pool which lay in his course ; his horse bore liim through it, but in climbing the opposite bank the steed fell backward, crusliing the monarch, and giving him burial in the marsh. The Papal nuncio, like the ancient seer from the mountains of Aram, was taken and slain. Having trampled down the king and his army, the victoiious Soliman held on his way into Hungary, and slaughtered 200,000 of its inhabitants. This calamity, which thrilled all Europe, brought rest to the Protestants. Two candidates now con- tested the sceptre of Hungary — John Zapolya, the unpatriotic gi-andee who saw his king march to deatli, but sat stUl in his castle, and the Arch- duke Ferdinand of Austria. Both caused them- selves to be crowned, and hence arose a civil war, which, complicated with occasional appearances of Soliman upon the scene, occupied the two rivals for years, and left them no leisure to cany out the persecuting edicts. In the midst of these t)-oubles Protestantism made rapid progi'ess. Peter Perenyi, a powerful noble, embi'aced the Gospel, with his two sons. Many other magnates followed his example, and settled Protestant muiisters upon tlieii- domains, built churches, planted schools, and sent their sons to study at Witteniberg. The gi-catcr number of the towns of Hungary embraced the Reformation. At this time (1.531) a remarkable man returned ■ Hist. Prot. Church i/i Hungary, p. 40. from Wittemberg, where he had enjoyed the inti- macy, as well as the public instnictions, of Luther and Melancthon. Matthias Devay was the descen- dant of an ancient Hungarian family, and having attained at Wittemberg to a remarkably clear and comprehensive knowledge of the Gospel, he began to preach it to his countrymen. He commenced his ministry at Buda, which, connected by a bridge with Pesth, gave him access to the population of both cities. Only the year before (1.530) the Augsburg Confession had been read by the Lu- theran priaices in presence of Ferdinand of Austria, and many Hungarian nobles;- and Devay began his ministry at a favourable moment. Otlier preachers, trained like Devay at Wittemberg, Mere labouring in the surrounding districts, and nobles and wliole villages were embracing tlie GosjjeL Many of the priests were separatiug themselves from Rome. The Bishops of Neutra and Wesprim laid aside rochet and mitre to preach the Gospel^ Those who had bowed before the idol, rose up to cast it down. Devay, anxious to diffuse the light in other parts, removed to Upjjer Hungary ; but soon his eloquence and success drew upon him the wrath of the priests. He was thrown into prison at Vienna, and ultimately was brought before Dr. Faber, then bishop of that city, but he pleaded liis cause in a manner so admirable that the court dared not con- demn liim. On his release he returned to Buda, and again commenced preaching. The commotion in the capital of Hungary was renewed, and the -WTath of the priests grew hotter than ever. They accused him to John Zapolya, whose sway was owned in this part of the kingdom, and the Reformer was thrown into prison. It happened that in the same prison was a blacksmith, who in the shoeing had lamed the king's favourite horse, and tlie passionate Zapolya liad sworn that if the horse died the black- smith should pay the forfeit of Iiis life. Trembling from fear of death, the evangelist had pity upon him, and explained to him the way of salvation. As the Pliilippian gaoler at the hearing of Paul, so the blacksmith in the prison of Buda believed, and joy took the place of tenor. The hoi-se re- covered, and the king, appeased, sent an order to release the blacksmith. But the man would not leave his prison. " My fellow-sufleror," said he, " lias made me a partaker with him in Iiis faitli, and I will be a partaker witli him in his deatli." The magnanimity of the blacksmith so touched 2 See ante, vol. i., bk. ix., chap. 23, p. 504'. ' Michiels, Secret Hist., p. 02. 222 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM that lie commandcii both to be set at the kill liberty.' The powerful Count Nadasdy, whose love of learning made him the friend of scholars, and his devotion to the Gospel the protector of evangelists, invited Devay to come and rest awhile in his Castle and Melancthon, and they were not less so by hearing the joyful news from Hungary. He passed on to Basle, and among its learned and munificent printers, he found the means of issuing some of his works. He returned again to Buda, in the end of 1537, and found his former patron, Nadasdy, SOLIMAN THE MAGMFICEVT of Sarvar. In the library of the count the evan- gelist set to work and composed several polemical pieces. He had no printing-press at his command. This placed him at disadvantage, for his enemies replied in print while his own wiitings slumbered in manuscript. He went to Wittcmberg in search of a printer. Ti-uly refreshed was he by seeing once more in the flesh his old instructors, Luther ' Hist. I'rot. Church in Hungary, pp. 50, 51. occupied in the reformation of the old schools, and the erection of new ones. The Reformer asked Nadasdy for a printing-press. The request was at once conceded, and the press was set up by the side of one of the schools. It was the first print- uig-press in Hungary, and the work which Devay now issued from it — a book for children, in wliich he taught at once the rudiments of the language and the rudiments of the Gospel — was the first ever printed in the language of the country. UOIMVMW IIV^IM-. 01 TllANSVLVANIA. 224 HISTORY OF TROTESTANTISM. From these more private, but fundamental and necessary labours, Devay turned to put Ins hand once more to the work of public evangelisation. He preached indefotigably in the district between the right bank of tlie Danube and Lake Balaton. Meanwhile his former field of labour, the Upper Hungaiy, was not neglected. This post was ener- geticixlly filled by Stephen Szantai, a zealous and learned preacher. His success was great, and the bishops denounced Szantai, as they had formerly done Devay, to the king, demanding that he should be arrested and put to death. Ferdinand, ever since his return from Augsburg, where he had listened to the famous Confession, had been less hostile to the new doctrines ; and he replied, to the dismay of the bishops, that he would condemn no man without a hearing, and that he wished to hold a public discussion on the disputed points. The pi'elates looked around for one competent to main- tain their cause against Szantai, and fixed on a certain monk, Gregory of Grosswardein, who had some reputation as a controversialist. The king having appointed two umpires, who he thought would act an enlightened and impartial part, the confei-ence took place (1538) at SchUsburg. It lasted several days, and when it was over the two umpires presented themselves before the king, to give in their report. "Sire," they said, "we are in a great strait. All that Szantai has said, he has pi'oved from Holy Sciipture, but the monks have prodiiced nothing but fables. Nevertheless, if we decide in favour of Szantai, we shall be held to be the enemies of religion ; and if we decide in favour of the monks, we. shall be con- demned by our own consciences. We crave your Majesty's protection in this difficulty ! " The king promised to do his utmost for them, and dismissed them. ' The king was quite as embarrassed as the umpires. In truth, the only parties who saw their way wei'e the priests, and they saw it vei'y clearly. On the afternoon of that same day, the pi'elates and monks demanded an audience of Ferdinand. On being admitted to the presence, the Bishop of Gross- wardein, acting as spokesman, said : " Sire, we are the shepherds of the flock, and it behoves us to guard fl-om wolves the sheep committed to our care. For this reason we demanded that this heretic should be brought here and burned, as a warning to those who speak and write against the Church. Instciul of this, your Majesty has gi'anted to this wretched man a public conference, and aflbrded • The Spanish Hunt, a rare book, gives a full account of this discussion. See also Hist. Prot. Church in Hungai~y, pp. 53-57. opportunity to others to suck in his poison. What need of such discussions ? has not the Church long since pronounced on all mattei-s of faith, and has she not condemned all such miserable heretics ] Assuredly our Holy Father, the Pope, will not be pleased by what you have done." The king replied, with dignity, " I will put no man to death till he has been proved guilty of a capital crime." " Is it not enough," cried Statilius, Bishop of Stuhhveissenburg, " that he declares the mass to be an invention of the de\il, and would give the cup to the laity, which Christ meant only for priests^ Do not these opinions deserve death ? " " Tell me, my lord bishop," said the king, " is the Greek Church a true Church 1 " The bishop replied in the affirmative. " Very well," continued Ferdinand, " the Greeks have not the mass : cannot we also do without it 1 The Greeks take the Com- nninion in both kinds, as Chryso.stom and Cyril taught them to do : may not we do the same 1 " The bishops were silent. "I do not defend Szantai," added Ferdinand, " his cause shall be ex- amined ; I cannot punish an innocent man." " If your Majesty do not gi'ant our i-equest," said the Bishop of Grosswardein, " we shall find other remedies to free us from this vidture." The bishojjs left the royal presence in great wrath. The king passed some anxious hours. At nine o'clock at night he gave an audience, in presence of two councillors, to S.'^antai, who was intro- duced by the Burgomaster of Kaschau. " What really is, then, the doctrine that you teach?" in- quired the king. The evangelist gave a plain and clear exposition of his doctrine, which he said was not his own, but that of Christ and Iiis apostles, as recorded in the Scriptures of truth. The king had heard a similar doctrine at Augsburg. Had not his confessor too, when dying, acknowledged that ho had not led him in the right path, and that it was the truth which Luther taught? Ferdinand M-as visibly disturbed for some moments. At last he burst out, " O my dear Stephen ! if we follow this doctrine, I greatly fear that some calamity will befall both of us. Let us commit the matter to God. But, my friend, do not tarry in my domi- nions. If you remain here the princes will deliver you up to death ; and should I attempt to save you, I would but expose myself to danger. Sell what tliou hast, and go ; depart into Transylvania, where you wOl have liberty to profess the truth. "- Having given the evangelist some presents to- wai'ds the expenses of his journey, the king turned - The Spanish Hunt. SPREAD OF PROTESTANTISM IN HUNGARY. 225 to the Burgomaster of Kaschau, and desii-ed him to t^ike Szantai away secretly by niglit, aud to conduct liiiu in safety to liis o-vm. people. In tliis transaction all the parties paint theii- own characters. We can read the fidelity and courage of the humble evangelist, we see the overgrown in- solence of the bishops, and not less conspicuous is the weakness of Ferdinand. Of kindly disposition, aud aiming at being upright as a king, Ferdinand I. nevertheless, on the great question that was movmg the world, was unable to pui'sue any but an incon- sistent and waveiing course. Ever since the day of Augsbm-g he had halted between Wittemberg and Rome. He was not, however, without some du-ection in the matter, for something within him told him that truth was at Wittemberg ; but on the side of Rome lie saw two lofty personages — the Pope, and his brother the Emperor Charles — and he never could make up hLs mind to break with that august companionship, and join himself to the humble society of Reformera and evangelists. Of double mind, he was unstable in all his ways. CHAPTER II. PROTESTANTISM FLOURISHES IN HUNGARY AND TRANSYLVANIA. Chai'actcristic of the Reformation in Hungary, its Silence and Steadiness— Edition of the New Testament in Hungarian— Eivalship between Zapolya and Ferdinand favourable to Protestantism— Death of Zapolya— His Son proclaimed King— The Turk Returns— He Protects Protestantism— Progi-ess of Reformation- Conflicts between the Lutherans and the Calvinists— Synod of Erdoed— Its Statement of Doctrines— The Confession of the Five Cities- Formation of the Helvetian and Lutheran Churches— The Diet, by a Majority of Votes, declares for the Reformation— The Preacher Szegedin— Count Petrovich— Reforms— Stephen Losonczy— The Mussulman again Rescues Protestantism— Grants Toleration— Flourishing State of Protestantism in Transylvania and Hungary. One vei-y remarkable characteristic of the progi-ess of Protestantism in Himgary, was its silence and its steadiness. No one heard the fall of the Roman hierarchy : there was no crash as in other countries, and yet it was overthrown. The process of its removal was a dissolution rather than a destruction. The uprising of the new fabric was attended with as little noise as the falling of the old : the Bible, the pidpit, and the school did their work; the light waxed clearer every hour, the watera flowed wider aroimd eveiy day, and ere men were aware, the new verdure covered all the land. Young evan- gelists, full of knowledge and faith, returned from tJie Protestant schools in Germany and Switzerland, and began to puljlish the Gospel. Some laljourcd among the mountains of Transylvania, others evan- gelised on the plains and amid the towns of Hungary ; and from the foot of the Caiijathians to the bordei-s of Turkey and the confines of Germany, the seeds of tnith and life were being scattered. As Luther, and Zwinglo, and Calvin had been the teachers of these men, they in their turn became the instructors of the curates and priests, who lacked the opportunity or the will to ^•^sit foreign lands and learn Divine knowledire from those who had dra■^\^^ it from its original fountains. In proportion as they discovered the way of life, did they begin to make it known to theii- flocks, and thus whole parishes and districts gradually and quietly passed over to Protestantism, carrying \vith them church, and parsonage, and school. In some instances where the people had become Protestant, but the pastor continued to be Popish, the congregation patiently waited till his death, and then called a preacher of the Word of God. Three things at tliis time contributed to the pro- gress of Protestant truth in Hungary. The first was the conference at Schiisburg. The news spread through the country that the priests had been unable to maintain their cause before the evangelist Szantai, and that the king had stood by the preacher. After this many began to search into the truth of the new doctrines, who had hitherto deemed inquiry a crime. The second favourable circumstance was the publication, in 1541, of an edition of the New Testament in the Hungarian language. This was the work of John Sylvester, assisted by Count Nadixsdy, to whom Melancthon had given Syl- \ester a letter of recommendation. The Epistles of Paul had been published in the Hungarian ver- 226 HISTORY OF PEOTESTANTISM. naciilar, at Cracow, in 1533,' but" now the whole New Testament was placed within reach of the people. The third thing that favoured the Refor- mation was the division of the country under two rival sovereigns. This was a cahimity to the king- dom, but .° shield to its Protestantism. Neither Ferdinand I. nor John Zapolya dared oflend theii- great Protestant nobles, and so their persecuting edicts remained a dead letter. It seemed at this moment as if the breach were about to be closed, and the land placed under one sovereign, whose arm, now greatly more powerful, would perchance be stretched out to crush the Gospel. In the same year in which the conference was held at Schiisburg, it was arranged by treaty between the two kings that each should continue to sway his sceptre over the States at that moment subject to him; but on the death of John Zapolya, without male issue, Hungary and Transylvania should revert to Ferdinand I. When the treaty v,-as framed Zapolya had no child. Soon thereafter he married the daughter of the King of Poland, and next year, as he lay on his death-bed, word was brought him that his queen had borne him a son. Appointing the Bishop of Grosswardein and Count Petrovich the guardians of his new-born child, Zapolya solemnly charged them not to de- liver up the land to Ferdinand. This legacy, which was in flagrant violation of the treaty, was equally terrible to his son and to Hungary. The widow, not less ambitious than her deceased husband; caused her son to be proclaimed King of Hungary. Feeling herself unable to contend in arms with Ferdinand I., she placed the young prince under the protection of Soliman, whose aid she ci-aved. This led to the reappearance of the Turkish army in Hungary. The country endured, in consequence, manifold calamities ; many of the Protestant pastors fled, and the evangelisation was stopped. But these disorders lasted only for a little while. The Turks were wholly indifferent to the doctrinal controversies between the Protestants and the Papists. In truth, had they been disposed to draw the sword of persecution, it would have been against the Romanists, whose temples, filled with idols, were specially abhorrent to them. The consequence was that the evangelising agencies were speedily resumed. The pastore returned, the Hungarian New Testament of Sylv&ster was being circulated through the land, the jirogress of Pro- testantism in Hungary became greater, at least more obvious, than ever, and under the reiga of Islam the Gospel had greater quietness in Hun- ' Hist. P.-ot. Church in Hungary, p. 51. gary, and flourished more than perhaps would have been the case had the kingdom been governed solely by the House of Austria. A more disturbing conflict arose in the Pro- testant Church of Hungarj' itself A visit which Devay, its chief Reformer, made at this time to Switzerland, led him to change his views on the Sacrament of the Lord's Suppei'. On his return he let his change of opinion, which was in the direction of Zwingle, or rather of Cahdn, be known, to tlie scandal of some of his brethren, who having drawn their theology from Wittemberg, were naturally of Luther's opinions. A flame was being kindled." No greater calamity befell the Reformation than this division of its disciples into Reformed and Lutheran. There was enough of unity in essential truth on the question of the Eucharist to keep them separate from Rome, and enough, we submit, to pre\'ent them remaining separate from one another. Both repudiated the idea that the Sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper was a sacrifice, or that the elements were transubstantiated, or that they were to be adored ; and both held that the benefit came through the working of the Spirit, and the faith of the recipient. The great essentials of the Sacrament were here, and it was not in the least necessary to salvation that one should either believe or deny Luther's supei-added idea, wliich he never coidd clearly explain, of consubstantiation. The division, therefore, was without any sufficient ground, and was productive of manifold evils in Hungary, as in all the countiies of the Reformation. From this time dates the formation of two Pro- testant Churches in Hungary — the Reformed and the Lutheran. In 1545 a synod was held in the town of Erdoed, Comitat of Szmathmar, in the north of Transylvania. It consisted of twenty-nine ministers who were attached to the Helvetian Confession, and who met under the protection of the powerful magnate Caspar Dragfy. They con- fessed their faith in twelve articles, of which the headings only are known to us. The titles were — Of God; The Redeemer; Justification of the Sinner before God; Faith; Good Works; The Sacraments; Confession of Sin ; Christian Liberty ; The Head of the Church ; Church Government; The Necessity of Separating from Rome.'' To this statement of their views they added, in conclusion, that in other matters they agreet to leave uuitteis negligently arrauged on board, iuul to pay tlie penalty of liis carelessness when at last the horizon blackens, and his liark becomes the sport of the mountainous billows. It was a yet greater calamity that a bitter uites- tine war was weakening the strength and destroying the unity of the Hungarian Cluireli. In its early days, the Lutherans and C'alvinists lia.l dwelt to- gether in peace ; but soon the concord was broken, not again to be restored. The tolerant Ferdinand I. had gone to the grave : he had been followed first on the throne, and next to the tomb, by his son Maximilian II., the only real friend the Protestants ever had among the king; of the Hapsburg line : and now the throne was filled by the gloomy and melancholy Rudolph II. Engrossed, as we have seen, in the dark studies of astrology and alchemy, he left the government of his kuigdom to the Jesuits. The sky was darkening all round with gathering storms. At Vienna, in Styria, and in other provinces. Cardinal Hosius and the Jesuits were initiating the persecution, in the banishment of pastors and the closing of churches. But, as though the violence which had begun to desolate neighboiuing churches were to be restrained from approaching them, the Hungarians continued to convoke synod after synod, and discuss questions that could only stir up strife. In 1577 the famous "Formula of Concord" was drafted and published, in the liope that a general concuiTcnce in it would end the war, and bring in a lasting peace. What wa.s that Formxda ? It made the subscriber profess his belief in the nhiquity of Christ's human nature. So far from healing the breach, this " Formula of Con- cord" became the instrument of a wider division.^ The war raged more furiously than ever, and the Protestants, alas ! inti nt on their conflict with one another, heard not the mustering of the battalions who were preparing to restore peace by treading both Lutlieran and Calvinist into the dust. These various evils opened the door for the enti-ance of a great'- r, Ijy which the Protestantisni of Hungary was ultimately crushed out. That greater evil was the Jesuits, " the troops of Hades," as they are styled by a writer who is not a Protes- tant.- With cpiiet foot, and down-cast eyes, the Jesuits glided into Hungary. In a voice lowered to the softest tones, they announc:d their mission, in terms as beneficent as the means by which it was to be accomplished were gentle. As the nurse deals with her child — coaxing it, by promises which ' Hist. Frot. Chv,rh in UuHgary, chap. Ill, pp- 100, 101- ■* Alfred Michiels. shj has no intention to fulfil, to part with some deadly weajion which it has grasped — so the Jesuits were to coax, gently and tenderly, the Hungarians to abandon that heresy to which they clung so closely, but which was destroying their souls. We lunc already seen that when these pious men first cjime to Vienna, so far were they, in outward show, from seeking riches or power, that they did not care to set up house for themselves, but were content to share the lodgings of the Dominicans. Their rare merit, however, could not be hid, and soon these unambitious men were seen at coiu-t. The emperor ere long was kneeling at the feet of their chief, Father Bobadilla. They first entered Hungary iu 1561. Four priests and a lay brother settled in the town of Tyrnau, where they began to build a college, but before their edifice was finished a fire broke out in the city, and laid their not yet completed fabric in ashes, along with the neighbouring dwellings. Their general. Father Borgia, not having money t« rebuild what the fiames had consumed, or not caring to expend his treasures in this restoration, inter preted the catastrophe into an intimation that it was not the will of Heaven that they should plant themselves in Tyrnau, and the confraternity, to the great joy of the citizens, left the place. Thirteen years elapsed before a Jesuit was again seen on the soil of Hungary. In 1579 the Bishop of Raab imported a single brother from Vienna, whose eloquence ;is a preacher made so many con- versions that the way was paved, though not till after seven years, for the establishment of a larger number of this sinister community. The I'ebellion of Stephen Botskay, the dethronement of Endolph II., the iiccession of liis brother Matthias — mainly by the arms of the Protestants — restrained the action of the Jesuits for some years, and delayed the bursting of the storm that was slowly gathering over the Protestant Church. But at last Ferdi- nand II., " the Tiberius of Christianity," a.s he has been styled, mounted the throne, and now it was that the evil days began to come to the Protestant Churches of the emj)ire, and especially to the Protestant Church of Hungary. Ferdinand II. was the son of the Archduke Charles, and grandson of Ferdinand I. After the death of his father, he was sent in 1590 to Ingolstadt, to be educated by the Jesuits. These cunning artificers of human tools succeeded in making him one of the mo.st pliant that even their hands ever wielded, as his whole after-life proved. From Ingolstadt, Ferdinand returned to his patri- monial estates in Styria and Carinthia, with the firm resolve, whatever it might cost himself or others, that foot of Protestant should not defile the FERDINAND'S RESOLVE. 231 temtories that called liira master. He would rather that his estates should become the abode of wolves and foxes than be the dwelling of heretics. Soon thereafter he set out on a pilgi-image to Loretto, to invoke the protection of the "Queen of Heaven," visiting Rome by the way to receive grace from the " Holy Father," to enable him to fulfil his vow of thoroughly purging his dominions. In his fortieth year (1.517) he made a pilgrimage to a similar slu'ine ; and as he lay prostrate before the image of Mar}', a violent storm came on, the lightnings flashed and the thunders rolled, but above the roar of the elements Ferdinand heard, distinct and clear, a voice saying to him, " Fer- dinand, I will not leave thee." "Whose voice could it be but Slary's 1 He rose from the earth with a double consecration upon him. This, however, did not hinder his subscribing, on the day of his coronation as King of Bohemia (IGtli March, 1G18), the article which promised full protection to the Protestant Church, adding that " he would sooner lose his life than break his word " — a gi-atifjdng proof, as his former preceptors doubtless regarded it, that he had not forgotten the lessons they hail taught him at Ingolstadt. On his return from the Diet at Frankfort (1G19), elothed with the mantle of the Cresars, he held himself as elected in the sight of Christendom to do battle for the Church. What did the imperial diadem, so suddenly placed on his brow, import, if not this, that Heaven called liini to the suljlime mission of restoring the empii'e to the pure orthodoxy of early days, and its t\vin-institute, the PontLtical chair, to its former peerless splendour i Protestantism had fulfilled its century ; for it was rather more than a hundred years since Luther's hammer had summoned from the abyss, as Ferdi- nand deemed, this terril)le disturber of the world — this scourge of Rome, and terror of kings — which no sword seemed able to slay. Charles V. had staked empire and fame against it ; but the result was that he had to hide his defeat in a monastery. A life of toil had he imdcrgone for Rome, and i-eceived as recompense — oh ! dazzling reward — a monk's cowl. Philip II. had long battled with it, but worn out he at last laid him down in the little closet that looks into the cathedral-church of tlie Escorial, juid amid a heap of vermin, which issued from his owni body, he gave \i\) the ghost. Lea^•ing these puissant monarchs to rot in theii- marble sepulchres, Protestantism starts afresh on its great career. It enters the dark cloud of the St Bar- tholomew, but soon it emerges on the other side, its garments dripping, but its life intact. It is next seen holding its path amid the swimming scatiblds and the blazing stakes of the Netherlands. The cords with which its enemies would bind it are but as green ^vithes npon its arm. But now its enemies fondly think that they see its latter end drawing nigh. From the harbom-s of Spain rides fortii galley after galley in proud array, the "invincible Armada," to chase from ofi" the earth that terrible thing which has so long troubled the nations and tlieii- monarchs. But, lo ! it is the Armada itself that has to flee. Careering spectre- like, it passes between the Protestant .shores of England on the one hand, and Holland on the other, hastening before the furious -winds to hide itself in the darkness of the Pole. Such are the tragedies of the fii-st century of Protestantism. No one has been able to weave a chain so strong as to hold it fast; but now Ferdinand believes that he has discovered the secret of its strength, and can speak the " hitherto, but no farther." Tlie Jesuits have furnished him with weapons which none of his predecessors knew, to combat this terrible foe, and long before Pro- testantism shall have completed the second century of its existence, he will have set bounds to its ravages. The nations will return to their obedience, kings will sleep in peace, and Rome will sway her scejrtre over a subjugated Christendom. We have already seen after what terrible fashion he inaugurated his attempt. The first act was the scaffold at Prague, on which twenty-seven magnates, the first men of the land, and some of them the most illustrious of the age, poured out their blood. This terrible day was followed by fifteen terrible years, during \\hich judicial murders, secret tor- turings, banishments, and oppressions of all kuuls wei'e wearing out the Protestants of Bohemia, till at last, as we have seen, the nation and its Pro- testantism sank together. But in the other provinces of his dominions Ferdinand did not find the work so easy. In Austria jiroper, the States refused to submit. The Hungarians felt that the circle around their religious and civil lights was being dra^vn tighter every day. The Jesuits hud returned. Something like the Spanish Inquisition had been set up at Tj'rnau. The Romish magnates were carrying it with a high hand. Count Stephen Pallfy of SchuttSomerain erected a gallows, de- claring that he would hang on it all Protestant clergymen called to churches ui Schutt without liis leave. In this state of matters, the Prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Bethlen, a zealous Protestant, and a general of equal bravery and skill, took up arms. In the end of 1019 he took the towns of Kaschau and Presbing. In the castle of the latter place he fomid the crown of Hungary, with the state i32 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. jewels ; and luul he woni them as king, as at au aftoi'-stagc of his career he was urged to do, the destinies of Hungary might lia\c been happier. Passing ou iu his \'ictorious career toward the south-east, Bethlcn recei\ed the submission of the tow n and castle of Oldenburg. He finally arrived at Griitz, and here a truce was agi-eed on between him and F-erdiuand. In the following year (1620) a Diet was held at Neusohl. Ou the motion of the Palatine Thurzo, the Diet unanimously resolved to proclaim Bethlcn King of Hungary. He declined the crown ; and the earnest entreaties of the Diet, seconded by the exhortations of his own chaplain, were powerless to induce him to alter his resolution. At this Diet important measures were adopted for the peace of Hungary. Toleration was enacted for all creeds and confessions ; tithes and first-fruits were to fall to the Eoman and Protestant clergy alike; three Popish bishops were recognised as suflicieut for the country : one at Erlau for Upper Hungary ; a second at Neutra, for Hungary on this side the Danube ; and a thii'd at Eaab, beyond the river. The Jesuits were banished ; and it was resolved to complete the organisation of the Pro- testant Church in those districts where it had been left amfinished. The Protestants now breathed freelj-. They thought that they had, as the in- fallible guarantees of their rights, the victorious sword of the Prince Bethlen, and the upright administration of the Palatine Thurzo, and that they were justified in believing that an era of settled peace had opened upon them.' Their prosperity was short-lived. Fii-st the Protestant Palatine, Coimt Thurzo, died suddenlj' ; and the popidar suspicion attributed his death to poison. Next came the cry of the tragic horrors which had opened iu Bohemia. Prince Bethlen again gi-asped the sword, and his bravery and patriotism extorted a new peace from the perse- cutor, which was arranged at Nikolsbru'g in. 1621. On this occasion Bethlen delivered up to Ferdinand the crown of Himgary, which had remained till now in his possession. The jewel which Bethlen had declined to wear passed to the head of the spouse of Ferdinand, who wa,s now crowned Queen of Hungary. Scai'cely had the joy-bells ceased to ring for the peace of Nikolsburg, when crowds of WTetched creatures, fleeing from the renewed horrors in Bohemia, ci'ossed the frontier. Their cries of wrong, and their miserable appearance, excited at once compassion and indignation. Betlilen re- proached the king for this flagi'ant infraction of ' Hist. rrot. Church iit Hunyivij, chap, i, pp. liO, 112. the peace, before the ink in which it was signed Wius dry ; but finding that while the king's ear v.'as open to the Jesuits it was closed to himself, lie again girded on the sword, and took the field at the head of a powerful army. He was marching ou Vieima when the new Palatine was sent to stop him with renewed ofl'ers of peace. The terms were a third time accepted by the Prince of Tran- sylvania. They seemed as satisfactory, and were destined to be as fruitless, as on the two former occasions. Had Bethlen cherished that "distiiist of tyrants " which Demosthenes preached, and AVilliam the Silent practised, he would have tm-ned the achievements of his sword to better account for his coiuitrymen. There was no amount of suspicion which woidd not have been justified by the cha- racter of the man he was transacting with, and the councillors who surroiuided him. Nor were the signs on the social horizon such as foreboded a lengthened tranquillity. The Jesuits were multi- plying theii' hives, and beguming to swarm like wasps. Flourishing gymnasiums were being con- verted into cow-houses. Parsonages were uni-oofed, and if the incumbent did not take the hint, he and his family were carted out of the district. Pro- testant congi'egations would assemble on a Sunday morning to find the door and windows of their chiucli smashed, or the fabric itself razed to the gi'omid. These were isolated cases, but they gave sure prognostication of gi-eater ojipressions when- ever it would be in the power of the enemy to iuHict them. Tliis latter peace was agreed on in 1628 at Presburg; and Prince Bethlen bound himself never again to take up arms against the House of Hapsburg, on condition of religious liberty being guaranteed. The Tliirty Yeare' War, which will engage our attention a little further on, had by this time broken out. The progi-ess of that great struggle had brouglit Ferdinand's thr-one itself into ])eril, and this made him all the readier to hold out the hand of peace to his victorious vassal. But Ferdinand's promise was forgotten as soon as made, and next year Prince Bethlen is said to have been secretly preparing for ■^^■ar when he was attacked with indisposition. Ferdinand, professing to .show him kindness, sent him a physician chosen by the Jesuits. The noble-minded i)rince suspected no evil, though he daily grew woi-se. " The hero who had taken part in thirty-two battles without receivuig a wound," says Michiels, " soon died from the attentions paid him." " - Veshe, Geschichte des Oesten-eichischcn Hofcs, vol. iv-, p. 71. Micliiels, Secret Hist., p. 101. COMPULSOEY CONVEESIONS. 233 Tlirco yc'iu-s before this (1G2G) the plan to be pursued in traiupling out Protestantism in all the pi'ovinces of the empire had been discussed and determined upon at Vienna, but circumstances too strong for Ferdinand and his Jesuits compelled them to jwstpone from time to time the initiation of the project. Towards the close of 162G a small council assembled in the palace of the Austrian jnime minister Eggenberg, whom colic and gout coniined to his cabinet. At the table, besides Ferdinand II., were the ambassador of Spain, the envoy of Florence, the privy councillor Harrack, the gloomy Wallenstein, and one or two others. Count Agnate, the SpauLsh ambassador, rose and amiounced that his master had authorised him to offer 40,000 chosen men for forty years in order to the suppression of heresy, root and branch, in iliingarj'. He fuither recommended that foreign governors should be set over the Hungarians, who should impose upon them new laws, vex and oppress them in a thousand different ways, and so goad them into revolt. The troo])S would then come in and put down the rising with the strong hand, mercilesslj' inflicting a general slaughter, and afterwards taking ofl" at leisure the heads of the chief jjersons. In this way the spirit of the haughty and \\arlike Magyars would be broken, and all resistance would be at an end. The proposal seemed good in tlie eyes of the king and his councillors, and it was resolved to essay a begin- ning of the business on occasion of the approaching great foil- at Sintau-on-thc-Waag. ' The saturnalia of slaughter were to open thus : disguised emissai-ies were to proceed to the fair, mingle with the crowd, pick cpiarrels with the peasants, and manage to create a tumult. Wallen- htein and his troops, drawn up in readiness, were then to rush upon the multitude, sword in hand, and cut down all above twelve years of age. It was calculated tliat the ?«'/?/! would extend from village to town, till the bulk of the able-ljodied population, including all lilcely to lead in a ' For tost of tlie ambassador's speech see Cornelius, Hi-foi-i(i Hunrjaricn; and Maelath, Geschichte dcr Miujyrcn, vol. v., p. 161. Michiels, Hect-et Hist., p. 102. rebellion, were exterminated. A terrible pro- gramme truly ! but second thoughts convinced its authors that the hour had not yet arrived for attempting its execution. Bethlen still lived, and the brave leader was not likely to sit still while his countrymen were being butchered like shceii. Ferdinand, occupied in a mortal straggle with the north of Europe and France, had discernment enough, blinded though he was by the Jesuits, to see that it would be madness at this moment to add to the number of his enemies by throwing down the gage of battle to the Hungarians. The Jesuits must therefore wait. But no sooner was Prince Bethlen laid in tlie grave than persecution was renewed. But more lamentable by far than the vexations and sufferings to which the Pro- testant pastors and their flocks were now subjected, were the numerous defections that began to take place among the nobles from the cause of the Reformation. What from fear, what from the hojie of preferment, or from dislike to the Pro- testant doctrine, a stream of conversions began to flow steadil}' in the direction of Rome, and the number of the supporters of Protestantism among the Hungarian magnates was daily diniinishing. So did things continue until the year 1G.'?7. On the 17th of Februaiy of that year Ferdinand II. died. " In Magdeburg," say the authors of the History of the Protestant Ghurcli in lIinKjary, " were twenty-six thousand corpses of men, women, and children, who had perished under the hand of his general, Tilly, with his hoi'des of Croatian military. Bohemia, Moravia, and a gi'eat part of Hungary were miserably oppressed, and morality itself almost banished, by the manner in which the war had been conducted. And what had he gained I A few stone chui'ches and schools stolen from the Lutherans and Calvinists ; a hundred tliousand converts brought over to the Church of Rome liy the unapostolical means of sword, prison, flne, or Inibery ; and a depojiulation of his monarcliy amounting to more than a million of liiimau Ijeings." '' - Hist. Fi-ot. Church in Hunijanj, chap. G, p. 150. 2U HISTORY OF PROTESTAJ^TISM. VIEW OF OLD GATE AT KOLOSVAIl, Tl'.AXSVLVAXIA CHAPTER IV. LEOPOLD L AND THE JESUITS. Ferdinand III. — Pereecution — Tlie Pastor of Neustadt— Insurrection of Rakotzy— Peace of Linz — Leopold I. — His Training— Devotion to the Jesuits— The Golden Age of the Jesuits— Plan of Persecution begins to be Acted on — Hungary Occupied by Austrian Soldiers — Prince Lobkowitz— Bishop Szoleptsenyi— Two Monsters — Diet of Presburg— Petition of the Protestants— Their Complaints — Robbed of their Churches and Schools— Their Pastors .and Schoolmasters Banished — Enforced Perversion of tlie Inhabitants— Count Francis Nadasdy— A Message from the Fire— Protestants Forbidden the Rights of Citizenship- Their Petitions to the King Neglected. (iREAT liopes were entertained liy tlie Protestants of renlinand'.s son and succe.ssor, Fenlinand III. He was reputed a lover of learning, and it was expected that he would pm-sne a wise and liberal policy. PERSECUTION AND SPOILS. 235 Tliese expectations were realised only in part. His reign ojiened with the appointment of two perverts from the Protestant fiiith — the one to the palatinate, and the other to the Popish See of Erlau. These weie the two posts of greatest influence, civil and ecclesiastical, in Hnngaiy, and the pei-sons now tilling them owed their elevation to the Jesuits, masters driven away. The Prebend of Neustadt- ou-the-Waag, for instance, was forcibly seized by Count Hommono, with all its heritages and fniits. The superintendent, being an old man, was jjut in a chair, and carried out by the soldiers. But here a, difficulty arose. Tlie uiilioused minister was unable to walk, and the soldiers were imwilling to trans- LEOruLLl I oa IK (Jo IShhotI, JVC Kalioilnh ) and were not likely to be other than subservient to their patrons. The Protestants had been weakened by the secession of thirty magnates to Home, and of the nobles who still remained on their side many had become lukewarm in the cause of the Reforma- tion. Persecution took a stride in advance. The powerful Romish party utterly disregarded all promises and conijjacts. The king was unable in niany instances to give effect to his own edicts. The churches, schools, and manses in many places were taken possession of, and the jiastoi-s and school- jiort their burden to a greater distance. What was to be done 1 They took up the aged man, earned him back, and set him down once more at his own hearth, consoling themselves that he had not long to live. All the j)roperty and dues, however, ajipertaining to the church, which comprehended several villages with their mills, the tenth and sixteenth of the giain grown on the lands, and a tenth of all the fowls, were retained by the count. Hommono's e.xamplo was followed by other noljles, who freely made a sjwil of the Protestant pix>ix'rty 23G HISTOUY OF niOTESTANTlHM. on tlieir eshites, and lefi it to tlie owneis to nttcr couiiJaints to wliicli no attention wus paiil. From the same cpiavter from wliicli their fathera had so often obtained help in the time of their sore need, came a deliverer to the Protestants. Pruice George Eakotzy of Transylvania, nnable longer to witness in silence these cruel outrages upon his brethren in the faith, proclaimed war against Ferdinand III. in 16-14. He was aided by the Swedes, wliose armies were tlien iu the field, engaged in the Thirty Years' War. The short but bloody campaign that ensued between Eakotzy and Ferdinand ended witli the Peace of Linz, which gave toleration to the Protestants of Hungary, and brought back great part of the property of which they had been violently dispossessed.' There re- mained, however, 300 churches of which tliey had been despoiled, and which nothing could induce the Romanists to give up. Four years afterwards (1648) came the Peace of Westphalia. This famous arrangement ended the Thirty Years' War, and gave the Protestants of Germany, and of Western Europe generally, the guarantee of public law for their civil and religious rights. Unhappily, the Austrian Empu-e did not share in the benefits flowing from that peace. The Protestants whose misfortune it was to live xrnder the House of Hapsburg were left to the tender mercies of theii- rulex-s, who suflered them- selves to be entirely led by the Jesuits ; and now to the Reformed Church of Hungary there came a bitterer cup than any she had yet drunk of, and we have to record a sadder tale, though it must be briefly told, than we have yet had to recount of the suflerings of that unhappy Church and jiation. In 1656, Ferdinand III. died in the flower of his age, and was succeeded by his second son, Leopold I., then a youth of seventeen. Destined Ijy his father to be Bishop of Passau, Leopold, till his brother's death, had been educated for tlie Church. He had as preceptor the Jesuit Neidhard, who, eventually returning to his native Spain, there became Grand InquLsitor. Leopold was titter for the confessor's box than for the throne. Wliile yet a lad his delight was to brush the dust from the images of the saints, and to deck out mimic altars. In him the Jesuits had a king after their own heart. Every morning he heard three masses, one after the othei-, remaining all the wliile on his knees, without once lifting his eyes. On fete-days he insisted on all the ambassadors at his court being present at these services, and those who were not so young, or ' Frid. Adolph. Lampo, Hist. Eccles. Reform, in llungaria et Ti-ansylvania, anno. lG6t, pp. 392, 393. whose devotion was not so ardent as his own, were in danger of succumbing under so lengthened a performance, and were tempted to e^ade the inflic- tion by soliciting emplojnnent at the court of some sovereign less jiious than Leopold. The aiii)ro:ich of Lent wiis a terror to the courtiers, for some eighty oflices had to be gone through during that holy season. The emperor held monk and priest in all reverence. Did one with a shorn crown approach him, the pious king humbly defied his hat and hekl out his hand to be kissed. Phlegmatic as a Mussul- man, and an equally firm believer in fate, he wa:4 on no occasion either sad or elate, but submitted to events which he construed as omens. On one occasion, when sitting down to dinner, the lightning entered the apartment. Leopold coldly said, " As Heaven calls us not to eat, but to fast and pray, remove the di.shes." So sajTiig he retired to liLs chapel, his suite follo'ning him with what grace they could. His appearance was as unkingly as it is possible to imagine. Dbuiniitive in stature, his lower jaw protruding horribly, his little bald head enveloped in an immense peruke, surmounted bj- a hat shaded with a black feather, his person wrapped in a Spanish cloak, liLs feet thrust into i-ed shoes, and his thin tottering legs encased Ln stockings of the same colour," " as if," says Michiels, " he had been walkmg up to the knees in blood," he looked more like one of those uncouth figiires which are .seen in booths than the living head of the Holy Roman Enii)ire. He had a rooted aversion to business, and the Jesuits relieved him of that burden. He signed wthout reading the papers brought him. Music, the theatre, the gambling-table, the turning-lathe, alchemy, and divination furnished him by turns A\T.th occupation and amusement. Sooth-sayers and miracle-mongers had never long to wait for an audience : it was only Protestants who found the palace-gates strait. Oftener than once a notice was found artixed to the doors of the palace, bearing the words, " Leopolde, sis C;e.sar et non Jesuita" (Leopold, be an Emperor and not a Jesuit).' A puppet on the throne, the Jesuits were the masters of the kingdom. It was their golden age in Austria, and they wei-e resolved not to let sli]) the opportunity it ofiered. The odious project drawn up thirty years ago still remained a dead letter, but the hour for puttuig it in execution had at la.st arrived. But they would not startle men by a too = Carlyle calls him " The solemn little Hevr in red stockings." {Hisiory of Fmlcriclc the Great, People's Ed., vol. ii., p.G7.) 3 Michiels, Secret Hist., p. 107. THE JESUITS ALL-POWERFUL. 237 sudden zeal ; they would not set up the gullows at ouee ; petty vexatious and subtle seductions would gain over the weaker spii-its, and the axe and the cord would be held in reserve for the more obstinate. Austrian sokliers were distributed in the forts, the cities, and the provinces of Hungary. This mili- tary occupation by foreign troops was in \'iolation of Hungarian charters, but the Turk served as a convenient pretext for this treachery. " You arc unable," said Leopold's ministers, " to repel the Mussulman, who Ls always hovermg on your border and lireaking into your country ; we sh.oll assist you." It mattered little, howevei-, to keep out the Turk while the Jesuit was allowed to enter; the troops wei'e no sooner introduced than they began to pillage and oppress those they had come to pro- tect, and the Hungarians soon discovered that what the Court of Vienna sought was not to defend them from the fanatical Moslem, but to subjugate them to the equally fanatical Jesuit. When a gi-eat ciime is to be done it is often seen that a fitting tool for its execution turns up at the i-ight moment. So was it now. The Jesuits found, not one, but two men every way qualified for the atrociovis business on which they were embarking. The first was Prince Lobkowitz, owner of an im- mense fortune, which his father had amassed in the Thirty Years' War. He was a proud, tyrannical, pitiless man, and being entii-ely devoted to the Jesuits, he was to Himgary what Lichtenstein had been to Bohemia. At the same time that this ferocious man stood np at the head of the army, a man of similar character appeared in the Church. The Sec of Gran became vacant, and the Government promoted to it an ardent adversary of the Picformed faith, nan>ed Szeleptsenyi. This bar- barous name might have been held as indicative of the barbarous nature of the man it designated. Unscrupidous, merciless, savage, this Szeleptsenyi was a worthy coadjutor of the ferocious Lobko- witz. As men shudder when they behold nature producing monsters, or the heavens teeming with ill-omened conjunctions, so did the Hungarians tremble when they saw these two terrible men .ijipear together, the one in the civU and the other in the ecclesiastical firmament of Austria. We sh:dl meet them aftenvards. Theii- vehemence would have vented itself at once, ancl brought on a crisis, but the firm hand of the Jesuits, who held them in leading-strings, checked their impetuosity, and taught them to make a beginning with some- thing like modei-ation. In 15G2 a Diet was held at Presburg, and the petition which the Hungarians presented to it enables us to trace the progress of the pei-secution during the thii'teen previous years. During that term the disciples of the Go.sjjel iu Hungary had been deprived by force of luimerous chinches, and of a great amount of propert}% These acts of spoliation, in open violation of the law. which professed to gi-ant them freedom of worship, ex- tended over seventeen counties, and fifty-three magnates, prelates, and landowners >vere concerned in the perpetration of them. Within the three past yeais they had been robbed of not fewer than forty churches;^ and when they complained, instead of fuiding redress, the deputy-lieutenants only con- trived to tei'rify and weary them. To be robbed of their property was only the least of the evils they were called to suffer ; their con- sciences had been outraged ; dragoons were sent to convert them to the Roman faith. The superior iudge. Count Francis Nadasdy, harassed them in iimumeiable ways. On one occasion he sent a party of soldiers to a village, with orders to convert every man in it from the Protestant faith. The inhabitants fled on the approach of the military, and a chase ensued. Overtaken, the entire crowd of fugitives were summarily transferred into the Roman fold. On another occasion the same count sent a servant with an armed force to the village of Szill, to demand the kej^s of the^ church. They were given up at his summons, and some days after, the bell began tolling. The parishioners, thinking that worehip was about to be celebrated, assembled iu the church, and sat waiting the entrance of the pastor. In a few minutes a priest ajipeared, attu-ed in canonicals, and carrvLng the requisites for mass, which he straightway began to read, and the whole assembly, in sjiite of their tears and protestations, were compelled to receive the Comminiion in its PopLsh form. The active zeal of Nadasdy suggested to him numerous expedients for converting men to the Roman faith ; some of them were very extraordi- nary, and far fi-om pleasant to those who were the subjects of them. The Protestants who lived in Burgois were accustomed to go to church in the neighbouring town of Nemesker. The count thought that he would put a stop to a practice that displeased him. He ga\e orders to the keeper of his forests to lie in wait, with hLs assistants, for the Protestants on their way back. The worshippei-s on their return from church were seized, stripped of their clothes, and sent home in a state of perfect nudity. Upon another occasion, having extruded Pastor Stephen Pilarick, of Beczko, he seized all his ' Frid. Adolph.Lami^o, Hist. Ercles. Reform, in llungaria et Transylvmna , p. 427. 238 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. books, and ti-ansporting them to Lis c!es clasped with gold and silver I We shall teach them less lofty looks. We shall replace tlieir heron's plume witii a feather from the wing of a humbler bird ; and instead of a pelisse, we shall nnike them content ' Fcssler, vol. is.; Hungaitj, p. 178. p. 110- cji!"; liisl. Pi-ot. Ch'irch in 240 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. ■with a pliiin Bohemian coat \nt\i leaden buttons." Not only were the German troops not withdrawn, but a disgraceful peace was made with tlie Turks, and new subsidies were demanded for building new foi-ts and i>aying more soldiei-s. When this wa.s seen, the wrath of the Hungarian magnates knew no liounds. They held a .secret iissembly at Neusohl, and deliberated on theii" course of action. They resolved on the bold step of raising new levies, throwing off the yoke of the Emperor Leopold, and men who would have fought their battles, these nobles had driven away ; and now they were doomed to learn, by the dislisters that awaited them, what an egregious error they had committed in the per- secution of their Protestant countrymen. From the first day their enterprise had to contend with adverse fortune. They sent a messenger to the grand vizier to solicit assistance. They knew not that a spy in the ^■izier's suite was listening to all they said, and would THE CHEMIST .VXD THE EMIEKOU. placing themselves under the suzerainty of the sultan, Mohammed IV. Tlie leaders in this pro- jected insurrection were the Palatine A^esselenyi, Count Francis Nada.sdy, and others, all bitter per- secutors of the Protestants. In the circumstances in which these magnates had placed themselves with their countrymen, their scheme of conspiracy was rash to infatuation. Had they unfurled their standard a few years earlier, Protestant Hvuigary would have i-allied round it : city and village would have poured out soldiers in thousands to combat for theii- religion and liberty. But it was otherwise now. The flower of the Hungarian nation were pining in prisons, or wandering in exile. The very hasten to rejiort what he had heard to the coiu-t at Vienna. This was enough. " Like a night-bird, hidden in the darkness," Prince Lobkowitz, having ]ienetrated their secret, henceforth kept an eye on the conspirators.' If he did not nip the rebellion in the bud, it was because he wished to give it a little time to ripen, in order that it might con- duct its authors to the scaffold. Its chiefs now began to be taken off mysteriously. The Palatine Vesselenyi was suddenly attacked with fever, and died in his castle in the heart of the Carjjathiaus. ' Michiels, Secret Hist., p. 115. SUSPICIOUS ILLNESS OF LEOPOLD. 241 He was soon followed to the grave by another powerful leader of the projected rebellion, Nicholas Ziiny, Ban of the Croats. Tlie Ban was found covered with woiiiids, in a forest near his own resi- of Vienna. Leopold fell ill : his disease baffled hLs physicians ; novenas, paternosters, and relics were powerless to ai-rest his malady, and it began to be suspected that a secret poison was undermining the THE SCALA SANCTA, 01! " IIOI.Y STAIRS,'" HOME. dence, and the report was given forth that he had been torn by a wild boar, but the discovery of a bullet in his head upset the story. The suspicions awakened by these mysterious deaths were deepened liy a tragic occurrence now in progress in the palace 125 emperor's strength. While the king was rapidly approaching the grave, the cclebi-ated alchemist, the Chevalier Francis Borri, of jMilan, who had been pro.scribcd by Komc, was seized by the Papal nuncio La Moravia, and brought to Vieruia. The king, who 242 IIISTOIIY OF PKOTESTANTISM. was liimself aililictetl to the stiuly of iilchcmy, liearing Borri was in liis capital, commanded his au.'ndanco. The dicvalier was introduced after night-fall. Indescribably gloomy was the chamber of the royal patient : tlie c;\ndles looked as if they burned in a tomb ; the atmosphere was mejJiitic ; the king's face woi-e the ghastliuess of the grave ; his sallow skin and sunken checks, with the thirst which nothing could assuage, gave indubitable signs that some unkno^^^l poison wiis at work upon him. The chemist paused and looked round the room. He marked tke red flame of the tapei-s, the white vajjonr which they emitted, luul the deposit they liad formed on the ceiling. " You are breathing a poisoned air," said he to the king. The patient's apartment was changed, other caudles were brought, and from that hour the king began to recover. \Vlien the lights were analysed it was found that the wick had been steeped in a strong solution of ai-senic. It is hard to imagine what motive the Jesuits could have for seeking to take oft' a monarch so obsequious to them, and the afl'air still lemains one of the mysteries of histor}-. The man who had saved the king's life had earned, one would think, his own liberty. But nothing in those days could atone for heresy, or even the suspicion of it. Borri, having completed the monarch's cure, was given back to the Papal nuncio, who claimed him as his prisoner, carried Mm to Rome, and threw him into the dungeons of at. Angelo, where, after languisliiug fifteen years, he died. The procurator of the Jesuits was also made to disappear so as never to be heard of more. The king would not have dai'ed, even in thought, to liave suspected the Fathers, much less to have openly accused them. But whoever were the authors of this attempt, it was upon the Hungarians that its punish- ment was made to fall, for Leopold being led to believe that his Protestant subjects had been seeking to compass his death, fear and dread of them were now added to his foniier hatred. From this hour, the work of crushing the conspu'ators was pushed forward with vigour. Troops were marched on Hungary from all sides : the insurgents were over- whelmed by nvunbei-s, and the chiefs were arrested before they had time to take the field. The papers seized were of a nature to comprise half Hungary. Lobkowitz revelled in the thought of the many heads that would have to be taken off, and not less delighted was he at the prospect of the rich estates that would have to be confiscated. About 300 nobles were appi-ehended and thrown into dun- geons. The leaders were brought to trial, and finally executed. The magnates who thus perished on the scafibld were nearly all Romanists, and had been the most furious jjersecutors of the Protestant Church of theii- native land ; but then- deaths only opened wider the door for the Austrian Government to come in and crush Hungarian Protestantism. Hardly had the scafiblds of the m.agnates been taken down when the storm buret afresh (1671) upon the Protestants of Hungary. The ArchbLshop of Grau — the ecclesiastic with the barbarous name Szeleptsenyi — accompanied by other bishops, and attended by a large following of Jesuits and dragoons, passed, like a desolating temjiest, over the land, seizing churches and schools, breaking open their doors, re-consecratmg them, paintmg red crosses upon then- pUlars, installing the priests in the manses and livings, banishing pastors and teachers, and if the least opposition was ofiered to these tyrannical proceedings, those from whom it came were cast into prison, and sometimes hanged or imjialed alive. Cities and counties which the activity of Archbishop Szeleptsenyi, vast as it was, fiiiled to overtake, were visited by other bishops, attended by a body of wild Croats. Colleges were dismantled, and the students dispereed : in the royal cities all Protestant councillors were deposed, and Papists appointed in their room ; the citizens were disarmed, the walls of towns levelled, the pastors prohibited, under paiu of death, performing any oflicial act ; and whenever this violence was met by the least resistance, it was made a pretext for hanging, or breaking on the wheel, or otherwise maltreating and murdering the Protestant citizens.' One of the most painful of these many tragic scenes, was the execution of an old disciple of eighty-four. Nicholas Drabik, or Drabicius, was a native of Moravia, and one of the United Brethren. Altogether unlettered, he knew only the Bohemian tongue. He had fled from the per- secution in Moravia in 1629, and had sijice earned a scanty living by dealing in woollen goods. He had cheered his age and poverty with the hope of returning one day to his native land. He published a book, entitled Zi(/Id out of Burhiegs, which seems to have been another " Prophet's Roll," every page of it being laden with lamentations and woes, and with prophecies of evil against " the cruel and perjured " House of Austria, which he designated the House of Ahab. Against Papists in general he foretold a speedy and utter desolation." ' FriJ. Adolph. Lampc, Hist. EccJes. Ecfonn. in Hiingaria et Transylvania, p; 427; Trajocti ad Ehenuin, 1728.— A full account of these transactions will be found in a work by Stephen Pilarik, entitled Cuitm Jehovai Mimbili. See also Fosselor, vol. ix., pp. 223, 228; as also Hist. Prot. Churrh ill Hungary, cliap. 11. - Frid. Adolph. Lampe, Hist. Ecdes. Reform, in Hungaria PUNISHMENT OF PROTESTANT PASTORS. 243 Tlic old man was put into a cart and brouglit to Presbui'g, where Szelcptsenyi had opened Lis court. Unable, through intirmity of body, to stand, Drabicius was permitted to sit on the floor. It" the judge was lacking in dignity, the prisoner was nearly as much so in respect ; but it was hard to feel reverence for such a tribunal. The inteiTOgatives and replies give us a glimjsse into the age and the court. " Are you the false prophet i " asked the arch- bishop.— " I am not," replied Drabicius. " Are you the author of the book L'ujht out of Darkness?" — "I am," said the prisoner. " By whose orders and for what purpose did you write that book?" asked Szelcptsenyi. — "At the command of the Holy Spirit," answered Drabicius. " You lie," said the archbishop ; " the book is from the devil." — " In this you lie," rejoined the pi-isoner, \vith the air of one who bad no care of consequences. "What is your belief*?" asked the judge. — The prisoner in reply repeated the whole Athanasian Creed ; then, addressing Szeleptsenyi, he asked him, " What do you believe I " "I believe all that," replied the archbishop, "and a gi-eat deal more wluch is also necessary." — "You don't believe any such thing," said Drabicius ; " you believe in your cows, and horses, and estates." Sentence was now pronounced. His right hand was to be cut off. His tongue was to be taken out and nailed to a post. He was to be beheaded ; and his book, together with his body, was to be burned in the market-place. All this was to be done upon him on the IGth of July, 1G71. The Jesuits now came round him. One of them woi'med himself into his confidence, mainly by the promise that if he would abjure his Protestantism he would be set at liberty, and carried Ijack to his native Moravia, there to die in peace. He who had been invincible before the terrible Sze- lcptsenyi was vanquished by the soft arts of the Jesuits. Left of God for a moment, he gave his adherence to the Roman creed. When he saw he had been deceived, he was filled with horror at iis vile and cowardly act, and exclaimed that he would die in the foith in which he had li\ed. When the day came Drabicius endured with firm- ness his horrible sentence. Tlie extirpation of Protestantism in Hungary was proceeding at a rapid rate, but not sufficiently rapid to satisfy the vast desires of Szeleptsenyi and et Transylvania, pp. -tW, 445. — The book translated out of the original Bohomi;in into Latin, liy John Amos Conio- nius, was published at Amsterdam, 1GG5, under the title, Lux e Tcnelris novis raJiis aucta. his coadjutors. The king, at a single stroke, had abolished all the ancient charters of the kingdom, declaring that henceforth but one law, his own good pleasure, should i-ule in Hungaiy. Over the now extinct charters, and the slaughtered bodies of the magnates, the Jesuits had marched in, and were appropriating cluu'ches by the score, banish- ing pastors by the dozen, dismantling towns, plun- dering, hanging, and impaling. But one great comprehensive measure was yet needed to consum- mate the work. That measure was the banisliment of all the pastors and teachers from the kingdom. This was now resolved on ; but it was judged wise to begin with a small number, and if the govern- ment were successful with these, it would next proceed to its ulterior and final measure. The Archbishop of Gran summoned (25tli Sejjtem- ber, 1673), before his vice-regal coiu-t in Presburg, thirty-three of the Protestant pastors from Lower Hungary. They obeyed the citation, although they viewed themselves as in no way bound, by the laws of the land, to submit to a spiritual court, and especially one com|)osed of judges all of whom were their deadly enemies. Besides a number of paltry and ridiculous charges, the indictment laid at their door the whole guilt of the late rebellion, which notoriously had been contrived and caiiied out by the Popish magnates. To be placed at such a bar was but the inevitable prelude to being found guilty and condemned. The awards of torture, beheading, and banishment were distri- buted among the thirty-thi-ee pastors. But their persecutors, instead of carrying out the sentences, judged that their pen'ersion would serve their ends better than their execution, and that it was subtler policy to present Protestantism a.s a cowardly rather than as an heroic thing. After manifold annoyances and cajoleries, one minister apostatised to Rome, the rest signed a partial confession of guilt and had their lives spared. But their act covered them with disgrace in the eyes of their flocks, and theii- cowardice tended gi-eatly to weaken and demoralise their brethren throughout Himgary, to whom the attentions of the Jesuits were next directed. A second summons was issued by the Archbishop of Gran on the IGth of January, 1674. Szeleptsenyi was getting old, and was in haste to finish his work, " as if," say the chroniclers, " the words of our Lord at the Last Supper had been addressed to him — ' What thou doest, do quickly.' " The arch- bishop had spread his net wide indeed this time. All the Protestant clergy of Hungaiy, even those in the provinces subject to the Sultan, had he cited to his bar. The old charge was foisted up^ 244 HlSTUltY OF PROTESTANTISM. the rebellion, namely, for which the Poj)i.sh nobles had already been condciuned and executed. If these pastoi-s and schoolmasters were indeed the authors of the insurrection, the proof would have been easy, for tlie thing had not been done in a corner ; but nothijig was adduced in support of the charge that deserved tlie name of proof. But if the evidence was light, not so was tlie judgment. The tribunal pronounced for doom beheading, confiscation, in- famj% and outlawry. Tlie number on whom this condemnation fell was about 400. Again the counsel of the Jesuits was to kill then- character and spare theii- lives, and in this way to inflict the deadliest wound on the cause which these men rejjresented. To shed their blood was but to sow the seed of new con- fessoi-s, wliereiis as dishonoured men, or even as silent men, they might be left with perfect safety to live in their native land. This advice was again approved, and every art was set to work to seduce them. Three courses were open to the Protestant ministei'S. They might voluutarUy exile them- selves : tliis would so far answer the ends of then- pei'secutoi's, inasmuch as it would remove them from the country. Or, they might resign their office, and remain in Hungary : this would make them equally dead to the Protestant Church, and would disgrace them in the eyes of theii- people. Or, retaining thcii- office, they might remain and seize every oppoi-tunity of preaching to their former flocks, hi spite of the sentence of death suspended above their heads. Of these 400, or thereabouts, 236 ministei-s signed their resignation, and althougli they acquired thereby a right to remain in Hun- gary, the majority went into exile.' The rest, thinking it not the part of faithful shepherds to flee, neither resigned their office nor withdrew into banishment, but remained in spite of manj- thi-eatenings and much ill-usage. To the tyranny of the Government the pastors opposed an attitude of passive resistance. The next attempt of their persecutors was to teiTify them.- They were divided into small par- ties, put into carts, and distributed amongst the various fortresses and gaols of the country, the dai-kest and filthiest cells being selected for their imprisonment. Every method that could be devised was taken to annoy and torment them. The}' were treated woree than the greatest crimi- nals in the gaols into which tliey were cast. Tiiey were fed on coarae bread and water. Tliey were loaded witli chains ; nor was any respect had, in this particular, to difference of strength or of age — the irons of the old being just as heavj- as those of the young and the able-bodied The most disgivst- ing offices of the prison they were obliged to perform. In winter, during the intense frosts," they were re- quired to clear away with their naked hands the ice and snow. To see theii' friends, or to receive the smallest assistance from any one in alleviation of their sufierings, was a solace strictly denied them. To unite together in singing a psalm, or in offering a prayer, was absolutely forbidden. Some of them were shut up with thieves and mur- derere, and not only had they to endure their mockeries when they bent the knee to pray, but they were compelled to listen to their foul and often blasphemous talk. Their sufierings grew at last to such a pitch that they most earnestly wished that their persecutors would lead them forth to a scafibld or to a stake. But the Jesuits had doomed them to a more cruel because a more lingering martji'dom. Seeing their emaciation and desjion- dency, their enemies redoubled their efibrts to induce them to abjure. Not a few of them, unable longer to endure theii' torments, yielded, and re- nounced their faith, but others continued to bear uj! mider their frightful sufierings. On the 18th of March, 1675, a little trooi) of emaciated beings was seen to issue from a secret gatewa}' of the fortress of Komorn. An escort of 400 horsemen and as many foot closed round them and led them away. This sorrowful band was composed of the confessors who had re- mained faithful, and were now beginning their journey to the galleys of Naples. They were con- ducted by a cii-cuitous route through Moravia to Leopoldstadt, where their brethren, who had been shut up in that foitress, were brought out to join them ill the same doleful pilgrimage. They em- braced each other and wept. Tliis remnant of the once numerous clergy of the Protestant Church of Hungary now began tlieii' march from the dungeons of tlieir own land to the galleys of a foreign shore. They walked two and two, the right foot of the one chained to the left ankle of the othei". Their daily provision was a quarter of a pound of biscuit, a glass of water, i:nd at times a small piece of cheese. They slept in stables at night. At last they arrived at Trieste. Here the buttons were cut ofi' their coats, their beards shaved ofi", their heads clipped close, and altogether they were so metamorphosed that they ' Hist. Pi-ot. Church in Hungary, p. 207. - Frid. Adolpli. I.ampe, Hist. Eccles. Reform, in Uun- garia, Ac, p. U'l. ^ A Hunff.arian winter is often from 40° to GO" F. below the frecziiis-point. RELEASE OF THE IMPRISONED PASTORS. 245 could not recognise one auotbev save by tLie voit't'. ' So exhausted were tliey from insufficiency of food, and heavy irons, that four of the number died in jirison at Trieste, two others died afterwards on the road, and many fell sick. On the journey to Naples, one of the survivors, Gregory Hely, be- came unfit to walk, and was mounted on an ass. Unable through weakness to keep his seat, he fell to the ground and died on the spot. The escort did not halt, they dug no grave : lea^■ing him lying unburied on the road, they held on their way. Three succeeded in making their escape, and to one of these, George Lauyi, who afterwards ^vi-ote a narrative of his own and his companions' sufferings, we are indebted for our knowledge of the par- ticulars of their journey. Of the forty-one who had set out from Lcopold- stadt, dragging their chains, and superfluously guarded by 800 men-at-arms, only thii'ty entered the gates of Naples. This was the end of their journey, but not of their miserj'. Sold to the galley-masters for fifty Spanish jnastres a-piece, they were taken on board their seAeral boats, chained to the bench, and, in company with the malefixctors and convicts with which the Neapolitan capital abounds, they were compelled to work at the oar, exposed to the burning sun by day, and the bitter winds which, descending from the frozen summits of the Apennines, often sweep over the bay when the sun is below the horizon. Another little band of eighteen, gleaned from the gaols of Sarvar, Kupuvar, and Eberhard, began their journey to the galleys of Naples on the 1st of July of the same yeai-. To recount their sufferings by the way would be to rehearse the same unspeakabl)' doleful talc we have already told. The sun, the air, the mountains, what were they to men who only longed for death 1 Their eyes gi-ew dark, theii- teeth fell out, and though still alive, their bodies were decaying. On the road, ten of these miserable men, .succumbing to then' load of woe, and not well knowing what they did, yielded to the entreaties of their guard, and j)ro- fessed to embrace the faith of Rome. Three died on the way, and their fellow-sufferers being permitted to scoop out a gi-ave, they were laid in it, and the 88th Psalm was sung over their lonely resting-place. ilcanwhilo, the story of their sufferings was spreading over Europe. Princes and statesmen, touched by their melancholy fate, had begun to take an interest in them, and were exerting them- ' George Lanyi, Captivitas Pap!stica—apud Hist. Prot. Church in Hungary, p. 213. se.lves to obtain theii- release.- Representation!; were made in their behalf to the Imperial Court at Vienna, and also to tlie Government of Naples. These appeals were met with explanations, excuses, and delays. The Hungarian pastors still continued in theii- chains. The hopes of their deliverance were becoming faint when, on the 12th of De- cember, the Dutch fleet sailed into the Bay of Naples. The vice-admiral, John de St'aen, stepped on shore, and waiting on the crown-regent with the proof of the innocence of the prisoners in his hand, he begged their release. He was told that they would be set at liberty in three days. Overjoyed, the vice-admiral sent to the galleys to announce to the captives their approaching discharge, and then set sail for Sicily, whither he was called by the war with France. The Dutch fleet being gone, the promise of the crown-regent was forgotten. The third day came and went, and the prisonere were .still sighing in their fetters ; but there Was One who heard their groans, and had numbered and finished the days of theii- captivity. Again the Dutch ships were .seen in the ofling. Ploughing the bay, and sweeping past Capri, the fleet held on its course till it cast anchor before the city, and lay with its guns looking at the castle and palace of St. Elmo. It ^^'as Admiral dc Ruyter himself. He had been commanded by the States- General of Holland to take up the case of the pui- soners. De Ruyter sent the Dutch ambassador to tell the king why he was now in Neapolitan watei-s. The king quickly comprehended the admiral's message, and made haste to renew the promise that the Hungarian prisoners should be given up ; and again the good news was published in the galleys. But liberty's cup was to be dashed from the lips of the poor prisoners yet again. The urgency of affairs called the admiral instantly to weigh anchor and set sail, and with the reti-eating forms of his ships the fetters clasped themselves once more round the limbs of the captives. But De Ruyter had not gone far when he was met by ordcre to delay his departure from Naples. Putting about helm he sailed up the bay, and finding how niattera stood with the prisoners, and not troubling himself to wait a second time on the Nenpolitan autliorities, he sent his officers aboard the galleys, with instruc- tions to set free the prisoners; and the pastors, like men who walk in their sleep, arose and followed their liberators. On the Utli of February, 1676, they quitted the g.alleys, singing the 46th, the 114th, and the 12.5th P.salms. - Prid. Adolph. Laiiipe, Hist. Ecdes. Reform, in Hiingaria, SiC, lib. ii., ann. 1G70. DESOLATION OF THE HUNGARIAN CHURCH. 247 " Putting their lives in their hands, there were a few pastors who either had not been summoned to Presburg, or who had not gone ; and in lonely glens, in woods and mountains wild, in ruined castles and morasses inaccessible except to the initiated, these men resided and preached the Gospel to the foithful who were scattered over amid the tears which oppression wrung from them they joined their hands and looked up to Him who bottles up the teai-s, and looked forward to a better land beyond the grave." ' During the subsequent reigns of Joseph I., Charles VI., Maria Theresa, and Joseph II., down to 1800, the Protestant Church of Hungary con- VIEW OF PRESBURG. the laud. From the dark cavern, scantily lighted, arose the psalm of praise sung to those wild melodies which to this day thrill the heart of the worehipper. From lips jiale and trembling with disease, arising from a life spent in constant fear and danger, the consolations of the Gospel were proclaimed to the dying. The Lord's Supper was administered ; fathers held up their infants to be devoted in baptism to Him for whom they them- selves were willing to lay down their lives ; and tinued to drag out a struggling existence. Brief intervals of toleration came to vary her long and dark night of persecution. The ceaseless object of attack on the part of the Jesuits, her privileges continued to be curtailed, her numbers to decrease, and her spiritual life and power to decay, till at last the name of Protestant almost perished from the land. ' Hist. Prot. Church in Hungary, chap. 15, p. 220. 248 HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM. THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. CHAPTER I. GREAT PERIODS OF THE THIRTY Y E A R S ' WAR. Dying Utterance of Charles IX. of Sweden— Rearing of Gustavus Adolphus — Pacification of Augsburg—" Protestant Union" and "Catholic League:" their Objects — Third Phase of Protestantism in Germany — Beginning of tlie Tliii-ty Years' Wai- — Troubles at Prague— Insurrection — March of the Bohemians to Vienna— Their Retreat — War — Numbers of the Host— The Leaders on Botli Sides — Oscillations of Victory — Fii-st Period of the War, from 161S to 1630— Second Period, from 1630 to 1631— Third Period, from 1634 to 1G48. Standing by tlic deatli-becl of Charles IX. of Sweden (1611), we saw the monarch, as he rumi- nated on the conflicts which he but too truly divined the future would bring with it to Protes- tantism, stretch out his hand, and laying it on the golden locks of his boy, who was watching his father's last moments, utter the prophetic words, "He -will do it."' It was the gi-andson of the famous Gustavus Vasa, the yet more renowned Gustavus Adolphus, of wliom these words were spoken. They fitly foreshadowed, in their incisive terseness, and vague sublimity, the career of the future hero. We are arrived at one of the most terrible struggles that ever desolated the world — the Thuiy Years' War. In the education of the young Gustavus, who, as a man, was to play so conspicuous a part in the drama aboiit to open, there was nothing lacking which could give him hardiness of body, bra\ery of spirit, vigour of intellect, and largeness of soul. Though his cradle was placed in a palace, it was surroimded with little of the splendour and nothing of the eiTeminacy which, commonly attend the early lot of those who are royally born. The father was struggling for his crown when the son first saw the light. Around him, from the first, were commotions and storms. These could admit of no life but a plain and frugal one, verging it may be on roughness, but which brought with it an ample recompense for the incon- veniences it imposed, in the liealth, the buoj-ancy, and the cheerfulness which it engendered. He gi-ew hale and strong in the pure cold air to which lie was continually exposed. "Amid tlie starry nights and dark forests of his fatherland, he nursinl the seriousness which was a part of his nature." - Meanwhile the mind of the future monarch was developing mider influences as healthy and stirring as those by which his bodj^ was being braced. His father took him with him both to the senate and the camp. In the one he learned to think as the statesman, in the other he imbibed the spirit of the soldier. Yet greater care was taken to develop and strengthen his higher powers. Masters were ap- jiointed him in the various languages, ancient and modern ; and at the age of twelve he could speak Latin, French, German, and Italian with fluency, and understood Sjjanish and English tolerably." We hear of his reading Greek with ease, but this is more doubtful. He had studied Grotius. Tliis was a range of accomplishment which no monarch in Northern Europe of his time could boast. Of the prudence and success with which, when he ascended the throne, he set about correcting the abuses and* con- fusions of half a century in his hereditary dominions, and the vigour with wliich he prosecuted his first wars, we are not here called to sjieak. The cai'eer of Gustavus Adolphus comes into our view at the point where it first specially touches Protestantism. The Thii-ty Years' War had been going on .some years before he appeared on that bloody stage, and mingled in its awful strife. The first grand settlenient between the Romanists and the Protestants was the Pacification of Augs- bui-g, in 1.5.55. This Pacification gathered np in one great edict all the advantages which Protes- tantism had acquired during its previous existence of nearly forty years, and it expressed them all in one single word — Toleration. The same word which summed up the gains of Protestantism also summed np the losses of the empire ; for the empire liad begini by pronouncing its ban upon Luther and his followers, and now at the end of forty years, and ' See ante, vol. ii., p. .33. - Hallenberg, i., p. 22. History of Oustavus Adolphus, by B. Chapman, M.A.; p. 47; Loud., 1&5C. ^ Geijcr, iii., p. 5—apiHl Cliapman, Hist. Gnst. Adolph., p. 45. PROTESTANT UNION AND CATHOLIC LEAGUE. 24;) after all tlie great wars of Charles V. undertaken against the Protestants, the empire was comiielled to say, " I tolerate you." So far had ProtestantLsni moidded the law of Christendom, reared a barrier around itself, and set limits to the iritoleraut and despotic forces that assailed it from without. But this Toleration was neither perfect in itself, nor was it faithfully observed. It wa,s limited to Protes- tantism in its Lutheran form, for Calvinists were e.xcluded from it, and, not to speak of the many jioints which it left open to opposite interpretations, and which were continually giving rise to quarrels, perpetual infringements were taking place on the rights guaranteed under it. The Protestants had long complained of these breaches of the Pacification, but could obtain no redress ; and in the view of the general policy of the Popish Powers, which was to sweep away the Pacification of Aiigsburg altogether as soon as they were strong enough, a number of Protestant princes joined together for mutual do- fence. On the 4th of May, 1608, was formed the " Px'OtestiUit Union." At the head of this Union was Frederick IV., the Elector of the Palatinate. The answer to this was the counter-institution, in the following year, of the " Catholic League." It was formed on July 10th, 1609, and its chief was Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria. Maximilian was a fanatical disciple of the Jesviits, and in the League now formed, and the terrible war to which it led, we see the woi-k of the Society of Jesus. The Duke of Bavaria was joined b}' Duke Leopold of Austria, and the PrLnce-bishojw of Wiu'zburg, Puitisbon, Augsburg, Constance, Strasburg, Passau, and by several abbots. The leading object of the League was the restoration of the Popish faith over Ger- many, and the extirpation of Pi'otestantLsui. This was to be accomplished by force of arms. Any moment might bring the outbreak ; and MaximOian had an army of Bavarians, zealots like himself, waiting the .summons, which, as matters then stood, could not be long deferred. We behold Protestantism entering on its third grand pliase in Germany. Tlie fu\st was the llli'- miiiatHiii. From the open Biljle, unlocked by the recovered Hebrew and Greek tongues, and from the closets and pulpits of gi-eat theologians and scholai's, came forth the light, and the darkness which had shrouded the world for a thousand j^ears began to bo dispersed. This was the beginning of that world-overtiu'ning yet world-restoring move- ment. The second phase was that of Confesnioa and Martijrdum. During that period societies and States were foiuiding th(;mselves upon the funilamental principle of Protestantism — namely, submission to the Word of God — and were covering Christeniluiu with a new and higher life, individual and national. Protestantism opens its second century with its tliird grand phase, which is War. The Old now begins clearly to perceive tltat the New can establish itself oidy ui)on its ruins, and accordingly it girds on the sword to fight. The battle-field is all Ger- many : into that vast arena descend men of all nations, not only of Eiu'ope, but even from parts of Asia : the length of the day of battle is thirty yeai-s. Some have prefen-ed this as an indictment against Protestantism ; see, it has been said, what convulsions it has brought on. It is true that if Protestantism had never existed this unprecedented conflict would never have taken place, for had the Old been left in unchallenged possession it would have been at peace. It is also true that neither literature noi' philosophy ever shook the world with storms like these. But this only proves that con- science alone, quickened by the Word of God, was able to render the service which the world needed ; for the Old had to be displaced at whatever cost of tumult and disturbance, that the New, which cannot be shaken, might be set up. Let us trace the first risings of this great commo- tion. The " Catholic League " having been formed, and Maximilian of Ba^■aria placed at the head of it, the Jesuits began to intrigue in order to find work for the army which tlie duke held in readiness to strike. It needed but a spark to kindle a flame. The spark fell. The " M.ajestiits-Brief," or Royal Letter, granted by Rudolph II., and which was the charter of the Bohemian Protestants, began to be encroached upon. The privileges which that charter conceded to the Protestants, of not only retauung the old churches but of building new ones whei-e they were needed, were denied to those who lived upon the Ecclesias- tical States. The Jesuits openly said thai this edict of toleration was of no value, seeing the king had been terrified into granting it, and that the time was near when it would be swept away altogetlier. This sort of talk gave great uneasi- ness and alarm ; alarm was speedily con\erted into indignation by the disposition now openly evinced by the court to overturn the Majestiits-Brief, and confiscate all the rights of the Protestants. Count Thum, Burgrave of Carlstein, a popular functionary, was dismissed, and his vacant oflice was filled by two nobles who wore siiecially obnoxious to the Pro- testants, as prominent enemies of their faith and noted pei-secutors of their brethren. They were accused of hunting their Protest^mt tenantry with dogs to mass, of forbidding them the rights of baptism, of niftrriagc, Jind of burial, and so com- pelling them to return to the Roman Church. The arm of injustice began to be put forth agaiiust the 250 HISTOEY OF PROTESTANTISM. Protestants on the Ecclesiastical States, wliose rights were more loosely defined. Their church in the town of Klostergi-ab was demolished ; that at Braimau was forcibly shut \\\>, and the citizens who had opposed these \-iolcnt proceedings were thrown into prison. Count Thuru, who had been elected by his fellow-Protestants to the office of Defender of the Church's civU rights, thought himself called upon to organise measures of defence. Deputies wei-e summoned to Prague from eveiy circle of the kingdom for deliberation. They petitioned the emperor to set free those whom he had cast into prison ; but the imperial I'eply, so far from opening the doors of the gaol, justified the demolition of the churches, branded the opposers of that act as rebels, and dropped some significant threats against all who should oppose the royal will. Bohemia was in a flame. The deputies armed themselves, and believing that this harsh policy had been dictated by the two new members of the vice-regal Council of Prague, they proceeded to the palace, and forcing theii' way into the hall where the Council was sitting, they laid hold — as we have already narrated — on the two obnoxious members, Mar- tinitz and Slavata, and, " according to a good old Bohemian custom," as one of the deputies termed it, they threw them out at the window. They sustained no harm from their fall, but starting to then- feet, made o3' from their enemies. This was on the 23rd of May, 1618: the Thirty Years' "War had begmi. Thirty du-ectors were appointed as a provisional government. Taking possession of all the offices of state and the national revenues, the dii-ectors summoned Bohemia to arms. Count Thum was placed at the head of the army, and the entii-e kingdom joined the insui-rection, three towns ex- cepted— Budweis, Krununau, and PUsen — in which the majority of the inhabitants were Eomanists. The Emperor Matthias was terrified by thLs display of union and courage on the part of the Bohemians. Innumerable perils at that hour environed his tlu'one. HLs hereditary States of Austria were nearly as disaft'eetcd as Bohemia itself — a spark might kindle them also into revolt : the Protestants were numerous even in them, and, united by a strong bond of sympathy, were not unlikely to make common cause with their brethren. The emperor, dreading a universal conflagration, which might consume his dynasty, made haste to pacify the Bohemian insurgents before they should arrive under the walls of Vienna, and urge their demands for redress in his own palace. Negotiations were in progi-ess, with the best hopes of a pacific issue ; but just at that moment tlie Emperor Matthias died, and was succeeded by the fanatical and ster'n Ferdinand II. There fullowed ■with startling rapidity a succes- sion of significant events, all adverse to Bohemia and to the cause of Protestantism. These occur- rences form the prologue, as it were, of that great th'ama of horrors which we are about to nai'- rate. Some of them have already come before us in connection wth the history of Protestantism in Bohemia. First of all came the accession of Silesia and Mora\ia to the insurrection ; the deposition of Fordinand II. as King of Bohemia, and the elec- tion of Frederick, Elector of the Palatinate, in his I'oom. This was followed by the victorious mai'ch of Count Thurn and hLs army to Viemia. The appearance of the Bohemian army under the walls of the capital raised the Protestant nobles in Vienna, who, while the Bohemian balls were fallmg on the royal palace, forced their way into Ferdinand's presence, and insisted that he should make peace with Count Thm-u by guaranteeing toleration to the Protestants of his emjsire. One of the Austrian magnates was so urgent that he seized the monarch by the button, and exclaimed, " Fei'dinand, wilt thou sign it]" But Ferdinand was immovable. In spite of the extremity in which he stood, he would neither flee from his capital nor make concessions to the Protestants. Suddenly, and while the altercation was still going on, a trumpet-blast was heard in the court of the palace. Five hundred cuirassiers had arrived at that critical moment, mider General Dampierre, to defend the monarch. This turned the tide. Vienna was preserved to the Papacy, and with Viemia the Austrian domuiions and the imperial throne. There followed the retreat of the Bohemian host from under the walls of the capital ; the election of Ferdinand, at the Diet of Frankfort, to the dignity of emperor ; the equipment of an army to crush the insurrection in Bohemia ; and, in fine, the battle of the Weissenburg under the walls of Prague, which by a smgle stroke brought the " winter kingdom " of Frederick to an end, laid the provinces of Bohemia, Silesia, and Moravia at the feet of Ferdinand, and enabled him to inaugurate an ii-on era of persecution by setting up the scaffold at Prague, on which the flower of the countrj''s rank and genius and virtue were offered up in the holo- caust we have already described. Such was the series of minor acts which led up to the gi-eater ti'agedies. Though sufficiently serious in themselves, they are dwarfed into comparative insignificance by the stupendous horrors that tower up behind them. Befoi'e entering on detaOs, we must fii-st of all sketch the general features of this terrible affair. THllEE PHASES OF GERMAN PROTESTANTISM. 251 It had long been felt that the antagonism be- tween the old and the new faiths — which every day j)artook more of jjassion and less of devotion, and with which so many dynastic and national interests had come to be bound up — would, in the issue, bring on a bloody catastrophe. That catastrophe came at last ; but it needed the space of a genera- tion to exhaust its vengeance and consummate its woes. The war was prolonged beyond all previous precedent, mainly from tliis cause, that no one of the parties engaged in it so far overtojjped the others as to be able to end the strife by striking a great and decisive blow. The conflict dragged slowly on from ye.ar to year, bearuig down before it leaders, soldiers, cities, and provinces, as the lava-flood, slowly descending the mountain-side, buries vine- yard and pine-forest, smiling village and populous city, under an ocean of molten rocks. The armies by which this long-continued and fearfully destructi'se war was waged were not of overwhelming numbers, according to our modern ideas. The host on either side )'arely exceeded 40,000 ; it ofteuer fell below than rose above this number ; and almost all the great battles of the war were fought with even fewer men. It was then held to be more than doubtful whether a general could efficiently command a greater army than 40,000, or could advantageously employ a more numerous host on one theatre. Once, it is true, Wallenstein assembled round his standard nearly 100,000 ; but this vast multitude, in point of strategical disposition and obedience to com- mand, hardly desei-ved the name of an army. It was rather a congeries of fighting and marauding bands, scattered over gieat pait of Oermany — a scourge to the unhappy jiroviiices, and a terror to those who had called it into existence. Even when the army- roll exhibited 100,000 names, it was difficult to bring into action the half of that number of light- ing men, the absentees were always so numerous, from sickness, from desertion, from the necessity of collecting ])rovisions, and from the greal of phnider. The Bohemian army of 1620 was speedily reduced in the field to one-half of its origuial numbers ; the other lialf was famished, frozen, or forced to desert l)y lack of pay, not less than four millions and a half of guldens being owing to it at the close of the campaign. No military chest of those days — not even that of the emperor, and nuich less that of any of the princes — was rich enough to pay an army of 40,000; and few bankers could be pei-- suaded to lend to monarchs whose ordinary revenues wore so disproportionate to then- enormous war expenditure. The army was left to feed itself. When one province was eaten up, tlie army changed to another, which was devoured in its turn. The verdant earth was changed to sackcloth. Citizens and peasants fled in terror-stricken crowds. In the van of the ai'my rose the wail of despair and anguish : in its rear, famine came stalking on in a pa\ ilion of cloud and fiu'e and vapour of smoke. The masses that swarm and welter in the abyss Germany now became we cannot particularise. But out of the dust, the smoke, and the flame there emerge, towering above the others, a few gigantic forms, which let us name. Ernest of IMansfeld, the fantastic Brunswicker, and Bernhard of Weimar form one group. Arrayed against these are Maxi- milian of Bavaria, and the generals of the League — TUly and Pappenheim, leaders of the imperial host ; the stern, inscrutable Wallenstein, Altringer, and the gi-eat Frenchmen, Conde and Turenne ; among the Swedes, Horn, Bauer, Torstensou, Wrangel, and over all, lifting himself grandly above the others, is the warrior-prince Gustavus Adolphus. What a prodigious combination of military genius, raised m each case to its highest degree of mteusity, by the greatness of the occasion and the wish to cope with a renowned antagonist or rival ! The war is one of brilliant battles, of terrible sieges, but of quick alternations of fortune, the conqueror of to-day becoming often the van- quished of to-morrow. The evolution of political results, however, is .slow, and they are often as quickly lost as they had been tediously and labo- riously won. This gi-eat war divides itself into three grand periods, the first being from 1618 to 1630. That was the epoch of the imperial victories. Almost defeated at the outset, Ferdinand II. brought back success to his standards by the aid of Wallensteiu- and his immense hordes ; and in proportion as the imperial host triumphed, Ferdinand's claims on Ger- many rose higher and higher : his object beuig ti> make his will as absolute and arbitrary over the whole Fatherland as it was m his paternal estates of Austria. In short, the emperor had revived the project which his ancestor Charles V. had so nearly realised in his war with the princes of the Schmal- kald League — namely, that of making himself the one sole master of Germany. At the end of the first period we find that the Popish Power has spread itself like a mighty flood over the whole of Germany to the North Sea. But now, with the commencement of the second period — which extends from 16:30 to 1634 — the opposing tide of Protestantism begins to set in, and continues to flow, with irresistible force, from north to south, till it has ovei'spread two-thirds of the Fatherland. Nor does the death of its 252 HISTORY OF PROTESTAJSTTISM. great champion arrest it. Even after the fall of Gustavus Adolphus the Swedish wai-riors continued for some time to ■win victories, and still farther to extend the territorial area of Protestantism. The thii-d and closing period of the war extend.s from 1634 to 1648, and dm-ing this time victory and defeat perpetually oscillated from side to side, and shifted from one part of the field to another. The Swedes came down in a mighty wave, which rolled on unchecked till it reached the middle of Germany, the good fortune which attended them receding at times, and then again returning. The French, greedy of booty, spread themselves along the Rhine, hunger and pestilence traversing in their- wake the wasted land. In the Swedish army one general after another perished in battle, yet with singular daring and obstinacy the army kept the field, and whether victorious or vanquished in par- ticular battles, always insisted on the former claim of civil and religious liberty to Protestants. In opposition to the Swedes, and quite as immovable, is seen the Prince of the League, Maximilian of Bavaria, and the campaigns which he now fought are amongst the most brilliant which his dynasty have ever achieved. The fanatical Ferdinand II. had by this time gone to his grave; the soberer and more tolerant Ferdinand III. had succeeded, but he could not disengage himself from the ter- rible struggle, and it went on for some time longer; but at last peace began to be talked about. Nature itself seemed to cry for a cessation of the awful con- flict ; cities, to\vns, and ^^Jlages were in flames ; the land was empty of mea ; the liigh-roads were with- out passengers, and briars and weeds were coveiing the once richly cultivated fields. Several States ha