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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 

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l.'SS 

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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 
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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 
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12 
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2o 
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da 
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ICO 
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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 

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378 
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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 

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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  <loctrinc  was  spreading 


many  of  the  principal  inhabitants — among  others, 
Nicolas  Quich,  under-master  of  the  school  there. 
At  Utrecht  the  Reformation  was  embraced  by 
Rhodius,  Principal  of  tht  College  of  St.  Jerome,  and 
in  Holland  liy  Cornelius  Honius,  a  learned  civilian, 
and  counsellor  in  the  Courts  of  Holland.  Honiiis 
interpreted  the  text,  "  This  is  my  body,"  by  the 
words,  "This  signifies  my  body" — an  interpretation 
which  he  is  said  to  have  found  among  the  pnpers 
of  Jacob  Hook,  sometime  Dean  of  Naldwick,  and 


Ul      VNTW  EI  I 


among  the  inhabitants  of  Holland,  Brabant,  and 
Flandei'.s.  At  Bois-le-Duc  all  the  Dominican 
monks  were  driven  out  of  the  city.  At  Antw  erp, 
in  spite  of  the  edicts  of  the  emperor,  the  con- 
venticles wore  kejtt  up.  The  learned  Hollaiider, 
Dorpius,  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Lo\ivain,  was 
thought  to  favour  Luther's  doctrine,  and  he,  as 
well  as  Erasmus,  was  in  some  danger  of  the  stake. 
Nor  did  the  emperor's  secretary  at  the  Court  of 
Brabant,  Philip  dc  Lens,  escape  the  suspicion  of 
lieresy.  At  Naiirden,  Anthony  Frederick  became 
a  convert  to  Protestantism,  and   was  followed  by 


106 


'  Bi'.amU,  vol.  i.,  p.  12. 


wliiih  was  believed  to  have  been  handed  down 
from  hand  to  hand  for  two  hundred  yoai-s.- 
Among  the  disciples  of  Honius  was  William  Cim- 
phanis.  Rector  of  the  Gj'mnasium  at  the  Hague.  To 
these  we  may  add  Cornelius  Grapheus,  Secretary 
of  Antwerp,  a  most  e.stimable  man,  and  an  en- 
lightened friend  of  the  Reformation. 

The  first  martyr  of  the  Reformation  in  Holland 
deserves  more  particular  notice.  He  wiis  John 
de  Bakker,  of  Woerden,  which  is  a  little  town 
between  Utrecht  and  Leyden.  He  was  a  priest 
of  the  age  of  twenty-seven  yeai-s,  and  had  incurred 


Bi-ancU,  vol.  i.,  p.  52. 


14 


HISTOEY  OF  PROTESTANTISM, 


the  suspicion  of  liorcsy  l>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  adde<l,  making  the  n\imber 
of  bLshoprics  e((ual  to  that  of  the  Provinces.  The 
bull  of  Pius  IV.,  ratified  within  a  few  months  by 
that  of  Paul  IV.,  stated  that  "  the  enemy  of  man- 
kind being  abroad,  and  the  Netherlands,  then  under 
the  sway  of  the  beloved  son  of  his  Holiness,  Philip 
the  Catholic,  being  <;onipassed  about  with   heretic 


and  schismatic  nations,  it  was  believed  that  the 
eternal  welfare  of  the  land  was  in  great  danger ;" 
hence  the  new  labourei's  sent  forth  into  the  harvest. 
The  object  of  the  measiire  was  transparent  ;  nor 
did  its  authors  aflect  to  conceal  that  it  was  meant 
to  strengthen  the  Papacy  in  Flanders,  and  extend 
the  range  of  its  i-ight  arm,  the  Inquisition.  These 
thirteen  new  bishojis  were  viewed  by  the  citizens 
but  as  thirteen  additional  inquisitors. 

These  two  tyrannical  steps  necessitated  a  third. 
Philip  saw  it  advisable  to  retain  a  body  of  Sj)anish 
troops  in  the  country  to  compel  submission  to  the 
new  arrangements.  The  number  of  Spanish  soldiei'S 
at  that  moment  in  Flanders  was  not  gi-eat:  they 
amounted  to  only  4,000 :  but  they  were  excellently 
disciplined :  the  citizens  saw  in  them  the  sharp  end 
of  the  wedge  that  was  destined  to  introduce  a 
Spanish  army,  and  reduce  theii'  country  under  a 
desjiotism  ;  and  in  truth  such  was  Philip's  design. 
Besides,  these  troops  wei-e  insolent  and  rapacious 
to  a  degi-ee.  The  inhabitants  of  Zealand  refused 
to  work  on  their  dykes,  saying  they  would  rather 
that  the  ocean  should  swallow  them  up  at  once, 
than  that  they  should  be  devoured  piece-meal  by  the 
avarice  and  cruelty  of  the  Spanish  soldiers.' 

The  measures  adopted  by  Philip  caused  the 
citizens  the  more  irritation  and  discontent,  from  the 
fact  that  they  were  subvei-sive  of  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  Provinces.  At  his  accession  Philip  had 
taken  an  oath  to  uphold  all  the  chartered  rights  of 
the  Netherlanders ;  but  the  new  edicts  traversctl 
every  one  of  these  rights.  He  had  sworn  not  to 
raise  the  clergy  in  the  Provinces  above  the  state  in 
which  he  found  them.  In  disregard  of  his  solernu 
]iledge,  he  had  increased  the  ecclesiastical  dioceses 
from  four  to  seventeen.  This  was  a  formidable 
augmentation  of  the  clerical  force.  The  nobles 
looked  askance  on  the  new  spiritual  peers  who  liad 
come  to  divide  with  them  their  influence ;  the 
middle  classes  regarded  them  as  clogs  on  their  in- 
dustry, and  the  artisans  detested  them  as  spies  on 
their  freedom.  The  violation  of  faith  on  the  part 
of  their  monarch  rankled  in  their  bosoms,  and  in- 
spired them  with  gloomy  forebodings  as  regarded 
the  future.  Another  fundamental  law,  ever  esteemed 
by  the  Netherlanders  among  the  most  valuable  of 
their  privileges,  and  which  Philip  had  sworn  to  re- 
spect, dill  these  new  arrangements  contravene.  It 
was  unlawful  to  bring  a  foreign  soldier  into  the 
country.  Philip,  despite  his  oath,  refused  to 
withdraw  his  Spanish  troops.  So  long  as  they 
remained,  the  Netherlanders  well  knew  that  the 
door  stood  open  for  the  entrance  of  a  much  larger 

'  Watson,  PlnUp  II.,  vol.  i.,  p.  118, 


20 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


force.  It  was  also  in-ovided  in  the  ancient  charters 
that  the  citizens  should  be  tried  before  the  ordi- 
nary courts  and  by  the  ordinary  judges.  But 
Philip  had  virtually  swept  all  these  courts  away, 
and  substituted  in  their  room  a  tribunal  of  most 
anomalous  and  terrific  powers :  a  tribunal  that 
sat  in  darkness,  that  permitted  those  it  dragged  to 
its  bar  to  plead  no  law,  to  defend  themselves 
by  no  counsel,  and  that  compelled  the  prisoner 
by  torture  to  become  his  own  accuser.  Nor  was 
tliis  court  reiiuired  to  assign,  either  to  the  prisoner 
himself  or  to  the  public,  any  reasons  for  the  dread- 
ful and  horrible  sentences  it  was  in  the  haoit  of 
pronouncing.  It  was  allowed  the  most  unrestrained 
indulgence  in  a  ca])ricious  and  murderous  tyranny. 
The  ancient  chartei-s  h.ad  farther  provided  that  only 
natives  should  serve  in  the  public  offices,  and  that 
foreigners  should  be  ineligible.  Philip  paid  as  little 
respect  to  this  as  to  the  rest  of  their  ancient  usages 
and  rights.  Introducing  a  body  of  foreign  ec- 
clesiastics and  monks,  he  placed  the  lives  and 
properties  of  liis  subjects  of  the  Netherlands  at  the 
disposal  of  tliese  strangers. 

The  ferment  was  great :  a  storm  was  gathering 
in  the  Low  Countries  :  nor  does  one  wonder  when 
one  reflects  on  the  extent  of  the  revolution  wliicli 
had  Ijeen  accomplished,  and  which  outraged  all 
classes.  The  hierarchy  had  been  suddenly  and 
portentously  expanded  :  the  tribunals  had  been 
placed  in  the  hands  of  foreigners  :  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  charters,  the  pi-ecious  acquisitions  of 
centuries  had  been  swept  away,  and  the  citadel  of 
their  freedom  razed.  A  foreign  army  was  on  their 
soil.  The  Netlierlanders  saw  in  all  this  a  complete 
machinery  framed  and  set  up  on  purpose  to  carry 
oni  the  despotism  of  the  edicts. 

The  blame  of  tlie  new  arrangements  was.generally 
charged  on  the  Bisliop  of  Arras.  He  was  a  plau- 
sible, crafty,  ambitious  man,  fertile  in  expedients, 
and  even  of  temper.  He  was  the  ablest  of  the 
counsellors  of  Philii),  who  honoured  him  with  his 
entire  confidence,  and  considted  him  on  all  occasions. 
Arras  was  by  no  means  anxious  to  ho  thought  the 
contnver,  or  even  prompter,  of  that  scheme  of  des- 
potism which  h.ad  supplanted  the  liberties  of  his 
native  land ;  but  the  more  he  pi-otested,  the  more 
did  the  nation  credit  him  with  the  plan.  To  him 
had  been  assigned  the  place  of  cliief  authority  among 
the  new  bishops,  the  Archbishopric  of  JMcchlin.  He 
was  coy  at  first  of  the  proffered  dignity,  and 
Pliilip  had  to  urge  him  before  he  would  accept 
the  archiepiscop.al  mitre.  "  I  only  .accepted  it," 
we  find  him  afterwards  wiiting  to  the  king,  "  that 
I  might  not  live  in-  idleness,  doing  nothing  for  God 


and  your  Majesty."  If  his  See  of  Mechlin  bi-ought 
liim  labour,  wliich  he  professed  to  wish,  it  brought 
him  what  he  feigned  not  to  wish,  but  which  never- 
theless he  greedily  coveted,  enormous  wealth  and 
vast  influence  ;  and  when  the  people  saw  him  taking 
kindly  to  his  new  post,  and  working  his  way  to  the 
management  of  all  afl'airs,  and  the  control  of  the 
whole  kingdom,  they  were  but  the  more  confirmed 
in  theii'  belief  that  the  edicts,  the  new  bishops,  the 
Inquisition,  and  the  Spanish  soldiers  had  all  sprung 
from  his  fertile  brain.  The  Nethei'landers  had  un- 
doubtedly to  thank  the  Bishop  of  Arras  for  the 
first,  the  edicts  namely,  and  these  were  the  primal 
fountains  of  that  whole  tyranny  that  was  fiited  to 
devastate  the  Low  Countries.  As  regards  the 
three  last,  it  is  not  so  clear  that  he  had  counselled 
their  adoption.  Nevertheless  the  nation  persisted 
in  regarding  him  as  the  chief  conspirator  against 
its  liberties ;  and  the  odium  in  which  he  was  held 
increased  from  day  to  day.  Discontent  was  rijjcn- 
ing  into  revolt. 

Pliilip  II.  was  probably  the  less  concerned  at 
the  storm,  which  he  could  not  but  see  was  gather- 
ing, inasmuch  as  he  contemplated  .an  earl}'  retreat 
liefoi'e  it.  He  was  soon  to  depart  for  Spain,  and 
leave  othei's  to  contend  with  the  great  winds  he 
had  unchained. 

Before  taking  his  departure,  Philip  looked  round 
him  for  one  whom  he  might  appoint  regent  of  this 
important  part  of  his  dominions  in  his  absence. 
His  choice  lay  between  Christina,  Duchess  of 
Lorraine  (his  cousin),  and  Margaret,  Duchess  of 
Parma,  a  natural  daugliter  of  Charles  V.  He  fixed 
at  last  on  the  latter,  the  Ducliess  of  Parma.  The 
Duchess  of  Lorraine  would  have  been  the  wiser 
ruler ;  the  Duchess  of  Parma,  Philip  knew,  would 
be  the  more  obsequious  one.  Her  duchy  was  sur- 
rounded by  Philip's  Italian  dominions,  and  she  was 
willing,  moreover,  to  send  her  son — afterwards  the 
celebriited  Alexander  Farnese — on  pretence  of 
being  educated  at  the  court  of  Spain,  but  in  reality 
as  a  pledge  that  she  would  execute  to  the  letter  the 
injunctions  of  Philip  in  her  government  of  the  Pro- 
vinces. Though  for  away,  the  king  took  care  to 
retain  a  direct  .and  firm  grasp  of  the  Notherl.ands.' 

Under  Margaret  as  regent,  three  Councils  were 
organised — a  Council  of  Finance,  a  Privy  Council, 
and  a  Council  of  State,  the  last  being  the  one  of 
highest  authority.  These  three  Councils  were 
appointed  on  the  pretence  of  assisting  the  regent  in 
her  government  of  the  Provinces,  but  in  reality  to 
mask  her  arbitrary  administration  by  lending  it 
the  air  of  the  popular  will.     It  was  meant  that  the 


'  jRelat.  Card.  Sent.,  lib.  ii.,  cap.  1,  p.  45. 


PHILIP'S    FAREWELL   ADDRESS. 


21 


government  of  the  Provinces  should  possess  all  the 
simplicity  of  absolutism.  Philip  would  order, 
Margaret  would  execute,  and  the  Councils  would 
consent ;  meanwhile  the  old  charters  of  freedom 
would  be  sleeping  their  deep  sleep  in  the  tomb  that 
Philip  had  dug  for  them ;  and  woe  to  the  man 
who  should  attempt  to  rouse  them  from  their- 
slumber ! 

Before  setting  sail,  Philip  convoked  an  assembly 
of  the  States  at  Ghent,  in  order  to  deliver  to  them 
his  parting  instructions.  Attended  by  a  splendid 
rotiuuc,  Philip  presided  at  their  opening  meeting, 
but  as  he  could  not  speak  the  tongne  of  the  Flemings, 
the  king  addressed  the  convention  by  the  mouth  of 
the  Bishop  of  Arras.  The  orator  set  forth,  vnth 
that  rhetorical  grace  of  wluch  he  was  a  master,  that 
"  intense  affection"  which  PhUip  bore  to  the  Pro- 
vinces ;  he  next  craved  earnest  attention  to  the 
three  millions  of  gold  florins  which  the  king  had 
asked  of  them  ;  and  these  preliminaries  dispatched, 
the  bishoj)  entered  upon  the  great  topic  of  his 
harangue,  with  a  fen'our  that  showed  how  much 
this  matter  lay  on  the  heart  of  his  master.  The 
earnestness  of  the  bishop,  or  rather  of  Philip,  can 
be  felt  only  by  giving  his  words.  "  At  this 
moment,"  said  he,  "  many  countries,  and  particu- 
larly the  lands  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood, 
were  greatly  infested  by  various  '  new,  reprobate, 
and  damnable  sects;'  as  these  sects,  proceeding 
from  the  foul  fiend,  father  of  discord,  had  not  failed 
to  keep  those  kingdoms  in  perpetual  dissension 
and  misery,  to  the  manifest  displeasure  of  God 
Almighty;  as  his  Majesty  was  desirous  to  avert 
such  terrible  evils  from  his  own  realms,  according 
to  his  duty  to  the  Lord  God,  who  would  demand 
reckoning  from  him  hereafter  for  the  well-being  of 
llie  I'rovinces  ;  as  all  experience  proved  that  change 
of  religion  ever  brought  desolation  and  confusion  to 
the  commonweal ;  as  low  pereons,  beggars,  and 
^iigabondiS,  under  colour  of  religion,  were  accus- 
tomed to  traverse  the  land  for  the  puiisose  of 
plunder  and  disturbance  ;  ;us  his  Majesty  was  most 
desirous  of  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  lord 
and  father  ;  as  it  would  be  well  remembered  what 
the  emperor  had  said  to  him  on  the  memorable 
occasion  of  his  abdication,  therefore  his  Majesty  had 
commanded  the  regent  Margaret  of  Parma,  for  the 
sake  ofreligion  and  the  glory  of  God,  accurately  and 
exactly  to  cause  to  be  enforced  the  edicts  and  decrees 
made  by  liis  Imperial  JMajesty,  and  renewed  by  his 
]iresent  Majesty,  for  the  extiri)ation  of  all  sects  and 
heresies."'  The  charge  laid  on  the  regent  Margaret 
was  extended   to   all    governors,   councillors,    and 


Motley,  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  pt.  i.,  ch.  3,  p.  110. 


others  in  authority,  who  were  enjoined  to  trample 
heresy  and  heretics  out  of  existence. 

The  Estates  listened  -with  intense  anxiety,  expect- 
ing every  moment  to  hear  Philip  say  that  he  would 
withdraw  the  Spanish  troops,  that  he  would  lighten 
their  heavy  taxation,  and  that  he  would  respect 
their  ancient  charters,  which  indeed  he  had  sworn 
to  observe.  These  were  the  things  that  lay  near 
the  hearts  of  the  Netherlanders,  but  upon  these 
matters  Philip  was  profomidly  silent.  The  con- 
vention begged  till  to-morrow  to  return  its  answer 
touching  the  levy  of  three  millions  which  the  king 
had  asked  for. 

On  the  following  day  the  Estates  met  in  pre- 
.sence  of  the  king,  and  each  province  made  answer 
separately.  The  Estate  of  Artois  was  the  first  to 
read  its  address  by  its  representative.  They  would 
cheerfully  yield  to  the  king,  not  only  the  remains 
of  their-  property,  but  the  last  drop  of  their  blood. 
At  the  heai-ing  of  these  loyal  words,  a  gleam  of 
delight  shot  across  the  face  of  Philip.  No  ordi- 
nary satisfaction  could  have  lighted  up  a  face  so 
habitually  austere  and  morose.  It  was  a  burst  of 
that  "  affection  "  which  PhiUp  boasted  he  bore  the 
Netherlanders,  and  which  showed  them  that  it 
extended  not  only  to  them,  but  to  theirs.  But  the 
deputy  proceeded  to  append  a  condition  to  this 
ajjparently  unbounded  surrender;  that  condition 
was  the  withdrawal  of  the  Spanish  troops.  In- 
stantly Philip's  countenance  changed,  and  sinking 
into  his  chair  of  state,  with  gloomy  and  wrathful 
brow,  the  assembly  saw  how  distasteful  to  Philip 
was  the  propo.sition  to  withdraw  his  soldiers  from 
the  Netherlands.  The  rest  of  the  Estates  followed ; 
each,  in  its  turn,  makmg  the  same  offer,  Imt 
appending  to  it  the  same  condition.  Every  florin 
of  the  throe  millions  demanded  would  be  forth- 
coming, but  not  a  soldier  must  be  left  on  the  soil  of 
the  Provinces.  The  king's  face  grew  darker  still. 
Its  rajjid  changes  showed  the  tempest  that  was 
r.aging  in  his  breast.  To  ask  him  to  witlulraw  his 
soldiers  was  to  ask  him  to  give  up  the  Netherlands. 
Without  the  soldiers  how  could  he  maintain  the 
edicts  and  Inquisition  l  and  these  let  go,  tlie 
haughty  and  heretical  Netherlandei-s  would  again 
1)0  their  own  masters,  and  would  fill  the  Provinces 
with  that  rampant  heresy  which  he  had  just  cui-sed. 
The  very  idea  of  such  a  thing  threw  the  king  into 
a  rage  which  ho  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal. 

But  a  still  greater  mortification  awaited  him 
before  the  convention  broke  ujj.  A  formal  remon- 
strance on  the  subject  of  the  Spanish  soldiei-s  was 
presented  to  Philip  in  the  name  of  the  States- 
General,  signed  by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  Count 
Egmont,  and  many  other  nobles.     The  king  was  at 


22 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


the  same  time  asked  to  Miinul,  or  at  least  to 
moderate,  the  edicts ;  and  when  one  of  his  ministers 
represented,  in  the  most  delicate  terms  possiljle, 
that  to  persist  in  their  execution  would  be  to  sow 
the  seeds  of  rebellion,  and  thereby  lose  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  Provinces,  Philip  replied  that  "  he 
had  much  rather  be  no  king  at  all  than  have 
hex-etics  for  his  subjects.'" 

So  ii'ritated  was  the  king  by  these  requests  that 
he  flung  out  of  the  hall  in  a  rage,  remarking  that 
as  he  was  a  Spaniard  it  was  perhaps  expected  that 
lie,  too,  should  withdraw  himself.  A  day  or  two, 
however,  sufliced  for  liis  passion  to  cool,  and  then 
he  saw  that  his  true  jwlicy  was  dissimulation  till  lie 
should  have  tamed  the  stubbornness  and  pride  of 
these  Nethcrland  nobles.  He  now  made  a  feint  of 
concession ;  he  woiild  have  been  glad,  he  said,  to 
carry  his  soldiers  with  him  in  his  fleet,  had  he 
been  earlier  made  acquainted  with  the  wishes  of  the 
Estates ;  he  promised,  however,  to  withdraw  them 
in  a  few  months.  On  the  matter  of  Lutheranism 
he  was  inexorable,  and  could  not  even  bring  him- 
self to  dissemble.  His  parting  injunction  to  the 
States  was  to  pursue  heresy  with  the  halter,  the 
axe,  the  stake,  and  the  other  modes  of  death  duly 
enacted  and  set  forth  in  his  ovra  and  his  royal 
father's  edicts. 

On  the  26th  of  August,  Philip  II.,  on  the  shore 
of  Flushing,  received  the  fiirewell  salutations  of  the 
grandees  of  the  Provinces,  and  then  set  sail  for 
Spain,  attended  by  a  fleet  of  ninety  vessels.  He 
had  quitted  an  angry  land  ;  around  him  was  a  yet 


angrier  ocean.  The  skies  blackened,  the  wind  rose, 
and  the  tempest  lay  heavy  upon  the  royal  squadron. 
The  ships  were  laden  with  the  precious  things  of 
the  Netherlands.  Tapestries,  silks,  laces,  paintings, 
marbles,  and  store  of  other  articles  which  had  been 
collected  by  his  father,  the  emperor,  in  the  course  of 
thirty  years,  freighted  the  ships  of  Philip.  He 
meant  to  fix  his  capital  in  Spain,  and  these  pro- 
ducts of  the  needles,  the  looms,  and  the  pencils  of 
his  skilful  and  industrious  subjects  of  the  Low 
Coimtries  were  meant  to  adorn  his  palace.  The 
greedy  waves  swallowed  up  nearly  all  that  lich  and 
various  spoil.  Some  of  the  ships  foundered  out- 
right; those  that  continued  to  float  had  to  lighten 
themselves  by  casting  their  precious  cargo  into  the 
sea.  "  Philip,"  as  the  historian  Meteren  remarks, 
"  had  robbed  the  land  to  enrich  the  ocean."  The 
king's  voyage,  however,  was  safely  ended,  and  on 
the  Stli  of  September  he  disembarked  at  Loredo,  on 
the  Biscayan  coast. 

The  gloomy  and  superstitious  mind  of  Philip 
interpreted  his  deliverance  from  the  storm  that  had 
burst  over  his  fleet  in  accordance  wdtli  his  o^vn 
fanatical  notions.  He  saw  in  it  an  authentication 
of  the  grand  mission  with  which  he  had  been  en- 
trusted as  the  destroyer  of  heresy  ;-  and  in  token 
of  thankfulness  to  that  Power  which  had  rescued 
him  from  the  waves  and  landed  him  safely  on 
Spanish  earth,  he  made  a  vow,  which  found  its  ful- 
filment in  the  magnificent  and  colossal  palace  that 
rose  in  after-years  on  the  savage  and  boiilder  strewn 
slopes  of  the  Sierra  Guadarrama — the  Escorial. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

STORMS    IN    THE    COUNCIL,    AND    MARTYRS    AT    THE    STAKE. 


Three  Councils— T}iese  Three  but  One-Margaret,  Duchess  of  Parma— Cardinal  Granvelle— Opiiosition  to  the  New 
Bisliops- Storms  at  tlie  Council-board— Position  of  Prince  of  Or.angc,  and  Counts  Eg-mont  and  IIoru-Tlicir  joint 
Letter  to  the  King— Smouldering  Discontent— Persecution— Peter  Titlemann— Severity  of  the  Edicts— Father  and 
Son  at  the  Stake— Heroism  of  the  Flemish  Martyrs— Execution  of  a  Schoolmaster— A  Skeleton  at  a  Feast- 
Burning  of  Three  Refugees— Great  Number  of  Flemish  Martyrs— What  their  Country  Owed  them. 


Three  councils  were  organised,  as  we  have  said, 
to  assist  the  Duchess  of  Parma  in  the  government 
of  the  Provinces ;  the  nobles  selected  to  serve  in 
these  councils  were  those  who  were  highest  in  rank, 
and  who  most  fully  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  their 

'  Bentivoglio.     "  Chegli  voleva  piu  tosto  restar  senza 
regni  ehe  possedergli  cou  heresia." 


countrymen.  This  had  very  much  the  look  of 
popular  go^•cnlment.  It  did  not  seem  exactly  the 
machinery  which  a  despot  would  -set  up.  Tlie  ad- 
ministration of  the  Provinces  ajjpeared  to  be  within 
the  Provinces  themselves,  and  the  popular  will, 
expressed   through  the  members   of   the    councils, 

=  Brandt,  vol.  i.,  pp.  132,  133. 


THE   BISHOP  OF  ARRAS. 


must  needs  he  an  influential  element  in  the  decision 
of  all  ufl'airs.  And  yet  the  administration  which 
Philip  Lad  constructed  was  simply  a  despotism. 
He  had  so  arranged  it  that  the  three  councils  were 
hut  one  council ;  and  the  one  coimcil  was  but 
one  man ;  and  that  one  mau  was  Philip's  most 
obedient  tool.  Thus  the  government  of  the  Nether- 
lands was  worked  from  Madrid,  and  the  hand  that 
directed  it  was  that  of  the  king. 

A  few  words  will  enable  us  to  explain  in  what 
way  Philip  contrived  to  convert  this  semblance 
of  popular  rule  into  a  real  autocracy.  The  affairs 
of  the  nation  were  managed  neither  by  the  Council 
of  Finance,  nor  by  the  Privy  Council,  nor  by  the 
Council  of  State,  but  by  a  committee  of  the  latter. 
That  committee  was  formed  of  three  members 
of  the  Council  of  State,  namely,  the  Bishop  of 
Arras,  Viglius,  and  Berlaymont.  Tlie.se  three  men 
constituted  a  Consulta,  or  secret  conclave,  and  it 
soon  became  appai'ent  that  in  that  secret  committee 
was  lodged  the  whole  jiower  of  government.  The 
three  were  in  reality  but  one ;  for  Viglius  and 
Berlaymont  were  so  thoroughly  identified  in  senti- 
ment and  will  with  their  chief,  that  in  point  of 
fact  the  Bishop  of  Arras  was  the  Consulta.  Arras 
was  entirely  devoted  to  Philip,  and  the  regent,  in 
turn,  was  instructed  to  take  counsel  with  Arras, 
and  to  do  as  he  should  advise.  Thus  from  the 
depths  of  the  I'oyal  cabinet  in  Spain  came  the 
orders  that  nded  the  Netherhinds. 

IMargaret  had  been  gifted  by  nature  with  great 
force  of  will.  Her  talents,  like  her  i)erson,  were 
masculine.  In  happier  circumstances  she  would 
have  made  a  humane  as  well  as  a  vigorous  ruler, 
but  placed  a.s  she  was  between  an  astute  despot, 
whom  she  dared  not  disobey,  and  an  unscrupulous 
and  cunning  minister,  whose  tact  she  could  not 
overrule,  she  had  nothing  for  it  but  to  carry  out 
the  high-handed  measures  of  others,  and  so  draw 
down  upon  herself  the  odium  which  of  right  belonged 
to  guiltier  parties.  Educated  in  the  school  of 
Machiavelli,  her  statesmanship  was  expressed  in  a 
single  word,  dissimulation,  and  her  religion  taught 
her  to  regard  thieves,  robbers,  and  murderers  its 
criminals  less  vile  than  Luthei-ans  and  Huguenots. 
Her  spiritual  guide  had  been  Loyola. 

Of  Anthony  Perrenot,  Bishop  of  Arras,  we  have 
already  spoken.  He  had  been  raised  to  the  Sue  of 
Mechlin,  in  the  new  scheme  of  the  enlarged 
hierarchy  ;  and  was  soon  to  be  advanced  to  the 
l)urple,  and  to  become  known  in  history  under  the 
more  celebrated  title  of  Cardinal  Granvelle.  His 
learning  wius  gi'eat,  his  wit  wius  ready,  his  eloquence 
fluent,  and  his  tact  exquisite.  His  appreciation  of 
men  wajj  so  keen,  penetrating,  and  perfect,  that  he 


clothed  himself  iis  it  were  with  their  feelings,  and 
projects,  and  could  be  not  so  much  himself  an  them. 
This  rare  power  of  sympathy,  joined  to  his 
unscrupulousness,  enabled  him  to  inspire  others 
with  his  own  policy,  in  manner  so  natural  and 
subtle  that  they  never  once  suspected  that  it  was 
his  and  not  their-  own.  By  this  masterly  art — 
more  real  than  the  necromancy  in  which  that  age 
believed — he  seated  liimself  in  Philip's  cabinet — in 
Philip's  breast — and  dictated  when  he  appeared  only 
to  suggest,  and  governed  when  he  appeared  only  to 
obey.  It  is  the  fate  of  such  men  to  be  credited  at 
times  with  sinister  projects  which  have  arisen  not 
in  their  own  brain,  but  in  those  of  others,  and  thus 
it  came  to  pass  that  the  Bishop  of  Ai'ras  was 
believed  to  be  the  real  projector,  not  only  of  the 
edicts,  which  Philip  had  republished  at  his  sug- 
gestion, but  also  of  that  whole  machinery  which 
had  been  constructed  for  carryuig  them  out — the 
new  bislkops,  the  Inquisition,  and  the  Spanish 
soldiers.  The  idea  refused  to  quit  the  popular  mind, 
and  as  grievance  followed  grievance,  and  the  nation 
saw  one  after  another  of  its  liberties  invaded,  the 
storm  of  indignation  and  wrath  which  was  daily 
growing  fiercer  took  at  first  the  direction  of  the 
bishop  rather  than  of  Philij). 

The  new  changes  began  to  take  effect.  The 
bishops  created  by  the  recent  bull  for  the  extension 
of  the  hierarchy,  began  to  arrive  in  the  country,  and 
claim  possession  of  their  several  sees.  Noble,  aljliot, 
and  commoner  with  one  consent  opposed  the  en- 
trance of  these  new  dignitaries ;  the  commoners 
because  they  were  foreigners,  the  abbots  because 
their  abbacies  had  been  partially  despoiled  to  provide 
livings  for  them,  and  the  nobles  because  they  re- 
garded them  as  rivals  in  power  and  influence.  TIk^ 
reyeut  Margaret,  however,  knowing  how  unalter- 
able was  Philip's  will  in  the  matter,  braved  the 
stonn,  and  installed  the  new  bishops.  In  one  case 
she  was  compelled  to  yield.  The  populous  and 
wealthy  city  of  Antwerp  emphatically  refused  to 
receive  its  new  spiritual  ruler.  With  the  bishop 
they  knew  woiild  come  the  Inquisition ;  and  with 
secret  denunciations,  midnight  apinehensions,  and 
stakes  blazing  in  their  market-i)laco  they  foresaw 
the  flight  of  the  foreign  merchants  from  their 
coimtry,  and  the  ruin  of  their  commerce.  They 
sent  deputies  to  Madrid,  who  put  the  matter  in 
this  light  before  Philip;  and  the  king,  having 
respect  to  the  state  of  liis  treas\u-y,  and  the  sums 
with  which  these  wealthy  merch;mts  were  accu.s- 
to'med  to  replenish  his  coffers,  wa.s  graciously 
pleased  meanwhile  to  tolerate  theii-  opposition.' 

'  Bentivoiflio. 


THE    COUNCIL-BOAED. 


25 


At  the  State  Council  storms  were  of  frequent 
oucuri'ence.  At  that  table  sat  men,  some  of  whom 
wei'e  superior  in  rank  to  Ai'ras,  yet  his  equals  in 
talent,  and  wlvo  moreover  had  claims  on  PhUip's  re- 
gard to  which  the  bishop  could  make  no  pretensions, 
seeing  they  had  laid  him  under  great  oliligations 
by  the  brilliant  services  which  they  hud  rendered 


Meanwhile  the  popular  discontent  was  gi'owing  ; 
Protestantism,  which  the  regent  and  her  ministers 
were  doing  all  that  the  axe  and  the  halter  enabled 
them  to  do  to  extirpate,  was  spreading  every  day 
wider  among  the  people.  Granvelle  ascribed  this 
portentous  growth  to  the  negligence  of  the  magis- 
trates in  not  executing  the  "edicts."     Orange  and 


MAHOAlttr,    ULLHESS    OF    PARMA. 

(From  a  Portrait  of  the  period  in  the  BiUiotheiim  Nationale.) 


in  the  field.  There  were  especially  at  that  board 
the  Piince  of  Orange  and  Counts  Egmont  and 
Horn,  who  in  addition  to  great  wealth  and  dis- 
tinguished merit,  held  high  j)osition  in  the  State 
as  the  Stadtholdei-s  of  important  Provinces.  Yet 
they  were  not  consulted  in  the  public  business,  nor 
was  their  judgment  ever  asked  in  State  afiaii-s  ;  on 
the  contrai-y,  all  matters  were  determined  in  secret 
by  Granvelle.  They  were  but  puppets  at  the 
Council-board,  while  an  an-ogant  and  haughty 
ecclesiastic  ruled  the  countiy. 

107 


Egmont,  on  the  other  hand,  threw  the  blame  on 
the  cardinal,  who  w;is  replaoing  old  Netherland 
liberty  with  Spanish  desi)otism,  and  they  demanded 
that  a  convention  of  the  States  should  be  simimoned 
to  devise  a  remedy  for  the  commotions  and  evils 
that  were  distracting  the  kingdom. 

This  proposal  was  in  the  highest  degi-ee  distaste- 
ful to  Granvelle.  He  could  tell  beforehand  the 
remedy  which  the  convention  would  prescribe  for 
the  popular  discontent.  The  convention,  he  felt 
asam-ed,  would  demand  the  cancelling  of  the  edicts, 


26 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


the  suppression  of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  revival 
of  those  chartei-s  under  which  civil  libei-ty  and 
commercial  enterprise  had  reached  that  palmy  state 
in  which  the  Emperor  Charles  had  foiuid  them  when 
he  entered  the  Netherlands.  Granvelle  accordingly 
wrote  to  his  master  counselling  him  not  to  call  a 
meeting  of  the  States.  The  advice  of  the  cardinal 
but  too  well  accorded  with  the  views  of  Philip. 
Instead  of  summoning  a  convention  the  king  sent 
ordei\s  to  the  regent  to  see  that  the  edicts  were 
more  vigorously  executed.  It  was  not  gentleness 
but  rigour,  he  said,  that  was  needed  for  these 
tiu'bulent  subjects. 

Things  were  taking  an  ominous  turn.  The 
king's  letter  showed  plainly  to  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
and  Counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  that  Philip  was 
i-esolved  at  all  hazards  to  carry  out  his  grand 
scheme  against  the  independence  of  the  Provinces. 
Not  one  of  the  edicts  would  he  cancel ;  and  so 
long  as  they  continued  in  force  Philip  must  have 
bishops  to  execute  them,  and  Spanish  soldiers 
to  protect  these  bishops  from  the  violence  of  an 
oppressed  and  indignant  people.  The  regent,  in 
obedience  to  the  king's  new  missive,  sent  out  fresh 
orders,  urging  upon  the  magistrates  the  yet  hotter 
prosecution  of  heresy.  The  executions  were  nndti- 
plied.  The  scaffolds  made  many  \-ictims,  but  not 
one  convert.  On  the  contrary,  the  Protestants 
increased,  and  every  day  furnished  new  evidence 
that  sufferers  for  conscience  sake  were  commanding 
the  admii-ation  of  many  who  did  not  share  their 
faith,  and  that  their  cause  was  attracting  attention 
in  quarters  where  before  it  had  received  no  notice. 
The  regent,  and  especially  Granvelle,  were  daily 
becoming  more  odious.  The  meetings  at  the 
Council-board  were  stormier  than  ever.  The  bland 
insolence  and  supercilious  haughtiness  of  the 
cardinal  were  no  longer  endurable  by  Egmont  and 
Horn.  Bluff",  out-s[)oken,  and  ii-ascible,  they  had 
come  to  an  open  quarrel  wth  liim.  Orange  could 
jjarry  the  thrust  of  Granvelle  Avith  a  weapon  as 
polished  as  his  own,  and  so  was  able  still  to  keep  on 
terms  of  apparent  friendliness  with  him  ;  but  his 
j)Osition  in  the  Council,  where  he  was  denied  all 
share  in  the  government,  and  yet  lield  responsible 
for  its  tyrannical  proceedings,  was  becoming  un- 
bearable, and  he  resolved  to  bring  it  to  an  end. 
On  the  23rd  of  July,  15G1,  Orange  and  Egmontad- 
dressed  a  joint  letter  to  the  king,  stating  how  matters 
stood  in  Flandere,  and  craving  leave  to  retire  from 
the  Council,  or  to  be  idlowed  a  voice  in  those 
measures  for  which  they  were  held  to  be  responsible. 
The  answer,  which  was  far  fi-om  satisfactory,  was 
V>rought  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.<!  determined  not  to  grant.  In  vain  had  the 
Knights  of  the  Fleece  and  the  Sta<Ulioldf'rs 
a-isemljled.  Still  some  good  cauie  of  the  gathering, 
although  the  result  was  one  which  Margaret  had 
neither  contemplated  nor  desired.      The  Prince  of 


The  Lord  of  Montiguy  was  sent  as  a  deputy  to 
Spain  to  lay  the  state  of  matters  before  Pliilip, 
and  urge  the  necessity,  if  his  principality  of  the 
Ni^therlands  was  to  be  sa\'ed,  of  stop{)ing  tlie  per- 
secution. Pliilip,  who  appeared  to  have  devoted 
liimself  wholly  to  one  object,  the  extirpation  of 
heresy,  was  incapable  of  feeling  the  weight  of  tlie 


32 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


representations  of  Montignj-.  He  said  that  he  had 
never  intended,  and  did  not  even  now  intend, 
establishing  the  Inquisition  in  the  Low  Countries 
in  its  Spanish  form  ;  and  while  he  bade  Montigny 
carr}-  back  this  assurance — a  poor  one  even  had  it 
been  true — to  those  from  whom  he  had  come,  he 
sent  at  the  same  time  secret  orders  to  Granvelle  to 
cany  out  yet  more  rigorously  the  decrees  against 
the  heretics. 

Orange,  Egmont,  and  Horn,  now  iitterly  dis- 
gusted and  enraged,  retired  from  the  CouncU-table. 
They  wrote  a  joint  letter  to  the  king,  stating  the 
fact  of  their  withdrawal,  with  the  reasons  which 
had  led  to  it,  and  demanding  the  dismissal  of  the 
cardinal  as  the  only  condition  on  which  they  could 
resume  then-  place  at  the  Board.  They  also  plainly 
avowed  their  belief  that  should  Granvelle  be  con- 
tinued in  the  administration,  the  Netherlands 
woidd  be  lost  to  Philip.  The  answer  returned  to 
tliis  letter  was  meant  simply  to  gain  time.  WhUe 
Philip  was  musing  on  the  steps  to  be  taken,  the  fii-e 
was  spreading.  The  thi-ee  seigniors  ^vrote  again  to 
the  monarch.  They  begged  to  say,  if  the  statement 
had  any  interest  for  him,  that  the  country  was  on 
the  road  to  ruin.  The  regent  Margaret  about  the 
same  time  wrote  also  to  her  brother,  the  king.  As 
.she  now  heartOy  hated  Granvelle,  her  representa- 
tions confirmed  those  of  Orange,  although,  reared  as 
she  had  been  in  the  school  of  Loyola,  she  still 
maintained  the  semblance  of  confidence  in  and 
affection  for  the  cai'dinal.  The  king  now  began  to 
deliberate  ui  earnest.  Pendijig  the  anival  of 
Philip's  answer,  the  Flemish  grandees,  at  a  gi-eat 
feast  where  they  all  met,  came  to  the  resolution  of 
adopting  a  livery  avowedly  in  ridicule  of  the 
grand  dresses  and  showy  equipages  of  the  cardinal. 
Accordingly,  in  a  few  days,  all  their  retainers 
appeared  in  worsted  hose,  and  doublets  of  coarse 
grey,  with  hanging  sleeves,  but  with  no  ornament 
whatever,  except  a  fool's  cap  and  bells  embroidered 
upon  each  sleeve.  The  jest  was  understood,  but 
the  cardinal  affected  to  laugh  at  it.  In  a  little 
while  the  device  was  changed.  The  fool's  cap  and 
bells  disappeared,  and  a  sheaf  of  arrows  came  in  the 
room  of  the  former  symbol.'  The  sheaf  of  arrows, 
Granvelle,  in  \vi'iting  to  Pliilip,  intei-preted  to 
mean  "  conspiracy."  Meanwhile  the  king  had 
made  up  his  mind  as  to  the  course  to  be  taken. 
He  disjiatched  two  sets  of  instructions  to  Brussels, 
one  open  and  the  other  secret.  According  to  the 
first,  the  Duchess  Margai-et  was  commanded  to  pro- 
secute the  heretics  with  more  rigour  than  ever  ;  the 
three  lords  were  ordei'ed  to  return  to  their  ])osts  at 


the  Council-table ;  and  the  cardinal  was  told  that 
the  king,  who  was  still  deliberating,  would  make 
his  resolution  known  through  the  regent.  But  by 
the  secret  letter,  written  at  the  same  time,  but  sent 
oil'  from  Madrid  so  as  to  arrive  behind  the  others, 
Philip  wrote  to  the  cardinal,  saying  that  it  ap- 
peared to  him  that  it  miyht  he  well  he  should 
leave  the  Provinces  for  some  days,  in  order  to  visit 
hLs  mother,  and  bidding  him  ask  pennission  to 
depart  from  the  regent,  whom  he  had  secretly  in- 
structed to  give  such  permission,  without  allowing 
it  to  be  seen  that  these  orders  had  come  from 
the  king. 

The  plan  mystified  all  parties  at  the  time,  save 
Orange,  who  guessed  how  the  matter  really  stood  ; 
but  the  examination  of  Philip's  correspondence  has 
since  permitted  this  somewhat  complicated  affair  to 
be  imravelled.  The  king  had,  in  fact,  yielded  to  the 
storm  and  recalled  Granvelle.  All  were  delighted 
at  the  cardinal's  new-sprung  affection  for  his  motlxei', 
and  trusted  that  it  would  not  cool  as  suddenly  as  it 
had  arisen;-  in  short,  that  "the  red  fellow," as  they 
termed  him,  had  taken  a  final  leave  of  the  country. 
Nor,  indeed,  did  Granvelle  ever  return. 

It  is  time  that  we  should  speak  of  the  summary 
of  doctrines,  or  Confession  of  Faith,  which  was  put 
forth  by  these  early  Protestants  of  the  Netherlands. 
About  the  year  1561,  Guido  de  Bres,  with  the 
assistance  of  Adrian  Saravia,  and  three  other 
ministers,  published  a  little  treatise  in  French  under 
the  title  of  "  A  Confession  of  the  Faith  generally 
and  unanimously  maintained  by  the  Believers  dis- 
persed throughout  the  Low  Countries,  who  desii-e 
to  live  according  to  the  purity  of  the  holy  Gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Chi-ist."^  This  treatise  was  after- 
wards translated  into  Dutch.  Saravia,  who  assisted 
De  Bres  in  the  compilation  of  it,  states  in  a  letter 
which  the  historian  Brandt  says  he  had  seen,  that 
"  Guido  de  Bres  communicated  this  Confession  to 
such  ministers  as  he  coidd  find,  desiring  them  to 
coiTect  what  they  thought  amiss  in  it,  so  that  it 
was  not  to  be  considered  as  one  man's  work,  but 
that  none  who  were  concerned  in  it  ever  designed 
it  for  a  rule  of  faith  to  others,  but  only  as  a 
scriptural  proof  of  what  they  themselves  believed." 
In  the  year  156.3,  this  Confession  was  published 
both  in  high  and  low  Dutch.  It  consists  of  thirty- 
seven  articles.  Almost  every  one  of  these  aiiicles 
is  formally  and  antithetically  set  over  against  some 
one  dogma  of  Romanism.  With  the  great  stream 
of  Reformation  theology  as  set  forth  in  the  Con- 
fessions of  the  Protestant  Churches,  the  Belgic 
Confession  is  in  beautiful  harmony.     It  differs  from 


'  Strada,  t>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.<i  from  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  the  dark 
secret  imparted  to  William  in  the  Forest  of  Vin- 
cennes— pointed  to  a  storm  now  gathering,  of  more 
than  \isual  severity,  and  which  should  burst  over 
all  Christendom,  in  which  the  Netherlands  could 
not  miss  having  their  full  share.  But  what  had 
been  plotted  at  Trent  among  the  Fathers  was 
nearly  as  little  known  as  what  had  been  agi-eed 
on  at  Bayonne,  between  Catherine  and  Alva.  The 
full  truth — the  definite  plan — was  locked  up  in 
the  archives  of  the  Vatican,  whence  it  is  ]irobable 
its  first  suggestion  had  come,  and  in  the  brciists  of 
the  little  coterie  th.at  met  at  the  closing  sessions 
of  the  Comicil.  But  a  paper  by  one  of  the  .secre- 
taries  of  Cardinal    Boromeo,  since   given   to   the 

'  Sleidaii,  Continuation,  bk.  ii.,  p.  27. 


world,  has  ])ublished  on  the  housetops  what  was 
then  spoken  in  whispers  in.  the  cabinets  of  kings  or 
the  conclaves  of  ecclesiastical  synods.  "  First,  in 
order  that  the  business  may  be  conducted  with  the 
gi-eater  authority,  they"  (the  Fathers  of  the  Coimcil) 
"advise  to  commit  the  superintendence  of  the  whole 
aflair  to  Philip  the  Catholic  king,  who  ought  to  be 
appointed  with  common  consent  the  head  and  con- 
ductor of  the  whole  enterprise."  The  Catholic  king 
was  to  begin  by  preferring  a  complaint  to  his  neigh- 
bour, Anthony  Bourbon,  King  of  Navan-e,  "  that, 
contrary  to  the  institutions  of  his  predecessors,  he 
entertains  and  nourishes  a  new  religion."  Should 
the  King  of  Navan-e  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  this  remon- 
strance, Philip  was  to  essay  him  "  by  fair  promises 
to  draw  him  ofi'  from  his  wicked  and  \inhappy 
design."  He  was  to  hold  out  to  him  the  hope  of 
having  that  portion  of  his  ancesti-al  dominions 
of  which  he  had  been  stripped,  restored,  or  an 
equivalent  given  him  in  some  other  pai-t  of  EiU'ope. 
Should  Philip  succeed  in  soothing  him,  "  the  opera- 
tions of  the  future  wai'  will  then  be  rendered  more 
easy,  short,  and  expeditious."  If  he  stUl  contuiued 
obstinate,  the  King  of  Spain  was  to  "  iutenuix 
some  threatenings  with  his  promises  and  flatteries." 
Meanwhile  Philip  was  to  be  collecting  an  army  "  as 
privily  as  possible  ;  "  and  in  the  event  of  the  King 
of  Navan-e  continuing  obdurate,  the  Spanish  king 
was  to  fall  upon  him  suddenly  and  tmawares,  and 
chase  him  from  his  kingdom,  which  the  leaguers 
were  to  occupy. 

Fi-oni  the  mountains  of  Navarre  the  war  was 
to  be  moved  down  to  the  plains.  The  Huguenots 
of  France  were  to  be  extii-pated  root  and  branch. 
For  the  execution  of  this  part  of  the  pi-ogramme, 
the  main  stress  was  rested  on  the  zeal  of  the  Duke 
of  Guise,  aided  by  reinforcements  from  Spain. 
While  the  sword  was  busy  drowning  the  plains  of 
that  country  in  Protestant  blood,  such  of  the  Ger- 
man princes  as  were  Roman  Catholic  were  to  stop 
the  passes  into  France,  lest  the  Protestant  princes 
should  send  succour  to  their  brethren.  Shut  in,  and 
left  to  contend  unaided  with  two  powerful  armies, 
the  fall  of  French  Protestantism  could  not  be 
<loubtful.  France,  chastised  and  restored  to  obe- 
dience to  the  Roman  See,  would  regain  her  pristine 
purity  and  glory. 

Matters  being  thus  "  ordered  in  France,"  Ger- 
many was  next  to  be  vindcrtakcn.  "  Luther  and 
his  era" — that  hour  of  portentous  eclipse  which 
had  thnist  itself  into  Germany's  golden  day — must 
bo  razed  from  the  tablets  and  chronicles  of  the 
Fatherland,  nor  ever  be  once  remembered  or  spoken 
of  by  the  generations  to  come.  "  It  will  be  neces- 
sary,"  says   the   document  from  wliicli  we    qviote, 


LEAGUE   OF   THE   FLEMISH   NOBLES. 


41 


"  with  men  collcctcrl  from  all  quarters,  to  invade 
Germany,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  emperor  and  the 
l)ishops,  to  render  and  restore  it  again  to  the  Holy 
Apostolic  See."  It  was  an-anged  that  this  war  of 
purgation  should  support  itself.  "  The  Duke  of 
Guise  shall  lend  to  the  emperor  and  the  othei' 
princes  of  Germany,  and  the  ecclesiastical  lords,  all 
the  money  that  shall  be  gathered  from  the  spoils 
and  confiscations  of  so  many  noble,  powerful,  and 
■wealthy  citizens  as  shall  Ije  killed  in  France  on 
account  of  the  new  religion,  which  ^vill  amount 
to  a  veiy  great  sum;  the  said  Lord  of  Gviise  taking 
.sufficient  caution  and  seciu'ity,  that  so  he  may, 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  be  i-eimbursed  of 
all  the  money  employed  for  that  piu-pose,  from  the 
spoils  of  the  Lutherans  and  others  who  shall,  on 
account  of  religion,  be  slain  in  Germany." 

What  of  Helvetia  whUe  this  great  conflagration 
should  be  raging  aU  round  it  t  At  the  cry  of  their 
brethren  the  Reformed  Swiss  would  rush  from  theii- 
mountains  to  aid  their  co-religionists.  To  prevent 
their  doing  so,  work  was  to  be  found  for  them  at 
home.  "  For  fear,"  says  the  document,  "  that  the 
cantons  of  Switzerland  should  lend  aids,  it  is  neces- 
.sary  that  the  cantons  which  continue  still  obedient 
to  the  Roman  Church  declare  war  against  the  rest, 
and  that  the  Pope  assist  these  cantons  that  are  of 
liis  religion  to  the  utmost  of  his  power." 


The  branches  cut  oif  in  France  and  Germany, 
a  last  and  finishing  blow  was  to  be  dealt  at  the 
root  of  the  tree  in  Geneva.  "  The  Duke  of 
Savoy,  whilst  the  war  thus  embroils  France  and 
the  Swiss,  shall  rush  suddenly  and  luiexpectedly 
with  all  his  forces  upon  the  city  of  Geneva,  on  the 
lake  of  Leman,  a.ssault  it  by  force,  and  shall  not 
abandon  it  nor  withdraw  his  men  until  he  become 
master  and  obtain  full  possession  of  the  said  city, 
putting  to  the  point  of  the  sword,  or  casting  into 
the  lake,  every  living  soid  who  shall  be  found 
therein,  without  any  distinction  of  age  or  sex ; 
that  all  may  be  taught  that  the  Divine  Power 
in  the  end  hath  compensated  for  the  delay  of  the 
punishment  by  the  greatness  and  severity  of 
it."i 

Tlie  tempest  seemed  about  to  burst  in  the  days 
of  Henry  II.,  but  the  fatal  tournament  which  sent 
that  monarch  to  a  pi-emature  grave  di-ew  off  the 
storm  for  a  time.  It  continued,  however,  to 
lower  in  the  sky  of  Europe  ;  the  dark  cloud  would 
at  times  approach  as  if  about  to  break,  and  again 
it  would  roll  away.  At  last  it  e.xploded  in  the  St. 
Bartholomew  Massacre,  and  its  awfid  reverberations 
were  reiterated  again  and  again  in  the  wars  of 
Philip  II.  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  in  the  cam- 
paigns and  battles  which  for  thirty  years  continued 
to  devastate  Germany. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    CONFEDERATES    OR    "  BEGGARS." 

League  of  the  Flemish  Nobles— Franciscus  Junius— The  "Confederacy  "—Its  Object — Number  of  Signatories — Meet- 
ing of  the  Golden  Fleece  and  States-General— How  shall  Margaret  Steer  ?— Procession  of  the  Confederates— Their 
Petition- Perpleiuty  of  the  Duchess— Stormy  Debate  in  the  Council— The  Confederates  fu-.st  styled  "  Beggars  " 
— Medals  Struck  in  Commemoration  of  the  Name — Livery  of  the  Beggars — Answer  of  the  Duchess — Promised 
Moderation  of  the  Edicts- Martyrdoms  Continued— Four  Martyi-s  at  Lille — John  Cornehus  Beheaded. 


Finding  that  new  and  more  tyrannical  orders  were 
every  day  arriving  from  Sp.nin,  and  that  the  des])ot 
was  tightening  his  hold  \ipon  their  country,  the 
leading  nobles  of  the  Netherlands  now  resolved  to 
combine,  in  order  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  utter 
enslavement  of  the  nation.  The  "  Compromise," 
as  the  league  of  the  nobles  was  called,  was  formed 
early  in  the  year  1.566.  Its  first  suggestion  was 
made  at  a  conventicle,  held  on  the  Prince  of  Pamia's 
marriage-day  (.Ird  of  No^-ember,  l.'JG.')),  at  which 
Fi-anciscus  Jiuiius,  the  minister   of   the  Walloon 


or  Huguenot  congregation  in  Antwerp,  preached.'-' 
This  Junius,  who  was  a  Frenchman  and  of  noble 
birth,  had  studied  in  Geneva,  and  though  not  more 
than  twenty  years  of  age,  hi.s  great  learning  and 
extraordinaiy  talents  gave  his  counsel  weight  with 


'  IHscours  des  Conjurations  de  ccux  de  la  Maison  de  Chase, 
centre  le  Roy,  son  Eoyaumc,  Ics  Princes  de  son  Sanij,  et  ses 
Etats;  printed  in  1505,  and  republished  at  Riitisbon  m 
1712,  among  the  proofs  of  Satyre  ilenipie,  tom.  iii. 

-  So  Bianilt  aiErms,  on  the  authority  of  a  MS.  Journal 
in  Junius'a  own  handwriting  (vol.  i.,  p.  162). 


42 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


the  Flemisli  nobles  who  sometimes  consulted  him 
in  cases  of  emergency.  As  he  studied  Tully,  De 
Legibus,  in  his  youth,  there  came  one  who  said  to 
him,  in  the  words  of  the  epicure,  "  God  cares  for 
none  of  us,"  and  plied  Junius  with  arguments  so 
subtle  that  lie  sucked  in  the  poison  of  this  dreary 
belief.  Libertinism  laid  the  reins  on  the  neck  of 
passion.  But  a  iiuirvellous  escape  from  death,  which 


me,  O  my  God,  according  to  the  multitude  of  thy 
mercies,  and  calledst  home  thy  lost  sheep  into  the 
fold."  From  that  day  he  studied  the  Scriptures ; 
Ills  life  became  pure  ;  and  his  zeal  waxed  strong  in 
proportion  as  his  knowledge  enlarged.  He  possessed 
not  a  little  of  the  fearless  spirit  of  the  great  master 
at  whose  feet  he  had  sat.  He  would  preach,  at 
times,  with  the  stake  standing  in  the  square  below. 


VIEW  OF  THE  TO-nN-II.U-L,  AMSTERD.IM.      (After  Van  in  Heydm.) 


he  experienced  at  Lyons  about  a  year  afterwards, 
arrested  him  in  his  wickedness.  He  opened  the 
Nt!W  Testament,  and  the  passage  on  which  his  eyes 
first  lighted  was  this  :  "  In  the  beginning  was  tlio 
Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word 
was  God,"  itc  As  the  stare  grow  dim  and  vanish 
when  the  sun  rises,  so  tlie  wisdom  and  eloipience  of 
the  ])agans  paled  before  the  surpassing  majesty  and 
splendour  of  tlie  Gospel  by  St.  John.  "  My  body 
trembled,"  said  he,  "  my  mind  was  astonished,  and 
I  was  so  affected  all  that  day  that  I  knew  not 
where  nor  what  I  was.      Thou  wast  mindful  of 


and  the  flames  in  which  his  brethren  were  beinf 
burned  darting  their  lurid  flashes  through  the 
windows  of  the  apartment  ujion  the  faces  of  Ids 
aiulience.'  On  the  present  occasion  the  younc 
])reacher  addressed  some  twenty  of  the  Flemish 
nobles,  and  after  sermon  a  league  against  the  "  bar- 
barous and  violent  Inijuisition  "  was  proposed.  All 
Brussels  was  ruiging  with  the  marriage  festivities  of 
Panmu  There  were  triumi)hal  arches  in  the  street, 
and  songs  in  the  banquet-hall;  deep  goblets  were 

'  Brandt,  vol.  i.,  p.  163. 


44 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


dniined  to  tho  hiippmess  of  Parma,  iind  the  pros- 
perity of  the  great  monarchy  of  Spain.  At  the  .same 
moment,  in  the  neighbourmg  town  of  Antwerj), 
tliose  movements  were  being  initiated  which  were  to 
loosen  the  foundations  of  Philip's  empire,  and  ulti- 
mately ca-st  down  the  tyi-ant  from  the  pinnacle  ou 
which  he  so  proudly,  and  as  he  deemed  so  securely, 
stood. 

The  aims  of  the  leaguers  were  strictly  consti- 
tutional ;  they  made  war  only  agamst  the  Inqui- 
sition, "  tliat  most  pernicious  tribunal,  which  is  not 
only  contrary  to  all  human  and  divine  law.s,  but 
exceeds  in  cruelty  the  most  barbarous  institutions 
of  the  most  savage  tyi'ants  in  the  heathen  world." 
"  For  these  reasons,"  say  they,  "  we  whose  names 
are  here  subscribed  have  resolved  to  provide  for 
the  security  of  our  families,  goods,  and  persons ; 
and  for  this  pm-pose  we  hereby  enter  into  a  secret 
league  with  one  another,  promising  with  a  solemn 
oath  to  oppose  with  all  our  power  the  introduction 
of  the  above-mentioned  Inquisition  into  these  Pro- 
vinces, whether  it  shall  be  attempted  secretly  or 
openly,  or  by  whatever  name  it  shall  be  called. 

We  likewise  promise  and  swear 

mutually  to  defend  one  another,  in  all  places,  and 
on  all  occasions,  against  every  attack  that  shall  be 
made,  or  prosecution  that  shall  be  raised,  against 
any  individual  among  us  on  account  of  his  concern 
in  this  Confederacy." '  The  first  three  who  took 
the  pen  to  sign  this  document  were  Count  Brede- 
rode,  Charles  de  Mansfeld,  and  Louis  of  Nassau. 
Copies  were  circulated  over  the  country,  and  the 
subscribers  rapidly  multiplied.  In  the  course  of 
two  months  2,000  persons  had  appended  their 
names  to  it.  Tidings  of  the  league  were  wafted 
to  the  ears  of  the  governor,  and  it  was  added — 
a  slight  exaggeration,  it  may  be — that  it  was 
already  1.5,000  strong.^  Roman  Catholics  as  well 
ivs  Protestants  Avere  pennitted  to  sign,  and  the 
array  now  gathering  round  this  uplifted  standard 
was,  as  may  be  supposed,  somewhat  miscellaneous. 

The  Duchess  of  Parma  was  startled  by  the 
sudden  rise  of  this  organisation,  whose  numbers 
increa.sed  every  day.  Behind  her  .stood  Philip, 
whose  truculent  orders  left  her  no  retreat  ;  before 
her  was  the  Confedorsvcy,  a  less  foi-midable  Ijut 
nearer  danger.  In  lier  perplexity  the  governor 
summoned  the  Knights  of  the  Fleece  and  the  Stadt- 
holders  of  the  Pi-oviiices,  to  ask  their  advice  touch- 
ing the  steps  to  be  taken  in  this  grave  emergency. 
Two  courses,  she  said,  appeared  to  be  open  to  her — 
the  one  was  to  modify  the  edicts,  the  other  was 


to  suppress  the  Confederacy  by  arms ;  the  latter 
course,  she  said,  was  the  one  to  which  she  leaned, 
especially  kno\\'ing  how  inexorable  was  the  will  of 
ther  king,  but  her  difficulty  lay  in  finding  one  to 
whom  she  could  safely  entrust  the  command  of 
the  troops.  Orange  was  disqualified,  having  pro- 
nounced so  strongly  against  the  edicts  and  in  favour 
of  liberty  of  conscience  ;  and  Egmont  had  positively 
declined  the  task,  saying  that  "  he  would  never 
fight  for  the  penal  laws  and  the  Inquisition." '' 
What  was  to  be  done  i 

While  the  Council  was  deliberating,  the  Confe- 
derates arrived  in  a  body  at  Brussels.  On  the  3rd 
of  AprU,  1566,  a  cavalcade  of  200  nobles  and 
knights,  headed  by  the  tall,  military  form  of  Bre- 
derode,  rode  into  Brussels.  The  nobleman  who 
was  foremost  in  the  procession  traced  his  lineage 
backwards  500  years,  in  unbroken  succession,  to 
the  old  sovereigns  of  Holland.  Amid  the  chances 
and  turnings  of  the  contest  now  opening,  who 
could  tell  whether  the  sovereignty  of  the  old 
country  might  not  return  to  the  old  line^  Such 
was  the  vision  that  may  have  crossed  the  mind 
of  Brederode.  The  day  following  the  number  of 
Confederates  in  Brussels  was  augmented  by  the 
arrival  of  about  100  other  cavaliers.  Their  pass- 
age through  the  streets  was  greeted,  as  that  of 
the  first  had  been,  by  the  acclamations  of  the  popu- 
lace. "  There  go,"  said  they,  "  the  deliverers  of 
our  country."  Next  day,  the  5th  of  April,  the 
whole  body  of  Confederates,  cbessed  in  their 
richest  robes,  walked  in  procession  to  the  old 
palace  of  Brabant,  and  passing  through  the  stately 
hall  in  which  Charles  V.  eleven  years  before  had  ab- 
dicated his  sovereignties,  they  entered  the  audience 
chamber  of  the  Regent  of  the  Netherlands.  Mar- 
garet beheld  not  without  emotion  this  knightly 
assemblage,  who  had  carried  to  her  feet  the  wi-ongs 
of  an  oppi-essed  nation.  Brederode  acted  as  spokes- 
man. The  count  was  voluble.  Orange  possessed 
the  gift  of  eloquence,  but  the  latter  had  not  yet 
enrolled  himself  among  the  Confederates.  William 
the  Silent  never  retraced  his  .steps,  and  therefore 
he  pondered  well  his  path  before  going  forward. 
He  could  not  throw  down  the  gauntlet  to  a  gi-eat 
monarchy  like  Spain  with  the  light-hearted,  jaunty 
defiance  which  many  of  the  signatories  of  the 
Confederacy  were  now  hurling  against  the  tyi-ant, 
but  whose  heroism  was  likely  to  be  all  expended 
btfore  it  reached  the  battle-field,  in  those  Baccha- 
nalian meetings  then  so  common  among  the  Flemish 
nobles. 

Brederode  on  this  occasion  was  prudently  brief. 


1  Watson,  Philip  II.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  2.">.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<ns- 
trates,  thinking  to  take  away  occasion  from  those 
who  sought  it,  bade  the  statue  be  removed  inside 
the   choii-,  behind    the   iron   railing   of    its  gates. 
When  the  people  assembled  next  day,  they  found 
"Our  Lady's"  usual  place  deserted.     They  asked 
her  in   scorn   "why  she  had   so  early  fiown  up  to 
the  roostf     "  Have  you  taken  fright,"  said  they 
sarcastically,  "  that  you  have  retreated  within  this 
enclosure  ?  "    As  "  Our  Lady  "  made  them  no  reply, 
nor  any  one  for  her,  their  insolence  waxed  gi-eater. 
"Will  you  join  us,"  said  they,  "in  crying, '  Long  live 
the  Beggars'?"     It  is  plain  that  those  who  began 
the    iconoclast    riots   in    Antwerp)   were    more  of 
Confederates   than     Reformers.     A  mischievously 
frolicsome  lad,  in  tattered  doublet  and  old  battered 
hat,  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  treated  the  crowd  to 
a  clever  caricature  of  the  preaching  of  the  friars. 
All,  however,  did  not  approve  of  this  attempt  to 
entei-tain  the  multitude.      A  yoimg  sailor  rushed 
up  the  stau-s  to  expel  the  caricaturist  preachei-.  The 
two  struggled  together  in  the  pulpit,  and  at  last 
both  came  rolling  to  the  ground.       The  crowd  took 
the   part   of  the   lad,  and   some  one  di-awing  his 
dagger  wounded   the   sailor.       Matters   were   be- 
coming serious,  when  the  church  ofilcers  interfered, 
and   with   the  help  of  the   margrave  of   the  city, 
they  succeeded  with  some  difficulty  in  ejecting  the 
mob,  and  locking  the  cathedral-doors  for  the  niglit.' 
The  governor  of  the  city,  William  of  Orange, 
was   absent,  having  been   summoned  a  few  days 
before  to  a  council  at  Brussels  ;  and  tho  two  bm-go- 
masters   and  magistrates  were  at  their  wits'  end. 


'  Strada,  lib.  v. 


-  Strada,  lib.  v. 

2  Hooft,  Strada,  &c.—apxid  Brandt,  vol.  i.,  p.  192. 

■*  Brandt,  vol.  i.,  p.  11)2. 


54 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


Tliey  had  forbidden  the  Gospel  to  be  preached 
within  the  walls  of  Antwerp,  having  rejected  the 
petition  lately  presented  to  that  effect  by  a  num- 
ber of  the  principal  burghei-s ;  but  the  gates 
which  the  Gospel  must  not  enter,  the  iconoclast 
tempest  had  burst  open  without  leave  of  the 
Senate.  Where  the  psalm  could  not  be  sung,  the 
iconoclast  satiu-nalians  lifted  up  their  hoai-se  voices. 
The  night  pa.ssed  in  quiet,  but  when  the  day  re- 
turned, signs  appeared  of  a  renewal  of  the  tempest. 
Crowds  began  to  collect  in  the  square  before  the 
cathedi-al ;  numbers  were  entering  the  edifice,  and 
it  was  soon  manifest  that  they  had  come  not  to 
perform  their  devotions,  but  to  stroll  irreverently 
through  the  building,  to  mock  at  the  idols  in  nave 
and  aisle,  to  peer  through  the  ii'on  railings  behind 
which  the  Virgin  still  stood  ensconced,  to  taimt  and 
jeer  her  for  fleeing,  and  to  awaken  the  echoes  of 
the  lofty  roof  with  their  cries  of  "Long  live  the 
Beggars  !"  Every  minute  the  crowd  was  increasing 
and  the  confusion  growing.  In  front  of  the  choii-, 
sat  an  ancient  crone  selling  wax  tapers  and  other 
things  u.sed  in  the  worship  of  the  Vii-gin.  Zealous 
for  the  honour  of  Mary,  whom  Antwerp  and  all 
Brabant  worshipped,  .she  began  to  rebuke  the  crowd 
for  then-  improper  behaviour.  The  mob  were  not 
in  a  humour  to  take  the  admonition  meekly.  They 
turned  upon  theii-  reprover,  telling  her  that  her 
patrones.s'  day  was  over,  and  her  owTi  with  it,  and 
that  she  had  better  "  shut  shop."  The  huck- 
ster thus  baited  was  not  slow  to  return  gibe 
for  gibe.  The  altercation  drew  the  youngsters  in 
the  crowd  aroinid  her,  who  possibly  did  not  confine 
their  annoyances  to  words.  Catching  at  such 
missiles  as  lay  witliin  her  reach,  tlie  stall-woman 
threw  them  at  her  tormentors.  The  riot  thus  begun 
rapidly  extended  through  all  parts  of  the  church. 
Some  began  to  play  at  ball,  some  to  throw  stones  at 
the  altar,  some  to  shout,  "Long  live  the  Beggars  !" 
and  othei-s  to  sing  psalms.  The  magistrates  has- 
tened to  the  scene  of  uproar,  and  strove  to  induce 
the  people  to  quit  the  cathedral.  The  more  they 
entreated,  the  more  the  mob  scowled  defiance.  They 
would  remain,  they  said,  and  assist  in  singing 
Ave  Maria  to  the  Vii-gin.  The  magistrates  replied 
that  tlicre  would  be  no  vespers  that  night,  and 
again  urged  them  to  go.  In  the  hope  that  the  mob 
would  follow,  tlie  magistrates  made  their  owni  exit, 
locking  the  great  door  of  the  cathedral  behind  them, 
and  leaving  open  only  a  little  wicket  for  the  people  to 
come  out  by.  Instead  of  tlie  crowd  within  comuig 
out,  the  mob  outside  imshed  in  at  the  wicket,  and 
the  iiproar  was  increased.  The  margi-ave  and 
burgoma-sters  re-entered  the  church  once  more, 
and  made  yet  another  attempt  to  quell  the  riot. 


They  found  themselves  in  presence  of  a  larger  and 
stormier  crowd,  which  they  could  no  more  control 
than  they  could  the  waves  of  an  angi-y  sea.  Secur- 
ing what  portion  they  could  of  the  moi'e  valuable 
treasures  in  the  church,  they  retired,  leaving  the 
cathedral  in  the  hands  of  the  rioters.' 

All  night  long  the  work  of  wholesale  destruction 
still  went  on.  The  noise  of  wrenching,  breaking, 
and  shouting,  the  blows  of  hammere  and  axes, 
and  the  crash  of  images  and  pictures,  were  heard 
all  over  the  city ;  and  the  shops  and  houses  were 
closed.  The  first  object  of  the  vengeance  of  the 
rioters,  now  left  sole  mastere  of  the  building  and 
all  contained  in  it,  was  the  colossal  image  of  the 
Virgin,  which  only  two  days  before  had  been  borne 
in  jewelled  robes,  with  flaunt  of  banner,  and  peal 
of  trumpet,  and  beat  of  drum,  through  the  streets. 
The  iron  railing  within  which  she  had  found  refuge 
was  torn  down,  and  a  few  vigorous  blows  from  the 
iconoclast  axes  hewed  her  in  pieces  and  smote  her 
into  dust.  Execution  being  done  upon  the  great 
deity  of  the  place,  the  rage  of  the  mob  was  next 
discharged  on  the  minor  gods.  Traversing  nave 
and  side-aLsle,  the  iconoclast  paused  a  moment 
before  each  statue  of  wood  or  stone.  He  lifted 
his  brawny  arm,  his  hammer  fell,  and  the  image  lay 
broken.  The  pictures  that  himg  on  the  walls  were 
torn  down,  the  crosses  were  overturned,  the  carved 
woi'k  was  beaten  into  atoms,  and  the  stained  glass 
of  the  windows  shivered  in  pieces.  All  the  altars 
— seventy  in  number — were  demolished;-  in  short, 
eveiy  ornament  was  rifled  and  destroyed.  Tapers 
taken  from  the  altar  lighted  the  darkness,  and 
enabled  the  iconoclasts  to  continue  their  work  of 
destraction  all  through  the  night. 

The  storm  did  not  expend  itself  in  the  cathedi-al 
only,  it  extended  to  the  other  churches  and  chapels 
of  Antwerp.  These  underwent  a  like  speedy  and 
terrible  purgation.  Before  morning,  not  fewer  than 
thirty  churches  wthin  the  walls  had  been  sacked. 
When  there  remained  no  more  images  to  be  broken, 
and  no  more  pictures  and  crucifixes  to  be  pulled 
down,  the  rabble  laid  their  hands  on  other  things. 
They  strewed  the  wafers  on  the  floor  ;  they  filled 
the  chalices  with  wine,  and  drank  to  the  health  of 
the  Beggars ;  they  donned  the  gorgeous  vestments 
of  the  priests,  and,  breaking  open  the  cellars,  a 
vigorous  tap  of  the  hammer  set  the  red  wine 
a-flowing.  A  Carmelite,  or  bare-footed  monk,  who 
had  languished  twelve  years  in  the  prison  of  his 
monastery,  received  his  liberty  at  the  hands  of  these 
image-breakei-s.    The  mmneries  were  invaded,'  and 


Strada,  p.  254— opud  Brandt,  vol.  i.,  p.  193. 

Ihid.,  lib.  V. 

Ibid.,  pp.  255,  260— ojrad  Brandt,  vol.  i.,  p.  193. 


56 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


the  sistei-s,  iinpclled  by  friglit,  or  moved  by  the 
desii-e  of  freedom,  escaped  to  tlie  houses  of  tlieir 
relatives  and  friends.  Violence  was  ofl'ered  to  no 
one.  Unpitj-iug  towards  dead  idols,  these  icono- 
clasts were  tender  of  li\'ing  men. 

Wlien  the  day  broke  a  body  of  the  rioters  sallied 
out  at  the  gates,  and  set  to  work  on  the  abbeys  and 
i-eligious  houses  in  the  open  country.  These  they 
ravaged  as  they  had  done  those  of  the  city.  The 
libraries  of  some  of  these  establishments  they 
burned.  The  riotings  continued  for  three  days. 
No  attempt  to  put  them  down  was  made  by  any  one. 
The  magistrates  did  notliing  beyond  their  visit  to 
the  cathedral  on  the  lii'st  day.  The  burghal  militia 
were  not  called  out.  The  citizens  kept  themselves 
shut  up  in  their  houses,  the  Protestants  because 
they  suspected  that  the  Roman  Catholics  had  con- 
spii-ed  to  murder  them,  and  the  Roman  Catholics 
because  they  feared  the  same  thing  of  the  Protes- 
tants. Though  the  crowd  was  immense,  the  actual 
perpetrators  of  these  outrages  were  believed  not  to 
number  over  a  hundred.  A  little  fu-mness  on  the 
part  of  the  authorities  at  the  beginning  might 
easily  have  restrained  them.  "  All  these  -vdoleuces, 
plunderings,  and  desolations,"  said  those  of  the 
Spanish  faction,  "  were  committed  l)y  about  a 
hmidred  unamied  rabble  at  the  most."  The  famous 
Dutch  liistorian,  Hooft,  says :  "  I  do  not  think  it 
strange,  since  there  are  good  and  bad  men  to  be 
foimd  iu  all  sects,  that  the  vilest  of  the  [Reformed] 
party  showed  their  temper  by  these  extravagances, 
or  that  others  fed  their  eyes  with  a  sport  that  grew 
up  to  a  plague,  which  they  thought  the  clergy  had 
justly  deserved  by  the  rage  of  their  persecutions." 
"  The  generality  of  the  Reformed,"  he  adds,  "  cei-- 
tainly  behaved  themselves  nobly  by  censuring  things 
which  they  thought  good  and  proper  to  be  done, 
because  they  were  brought  about  by  improper  me- 
thods."' In  an  Apology  which  they  published 
after  these  occurrences  had  taken  place  the  Reformed 
said  :  "  The  Papists  themselves  were  at  the  bottom 
of  the  image-breaking,  to  the  end  they  might  have  a 
pretext  for  charging  those  of  the  Religion  with 
rebellion  :  this,  they  adiled,  plainly  appeared  by  the 
tumult  renewed  at  Antwerp  by  four  Papists,  who 
were  hanged  for  it  next  day."- 

It  is  light  and  not  axes  that  can  root  out  idols. 
It  is  but  of  small  avail  to  cast  down  the  gi-aven 
image,  unless  the  belief  on  which  the  worship  oi 
it  is  founded  be  displaced  from  the  heart.  This 
was  not  understood  by  these  zealous  iconoclasts. 
Cast  images  out  of  the  breast,  said  Zwingle,  and  they 
will  soon  disappear  from  the  sanctuary.     Of  this 


opinion  were  the  Protestant  preachers  of  the  Low 
Countries.  So  far  from  lifting  axe  or  hammer 
upon  any  of  the  images  aroimd  them,  they  strove 
to  the  utmost  of  their  power  to  prevent  the  rabble 
doing  so.  The  preacher  Modet,  in  an  Apology 
which  he  published  soon  after  these  disorders,  says 
"  that  neither  he  himself  nor  any  of  his  consistory 
had  any  more  knowledge  of  this  design  of  de- 
stroying images  when  it  was  first  contrived  than 
of  the  hour  of  their  death."  It  was  objected  against 
him  that  he  was  in  the  chiu'ch  whUe  the  mob  was 
In-eaking  and  defacmg  the  images.  Tliis  he  owns 
was  trae  ;  but  he  adds  that  "  it  was  at  the  desire  of 
the  magistrates  themselves,  and  at  the  peril  of  his 
own  life,  that  he  went  thither  to  quiet  the  mob, 
though  he  could  not  be  heard,  but  was  pulled 
do^vn  from  the  pulpit,  and  thrust  out  of  the  church; 
that,  moreover,  he  had  gone  fii'st  to  the  convent 
of  the  Grey  Friars,  and  next  to  the  nunnery  of 
St.  Clara,  to  entreat  the  people  to  dejiart ;  that  of 
this  matter  fifty  or  sixty  nuns  could  testify.  That 
was  all  the  concern  he  had  in  that  aflaii-."  A 
written  addi-ess  was  also  presented  to  the  burgo- 
master by  the  ministers  and  elders  of  the  Dutch 
and  "Walloon  congregations,  in  which  "  they  called 
God  to  witness  that  what  happened  in  the  taking 
away  and  destroying  of  images  was  done  without 
either  theii-  knowledge  or  consent ;  and  they  de- 
clared their  detestation  of  these  violent  deeds."  ^ 

This  destroying  wind  passed  on  to  Breda,  Bergeu- 
op-Zoom,  and  other  towns  of  Brabant.  Eight 
men  presented  themselves  at  the  gates  of  Lier,  and 
said  they  had  come  to  ascei-tain  whether  the  idols 
had  been  taken  down.  The  magistrates  admitted 
two  of  them  iirto  the  city,  led  them  from  church  to 
church,  and  removed  whatever  they  ordered,  wth- 
out  once  asking  them  by  whose  authority  they  had 
come.  *  At  Toumay  the  churches  were  stripped  to 
the  very  walls ;  the  treasures  of  gold  and  silver 
which  the  priests  had  buried  in  the  earth,  exhumed ; 
and  the  i-epositories  broken  into,  and  the  chalices, 
reliquaries,  rich  vestments,  and  precious  jewels  scat- 
tered about  as  things  of  no  value.  At  Valenciemies 
the  massacre  of  the  idols  took  place  on  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Day.  "  Hardly  as  many  senseless 
.stones,"  says  Motley,  "  were  victims  as  there  wei-e 
to  be  living  Huguenots  sacrificed  in  a  single  city 
upon  a  Bartholomew  which  was  fast  approaching. 
In  the  Valenciennes  massacre  not  a  human  being 
was  injured."^ 

The  storm  turned  northward,  and  inflicted  its 
ravages  on  the  churches  of  Holland.  Hague,  Delft, 
Leyden,  the  Brill,   and  other  towns  were  visited 


>  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<lden  the  public  jiei-formance 
of  their  woiship.  Not  liking  tliis  restraint,  the 
Fathers  quietly  withdrew  from  the  kingdom.  In 
six yeare John Alascohad  completed  the  Refoi-mation 

'  Alasco,  Opj>.,  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 
Protest<rntism ;  it  disfigured  it  with  dissensions 
and  hatreds,  and  divided  and  weakened  it  in  the 
presence  of  a  powerful  foe.  But  his  eflbits  to  heal 
this   deplorable    and    scandalous    schism,    although 

3  Gerdesius,  vol.  iii..  p.  151.  Krasinski,  Hist.  Reform. 
Poland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  264—266. 

■•  ride  Letter  of  Calvin  to  John  Alasco— Bonnet,  vol.  ii., 
p.  432. 

*  Gerdesius,  vol.  iii.,  p.  151. 


170 


HISTORY   OF   PEOTESTANTIS.AI. 


secoiuled  by  the  Senate  of  Fi-ankfoit  and  several 
CJerraan  princes,  were  in  vain.' 

He  ne^■er  lost  sight  of  his  native  land ;  in  all  his 
wanderings  he  cherished  the  hope  of  returning  to  it 
at  a  future  day,  and  aiding  in  tlie  Reformation  of  its 
Church;  and  now  (1555)  he  dedicated  to  Sigismimd 
Augustus  of  Poland  a  new  edition  of  an  account  he 
had  formerly  published  of  the  foreign  Churches  in 
London  of  which  he  had  acted  as  superintendent. 
He  took  occasion  at  the  same  time  to  explain  in 
full  his  o^\■n  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  Church 
Reformation.  With  gi'eat  calmness  and  dignity,  but 
mth  gi'eat  strength  of  argument,  he  maintained 
that  the  Scriptures  wei-e  the  one  sole  basis  of  Re- 
formation ;  that  neither  from  tradition,  however 
venerable,  nor  from  custom,  however  long  estab- 
lished, were  the  doctrines  of  the  Church's  creed 
or  the  order  of  her  government  to  be  deduced;  that 
neither  Councils  nor  Fathers  coiild  infaUibly  deter- 
mine anything  ;  that  apostolic  practice,  as  recorded 
in  the  inspii'ed  canon — that  is  to  say,  the  Word 
of  God — alone  possessed  authority  in  this  matter, 
and  was  a  sure  guide.  He  also  took  the  liberty  of 
urging  on  the  king  the  necessity  of  a  Reformation 
of  the  Church  of  Poland,  "  of  which  a  prosperous 
beginning  had  already  been  made  by  the  gi-eatest 
and  best  part  of  the  nation;"  but  the  matter,  he 
added,  was  one  to  be  prosecuted  "  with  judgment 
and  care,  seeing  every  one  who  reasoned  against 
Rome  was  not  orthodox ; "  and  touching  the 
Euchaiist — that  vexed  question,  and  in  Poland,  as 
elsewhere,  so  fertile  in  divisions — Alasco  stated 
"  that  doubtless  believers  received  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  Christ  in  the  Communion,  but  by  the  lip 
of  the  soul,  for  there  was  neither  bodily  nor  per- 
sonal presence  in  the  Eucharist."  ^ 

It  is  probable  that  it  was  this  publication  that 
led  to  his  recall  to  Poland,  in  1556,  by  the  king  and 
nobles.'  The  Roman  bishops  heralded  his  coming 
with  a  shout  of  teiTor  and  wr-ath.  "  The  'butcher'* 
of  the  Church  has  entered  Poland!"  they  cried. 
"  Diiven  out  of  eveiy  land,  he  retin-ns  to  that  one 
that  gave  him  birth,  to  afflict  it  mth  troubles  and 
commotions.  He  is  collecting  troops  to  wage  war 
against  the  king,  root  out  the  Chuiches,  and  spread 
riot  and  bloodshed  over  the  kingdom."  Tliis  clamour 
had  all  the  effect  on  the  royal  mind  which  it  de- 
served to  have — that  is,  none  at  all.  ^ 

Alasco,    soon   after   his   return,   was   appointed 


superintendent  of  all  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
Little  Poland."  His  long-cherished  object  seemed 
now  within  his  reach.  That  was  not  the  tiara 
of  the  pnmacy — for,  if  so,  he  needed  not  have 
become  the  exile  ;  his  ambition  was  to  make  the 
Church  of  Poland  one  of  the  brightest  lights  in 
the  galaxy  of  the  Reformation.  He  had  ariived 
at  his  gi-eat  task  with  fully-ripened  powei-s.  Of 
illustrious  birth,  and  of  yet  more  illustrious  learning 
and  piety,  he  was  nevertheless,  from  i-emembrance 
of  his  fall,  humble  as  a  child.  Presiding  over 
the  Churches  of  more  than  half  the  kingdom.  Pro- 
testantism, under  his  fostering  care,  waxed  stronger 
eveiy  day.  He  held  Synods.  He  actively  assisted 
in  the  translation  of  the  first  Protestant  Bible  in 
Poland,  that  he  might  give  his  countiymen  duect 
access  to  the  fountain  of  truth.  He  laboured 
unweai'iedly  in  the  cause  of  union.  He  had  espe- 
cially at  heart  the  healing  of  the  great  breach 
between  the  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed — the  sore 
through  which  so  much  of  the  vital  force  of  Pro- 
testantism was  ebbing  away.  The  final  goal  which 
he  kept  ever  in  eye,  and  at  which  he  hoped  one 
day  to  arrive,  was  the  erection  of  a  national  Chiu'ch, 
Reformed  in  doctrine  on  the  basis  of  the  Word  of 
God,  and  constituted  in  government  as  similarly 
to  the  Churches  over  which  he  had  presided  in 
London  as  the  cii'cumstances  of  Poland  would  allow. 
Besides  the  opposition  of  the  Roman  hierarchy, 
which  was  to  be  looked  for,  the  Reformer  fomid 
two  main  hindrances  obstructing  his  path.  The 
first  was  the  gi-owth  of  anti-Trinitarian  doctrines, 
first  broached,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  secret 
society  of  Cracow,  and  which  continued  to  spread 
■widely  among  the  Chm'ches  superintended  by 
Alasco,  in  .sjjite  of  the  polemical  war  he  constantly 
maintained  against  them.  The  second  was  the 
vacillation  of  King  Sigismund  Augustus.  Alasco 
urged  the  convocation  of  a  National  Synod,  in  order 
to  the  more  speedy  and  imiversal  Reformation  of 
the  Polish  Chm-ch.  But  the  king  hesitated.  Mean- 
while Rome,  seemg  in  the  measures  on  foot,  and 
more  especially  in  the  projected  Synod,  the  impend- 
ing overthrow  of  her  power  in  Poland,  dispatched 
Lippomani,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Vatican  diplo- 
matists, with  a  promise,  sealed  with  the  Fisherman's 
ring,  of  a  General  Coxuicil,  which  should  reform  the 
Church  and  restore  her  miity.  What  need,  then, 
for  a  National  Council  ?    The  Pope  would  do,  and 


'  Krasinski,  Slavonia,  pp.  214,  215. 

-  Krasinski,  Slavonia,  p.  217 ;  and  Hist.  Reform.  Poland, 
vol.  i.,  pp.  272,  273. 
^  Oerdesius,  vol.  iii.,  p.  151. 
■•  "  Camifei." 
'  Krasinski,  Slavonia,  pp.  217,  218. 


"  Poland  was  divided  politically  into  Great  and  Little 
Poland.  The  first  comprehended  the  western  parts,  and 
being  the  original  scat  of  the  Polish  power,  was  called 
Great  Poland,  although  actually  less  than  the  second 
division,  which  comprehended  the  south-eastern  pro- 
vinces, and  was  styled  Little  Poland. 


PRINCE   RADZIWILL. 


171 


witli  more  oi-der  and  quiet,  what  the  Poles  wished 
to  have  done.  How  many  score  of  times  had  this 
promise  been  made,  and  when  had  it  proved  aught 
save  a  dehision  and  a  snare  1  It  served,  liowever, 
as  an  excuse  to  the  king,  who  refused  to  convoke 
tJie  Synod  which  Alasco  so  much  desired  to  see 
assemble.  It  was  a  great  crisis.  The  Reformation 
had  essayed  to  crown  her  work  in  Poland,  but  she 
was  hindered,  and  the  fabric  remained  unfinished  : 
a  melancholy  monument  of  the  egregious  eiTor  of 
letting  slip  those  golden  opportunities  that  are 
given  to  nations,  which  "  they  that  are  wise " 
embrace,  but  they  that  are  void  of  wisdom  neg- 
lect, and  bewail  then-  folly  with  floods  of  tears  and 
toi'i'pnts  of  blood  in  the  centuries  that  come  after. 
In  January,  1.5G0,  John  Alasco  died,  and  was 
bviried  with  gi-eat  pomp  in  the  Church  of  Pintzov.' 
After  him  there  arose  in  Poland  no  Reformer  of 
like  adaptability  and  power,  nor  did  the  nation 
ever  again  enjoy  so  favourable  an  opportunity  of 
jilanting  its  liberties  on  a  stable  foundation  by 
completing  its  Reformation.' 

After  John  Alasco,  but  not  equal  to  him,  arose 
Prince  Radziwill.  His  i-ank,  his  talents,  and  his 
zealous  labours  in  the  cause  of  Protestantism  give 
him  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  list  of  Poland's 
Reformere.  Nicholas  Radziwll  was  sprung  of  a 
wealthy  family  of  Lithuania.  He  was  brother  to 
Barbara,  the  fii-st  queen  of  Sigismund  Augustus, 
whose  unlimited  confidence  he  enjoyed.  Appointed 
aml)assador  to  the  courts  of  Charles  V.  and  Fer- 
dinand I.,  the  grace  of  his  manners  and  the  charm 
of  his  discourse  so  attracted  the  regards  of  these 
inonarchs,  that  he  received  from  the  Emperor 
Charles  the  dignity  of  a  Piince  of  the  Empire. 
At  the  same  time  he  so  acquitted  himself  in  the 
many  affairs  of  importance  in  which  he  wsvs  em- 
ployed by  his  own  sovereign,  that  honours  and 
wealth  flowed  upon  him  in  his  native  land.  He 
was  created  Chancellor  of  Lithuania,  and  Palatine 
of  Vilna.  Hitherto  politics  alone  had  engi-ossed 
him,  but  the  time  was  now  come  when  something 
nobler  than  the  pomp  of  courts,  and  the  prizes  of 
earthly  kingdoms,  was  to  occupy  his  thoughts  and 
call  forth  his  energies.  About  1.5.'5.3  he  was  brought 
into  intercourse  with  some  Bohemian  Protestants 
at  Prague,  who  instructed  him  in  the  doctrines  of 
the  Reformation,  which  he  embraced  in  the  Grenevan 

'  Gerdesius,  vol.  iii.,  p.  152. 

-  Krasinski  saya  that  but  scanty  materials  exist  for 
illustrating  the  Lost  four  years  of  John  Alasco's  life. 
Tliis  the  count  eiplains  by  the  fact  that  his  descendants 
returned  into  the  bosom  of  the  Eoman  Church  after  his 
death,  and  that  all  records  of  his  labours  for  the  Reforma- 
tion of  liis  native  land,  as  well  as  most  of  his  published 
works,  were  destroyed  by  the  Jestiits. 


form.  From  that  time  his  influence  and  wealth 
— both  of  which  were  v;ist — were  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  his  country's  Reformation.  He  summoned 
to  his  help  Vergerius^  from  Italy.  He  suppoi-ted 
many  learned  Protestants.  He  defrayed  the  ex- 
pense of  the  printing  of  the  fir.st  Protestant  Bible 
at  Brest,  in  Lithuania,  in  1563.  He  diffused  works 
written  in  defence  of  the  Reformed  faith.  He 
erected  a  magnificent  church  and  college  at  Vilna, 
the  capital  of  Lithuania,  and  in  many  other  ways 
fostered  the  Reformed  Church  in  that  powerful 
province  where  he  exercised  almost  royal  authority. 
Numbers  of  the  priests  now  embraced  the  Protes- 
tant faith.  "  Almost  the  whole  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  nobles,"  says  Krasin.ski,  "  including  the 
first  families  of  the  land,  and  a  gi-eat  number  of 
those  who  had  belonged  to  the  Eastern  Church, 
became  Protestants ;  so  that  in  the  diocese  of 
Samogitia  thei-e  were  only  eight  Roman  Catholic 
clergymen  remaining.  The  Reformed  worship  was 
established  not  only  in  the  estates  of  the  nobles, 
but  also  in  many  towns."  ■•  On  the  other  side, 
the  testimony  to  Radziwill's  zeal  as  a  Refoinner 
is  equally  emphatic.  We  find  the  legate,  Lippo- 
mani,  reproaching  him  thus:  —  "Public  I'umour 
says  that  the  Palatine  of  Vilna  patronises  all 
heresies,  and  that  all  the  dangerous  innovators  are 
gathei-ing  under  his  protection ;  that  he  erects, 
whei-ever  his  influence  reaches,  sacrilegious  altars 
against  the  altar  of  God,  and  that  he  establishes 
pulpits  of  falsehood  against  the  pulpits  of  truth." 
Besides  these  scandalous  deeds,  the  legate  charges 
Radziwill  with  other  heinous  transgressions  against 
the  Papacy,  as  the  casting  down  the  images  of  the 
saints,  the  forbidding  of  prayers  to  the  dead,  and 
the  giving  of  the  cup  to  the  laity  ;  by  all  of  which 
he  had  greatly  ofl'ended  against  the  Holy  Father, 
and  put  his  own  salvation  in  peril. 

Had  the  life  of  Prince  Radziwill  been  prolonged, 
so  great  was  liis  influence  with  the  king,  it  Ls  just 
jiossible  that  the  vacillation  of  Sigismund  Augustus 
might  have  been  overcome,  and  the  throne  perma- 
nently won  for  the  cause  of  Poland's  Reformation  ; 
but  that  possibility,  if  it  ever  existed,  was  suddenly 

'  There  were  two  brothers  of  that  name,  both  zealous 
Protestants.  The  one  was  Bishop  of  Capo  d'lstria,  and 
set  about  writing  a  work  against  "tlie  apostates  of  Ger- 
many," which  resulted  in  his  own  conversion  to  Protes- 
tantism. Ho  communicated  his  change  of  mind  to  his 
brother,  Bishop  of  Pola,  who  at  first  opposed,  and  at  Last 
embraced  his  opinions.  Tlie  Bishop  of  Pola  soon  after 
met  his  fate,  though  how  is  shrouded  in  mystery.  The 
Bishop  of  Capo  d'lstria  wa.s  witness  to  the  horrors  of 
the  death-bed  of  Francis  Spira,  and  was  so  impressed  by 
them  that  he  resigned  his  bishopric  and  left  Italy.  He  it 
was  that  now  came  to  Poland.     (Sec  MiCrie,  Italy.) 

*  Krasinski,  Slavonia,  p.  227. 


172 


HISTOEY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


extingiiishe<l.  In  150"),  while  yet  iii  the  prime  of 
life,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  lahoui-.s  for  tlie  eman- 
cipation of  liis  native  land  from  tlie  Papal  yoke,  the 
prince  died.  When  he  felt  his  last  hour  approach- 
ing he  summoned  to  his  bed-side  his  eldest  son, 
Nichola.s  Christopher,  and  solemnly  charged  him  to 
abide  constant  in  the  profession  of  his  father's 
creed,  and  the  service  of  his  father's  Clod  ;  and  to 
employ  the  illustrious  name,  the  vast  possessions, 
and  the  great  influence  which  had  descended  to  him 
for  the  cause  of  the  Reformation. 

So  ill  did  that  son  fulfil  the  charge,  delivered  to 
him  in  circumstances  so  solemn,  that  he  returned 
into  the  l>osoni  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<l,  vol.  ii. 


,,p.  294 


THE   POLISH    PROTESTANT   CHURCH. 


179 


limited  jurisdiction,  thougli  exclusively  spii-itual. 
The  other  ecclesiastical  functionaries  were  tlie 
Minister,  the  Deacon,  and  the  Lecturer.  The  Polish 
Protestants  eschewed  the  fashion  and  order  of  the 
Roman  hierarchy,  and  strove  to  reproduce  as  far 
as  the  circumstances  of  their  times  would  allow,  or 
as  thoy  themselves  were  able  to  trace  it,  the  model 
cxldbited  in  the  primitive  Chiirch. 

Besides  the  Clerical  Senior  each  district  had  a 
Civil  Senior,  who  was  elected  exclusively  by  the 
nobles  and  landowners.  His  duties  about  the 
Clmrcli  were  mainly  of  an  external  nature.  All 
things  appertaming  to  faith  and  doctrine  were  left 
entu'ely  in  the  hands  of  the  ministers ;  but  the 
Civil  Senior  took  cognisance  of  the  morals  of 
ministers,  and  in  certain  cases  could  forbid  them 
the  exercise  of  their  functions  till  he  had  reported 
the  case  to  the  Synod,  as  the  supreme  authority 
of  the  Church.  The  support  and  general  welfare 
of  churches  and  schools  were  entrusted  to  the  Civil 
Senior,  who,  moreover,  acted  as  advocate  for  the 
Cluirch  before  the  authorities  of  the  country. 

The  supreme  authority  in  the  Polisli  Protestant 
Cliurch  was  neither  the  Superintendent  nor  the 
Civil  Senior,  but  the  Synod.  Four  times  every 
year  a  Local  Synod,  composed  not  of  ministers 
only,  but  of  all  the  members  of  the  congi-egations, 
was  convened  in  each  district.  Although  the 
members  sat  along  -with  the  pastors,  all  questions 
of  faith  and  doctrine  were  left  to  be  determined 
exclusively  by  the  latter.  Once  a  year  a  Pro- 
vincial Synod  was  held,  in  which  each  disti'ict  was 
represented  by  a  Clerical  Senior,  two  Con-Seniors, 
or  assistants,  and  fotir  Civil  Seniors ;  thus  gi^^ilg 
a  slight  predominance  to  tlie  lay  element  in  the 
Synod.  Nevertheless,  ministers,  although  not  dele- 
gated by  the  Local  SjTiods,  could  sit  and  vote  on 
equal  terms  with  others  in  the  Provincial  Synod. 

The  Grand  Synod  of  the  nation,  or  Convocation 
of  the  Polish  Church,  met  at  no  stated  times.  It 
assembled  only  when  the  emergence  of  some  great 
question  called  for  its  decision.  These  gi'eat  gather- 
ings, of  coui-se,  could  take  place  only  so  long  as  tlie 
Union  of  Sandomir,  which  bound  in  one  Church 
all  the  Protestant  Confessions  of  Poland,  existed, 
and  that  unhappily  was  only  from  1.570  to  1.59.5. 
After  the  expiry  of  these  twenty-five  years  those 
gi'cat  national  gatheiings,  which  had  so  impressively 
attested  the  strength  and  grandeur  of  Protestantism 
in  Poland,  were  seen  no  more.  Such  in  outline 
was  the  constitution  and  government  of  the  Pro- 
testant Church  of  Poland.  It  wanted  only  two 
things  to  make  it  complete  and  perfect — namely, 
one  supreme  court,  or  centre  of  authority,  with 
jurisdiction    covering    the    whole    country;    and    a 


permanent  body  or  "  Board,"  having  its  seat  in  the 
capital,  through  which  the  Chm'ch  might  take  in- 
stant action  when  great  dilEcidties  called  for  united 
councils,  or  sudden  dangers  necessitated  united 
arms.  The  meetmgs  of  the  Grand  Synods  were 
intermittent  and  ii'regular,  whereas  their  enemies 
never  failed  to  maintain  union  among  themselves, 
and  never  ceased  theii-  attacks  upon  the  Protestant 
Church. 

We  must  now  turn  to  the  course  of  political 
afiaii-s  subsequent  to  the  death  of  King  Sigismund 
Augustus,  of  which,  however,  we  shall  treat  only 
so  far  as  they  gi-ew  out  of  Protestantism,  and 
exerted  a  reflex  influence  upon  it.  The  amiablej 
enlightened,  and  tolerant  monarch,  Sigismund  Au- 
gustus, so  often  almost  persuaded  to  be  a  Protestant, 
and  one  day,  as  his  coui-tiers  fondly  hoped,  to  be- 
come one  in  reality,  went  to  his  grave  in  1572, 
without  having  come  to  any  decision,  and  without 
leaving  any  issue.  The  Protestants  were  naturally 
desirous  of  placing  a  Protestant  upon  the  throne  ; 
but  the  intrigues  of  Cardinal  Commendoni,  and  the 
jealousy  of  the  Lutherans  against  the  Reformed, 
which  the  Union  of  Sandomir  had  not  entirely 
extinguished,  rendered  all  efibrts  towards  this 
efiect  in  vain.  Meanwhile  Coligny,  whom  the 
Peace  of  St.  Germains  had  i-estored  to  the  court 
of  Paris,  and  for  the  moment  to  influence,  came 
forward  'svith  the  proposal  of  placing  a  French 
prince  upon  the  throne  of  Poland.  The  admiral 
was  revolving  a  gigantic  scheme  for  humbling 
Romanism,  and  its  gi'eat  champion,  Spain.  He 
meditated  bringing  together  in  a  political  and  re- 
ligious alliance  the  two  gi-eat  countries  of  Poland 
and  France,  and  Protestantism  once  triumphant  in 
both,  an  issue  which  to  Coligny  seemed  to  be  near, 
the  vmited  arms  of  the  two  countries  would  soon 
put  an  end  to  the  dommancy  of  Rome,  and  lay 
in  the  dust  the  overgro^v^l  power  of  Austria  and 
Spam.  Catherine  de  Medici,  who  saw  in  the  pro- 
ject a  new  aggrandisement  to  her  family,  warmly 
favoured  it ;  and  Montluc,  Bishop  of  Valence,  was 
dispatched  to  Poland,  fm-nished  with  ample  in- 
structions from  Coligny  to  prosecute  the  election  of 
Henry  of  Valois,  Duke  of  Anjou.  Montluc  had 
hardly  crossed  the  frontier  when  the  St.  Bartho- 
lomew WiW  struck,  and  among  the  many  victims 
of  that  dreadful  act  was  the  author  of  that  very 
scheme  which  Montluc  was  on  his  way  to  advo- 
cate and,  if  possible,  consummate.  The  bishop,  on 
receiving  the  tenible  news,  thought  it  useless  to 
continue  his  journey ;  but  Catherine,  feeling  the 
necessity  of  following  the  line  of  foreign  jwlicy 
which  had  been  originated  by  the  man  she  had 
murdered,  sent  ordei-s  to  Montluc  to  go  forward. 


VIEW    OF    THE    MAKKET-I'LACE    OF    CliACUW. 


120 


182 


HISTORY   OF   PEOTESTANTISM. 


Tlic  ambassador  had  immense  difficulties  to  over- 
come in  the  prosecution  of  his  mission,  for  the 
massacre  had  inspired  universal  horror,  but  by  dint 
of  stoutly  denying  the  Duke  of  Anjou's  participa- 
tion in  the  crime,  and  promising  that  the  duke 
would  subscribe  every  guarantee  of  political  and 
religious  liberty  which  might  be  required  of  him, 
he  finally  carried  his  object.  Firlej^,  the  leader  of 
the  Protestant;;,  drafted  a  list  of  jorivileges  which 
Anjou  was  to  grant  to  the  Protestants  of  Poland, 
and  of  concessions  which  Charles  IX.  was  to  make 
to  the  Protestants  of  France ;  and  Montluc  was 
required  to  sign  the.se,  or  see  the  rejection  of 
his  candidate.  The  ambassador  promised  for  the 
monarch. 

Henry  of  Valois  ha\"ing  been  chosen,  four  am- 
bassadors set  out  from  Poland  with  the  diploma  of 
election,  which  was  presented  to  the  duke  on  the 
10th  September,  1.573,  in  Notre  Dame,  Paris.  A 
Romish  bishoj),  and  member  of  the  embassy,  entered 
a  protest,  at  the  beginning  of  the  ceremonial, 
agamst  that  clause  in  the  oath  which  .secured  re- 
ligious liberty,  and  which  the  duke  was  now  to 
swear.  Some  confusion  followed.  The  Protestant 
Zborowski,  interruptmg  the  proceedings,  addressed 
Montluc  thus  : — "  Had  you  not  accepted,  in  the 
name  of  the  duke,  these  conditions,  we  should  not 
have  elected  him  as  our  monarch."  Henry  feigned 
not  to  understand  the  subject  of  dispute,  but 
Zborowski,  advancing  towards  him,  said — "I  repeat, 
sire,  if  your  ambassador  had  not  accepted  the  con- 
dition securing  religious  liberty  to  us  Protestants, 
we  would  not  have  elected  you  to  be  our  king,  and 
if  you  do  not  confirm  these  conditions  you  shall 
not  be  our  king."  Thereupon  Henry  took  the 
oath.  When  he  had  sworn,  Bishop  Karnkowski, 
who  had  protested  against  the  religious  liberty  pro- 
mised in  the  o.ath,  stepped  forward,  and  again 
protested  that  the  clause  should  not  prejudice  the 
authority  of  the  Church  of  Kome,  and  he  received 
from  the  king  a  \nitten  declaration  to  the  effect 
that  it  would  not.' 

Although  the  sovereign-elect  had  confirmed  by 
oath  the  religious  liberties  of  Poland,  the  su.spicions 
of  the  Protestants  were  not  entirely  allayed,  and 
they  resolved  jealously  to  watch  the  proceedings 
at  the  coronation.  Their  distnist  was  not  without 
cause.  Cardinal  Hosius,  who  had  now  begun  to 
exercise  vast  influence  on  the  affaii-s  of  Poland, 
reasoned  that  the  oath  that  Henry  had  taken  iii 
Paris  was  not  binding,  and  he  sent  his  secretary  to 
meet  the  new  monarch  on  the  i-oad  to  his  new 
dominions,  and  to  assure  him  that  he  did  not  even 


need  absolution  from  what  he  had  sworn,  seeing 
what  was  unlawful  was  not  binding,  and  that  as 
soon  as  he  should  be  crowned,  he  might  proceed, 
the  oath  notwithstanding,  to  diive  from  his  kmg- 
dom  all  religions  contrary  to  that  of  Rome."  The 
bishops  began  to  teach  the  same  doctrine  and  to 
instruct  Henry,  who  was  approaching  Poland  by 
slow  stages,  that  he  would  mount  the  throne  as  an 
absolute  sovereign,  and  reign  wholly  imfettered  and 
unconti'olled  by  either  the  oath  of  Paris  or  the 
Polish  Diet.  The  kingdom  wa.s  in  dismay  and 
alarm ;  the  Protestants  talked  of  annulling  the 
election,  and  refusing  to  accept  Henry  as  their 
sovereign.     Poland  was  on  the  brink  of  civil  war. 

At  the  coronation  a  new  treachery  was  at- 
tempted. Tutored  by  Jesuitical  councillors,  Henry 
proposed  to  assume  the  crown,  but  to  evade  the  oath. 
The  ceremonial  was  proceeding,  intently  watched 
by  both  Protestants  and  Romanists.  The  final  act 
was  about  to  be  performed ;  the  crown  was  to  be 
placed  on  the  head  of  the  new  sovereign ;  but  the 
oath  guaranteeing  the  Protestant  liberties  had  not 
been  administered  to  him.  Fii'ley,  the  Grand 
Marshal  of  Poland,  and  first  grandee  of  the  kmg- 
dom,  stood  forth,  and  stopping  the  proceedings, 
declared  that  unless  the  Duke  of  Anjou  should 
repeat  the  oath  which  he  had  sworn  at  Paris,  he 
would  not  allow  the  coronation  to  take  place. 
Henry  was  kneeling  on  the  steps  of  the  altai',  but 
startled  by  the  words,  he  rose  up,  and  looking 
round  him,  seemed  to  hesitate.  Firley,  seizing  the 
cro^Ti,  said  in  a  firm  voice,  "  Si  non  jurabis,  non 
regnabis  "  (If  you  will  not  swear,  you  shall  not 
reign).  The  courtiers  and  spectators  wei-e  mute 
with  astonishment.  The  king  was  awed  ;  he  read 
iu  the  crest-fallen  countenances  of  his  advisers  that 
he  had  but  one  alternative — the  oath,  or  an  igno- 
minious return  to  France.  It  was  too  soon  to  go 
back ;  he  took  the  copy  of  the  oath  which  was 
handed  to  him,  swore,  and  was  crowned. 

The  courageous  act  of  the  Protestant  grand  mar- 
shal had  dispelled  the  cloud  of  civil  war  that  hung 
above  the  nation.  But  it  was  only  for  a  moment 
that  confidence  was  restored.  The  first  act  of  the 
new  sovereign  had  revealed  him  to  his  subjects  as 
both  treacherous  and  cowardlj' ;  what  trast  could 
they  repose  in  him,  and  what  affection  could  they  feel 
for  him?     Henry  took  into  exclusive  favour  the 


>  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<l 
hold  on  the  too  courageous  Lutheran,  and  haled 
him  to  prison.  Next  day  tlie  city  sergeant  con- 
ducted him  out  of  Prague.  A  certain  cutler,  in 
whose  possession  a  little  book  on  the  Sacrament 
had  been  found,  was  scourged  in  the  market-place. 
The  same  punishment  was  inflicted  upon  John 
Kalentz,  with  the  addition  of  being  branded  on  the 
foreliead,  because  it  was  said  tliat  thovigh  a  layman 
he  liad  administered  the  Eucharist  to  liimself  and 
his  family.  John  Lapatsky,  who  had  returned 
from  banishment,  under  the  impression  that  the 
king  had  published  an  amnesty  to  the  exiles,  was 
ap])rehendcd,  thrown  into  prison,  and  murdered.'' 

The  tragic  fate  of  Nicolas  Wrzetenarz  deserv(^s 
a  more  circumstantial  detail.  Wrzetenarz  was  a 
learned  man,  well  stricken  in  j-ears.  He  was  accuseil 
of  PicardLsra,  a  name  by  which  Protestant  sentiments 

'  "  Placide  eipirarunt."    (Comcnius,  cap.  30,  p.  109.) 
'  Comenius,  cap.  29,  p.  102. 
=•  Hid.,  cap.  29,  p.  105. 


were  at  times  designated.  He  was  summoned  to 
answer  before  the  Senate.  When  the  old  man 
appeared,  Zahera,  who  presided  on  the  tribunal, 
asked  him  what  he  believed  concerning  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  altar.  "  I  believe,"  he  replied,  "what 
the  Evangelists  and  St.  Paul  teach  me  to  believe." 
"  Do  you  believe,"  asked  the  othei-,  "  that  Christ  is 
present  in  it,  having  flesh  and  blood  i"  "I 
believe,"  replied  Wrzetenarz,  "  that  when  a  pious 
minister  of  God's  Word  declares  to  a  faithful. con- 
gregation the  benefits  which  are  received  by  the 
death  of  Christ,  the  bread  and  wine  are  made  to 
them  the  Supper  of  the  Lord,  wherein  they  are 
made  partakers  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Chi-Lst, 
and  the  benefits  i-eceived  by  his  death."  After  a 
few  more  questions  touching  the  mass,  praying  to 
the  saints,  and  similar  matters,  he  was  condemned 
as  a  heretic  to  the  fire.  His  hostess,  Clara,  a 
widow  of  threescore  years,  whom  he  had  instructed 
in  the  truth,  and  who  refused  to  deny  the  faith  she 
had  received  into  her  heart,  was  condemned  to  be 
burned  along  with  him. 

They  were  led  out  to  die.  Being  come  to  the 
place  of  execution  they  were  commanded  to  adore 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  which  had  been  elevated  in 
the  east.  They  refused,  saying,  "  The  law  of  God 
permits  us  not  to  worship  the  likeness  of  anything 
either  in  heaven  or  in  earth  ;  we  will  worship  only 
the  living  God,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  who 
inhabiteth  alike  the  south,  the  west,  the  north,  the 
east;"  and  turning  their  backs  upon  the  crucifix, 
and  prostrating  themselves  toward  the  west,  with 
their  eyes  and  hands  lifted  up  to  heaven,  thsy 
invoked  with  great  ardour  the  name  of  Christ. 
Having  taken  leave  of  their  children,  Nicolas,  with 
great  cheerfulness,  mounted  the  pile,  and  standing 
on  the  faggots,  repeated  the  Ai-ticles  of  the  Creed, 
and  having  finished,  looked  up  to  heaven  and 
prayed,  saying  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Son  of  the  living  God,  who  was  born  of  a 
pure  Virgin,  and  didst  vouchsafe  to  undergo  the 
shameful  death  of  the  cross  for  me  a  vile  sinner, 
thee  alone  do  I  worshij)— to  thee  I  coumiend  my 
soul.  Be  merciful  unto  me,  and  blot  out  all  mine 
iniquities."  He  then  repeated  in  Latin  the  Psalm, 
"  In  thee,  O  Lord,  have  I  put  my  trust."  Mean- 
while the  executioner  having  brought  forward  Clara, 
and  laid  her  on  the  pile,  now  tied  down  both  of 
them  upon  the  wood,  and  heiiping  over  them  the 
books  that  had  been  found  in  their  house,  he  lighted 
the  faggots,  and  soon  the  martyre  were  cn%-eloped  in 
the  fl.imes.  So  died  this  venerable  scholar  and  aged 
matron  at  Prague,  on  the  lUth  December,  152G.* 

*  Comenius,  cap.  SO,  pp.  105,  lOfi. 


19G 


HISTOUY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


Ill  the  following  year  Martha  vou  Porzicz  was 
burued.  She  was  a  woman  heroic  beyond  even  the 
heroism  of  her  sex.  Interrogated  by  the  doctors  of 
the  univei-sity  us  well  as  by  the  councillors,  she 
answered  intiepidly,  giraig  a  reason  of  the  faith 
she  had  embraced,  and  upbraiding  the  Hussites 
themselves  for  their  stupid  adulation  of  the  Pope. 
The  jiresiding  judge  hinted  that  it  was  time  she 
was  getting  ready  her  garment  for  the  fire.  "  My 
petticoat  and  cloak  arc  both  ready,"  she  replied ; 
"  you  may  order  me  to  be  led  away  when  you 
please."'  She  was  straightway  sentenced  to  the 
lire.  The  towncrier walked  before  her,  proclaiming 
that  she  was  to  die  for  blaspheming  the  holy  Sacra- 
ment. Raising  her  voice  to  be  heard  by  the  crowd 
she  said,  "  It  is  not  so ;  I  am  condemned  because  I 
will  not  confess  to  please  the  priests  that  Christ, 
with  his  bones,  hairs,  sinews,  and  veins,  is  con- 
tained in  the  Sacrament." "  And  raising  her  voice 
yet  higher,  she  warned  the  people  not  to  believe 
the  priests,  who  had  abandoned  themselves  to 
hypocrisy  and  every  vice.  Being  come  to  the  place 
where  she  was  to  die,  they  importuned  her  to  adore 
the  crucifix.  Turning  her  back  upon  it,  and 
elevating  her  eyes  to  heaven,  "  It  is  there,"  she 
said,  "that  our  God  dwells  :  thither  must  we  direct 
our  looks."  She  now  made  haste  to  mount  the 
pile,  and  endured  the  torment  of  the  flames  mth 
invincible  courage.  She  was  burned  on  the  4th  of 
December,  1527. 

On  the  28th  of  August  of  the  following  year,  two 
German  artificers — one  a  potter,  the  other  a  girdler 
— accused  of  Lutheranism  by  the  monks,  were  con- 
demned by  the  judges  of  Prague  to  be  burned.  As 
tliey  walked  to  the  stake,  they  talked  so  sweetly 
togetlier,  reciting  passages  from  Scripture,  that 
tears  flowed  from  the  eyes  of  many  of  the  spectators. 
Being  come  to  the  pile,  they  bravely  encouraged 
one  another.  "Since  our  Lord  Jesus  Clu-ist,"  said 
the  girdler,  "  hath  for  us  sufJ'ered  so  grievous  things, 
let  us  arm  ourselves  to  sufler  this  death,  and  let  us 
rejoice  that  wo  have  found  so  gi-eat  favour  with  him 
as  to  be  accounted  worthy  to  die  for  his  Go.spel ; " 
to  whom  the  potter  made  answer,  "  I,  truly,  on  my 
marriage-day  wa.s  not  so  glad  of  heart  as  I  am  at 
tliis  moment."  Having  ascended  the  pyre,  they 
l)rayed  with  a  clear  voice,  "  Lord  Jesus,  v/lio  in 
thy  suflerings  didst  pray  for  thine  enemies,  we  also 
pray,  forgive  the  king,  and  the  men  of  Prague,  and 
the  clergy,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do,  and 
their  hands  are  full  of  blood."     And  then  address- 


ing the  people,  they  said.  "  Dearly  beloved,  pray 
for  your  king,  that  God  would  give  liim  the  know- 
ledge of  the  truth,  for  he  is  misled  by  the  bishops 
and  clergj'."  "  Having  ended  this  most  penitent 
exhortation,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  they  therewith 
ended  their  li\-es." 

After  this  the  fury  of  the  jiersecutiou  for  a  little 
while  subsided.  The  knot  of  cruel  and  bloodthirsty 
men  who  had  lU'ged  it  on  was  broken  up.  One 
of  the  band  fell  into  debt,  and  hanged  himself  in 
despair.  Zahera  was  caught  in  a  political  intrigue, 
into  which  Ids  ambitious  spirit  had  drawn  him, 
and,  being  banished,  ended  his  life  miserably  in 
Franconia.  The  cruel  burgomaster,  Passek,  was 
about  the  same  time  sent  into  perpetual  exUe,  after 
he  had  in  vain  thrown  himself  at  the  king's  feet 
for  mercy.  Ferdinand,  who  had  now  ascended 
the  throne,  changed  the  Council  of  Prague,  and 
gave  the  exiles  liberty  to  return.  The  year  1530 
was  to  them  a  time  of  restitution ;  their  churches 
multiplied ;  they  corresponded  -ivith  their  brethren 
in  Germany  and  Switzerland,  and  wei-e  thereby 
strengthened  against  those  days  of  yet  greater  trial 
that  awaited  them.^ 

These  days  came  in  15-17.  Charles  V.,  ha\ing 
overcome  the  German  Protestants  in  the  battle  of 
Muhlberg,  sent  his  brother,  Ferdinand  I.,  ^^•ith  an 
army  of  Germans  and  Hungarians  to  chastise  the 
Bohemians  for  refusing  to  assist  him  in  the  war 
just  ended.  Ferdinand  entered  Prague  like  a  city 
taken  by  siege.  The  magisti-ates  and  chief  barons 
he  imprisoned ;  some  he  beheaded,  others  he  scourged 
and  sent  into  exile,  while  others,  impelled  by  terror, 
fled  from  the  city.  "  See,"  observed  some,  "  what 
calamities  the  Lutherans  ha\e  brought  upon  us." 
The  Bohemian  Protestants  were  accused  of  dis- 
loyalty, and  Ferdinand,  opening  his  ear  to  these 
malicious  chai'ges,  issued  an  order  for  the  shutting 
up  of  all  their  churches.  In  the  five  districts  in- 
habited mainly  by  the  "  Brethi-en,"  all  who  refused 
to  enter  the  Church  of  Rome,  or  at  least  meet 
her  more  than  half-way  by  joining  the  Calixtiiies, 
were  driven  away,  and  their  hindlords,  on  various 
})retexts,  were  arrested. 

This  calamity  fell  upon  them  like  a  tluuuler-bult. 
Not  a  few,  yielding  to  the  violence  of  the  persecution, 
fell  back  into  Rome;  but  the  great  body,  unalter- 
ably fixed  on  maintaining  the  faith  for  which  Huss 
liad  died,  chose  rather  to  leave  the  soil  of  Bohemia 
for  ever  than  apostatise.  In  a  previous  chapter 
we  have  recorded  the  march  of  these  exiles,  in  three 


'  '■  Parata  mihi  sunt  et  indusium  et  pallium,  quando 
lubet  duel  jubete."     (Comenius,  p.  107.) 

'  "  Cum  ossibus,  capillis,  nervis  et  venis  in  Sacramento 
contincri."    (Comenius,  p.  108.) 


'  Comenuis,  p.  110.  The  Reformation  and  Anii-Reforma- 
(ion  in  Bohemia  (from  the  German),  vol.  i.,  pp.  60,  67; 
Loud.,  1845. 


FERDINAND   AND   HIS   JESUIT  ALLIES. 


197 


divisions,  to  their  new  settlements  in  Prussia,  and 
the  hiilt  they  made  on  their  journey  at  Posen, 
wliorp  thoy  kindled  the  light  of  truth  in  the  midst 
of  a  population  sunk  in  darkness,  and  hiid  tlie 
foundations  of  that  prosperity  -which  their  Cliurcli 
at  a  subsequent  period  enjoyed  in  Poland. 

The  unfilled  fields  and  emiity  dwellings  of  the 
expatriated  Bohemians  awakened  no  doubts  in  the 
king's  mind  as  to  the  expediency  of  the  course  he 
was  pm-suing.  Instead  of  pausing,  there  came  a 
third  edict  from  Ferdinand,  commanding  the  arrest 
and  imprisonment  of  the  pastors.  All  except  three 
saved  themselves  by  a  speedy  flight.  The  greater 
part  escaped  to  Moravia ;  but  many  remained  near 
the  frontier,  lying  liid  in  woods  and  caves,  and 
venturing  forth  at  night  to  visit  their  former  flocks 
and  to  dispense  the  Sacrament  in  private  houses, 
and  so  to  keep  the  sacred  flame  from  going  out  in 
Bohemia. 

The  three  ministers  who  failed  to  make  their 
escape  were  John  Augusta,  James  Bilke,  and  George 
Israel,  all  men  of  note.  Augusta  had  learned  his 
theology  at  the  feet  of  Luther.  Courageous  and 
eloquent,  he  was  the  terror  of  the  Calixtines,  whom 
he  had  often  vanquished  in  debate,  and  "they 
rejoiced,"  says  Comenius,  "  when  they  learned  his 
arrest,  as  the  Philistines  did  when  Samson  was 
delivered  bound  into  their  hands."  He  and  liis 
colleague  Bilke  were  thrown  into  a  deep  dungeon 
in  the  Castle  of  Prague,  and,  being  accused  of  con- 
spiring to  depose  Ferdinand,  and  place  John,  Elector 
of  Saxony,  on  the  throne  of  Bohemia,  they  were  put 
to  the  torture,  but  without  eliciting  anything  which 
their  pei-secutors  could  constnie  into  treason. 
Seventeen  solitary  and  son-owful  years  passc<l 
over  them  in  prison.  Nor  was  it  till  the  death  of 
Ferdinand,  in  l.'iGI,  0])cned  their  prison  doors 
that  they  were  restored  to  liberty.  George  Israel, 
by  a  marvellous  providence,  escaped  from  the 
dungeon  of  the  castle,  and  fleeing  into  Prussia,  he 
afterwards  preached  with  great  success  the  Gospel 
in  Poland,  where  he  established  not  fewer  than 
twenty  churches.' 

Many  of  the  noliles  shared  with  the  ministers  in 
these  .sufierings.  John  Prostiboi-sky,  a  man  of  great 
learning,  beautiful  life,  and  heroic  spirit,  was  put  to 
a  cruel  death.  On  the  rack  he  bit  out  his  tongue 
and  cast  it  at  his  tormentors,  that  he  might  not,  as 
lie  afterwards  declared  in  writing,  be  led  by  the 
torture  falsely  to  accuse  either  himself  or  his 
brethren.  He  cited  the  king  and  his  councillors 
to  answer  for  their  tjTanny  at  the  tribunal  of  God. 
Ferdinand,  desirous  if  possible  to  save  his  life,  sent 


him  a  physician;  but  he  sank  under  his  tortures, 
and  died  in  ])rison.- 

Finding  that,  in  spite  of  the  banishment  of 
pastors,  and  the  execution  of  nobles.  Protestantism 
was  still  extending,  Ferdinand  called  the  Jesuits  to 
his  aid.  The  fii'st  to  arrive  was  Wenzel  Sturm, 
who  had  been  trained  by  Ignatius  Loyola  him.self. 
Sturm  was  learned,  coui-teous,  adroit,  and  soon  made 
himself  popidar  in  Prague,  where  he  laboured,  with 
a  success  equal  to  his  zeal,  to  revive  the  decaying 
cause  of  Rome.  He  was  soon  joined  by  a  yet  more 
celebrated  meml)er  of  the  order,  Oanisius,  and  a 
large  and  sumptuous  edifice  having  been  assigned 
them  as  a  college,  they  began  to  train  priests  who 
might  be  able  to  take  their  place  in  the  pulpit  as 
well  as  at  the  altar;  "for  at  that  time,"  says 
Pessina,  a  Romish  writer,  "there  were  so  few  ortho- 
dox priests  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the  Jesuits, 
the  Catholic  religion  would  have  been  suppressed  in 
Bohemia."''  The  Jesuits  gi-ew  powerful  in  Prague. 
They  eschewed  public  disputations;  they  afiected 
gi'^at  zeal  for  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the 
sciencas ;  and  their  fame  for  learning  drew  a-owds 
of  jjupils  around  them.  When  they  had  filled  all 
their  existing  schools,  they  erected  others ;  and 
thus  their  seminaries  rapidly  multiplied,  "  so  that 
the  Catholic  verity,"  in  the  words  of  the  author  last 
quoted,  "  which  in  Bohemia  was  on  the  point  of 
Ijreathing  its  last,  appeared  to  revive  again,  and 
rise  publicly." 

Toward  the  close  of  his  reign,  Ferdinand  became 
somewhat  le.ss  zealous  in  the  cause  of  Rome. 
Having  succeeded  to  the  imperial  crown  on  the 
abdication  of  his  brother,  Charles  V.,  he  had  wider 
intei-ests  to  care  for,  and  less  time,  as  well  as  less 
inclination,  to  concentrate  his  attention  on  Bohemia. 
It  is  even  said  that  before  his  death  lie  expressed  his 
sincere  regret  for  his  acts  of  oppi-ession  against  his 
Bohemian  subjects ;  and  to  do  the  monarch  justice, 
these  severities  were  the  outcome,  not  of  a  natu- 
rally cruel  disposition,  but  rather  of  his  Spanish 
education,  which  had  been  conducted  under  the 
superintendence  of  the  stern  Cardinal  Ximenes.'' 

Under  his  son  and  successor,  Maximilian  II.,  the 
sword  of  persecution  was  sheathed.  This  prince  had 
for  his  in.structor  John  Fauser,  a  man  of  decided 
piety,  and  a  lover  of  the  Pi-otestant  doctrine,  the 
pi-inciples  of  which  he  took  care  to  instil  into  the 
mind  of  his  royal  pupil.  For  this  Fauser  had  neariy 
paid  the  penalty  of  his  life.  One  day  Ferdinand, 
in  n  fit  of  rage,  burst  into  his  chamber,  and  seizing 


'  ComeniuB,  cap.  36. 


'  Oomenius,  cap.  37. 

a  Reform,  and  Anli-Rc/orni.  in  Bohew.,  vol.  i 

■•  Krasinski,  Slamnin,  p.  145. 


198 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


liim  by  the  throat,  and  ]5utting  a  drawn  sword  to 
liis  breast,  upbraided  Lim  for  seducing  his  son  from 
the  true  faitli.  Tlio  king  forbore,  however,  from 
murdering  him,  and  was  content  witli  command- 
ing his  sou  no  further  to  receive  his  instructions. 
Maximilian  was  equally  fortmiate  in  his  physician, 
Crato.  He  also  loved  the  Gospel,  and,  enjoying  the 
friendship  of  the  monarch,  he  was  able  at  times 


great  distress  of  mind,  put  his  hand  to  the  hostile 
mandate.  "  But,"  says  the  old  chronicler,  "  God 
had  a  watchful  eye  over  his  own,  and  would  not 
permit  so  good  and  innocent  a  prince  to  have 
a  hand  in  blood,  or  be  burdened  with  the  cries  of 
the  oppressed."'  Joachim,  o\erjoyed,  set  out  on 
his  journey  homeward,  the  fatal  missives  that 
were  to  lay  waste  the  Bohemian  Church  carefully 


to  do  service  to 
the  "  Brethren." 
Under  this  gentle 
and  upright  prince 
the  Bohemian  Pro- 
testants were  ac- 
corded full  liberty, 
and  their  Churches 
flourished. 

The  historian 
Thaunus  relates  a 
Kiriking  incident  that  occurred  in  the  third  year 
i)f  his  reign.  The  enemies  of  the  Bohemians, 
having  concocted  a  new  plot,  sent  the  Chancellor 
>>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<l  to  the  windows,  and  began  to  sing 
in  a  loud  voice  the  forty-fourth  Psalm- to  cheer  theii- 


an  example  of  constancy  to  their  posterity,  and  of 
courage  to  the  world,  by  showing  it  that  they  did 
not  fear  to  die.  They  then  joined  in  singing  tlie 
eighty-sixth  Psalm.  When  it  was  ended,  John 
Kutnauer  turned  the  last  stanza  into  a  prayei-, 
earnestly  beseeching  God  that  he  would  "  show 
some  token  which  might  at  once  strengthen  them 
and  convince  their  enemies."  Then  turning  to  his 
companions,  and  spe.aking  to  them  with  great 
fervour  of  spirit,  he  said,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  for 
God  liath  heard  us  even  in  this,  and  to-morrow  he 
will  bear  witness  by  some  visible  .sign  that  we 
are  the  martyrs  of  righteousness."  But  Pastor 
Werbenius,  when  he  heard  this  jirotestation,  bade 


TUWEU   01-    THE    BlUDGE    OF    laAOUE,    TO    WHICH    THE    HE.UJS    OF    THE    .MAU1\U>    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  agree<l  with  the  Augsburg  Confession. 
In  the  following  year  (154G)  five  towns  of  Upper 
Hungary  convened  at  Eperies  for  the  purpose  of 


-  Bist.  Prot.  Church  in  Hungary,  p.  60. 
3  Lampe,  lib.  ii.,  anno  1545,  p.  93;   Traj.  Ehen.,  1728. 
Ribini,  Memorahilia,  p.  C7. 


THE   CONFESSION   OF   THE   FIVE   CITIES. 


dl•a^\'ing  up  a  Confession  of  their  faitli.  Tliey 
drafted  sLxteen  articles,  the  doctrine  of  wliich  was 
substantially  that  of  the  Augsburg  Confession. 
This  document  became  famous  in  Hungary  as  the 
Pentapolitan,  or  Confession  of  the  Five  Cities. 
The  synod  added  to  their  Confession  several  regu- 
lations with  the  view  of  guarding  the  soundness  of 
the  ministers,  and  the  morals  of  the  members  of 
the  Church.  A  pastor  who  should  teach  doctrine 
contrary  to  that  set  forth  in  the  Pentapolitan  was 
to  be  deposed  from  office ;  no  one  was  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  Communion-table  without  exami- 
nation ;  and  in  order  to  render  the  exercise  of 
church  discipline,  especially  excommunication,  the 
less  necessary,  the  magistrate  was  exhorted  to  be 
vigilant  in  the  repression  of  vice,  and  the  punish- 
ment of  crime. 

We  now  see  two  Protestant  communions  on  the 
sod  of  Hungary,  but  the  separation  between  them 
was,  as  yet,  more  in  name  than  in  reality.  They 
felt  and  acted  toward  one  another  as  if  still  mem- 
bers of  the  same  Church,  though  differing  in  their 
views  on  the  one  question  of  the  Eucharist,  and  not 
till  an  after-period  did  the  breach  widen  and  heats 
ai'ise.  This  epoch  is,  too,  that  of  the  fonnal  separa- 
tion of  the  Protestants  of  Hungary  from  the 
Church  of  Rome.  Up  to  this  time  their  clergy  had 
been  ordained  by  the  Popish  bishop  of  the  diocese, 
or  appointed  by  the  professors  at  the  German 
universities ;  but  now  the  Himgarian  Protestants 
themselves  chose  superintendents,  by  whom  their 
ministers  were  ordained,  and  they  convoked  assem- 
blies from  time  to  time  for  the  regulation  of  all 
matters  appertaining  to  their  Church.' 

The  progress  of  Protestantism  in  Transylvania 
was  henceforward  rapid  indeed.  The  Diet  of  1553 
declared  by  a  majority  of  votes  in  favour  of  the 
Reformation.  One  consequence  of  this  was  that 
the  neighbouring  free  citj-  of  Huns,  at  that  time 
an  important  fortress,  became  entirely  Protestant, 
and  in  the  follo-sving  year  (1554)  the  last  PopLsh 
priest  left  the  town,  as  a  .shepherd  who  had  no 
flock.  The  Palatine,  ■  Thomas  Nadasdy,  and  othei-s 
of  nearly  as  exalted  a  rank,  were  among  the  ac- 
cessions to  Protestantism  at  this  time.  Nor  must 
we  omit  to  mention  the  impulse  given  to  the  move- 
ment by  the  convei-sion  of  the  powerf\d  and  learned 
bi.shop,  FrancLs  Thurzo,  from  the  Church  of  Rome  ; 
nor  the  yet  greater  aid  contributed  by  Francis  Cis, 
or  Szegedin,  who  was  equally  great  as  a  theologian 


'  Hist.  Proi.  Chnrch  in  Hunf/ary,  p.  C7. 

=  The  Palatine  was  the  officer  appointed  Ijy  the  Diet 
to  execute  its  decrees  when  not  in  session.  Ho  was  for 
the  time  chief  administrator. 


and  as  an  orator.  His  activity  and  success  drew 
upon  him  the  wi-ath  of  the  Romanists,  and  after 
being  set  iipon  and  nearly  beaten  to  death  by  an 
officer  of  the  BLshop  of  C4rosswardein's  body-gtiard, 
he  was  driven  out  of  the  country.  This  great 
preacher  was  recalled,  however,  by  Count  Peter 
Petrovich,  a  zealous  friend  of  the  Reformation, 
who  now  governed  Transylvania  in  the  name  of  the 
young  son  of  King  Zapolya.  Petrovich,  wielding 
for  the  time  the  supreme  power  in  Ti-ansylvania, 
took  steps  for  completing  its  Refonnation,  and  in 
the  prosecution  of  tliis  great  object  he  found 
Szegedin  a  most  efficient  ally.  The  preacher  pro- 
claimed the  faith,  and  the  governor  removed  all 
hindrances  to  the  reception  and  profession  of  it. 
Petrovich  took  away  all  the  images  from  the 
churches,  converted  the  monasteries  into  schools, 
removed  the  Popish  priests  from  theii-  parishes, 
coined  the  gold  and  silver  vessels  into  money,  ap- 
propriated the  Church  property  in  the  name  of  the 
State,  and  secured  three-fourths  of  it  for  the  salaries 
of  the  Protestant  clergy.  Thus  was  the  whole  of 
Transylvania,  with  the  consent  and  co-operation 
of  the  people,  freed  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Romish  hierarchy,*  and  the  vast  majority  of  its  in- 
habitants passed  over  to  the  Protestant  Confessions. 

There  came  a  momentary  turning  of  the  tide. 
In  1557  the  reforming  Count  Petrovich  was 
obliged  to  give  way  to  Stephen  Losonczy.  The 
latter,  a  mere  man  of  war,  and  kno^ring  only 
enough  of  the  Gospel  to  fear  it  as  a  cause  of  dis- 
tui-bance,  drove  away  all  its  preachei-s.  Not  only 
was  the  eloquent  and  energetic  Szegedin  sent  into 
exile,  but  all  his  colleagues  were  banished  from 
the  country  along  with  him.  The  sequel  was  not 
a  little  remarkable.  Scarcely  had  the  ministei-s 
quitted  the  soil  of  Transylvania,  when  the  Tm-ks 
burst  across  its  frontier.  They  marched  on  Temes- 
war,  besieged  and  took  the  fortress,  and  slaughtered 
all  the  occupants,  including  the  unhappy  Losonczy 
himself.  The  ministers  would  probably  have 
perished  with  the  rest,  had  not  the  governor,  with 
the  intent  of  ruining  them,  forced  theni  before- 
hand into  a  place  of  safety.'' 

Again  the  Protestants  found  the  sceptre  of  tho 
Turks  lighter  than  the  rod  of  the  Papists.  The 
pashas  were  besieged  by  solicitations  and  bribes 
to  put  the  preachei-s  to  death,  or  at  least  to  banish 
them ;  but  their  Turkish  iidei-s,  more  just  than 
their  Christian  opi)onents,  refused  to  condemn  till 
first  they  had  made  inquiiy ;  and  a  short  interro- 

3  Htst.  Prot.  Ch.  in  Hungary,  p.  69.    Lampe,  lib.  ii.,  p.  99. 
*  Scaricaus,  Vita  Ssegedini.—Hist .  Prot.  Church  in  Hun- 
gary, p.  &i. 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


gation  commonly  sufficed  to  make  patent  tlie  fact 
that,  while  the  Romanists  worshipped  by  images, 
the  Protestants  bowed  to  God  alone.  This  was 
enough  for  the  Mussulman  governor.  Without 
seeking  to  go  deeper  into  the  points  of  diflerence, 
he  straiglitway  gave  orders  that  no  hindrance 
should  be  offered  to  the  preaching  of  that  Gospel 
which  the  gi'eat  Mufti  of  Wittemberg  had  (//*■- 
covered ;  and  thus,  in  all  the  Transylvanian  towns 
and  plains  under  the  Moslem,  the  Protestant  faith 
continued  to  spread. 

Scarcely  less  gratifying  was  the  progress  of  the 
truth  in  those  portions  of  Hungary  which  were 
luider  the  sway  of  Ferdinand  I.  In  Koniorn,  on 
the  angle  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Waag 
with  the  Danube,  we  find  Michael  Szataraj'  and 
Anthony  Plattner  preaching  the  Gospel  with  dili- 
gence, and  laying  the  foundation  of  what  was 
aftei-wards  the  gi-eat  and  floiu-ishing  Church  of  the 
Helvetian  Confession.  In  the  free  city  of  Tyrnau, 
to  the  north  of  Komorn,  where  Simon  Grynseus 
and  the  Reformer  Devay  had  scattered  the  seed, 
the  writings  of  the  Reformers  were  employed  to 
water  it,  and  the  majority  of  the  citizens  embraced 
the  Protestant  faith  in  its  Lutheran  form.  In  the 
mining  towns  of  the  mountainous  districts  the 
Gospel  flourished  greatly.  These  to-svns  were  held 
as  the  private  proitei-ty  of  the  Protestant  Queen 
Mary,  the  mdow  of  Louis  II.,  who  had  perished 
at  the  battle  of  Mohacz,  and  while  imder  her  rule 
the  Gospel  and  its  preachers  enjoyed  perfect  secu- 
rity. But  the  queen  transferred  the  cities  to  her 
brother  Ferdinand,  and  the  priests  thought  that 
they  now  saw  how  they  could  reach  their  heretical 
inhabitants.     Repairing  to  Ferdinand,  they  i-epre- 


sented  these  towns  as  hotbeds  of  sectarianism  and 
setlition,  wliich  he  would  do  well  to  suppress.  The 
accusation  kindled  the  zeal  of  the  Protestants;  they 
sent  as  their  defence,  to  the  monarch,  a  copy  of 
theii-  Confession  {Pentapoltiana),  of  which  we  have 
spoken  above.  Ferdinand  found  it  the  echo  of  that 
to  which  he  had  listened  with  so  much  interest  at 
Augsburg  twenty  years  before,  and  he  commanded 
that  those  whose  faith  this  Confession  expressed 
should  not  be  molested.' 

Everywhere  we  find  the  greatest  ferment  and 
activity  prevailing.  We  see  town  councils  inviting 
preachers  to  come  and  labour  in  the  cities  under 
then-  jurisdiction,  and  opening  the  churches  for 
their  use.  School-houses  are  rising,  and  wealthy 
burgomastei-s  are  giving  their  gardens  in  free  grant 
for  sites.  We  see  monks  throwing  ofi"  the  cloak  and 
betaking  themselves,  some  to  the  pulpit,  others  to 
the  school,  and  others  to  handicrafts.  We  find  arch- 
bishops launching  fulminatory  letters,  which  meet 
with  no  response  save  in  their  own  idle  reverbera- 
tions. The  images  are  vanishing  from  the  churches ; 
the  tapers  are  being  extinguished  at  the  altar ;  the 
priest  departs,  for  there  is  no  flock;  processions 
cease  from  the  streets  and  highways ;  the  begging 
friar  forgets  to  make  his  round ;  the  pilgrim  comes 
no  more  to  liis  favourite  shrine ;  relics  have  lost 
their  power  ;  and  the  evening  air  is  no  longer  vexed 
by  the  clang  of  convent  bells,  thickly  planted  all 
over  the  land.  "Alas!  alas!"  cry  monk  and  nun, 
their  occupation  being  goiie,  "the  gloiy  is  departed." 

"  Only  three  families  of  the  magnates  adhered 
still  to  the  Pope.  The  nobiKty  were  nearly  all 
Reformed,  and  the  people  were,  nearly  thirty  to 
one,  attached  to  the  new  doctrine.  "- 


CHAPTER   III 


FERDINAND    II.    AND   THE    ERA    OF    PERSECUTION. 


The  Reformation  of  Hungary  not  Perfected— Defects— Intestine  War— "  Formula  of  Concord  "—The  Jesuits— Their 
Show  of  Humility— Come  to  Tyrnau— Settle  in  Kaab — Ferdinand  II.  Educated  by  the  Jesuits— His  Devotion  to 
Mary— His  Vow— His  Mission— A  Century  of  Protestantism— Tragetlies— Ferdinand  II.  hopes  to  Extinguish 
Protestantism— Stephen  Bethlen— Diet  of  Neusohl— Decrees  Toleration— "War  between  Bethleu  and  Ferdi- 
nand II. — Betlileu  Declines  the  Crown  of  Hungary— Renews  the  "War— Peace— Bethlen's  Sudden  Death — Plan 
for  Extirpating  Protestantism— Its  Execution  Postponed— Ferdinand's  Death. 


As  the  morning  spreads  light,  and  the  spring  ver- 
dure over  the  earth,  so  Protestantism,  -with  its  soft 
breath,  was  diffusing  light  and  warmth  over  the 
torpid  fields  of  Hungary.  Nevertheless  the  crown 
was  not  put  upon  the  Reformation  of  that  land. 


The  ^■ast  majority  of  the  population,  It  is  true,  had 
embraced  Protestantism,  but  they  fiiilel  to  reach 


'  Ribini,  Memorahilia,  i.,  p.  78.    Hist.  Prot.  Church  in, 
Hungary,  pp.  G5,  C6. 
-  Hist.  Prot.  Church  in  Hungary,  p.  73. 


THE   LATINS   AND   THE   TEUTONS. 


229 


the  goal  of  a  united  and  thoroughly  organised 
Protestant  Church.  Short  of  this,  the  Hungarian 
Protestants  were  hardly  in  a  condition  to  resist  the 
ten'ible  shocks  to  which  they  were  about  to  be 
exposed.  The  Latin  nations  have  ever  shown  a 
superior  genius  in  organising — a  talent  which  they 
have  received  from  Old  Rome— and  this  is  one 
reason,  doubtless,  why  the  Protestant  Chiu'ches  of 


bring  it  into  play,  fii'st  individual  congregations  and 
pastors,  and  ultimately  the  whole  Chui-ch,  succumbed 
to  the  tire  of  her  artillery. 

Another  defect  cleaving  to  the  Hungarian  Church 
was  the  want  of  a  clear,  definite,  and  formal  line  of 
separation  from  the  Romish  Church.  The  hier- 
archy of  Rome  was  still  in  the  land ;  the  bishops 
claimed  theii'  dues  from  the  Protestant  jiastors,  and 


Vll-W        1      \     M1M\ 


IN     iUANoil \ iSli 


Latin  Clnistendom  were  more  perfect  in  theii-  auto- 
nomy than  those  of  Saxon  Christendom.  The 
moment  we  cross  the  Rhine  and  enter  among 
Teutonic  peoples,  we  find  the  Protestants  less  firmly 
marshalled,  and  their  Chiu-ches  less  vigoi'ously 
governed,  than  in  Western  Europe.  The  Protestant 
Church  of  Hungary  had  a  government — she  was 
ruled  by  superintendents,  seniors,  pastors,  and 
deacons — but  the  vigour  and  efficiency  of  this  go- 
vei-nment  rested  mainly  with  one  man  ;  there  was 
no  michinery  for  rallying  promptly  the  whole  force 
of  the  body  on  great  emergencies;  and  so  when 
Rome  liad  had  time  to  constmct  her  opposition  and 
124 


in  most  cases  received  them,  and  occasional  cftbrta 
on  the  part  of  Romish  dignitaiics  to  exercise  juris- 
diction over  the  Protestants  were  tamely  submitted 
to.  Tliis  state  of  matters  was  owing  partly  to  causes 
beyond  the  control  of  the  Protestants,  and  partly 
to  the  quiet  and  easy  manner  in  which  the  Refoi-- 
mation  had  diffused  itself  over  the  countiy.  There 
had  been  no  convulsion,  no  jjcriod  of  national 
agony  to  wrench  the  Hungarians,  as  a  people,  from 
the  communion  of  Rome,  and  to  teach  them  the 
wisdom,  not  only  of  standing  apart,  but  of  putting 
theii'  Church  into  a  posture  of  defence  against  the 
tempests  which   might  aiise  in  the  future.     The 


230 


HISTORY    OF   i'i;OTESTx\.NTIS.M. 


jiuu-iuer  wlio  lu'.s  uevt-v  suilod  save  ou  calm  seas,  is 
ai>t  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<xstle,  liurned 
them  on  the  hall-floor.  The  Bible  was  resei\ed  for 
a  special  auto-iho-Je.  It  was  put  upon  a  spit  and 
turned  round  before  the  fire,  the  count  and  his  suite 
skinding  by  and  watching  the  process  of  its  slow 
combustion.  A  sudden  gust  of  wind  swept  into  the 
apartment,  stripped  off  a  number  of  the  half-burned 
leaves  and,  swiiiing  them  through  the  hall,  deposited 
one  of  them  upon  the  coimt's  breast.  Baron  Ladis- 
laus  Revay  caught  at  it,  but  the  count  anticipating 
him  took  possession  of  it,  and  began  to  read.  The 
words  were  those  iu  the  fortieth  chapter  of  Isaiah  : 
"  The  gi'ass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  but  the 
Word  of  om-  God  shiUl  stand  for  ever."  The 
Count  Nadiisdy,  turning  pale,  immediately  retired.^ 
Not  fewer  than  200  Protestant  Churches,  on  liis 
estates,  did  he  contrive  to  ruin,  either  partially 
or  wholly.  "  For  these  feats,"  say  the  historians 
of  the  Protestant  Church  of  Hungary,  "  he  became 
the  darling  of  the  Jesuits  at  the  Comt  of  Viemia."- 
His  good  deeds,  however,  were  not  remembered  by 
the  Fathere  in  the  hour  of  hLs  calamity.  When 
shortly  after  the  count  was  drawn  into  insurrection, 
and  condemned  to  die,  they  left  him  to  mount  the 
scaffold.  Before  laying  his  head  on  the  block,  he 
said,  "  The  Lord  is  just  in  all  his  ways."  These 
words  the  Jesuits  interpreted  into  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  justice  of  his  sentence;  but  the 
Protestants  saw  in  them,  with  more  probability,  an 
expression  of  sorrow  for  forsaking  the  faith  of  his 
youth.^ 

In  Eisenberg  county,  Coimt  George  ErdiJdy 
turned  the  Pastor  of  Wippendorf  out  of  doors  in 
the  dej)th  of  ^vinter,  and  threw  his  furniture  on  the 
street.  All  the  Protestants  on  liis  estates  were 
ordered  to  return  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  \inder 
penalty  of  banishment,  with  only  four  florins  for 
theii-  journey.  When  this  threat  failed,  the  nide 
Wallachian  soldiery  were  bUleted  upon  them  ;  and 
such  as  still  proved  obdurate  were  thrown  into  the 
dungeons  of  his  castle,  and  kept  there  nntU,  worn 
out  by  cold  and  hunger  and  darkness,  they  at  last 
yielded. 

The  Jesuits  finding  that  their  plan,  though  it 
emitted  neither  flame  nor  blood,  was  effectual 
enough  to  make  consciences  bow,  resolved  to  jier- 
severe  with  it.  In  Neusiedel,  in  the  county  of  the 
Wieselburg,  there  went  forth  an  order  from  the 
landlords,  John  and  Geoi-ge  Lip[)ay,  commanding 
all  the  Protestants  to  wor.ship  in  the;  Popish  church, 
and  imposing  a  line  of  forty  florins  for  every  case  of 


'  Mica  Bui-y  MS.,  apud  Hist,  Prot.  Church  in  Hungary, 
pp.  174,  175. 
-  Hist.  I'rot.  Church  in  Hungary,  pp.  172,  173. 
=  Joann.  Bethlen  Con.  Ejus  .E talis  1G70. 


absence.  No  Protestant  widow  was  permitted  to 
marry.  At  no  Protestant  fmieral  dare  psalm  or 
hymn  be  simg.  No  Protestant  could  fill  any  public 
otfice ;  and  if  already  in  such  he  was  to  be  extruded. 
Foot  of  Protestant  pastor  must  not  enter  the  gates 
of  the  now  oithodox  Neusiedel,  and  if  he  chose  to 
disregard  this  prohibition,  he  was  to  pay  the  penalty 
of  his  presumption  with  his  life. 

The  corporate  trades  of  Raab  and  other  towns 
declared  it  indispensable  to  enrolment  in  a  guild, 
or  the  exercise  of  a  craft,  that  the  applicant  should 
profess  the  Romish  faith.  No  Protestant  could 
make  a  coat,  or  weave  a  yard  of  cloth,  or  fiibricate 
a  pan-  of  shoes,  or  mould  a  vessel  of  clay,  or  wield 
the  hammer  of  the  armourer,  or  execute  the  com- 
monest piece  of  carpenter's  work. 

Jealous  over  the  orthodoxy  of  their  lands,  and 
desirous  of  preserving  them  from  all  taint  of  heresy, 
the  bishops  drove  into  bam.shment  their  Protestant 
tenantry.  Nuns  were  very  careful  that  neither 
should  Protestant  plough  tm-n  their  soils,  nor 
Protestant  psalm  be  sung  on  their  estates ;  the 
great  magnates  showed  themselves  equally  valiant 
for  the  Romish  ftiith.  They  banished  all  Protes- 
tants from  their  territorial  fiefs ;  they  threw  the 
Protestant  poi)ulation  of  entire  villages  into  prison, 
loaded  them  with  chains,  and  kept  them  in  dark 
and  filthy  cells  till,  worn  ^vith  sickness  and  Ijroken 
in  spuit,  they  abjured  their  faith.  Manj-  churches 
were  razed  to  the  ground;  others  were  approiiriated 
to  the  Romish  worship.  While  Diviue  service  wa.s 
Ijeing  celebrated  in  the  Church  of  Mishdorf,  the 
soldiers  broke  into  it  with  (b'awn  swords,  and  bar- 
ricading the  door,  made  a  priest  sing  mass.  This 
sufficed  to  make  the  congregation  "  Catholic."  Mass 
had  been  said  in  their  presence,  and  both  people 
aod  church  henceforth  belonged  to  Rome.  If  a 
Jesuit  thought  the  manse  of  a  Protestant  pastor 
better  than  his  own,  he  had  only  to  throw  the  in- 
cumbent into  the  street  and  take  possession  of  the 
coveted  dwelling.  It  mattered  not  if  the  minister 
was  old,  or  sick,  or  dying,  he  and  his  femily  wei-e 
carted  across  the  boundary  of  the  county  and  left 
to  shift  for  themselves.  Similar  acts  of  cruelty 
were  being  enacted  in  Transylvania,  and  in  those' 
parts  of  Hiuigaiy  connected  with  the  Reformed 
Church,  which  under  Rakotzy  had  enjoyed  some 
glorious  days. 

The  petition  of  the  Protestants  specified  the  acts, 
named  the  authoi-s  of  them,  sujiported  each  aver- 
ment with  proof,  and  pleaded  the  law  which  enacted 
toleration,  and  threatened  with  punishment  such 
outrages  ius  those  of  which  they  complained.  They 
approached  the  throne  with  this  complaint  through 
the  Protestant  members  of  the  Diet  of  1662.     Be- 


HUMBLING    OF   IIUiVGAEIAN   NOBLES. 


2:W 


Iii\  iiiL,'  tlic  king  to  be  ignorant  of  these  oppressions, 
tlicy  tUd  nut  doubt  tbat  Leopold  -would  at  once 
grant  them  redress. 

After  waiting  a  week,  the  royal  reply  was  coni- 
niiinicated  to  the  complainants  through  the  prune 
minister.  Prince  Portia.  It  admoiusiied  tliem  not 
to  annoy  his  Majesty  -^Wth  such  complaints,  and 
reminded  them  that  tlie  law  had  arranged  all  re- 
ligiois  matters,  and  assigned  to  each  transgi'ession 
its  proper  punishment. 

The  hearts  of  the  Protestants  sank  within  them 
when  they  read  this  i"eply,  which  reflected  even 
more  disgrace  on  the  thi'one  than  it  inflicted  injustice 
on  them.  Nevertheless  they  again  presented  them- 
srlves,  through  their  deputies,  in  the  royal  presence. 
They  comph^ined  that  the  law  was  beuig  every 
(lay  flagrantly  violated,  that  of  the  men  notoi-iously 
guilty  of  these  illegal  acts  not  one  had  been 
punished ;  and  that  even  were  sentence  given 
against  any  such,  they  despaired  of  seeing  it  exe- 
cuted. Their  hope  was  in  the  king  alone.  This 
time  they  waited  longer  for  an  answer,  and  when  at 
last  it  came  it  was  even  more  cold  and  cruel  than 


the  first.  Six  times  did  the  cry  of  the  Protestants 
ascend  before  the  throne  of  their  sovereign.  Six 
times  were  they  answered  by  a  voice  as  inexorably 
stern  as  fate.  They  could  no  longer  hide  from 
themselves  that  their  king  was  their  enemy. 

On  the  ith  of  July,  16G2,  the  Palatine  Vesselenyi, 
president  of  the  Diet,  handed  the  paper  containing 
the  king's  answer  to  the  Protestant  deputies,  and 
accompanied  it  with  these  words  :  "  I  had  rather 
that  the  funeral-knell  had  tolled  over  mo  than  live 
to  see  this  day  ;  may  the  day  and  the  hour  be 
covered  with  eternal  darkness."'  There  is  a  Power 
that  keeps  a  reckoning  with  thrones  and  nations, 
and  notes  down  in  sUence  the  days  on  which 
great  crimes  are  done,  and  stamps  thorn  in  after- 
ages  with  a  brand  of  reprobation,  by  making  them 
the  eras  of  gi-eat  calamities.  Two  centuries  after 
Vejsselenyi's  words  were  uttered,  the  day  and  kour 
were  darkened  to  Austria.  On  the  ith  of  July, 
1866,  the  fatal  field  of  Koniggriitz  was  stricken, 
and  on  that  day  of  slaughter  and  blood  Austria 
descended  from  her  rank  as  the  fii-st  of  the  GeruKin 
Powers. 


CHAPTER    V. 


B.VNISnMEN'T    OF    PASTORS    .\ND    DESOLATION    OF    THE   CHUFX'II    OF    HUNGARY. 

Topisli  Nobles  dciaana  Witlidrawal  of  the  Foreign  Troops— Kef  usal  of  the  King -Projected  Insurrection— Their 
Message  to  the  Vizier— Their  Plot  Discovered— Mysterious  Deaths  of  Vesselenyi  and  Zriny— Attempt  to  Foitou 
the  King— The  Alchemist  Borri— Introduced  to  the  King- Effects  his  Cure— Insurrection  Suppressed— New' 
Storm  on  Protestants— Kaid  of  Szeleptsenyi  -Destruction  of  Churches,  &c.— Martyrdom  of  Drahicius- Abolition 
of  the  Ancient  Charters— Banishment  of  the  Pastors— Thirty-tliree  Ministers  Tried,  and  Resign  their  Charges- 
Four  Hnndred  Ministers  Condemned— Eesolvcd  to  Kill,  not  their  Bodies,  but  their  Characters— Their  Treatr.ient 
in  Pri:!on— Banishment  to  the  Galleys— Sufferings  on  tlieir  .Journey— Efforts  for  their  Eelease— Delivered  from 
the  Galleys  by  Admiral  de  Enyter— Desolation  of  Hungarian  Church. 


The  trooi)S  billeted  on  Hungary  were  intended  to 
op]ir('ss  the  Protestants,  but  that  did  not  hinder 
their  lioing  almost  as  great  an  oppression  to  the 
Pomani.sts.  The  soldiei-s,  in  their  daily  pillagings 
and  acts  of  violence,  wei'e  at  little  pains  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  professors  of  a  lieretical  and 
the  adherents  of  an  immaculate  creed,  and  were  as 
ready,  on  many  occasions,  to  apjn-opriate  the  pro- 
\yn-ty  and  spill  the  blood  of  the  Papist  as  of  the 
Protestant. 

The  magnates  who  lielonged  to  the  Romish  faith, 
seeing  the  country  consuming  in  the  .slow  fire  of  a 
military  occupation,  petitioned  the  Govcnnnont  for 
till!  withdrawal  of  the  troops.  But  the  court  of 
Vicnn:',  wii-s  in  no  humour  to  listen  to  the  request. 


The  Jesuits,  who  inspired  the  royal  policy,  were  not 
displeased  to  see  those  haughty  Magyars  compelled 
to  hold  their  heads  a  little  less  high,  and  that  pro- 
vince weakened  in  the  soil  of  which  the  seeds  of 
heresy  had  been  so  plentifully  scatt(!red.  The 
courtiers  openly  said,  "  How  gaily  do  these  Hun- 
garian nobles  strut  about  with  their  heron's  jilumes 
wa-i-ing  in  their  caps,  and  their  silken  pelis.>!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<l 
now  withdrawn  from  the  conflict :  the  theatre  of 
war  was  being  gradually  narrowed,  and  the  House 
of  Hapsburg  was  eventually  so  hedged  in  that  it 
was  compelled  to  come  to  terms.  The  com\tries 
which  had  been  the  seat  of  the  struggle  were  all 
but  utterly  ruined.  Germany  had  lost  three-fourths 
of  its  population. '  "  Over  the  brawling  of  parties 
a  terrible  Destiny  moved  its  wings ;  it  lifts  up 
leaders  and  again  casts  them  down  into  the  bloody 
mii'e ;  the  greatest  human  power  is  helpless  in  its 
hand ;  at  last,  satisfied  with  murder  and  corpses,  it 
turns  its  face  slowly  from  the  land  that  is  become 
only  a  gi'eat  field  of  the  dead."- 


CHAPTER    II. 


THE     ARMY     AND    THE     CAMP. 

The  Battle-fields  of  the  Seventeenth  and  of  the  Nineteenth  Centuries— All  Nationalities  drawn  into  this  "War- 
Motley  Host  around  the  Banners  of  the  League— Carnage— The  Camping-ground  — The  General's  Tent- 
Officers'  Tents  —  Soldiers'  Huts— Change  in  Method  of  Fortifying  Camps— Sentinels  and  Outposts— All 
Languages  heard  in  the  Camp— A  Plying  Plague— Plundering  of  the  Surrounding  Country— Prayers  and 
Divine  Service- Gambling— Huts  of  the  Sutlers— Camp  Signals— Oscillation  between  Abundance  and  Famine 
— Scenes  of  Profusion— Picture  of  Famine  in  the  Camp — Superstitions— Morals— Duels. 


Before  narrating  the  successive  stages  of  this  most 
extraordinaiy  war,  and  summing  up  its  gains  to 
the  cause  of  Protestantism,  and  the  general  pro- 
gress of  the  world,  let  us  briefly  sketch  its  more 
prominent  charactei-istics.  The  picture  is  not  like 
anything  with  wluch  we  are  now  acquainted.  The 
Ijjittles  of  our  own  day  are  on  a  vaster  scale,  and 
the  carnage  of  a  modern  field  is  far  gi-eater  than 
was  that  of  the  battle-fields  of  200  yeara  ago  ;  but 
the  miseries  attending  a  campaign  now  are  much 
less,  and  the  destniction  inflicted  by  war  on  the 
country  which  becomes  its  seat  is  not  nearly  so 
ten-ible  as  it  was  in  the  times  of  which  we  write. 
Altogether,  the  balance  of  humanity  is  in  favour 
of  war  as  carried  on  in  modem  times,  though  it 
is  still,  and  ever  must  be,  one  of  the  most  ter- 


rible  scourges  with  which   the   earth   is   liable   to 
be  visited. 

The  Thirty  Year.s'  War  was  not  so  much  German 
as  oecumenical.  Not  only  did  individual  foreign 
nationalities  respond  to  the  recruiting-drum,  as 
crows  flock  to  a  battle-field,  lured  thither  by  the 
effluvia  of  corpses,  but  all  the  peoples  of  Christian 
Europe  were  drawn  into  its  all-embracing  vortex. 
From  the  west  and  from  the  east,  from  the  north 


1  Frederick  Schiller,  The  Thirty  Tears'  War,  vol.  i., 
bk.  i. ;  Edin.,  1828.  Ludwig  Hiiusser,  The  Period  of  the 
Reformation,  vol.  ii.,  paxt  vii.,  chap.  31;  Lond.,  1873. 
B.  Chapman,  The  Hidory  of  Gmtavus  Adolphus,  and  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  chap.  5  ;  Lond.,  1856. 

«  Von  Gustav  Freytag,  Aus  dem  Jahrhundcrt  gnossen 
Kneges,  chap.  1,  p.  22;  Leipsic,  1867. 


THE   OPPOSING   HOSTS. 


253 


and  from  the  soutli,  came  men  to  fight  on  the 
German  pliuns,  and  mingle  their  blood  with  the 
waters  of  the  Rhine,  the  Dannbe,  and  the  Elbe. 
Englishmen  and  Scotchmen  crossed  the  sea  and 
hastened  to  place  themselves  \inder  one  or  other 
of  the  opposing  standards.  Danes,  Swedes,  Finns, 
ci'owding  to  the  theatre  of  action,  and  mingling 
with  the  Netherlanders,  contended  with  them  in 


rapid,  and  he  passed  along  plundering  and  slaugh- 
tering without  much  distinction  of  friend  or  foe. 
There  came  a  mingling  of  Mohammedans  in  the 
corps  raised  in  the  provinces  which  abutted  on  the 
Turkish  frontiei-.  But  most  liated  of  all  were 
the  Croats,  because  they  were  of  all  others  the 
most  barbarous  and  the  most  cruel.  So  multiform 
was  the  host  that  now  covered  the  Fatherland  !   We 


MAllKET    l.V    NVKEMIIERO, 


the  bloody  fray  in  behalf  of  the  Protestant  liberties. 
The  Laplander,  liearing  amid  his  snows  the  bruit 
of  this  great  conflict,  yoked  his  reindeer,  and  hur- 
ried in  his  sledge  across  the  ice,  bringing  with  him 
furs  for  the  clothing  of  the  Swedish  troops.  The 
imperial  army  was  even  more  varied  in  respect  of 
nationality,  of  speech,  of  costume,  and  of  manners. 
A  motley  host  of  Romish  Walloons,  of  Irish  adven- 
turers, of  Spaniards  and  Italians  were  assembled 
under  the  lianners  of  the  League.  Almost  every 
Slav  race  broke  into  the  land  in  this  day  of  con- 
fusion. The  light  horseman  of  the  Cossacks  was 
the  object  of  special  terror.     His  movements  were 

126 


know  not  where  in  history  another  such  assemblage 
of  ruffians,  plunderers,  and  murderers  is  to  be 
beheld  as  is  now  seen  settling  down  in  Germany. 
Had  the  slaughter  been  confined  to  the  battle-field, 
the  carnage  would  have  been  comparatively  trifling; 
but  all  the  land  was  a  battle-field,  and  every  day 
of  the  thirty  years  was  a  day  of  battle,  for  not 
a  day  but  blood  was  shed.  The  times  of  the 
Goths  fumish  us  with  no  such  dark  picture.  When 
these  nations  descended  from  the  North  to  over- 
throw the  Roman  Enijiire,  they  pressed  forward  and 
did  not  return  on  their  course.  The  cities,  the 
cultivation,  and   the  men  who  were  trampled  do%\Ti 


25-t 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


in  tlieir  inarch  rose  up  again  when  they  had  passed. 
But  tlie  destroying  liost  whicli  we  now  see  col- 
lecting from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  assembling 
in  Germany,  does  not  depart  from  the  land  it  has 
invaded.  It  abides  for  the  space  of  a  generation. 
It  comes  to  make  the  land  a  tomb,  and  to  buiy 
itself  in  the  same  vast  sepulchre  to  which  it  con- 
signed the  Germans ;  for  only  the  merest  remnant 
of  that  mnltitudinous  host  ever  returned  home. 
It  drew  destruction  upon  itself  in  the  destruction 
wliich  it  inflicted  upon  the  land. 

When  the  field-master  received  orders  to  look 
out  for  new  camping-ground,  he  chose  a  spot  if 
possible  near  a  flowing  stream,  and  one  capable  of 
being  fortified.  His  first  care  was  to  measure  off"  a 
certain  space  in  the  centre  of  the  ground.  There 
was  pitched  the  general's  tent.  That  tent  rose  in 
the  midst  of  the  host,  distinguished  from  the  others 
by  its  superior  size  and  greater  grandeur.  Over  it 
floated  the  imperial  standard,  and  there  the  general 
abode  as  bx  the  heart  of  a  fortress.  Around  tliis 
central  tent  was  an  open  space,  on  which  other  tent 
must  not  be  pitched,  and  which  was  walled  in  by 
spikes  stuck  in  the  gi'ound,  and  sometimes  by  a 
moi-e  substantial  rampart.  Immediately  outside 
the  space  appropriated  to  the  general  and  his  staff" 
were  the  tents  of  the  officers.  They  were  made 
of  canvas,  and  conical  in  form.  Outside  these, 
running  in  parallel  rows  or  streets,  were  the  huts 
of  the  common  soldiers.  They  were  composed  of 
boards  and  straw,  and  the  soldiers  were  huddled 
together  in  them,  two  and  four,  with  their  wives, 
daughters,  boys,  and  dogs.  The  whole  formed  a 
gi'eat  square  or  circle,  regiment  lying  alongside 
regiment,  the  encampment  being  strongly  fortified ; 
and  out  beyond  its  defences  there  stretched  away  a 
wide  cleared  space,  to  admit  of  the  enemy  being 
espied  a  long  while  before  he  could  make  his  near 
approach. 

In  former  times  it  had  been  customaiy  to  utilise 
the  baggage  wagons  in  fortifying  an  encampment. 
The  wagons  were  ranged  all  I'ound  the  tents, 
sometimes  in  double,  sometimes  in  treble  line ;  they 
were  fastened  the  one  to  the  other  by  ii-on  chains, 
forming  a  rampai-t  not  easily  to  be  breached  by  an 
enemy.  Such,  as  we  have  already  seen,  were  the 
fortifications  within  wliich  the  H\issites  were  wont 
to  encamp.  But  liy  the  time  of  which  we  write 
this  method  of  defence  had  been  abandoned. 
Armies  in  the  field  now  sought  to  protect  them- 
selves by  ditches,  walls,  and  other  field  fortifica- 
tions. At  the  outlets  or  portals  of  the  camp  were 
posted  sentinels,  who  stood  gi-asping  in  the  one 
hand  the  musket,  its  butt-end  resting  on  the 
gi-ound,   and   in   the   other    holding   the   burning 


torch.  At  a  gi-eater  distance  were  troops  of  hoi-so- 
men  and  pickets  of  sharp-shooters,  to  detain  the 
enemy  should  he  appear,  and  give  time  to  those 
within  the  entrenchments  to  get  \inder  arms. 

The  camp  was  a  city.  It  was  a  reproduction  of 
the  ancient  Babel,  for  in  it  were  to  bo  heard  all  the 
tongues  of  Europe  and  some  of  those  of  Asia.  The 
German  language  predominated,  but  it  was  almost 
lost  within  the  encampment  by  adulteration  from 
so  many  foreign  sources,  and  especially  by  the 
ample  addition  of  oaths  and  terms  of  blasphemy. 
Into  the  encampment  were  gathered  all  the  pecu- 
liarities, prejudices,  and  hates  of  the  various 
nationalities  of  Europe.  These  burned  all  the  more 
fiercely  by  reason  of  the  narrow  space  in  which 
they  were  cooped  up,  and  it  was  no  easy  matter  to 
maintain  the  peace  between  the  several  regiments, 
or  even  in  the  same  regiment,  and  jirevent  the  out- 
break of  war  withiii  the  camp  itself  Other  cities 
cannot  change  their  site,  they  are  tied  with  their 
wickedness  to  the  spot  on  which  they  stand ;  but 
this  city  was  a  movable  plague,  it  flitted  from  pro- 
vince to  province,  thro'sving  a  stream  of  moral 
poison  into  the  air.  Even  in  a  friendly  country 
the  camp  was  an  insufferalile  nuisance.  Within  its 
walls  was,  of  coTU'se,  neither  seed-time  nor  harvest, 
and  the  provinces,  cities,  and  villages  around  had 
to  feed  it.  Hardly  had  the  ground  been  selected, 
or  the  first  tent  set  up,  when  orders  were  sent  out 
to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  surrounding  country 
to  bring  wood,  straw,  meat,  and  jirovender  to  the 
army.  On  all  the  roads  rolled  trains  of  wagons, 
laden  with  provisions,  for  the  camp.  Droves  of 
cattle  might  be  seen  moving  toward  the  same  point. 
The  villages  for  miles  around  speedily  vanished 
from  sight,  the  thatch  was  torn  off"  their  roofs,  and 
theii'  woodwork  carried  away  by  the  soldiers  for 
the  building  of  their  own  huts,  and  only  the 
crumbling  clay  walls  were  left,  to  be  swept  away 
by  the  first  tempest.  Their  former  inhabitants 
found  refuge  in  the  woods,  or  with  their  acquaint- 
ances in  some  remoter  village.  Besides  this  general 
sack  a  gi-eat  deal  of  private  plundering  and  stealing 
went  on  ;  soldiers  were  continually  prowling  about 
in  all  directions,  and  sutlers  were  constantly 
di'iving  to  and  from  the  camp  with  what  articles 
they  had  been  able  to  collect,  and  which  they 
meant  to  retail  to  the  soldiei-s.  While  the  men 
lounged  about  in  the  rows  and  avenues  of  the  en- 
campment, drinking,  gambling,  or  settling  points  of 
national  or  indiwlual  honour  with  their  side-arms, 
the  women  cooked,  washed,  mended  clothes,  or 
quan-elled  with  one  another,  their  vituperation  often 
happily  iinmtelligible  to  the  object  of  it,  because 
uttered  in  a  tongue  the  other  did  not  understand. 


CAMP   LIFE   DURING   THE   THIRTY   YEARS'  WAR. 


255 


Every  moniiiig  the  dnun  beat,  and  an  accom- 
panying herald  called  the  soldiers  to  prayers. 
This  practice  was  observed  even  in  the  imperial 
camp.  On  Sunday  only  did  the  preacher  of  the 
regiment  conduct  public  worship,  the  soldiers  with 
their  families  being  assembled  before  him,  and 
seated  orderly  ujion  the  gro\ind.  They  were  for- 
bidden, during  the  time  of  Divine  service,  to  lie 
about  in  their  huts,  or  to  visit  the  tents  of  the 
sutlers ;  and  the  latter  were  not  to  sell  drink  or 
food  to  any  one  during  tliese  hours.  In  the  camp 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus  prayers  were  read  twice  a 
day.  The  military  discipline  enforced  by  that  gi'eat 
leader  was  much  more  strict,  and  the  moral  de- 
connn  of  his  army  far  higher,  as  the  comparatively 
luitouched  aspect  of  the  fields  and  villages  around 
bore  witness. 

In  the  open  .space  within  the  enclosure  of  the 
camp,  near  the  guard-house,  stood  the  gambling- 
tables,  the  ground  around  being  strewed  over  with 
mantles,  for  the  convenience  of  the  players.  In- 
stead of  the  slow  shuffling  of  the  cards,  the  speedier 
throw  of  the  dice  was  often  had  recourse  to,  to 
decide  the  stakes ;  and  when  the  dice  were  for- 
bidden, the  players  hid  themselves  behind  hedges 
and  there  pursued  theii-  game,  staking  their  food, 
tlieir  weapons,  their  horses,  and  their  booty,  when 
booty  they  happened  to  possess.  Behind  the  tent 
of  the  upper  officer,  separated  by  a  broad  street, 
stood  the  stalls  and  huts  of  the  sutlei-s,  butchers, 
and  master  of  the  cook-shops  ;  the  price  of  all  foods 
and  drinks  being  fixed  by  a  certain  officer.  The 
luxury  and  profusion  that  prevailed  in  the  officer.s' 
tents,  wliere  the  most  expensive  wines  were  drunk, 
anil  only  viands  prepared  by  a  French  cook  were 
eaten,  oflered  an  indifferent  example  of  economy 
and  carefulness  to  the  common  soldier.  The  mili- 
tary signals  of  the  camp  were  the  boat  of  a  large 
drum  for  the  foot-soldiers,  and  the  peal  of  a 
trumjiet  for  the  cavalry.  When  any  important 
operation  was  to  be  undertaken  on  the  morrow,  a 
herald,  attired  in  a  bright  silk  I'obe,  embroidei-ed 
before  and  behind  with  the  arms  of  his  prince,  rode 
through  the  host  on  the  previous  evening,  attended 
by  the  trumpeter,  and  announced  the  order  for  the 
coming  day.  This  was  fotal  to  discipline,  inas- 
much as  it  gave  warning  to  the  lounger  and  the 
plunderer  to  set  out  during  the  night  in  search 
of  booty. 

The  camp  oscillated  between  overflowing  abun- 
dance anil  stark  famin6.  When  tlie  army  hail  won 
a  battle,  and  victory  gave  them  the  plunder  of  a 
city  as  the  recompense  of  their  braveiy,  there  came 
a  good  time  to  the  soldiei's.  Food  and  drink  were 
then  ))l('utiful,  and  of  course  cheap.     In   the   la-s^ 


year  of  the  war  a  cow  might  be  bought  in  the 
Bavarian  host  for  almost  literally  the  smallest  coin. 
Then,  too,  csune  good  times  to  the  merchants  in  the 
camp,  for  then  they  could  command  any  amoimt  of 
sale,  and  obtain  any  price  for  their  wares.  The 
soldiers  tricked  themselves  out  with  expensive 
feathers,  scarlet  hose,  with  gold  lacings,  and  rich 
sables,  and  they  purchased  showy  dresses  and  mules 
for  the  feruales  of  their  establishments.  Grooms 
rode  out  dressed  from  head  to  heel  in  velvet.  The 
Croats  in  the  winter  of  1G30-31  were  so  amply 
supplied  with  the  precious  metals  that  not  only 
were  their  girdles  tilled  and  distended  with  the 
number  of  their  gold  coins,  but  they  wore  golden 
plates  as  breast-plates.  Paul  Stockman,  Pastor  of 
Liitzen,  a  small  town  in  Saxony,  relates  that  before 
the  battle  of  Liitzen  one  soldier  rode  a  horse 
ailorned  with  gold  and  silver  stars,  and  another  had 
his  steed  ornamented  with  300  silver  moons.'  The 
camp-women,  and  sometimes  the  horsemen,  ar- 
rayed themselves  in  altar-cloths,  mass-robes,  and 
priests'  coats.  The  topei-s  pledged  one  another  in 
the  most  expensive  wines,  which  they  drank  out  of 
the  altar-cups ;  and  from  their  stolen  gold  they 
fabricated  long  chains,  from  which  they  were  accus- 
tomed to  wrench  oft"  a  link  when  they  had  a 
reckoning  to  discharge  or  a  debt  to  pay. 

The  longer  the  war  continued,  the  less  frequent  and 
less  joyous  became  these  halcyon  days.  Want  then 
began  to  be  more  frequent  in  the  camp  than  super- 
fluity. "  The  spoiling  of  the  provinces  avenged 
itself  frightfully  on  the  spoilers  themselves.  The 
pale  spectre  of  hunger,  the  forenniner  of  plague, 
crept  through  the  lanes  of  the  camp,  and  raised  its 
bony  hand  before  the  door  of  every  straw  hut. 
Then  the  supplies  from  the  neighbourhood  stopped; 
neither  fotted  ox  nor  laden  cart  was  now  seen 
moving  towards  the  camp.  The  price  of  li\'ing  be- 
came at  these  times  exorbitant ;  for  example,  in 
1 640  a  loaf  of  bread  could  not  be  purchased  by  the 
Swedish  army  in  the  neighViourhood  of  Gotha  for  a 
less  sum  than  a  ducat.  The  sojourn  in  the  camp 
became,  even  for  the  most  inured  soldier,  unen- 
durable. Everywhere  were  hollow-eyed  parchment 
faces  ;  in  eveiy  row  of  huts  were  sick  and  dj'ing ; 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  camp  was  infected  by  the 
putrid  bodies  of  dead  hoi-ses  and  mides ;  all  around 
was  a  desert  of  untilled  fields,  and  blackened  ruins 
of  villages,  and  the  camp  itself  became  a  dismal  city 
of  the  dead.  The  accompaniments  of  the  host,  the 
women  and  children  namely,  speedily  vanished  in 
the   burial-trenches  ;  only  the  most  wi'etched  dogs 

'  Gustav.  rreytajr,  Jahrhundert  dcm  grossen  KHeges, 
chap.  2,  p.  7?. 


2oG 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM, 


kept  themselves  iilive  on  tlie  most  disgusting  food  ; 
the  otliers  were  killed  and  eaten.'  At  such  ii  time 
the  army  melted  qnickly  away,  and  no  skill  of  the 
ablest  leader  coiild  avert  its  ruin."- 

There  ai-ose  a  mingled  and  luxuriant  crop  of 
Norse,  Gei-man,  and  Roman  superstitions  in  the 
camp.  The  soldiers  had  unbounded  faith  in  charms 
and  incantations,  and  sought  bj-  their  use  to  render 
their  weapons  powerful  and  themselves  invulnerable. 
They  ha<l  prayers  and  forms  of  words  by  which 
they  hoped  to  obtain  the  mastery  in  the  fight,  and 
they  wore  amulets  to  protect  them  from  the  deadly 
bullet  and  the  fiital  thrust  of  dagger.  The  camp 
was  visited  by  gipsies  and  soothsayers,  who  sold 
secret  talismans  to  the  soldiers  as  infallible  protec- 
tions in  the  hour  of  danger.  Blessings,  conjm-ations, 
witchcrafts,  in  all  then-  various  forms  abounded  in 
the  imperial  army  as  much  as  did  guns  and  swords 


and  pikes.  The  soldiers  fell  all  the  Sivme  in  the 
deadly  breach,  in  the  shock  of  battle,  and  in  the 
day  of  pale  famine.  The  morals  of  the  camp  were 
without  shame,  speaking  generally.  Almost  every 
virtue  perished  but  that  of  soldierly  honour  and 
fidelity  to  one's  flag,  so  long  as  one  served  under  it; 
for  the  mercenary  often  changed  his  master,  and 
with  him  the  cause  for  which  he  fought.  The  mood 
of  mind  prevalent  in  the  camp  is  well  hit  ofi'  by 
Schiller's  Norseman's  song — "  A  sharp  sword  is  my 
field,  plunder  is  my  plough,  the  earth  is  my  bed,  the 
sky  is  my  covermg,  my  cloak  is  my  house,  and  vidue 
is  my  eternal  life."  Duels  were  of  daily  occurrence, 
and  when  at  last  they  were  forbidden,  the  soldiers 
sought  secret  places  beyond  the  lines,  where  they 
settled  their  quarrels.  Gustavus  Adolphus  punishcil 
duelling  with  death,  even  in  the  ca.se  of  his  highest 
otlicerSj  but  no  law  could  suppress  the  practice. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE    MARCH   AND    ITS   DEVASTATIOXS. 

Germany  before  the  War — Its  Husbandry— Its  Villages — Its  Cities — Dress,  &o.,  of  the  Citizens— Schools— Its  Protes- 
tantism— Memories  of  the  Past — Foreign  Soldiers  Enter  Thuringia — Their  Oppressions  of  the  Peas.ints — Exactions 
— Portents — Demoralisation  of  Society— Villagers  Driven  into  Hiding-places— Cruelties  on  Protestant  Pastor.s — 
Michel  Ludwig— George  Paber— John  Otto— Andrew  Pochmann— The  Pastor  of  Stelzen. 


To  know  the  desolation  to  which  Germany  was  re- 
duced by  the  long  war,  it  is  necessary  to  recall  the 
picture  of  what  it  was  before  it  became  the  theatre 
of  that  unspeakable  tragedy.  In  1618,  the  open- 
ing year  of  a  dismal  era,  Germany  was  accounted 
a  rich  country.  Under  the  influence  of  a  long 
peace  its  towns  had  enlarged  in  size,  its  villages  had 
increased  in  number,  and  its  smiling  fields  testified 
to  the  excellence  of  its  husbandry.  The  early  dew 
of  the  Reformation  was  not  yet  exhaled.  The  sweet 
breath  of  that  morning  gave  it  a  health}'  moral 
vigour,  quickened  its  art  and  industry,  and  filled 
the  land  with  all  good  things.  Wealth  abounded 
in  the  cities,  and  even  the  country  people  lived  in 
circumstances  of  comfort  and  ease. 

In  Thunngla  and  Franconia  the  ■\411ages  were 
numerous.  They  were  not  left  open  and  without 
defence.  Some  of  them  were  surrounded  with  a 
broad  trench  or  ditch ;  others  were  defended  with 


■  From  the  parish  registers  of  Seebergen,  near  Gotha- 
ajnid  Gustav.  Preytag. 
-  Gustav.  Freytag,  pp.  72,  73. 


stone  walls,  in  which  were  ojienings  or  gateways 
ojiposite  all  the  principal  streets,  with  heavy  doors 
to  shut  them  in  at  night.  Nor  was  the  churchy.ird 
left  unprotected ;  walls  enclosed  the  resting-places 
of  the  dead ;  and  these,  oftener  than  once,  formed 
the  last  i-efuge  of  the  living.  As  a  further  s(!- 
cui'ity  against  surprise  or  molest.ation,  village  and 
meadow  were  patrolled  night  and  day  by  watchmen. 
The  houses  were  built  of  wood  or  clay ;  they  stood 
close  to  each  other,  ranged  in  narrow  streets,  and 
though  their  exteriors  were  mean,  within  they  were 
not  deficient  in  furnishings  ami  comfort. 

Tlie  fruit-trees  stood  round  the  village,  peifuming 
the  air  with  their  spring  lilossoms,  and  delighting 
the  eye  with  theii-  autumn  fniits.  At  the  \-illage 
gates,  or  under  the  boughs  of  one  of  its  embower- 
ing trees,  a  fountain  would  gusli  out,  and  pour  its 
crystal  waters  into  a  stone  trough.  Here  weary 
traveller  might  halt,  and  hei-e  ox  or  horse,  toiling 
under  the  load,  might  drink.  The  quiet  court- 
yai'ds  were  filled  with  domestic  fowls  ;  squadrons  of 
white  geese  sallied  across  the  .stidible-fields,  or,  like 
fleet  at  anchor,  basked  in  the  sun  ;  teams  of  horses 


MEMORIES   OF   THE   PAST; 


25t 


were  ranged  iii  the  stalls,  ana  among  them  might  bo 
some  great  hard-bonod  descendant  of  the  old  charger. 
But  the  special  pride  of  the  hnsbandman  were  the 
flocks  of  sheep  and  oxen  that  roamed  in  the  meadow, 
or  grazed  on  the  hill-side.  Besides  the  ordinary 
cereals,  cro])s  of  flax  and  hops  covered  his  fields. 
It  is  believed  that  the  cultivation  of  Gernuuiy  in 
1618  was  not  inferior  to  its  cultivation  in  1818. 

The  cities  were  strongly  fortified :  theii-  walls 
were  not  unfrequcntly  double,  flanked  by  towers, 
and  defended  by  broad  and  deep  moats.  It  was 
observed  that  stono  walls  crumbled  under  the  stroke 
of  cannon-balls,  and  this  led  to  the  adoption  of  ex- 
ternal defences,  formed  of  earthen  mounds,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Antwerp  citadel.  Colleges,  gymnasia, 
and  printing-presses  flourished  in  the  to'wns,  as  did 
tr;Klc  and  commerce.  The  gi-eat  road  passing  by 
Nuremberg,  that  ancient  entrepot  of  the  commerce 
of  the  West,  diffused  over  Germany  the  merchandise 
which  still  continued  to  flow,  in  part  at  least,  in  its 
old  channel.  The  Sunday  was  not  honoiU'cd  as  it 
ought  to  have  been  within  their  gates.  When 
Divine  service  was  over,  the  citizens  were  wont  to 
assemble  on  the  exchange,  where  amusement  or 
business  would  profane  the  sacred  hours.  They 
wore  much  given  to  feasting :  theii-  attire  was 
richer  than  at  the  present  day  :  the  burghers  wore 
velvets,  silks,  and  laces,  and  adorned  themselves 
with  feathers,  gold  and  silver  clasps,  and  finelj' 
mounted  side-arms.  The  fe-'.ble  of  the  citizen 
was  I'egulated  by  a  sumptuary  law :  the  rich  were 
not  to  exceed  the  number  of  courses  prescribed 
to  them  ;  and  the  ordinaiy  citizen  was  not  to  diiie 
in  plainer  style  than  was  appointed  his  rank. 
Dancing  parties  were  for))idden  after  sunset.  Those 
who  went  out  at  night  had  to  carry  lanterns  or 
torches  :  ultimately  torches  were  interdicted,  and  a 
metal  basket  fixed  at  the  street-comers,  filled  with 
blazing  tar-wood,  would  dispel  the  darkness. 

Since  the  Eeformation,  a  school  had  existed  in 
every  town  and  village  in  which  there  was  a  churcli. 
In  the  decline  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation,  the 
incumbent  discharged,  in  many  cases,  the  duties  of 
both  pastor  and  schoolmaster.  He  instracted  the 
youth  on  the  week-days,  and  preached  to  their 
pai-ents  on  the  Sundaj'.  Sometimes  there  was  also 
a  schoolmistress.  A  small  fee  was  exacted  from 
the  scholars.  The  capacity  of  reading  and  writing 
was  pretty  generally  diffused  amongst  the  jieople. 
Catechisms,  psalters,  and  Bibles  were  common  in 
the  houses  of  the  Protestants.  The  hymns  of  Luther 
were  sung  in  their  sanctuaries  and  dwellings,  luid 
might  often  be  licard  resounding  from  garden  and 
rural  lane.  The  existing  generation  of  Germans 
were  the  grandchildren  of  the  men  who  had  been 


the  contemporaries  of  Luther.  They  lo\ed  to  recuU 
the  wonders  of  the  olden  time,  when  more  eyes  were 
turned  upon  Wittemberg  than  upon  Rome,  and 
the  Reformer  filled  a  larger  space  in  the  world's 
gaze  than  either  the  emperor  or  the  Pope.  As  they 
sat  under  the  shade  of  their  linden-trees,  the  father 
would  tell  the  son  how  Tetzel  came  with  his  great 
red  cross  ;  how  a  monk  left  his  cell  to  cry  aloud  that 
"  God  only  can  forgive  sin,"  and  how  the  pardon- 
monger  fled  at  the  .sound  of  his  voice ;  how  the 
Pope  next  took  up  the  quarrel,  and  launched  his 
bull,  which  Luther  burned ;  how  the  emperor  un- 
sheathed his  gi'eat  sword,  but  instead  of  extinguish- 
ing, only  spread  the  contiagi-ation  wider.  He  would 
speak  of  the  great  day  of  Worms,  of  the  evcr- 
momorablo  victory  at  Spires ;  and  how  the  princes 
imd  knights  of  old  were  wont  to  ride  to  the  Diet, 
or  march  to  battle,  singing  Luther's  hynms,  and 
having  verses  of  Holy  Scripture  blazoned  on  their 
banners.  He  would  tell  how  in  those  days  the 
tents  of  Protestantism  spread  themselves  out  till 
they  filled  the  land,  and  how  the  hosts  of  Rome  re- 
treated and  pitched  theii-  encampment  afar  off.  But 
when  he  compared  the  present  with  the  past,  he 
would  heave  a  sigh.  "Alas  I"  we  hear  the  aged 
narrator  say,  "the  glory  is  departed."  The  fu-e  is 
now  cold  on  the  national  hearth ;  no  longer  do 
eloquent  doctoi's  and  cliivalrous  princes  arise  to  do 
battle  for  the  Protestantism  of  the  Fatherland. 
Alas  1  the  roll  of  victories  is  closed,  and  the  terri- 
tory over  which  the  Eeformation  stretched  its 
sceptre  gi'ows  naiTower  every  j'ear.  Deep  shadows 
gather  on  the  horizon,  and  through  its  darkness 
may  be  seen  the  shapes  of  mustering  hosts,  while 
dreadful  sounds  as  of  battle  strike  upon  the  car. 
It  is  a  night  of  storms  that  is  descending  on  the 
gi'andchildren  of  the  Reformers. 

At  last  came  the  gathering  of  foreign  troops, 
and  their  converging  march  on  the  scene  of  opera- 
tions. Startling  forms  began  to  show  themselves 
on  the  frontiers  of  Thuringia,  and  its  vast  expanse 
of  glade  and  forest,  of  village  and  town,  became  the 
scene  of  oft-re])eated  alarms  and  of  frightful  suf- 
ferings. Foreign  soldiers,  with  the  savage  looks  of 
battle,  and  raiment  besmeared  witli  blood,  marcluHl 
into  its  villages,  and  enteiing  its  thresholds,  took 
possession  of  house  and  bed,  and  terrifying  the 
owner  and  fiimily,  jjcremptorily  demanded  ])ro- 
visions  and  contributions.  Not  content  with  what 
was  supplied  them  for  their  present  necessities, 
they  destroyed  and  plundered  whatever  their  eyes 
lighted  upon.  After  1G26,  these  scenes  contiinied 
year  by  year,  growing  only  the  worse  each  succes- 
sive year.  Band  followed  band,  and  more  than 
one  army  seated  itself  in  the  villages  of  Thuringia 


258 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


for  the  winter.  The  demands  of  the  soldiery  were 
endless,  and  compliance  was  enforced  by  blows  and 
cruel  torturings.  The  peasant  most  pi-obably  had 
hidden  his  treasures  in  the  earth  on  the  approach 
of  the  host ;  but  he  saw  with  terror  the  foreign 
man-at-arms  exex-cising  a  power,  which  to  him 
seemed  magical,  of  iliscovering  the  place  where 
his  hoards  were  concealed.  If  it  happened 
that  the  soldier  was  baffled  in  the  search,  the 
fate  of  the  jjoor  man  was  even  worse,  for  then 
he  himself  was  seized,  and   by  torments  which   it 


reached  their  maximum.  The  stricter  discipline 
maintained  by  that  gi'eat  leader  had  its  eflect  not 
only  in  emboldening  the  peasants,  and  giving  them 
some  little  sense  of  secimty  in  these  awful  times, 
but  also  in  restraining  the  other  military  corps,  and 
rendering  theii-  licence  less  capricious  and  reckless 
than  it  otherwise  would  have  been.  There  was 
some  system  in  the  levying  of  sujiplies  and  the 
recruiting  of  soldiers  during  the  life  uf  GustaNiis ; 
but  after  the  fall  of  the  Swedish  king  these  bonds 
were  relaxed,  and  the  gi'eatest  sufieiings  of  the  past 


STORM    ON    A    MOOR    IS    SAXOXY. 


would  be  painful  to  describe,  was  compelled  to 
discover  where  his  money  and  goods  lay  buried. 
On  the  fate  of  his  wife  and  his  daughters  we  shall 
be  silent.  The  greatest  imaginable  lioiTors  were  so 
customary  that  their  non-perpetration  was  a  matter 
of  surj)rise.  Of  all  was  the  unhappy  husbandman 
plundered.  His  bondman  wa.s  carried  ofl"  to  serve 
in  the  war;  his  team  was  unyoked  from  the  plough 
to  drag  the  baggage  or  the  cannon  ;  his  flocks  and 
herds  were  driven  off"  from  the  meadow  to  be 
slaughtered  and  eaten  by  the  array  ;  and  the  man 
who  had  risen  in  atlluence  in  the  morning,  was 
.stri])ped  of  all  and  left  penniless  before  night. 

It   was    luit    till    after    the   death   of   ftustavus 
Adulphus  that  the  sullerings  of  the  country  people 


appeared  tolerable  in  comparison  with  the  evils 
that  now  afflicted  the  Germans.  In  addition  to 
their  other  endurances,  they  were  op))ressed  by 
superstitious  terrors  and  forebodings.  Their  minds, 
full  of  superstition,  became  the  prey  of  creduloiis 
fancies.  They  interjireted  everything,  if  removed 
in  the  least  from  the  ordinary  course,  into  a  portent 
of  calamity.  They  saw  ten-ible  sights  in  the  sky, 
they  heard  strange  and  menacing  voices  speaking 
out  of  heaven  and  spectres  gliding  past  on  the  earth. 
In  the  Dukedom  of  Hildburghausen,  white  crosses 
lighted  up  the  firmament  when  the  enemy  ajt- 
proached.  When  the  soldiers  entered  the  oflice  of 
the  town  clerk,  they  were  met  by  a  spirit  clothed 
in    white,    who    waved    them    back.      After   theii' 


DEMOiiALlSATlON   OF  GERMANY. 


259 


^..^vWv 


departure,  there  was  heard  during  eight  days,  in 
the  choii-  of  the  burned  church,  a  loud  snorting  and 
sigliing.  At  Gumpershausen  was  a  girl  whose 
visions  and  revelations  spread  excitement  over  the 
whole  district.  She  had  been  visited,  she  said,  liy 
a  little  angel,  who 
appeared  lirst  in  a 
red  and  then  in  a 
blue  mantle,  and 
who,  sitting  in  lier 
sight  upon  the  bed,  a. 

cried,  "  Woe  !"  to 
the  inhabitants, 
and  admonished 
them  against  blas- 
Jihemyand  cursing, 
and  foretold  the 
most  frightful  shed- 
ding of  blood  if 
they  did  not  leave 
oil'  theii-  wicked- 
ness.' After  the 
tciTor  came  de- 
liauce  and  despair. 
An  utter  demorali- 
sation of  society 
folkiwed.  Wives 
deserted  their  hu.s- 
liaiids,  and  children 
their  parents.  The 
army  passed  on, 
but  the  vices  and 
diseases  which  they 
had  brought  with 
tliem  continued  to 
lingei-  in  the  de- 
vastated and  half- 
peopled  \illages 
behind  them.  To 
other  vices,  dnink- 
enuess  was  added. 
E.xce.ss  in  ardent 
s))irits  had  de- 
formed the  German 
peasantry  since  the 
jieriod  of  the 
Peasant-war,     and 

now  it  became  a  prevalent  Iiabit,  and  regard  for  the 
rights  and  jn-operty  of  one's  neighbour  soon  ceased. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  wai-,  village  aided  \-illage, 
and  mutually  lightened  each  other's  calamities  so 
far  as  was  in  their  power.  When  a  village  was 
robbed  of  its  cattle,  ami  sold  to  the  adjoining  one 


Qustav.Freytac,  chap.  3,  p.  Ul. 


by  the  marauding  host,  that  other  village  returned 
the  oxen  to  then-  original  owners  on  repayment 
of  the  price  which  they  had  paid  to  the  soldiers. 
Even  ill  Franconia  these  mutual  services  were  fre- 
quently exchanged  between  Popish  and  Protes- 
tant communities. 
But  gradually, 
theii-  oppression 
and  their  demorali- 
sation advancing 
stej)  by  stej),  the 
country  people 
began  to  steal  and 
plunder  like  the 
soldiers.  Ai'med 
bands  would  cross 
the  boundaiies  of 
theii-  connnuue, 
and  cai-ry  ofl'  from 
theii-  neighbours 
whatsoever  they 
coveted.  Brigand- 
age was  now  added 
to  robbery.  They 
lurked  in  thewoods 
and  the  mountain 
passes,  lying  in 
wait  for  the  strag- 
glers of  the  army, 
and  often  took  a 
red  revenge.  How 
sad  the  change  ! 
The  woodman,  who 
had  once  on  a  time 
awakened  all  the 
echoes  of  the  forest 
glades  with  his 
artless  songs,  now 
ten-ified  them  with 
the  slu'ieks  of  his 
\ictim.  A  biu-ning 
haired  arose  be- 
tween the  soldiers 
and  the  peasantry, 
which  lasted  till 
the  very  end  of 
the  war,  and  the 
frightful  traces  of  which  long  sui-vived  the  conflict. 
So  long  as  their  money  lasted,  th(^  villagers  bought 
themselves  oft"  from  the  obligation  of  having  the  sol- 
diers billeted  upon  them  ;  l)ut  when  tlieir  money  was 
spent  they  were  without  defence.  Watchmen  were 
stationed  on  the  steeples  and  higli  jilaces  in  the. 
neighbo\irh(ii)d.  wlm  gave  warning  tiie  moment 
tiiey  desciied   on  the  fai'-ofi'  horizon   the  ajipr;  .".cli 


iGO 


HISTOKY  OF  PEOTESTANTISM. 


of  the  Lest.  Tlio  villagers  would  then  biiug  out 
their  furniture  and  \aluabks,  and  convey  them  to 
liiding-])luces  selected  weeks  before,  and  themselves 
li\c  the  while  in  these  places  a  most  miserable  life. 
They  dived  into  the  darkest  pai'ts  of  the  forests ; 
they  buiTowed  in  the  bleakest  moors ;  thej'  lurked 
in  old  clay  pits  and  in  masses  of  fallen  masomy ; 
and  to  this  day  the  people  of  those  parts  show  with 
much  interest  the  retreats  where  then-  wretched 
forefathers  sought  refuge  from  the  fuiy  of  the 
soldiery.  The  peasant  always  came  back  to  liis 
village — too  commonly  to  fiiid  it  only  a  ruin ;  but 
his  attachment  to  the  spot  set  him  eagerly  to  work 
to  rebuild  his  overturned  habitation,  and  sow  the 
little  seed  he  had  saved  in  the  down-trodden  soil. 
Ho  had  been  robbed  of  his  horse,  it  may  be,  but  he 
would  harness  himself  to  the  plough,  and  obeying 
the  force  of  habit,  would  continue  the  processes  of 
tilling  and  sowing,  though  he  had  but  small  hopes 
of  reaping.  The  little  left  him  he  was  cai-eful  to 
conceal,  and  strove  to  look  even  poorer  than  he 
Wiis.  He  taught  himself  to  live  amid  dii-t  and 
Bqlialor  raid  apparent  jioverty,  and  he  even  extin- 
guished the  fire  on  his  hearth,  lest  its  light,  shining 
through  the  casement,  should  attract  to  his  dwelling 
any  straggler  who  might  be  on  the  outlook  for  a 
comfortable  lodging  for  the  night.  "  His  scanty  food 
he  concealed  in  places  from  which  even  the  nithless 
enemy  turned  away  in  horror,  such  as  gi-aves, 
coffins,  and  amongst  skulls."' 

The  clergy  were  the  cliief  consolers  of  the  people 
in  these  miserable  scenes,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
chief  sufferers  in  them.  The  first  brunt  of  the 
imperial  troops  fell  on  the  ■village  pastor;  his 
church  was  first  spoiled,  then  burned  down,  and  his 
flock  scattered.  He  would  then  assemble  his  congre- 
gation, or  such  as  remained  of  them,  for  worship  in  a 
gi'anary  or  similar  place,  or  on  the  open  common, 
or  in  a  wood.  Not  unfrequently  were  himself  and 
his  family  singled  out  by  the  imperial  soldiers  as 
the  special  objects  of  rudeness  and  violence.  His 
liouse  was  commonly  the  first  to  be  robbed,  his 
family  the  first  to  suffer  outrage  ;  but  generally  the 
pastors  took  patiently  the  spoiling  of  their  goods 
and  the  buffetiiigs  of  their  persons,  and  by  their 
heroic  l)ehaviour  did  much  to  support  the  hearts  of 
the  people  in  those  awful  times. 

We  give  a  few  instances  extracted  from  the  brief 
registers  of  those  times.  Michel  Ludwig  was  ])astor 
in  Sonnenfcld  since  1G33.  When  the  times  of 
suffciing  came  he  ])reached  in  the  wood,  under  the 
open  heaven,  to  his  flock.  He  summoned  his 
congregation  with  the  dnim,  for  bell  he  had  none, 


Gustav.Freytag,  p.  UG. 


and  armed  men  were  on  the  outlook  while  he 
preached.  He  continued  these  ministrations  during 
eight  year.s,  till  his  congregation  had  entirely  dis- 
appeared. A  Swedish  colonel  invited  the  brave 
man  to  be  preacher  to  the  regiment,  and  he  became 
at  a  later  date  president  of  the  field  consistory 
near  Torstenson,  and  superintendent  at  Weimar. 

Instances  occur  of  studious  habits  pursued 
through  these  imsettled  times.  George  Faber,  at 
Gellershausen,  preached  to  a  little  flock  of  some 
three  or  four  at  the  constant  peril  of  life.  He  rose 
every  moiTiing  at  tlu-ee,  studied  and  carefully  com- 
mitted to  memory  his  sermon,  besides  writing 
learned  commentaries  on  several  books  of  the  Bible. 

John  Otto,  Eector  of  Eisfeld  in  1635,  just  mar- 
ried, in  addition  to  the  duties  of  his  office  had  to 
teach  the  jniblic  school  during  eight  year's,  and  sup- 
ported himself  by  threshing  oats,  cutting  wood, 
and  similar  occupations.  The  record  of  these 
vicissitudes  is  contained  in  jottings  by  liimself  in 
his  Euclid.  Forty-two  years  he  held  his  office 
in  honour.  His  successor,  John  Schmidt,  was  a 
famous  Latin  scholar,  and  owed  his  appointment  to 
the  fact  of  his  being  found  reading  a  Greek  poem  in 
the  guard-house,  to  which  he  had  been  taken  by 
.  the  soldiers. 

The  story  of  Andrew  Poehmann,  afterwards 
superintendent,  illustrates  the  life  led  in  those 
times,  so  full  of  deadly  dangers,  narrow  escapes, 
and  marvellous  interpositions,  which  strengthened 
the  belief  of  the  men  who  experienced  them  in 
a  watchful  Providence  which  protected  them,  while 
millions  were  perishing  around  them.  Poehmann 
was  an  or^ihan,  who  had  been  carried  off  with  two 
brothers  by  the  Croats.  Escaping  ■ndth  his  brothers 
during  the  night,  he  found  means  of  entering  a 
Latin  school.  Being  a  second  time  taken  by  the 
soldiers,  he  was  made  quarter-master  gumier.  In 
the  garrison  he  continued  his  studies,  and  finding 
among  Iiis  comrades  scholars  from  Paris  and 
Loudon,  he  practised  ynth.  thdn  the  speaking  of 
Latin.  Once,  when  sick,  he  lay  dovra  by  the 
watch-fire  with  his  powder-flask,  containing  a  pound 
and  a  half  of  powder,  under  his  sleeve.  As  he  lay, 
the  fire  reached  his  sleeve  and  burned  a  large  por- 
tion of  it,  but  wthout  exjiloding  his  ])Owder-flask. 
He  awoke  to  find  himself  alone  in  the  deserted 
camp,  and  without  a  farthing  in  his  jiocket.  Among 
the  ashes  of  the  now  extinct  watch-tire  he  found 
two  thalers,  and  with  these  he  set  out  for  Gotha. 
On  the  way  he  halted  at  Langensalza,  and  turned 
into  a  small  and  lonely  house  on  the  wall.  He  was 
received  by  an  old  woman,  who,  commiserating  his 
wretched  ])light,  as  shown  in  his  haggard  looks  and 
emaciated  frame,  laid  him  upon  a  bed  to  rest.     His 


SUFFEKINGS   OF   THE    rASTORS. 


2G1 


hostess  chanced  to  be  a  phigiie  imrse,  anil  the  couch 
on  wliich  lie  was  laid  had  but  recently  been  occupied 
by  a  plague  patient.  The  disease  was  I'aging  Ln  the 
town ;  nevertheless,  the  poor  wanderer  remained 
unattacked,  and  went  on  his  way,  to  close  his  life 
amid  happier  scenes  than  those  that  had  marked 
its  ojicning. 

The  village  and  Pastor  of  Stelzcn  will  also 
interest  us.  The  spring  of  the  Itz  was  a  holy 
place  in  even  pagan  times.  It  rises  at  the  foot  of 
the  mountains,  where  they  sink  down  in  terraces  to 
the  banks  of  the  Maine,  and  gushes  out  from  the 
comer  of  a  cave,  which  is  overshadowed  by  ancient 
beeches  and  linden-trees. .  Near  this  well  stood, 
befoi'B  the  era  of  the  Eefoi'mation,  a  chapel  to  the 
Virgin ;  and  at  times  hundreds  of  nobles,  with  an 
endless  retinue  of  servants,  and  troops  of  pilgi'ims 
would  assemble  on  the  spot.  In  16.32  the  ^dllage 
in  the  neighbomhood  of  the  well  was  burned  down, 
and  only  the  chui'ch,  school-house,  and  a  shepherd's 
hut  remained  standing.  The  pastor,  Nicolas 
Schubert,  was  reduced  to  extreme  misery.  In  the 
ensuing  winter  we  hud  him  indituig  the  following 


heart-rending  letter  to  the  magistrate:--"!  have 
nothing  more,  except  my  eight  small  naked  chil- 
dren ;  I  live  in  a  very  old  and  dangerously  dilapi- 
dated school-house,  without  floors  or  chimneys,  in 
which  I  find  it  impossible  to  study,  or  to  do  any- 
thing to  help  myself.  I  am  in  want  of  food,  clothes 
— in  short,  of  everything. — Given  at  the  place  of 
my  misery — Sti'lzen. — Your  respectful,  poor,  and 
bumed-vip  pastor." 

Pastor  Schubert  was  removed,  whether  to  a  richer 
living  we  know  not — a  poorer  it  could  not  be. 
His  successor  was  also  plundered,  and  received 
in  addition  a  blow  from  a  dagger  by  a  soldier.  A 
second  successor  was  unable  to  keep  himself  ali\'e. 
After  that,  foi"  fourteen  years  the  parish  had  no 
pastor.  Every  thii-d  Sunday  the  neighljouring 
clergyman  visited  and  conducted  Divine  service 
in  the  destroyed  village.  At  last,  in  1G47,  the 
church  itself  was  burned  to  the  bare  walls.  Such 
was  the  temporal  and  spiritual  destitution  that  now 
overwhelmed  that  land  which,  half  a  century  befoi'e, 
had  been  so  full  of  "the  bread  that  perisheth,"  and 
also  of  that  "  which  endures  to  eternal  life."' 


CHAPTER    IV. 


CONQUEST   OF   NORTir  GEltMAW"   BY    FERDIN.4ND    II.    AND   THE    "CATHOLIC   LEAGl'E." 

FerdinandlL's  Aims— Extinction  of  Protestantism  and  the  German  Liberties— Ban  of  the  Empire  pronounced  on 
Frederick  V. — Apathy  of  the  Protestant  Princes— They  Withdraw  from  the  Protestant  Union — Count  Mans- 
feld — Duke  of  Brunswick— The  Number  and  Devastation  of  their  Armies — Heidelberg  Taken— The  Palatinate 
Occupied — James  I.  of  England — Outwitted  by  Ferdinand  and  Philip  II. — Electorate  of  the  Rhine  Given  to  the 
Duke  of  Bavaria— Treaty  between  England,  Holland,  and  Denmark — Christian  IV.  of  Denmark — Leads  the 
Protestant  Host — Ferdinand  II.  Eaises  an  Army — Wallcnstcin — His  Character— Grandeur— Personal  Appear- 
ance—His Method  of  Maintaining  an  Army— Movements  of  the  Campaign  of  1G2G— Battle  of  Lutter — Victory  cf 
Tilly — Campaign  of  1G27 — Noi-th  Germany  Occupied  by  the  League— Further  Projects  of  Ferdinand  II. 


From  this  general  picture  of  the  war,  which  shows 
us  fanaticism  and  rurtianism  holding  saturnalia  in- 
side the  camp,  and  ten-or  and  devastation  extending 
their  gloomy  area  from  day  to  day  outside  of  it,  we 
turn  to  follow  the  progress  of  its  campaigns  and  bat- 
tles, and  the  slow  and  gradual  evolution  of  its  moral 
residts,  till  they  issue  in  the  Peace  of  Westphalia, 
which  gave  a  larger  measin-e  of  toleration  to  the 
Protestants  than  they  had  ever  hitherto  enjoyed. 

The  iron  hand  of  military  violence,  moved  l)y 
the  Jesuits,  was  at  this  hour  cnishing  out  Protes- 
tantism in  Bohemia,  in  Hungaiy,  in  Transylvania, 
in  StjTia,  and  in  Carinthia,  Dragomiades,  con- 
fiscations, and  executions  were  there  the  oVder 
of    the    day.       The    nobles    were    dying   ou   the 


scaffold,  the  ministers  were  shiit  up  in  prison  or 
chained  to  the  galleys,  churches  and  school-houses 
were  lying  in  niins,  and  the  people,  driven  into 
exile  or  slaughtered  by  .soldiers,  had  disajipeared 
from  the  land,  and  such  as  remained  had  fo\ind 
refuge  within  the  pale  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
But  the  extermination  of  the  Protestant  faith  in 
his  own  dominions  could  not  satisfy  the  vast  zeal  of 
Ferdinand  II.  He  aimed  at  nothing  less  than  its 
overthrow  throughout  all  Germany.  When  there 
vyould  not  be  one  Protestant  chiu'ch  or  a  single 
Lutheran  throughout  that  whole  extent  of  territory 
lying  between  tlio  Gennan  Sea  and  the  Carpathian 


»  Gustar.Frcytag,  pp.  119—12 


262 


HISTOEY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


chiiin,  then,  and  only  then,  would  Ferdinand  have 
accomplished  the  work  for  which  the  Jesuits  had 
trained  him,  and  fulfilled  the  vow  he  made  when 
lie  lay  prostrate  before  the  Virgin  of  Loretto.  But 
ambition  was  combined  ■with  his  fanaticism.  He 
aimed  also  at  sweeping  away  all  the  charters  and 
constitutions  wliich  conferred  independent  lights  on 
the  German  States,  and  subjecting  both  princes  and 
peo|)le  to  his  own  will.  Hencefonvard,  Germany 
should  know  only  two  masters :  the  Church  of 
Rome  was  to  reign  supi-eme  and  uncontrolled  in 
things  spii'itual,  and  he  himself  should  exercise 
an  equally  absolute  sway  in  things  political  and 
civil.  It  was  a  two-fold  tide  of  despotism  that  was 
about  to  overflow  the  countries  of  the  Lutheran 
Reformation. 

Having  inaugurated  a  reaction  on  the  east  of 
Germany,  Fertlinand  now  set  on  foot  a  "  Catholic 
restoration  "  on  the  west  of  it.  He  launched  this 
jiart  of  his  scheme  by  fulminating  against  Frederick 
v..  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  the  ban  of  the  empii'e. 
Frederick  had  oifended  by  assuming  the  crown  of 
Bohemia.  After  reigning  during  only  one  winter 
he  was  chased  from  Prague,  as  we  have  seen,  by 
the  arms  of  the  Catholic  League.  But  the 
matter  did  not  end  there :  the  occasion  offered  a 
fail"  pretext  for  advancing  the  scheme  of  restoring 
the  Church  of  Rome  once  more  to  supreme  and 
universal  dominancy  in  Germany.  Ferdinand  ac- 
cordingly j)assed  sentence  on  Frederick,  depriving 
him  of  liLs  dominions  and  dignities,  as  a  traitor  to 
the  emperor  and  a  dLsturber  of  the  public  peace. 
He  empowered  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  as  head  of 
the  League,  to  execute  the  ban — that  is,  to  take 
military  possession  of  the  Palatinate.  Now  was 
the  time  for  the  princes  of  the  Protestant  Union 
to  unsheathe  the  sword,  and  by  wielding  it  in  de- 
fence of  the  Palatine,  their  confederate,  who  had 
risked  more  in  the  common  cause  than  any  one  of 
them  all,  to  prove  their  zeal  and  sincerity  in  the 
great  object  for  which  they  were  associated.  They 
would,  at  the  same  time,  shut  the  door  at  which 
the  tiiumjjhant  tide  of  armed  Romanism  was  sure 
to  flow  in  and  overwhelm  their  own  dominions.  But, 
unhappily  for  themselves  and  their  cause,  in.stead 
of  acting  in  the  spiiit  of  their  Confederacy,  they 
displayed  an  extraordinary  degi'ee  of  pusillanimity 
and  coldness.  The  terror  of  Ferdinand  and  the 
Catholic  League  had  fallen  upon  them,  and  they 
left  their  chief  to  his  fate,  congratulating  themselves 
that  their  superior  prudence  had  saved  them  from 
the  disasters  by  which  Frederick  was  overtaken. 
The  free  cities  of  the  Confederacy  forsook  liim  ;  and, 
as  if  to  mark  still  more  their  indifference  to  the 
cause  to  wliich  they  had  so  lately  given  theii-  most 


solemn  pledge,  they  \\  ithdrew  from  the  Union,  and 
the  example  of  cowardly  defection  thus  .set  by  them 
was  soon  followed  by  the  princes.  How  sure  a  sign 
of  the  api)roacli  of  evil  days  !  We  behold  zeal  on 
the  Popish  side,  ami  only  faint-heartedness  and 
indifference  on  that  of  the  Protestants. 

The  troops  of  the  League,  under  Duke  Maxi- 
milian's famous  general,  Tilly,  were  now  on  theii- 
march  to  the  Palatinate  ;  but  the  Protestant  princes 
and  free  cities  sat  still,  content  to  see  the  tail  of 
that  powerful  Protestant  province,  without  lifting  a 
finger  on  its  behalf  At  that  moment  a  soldier  of 
fortime,  whose  wealth  lay  in  his  sword,  assembled 
an  army  of  20,000,  and  came  forward  to  fill  the 
vacant  place  of  the  cities  and  princes.  Ernest, 
Count  INIansfeld,  oflered  battle  to  the  troops  of 
Spain  and  Ba\aria,  on  behalf  of  the  Elector 
Frederick.  Mansfeld  was  soon  joined  by  the  Alar- 
grave  of  Baden,  with  a  sjjlendid  troop.  ChrLstian, 
Duke  of  Brunswick,  who  had  conceived  a  romantic 
passion  for  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia,  the  Electress- 
Palatine,  whose  glove  he  always  wore  in  his  hat, 
also  joined  Count  Mansfeld,  with  an  army  of  some 
20,000,  which  he  had  raised  in  Lower  Saxony,  and 
which  he  maintained  without  pay,  a  seci'et  he  had 
learnt  from  Mansfeld. 

These  combined  hosts,  which  the  hope  of  plunder, 
quite  as  much  as  the  desii-e  of  replacing  Frederick  V. 
on  his  throne,  had  drawn  together,  could  not  be 
much  if  at  all  below  .50,000.  Tliey  were  terrible 
.scourges  to  the  country  wliich  became  the  scene  of 
their  marches  and  of  their  battles.  They  alighted 
like  a  flock  of  vultures  on  the  rich  chapters  and 
bishoprics  of  the  Rhine.  During  the  summers  of 
1621  and  1622,  they  mai-ched  backwards  and  for- 
wards, as  the  fortune  of  battle  impelled  them,  in 
that  rich  valley,  robbing  the  j)easantry,  levjing 
contributions  upon  the  towns,  slaughtering  their 
opponents,  and  being  themselves  slaughtered  in  turn. 
When  hai'd  pressed  they  would  cross  the  river  into 
France,  and  continue,  in  that  new  and  unexhausted 
field,  their  deva.stations  and  plunderings.  But 
ultimately  the  amis  of  Tilly  prevailed.  After 
murderous  conflicts,  in  which  both  sides  sustained 
tenible  loss,  the  bands  of  Mansfeld  retreated 
northward,  leaving  the  cities  and  lands  of  the 
Palatinate  to  be  occupied  by  the  troops  of  the 
League.  On  the  17th  of  September,  1622, 
Heidelberg  was  taken,  after  a  terrible  storm ; 
its  magnificent  palace  was  partially  burned,  its 
univei-sity  was  closed,  and  the  treasures  of  its 
world-renowned  library  were  carried  away  in  fifty 
wagon-loads  to  Rome.  The  rich  city  of  Mannheim 
was  taken  by  the  soldiers  of  the  League  in  the 
Noveral)ev  following.     Thus  the  gates  of  the  Pala- 


JAMES   THE   FIRST'S   "FOEEIGN    rOLICY." 


2G3 


tiniitc  wore  opened  to  the  invading  liosts,  and  tliej' 
entered  and  gleaned  where  the  trooiw  of  Mansfeld 
and  Brunswck  had  reaped  the  first  rich  liarvest. 

T]io  niiui  wlioni  we  have  seen  fii'st  driven  from 
the  throne  of  Bohemia,  and  next  despoiled  of  his 
h(!reditary  dominions  was,  as  onr  readers  know,  the 
son-in-law  of  the  King  of  England.  It  is  with  some 
astonishment  that  we  see  James  I.  stiuiding  by 
a  quiet  spectator  of  the  ruin  of  his  daughter's 
husband,  Elizabeth,  and  the  great  statesmen  who 
gave  such  glory  to  her  thi'one,  would  have  seen  in 
the  swelling  wave,  crested  with  victory,  that  was 
getting  in  upon  Germany,  perd  to  England;  and, 
even  though  the  happiness  of  no  relation  had  been 
at  stake,  would,  for  the  safety  of  her  throne  and  the 
welfare  of  her  realm,  have  found  means  of  mode- 
rating, if  not  arresting,  the  reaction,  before  it  had 
ovenvhelmed  those  princes  and  lands  where  she 
must  ever  look  for  her  trustiest  allies.  But 
James  I.  and  his  minister  BuokLngham  had  neither 
the  capacity  to  devise,  nor  the  spirit  to  pursue,  so 
large  a  policy  as  this.  They  allowed  themselves  to 
1)0  befooled  by  the  two  leading  Popish  Powers. 
Ferdinand  of  Austria  buoyed  iip  the  English 
mon;irch  with  hopes  that  he  would  yet  restore  liis 
son-in-law  to  his  Electorate,  although  he  had 
already  decided  that  Frederick  should  see  his 
domudons  no  more ;  and  Philip  II.  took  care  to 
amu.se  the  English  king  with  the  proposal  of  a 
Spanish  nian'iage  for  Ins  son,  and  James  was  mean- 
spii-ited  enough  to  be  willing  to  wed  the  heii-  of  his 
crown  to  the  daughter  of  the  man  who,  had  he  been 
able  to  compass  his  designs,  would  have  left  him 
neither  throne  nor  kingdom.  The  dupe  of  both 
Austria  and  Si)ain,  James  I.  sat  stUl  tUl  the  ruin  of 
the  Elector  Fred(^rick  was  almost  completed.  Wlien 
he  saw  what  had  happened  he  was  ml  ling  to  give 
both  money  and  troops,  but  it  was  too  late.  The 
occupation  of  Frederick's  dominions  by  the  army  of 
the  League  made  the  proflered  assistance  not  only 
useless — it  gave  it  even  an  air  of  irony.  The  Elec- 
torate of  the  Rhine  was  bestowed  upon  the  Duke 
of  Bavaria,  as  a  recompense  for  his  services.'  The 
territoiy  was  added  to  the  area  of  Romanism,  the 
Protestant  minLstcrs  were  driven  out,  and  Jesuits 
and  priests  crowded  in  flocks  to  take  possession  of 
the  newly  subjugated  domains.  The  foi-mcr  sove- 
reign of  these  domains  found  asylum  in  a  comer  of 
Holland.  It  was  a  bitter  cup  to  Elizabeth,  the 
wif(!  of  Frederick,  and  the  daughter  of  the  King 
of  England,  who  is  reported  to  have  said  that  she 
would  rather  live  on  bread  and  water  as  a  queen 
than,  occujiying  a  lower  station,  inhabit  the  most 


'  Chapman,  Hist,  of  Gustaims  Adolphns,  p.  151. 


magnificent  mansion,  and  sit  down  at  the  most 
luxurious  table." 

Uther  princes,  besides  the  King  of  England,  now 
opened  their  eyes.  The  Elector  of  Saxony,  the  de- 
scendant of  that  Maurice  who  had  chased  Charles  V. 
across  the  Alps  of  the  Tyrol,  and  wrested  from  him 
by  force  of  arms  the  Treaty  of  Passau,  wliioli  ga\-e 
toleration  to  the  Lutherans,  was  not  oidy  indifferent 
to  the  misfortunes  of  the  Elector  Frederick,  but  saw 
without  concern  the  cruel  suppression  of  Protes- 
tantism in  Bohemia.  Content  to  bo  left  in  peace  in 
his  own  dominions,  and  not  Ol-pleased,  It  may  be,  to 
see  his  rivals  the  Calviiiists  humbled,  he  refused 
to  act  the  part  which  his  descent  and  his  political 
power  made  incumbent  upon  him.  The  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  the  next  in  rank  to  Saxony,  showed 
himself  at  this  crisis  equally  unpatriotic  and  short- 
sighted. But  now  they  saw — what  they  might 
have  foreseen  long  before,  but  for  the  blindness  that 
selfishness  ever  inflicts — that  the  policy  of  Ferdi- 
nand had  placed  them  in  a  new  and  most  critical 
position.^  East  and  west  the  Catholic  I'eaction  had 
hemmed  them  in ;  Protestantism  had  cUsappearod 
in  the  kingdoms  beyond  the  Danube,  and  now  the 
Rhme  Electorate  had  undergone  a  forced  conversion. 
On  all  sides  the  wave  of  a  triumphant  reaction  was 
I'olling  onward,  and  how  soon  it  might  sweep  over 
their  own  territories,  now  left  almost  like  islands  in 
the  midst  of  a  ragmg  sea,  they  could  not  tell.  The 
tremendous  blunder  they  had  committed  was  plain 
enough,  but  how  to  remedy  it  was  more  than  their 
wisdom  could  say. 

At  this  moment  the  situation  of  affiiii's  in  Eng- 
land changed,  and  a  prospect  began  to  open  up  of 
a  European  coalition  against  the  Powers  of  Spain 
and  Austria.  The  "  Spanish  sleepmg-cup,"  as  the 
English  nation  termed  it,  had  been  rudely  dashed 
from  the  lip  of  James  I.,  and  the  monarch  saw 
that  he  had  been  practised  upon  by  Philip  II.  The 
marriage  with  the  Infanta  of  Spain  was  broken  oli" 
at  the  last  moment ;  there  followed  a  ruptiu'o  with 
that  Power,  and  the  English  king,  smarting  from 
the  insult,  applied  to  Parliament  (February,  1624) 
for  the  means  of  reinstating  Frederick  in  the  Pala- 
tinate by  force  of  arms. '  The  Parliament,  who  had 
felt  the  nation  lowered,  and  the  Protestant  eaiiso 
bi'ought  into  peril,  by  the  truckling  of  the  king, 

'  Schiller,  The  Thirty  Years'  War,  bk.  ii.,  pp.  161—173. 
Chapman,  Hist,  of  Chistamis  Adolphus,  chap.  5,  pp.  H2— 
150.  Ludwig  Hiiusser,  The  Period  of  the  Reformaiion, 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  108. 109. 

^  Schiller,  The  Tlnrty  Tears'  War,  vol.  i.,  pp.  145,  lUl, 
Ifi:).  Ludwisj  Hiiusser,  The  Period  of  tlie  Refonnaiion, 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  110,  111. 

*  SchiUer,  The  Thirty  Tears'  War,  vol.  i.,  p.  1C5.  Ludwig 
Hiiusser,  The  Period  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  ii.,  p.  112. 


OPPOSITION   TO   THE   HOUSE   OF   HAPSRITRa. 


265 


heartily  responded  to  the  royal  request,  and  voted 
a  liberal  subsidy.  Mausfeld  and  Brunswick  came 
over  to  London,  where  they  met  with  a  splendid 
reception.  A  new  army  w;iai  provided  for  them, 
and  they  sailed  to  begin  operations  on  the  Rhine ; 
but  the  expedition  did  not  pi'osper.     Before  they 


money  given  them  by  the  inhabitants,  on  the  con- 
dition of  their  departure  with  their  banditti. 

Charles  I.  having  now  succeeiled  his  father  on 
the  throne  of  England,  the  war  was  resumed  on  a 
larger  scale,  and  with  a  more  persistent  energy. 
On  the  9th  of  December,  1625,  a  treaty  was  con- 


ALBRKCHT    VON    WALLtNsTEIN 


had  struck  a  single  blow  the  plague  broke  out  in 
the  camp  of  Mausfeld,  and  swejit  away  half  his 
anny,  amid  revolting  horrors.  Brunswick  had  no 
better  fortune  than  his  companion.  He  was  over- 
taken by  Tilly  on  the  Dutch  frontier,  and  expe- 
rienced a  tremendous  defeat.  During  the  winter 
tliat  followed,  the  two  generals  wandered  about  with 
the  remains  of  their  army,  and  a  few  new  recruit.s, 
whom  they  luul  persuaded  to  join  their  banners,  but 
tliey  accomplished  nothing  save  the  ten-or  they 
insj)ired  in  the  districts  which  they  visited,  and  the 

127 


eluded  at  the  Hague  between  England,  Holland, 
and  Denmark,  for  opposing  by  joint  arms  tlie 
power  of  Hapsburg,  and  reinstating  the  Elector 
Frederick.'  It  was  a  grave  question  wlio  should 
head  the  expedition  as  leader  of  its  armies.  Pro- 
posals had  been  made  to  Gustavus  Adolphus  of 
Sweden,  but  at  that  moment  he  liad  on  his  hands 
a  war  with    Poland,    and    could    not   embark    in 

'  Ludwig   Hiiusser,   vol.   ii.,   p.  112.      Schiller,  vol  i., 
pp.  172, 173. 


266 


HISTORY   OF   PEOTESTANTISM. 


rtuotlicr  ami  more  onerous  campaign.  England 
wa.s  not  in  a  condition  for  carrying  on  hostilities  iii 
Uorniany  on  her  own  accoimt.  Holland  had  not 
yet  ended  its  great  straggle  with  Spain,  and  dared 
not  expend  on  other  oomitries  the  strength  so  much 
needed  within  itself.  Of  the  three  contracting 
Powers,  Denmark  was  tho  one  ■which  was  most  at 
liberty  to  charge  itself  with  the  main  bui'don  of  the 
enterprise.  It  was  ultimately  arranged  that  tho 
Danish  king  should  conduct  the  campaign,  and 
the  support  of  the  joint  enterprise  was  distributed 
among  the  parties  as  follows : — Denmark  was  to 
iiiiso  an  army  of  30,000,  or  thereabouts;  England 
was  to  furnish  ^30,000,  and  Holland  £5,000, 
month  by  month,  as  subsidy.  The  latter  engaged, 
moreovei-,  should  the  imperial  army  press  \;pou  the 
King  of  Denmark,  to  make  a  diversion  next 
summer  by  jilacing  a  fair  army  in  the  field,  and  by 
contributing  a  number  of  ships  to  strengthen  the 
English  fleet  on  the  coast.' 

Christian  IV.  of  Denmark,  who  was  now  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  Protestant  armies  in  this  great 
war,  was  one  of  the  most  courageous,  enlightened, 
and  patriotic  monarchs  of  his  time.  He  hid  under 
a  rough  exterior  and  bluff  manners  a  mind  of  great 
shrewdness,  and  a  generous  and  noble  disposition. 
He  laboured  with  equal  wisdom  and  success  to 
elevate  the  condition  of  the  middle  class  of  his 
subjects.  He  lightened  their  burdens,  he  impi-oved 
their  finance,  and  he  incited  them  to  engage  in  the 
piu'suits  of  commerce  and  trade.  These  measures, 
which  laid  the  fomidations  of  that  material  pros- 
perity which  Denmark  long  enjoyed,  made  him 
beloved  at  home,  and  greatly  raised  his  influence 
abroad.  His  kingdom,  he  knew,  had  risen  by  the 
Pi,oformation,  and  its  standing,  political  and  social, 
was  fatally  menaced  by  the  Popish  reaction  now  in 
progi-ess.  As  Duke  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  he  was 
a  jtrince  of  the  German  Empire,  and  might  there- 
fore, without  wounding  the  self-love  of  others,  take 
a  prominent  position  in  checking  a  movement 
which  threatened  the  liberties  of  all  Germany,  as 
well  as  the  independence  of  his  own  dominions. 

The  appearance  of  Cluistian  IV.  at  the  head  of 
the  army  of  the  Protestant  Confederacy  makes  it 
necessary  that  we  should  introduce  ourselves  to 
another — a  difierent,  but  a  very  powerful  figure — 
that  now  stood  up  on  the  other  side.  The  com- 
binations on  the  one  side  rendered  it  advisable  that 
Ferdinand  should  make  a  new  disposition  of  the 
forces  on  his.  Hitlierto  he  had  earned  on  the  war 
with  the  arms  of  the  Catholic  League.  Maxi- 
milian of  Bavaria  and  his  general,  Tilly,  occupied 

'  Chapman,  pp.  15!l,  160. 


the  foreground,  and  were  the  most  prominent  actors 
in  the  business.  Ferdinand  now  resolved  to  como 
to  the  front  in  person,  by  raising  an  army  of  his 
own,  and  appointing  a  general  to  lead  it.  But 
a  formidable  obstacle  mot  him  on  the  threshold 
of  his  new  pi'oject — his  military  chest  was  empty. 
He  had  gathered  many  millions  from  his  confisca- 
tions in  Bohemia,  but  these  had  Iseen  .swallowed  xip 
l)y  the  Jesuits,  or  spent  on  the  w-ars  in  Hvmgary,  and 
nothing  remained  wherewith  to  fight  the  battles  of 
the  "  Restoi'ation."  In  his  difiiculty,  he  applied  to 
one  of  his  generals,  who  had  served  with  distinction 
against  the  Tui'ks  and  Venetians,  and  had  borne 
arms  nearer  home  in  Bohemia  and  Hungary.  This 
soldier  was  Alhrecht  von  Wallenstein,  a  man  of 
undemable  abilities,  but  questionable  designs.  It 
was  tliis  gloomy  personage  who  gave  Ferdinand  an 
army. 

Tho  same  war-like  race  which  had  sent  forth 
Zisca  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Hussite  Reformers, 
gave  "Wallenstein  to  Rome.  He  was  born  on  the 
15th  of  September,  1583,  of  Protestant  parents, 
who  had,  indeed,  been  Calbctines  through  several 
generations.  Being  early  left  an  orphan,  he  was 
adopted  by  an  uncle,  who  sent  him  to  the  Jesuit 
college  at  Olmiitz.  The  Fathers  could  have  uo 
difiiculty  in  discerning  the  genius  of  tlie  boy,  and 
they  would  spare  no  pains  to  adapt  that  genius  to 
the  purposes  in  which  they  might  afterwards  have 
occasion  to  employ  it.  The  Jesuits  had  already 
fashioned  a  class  of  men  for  the  war,  of  whom  they 
had  every  reason  to  be  proud,  and  who  will  remain 
to  all  time  monuments  of  theu*  skill  and  of  the  power 
of  tlieii"  maxims  in  making  human  souls  pliant 
and  terrible  instruments  of  their  will.  Ferdinand 
of  Austria,  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  and  his  general, 
TUly,  were  their  handiwoi-k.  To  these  they  were 
about  to  add  a  fourth.  With  a  dark  soul,  a  reso- 
lute will,  and  a  heart  which  ambition  had  rendered 
hard  as  the  nether  mill-stone,  the  Jesuits  beheld  in 
Wallenstein  a  war-machine  of  their  own  creating, 
in  the  presence  of  which  they  themselves  at  times 
trembled.  The  same  hands  which  had  fashioned 
these  terrible  instruments  put  them  forth,  and 
moved  them  to  and  fro  over  the  vast  stage  which 
we  see  swimming  in  blood. 

Wallenstein  was  now  in  the  prime  of  life.  He 
had  acquired  in  former  campaigns  gi'eat  experience 
in  the  raising  and  disciplining  of  troops.  To  his 
fame  as  a  soldier  he  now  added  the  prestige  of  an 
enormous  fortune.  An  exceedingly  rich  old  widow 
had  fallen  in  love  with  him,  and  overcome  by  the 
philter  she  gave  him,  and  not,  it  is  to  be  presumed, 
by  the  love  of  her  gold,  he  married  her.  Next 
came  the  confiscations  of  estates  in  Bohemia,  and 


ALBRECHT   YON   WALLENSTEIN. 


267 


Wallenstein  bought  at  absiu'dly  low  prices  not 
fewer  than  sixty-seven  estates.'  Ferdinand  gave 
liim  in  addition  tlie  Duchy  of  Friedland,  containing 
nine  towns,  tifty-spven  castles,  and  villages.  After 
the  king,  he  was  the  richest  landed  proprietor  in 
Bohemia.  Not  content  with  these  hoards,  he 
sought  to  increase  his  goods  by  trading  mth 
the  bankers,  by  lending  to  the  court,  and  by  im- 
posing taxes  oir  both  friend  and  foe. 

But  if  his  revenues  were  immense,  amoiuiting  to 
many  millions  of  florins  annually,  his  expenditure 
was  gi-eat.  He  lived  surroimded  by  the  pomp  of 
an  Eastern  monarch.  His  table  was  sumptuous, 
and  some  hundred  guests  sat  down  at  it  daily.  Six 
gates  gave  entrance  to  his  palace,  which  still  stands 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Moldau,  on  the  slope  of 
the  Hradschin  at  Fragile.  The  pile  is  immense, 
and  similar  chateaux  were  erected  on  his  numerous 
estates  elsewhere.  His  chamberlains  were  twenty- 
four,  and  were  selected  from  the  noblest  families 
in  Bohemia.  Sixty  pages,  in  blue  velvet  dresses 
bordered  with  gold,  waited  on  him.  Fifty  men-at- 
arms  kept  guard,  day  and  night,  in  his  ante- 
chamber. A  thousand  jiersons  formed  the  usual 
complement  of  his  household.  Upwards  of  a 
thousand  horses  filled  the  stalls  of  his  stables,  and 
fed  from  marble  mangers.  When  he  journeyed,  ten 
trumpeters  wth  silver  bugles  jireceded  the  march  ; 
there  followed  a  hundred  carriages,  laden  with  his 
.servants  and  baggage  ;  sixty  carriages  and  fifty  led 
horses  conveyed  his  suite ;  and  last  of  all,  suitably 
escorted,  came  the  chariot  of  the  man  who  formed 
the  centre  of  all  this  splendour. 

Wallenstein,  although  the  champion  of  Rome, 
neither  believed  her  creed  nor  loved  her  clergy. 
He  would  admit  no  priest  into  his  camp,  wishing, 
doubtless,  to  be  master  there  himself.  He  issued 
his  orders  in  few  but  peremptory  words,  and 
exacted  instant  and  blind  obedience.  The  slightest 
infraction  of  discijiline  brought  down  swift  and 
severe  chastisement  upon  the  person  guilty  of  it. 
But  though  rigid  in  all  matters  of  discipline,  he 
winked  at  the  grossest  excesses  of  his  troops  out- 
side the  camp,  and  shut  his  ear  to  the  oft-repeated 
complaints  of  the  pillagings  and  murders  which 
they  committed  upon  the  peasantry.  The  most 
tmbounded  licence  was  tolerated  in  his  camp,  and 
only  one  thing  was  needful — implicit  submission  to 
his  authority.  He  had  a  quick  eye  for  talent,  and 
never  hesitated  to  draw  from  the  crowd,  and  reward 
with  promotion,  those  whom  he  thought  fitted  to 
seiTe  him  in  a  higher  rank.  He  was  a  diligent 
student  of  the  stars,  and  never  undertook  anythiim 

'  Alfred  Miohiels,  p.  60.  Ludwig  'Hiiusser,  vol.  ii.,  p.  116. 


of  moment  without  first  trying  to  discover,  wth 
the  help  of  an  Italian  astrologer  whom  he  kept 
under  his  roof,  whether  the  constellations  promised 
sucGess,  or  threatened  disaster,  to  the  project  he 
was  meditating.  Like  all  who  have  been  believers 
in  the  occult  sciences,  he  was  reserved,  haughty, 
inscrutable,  and  whether  in  the  saloons  of  his 
palace,  or  in  his  tent,  there  was  a  halo  of  mystery 
around  him.  No  one  shared  his  secrets,  no  one 
could  read  his  thoughts  :  on  his  face  there  never 
came  smile ;  nor  did  mirth  ever  brighten  the  coun- 
tenances of  those  who  stood  around  him.  In  his 
palace  no  hea\-y  footfall,  no  loud  voices,  might  be 
heard  :  all  noises  must  be  hushed ;  silence  and  awe 
must  wait  continually  in  that  gi-and  but  gloomy 
chamber,  where  Wallenstein  sat  apart  from  his 
fellows,  while  the  stars,  as  they  traced  their  path 
in  the  tirmajnent,  were  slowly  workiiig  out  the 
brilliant  destinies  which  an  eternal  Fate  had 
decreed  for  him.  The  master-passions  of  his  soul 
were  pride  and  ambition  ;  and  if  he  served  Rome 
it  was  because  he  judged  that  this  was  his  road  to 
those  immense  dignities  and  powers  which  he  had 
been  born  to  possess.     He  followed  his  star. 

We  must  add  the  picture  of  his  jiersonal  appear- 
ance as  Michiels  has  drawn  it.  "  His  tall,  thin 
figiu'e;  his  haughty  attitude;  the  stern  expre.ssion  of 
his  pale  face;  his  mde  forehead,  that  seemed  formed 
to  command;  his  black  hair,  close  shorn  and  harsh; 
his  little  dark  eyes,  in  which  the  flame  of  authority 
shone;  his  haughty  and  suspicious  look;  his  thick 
moustaches  and  tufted  beard,  produced,  at  the  first 
glance,  a  startling  sensation.  His  usual  dress 
consisted  of  a  justaucorps  of  elk-skin,  covered  by  a 
white  doublet  and  cloak  ;  round  his  neck  he  wore  a 
Spanish  rufl',  in  his  hat  fluttered  a  large  and  red 
])lume,  while  scarlet  pantaloons  and  boots  of  Cor- 
dovan leather,  carefully  padded  on  account  of  the 
gout,  completed  his  ordinary  attire."  - 

Such  was  the  man  to  whom  Ferdinand  of  Austria 
api)lied  for  assistance  in  raising  an  army. 

Wallenstein's  grandeur  had  not  as  yet  developed 
to  so  colossal  a  pitch  as  to  ovei-shadow  his  sovereign, 
but  his  ambition  was  already  fully  gi'own,  and  in 
the  necessities  of  Ferdinand  he  saw  another  stage 
openuig  in  his  own  advancement.  He  luidertook 
at  once  to  raise  an  army  for  the  emjieror.  "  How 
many  does  your  Majesty  require?"  he  a.sked. 
"Twenty  thousand,"  replied  Ferdinand.  "Twenty 
thousand!"  responded  Wallenstein,  with  an  aii-  of 
surprise.  "  That  is  not  enough  ;  say  forty  thousand 
or  fifty  thou.sand."^     The  monarch  hinted  that  there 

s  Alfred  Michiels,  p.  63. 

■1  IhiJ.,  p.  59.    Sciiiller,  vol.  i.,  pp.  178, 179. 


268 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


iniglit  be  a  difficulty  iii  pvovisioiiiiig  so  many. 
"  Fifty  thousaiul,"  promptly  responded  Wallenstein, 
"will  have  abundance  where  twenty  thousantl 
would  starve."  The  calculation  by  which  he 
arrived  at  this  conclusion  was  sure,  but  ati'ocious. 
A  force  of  oidy  twenty  thousand  might  find  their 
entrance  barred  into  a  rich  province,  whereas  an 
army  of  fifty  thousand  was  strong  enough  to  force 
acbuission  anywhere,  and  to  remain  so  long  as 
there  was  anything  to  eat  or  to  waste.  The  general 
meant  that  the  army  should  subsist  by  plunder; 
and  fifty  thousand  would  cost  the  emperor  no  more 
than  twenty  thousand,  for  neither  would  cost  him 
anything.  The  royal  permission  was  given,  and  an 
army  wliich  sjjeedily  attaLned  this  number  was 
soon  in  the  field.  It  was  a  mighty  assemblage  of 
vai-ious  nationalities,  daring  characters  and  diverse 
faiths ;  and,  however  formidable  to  the  cities  and 
provinces  amid  which  it  was  encamped,  it  adored  and 
obeyed  the  ii-on  man  around  whom  it  was  gathered. 
In  the  autumn  of  162-5  six  armies  were  in  the 
field,  prepared  to  resume  the  bloody  strife,  and  de- 
vastate the  land  they  professed  to  liberate.  The 
winter  of  1625  passed  without  any  event  of  moment. 
With  the  spring  of  1626  the  campaign  was  opened 
in  earnest.  The  King  of  Denmark,  -vvith  30,000 
troops,  had  passed  the  -n-iuter  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Bremen,  and  now,  putting  his  army  in  motion, 
he  acted  along  the  right  bank  of  the  Weser.  Tilly, 
with  the  army  of  the  League,  descended  along  the 
left  bank  of  the  same  river,  in  the  hope  of  meeting 
the  Danish  force  and  joiniaig  battle  with  it.  Wal- 
lenstein,  who  did  not  care  to  share  his  \ictories  and 
divide  his  laiu-els  with  Tilly,  had  encamped  on  the 
Elbe,  and  strongly  fortified  himself  at  the  bridge  of 
Dessau.  It  would  be  easy  for  liim  to  march  across 
the  country  to  the  Weser,  and  fall  upon  the  rear  of 
the  King  of  Denniai'k,  should  the  latter  come  to  an 
engagement  with  Tilly.  Clmsti.an  IV.  saw  the 
danger,  and  arranged  with  Count  Mansfeld,  who 
had  under  him  a  finely  equipped  force,  to  make  a 
diversion  in  his  favour,  by  marching  through  Ger- 
many to  Hungary,  joining  Galiriel  Bethlen,  and 
attacking  Vieinia.  This  manaMme  would  draw  ofi' 
Wallenstein,  and  leave  him  to  co[)0  with  only  tlie 
troops  under  TUly.  Duke  Christian  of  Brunswick 
had  orders  to  enter  Westphalia,  and  thence  extenil 
his  operations  into  the  Palatinate  ;  and  Duke  Jolin 
Ernest  of  Saxe- Weimar,  who  was  also  in  the  field, 
was  to  act  in  Saxony,  and  assist  !Mansfeld  in  exe- 
cuting the  diversion  by  which  Wallenstein  was  to 
be  drawn  off  from  the  theatre  of  war  between  the 
Weser  and  the  Elbe,  and  allow  the  campaign  to  lie 
decided  by  a  trial  of  strength  between  Christian  TV. 
and  the  general  of  the  League. 


Count  Mansfeld  set  idjout  executing  his  part  of 
the  plan.  He  marched  against  Wallenstem,  attacked 
him  in  his  strong  position  on  the  Elbe,  but  he  was 
I'outed  witli  great  lo.ss.  He  retreated  through 
Silesia,  pursued  by  Ids  terrible  antagonist,  ;md 
arrived  in  Hungary,  but  only  to  find  a  cold  recep- 
tion from  Prince  Bethlen.  Worn  out  by  toil  and 
defeat,  he  set  out  to  return  to  England  by  way  of 
Venice ;  it  was  his  last  journey,  for  falling  sick,  he 
died  by  the  way.  He  was  soon  followed  to  the 
gi'ave  by  his  two  companions  in  anus,  the  Duke  of 
Brunswick  and  Ernest  of  Saxe-Weimar.  Of  the 
four  generals  on  the  Protestant  side,  only  one  now 
survived.  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark.  The  deaths 
of  these  leaders,  and  the  dispersion  of  theii'  corps, 
decided  the  fiite  of  the  campaign.  TOly,  his  army 
reinforced  by  detachments  which  Wallenstein  had 
sent  to  his  aid,  now  bore  down  on  the  Danish  host, 
which  was  retreating  northwards.  He  overtook  it 
at  Lutter,  in  Bernburg,  and  compelled  it  to  accept 
battle.  The  Danish  monarch  three  times  rallied  his 
soldiers,  and  led  them  against  the  enemy,  but  in 
vain  did  Christian  IV.  contend  against  gi-eatly 
superior  numbers.  The  Danes  were  completely 
routed ;  4,000  lay  dead  on  the  field ;  the  kUled 
included  many  ofiicers.  Artillery,  ammunition,  and 
st-.indards  became  the  booty  of  the  imperialists, 
and  the  Danish  king,  escaping  thi'ough  a  narrow 
defile  with  a  remnant  of  liis  cavalry,  presented  him- 
self, on  the  evening  of  the  day  of  battle,  at  the  gates 
of  Wolfenbuttel. 

Pursuing  his  victory,  and  driving  the  Danes 
before  him,  Tilly  made  Idmself  master  of  the  Weser, 
and  the  tenitories  of  Brunswick.  Still  advancing, 
he  entered  Hanover,  crossed  the  Elbe,  and  spread 
the  troops  of  the  League  over  the  territories  of 
Brandenburg.  The  year  closed  with  the  King  of 
Denmark  in  Holstein,  and  the  League  master  of 
great  jiart  of  North  Germany. 

In  the  spring  of  next  year  (1627),  Wallenstein 
returned  from  Hungary,  tracing  a  second  time  the 
march  of  his  troops  through  Silesia  and  Germany 
in  a  black  luie  of  desolation.  On  joining  Tilly, 
the  combined  army  amounted  to  80,000.  The  two 
generals,  having  now  no  enemy  in  their-  path  capable 
of  opposing  them,  resumed  their  victorious  advance. 
Rapidly  overrunning  the  Dukedoms  of  Mecklenburg, 
and  putting  garrisons  in  all  the  fortresses,  they  soon 
made  themselves  masters  of  the  whole  of  CJermaiiy 
to  the  North  Sea.  Wallenstein  next  poured  his 
troops  into  Schleswig-Holstein,  and  attacked  Chris- 
tian IV.  in  his  own  territories,  and  soon  the  Danish 
king  saw  his  dominions  and  sovei'eignty  all  but 
wrested  from  him. 

So  disastrous  lor  the  Pi-otcslant  interests  was  the 


SUCCESSES   OF  THE   LEAGUE. 


269 


issue  of  the  campaign,  illustrating  how  questionable 
in  such  :i  controversy  is  the  interference  of  the  sword, 
and  how  uncertain  the  results  which  it  works  out. 
Not  only  had  the  Protestants  not  recovered  the  Pala- 
tinate of  the  Rhine,  but  the  tide  of  Poiiisli  and 
inijierialist  victory  had  rolled  on,  along  the  course  of 
the  Wcser  and  the  Elbe,  stopping  only  on  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic.  The  Elector  of  Brandenburg  saw  the 
imperial  troops  at  the  gate  of  Berlin,  and  had  to 
send  in  his  submission  to  Ferdinand.  The  Dukes 
of  Mecklenburg  had  been  placed  under  the  ban  of 
the  empire,  and  expelled  from  tlxcir  territories. 
The  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel  had  been  compelled 
to  abandon  the  Danish  alliance.  The  King  of  Den- 
mark had  lost  all  his  fortresses  in  Germany  ;  his 
army  had  been  dispersed  ;  and  Schleswg-Holstein 
was  tremblmg  in  the  balance.  Wallenstein  was 
master  of  most  of  the  German  to^vns  on  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic  and  the  North  Sea,  but  these  successes 
only  instigated  to  greatei-.  The  duke  was  at  that 
moment  revolving  mighty  projects,  which  would 
vastly  extend  both  his  o\vn  and  the  emperor's 
power.  He  di'opped  hints  from  which  it  was  plain 
that  he  meditated  putting  down  all  the  German 
I)rinces,  with  their  "  German  liberty,"  and  installing 
one  emperor  and  one  law  in  the  Fatherland.  He 
would  dethrone  the  King  of  Denmark,  and  proclaim 
Ferdinand  in  his  room.  The  whole  of  Germany, 
Denmai'k  included,  was  to  be  governed  from  Vienna. 


There  was  to  be  one  exception  :  the  Dukedoms  of 
Mecklenburg  had  become  his  own  special  princi- 
pality, and  as  this  wiis  but  a  narrow  land  territory, 
he  proposed  to  add  thereto  the  dominion  of  the  seas. 
By  way  of  carr3dng  out  this  dream  of  a  vast  maritim(! 
empire,  he  iKid  already  assumed  the  title  of  "  Admiral 
of  the  North  and  Baltic  Seas."  He  had  cast  his 
eyes  on  two  points  of  the  Baltic  shore,  the  towns  of 
Riigen  and  Stralsund,  as  specially  adapted  for  being 
the  site  of  his  arsenals  and  dockyards,  where  he 
might  fit  out  his  ileets,  to  be  sent  forth  on  the 
errands  of  peaceful  commerce,  or  more  probably  on 
the  hostile  expeditions  of  conquest. 

Such  was  the  -wi-etched  condition  of  Germany  when 
the  year  1627  closed  upon  it.  Everywhere  the  League 
had  been  triumphant,  and  all  was  gloom  —  nay, 
darkness.  The  land  lay  beaten  down  and  trampled 
upon  by  its  two  masters,  a  fanatical  emperor  and  a 
dark,  inscnitable,  and  insatiably  ambitious  soldier. 
Its  princes  had  been  humiliated,  its  towns  garrisoned 
vvith  foreign  troops,  and  an  army  of  banditti,  now 
swollen  to  100,000,  were  marching  hither  and  thither 
in  it,  and  in  the  exercise  of  a  boundless  licence 
were  converting  its  fair  fields  into  a  wilderness. 
As  if  the  calamities  of  the  present  were  not  enough, 
its  masters  were  revolving  new  schemes  of  confisca- 
tion and  oppression,  which  would  complete  the  ruin 
they  had  commenced,  and  plunge  the  Fatherland 
into  an  abyss  of  misery. 


CHAPTER    V. 


EUICT   OF    RESTITUTION. 


Edict  of  Restitution— Its  Injustice— Amount  of  Property  to  be  Kestorod— Imperial  Commissaries— Commencement  at 
Augsburg— Bulk  of  Property  Seized  by  Ferdinand  and  the  Jesuits — Greater  Projects  meditated— Denmark  and 
Sweden  marked  for  Conquest — Retribution — Fffrdinand  asked  to  Disarm — Combination  against  Ferdinand— Fatlior 
Joseph- Outwits  the  Emperor- Ferdinand  and  the  Jesuits  Plot  their  own  Undoing. 


Tin;  party  of  the  LeagLie  Were  now  masters  of 
(iermany.  From  the  foot  of  the  Tyrol  and  the 
banks  of  the  Danube  all  northwards  to  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic,  and  the  coast  of  Denm.ark,  the  Jesuit 
might  survey  the  land  and  proudly  say,  "  1  am 
lord  of  it  all."  Like  the  persecutor  of  early 
times,  he  might  rear  his  pillar,  and  write  upon 
it  that  once  Lutheranism  existed  here,  but  now 
it  was  extinct,  and  henceforth  Rome  resununl 
lier  sway.  Such  were  the  liopes  confidently 
entertained  by  the  Fathers,  and  acconlingly  the 
year  1G29  was  signalised  by  an  edict  which  sur- 


])assed  in  its  sweeping  injustice  all  that  had  gone 
liefore  it.  Protestantism  had  been  .slain  by  the 
sword  of  Wallenstein,  and  the  decree  that  was  now 
huniched  was  meant  to  consign  it  to  its  grave. 

On  the  Gth  of  March,  1029,  was  issued  the 
famous  "Edict  of  Restitution."  This  connnande<l 
that  all  the  archbishopi-ies,  bishoprics,  abbacies, 
and  monasteries,  in  short  all  the  property  and 
goods  which  had  belonged  to  the  Romish  Church, 
and  which  since  the  Religious  Peace  of  Passau  had 
been  taken  possession  of  by  the  Protestants,  should  < 
be  restored.       This  was  a  revolution  the  extent  of 


270 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


which  it  was  not  easy  to  calculate,  seeing  it  over- 
turned a  state  of  things  which  had  existed  for  now 
nearly  a  century,  and  implied  the  transference  of 
an  amount  of  property  so  vast  as  to  aflect  almost 
every  interest  and  person  in  Germany.  "  It  was  a 
coup-ii'etal  as  furious,"  says  Michiels,  "as  if  the 
French  were  now  to  bo  asked  to  restore  the  clerical 
property  seized  during  the  Revolution."' 

Part  of  that  proi)erty  went  to  the  pajTnent  of  the 
Protestant  ministers  :  good  pai-t  of  it  was  held  by 
the  princes;  in  some  cases  it  formed  the  entu-e 
source  of  their  revenue ;  its  restitution  would 
beggar  some  of  them,  and  irritate  all  of  them.  The 
princes  might  j)lead  that  the  settlement  which  this 
edict  proposed  to  overturn  had  lasted  now  seventy- 
five  years  ;  that  it  had  been  acquiesced  in  by  the 
silence  of  four  preceding  emperors,  and  that  these 
seculaiisations  had  received  a  legal  ratification  at 
the  Pacification  of  Augsbiu-g  in  1555,  when  a 
proposed  clause  enjoining  restitution  had  been  re- 
jected. They  might  farther  plead  that  they  were 
entitled  to  an  equal  share  in  those  foundations 
which  had  been  contributed  by  their  common 
ancestors,  and  that  the  edict  woidd  disturb  the 
balance  of  the  constitution  of  Germany,  by  creating 
an  overwhelming  majority  of  Popish  votes  in  the 
Diet. 

The  hardships  of  the  edict  were  still  farther  in- 
tensified by  the  addition  of  a  clause  which  touched 
the  conscience.  Popish  landed  proprietors  were 
empowered  to  compel  theu-  vassals  to  adopt  their 
religion,  or  leave  the  country.  When  it  was 
objected  that  this  was  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Religious  Peace,  it  was  coolly  rej)lied  that  "  Catholic 
proprietors  of  estates  were  no  farther  bound  than 
to  allow  then-  Protestant  subjects  full  liberty  to 
emigrate."" 

Commissaries  were  appointed  for  carrying  out 
the  edict ;  and  all  unlawful  possessors  of  church 
benefices,  and  all  the  Protestant  States  without 
exception,  were  ordered,  under  pain  of  the  ban  of 
the  empire,  to  make  immediate  restitution  of  their 
usurjjed  possessions.  Behind  the  imperial  Com- 
missaries stood  two  powerful  armies,  ready  with 
their  swords  to  enforce  the  orders  of  the  Commis- 
saries touching  the  execution  of  the  edict.  The 
decree  fell  upon  Germany  like  a  thunderbolt.  The 
bishoprics  alone  were  extensive  enough  to  form  a 
kingdom ;  the  abbacies  were  numberless ;  lands 
and  houses  scattered  throughout  all  Northern  Ger- 
many would  have  to  be  reft  from  their  proprietors, 
powerful  princes  would  be  left  without  a  penny, 


'  Sfcret  History  of  the  Austrian  Govefniin'nt ,  p. 
-  Schiller,  vol.  i.,  p.  193. 


and  thousands  would  have  to  exile  themselves ;  in 
short,  endless  confusion  would  ensue.  The  Elector 
of  Saxony  and  the  Duke  of  Brandenburg,  whose 
equanimity  had  not  been  disturbed  so  long  as 
religion  only  was  in  question,  were  now  alarmed  in 
earnest.  They  could  no  longer  hide  from  them- 
selves that  the  destniction  of  the  Protestant  re- 
ligion, and  the  ruin  of  the  German  liberties,  had 
been  resolved  on  by  the  emperor  and  the  Catholic 
League. 

A  commencement  was  made  of  the  edict  in  Augs- 
burg. This  was  eminently  a  city  of  Protestant 
memories,  for  there  the  Augustan  Confession  had 
been  read,  and  the  Religious  Peace  concluded,  and 
that  doubtless  made  this  city  a  delicious  conquest 
to  the  Jesuits.  Augsburg  was  again  placed  under 
the  government  of  its  bishop,  and  all  the  Lutheran 
churches  were  shut  up.  In  all  the  free  cities  the 
Romish  worehip  was  restored  by  the  soldiers.  As 
regards  the  richer  bishoprics,  the  emperor,  having 
regard  to  the  maxim  that  all  well-regulated  charity 
begins  at  home,  got  the  chapters  to  elect  his  sons 
to  them.  His  second  son,  Leopold  William,  a  lad 
of  fifteen  already  nominated  Bishop  of  Strasbiu'g, 
Passau,  Breslau,  and  Olmiitz,  obtained  as  his  share 
of  the  spoil  gathered  under  the  edict,  the  Bishopric 
of  Halberstadt,  and  the  Archiepiscopates  of  !Magde- 
burg  and  Bremen.  Wlien  the  ancient  heritages  of 
the  Benedictines,  Augustines,  and  other  orders  came 
to  be  distributed  anew,  by  whom  should  they  be 
claimed  but  by  the  Jesuits,  an  order  which  had  no 
existence  when  these  foundations  were  first  created  ! 
To  benefice  a  youth  of  fifteen,  and  endow  the  new 
order  of  Loyola,  with  this  wealth,  Ferdinand  called 
"  making  restitution  to  the  original  owners."  "  If 
its  confiscation  was  called  plunder,  it  could  not  be 
made  good  by  fresh  robbery."^ 

Meanwhile  the  camarilla  at  Vienna,  whose  coun- 
sels had  given  birth  to  this  Edict  of  Restitution, 
with  all  the  mischiefs  with  which  it  was  pregnant 
to  its  authors,  but  which  it  had  not  yet  disclosed, 
were  indulging  in  dreams  of  yet  greater  conquest. 
The  tide  of  success  which  had  flowed  upon  them 
so  .sudtlenly  had  turned  theii'  heads,  and  notldng 
was  too  impracticable  or  chimerical  for  them  to 
attempt.  East  and  west  they  beheld  the  trophies 
of  their-  victories.  The  once  powerful  Protestant 
Chui-ches  of  Poland,  Bohemia,  and  Hungary  were 
in  ruins  ;  the  Palatinate  of  the  Rhine,  including 
that  second  fountain  of  Calvinism,  Heidell)Prg, 
had  been  added  to  their  dominions ;  their  victorious 
arms  had  been  carried  along  the  Weser,  the  Ellie, 
and  the  Oder,  and  had  stopped  only  on  the  shores 


Ludwig  Hausser,  vol.  ii.,  p.  13& 


VIEW    OF    THE    TOWX-llAI.L    01'    IIALUERSTADT. 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


of  tlie  Baltic.  But  there  was  no  reason  why  the 
CiJtic  should  be  the  boundary  of  theii-  triumphs. 
They  would  make  a  new  departui-e.  They  would 
cany  their  victories  into  the  North  Sea,  and  re- 
cover for  Rome  the  Kingdoms  of  Denmark  and 
Sweden.  When  they  had  reached  this  fui-thest 
limit  on  the  north,  they  would  return  and  would 
essay  -n-ith  their  adventm-ous  arms  France  and 
England.  In  both  of  these  countries  Pi-otestantism 
seemed  on  the  ebb,  and  the  thrones  so  lately  occu- 
pied by  an  Elizabeth  and  a  Henry  IV.,  were  now 
tilled  by  pedantic  or  senile  sovereigns,  and  a 
second  jjeriod  of  juvenescence  seemed  there  to  be 
awaiting  their  Chm'ch.  Tliis  was  the  moment 
when  the  "  Catholic  Restoration"  had  reached  its 
height,  when  the  House  of  Hapsburg  was  in  its 
glory,  and  when  the  scheme  of  gigantic  dominion 
at  which  Loyola  aimed  when  he  founded  his  order, 
had  apjjroached  more  nearly  than  ever  before  or 
since  its  full  and  perfect  consummation. 

The  dreams  of  aggi-ession  which  were  now  in- 
flaming the  imaginations  of  the  Jesuits  were 
shared  in  by  Ferdinand ;  although,  as  was  natural, 
he  contemplated  these  anticipated  achievements 
more  from  the  point  of  liis  own  and  his  house's 
aggrandisement,  and  less  from  that  of  the  exaltation 
of  the  Vatican,  and  the  propagation  over  Europe  of 
that  teaching  which  it  styles  Christianity.  The 
emj)eror  viewed  the  contemjilated  conquests  as 
sound  in  principle,  and  he  could  not  see  why  they 
shoidd  not  be  foimd  as  easily  practicable  as  they 
wei-e  undoubtedly  right.  He  had  a  general  of 
consunmiate  ability,  and  an  army  of  100,000 
strong,  that  cost  him  nothing:  might  he  not  mth  a 
force  so  ovei-whelming  walk  to  and  fro  over  Europe, 
as  he  had  done  over  Germany,  and  presci'ibe  to  its 
peoples  what  law  they  were  to  obey,  and  what 
creed  they  were  to  believe?  Tliis  he  meant  as- 
sm-edly  to  do  in  that  vast  territory  which  stretches 
from  the  Balkan  and  the  Carpathians  to  the 
German  Sea,  and  the  northern  coast  of  Sweden. 
Tlie  next  conquest  of  his  arms  ho  fully  intended 
should  be  the  two  Kingdoms  of  Denmark  and 
Sweden ;  and  then  changing  the  German  Con- 
federacy into  an  absolute  monarchy,  sweeping  away 
the  charters  and  rights  of  its  several  States,  whicli 
he  regarded  but  as  so  much  rubbish,  shutting  up 
all  its  lieretical  churches,  and  jiermitting  only  the 
Roman  religion  to  be  pi'ofessed,  the  whole  to  the 
extreme  north  of  Sweden  would  be  brought  imder 
what  he  accomited  "  the  best  political  constitution 
— namely,  one  king,  one  law,  one  God."' 

But  to  the  emperor,  and  the  Jesuits,  his  coun- 


sellors, giddy  with  the  achievements  of  the  past, 
and  yet  more  so  with  the  di'eams  of  the  future, 
defeat  was  treading  ujaon  the  lieels  of  success. 
Retribution  came  sooner  than  Fei-dinimd  had  fore- 
seen, and  in  a  way  he  coiUd  not  calculate,  inasmuch 
as  it  gi'ew  out  of  those  veiy  schemes,  the  success  of 
which  seemed  to  giuird  him  against  any  such 
reverse  as  that  which  was  now  approaching.  The 
man  who  had  lifted  him  up  to  liis  dizzy  height  was 
to  be,  indu-eotly,  the  occasion  of  his  dow:ifall. 
The  fii-st  turn  in  the  tide  was  visible  in  the  jealousy 
wliich  at  this  stage  sprang  up  between  Ferdinand 
and  the  Catholic  League.  The  emperor  had  become 
suddenly  too  powerful  to  be  safe  for  Catholic  in- 
terests, and  the  Jesmts  of  the  League  resolved  to 
humble  or  to  break  him.  So  long  as  Ferdinand 
was  content  to  owe  his  ^^ctories  to  Maximilian  of 
Bavaria  as  head  of  the  League,  and  conquer  only 
by  the  sword  of  Tilly,  the  Jesuits  were  -willing  to 
permit  him  to  go  on.  He  was  theii-  servant  while 
he  leaned  upon  the  League,  and  they  could  use 
liim  or  throw  him  aside  as  they  foimd  it  expedient. 
The  moment  they  saw  liim  disposed  to  use  his 
power  for  personal  or  dynastic  ends  in  opposition 
to  the  interests  of  the  order,  they  could  check  him, 
or  even  strip  him  of  that  power  altogether.  But 
it  was  wholly  difterent  when  Ferdinand  separated 
his  military  operations  from  those  of  the  League, 
called  Wallenstein  to  his  service,  raised  an  army  of 
ovenvhelmiug  numbers,  and  was  winning  victories 
which,  although  they  brought  -with  them  the  spread 
of  the  Roman  faith,  brought  \\-ith  them  still  more 
power  to  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  and  glory 
to  its  general,  Wallenstein.  Ferdinand  was  now 
dangerous,  and  they  must  take  measiu-es  for  cur- 
tailing a  power  that  was  becoming  formidable  to 
themselves.  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  summoned  a 
meeting  of  the  League  at  Heidelberg,  and  after 
discussing  the  matter,  a  demand  was  sent  to  the 
emperor  that  he  should  disarm — that  is,  dismiss 
Wallenstein,  and  dissolve  his  army.'-'  Remove  the 
pedestal,  thought  the  meetmg,  and  the  ligiu'c  will 
fall. 

Other  parties  came  forward  to  urge  the  sanie  de- 
mand on  Ferdinand.  These  were  the  piinces  of 
Germany,  to  whom  the  army  of  Wallenstein  had 
Iiecome  a  terror,  a  scoui'ge,  and  a  destruction.  We 
can  imagine,  or  rather  we  cannot  imagine,  the  state 
of  that  land  with  an  assemblage  of  banditti,  now 
swollen  to  somewhere  about  100,000,'  roaming 
over  it,  reaping  the  harvest  of  its  fields,  gathering 
the  spoil  of  its  cities,  torturing  the  inliabitants  to 


'  Chapman,  p.  1S4. 


'-  LuJwig  Hiiusser,  vol.  ii.,  p.  127 
'  Schiller,  vol.  i.,  p.  "JOS. 


DISMISSAL  OF  WALLENSTEIK 


r3 


compel  tlicm  to  disclose  theii-  treasui'es,  causing  wliok^ 
vilhigps  on  the  line  of  their  march,  or  in  the  neigh- 
l)oiu-liood  of  their  encampment,  to  di.sajipear,  and 
leaving  their  occupants  to  find  a  home  in  the  woods. 
The  position  of  the  princes  was  no  longer  enduralile. 
It  did  not  matter  much  whether  they  were  with  or 
against  Ferdinand.  The  nifiians  assomhled  under 
Walleustein  selected  as  the  scene  of  their  encamp- 
ment not  the  most  heterodox,  but  the  most  fertile 
province,  and  carried  away  the  cattle,  the  gold, 
and  the  goods  which  it  contained,  ■without  stopping 
to  mquire  whether  the  ovviier  was  a  Romanist 
or  a  Protestant.  ■'  Brandenburg  estimated  its 
losses  at  20,000,000,  Pomei-ania  at  10,000,000, 
Hesse-Cassel  at  7,000,000  of  dollars,  and  the  rest 
in  i)roportion.  The  cry  for  redress  was  loud, 
urgent,  and  universal ;  on  this  point  Catholics  and 
Protestants  were  agreed."' 

Ferdinand  for  some  time  obstinately  shut  his  ear 
to  the  complaints  and  accusations  wliich  reached 
him  on  all  sides  agamst  his  general  and  his  army. 
At  last  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  make  some  con- 
cession to  the  general  outcry.  He  dismissed  18,000 
of  his  soldiers.  Under  the  standard  of  Wallenstein 
there  remained  more  marauders  than  had  been  .sent 
away ;  but,  over  and  above,  the  master-gi-ievance 
still  existed — Walleustein  was  still  in  command,  and 
neither  the  League  nor  the  princes  would  be  at 
rest  till  he  too  had  quitted  the  emperor's  service. 

A  council  of  the  princes  was  held  at  Eatisbon 
(June,  1G30),  and  the  demand  was  renewed,  and 
again  pressed  upon  Ferdinand.  Most  painful  it 
was  to  dismiss  the  man  to  whom  he  owed  his 
greatness ;  but  wth  a  singular  unanimity  the 
demand  was  joined  in  by  the  whole  Electoral  Col- 
lege, by  the  princes  of  the  League,  the  Protestant 
l)rinces,  and  by  the  ambassadors  of  France  and  of 
Spain.  Along  with  the  ambassadors  of  France  had 
come  a  Capuchin  friar.  Father  Joseph,  whom 
Eichelieu  had  sent  as  an  admirable  instrument  for 
working  on  the  emperor.  This  monk  has  received 
the  credit  of  giving  the  last  touch  that  turned 
the  scale  in  this  delicate  affair.     "  The  voice  of  a 


monk,"  says  Schiller,  "  was  to  Ferdinand  the  voice 
of  God."  Ferdinanil  was  then  negotiating  for  the 
election  of  his  son  as  King  of  the  Romans,  -svith  the 
view  of  his  succeeding  him  in  the  empire.  "It  will 
be  necessaiy,"  softly  whispered  the  Capuchin,  "  to 
gi-atify  the  electoi's  on  this  occasion,  and  thereby 
facilitate  your  son's  election  to  the  Roman  crown. 
When  this  object  has  been  gained,  Wallenstem  will 
always  be  ready  to  resume  his  former  station." - 
The  argument  of  Father  Joseph  iirevaded ;  Wallen- 
stein's  dismissal  was  determined  on ;  and  when  it 
was  intimated  to  him  the  general  submitted,  only 
saying  to  the  messenger  who  brought  the  unwel- 
come tidings,  that  he  had  learned  his  errand  from 
the  stars  before  his  arrival.  Ferdinand  failed  to 
cany  his  son's  election  as  King  of  the  Romans ;  and 
when  he  found  how  he  had  been  outwitted,  he 
vented  his  rage,  exclaiming,  "  A  rascally  Capucliin 
has  disarmed  me  with  his  rosary,  and  crammed  into 
his  cowl  six  electoral  bonnets."'' 

All  parties  in  this  transaction  appear  as  if 
smitten  with  blindness  and  infatuation.  We  be- 
hold each  in  turn  laying  the  train  for  its  own 
overthrow.  The  cause  of  Protestantism  seemed 
eternally  ruined  in  the  land  of  Luther,  and  lo,  the 
emperor  and  the  Jesuits  combine  to  lift  it  up  ! 
Ferdinand  prepares  the  means  for  his  own  discom- 
fitiire  and  humiliation  when  in  the  first  place  he 
quaiTels  with  the  League,  and  in  the  second  when 
he  issues  the  Edict  of  Restitution.  He  diives  both 
Jesuits  and  Protestants  from  him  in  turn.  Next  it 
is  the  Jesuits  who  plot  their  ovm.  undoing.  They 
compel  the  emperor  to  reduce  his  army,  and  not 
only  so,  but  they  also  make  him  dismiss  a  general 
who  is  more  to  him  than  an  army.  And  what  is 
yet  more  strange,  the  time  they  select  for  making 
these  great  changes  is  the  moment  when  a  hero, 
wlio  had  bound  victory  to  Ids  standards  by  his  sur- 
passuig  bravery  and  skill,  was  stepping  upon  the 
shore  of  Northern  Germany  to  do  battle  for  a  faith 
which  they  had  trodden  into  the  dust,  and  the  name 
of  -which  would  soon,  they  hoped,  perish  from  tho 
Fatherland. 


'  Schiller,  vol.  i.,  p.  200. 


Schiller,  vol.  i.,  p.  204. 


3  IIUI.,  p.  20J. 


274- 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTAISTTISM. 


CHAPTER   VT. 

ARRIVAL   OF   GUSTAVUS   ADOLPHIS    IN   GERMANY. 


The  Eeaction— Its  Limits — Preparatory  Campaigns  of  Gustavus— All  Ready— No  Alternative  left  to  Gustavns — His 
Motives— His  Character — His  Farewell  to  the  Diet— His  Parting  Address — Embai'kation — Lands  in  Germany — 
Contempt  of  Gustavns  by  the  Court  of  Vienna— Marches  on  Stettin— Is  Admitted  into  it— Takes  Possession  of 
Pomerania— Imperialists  Driven  out  of  Mecklenburg — Alliance  vrith  Prance — Edict  of  Restitution— John  George, 
Elector  of  Saiony — His  Project — The  Convention  at  Leipsic — Its  Failure. 


The  Catholic  reaction,  borne  onwards  by  the  force 
of  the  imperial  arm.s,  liad  rolled  up  to  the  borders 
of  Sweden,  chasing  befoi-e  it  Christian  of  Denmark, 
and  every  one  who  had  striven  to  stem  its  advancing 
toiTent.  But  a  mightier  Potentate  than  Ferdinand 
or  any  earthly  emperor  had  fixed  the  limits  of  the 
reaction,  and  decreed  that  beyond  the  line  it  had 
now  reached  it  should  not  pass.  From  the  remote 
regioixs  of  the  North  Sea  a  deliverer  came  forth,  sum- 
moned by  a  Divine  voice,  and  guided  by  a  Divine 
hand,  empowered  to  roll  back  its  swelling  wave,  and 
bid  the  nations  it  had  overwhelmed  stand  up  and 
again  assume  the  rights  of  free  men.  The  cham- 
pion who  now  arose  to  confront  Rome  was  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden. 

A  sincere  Protestant,  as  well  as  valorous  sol- 
dier, Gustavns  Adolphus  had  seen  with  pain  and 
alann  the  troops  of  the  League  and  of  the  emperor 
overran  the  States  of  Germany,  drive  away  the 
ministers  of  the  Reformed  faith,  and  set  up  the 
overturned  altars  of  Rome.  The  cry  of  the  op- 
pressed peoples  had  reached  him  once  and  again,  bat 
circumstances  did  not  pennit  of  lus  interferLtig  in 
the  great  quarrel.  On  ascending  the  throne,  he 
had  the  disorders  of  half  a  century  in  his  own 
dominions  to  rectify.  Tliis  was  a  laborious  task, 
but  it  was  executed  with  an  intelligence  that 
replaced  stagnation  ^vith  life  and  prosperity.  Tlie 
external  relations  of  his  kingdom  next  claimed  liis 
attention.  These  called  him  to  engage,  first,  in  a 
war  with  Deumai-k ;  and,  secondly,  in  a  war  with 
Russia.  A  third  war  he  was  compelled  to  wage 
with  Poland.  His  title  to  the  throne  of  Sweden 
had  been  brought  into  cpiestion  by  the  Polish 
sovei'eign,  who  maintained  that  the  rightful  heii-s 
were  to  be  fo>ind  in  tlie  other  line  of  Gustavus 
Vasa.  The  Romanists  sided  with  the  King  of 
Poland,  in  the  hope  of  beijig  able  to  wi-est  the 
sovereignty  from  the  hands  of  a  Protes-tant,  and  of 
bringing  back  the  kingdom  to  the  See  of  Rome  ; 
and  thus  Gustavus  Adolphus  found  that  he  had  to 
do  battle  at  the  same  time  for  the  possession  of  his 
crown  and  the  Protestantism  of  his  realm.     Tliis 


contest,  which  was  completely  successful,  was  ter- 
minated in  1629,  and  it  left  Sweden  mistress  of 
a  large  and  important  section  of  the  Baltic  coast. 
These  campaigns  formed  the  preparation  for  the 
fourth  and  greatest  war-  in  which  the  monarch  and 
people  of  Sweden  were  destined  to  embark.  The 
reforms  set  on  foot  within  the  country  had  vastly 
augmented  its  resources.  The  power  which  Gus- 
tavus had  acquii-ed  over  the  Baltic,  and  the  towns 
which  he  held  on  its  coast,  kept  open  to  him  the 
gate  of  entrance  into  Germany ;  and  the  generals 
and  warriors  whom  he  had  trained  in  these  wars 
were  such  as  had  not  been  seen  in  Europe  since  the 
decline  of  the  Spanish  school.  All  these  i-eqiiisites, 
unsuspected  by  himself,  had  been  slowly  preparing, 
and  now  they  were  completed  :  he  could  command 
the  sinews  of  war ;  he  had  an  open  road  to  the 
great  battle-field,  and  he  had  warriors  worthy  of 
being  his  companions  in  arms,  and  able  to  act  their 
part  in  the  conflict  to  which  he  was  about  to  lead 
them. 

If  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  now,  what  he  had 
never  been  before,  ready  to  engage  in  the  world- 
wide strife,  it  is  not  less  true  that  that  strife  had 
reached  a  stage  wliich  left  him  no  alternative  but  to 
take  part  in  it,  if  ever  he  would  do  so  with  the  chance 
of  success.  Victory  had  carried  the  Popish  arms  to 
the  watei-s  of  the  Baltic  :  the  possessions  he  held 
on  the  coast  of  that  sea  were  in  danger  of  being 
wrested  from  him ;  bxit  his  foes  would  not  stop 
there ;  they  woiild  cross  the  ocean ;  they  would 
assail  him  on  his  own  soil,  and  extingiiish  his 
sovereignty  and  the  Protestantism  of  his  realm 
togethei'.  WalleiLsteLn  had  suggested  such  a 
scheme  of  conquest  to  his  master,  and  Ferdinand 
would  not  be  at  rest  till  he  had  extended  his  sway 
to  the  extreme  north  of  Sweden. ' 

Such  was  the  situation  in  which  the  Swedish 
monarch  now  found  himself  placed.  He  rightly  in- 
terpreted that  situation.  He  knew  that  lie  could 
not  avoid  war  by  sitting  still ;  that  if  he  did  not  go 


'  Chapman,  p.  19fi. 


GU.STAVU«  ADOLniUS  ADDRESSING  THE  STATES. 


275 


to  meet  his  enemies  on  tlie  pUiins  of  Germany, 
tliey  would  seek  liim  out  in  liis  own  sea-gut 
kingdom,  where  he  shouhl  tight  at  greater  dis- 
advantage. Tliorcforo  lio  chose  the  boUlor  and 
safer  course. 

But  tliese  reasons,  wise  thougli  they  were,  were 
not  the  only,  nor  indeed  tlie  strongest  motives 
that  influenced  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  adopting  this 
course.  He  was  a  devout  Christian  and  an  en- 
lightened Protestant,  as  well  as  a  brave  wan-ior, 
and  he  took  into  consideration  the  great  crisis 
which  had  arrived  in  the  afl'aiis  of  Europe  and  of 
Protestantism,  and  the  part  that  fell  to  himself  in 
this  emergency.  Ho  saw  the  religion  and  the 
liberty  of  Christendom  on  the  pohit  of  being  trodden 
out  by  the  armed  hordes  of  an  emperor  whose 
councillors  were  Jesuits,  and  whoso  generals  were 
content  to  sink  the  soldier  in  the  ruthless  banditti- 
leiuler;  and  to  whom  could  the  oppressed  nations 
look  if  not  to  himself?  England  was  indiiferent, 
France  was  unwUiug,  Holland  was  unable,  and, 
unless  Protestantism  was  to  be  saved  by  mu-acle,  he 
must  gird  on  the  sword  and  essay  the  herculetui 
task.  He  knew  the  slender  means  and  the  small 
army  with  which  he  must  confront  an  enemy  who 
had  inexhaustible  resources  at  his  command,  and 
innumerable  soldiers,  with  the  prestige  of  invinci- 
bility, under  his  banner ;  but  if  the  difficulty  of 
the  enterprise  was  immense,  and  might  well  inspire 
caution  or  even  fear,  it  was  of  a  nature  surpassingly 
grand,  and  might  well  kmdle  enthusiasm,  and 
beget  a  sublime  faith  that  He  whose  cause  it  was, 
and  who,  by  the  very  perils  -with  which  He  was 
surrounding  him,  seemed  to  be  forcing  liim  out  into 
the  field  of  liattle,  would  bear  him  safely  through 
all  the  dangers  of  the  great  venture,  and  by  his 
hand  deliver  his  people.  It  was  in  this  faith  that 
Gustavus  Adolphus  became  the  champion  of  Pro- 
testantism. 

"In  one  respect," says  Hausser,  "Gustavus  Adol- 
phus was  a  unique  personage  in  this  century  :  lie 
wa-s  animated  by  the  fresh,  imbroken,  youtliful 
spirit  of  the  early  days  of  the  Refomiation,  like 
that  which  characterised  such  men  as  Frederick  of 
Saxony  and  Philip  of  Hesse.  If  it  can  be  said  of 
any  ruler  in  tlie  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
that  he  was  filled  with  Protestant  zeal  and  sincere 
enthusiasm  for  the  greatness  of  his  cause,  it  may  be 
said  of  him  and  of  him  alone.  To  a  world  full  of 
mean  artifices,  miserable  intrigues,  and  naiTOw- 
minded  men,  ho  exhibited  once  more  the  chai-acter- 
istics  and  qualities  of  a  true  hero.  This  exjilains 
why  he  called  forth  enthusiasm  where  it  had  been 
for  many  decades  unknown — why  he  succeeded  in 
kindling  men's  minds  for  ideas  wliich  had  been  en- 


gulfed in  the  miseries  of  the  times.  Sawed  things 
■were  no  idle  sport  mth  him." ' 

Having  resolved  to  present  himself  on  the  great 
arena,  in  the  faith  of  uplifting  a  cause  wliich  already 
appeared  almost  utterly  ruined,  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
"  like  a  dying  man,"  says  Gfrorer,  "  set  his  house  in 
order,"  by  making  arrangements  for  the  defence  and 
government  of  liLs  kingdom  in  his  absence.  On 
the  20th  of  May,  1G30,  he  assembled  the  Diet  at 
Stockliolm,  to  bid  the  States  a  solemn  farewell. - 
Taking  in  his  arms  his  infant  daughter  Christina, 
then  only  five  years  old,-''  he  presented  her  to  the 
assembled  nobles  and  deputies,  who  swore  fidelity 
to  her  as  their  sovereign,  in  the  event  of  her  royal 
father  falling  on  the  battle-field.  The  touching 
spectacle  melted  all  present  into  tears,  and  the 
emotion  of  the  king  was  so  great  that  it  was  some 
time  before  he  was  able  to  proceed  in  his  farewell 
address  to  the  States. 

When  at  length  he  found  words,  the  brave  and 
devoted  prince  assured  his  people  that  it  was  no 
light  cause  which  had  led  him  to  embark  in  this 
new  war.  God  was  his  witness  that  he  had  not 
sought  this  contest.  That  contest  exposed  liimself 
to  great  dangers,  and  it  laid  heavy  burdens  on 
them ;  but,  however  full  of  risks  and  sacrifices,  he 
dared  not  decline  an  enterprise  to  which  he  was 
summoned  by  the  cry  of  his  perisliing  brethren. 
Even  should  he  and  liis  subjects  prefer  theu'  own 
ease  to  the  deliverance  of  the  oppressed,  it  would 
not  be  long  till  they  should  have  abundant  cause  to 
repent  their  selfishness.  The  same  anued  bigotry 
which  had  wi'ought  such  desolation  in  Germany, 
was  at  that  hour  meditating  the  overthi'ow  of  their 
own  throne,  and  the  destruction  of  theii*  o^vu 
religion  and  independence.  They  must  not  think 
to  escape  by  abiding  within  their  own  seas  and 
shutting  themselves  out  from  others.  Who  could 
toll  whether  Sweden  had  not  attained  her  present 
place  among  the  nations  for  .such  a  time  as  this  1 
Turning  to  his  councillors  of  state,  he  bade  them 
seek  to  be  filled  with  wisdom,  that  they  might 
govern  with  equity.  Addi-essing  liis  nobles,  he 
exhorted  them  to  emulate  the  bravery  of  "  those 
Gothic  heroes  who  humbled  in  the  dust  the  pride 
of  ancient  Rome."  Tlie  pastors  he  earnestly  recom- 
mended to  cultivate  unity,  and  to  exemplify  in 
their  o-*vn  lives  the  vii-tues  they  preached  to  others. 
For  all  classes  of  his  subjects  he  offered  liis  earnest 
prayers,  that  order  might  bless  their  cities,  fertility 
clothe  theii-  fields,  and  ])lenty  cheer  theu*  homes; 
and  then,  with  the  tenderness  of  a  father  taking 


'  Ludwig  Hausser,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  150, 151. 
-  .Schiller,  vol.  i.,  p.  210.  ^  Oli.ipiiian,  p.  205. 


LANDESTG   OF   GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS   AT   RUGEN. 


277 


leave  of  his  cliildren — for  the  mind  of  the  hero- 
prince  was  oppressed  by  the  presentiment  that  he 
should  see  them  no  more — he  said,  "  I  bid  you  all 
an  affectionate — it  may  be  an  eternal — farewell.'"' 

A  few  days  after  this  solemn  parting,  the  king 
embarked  his  army  of  15,000  at  Elfsnabhen.  It 
was  a  small  host  to  essay  so  gi'eat  an  enterprise ; 


to  which  he  but  too  truly  presaged  he  should 
return  no  more.  In  a  few  days  the  opposite  coast 
of  the  Baltic  rose  out  of  the  waves,  and  the  fleet 
cast  anchor  before  the  Isle  of  Riigen,  on  the  coast 
of  Pomerania.  On  the  24th  of  June,  1630 — exactly 
100  years  after  the  presentation  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession    to    Charles   V. —  Gustavus   Adolphus 


orsTAVT-S  ADOLPHXTs,     (From  a  Portrait  m  the  BihUolheiite  Rationale,  after  that  engraied  by  John  de  Leexm.) 


but  it  was  led  by  a  great  general,  and  the  heroism 
and  devotion  of  the  chief  burned  in  the  breasts  of 
the  soldiers.  Up  to  the  water's  edge  the  shore  was 
black  with  the  crowds  which  had  assembled  to 
witness  the  embarkation,  and  to  take,  it  might  be, 
their  last  look  of  their  beloved  sovereign.  Contrary 
■\vind8  detained  the  fleet  a  few  days,  but  at  last  tlie 
breeze  veered  round,  and  bore  away  the  magnani- 
mous prince,  with  his  chivalrous  host,  from  a  shore 


1  Schiller.  voL  i.,  p.  220. 


landed  on  the  shore  of  Germany.  The  king  was 
the  first  to  step  on  land,  and  advancing  a  few  paces 
before  the  soldiers,  he  kneeled  down  in  presence  of 
the  army,  and  gave  thanks  to  God  for  conveying 
the  host  in  safety  across  the  deep,  and  prayed  that 
success  might  crown  their  endeavours. 

The  powerfid  Popish  monarch  who  had  put  his 
foot  upon  the  neck  of  Germany,  heard  with  easy 
and  haughty  unconcern  of  the  landing  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  The  significance  of  tliat  landing  was 
but  little  understood  on  either  the  Romish  or  the 


128 


278 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Protestant  side.  Ferdinand  could  not  see  that  the 
mighty  fabric  of  his  power  could  be  shaken,  or  the 
triumphant  tide  of  his  arms  rolled  back,  by  the  little 
host  that  had  just  crossed  the  Baltic.  Wlien  the 
coiu-tiers  of  Vienna  heard  of  the  coming  of  Gustavus 
"  they  looked  in  the  State  Almanack  to  see  where 
the  country  of  the  little  Gothic  king  was  situated."^ 
The  princes  of  Germany,  trodden  into  the  dust, 
were  nearly  as  unable  to  understand  that  deliverance 
had  dawned  for  them  in  the  advent  of  the  northern 
hero.  From  the  powerful  thrones  of  England  and 
France  they  might  have  looked  for  help ;  but  what 
succour  could  a  petty  kingdom  like  Sweden  bring 
them'!  They  could  not  recognise  their  deliverer 
coming  in  a  guise  so  humble.  Gustavus  Adolphus 
was  a  foreigner.  They  almost  wished  that  he  had 
not  interfered  in  their  matters ;  and  greatly  as  they 
longed  to  be  lifted  out  of  the  mire,  they  were  con- 
tent well-nigh  to  be  as  they  were,  rather  than  owe 
their  emancipation  to  a  stranger.  These  degenerate 
princes  were  to  be  taught  the  power  of  that  Protes- 
tantism from  which  they  had  so  greatly  declined. 
At  what  altar  had  Gustavus  and  his  followers 
kindled  that  heroism  which  enabled  them  to  com- 
mand victory,  if  not  at  that  of  the  Reformed 
faith  1  This  it  was  that  made  them  the  deliverers 
of  those  who  had  lost  their  liberty  by  losing  their 
Protestantism. 

Eager  to  invest  his  arms  with  the  prestige  of  a 
first  success,  the  Swedish  king  set  out  for  Stettin, 
and  arrived  under  its  walls  before  the  imperial 
troops  had  time  to  occupy  it.  Stettin  was  the 
capital  of  Pomerauia ;  but  its  importance  lay  in  its 
commanding  the  mouths  of  the  Oder,  and  leaving 
open  in  the  rear  of  Gustavus  a  passage  to  Sweden, 
should  fortune  compel  him  to  retreat.  He  de- 
manded that  the  town  should  receive  a  Swedish 
ganison.  The  citizens,  but  too  familiar  with  the 
horrors  of  a  foreign  occupation,  and  not  knowing 
as  yet  the  difierence  between  the  orderly  and  dis- 
ciplined soldiers  of  Gustavus  and  the  marauders 
who  served  under  Tilly  and  Wallenstein,  were 
unwilling  to  open  their  gates.  Still  more  unwilling 
was  their  Duke  Bogislaus,  who  added  the  timidity 
of  age  to  that  of  constitution.  This  prince  longed 
to  be  freed  from  the  ten-ore  and  the  oppressions  of 
Ferdinand,  but  he  trembled  at  the  coming  of 
Gustavus,  fearing  that  the  emperor  would  visit 
with  a  double  vengeance  his  comj)liance  with  the 
Swedish  monarch's  wishes.  Bogislaus  begged  to  be 
j)ennitted  to  remain  neutral.  But  Gustavus  told 
him  that  he  mu.st  choose  between  himself  and  Fer- 
dinand, and  that  he  must  decide  at  once.  Influenced 


by  the  present  rather  than  by  the  remote  danger, 
Bogislaus  opened  the  gates  of  Stettin,  and  the 
Swedish  troops  entered.  Instead  of  plundering 
their  houses  the  soldiers  went  with  the  citizens  to 
church,  and  soon  established  a  reputation  which 
proved  second  only  to  theii"  valour  in  its  influence 
on  theii'  future  success.  The  occupation  of  this 
town  was  a  masterly  stroke.  It  gave  the  king  a 
l)asis  of  operations  on  the  mainland,  it  covered  liis 
rear,  and  it  secm-ed  his  commimication  with  Sweden. 

Step  by  step  Gustavus  Adolphus  advanced  into 
North  Germany.  His  host  swelled  and  midtiplied 
the  farther  his  banners  were  borne.  The  soldiers 
who  had  formed  the  armies  of  Coimt  Mansfeld 
and  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  and  the  corps  dis- 
banded by  Wallenstein,  flocked  in  crowds  to  his 
standard,  and  exchanged  their  pkuidering  habits 
for  the  order  and  bravery  of  well-disciplined  troops. 
The  capture  of  town  after  town  added  every  day 
new  pledges  of  final  success.  The  inequality  of  his 
force  in  point  of  numbers  was  more  than  balanced 
by  his  great  superiority  in  tactics.  Combining  the 
most  determined  resolution  with  the  most  con- 
summate prudence,  he  went  on  driving  the  im- 
perialists before  him,  and  by  the  end  of  autumn 
almost  the  whole  of  Pomerania  was  in  his  posses- 
sion. It  was  on  these  first  efibrts  that  the  final 
issue  must  depend,  and  not  one  f;»lse  step  had  he 
made  in  them.  "  Napoleon  considered  him  to  be 
the  first  general  of  all  times,  chiefly  because  during 
a  dangerous  and  tedious  campaign,  from  June, 
1630,  to  the  autumn  of  16.31,  he  advanced  slowly, 
but  surely,  towai-ds  the  centre  of  Germany  without 
sufiering  any  repulse  worth  mentioning."^ 

When  winter  approached,  the  imperial  generals, 
wearied  with  then-  defeats,  sent  plenipotentiaries 
to  the  camp  of  the  Swedes  to  sue  for  a  cassation  off 
hostilities,  but  they  found  they  had  to  do  with  an 
enemy  who,  clad  in  sheep's-skin,  felt  no  ^vinter  in 
the  climate  of  Germany.  The  reply  of  Gustavus 
to  the  proposal  that  both  sides  should  go  into  winter 
quarters  was,  "  The  Swedes  are  soldiers  in  winter 
as  well  as  in  summer."''  The  imperialist  soldiers 
were  farther  harassed  by  the  peasantry,  who  now 
avenged  upon  them  the  pillagings  and  mm-ders 
they  had  been  guilty  of  in  their  advance.  Deser- 
tion was  thinning  and  disorganisation  weakening 
their  ranks,  and  the  imperial  commander  in  Pome- 
i-ania,  Torquato  Conte,  took  the  oiiijortunity  of  re- 
signing a  command  which,  while  adding  nothing  to 
his  wealth,  was  avery  day  lessening  his  reputation. 

Flying  before  the  victorious  arms  of  Gustavus 


1  Ludwig  H&usser,  vol.  ii.,  p.  148. 


-  Ludwig  Htiussei',  vol.  ii.,  p.  157. 
3  SchiUer,  vol.  i.,  p.  226. 


POMERANIA  AND   MECKLENBURG  RECOVERED. 


279 


Adolphus,  and  abandoning  in  theii-  retreat  wagons 
and  standards,'  to  be  gathered  up  by  the  Swedes, 
the  imperial  troops  took  refuge  in  Brandenburg, 
where  they  prepared  for  themselves  future  calami- 
ties by  oppressing  and  plundeiing  the  inhabitants, 
although  the  subjects  of  a  iiiler  who  was  the  ally 
of  their  emperor.  The  king  would  have  followed 
the  enemy  into  the  Duchy  of  Brandenburg,  had  not 
the  gates  of  Kustrin,  opened  to  admit  the  im- 
perialists, been  closed  upon  himself  He  now 
turned  his  victorious  arms  towards  Mecklenbiug, 
whose  dukes  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  had  stripped 
of  their  territory  and  driven  into  exile.  The  captui'e 
of  Demmin  gave  him  entrance  into  this  territory, 
where  .success  continued  to  attend  his  arms.  By 
the  end  of  February,  1631,  the  king  had  taken 
fully  eighty  cities,  strongholds,  and  redoubts  in 
Pomerania  and  Mecklenburg." 

At  this  stage  there  came  a  little  help  to  the 
Protestant  hero  from  a  somewhat  suspicious  quarter, 
France.  Cardinal  Richelieu,  who  w.is  now  supreme 
in  that  kingdom,  had  revived  the  foreign  policy  of 
Henry  IV.,  which  was  directed  to  the  end  of 
humbling  the  House  of  Austria,  and  his  quick  eye 
saw  in  the  Swedish  warrior  a  fit  instrument,  as  he 
thought,  for  achieving  his  purpose.  It  was  a 
delicate  matter  for  a  "  prince  of  the  Church  "  to 
enter  into  an  alliance  with  a  heretical  king,  but 
Richelieu  trusted  that  in  return  for  the  subsidy  he 
offered  to  Gustavus  he  would  be  allowed  the  regu- 
lation and  control  of  the  war.  He  found,  however, 
in  Adolphus  his  master.  The  Treaty  of  Balwarde 
(January,  1631)  secured  to  Gustavus  a  subsidy  of 
400,000  dollars,  for  the  attainment  of  interests 
common  to  France  and  Sweden,  but  left  to  the 
latter  Power  the  political  and  military  direction. 
This  was  a  diplomatic  victory  of  no  small  impor- 
tance to  the  Swedish  monarch.  The  capture  of 
two  important  places,  Colberg  and  Frankfort-on- 
the-Oder,  which  followed  soon  after,  shed  fresh 
lustre  on  the  Swedish  ai-ms,  and  made  the  expedi- 
tion of  Gustavus  Adolphus  appear  still  more  pro- 
minent in  the  eyes  of  Europe. 

Even  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany  began 
to  show  a  little  heart.  They  had  basely  truckled 
to  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  ;  not  a  finger  had  they 
lifted  to  stem  the  toiTcnt  of  the  Catholic  reaction  ; 
but  now,  conscious  that  a  mighty  power  had  an-ived 
in  the  midst  of  them,  they  began  to  talk  of  I'e- 
asserting  their  rights.  They  were  yet  too  proud  to 
accept  of  help  from  the  stranger,  but  his  presence 
among  them,  and  the  success  that  was  crowning  his 
efforts  in  a  war  which  ought  to  have  been  under- 


'  Chapman,  p.  219. 


2  Ibid.,  p.  231. 


taken  by  themselves,  helped  to  rouse  them  from 
that  shameful  and  criminal  apathy  into  which  they 
had  fallen,  and  which  indisposed  them  for  the  least 
effort  to  recover  the  much  of  which  they  had  been 
stripped,  or  to  retain  the  little  that  had  been  left  to 
them.  At  this  moment  Ferdinand  of  Austria  did 
his  best,  though  all  unintentionally,  to  stimulate 
their  feeble  efforts,  and  to  make  them  join  their 
arms  with  those  of  the  Swedish  monarch  in  fighting 
the  battle  of  a  common  Protestantism.  The  em- 
peror issued  orders  to  his  officei's  to  put  in  execution 
the  Edict  of  Restitution.  The  enforcement  of  this 
edict  would  sweep  into  the  Treasury  of  the  em- 
peror and  of  the  Roman  Church  a  vast  amount  of 
Protestant  property  in  the  two  most  powerful  Pro- 
testant electorates  in  Germany,  those  of  Saxony 
and  Brandenburg,  and  would  specially  in-itate  the 
two  most  important  allies  whom  the  emperor  had 
among  the  Protestant  princes.  The  hour  was  cer- 
tainly ill-chosen  for  such  a  proceeding,  when  Wallen- 
stein  had  been  dismissed,  when  defeat  after  defeat 
was  scattering  the  imperial  ai-mies,  and  when  the 
advancing  tide  of  Swedish  success  was  threatening 
to  sweep  away  all  the  fi-uits  of  Ferdinand's  fomier 
victories  even  more  rapidly  than  he  had  achieved 
them.  But,  the  Court  of  Vienna  believing  that 
its  hold  on  Germany  was  too  firm  ever  to  be 
loosened,  and  despising  this  assault  fi-om  the  little 
Sweden,  Ferdinand,  acting  doubtless  by  the  advice 
of  the  Jesuits,  gave  oi'ders  to  proceed  with  tlie 
plunder  of  his  Protestant  allies. 

It  was  only  now  that  the  veil  was  fully  lifted  from 
the  eyes  of  John  George,  Elector  of  Saxony.  This 
prince  exhibits  little  save  contrast  to  the  pious,  mag- 
nanimous, and  public-spirited  Electoi-s  of  Saxony 
of  a  former  day.  His  private  and  personal  manners 
were  coarse ;  he  dressed  slovenly,  and  fed  glut- 
tonously. His  public  policy  was  utterly  selfish.  He 
liad  long  been  the  dupe  of  the  emperor,  his  sottish 
understanding  and  grovelling  aims  preventing  him 
from  seeing  the  gulf  into  which  he  was  sinking. 
But  now,  finding  himself  threatened  with  annihila- 
tion, he  resolved  to  adopt  a  decisive  policy.  As 
Elector  of  Saxony  he  was  the  leader  of  the  Protes- 
tant princes,  and  he  now  purposed  to  place  himself 
at  their  head,  and  form  a  third  party  in  Germany, 
which  would  oppose  the  emperor  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  King  of  Sweden  on  tlie  other.  The  Elector 
of  Saxony  would  not  lower  himself  by  joining  with 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  He  did  not  need  the  hand  of 
the  northern  stranger  to  pull  him  out  of  the  mii-e ; 
he  would  exti-icate  liimself. 

Proceeding  in  the  execution  of  his  plans,  des- 
tined, he  believed,  to  restore  tlie  German  liberties, 
the   Elector   of  Saxony   summoned   a  convention 


280 


HISTOEY  OF  PROTESTAJ^TISM. 


of  the  Protestiint  States,  to  meet  at  Leipsic  in 
Februaiy,  1631.  The  assemblage  was  brilliant,  but 
can  hai'dly  be  said  to  have  been  powerful.  The 
princes  and  deputies  who  composed  it  would  never 
have  had  the  courage  to  meet,  had  they  not  known 
that  they  assembled  under  the  shadow  of  the  Swedish 
arms,  which  they  affected  to  despise.  Theii-  con- 
vention lasted  three  months,  and  then-  time  was 
divided  between  feasting  and  attempts  to  frame  a 
programme  of  miited  action.  The  Jesuits  jeered, 
"The  poor  little  Lutheran  princes,"  said  they,  "ave 
holding  a  little  convention  at  Leipsic,  Who  is 
there  ?  "  they  asked.  "  A  princeling  and  a  half. 
What  ai-e  they  going  to  do?  Make  a  Little  war." 
The  princes  did  not  make  a  war  either  little  or 
great :  they  contented  themselves  with  petitiouiug 
the  emperor  to  I'emove  the  grievances  of  which 
they  complained.  They  begged  him  especially  to 
revoke  the  Edict  of  Restitution,  and  to  withdraw 


his  troops  from  their  cities  and  fortresses.  To'thLs 
petition  not  the  least  heed  was  ever  paid.  The 
princes  did  not  even  form  a  league  among  them- 
selves; they  thought  they  had  done  enough  when 
they  fixed  the  number  of  soldiei-s  that  each  was  to 
furnish,  in  the  event  of  theii-  forming  a  league  some 
other  time.'  This  was  a  truly  pitiable  spectacle. 
The  priuces  saw  their  country  devastated,  their 
cities  occupied  by  foreign  troops,  theii-  religion  and 
then-  liberties  proscribed — in  short,  all  that  gave 
glory  and  renown  to  Germany  smitten  down  by  the 
hand  of  tyi-anny,  yet  the  power  and  the  spirit  alike 
were  wantiug  for  the  vindication  of  their  rights,  and 
amid  the  ruLa  of  every  ■\Ti'tue  theii'  pride  alone  sur- 
vived; for  we  see  them  turning  away  with  disdain 
from  the  strong  arm  that  is  extended  towards  them 
for  the  purpose  of  pulling  them  out  of  the  gulf. 
Plain  it  was  that  the  hour  of  theii'  deliverance  was 
yet  distant. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

FALL   OF   MAGDEBURG  AND   VICTORY   OF   LEIPSIC. 

Magdeburg— Its  Wealth  and  Importance— Coveted  by  both  Parties— It  declares,  against  the  Imperialists— Its 
Administratoi- — Count  vou  TUIy— His  Career— Personal  Appearance— Magdebursj  Invested — Refuse  a  Swedish 
Garrison— Subiurbs  Burned — The  Assault— The  Defence— CouncU  of  Wai' — The  Cannonading  Ceases — False  Hopes 
— The  City  Stormed  and  Taken — Entry  of  Tilly— Horrors  of  the  Sack— Total  Destruction  of  the  City—  Gustavus 
Blamed  for  not  Raising  the  Siege — His  Defence— The  Electors  of  Brandenburg  and  Saxony  now  Join  him — Battle 
of  Leipsic— Plan  of  Battle— Total  Eout  of  the  ImperiaUsts— All  is  Changed. 


While  the  convention  of  Leipsic  was  making 
boastful  speeches,  and  the  Jesuits  were  firing  off 
derisive  pasquils,  and  Ferdinand  of  Austria  was 
maintaining  a  haughty  and  apparently  an  uncon- 
cerned attitude  in  presence  of  the  invading  Swedes, 
Gustavus  Adolphus  was  adding  victory  to  victory, 
and  every  day  marching  farther  into  the  heart  of 
Germany.  His  advance  at  last  caused  alarm  to  the 
imperial  generals,  and  it  was  resolved  to  trifle  no 
longer  with  the  matter,  but  to  adopt  the  most 
energetic  mea.sure.s  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the 
northern  arms.  ThLs  brings  us  to  one  of  the  most 
thrilling  incidents  of  the  war — the  siege  and  cap- 
ture of  Magdeburg. 

This  ancient  :ind  wealthy  city  .stood  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Elbe.  It  was  strongly  fortified,  being 
enclosed  on  its  land  sides  by  lofty  walls  and  broad 
ditches.  The  commerce  on  its  river  had  gi'eatly 
enriched  the  citizens,  and  the  republican  form  of 
their  government  had  nourished  in  their  breiusts  a 
spirit  of  independence  and  bravery.     In  those  days, 


when  neither  trade  nor  liberty  was  widely  diffused, 
Magdeburg  had  fewer  rivals  to  contend  -svith  than 
now,  and  it  surpassed  in  riches  and  freedom  most 
of  the  cities  in  Germany.  This  made  it  a  prize 
earnestly  coveted  by  both  sides.  If  it  should  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  Swedes,  its  situation  and 
strength  would  make  it  an  admirable  storehouse 
and  arsenal  for  the  army  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
should  the  imperialists  gain  possession  of  it,  it 
would  give  them  a  basis  of  operations  from  which 
to  threaten  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  his  rear,  and 
would  put  it  into  their  power  to  close  against  liim 
one  of  his  main  exits  from  Germany,  should  defeat 
compel  him  to  retreat  towards  the  Baltic.  Its 
government  was  somewhat  anomalous  at  this 
moment.  It  was  the  capital  of  a  rich  bishopi-ic, 
which  had  for  some  time  been  in  possession  of  the 
Protestant  princes  of  the  House  of  Brandenburg. 

'  Schiller,  vol.  i.,  pp.  234,  235.    Ludwig  Hausaer,  vol.  ii., 
pp.  160-102. 


SIEGE   OF  MAGDEBUEG. 


281 


Its  present  administrator,  Christian  WUliam,  had 
made  himself  obnoxious  to  Ferdinand,  by  taking 
pirt  -ivitli  the  King  of  Denmark  in  his  invasion  of 
the  empii'e  ;  and  the  chapter,  dreading  the  effects 
of  the  emiieror's  anger,  deposed  Christian  William, 
and  elected  the  second  son  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
in  his  room.  The  emperor,  however,  disallowed  this 
election,  and  appointed  his  own  son  Leopold  to  the 
dignity ;  but  Christian  William  of  Brandenburg, 
ha\ing  made  friends  with  the  magistrates  and  the 
citizens,  resumed  his  government  of  the  city,  and 
having  roused  the  inhabitants  by  pointing  to  the  de- 
vastations which  the  impeiial  troops  had  committed 
on  their  territory,  and  having  held  out  to  them 
hopes  of  succour  from  the  Swedes,  whose  victorious 
leader  was  approaching  nearer  every  day,  he  in- 
duced them  to  declai'e  war  against  the  emperor. 
They  joined  battle  with  small  bodies  of  imperialists, 
and  succeeded  in  defeating  them,  and  they  had 
even  surprised  the  town  of  Halle,  when  the  ad- 
vance of  the  main  army  under  Tilly  compelled 
them  to  fall  back  and  shut  themselves  up  in  Magde- 
burg. 

Before  entering  on  the  sad  story  of  Magdeburg's 
heroic  defence  and  tragic  fidl,  let  us  look  at  the 
man  who  was  destined  to  be  the  chief  actor  in 
the  scenes  of  carnage  about  to  ensue.  Count 
von  Tilly  was  bom  in  Liege,  of  a  noble  family. 
He  received  his  military  education  in  the  Nether- 
laijds,  then  the  most  famous  school  for  generals. 
By  nature  cold,  of  gloomy  disposition,  and  cherish- 
ing an  austere  but  sincere  bigotry,  he  had  sei-ved 
\vith  equal  zeal  and  ability  in  almost  all  the  wars  of 
the  period  against  Protestantism.  His  sword  had 
been  drawn  on  the  bloody  fields  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries ;  he  had  combated  against  the  Protestant 
armies  in  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  and  when  the 
wars  came  to  an  end  in  these  countries,  because 
there  were  no  more  Protestants  to  slay,  he  had 
been  appointed  to  lead  the  ai-mies  of  the  League. 
When  Wallenstein  was  dismissed  he  was  made 
generalissimo  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  and  it  is 
in  this  capacity  that  we  now  find  him  before  the 
walls  of  Magdeburg.  Schiller  has  drawn  his  per- 
sonal appearance  with  the  power  of  a  master. 
"  His  strange  and  teiTific  aspect,"  says  he,  "  was 
in  unison  with  his  character.  Of  low  stature,  thin, 
with  hollow  cheeks,  a  long  nose,  a  broad  and 
wrinkled  forehead,  large  whiskers,  and  a  pointed 
chin ;  he  was  generally  attired  iir  a  Spanish  doiiblet 
of  gi-een  silk,  with  slashed  sleeves,  with  a  small 
and  peaked  hat  upon  his  liead,  surmounted  by  a 
red  feather,  which  Inuig  down  his  back.  His 
whole  aspect  recalled  to  recollection  the  Duke  of 
Alva,  the  scourge  of  the  Flemings,  and  his  actions 


were  by  no  means  calculated  to  remove  the  im- 
pression." ' 

Tilly  know  too  well  the  art  of  war  to  despise  his 
gi-eat  opponent.  "  This  is  a  player,"  said  he  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  "  from  whom  we  gain  much  if 
we  merely  lose  nothing." 

Magdeburg  was  first  invested  by  Count  Pappen- 
heim,  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  House  of  Austria, 
and  accounted  the  first  cavalry  general  of  his  age. 
He  was  soon  joined  by  Tilly  at  the  head  of  his 
army,  and  the  city  was  more  closely  invested  than 
ever.  The  line  of  walls  to  be  defended  was  exten- 
sive, the  garrison  was  small,  and  the  citizens,  when 
they  saw  the  imperialist  banners  on  all  sides  of 
them,  began  to  repent  having  declined  the  offer  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus  to  aid  in  the  defence  with  a 
regiment  of  his  soldiers.  Faction,  unhappily, 
divided  the  citizens,  and  they  refused  to  admit  the 
Swedish  garrison  within  their  walls ;  nor,  wealthy 
though  they  were,  would  they  even  advance  money 
enough  to  levy  ti'oops  sufficient  for  their  defence. 
The  Swedish  monarch  was  pained  at  the  course 
they  chose  to  adopt,  but  the  city  was  now  shut  in, 
and  all  he  could  do  was  to  send  Count  Falkenberg, 
a  brave  and  experienced  officer,  to  direct  the  mili- 
tary operations,  and  aid  with  his  counsel  the 
Administrator  Christian  William. 

All  during  the  winter  of  1630-31,  Magdeburg 
continued  to  be  invested  ;  but  the  siege  made  slow 
progress  owing  to  the  circumstance  that  the  two 
generals,  Tilly  and  Pappenheim,  were  compelled  to 
withdraw,  to  withstand  the  advance  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  leaving  inferior  men  to  command  in 
their  absence.  But  in  March,  1631,  the  two  great 
leaders  returned,  and  the  operations  of  the  siege 
were  resumed  with  vigour.  After  the  first  few 
days  the  outposts  and  suburbs  were  abandoned, 
and,  being  set  fij'e  to  by  the  imperialists,  were 
reduced  to  ashes.  The  battle  now  advanced  to  the 
walls  and  gates.  During  all  the  month  of  April 
the  storm  of  assault  and  resistance  raged  fiercely 
round  the  fortifications.  The  citizens  armed  them- 
selves to  supplement  the  smallness  of  the  gari-ison, 
and  day  and  night  fought  on  the  walls.  Daily 
battle  thinned  their  numbers,  want  began  to  impair 
their  strength,  but  their  frequent  sallies  told  the 
besiegers  that  their  spirit  and  bravery  remained 
unabated.  Their  detestation  of  the  tyranny  of 
Ferdinand,  their  determination  to  retain  then- 
Protestant  faith,  and  their  hopes  of  relief  from 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  who  they  knew  was  in  their 
neighbourhood,  made  them  unanimous  in  theii-  re- 
solution to  defend  the  place  to  the  last. 


1  Schiller,  vol.  i.,  p.  230. 


T    J    •*    ^ 


5-^ 


^   ^     >         -    . 

fi  fc  &  It  i  H* 


I  S  o  .a  I  ^ 


f  -a  5  I  ^  3 

■a  a  s  a    .  i 

^  5  ,^  §*  ^  ^ 

•S  S  8  g  I 


284 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


The  approach  of  tlie  Swedish  hero  was  as  gi-eatly 
dreaded  in  the  camp  of  Tilly,  as  it  was  longed  for  in 
the  city  of  ilugdeburg.  A  march  of  three  days,  it 
was  known,  would  bring  him  befoi-e  the  walls,  and 
then  the  imperialists  would  be  between  two  fires ; 
they  would  have  the  Swedes,  flushed  -vvith  victory, 
in  their  rear,  and  the  besieged,  armed  with  despair, 
in  their  front.  Tilly  often  directed  anxious  eyes 
into  the  distance,  fearing  to  discover  the  Swedish 
banners  on  the  horizon.  He  assembled  a  council  of 
war,  to  debate  whether  he  should  raise  the  siege,  or 
attempt  carrying  Magdeburg  by  storm.  It  was 
re.solved  to  storm  the  city  before  Gustavus  should 
anive.  No  breach  had  yet  been  made  in  the  walls, 
and  the  besiegers  must  add  stratagem  to  force, 
would  they  take  the  place.  It  was  resolved  to 
follow  the  precedent  of  the  siege  of  Maestricht, 
where  a  sudden  cessation  of  the  cannonading  had 
done  more  to  open  the  gates  than  all  the  fire  of  the 
artillery.  On  the  9th  of  May,  at  noon,  the  cannon 
of  Tilly  ceased  firing,  and  the  besiegers  removed  a 
few  of  the  guns.  "  Ah  ! "  said  the  citizens  of 
Magdeburg,  joyfully,  "  we  are  .saved  ;  the  Swedish 
hero  is  approaching,  and  the  hoi5ts  of  TUly  are 
about  to  flee."  All  that  night  the  cannon  of  the 
besiegers  remained  silent.  This  confinned  the 
impression  of  the  citizens  that  the  siege  was  about 
to  be  raised.  The  danger  which  had  so  long  hung 
above  them  and  inflicted  so  fearful  a  strain  on 
their  energies  being  gone,  as  they  believed,  the 
weariness  and  exhaustion  that  now  overpowered 
them  were  in  proportion  to  the  foi-mer  tension.  The 
stillness  seemed  deep  after  the  nights  of  fire  and 
tempest  through  which  they  had  passed.  The 
silver  of  morning  appeared  in  the  east ;  still  all 
was  calm.  The  sun  of  a  May  day  beamed  forth, 
and  showed  the  imperial  encampment  apparently 
reposing.  One-half  of  the  garrison,  by  order  of 
Falkenberg,  had  been  withdraAvn  from  the  walls, 
the  wearied  citizens  were  drowned  in  sleep,  and  the 
few  who  were  awake  were  about  to  repair  to  the 
churches  to  ofier  thanks  for  their  deliverance,  wlien, 
at  seven  of  the  morning,  sudden  as  the  awakening 
of  a  quiescent  volcano,  a  terrific  storm  broke  over 
the  city. 

The  roar  of  cannon,  the  ringing  of  the  tocsin,  the 
shouts  of  assailants,  lilending  in  one  frightful 
thimder-burst,  awoke  the  citizens.  Stunned  and 
tei-rified,  they  seized  their  arms  and  nished  into 
the  street,  only  to  find  the  enemy  pouring  into  the 
town  over  the  ramparts  and  through  two  of  the 
gates,  of  which  they  had  already  gained  possession. 
Falkenberg,  as  he  was  hurrj'ing  from  post  to  post, 
was  cut  down  at  the  commencement  of  the  assault. 
His  fall  was  fatal  to  the  defence,   for  the  attack 


not  having  been  foreseen,  no  plan  of  resistance  had 
been  arranged ;  and  though  the  citizens,  knowing 
the  horrors  that  were  entering  with  the  soldiei's, 
fought  with  a  desperate  bravery,  they  were  unable 
— -without  a  leader,  and  without  a  plan — to  stem 
the  torrent  of  armed  men  who  were  eveiy  minute 
pouring  into  their  city.  It  was  easy  scaling  the 
walls,  when  defended  by  only  a  handful  of  men  ;  it 
was  equally  easy  forcing  the  gates,  when  the  guards 
had  been  withdrawn  to  fight  on  the  ramparts. 
Every  moment  the  odds  against  the  citizens  were 
becoming  more  overwhelming,  and  by  twelve  o'clock 
all  resistance  was  at  an  end,  and  Magdeburg  was  iu 
the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

Tilly  now  entered  with  the  ai-my.  He  took 
possession  of  the  jji-incipal  streets  with  his  troops, 
and  pointing  his  shotted  cannon  upon  the  masses 
of  the  citizens,  compelled  them  to  retire  into  theii' 
houses,  there  to  await  theii-  fate.  Regiment  after 
regiment  poured  into  Magdebiu'g.  Thei'e  entered, 
besides  the  German  troops,  the  pitiless  Walloons, 
followed  by  the  yet  more  terrible  Croats.  What  a 
horde  of  ruflianism  !  Although  an  army  of  wolves 
or  tigers  had  been  collected  into  Magdeburg,  the 
danger  would  not  have  been  half  so  terrible  as  that 
which  now  hung  over  the  city  from  this  assemblage 
of  men,  inflamed  by  every  brutal  passion,  who 
stood  waiting  the  signal  to  spring  upon  their  prey. 

Silence  was  signal  enough  :  even  Tilly  dared  not 
have  withstood  these  men  in  their  di-eadful  purpose. 
"  And  now  began  a  scene  of  carnage,"  says  Schiller, 
"  which  history  has  no  language,  poetry  no  pencil, 
to  portray.  Neither  the  innocence  of  childhood 
nor  the  helplessness  of  old  age,  neither  youth,  sex, 
rank,  nor  beauty  could  disarm  the  fury  of  the 
conquerors.  Wives  were  dishonom-ed  in  the  arms 
of  their  husbands,  and  daughters  at  the  feet  of 
their-  parents."  Infants  were  murdered  at  the 
breast,  or  tossed  from  pike  to  pike  of  the  Croats, 
and  then  flung  into  the  fire.  Fifty-three  women 
wore  found  in  a  single  church,  their  hands  tied  and 
their  tlw-oats  cut.  Some  ladies  of  wealth  and 
beauty  were  tied  to  the  stiniips  of  the  soldiers' 
horses,  and  led  away  captive.  It  were  a  wickedness 
even  to  -write  all  the  shameful  and  homble  things 
that  were  done :  how  much  greater  a  -wickedness 
was  it  to  do  them !  Some  of  the  ofiicers  of  the 
League,  .shocked  at  the  a^vful  sights,  ventured  to 
approach  Tilly,  and  beg  him  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
carnage.  "  Come  back  in  an  hour,"  was  his  answer, 
"  and  I  shall  see  what  can  be  done.  The  soldier 
must  have  some  recompense  for  his  danger  and 
toils."  The  tempest  of  shrieks,  and  waUings,  and 
shoutings,  of  murder  and  rapine,  the  rattling  of 
musketry  and  the  clashing  of  swords,  conttnued  to 


THE   OPPOSING  ARMIES   AT   LEIPSIC. 


285 


rage,  wliile  the  general  stood  by,  a  calm  spectator  of 
the  woes  aud  crimes  that  wei-e  passing  around  hiin. 
The  city  had  been  set  fire  to  in  several  places, 
and  a  strong  wind  springing  up,  the  conflagration 
raged  with  a  fui-y  whicli  no  one  sought  to  control. 
The  roar  of  the  flames  was  now  added  to  the  other 
sounds  of  terror  that  rose  from  the  doomed  spot. 
The  fire  I'an  along  the  city  with  great  rapidity,  and 
swept  houses,  chui'ches,  and  whole  streets  before  it; 
but  amid  the  smoke,  the  falling  buUdiugs,  and  the 
streets  flowing  with  blood,  the  plunderer  continued 
to  prowl,  and  the  miu-derer  to  piu'sue  his  \'ictim, 
till  the  glowing  and  almost  burning  aii-  drove  the 
miscreants  back  to  their  camp.  Magdeburg  had 
ceased  to  exist ;  this  fail-,  populous,  and  wealthy 
city,  one  of  tlie  finest  in  Germany,  was  now  a  field 
of  blackened  ruins.  Every  edifice  had  fallen  a  prey 
to  the  flames,  ^vith  the  exception  of  a  church  and  a 
convent,  which  the  soldiers  assisted  the  monks  to 
save,  and  150  fishermen's  huts  which  stood  on  the 
banks  of  the  Elbe.  "  The  thing  is  so  horrible," 
says  a  contemporary  writer,  "  that  I  am  afraid  to 
mention  it  further.  According  to  the  general 
belief  here,  above  40,000  of  aU  conditions  have 
ended  their  days  in  the  streets  and  houses  by  fire 
and  sword."' 

The  same  German  party  who  had  declined,  with 
an  air  of  ofiended  dignity,  the  help  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  now  blamed  him  for  not  having  extended 
his  assistance  to  Magdeburg.  This  made  it  neces- 
sary for  the  SweiUsh  monarch  to  explain  publicly 
why  he  had  not  raised  the  siege.  He  showed 
conclusively  that  he  coidd  not  have  done  so  with- 
out risking  the  whole  success  of  his  expedition,  and 
this  he  did  not  feel  justified  in  doing  for  the  sake 
of  a  single  city.  He  had  resolved,  he  said,  tlie 
moment  he  heard  of  the  danger  of  Magdeburg,  to 
march  to  its  relief :  but  first  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
refused  a  passage  for  his  troops  thi'ough  his  do- 
minions; and,  secondly,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg 
was  equally  unwilling  to  guarantee  an  open  retreat 
for  his  anny  through  his  territory  in  case  of  defeat. 
Tlie  fate  of  Magdeburg  was  thus  mainly  owing  to 
the  vacillating  and  cowardly  policy  of  these  two 
Electors,  who  had,  up  to  that  moment,  not  made 
it  plain  to  Gustavus  whether  they  were  his  friends 
or  his  enemies,  and  whether  they  were  to  abide 
with  the  League  or  join  their  arms  with  his  in 
defence  of  Protestantism. 

But  the  fall  of  Magdeburg  was  helpful  to  the 
Protestant  cause.    It  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  throiiith 


'  Sir  Eobert  Anstruther,  Oerman  Correspondence,  Mny, 
1631.  Lotichius,  vol.  i.,  p.  876.  Chemnitz,  vol.  i.,  p.  132. 
Chapman,  pp.  240-243.    Schiller,  vol.  i.,  pp.  240—250. 


Germany,  and  it  alarmed  the  wavering  Electors  of 
Brandenburg  and  Saxony,  who  began  to  see  that 
the  end  of  that  neutrality  which  they  thought  so 
dexterous  would  be  that  they  would  be  the  last  to 
be  devoured  by  the  imperial  arms.  Accordingly, 
first  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  made  a  firm  compact 
vnth  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  ever  after  continued 
liis  staunchest  friend.  A  raid  which  Tilly  made 
into  his  teri-itories  after  leaving  Magdeburg  helped 
powerfully  to  tliis  alliance  %vith  the  Swedish  king. 
The  next  to  become  the  ally  of  Gustavus  was  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg — not,  however,  till  tlie 
Swedes  had  marched  to  Berlin,  and  Gustavus, 
pointing  his  camion  at  the  palace,  demanded  of  the 
Elector  that  he  should  say  whether  he  was  for  him 
or  against  him.  Last  of  all,  the  Elector  of  Saxony, 
who  had  endured  such  distress  and  irresolution  of 
mind,  and  who  now  received  a  visit  from  TUly  and 
his  marauders — then-  track  marked,  as  usual,  by 
friglitful  devastation — came  at  length  to  a  decision, 
and  joined  his  arms  with  those  of  Gustavus.  This 
opened  the  way  for  the  crowning  victory  of  the  cam- 
paign, which  established  the  fortunes  of  Gustavus, 
and  broke  in  pieces  the  army  of  the  emjieror. 

Strengthened  by  these  alliances,  Gustavus  crossed 
the  Elbe.  The  next  day  his  forces  were  joined  by 
the  Saxon  army,  3.5,000  strong.  At  a  council  of 
war  which  was  held  here,  it  was  debated  whether 
the  confederated  host  was  strong  enough  to  risk  a 
battle,  or  whether  the  war  should  be  protracted. 
"  If  we  decide  upon  a  battle,"  said  Gustavus,  "  a 
crown  and  two  electorates  are  at  stake."  The  die 
was  cast  in  favour  of  fighting.  Gustavus  put  his 
army  in  motion  to  meet  Tilly,  who  lay  encamped  in 
a  strong  and  advantageous  position  near  Leipsic. 
On  the  evening  of  the  6th  September,  1631, 
Gustavus  learned  that  he  was  witliin  half  a  dozen 
miles  of  the  imperialists.  That  night  he  dreamed 
that  he  had  caught  TUly  by  the  hair  of  his  head, 
but  that  all  liis  exertions  could  not  secure  his 
prisoner  before  he  had  succeeded  in  biting  him  on 
the  left  arm."  Next  morning  the  two  hostile 
armies  were  in  sight  of  each  other.  Gustavus  had 
seen  the  dawn  of  this  day  with  deep  anxiety.  For 
the  fir.st  time  he  was  in  presence  of  the  whole 
imperial  host,  under  its  hitherto  imconquercd 
leader,  and  the  issue  of  this  day's  battle  would 
decide  whether  the  object  for  which  he  had  crossed 
the  Baltic  was  to  be  attained,  and  Germany  .set 
free  from  her  chains,  or  wliether  defeat  lowered 
over  himself,  and  political  and  religious  bondage 
over  the  Fatherland.  Cliristendom  wiuted  with 
anxiety  the  issue  of  the  event. 

-  Khevenhiller,  vol.  xi.,  p.  1875— op«d  Chapman,  p.  257. 


286 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


The  army  of  Tilly  was  drawn  up  in  a  single  far- 
extending  line  on  a  lising  ground  on  the  plain  of 
Breitenfeld,  within  a  mile  of  Leipsic.  The  cannon 
were  planted  on  the  heights  which  rose  behiiid  the 
army,  so  as  to  sweep  the  plain,  but  making  it  im- 
possible for  the  imperial  troops  to  advance  without 
coming  \\'ithin  the  I'ange  of  their  own  fire.  The 
infantry  was  placed  in  the  centre,  where  Tilly 
himself  commanded  ;  the  cavalry  formed  the  wings, 
with  Fiirstenberg  on  the  right,  and  Pappenheim  on 
the  left.  The  Swedish  army  was  arranged  into 
centre  and  wngs,  each  two  columns  in  depth. 
Teuffel  commanded  in  the  centre,  Horn  led  the 
left  wing,  and  the  king  himself  the  riglit,  frontmg 
Pappenlieim.  The  Saxon  troops,  under  the  Elector, 
were  stationed  a  little  in  the  rear,  on  the  left,  at 
some  distance  from  the  Swedish  main  body,  the  king 
deeming  it  prudent  to  separate  Saxon  from  Swedish 
valour ;  and  the  event  justified  his  forethought. 

The  battle  was  joined  at  noon.  It  began  with 
a  cannonading,  which  lasted  two  hours.  At  two 
o'clock  Pappenheini  began  the  attack  by  throwing 
his  cavalry  upon  the  right  wing  of  the  Swedes, 
which  was  commanded  by  the  king.  The  wind  was 
blowing  from  the  west,  and  the  dust  from  the  new- 
ploughed  land  was  driven  in  clouds  in  the  face  of 
the  Swedes.  To  avoid  the  annoyance  the  king 
wheeled  rapidly  to  the  north,  and  the  troops  of 
Pappenheim,  ru.shing  in  at  the  void  which  the  king's 
movement  had  left  between  the  right  vnng  and 
the  centre,  were  met  in  front  by  the  second 
column  of  the  wing,  and  assailed  in  the  rear  by  the 
first  column,  led  by  the  king,  and  after  a  desperate 
and  prolonged  conflict  they  were  nearly  all  cut  in 
pieces.  Pappenlieim  was  driven  from  the  field,  with 
the  loss  of  his  ordnance.  While  this  struggle  was 
proceeding  between  the  two  confronting  wings, 
Tilly  descended  from  the  heights,  and  attacked  the 
left  wing  of  the  Swedish  army.  To  avoid  the 
severe  fire  with  which  the  Swedes  received  him,  lie 
turned  off  to  attack  the  Saxons,  who,  mostly  raw 
recruits,  gave  way  and  fled,  carrying  the  Elector 
^vith  them,  who  stopped  only  when  he  had  reached 
Eilenburg.'  Only  one  division  \mder  Arnim  re- 
mained on  the  field,  and  saved  the  Saxon  honour. 

Deeming  the  victory  won,  the  imperialists  raised 
the  cry  of  pm-suit.  Some  8,000  or  9,000  left  tlie 
field  on  the  track  of  the  flying  Saxons,  numbers  of 

'  The  king's  letter  to  Oienstierna,  apud  Geijcr,  vol.  iii., 
p.  217.     Chapman,  p.  261. 


whom  were  overtaken  and  slaughtered.  Gustavug 
seized  the  moment  to  fall  upon  the  flank  of  the 
imperial  centre,  and  soon  effectually  routed  it,  with 
the  exception  of  two  regiments  concealed  by  the 
smoke  and  dust. 

The  centre  of  the  imperialists  had  been  broken, 
and  their  left  wing  driven  from  the  field,  when  the 
troops  under  Fiirstenberg,  who  had  returned  from 
chasing  the  Saxons,  assailed  with  desperate  fury  the 
left  wing  of  the  Swedes.  The  conflict  had  almost 
ceased  on  the  other  parts  of  the  field,  and  the  last  and 
most  terrible  burst  of  the  tempest  was  here  to  dis- 
charge itself,  and  the  fate  of  the  day  to  be  decided. 
Foot  and  horae,  cuirassier,  pikeman,  and  musketeer 
were  drawn  hither,  and  mingled  in  feai-ful  and 
bloody  conflict.  The  sun  was  now  sinking  in  the 
west,  and  his  slanting  beam  fell  on  the  quiet  dead, 
scattered  over  the  field,  but  still  that  heaving  mass 
in  the  centre  kept  sm-ging  and  boiling ;  cuirass  and 
helmet,  pike-head  and  uplifted  sword,  darting  back 
the  rays  of  the  sun,  which  was  descending  lower 
and  lower  in  the  horizon.  The  mass  was  growing 
perceptibly  smaller,  as  soldier  and  horse  fell  beneatli 
sabre  or  bullet,  and  were  trampled  into  the  bloody 
mire.  Tilly  and  his  imperialists  were  fighting  for 
the  renown  of  a  hundred  battles,  which  was  fast 
vanishing.  The  most  obstinate  valour  could  not 
long  hold  out  against  the  overwhelming  odds  of 
the  Swedish  warriors ;  and  a  remnant  of  the  im- 
perialists, favoured  by  the  dusk  of  evening,  and  the 
cloud  and  dust  that  veiled  the  battle-field,  escaped 
from  the  conflict — the  remnant  of  those  terrible 
battalions  which  had  inflicted  such  devastation  on 
Germany.- 

When  Gustavus  Adolphus  rode  out  of  the  field, 
all  was  changed.  He  was  no  longer  "  the  little 
Gothic  king  ; "  he  was  now  the  powerful  conqueror, 
the  terror  of  the  Popish  and  the  hope  of  the 
Protestant  princes  of  Germany.  The  butchers  of 
Magdeburg  had  been  trampled  into  the  bloody  dust 
of  Breitenfeld.  The  imperialist  army  liad  been 
annihilated ;  their  leader,  whom  some  called  the 
first  captain  of  the  age,  had  left  his  glory  on  the 
field  from  which  he  was  fleeing ;  the  road  into 
the  centre  of  Germany  was  open  to  the  conqueror ; 
the  mighty  projects  of  the  Jesuits  were  menaced 
with  overthrow ;  and  the  throne  of  the  emperor 
was  beginning  to  totter. 

-  Chemnitz,  vol.  i.,  p.  175.  Khevenhiller,  vol.ii.,  p.l874. 
Chapman,  pp.  257—265.     Schiller,  vol.  i.,  pp.  266—269. 


Note.- With  reference  to  the  illustrations  on  pp.  282, 
288,  we  give  the  following  particulars :— During  the  Thirty 
Years'  "War,  Augsburg,  which  had,  as  we  have  already 


seen  in  this  history,  identified  itself  with  the  cause  of  the 
Beformation,  was  captured,  and  the  inhabitants  forced 
to  return  to  the  Roman  CathoUc  religion.    A  few  years. 


LUTHERAN  ENVELOPES. 


287 


afterwards,  Gustavus  Adolphus  re-took  the  city,  and  Pro- 
testantism was  once  more  established  in  its  midst.  Tlu-ee 
years  later,  liowever,  Augsbui'g  was  again  captured,  and 
the  form  of  religion  was  again  changed,  though  many  of 
the  citizens  preferred  exile  to  the  abandonment  of  their 
faith.  In  course  of  time  a  Protestant  section  grew  up  in 
the  community,  which  celebrated  the  memory  of  past 
events  by  festivals,  and  was  especially  anxious  to  propa^ 
gate  it  among  tlie  young.  This  object  was  partly  attained 
by  the  circulation  of  letters  on  religious  and  political 
faitlis,  which  exercised  a  very  considerable  iniluence  on 
the  people.  They  were  sent  in  envelopes,  wliich  were 
purposely  made  to  produce  a  strilcing  impression.  These 
writings,  printed  by  hand,  were  addressed  direct  to 
persons  whose  faith  the  Protestants  were  desirous  of 
strengthening,  or  whose  return  to  the  Reformed  Church 
they  were  eager  to  secure.  The  envelope  assured  the 
safe  carriage  of  the  writing  by  trustworthy  co-religionists. 
The  use  of  these  little  religious  sheets  increased,  and 
the  times  becoming  more  settled,  they  were  sold,  along 
with  their  envelopes,  even  at  the  fairs.  These  envelopes 
are  now  rare,  and  the  one  of  which  we  give  a  fac-simile 
was  found  among  the  papers  of  Oberlin.  It  is  dated 
1732,  and  is  of  particular  interest.  The  reverse  and  ob- 
verse sides  are  engraved,  and  the  lines  on  the  engravings 
indicate  the  folds.  This  envelope  (Figs.  I.  and  II.)  was 
made  in  honour  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  centenary  of  the  deliverance  of  Augsburg.  We 
give  a  literal  translation  of  the  German  texts  in  Pig.  1., 
and  of  the  texts  that  occupied  the  blank  spaces  in 
Fig.  II. 

FIG.  I. 

1.  Psalm  xiv.  7. — O  that  the  salvation  of  Israel  were 
come  out  of  Zion  !  When  the  Lord  bringeth  back  the 
captivity  of  his  people,  Jacob  shall  rejoice,  and  Israel 
shall  be  glad. 

2.  Tes,  yes,  the  Highest  wiU  thee  hear. 
And  answer  thy  request  sincere. 

With  speedy  help  and  sure. 
Thy  enemies  round  on  every  side 
The  Lord  will  scatter  far  and  wide ; 

In  him  thou'lt  joy  secure. 

3.  Psabn  xxxiv.  3  and  4. — O  magnify  the  Lord  with 


me,  and  let  us  exalt  Ms  name  together.  I  sought  the 
Lord  and  he  heard  me,  and  delivered  me  from  all  my 
fears. 

4.  Shout,  Augsburg !  shout  triumph  and  sing. 
The  Lord  hath  done  a  wondrous  thing, 

With  tlianks  before  him  stand, 
That  mighty  deed  to  spread  abroad. 
Which  in  past  time  for  thee  he  wrouglit, 

By  great  Gustavus'  hand. 

5.  Praise,  Augsburg !  God's  gi-eat  goodness,  which  a 

hundred  years  ago. 
According  to  his  faithfulness,  he  did  through  Sweden 

show. 
I  say,  praise  God  continually,  praise  him,  and  him 

alone. 
That  he  his  holy  word  stdl  keeps,  and  wUl  all  time 

to  come. 

6.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  great  King  of  Sweden,  the 
form  of  whose  countenance  was  like  a  Hon  at  midnight, 
made  in  a  short  time  many  cities  subject  to  himself, 
because  God's  eye  watched  over  him  continually  with 
help.  He  was  in  bravery  a  second  Alexander,  in  wisdom 
and  understanding  another  Solomon ;  justice  and  goodness 
united  with  each  other,  and  piety  adorned  always  his 
royal  throne.  In  short,  there  is  not  to  be  found  upon 
this  earth  a  greater  hero  than  Gustavus  Adolphus. — 
A..D.  1732. 

FIG.  11. 

1.  As  the  eagle  in  its  flight  turns  ever  toward  the  sun, 
Gustavus  turns  loyally  to  God  in  Christ  alone. 

2.  As   the   sunflower    looks    continually  toward   tlio 

monarch  of  the  day, 
Gustavus  will  to  God  alone  direct  his  eye  alway. 

3.  As  the  compass  alway  in  the  north  a  resting-place 

doth  find, 
Gustavus  stiU  on  Jesus  Christ  relies  with  heart  and 
mind. 

4.  Gustavus'  glory  as  in  rock  engraven  stUl  shall  stand. 
So  long  as  ever  there  remains  a  Lutheran  in  the  land. 

5.  Entrance  into  Augsburg  of  H.M.  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus, which  happened  24th  April,  a.d.  1632. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


CONQUEST   OF   THE    RHINE   AND   B.WARI.V — B.VTTLE    OF   LUTZEN. 


Thanksgiving— Two  Eoads— Gustavus  Marches  to  the  Rhine-Submission  of  Erfurt,  Wurzburg,  Frankfort— Capture 
of  Mainz— Gustavus'  Court— Future  Arrangements  for  Germany— The  King's  Plans— Stipulations  for  Peace- 
Terms  Rejected— Gustavus  Enters  Bavaria— Defeat  and  Death  of  TiUy— WaUenstein  Recalled- His  Terms— The 
Saxons  in  Bohemia-Gustavus  at  Augsburg— At  Ingolstadt— His  Encampment  at  Nuremberg- Camp  of 
Wallenstein-Famine  and  Death— Wallenstein  Invades  Saxony— Gustavus  Follows  him— The  Two  Armies  Meet  at 
Liitzon— Moi-uing  of  the  Battle— The  King's  Address  to  his  Troops— The  Battle— Captui-e  and  Recapture  of 
Trenches  and  Cannon— Murderous  Conflicts— The  King  Woimdcd-He  Falls. 

When  he  saw  how  tlio  day  Lad  gone,  tlio  first  acfc  the  victory  which  had  crowned  Lis  arms.^  On  this 
of  Gustavus  Adolpluis  was  to  fall  on  Ids  knees  oil  field  tLe  God  of  battles  had  "cast  down  tLe  mighty," 
the  blood-bespruikled  plain,  and  to  give  thanks  for Tgchiller^olT  ^269 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


and  "exalted  them  of  low  degree."  There  was  now 
an  end  to  the  jeers  of  the  Jesuits,  and  the  super- 
cilious insolences  of  Ferdinand.  Having  offered 
his  prayer,  Gustavus  rose  up  to  prosecute,  in  the 
mightier  strength  with  which  victory  had  clothed 
hiiu,  the  great  enterpiise  which  had  brought  liini 
across  the  sea.  He  encamped  for  the  night  between 
the  city  of  Leipsic  and  the  held  of  battle.  On  that 
field  7,000  imperialists  lay  dead,  and  in  addition 
5,000  had  been  wounded  or  taken  prisoners.  The 
loss  of  the  Swedes  did  not  exceed  700  ;  that  of  the 
Saxons  amounted  to  2,000,  who  had  fallen  on  the 
field,  or  been  cut  down  in  the  pursuit.  In  a  few 
days  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  who  had  accompanied 
his  soldiers  in  theii"  flight,  belie\-ing  all  to  be  lost, 
returned  to  the  camp  of  the  king,  finding  him  still 
victorious,  and  a  council  of  war  was  held  to  decide 
on  the  measm-es  to  be  adopted  for  the  further  pro- 
secution of  the  war.  Two  roads  were  open  to 
Gustavus — one  to  Vienna,  and  the  other  to  the 
Rhine ;  which  of  the  two  shall  he  choose 't  If  the 
king  had  marched  on  Vienna,  taking  Prague  on  his 
way,  it  is  probable  that  he  would  have  been  able 
to  dictate  a  peace  on  liis  own  terms  at  the  gates  of 
the  Austrian  capital.  His  renowned  chancellor, 
Oxenstierna,  was  of  opinion  that  this  was  the 
course  which  Gustavus  ought  to  have  followed.' 
But  the  king  did  not  then  fully  know  the  import- 
ance of  the  victory  of  Breitenfeld,  and  the  blow  it 
had  inflicted  on  the  imperial  cause  ;  nor  could  he 
expect  any  material  succours  in  Bohemia,  where 
Protestantism  was  almost  entii-ely  trampled  out ; 
so,  sending  the  Elector  of  Saxony  southwards, 
where  every  ojjeration  against  the  Popish  States 
would  help  to  confirm  his  own  Protestant  loyalty, 
still  doubtful,  the  Swedish  monarch  directed  his 
own  march  to  the  West,  where  the  free  cities,  and 
the  Protestant  princes,  waited  his  coming  to  shake 
off  the  yoke  of  Ferdinand,  and  rallj'  round  the 
standard  of  the  Protestant  Liberator. 

HLs  progress  was  a  triumphal  march.  The 
fugitive  Tilly  had  collected  a  few  new  regiments  to 
oppose  his  advance,  but  he  had  marshalled  them 
only  to  be  routed  by  the  victorious  Swedes.  The 
strongly  fortified  city  of  Erfurt  fell  to  the  arms  of 
Gustavus ;  Grotha  and  Weimar  also  opened  their 
gates  to  him.  He  exacted  an  oath  of  allegiance 
fi'om  their  inhabitants,  as  he  did  of  every  town  of 
any  importance,  of  which  he  took  possession, 
leaving  a  garrison  on  his  departure,  to  secure  its 
loyalty.  The  army  now  entered  the  Thuringian 
Forest,  cresset  lights  hung  upon  the  trees  en- 
abling it  to  thread  its  densest  thickets  in  perfect 

'  Puffendorf,  p.  53.    Chapman,  p.  267. 


safety.  On  the  30th  September,  1631,  the  king 
crossed  the  frontier  of  Franconia.  The  cities 
opened  their  gates  to  him,  most  of  them  willingly, 
and  a  few  after  a  fainff  show  of  resistance.  To  all 
of  them  the  conqueror  extended  protection  of  their 
civil  rights,  and  liberty  of  worship. 

The  BLshops  of  Wurzburg  and  Bamberg  trem- 
bled when  they  saw  the  Swedes  pouring  like  a 
torrent  into  their  territories.  These  two  eccle- 
siastics were  among  the  most  zealous  members  of 
the  League,  and  the  most  vinilent  enemies  of  the 
Protestants,  and  they  and  the  towns  of  their  prin- 
cipalities anticipated  the  same  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  the  conquerors  which  they  in  similar 
circumstances  had  inflicted  on  others.  Their  for- 
tresses, cities,  and  territories  were  speedily  in 
possession  of  Gustavus,  but  to  then-  glad  surprise, 
instead  of  the  desecration  of  their  churches,  or  the 
persecution  of  their  persons,  they  beheld  only  a  brO- 
liant  example  of  toleration.  The  Protestant  worship 
was  set  up  in  their  cities,  but  the  Roman  service 
was  permitted  to  be  practised  as  before.  The 
Bishop  of  Wurzburg,  however,  had  not  remained 
to  be  witness  of  this  act  of  moderation.  He  had 
fled  to  Paris  at  the  approach  of  Gustavus.  In  the 
fortress  of  Marienburg,  which  the  Swedish  king 
carried  by  storm,  he  found  the  valuable  library  of 
the  Jesuits,  which  he  caused  to  be  transported  to 
Upsala.  This  formed  some  compensation  for 
the  more  valuable  library  of  Heidelberg  which 
had  been  transferred  to  Rome.  On  the  17th 
of  November  he  entered  Frankfort-on-the-Maine, 
and  marched  his  ai-my  in  a  magnificent  jirocession 
through  it.  "  He  appeared  in  the  midst  of  his 
troops,  clad  in  cloth  of  scarlet  and  gold,  riding  a 
handsome  Spanish  jennet,  bare-headed,  with  a 
bright  and  handsome  countenance,  and  returning 
with  graceful  courtesy  the  cheers  and  salutations 
of  the  spectators."-  From  the  furthest  shore  of 
Pomerania,  to  the  point  where  he  had  now  arrived, 
the  banks  cf  the  Maine,  the  king  had  held  his 
victorious  way  without  being  once  compelled  to 
recede,  and  without  encountering  a  single  defeat. 
"  Here,  in  the  heart  of  Germany,  he  received  the 
Protestant  States  like  a  German  emperor  of  the 
olden  time."^ 

Traversing  the  Ecclesiastical  States  that  stretch 
from  the  Maine  to  the  Rhine,  "  the  Priest's  Row," 
the  milk  and  honey  of  which  regaled  his  soldiers 
after  the  sterile  districts  through  which  they  had 
passed,  Gustavus  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  laid  siege 
(11th    December)  to   the  wealthy  city  of  Mainz. 


"  Chemnitz,  vol.  i.,  p.  199—apud  Chapman,  p.  285. 
•■'  Ludwig  Hausser,  vol.  ii.,  p.  168. 


GUSTAVUS'   COURT   IN   MAINZ. 


VIEW    OK    THE    TOWN-HALL,    HKESLAU      (sILEbIA) 


In  two  days  it  caiiitulated,  and  tlic  king  entered  it  If  the  summer  had  been  passed  in  deeds  of  arms, 

in    state,   attended   by    the    Landgi-ave    of   Hesse.  the  winter  was  not  less  busily  occupied  in  securing 

After  this  he  returned  to  Frankfort,  where  he  fixed  the  fniits  of  these  dangers  and  toils.      Gusta^ais' 

his  abode  for  a  short  while.'  queen,  to  whom  he  was  tenderly  attached,  joined 

him  at   Mainz,  to  which    he  again  repaired ;    so 

'  Schiller,  vol.  ii.,  p.  30.  too  did  his  chancellor,  the  famous  Oxenstieraa,  on 
129 


290 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


whose  wisdom  lie  so  confidingly  and  justly  relied. 
The  city  of  Mainz  and  the  banks  of  the  KhLne 
resounded  with  the  din  and  shone  with  the  splen- 
<lour  of  the  old  imperial  times.  Couriers  were 
liourly  arriving  and  departing ;  ambassadors  from 
for(>ign  States  were  daily  receiving  audience  ;  the 
Protestant  jninces,  and  the  deputies  from  the 
imperial  to^\'ns,  were  crowding  to  pay  their  hom- 
age to,  or  solicit  the  protection  of,  the  victorious 
chief;  uniforms  and  royal  equipages  crowded  the 
street ;  and  while  the  bugle's  note  and  the  dnim's 
roll  were  heard  without,  inside  the  palace  negotia- 
tions were  going  on,  treaties  were  being  framed, 
the  future  condition  and  relations  of  Germany 
were  being  discussed  and  decided  upon,  and  efforts 
were  being  made  to  frame  a  basis  of  peace,  such 
as  might  adjust  the  balance  between  Popish  and 
Protestant  Germany,  and  restore  rest  to  the  weary 
land,  and  secm-ity  to  its  trembling  inhabitants.  | 
When  the  king  set  out  from  Sweden  to  begin 
this  gigantic  enterprise,  liis  one  paramount  object 
was  the  restoi-ation  of  Protestantism,  whose  over- 
throw was  owing  quite  as  much  to  the  pusillanimity 
of  the  princes,  as  to  the  power  of  the  imperial  arms. 
He  felt  "a  divine  impulse  "  impelling  him  onwards, 
and  he  obeyed,  without  settling,  even  vnth.  himself, 
what  recompense  he  should  have  for  all  his  risks 
and  toils,  or  what  material  guarantees  it  might  be 
necessary  to  exact,  not  only  for  the  security  of  a 
re-establi.shed  Protestantism,  but  also  for  the  de- 
fence of  his  own  kingdom  of  Sweden,  which  the 
success  of  his  expedition  woiild  make  an  object  of 
hostility  to  the  Popish  princes.  Tlie  Elector  of 
Brandenburg  had  sounded  him  on  this  point  before 
he  entered  his  dominions,  and  Gusta\'us  had  frankly 
replied  that  if  the  exiles  were  restored,  religious 
libei'ty  granted  to  the  States,  and  himself  secured 
against  attack  from  the  Hapsburgs  in  his  own 
country,  he  would  be  satisfied.  But  now,  in  the 
midst  of  Germany,  and  taking  a  near  view  of 
matters  as  success  on  the  battle-field  had  shaped 
them,  and  especially  considering  the  too  obvious 
lukewarumess  and  imbecility  of  the  Protestant 
princes,  it  Ls  probable  that  the  guarantees  that 
would  have  satisfied  him  at  an  earlier  stage,  he  no 
longer  deemed  sufiicient.  It  is  even  possible  that 
he  would  not  have  declined  a  controlling  power 
over  the  pi-inces,  somewhat  like  that  which  the 
emperor  wielded.  We  do  not  necessaiily  impute 
ambitious  views  to  Gustavus  Adolphus,  when  we 
admit  the  possibility  of  some  such  aiTangement  ;is 
this  having  shaped  itself  before  his  mind  ;  for  it 
might  seem  to  him  that  otherwise  the  existence  of 
a  Protestant  Germany  was  not  possible.  He  would 
have  been  guilty  of  something  like  folly,  if  he  had 


not  taken  the  best  means  in  liis  power  to  per- 
petuate what  he  accounted  of  so  great  value,  and 
to  save  which  from  destruction  he  had  undertaken 
so  long  a  march,  and  fought  so  many  battles ;  and 
when  he  looked  round  on  the  princes  he  might  well 
ask  himself,  "  Is  there  one  of  them  to  whom  I  can 
•svith  perfect  confidence  commit  this  gi'eat  trust  f 
We  do  not  say  that  he  had  formed  this  plan  ;  liut 
if  the  fruits  of  his  \ictories  were  not  to  be  dis- 
sipated, some  such  plan  he  would  ultimately  have 
been  compelled  to  have  recourse  to ;  and  amidst  a 
crowd  of  insincere,  pusillanimous,  and  incompetent 
princes,  where  could  a  head  to  such  a  confederacy 
have  been  found  if  not  in  the  one  only  man  of  zeal, 
and  spirit,  and  capacity  that  the  cause  had  at  its 
service '! 

'  The  restorations  that  the  Swedish  king  at  this 
houi"  contemplated,  and  the  aspect  which  the  future 
Germany  would  have  worn,  had  he  lived  to  put  the 
crown  upon  his  enterprise,  may  be  gathered  from 
the  stipulations  which  he  demanded  when  the 
Roman  Catholic  party  made  overtures  of  peace  to 
him.     These  were  the  following  : — 

1st.  The  Edict  of  Restitution  shall  be  null  and 
void. 

2nd.  Both  the  Roman  and  the  Protestant  religion 
shall  be  tolerated  in  town  and  country. 

3rd.  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Silesia  shall  be  re- 
stored to  their  former  condition;  all  the  exOes  .shall 
return  to  their  estates. 

4th.  The  Elector-Palatine,  Frederick  V.,  shall 
be  restored  to  his  country. 

5th.  The  Bavarian  Electorate  shall  cease  ;  the 
electoral  vote  shall  be  restored  to  the  Palatinate. 

6th.  The  practice  of  the  Protestant  religion,  and 
all  civil  privileges,  shall  be  restored  to  Augsburg. 

7th.  All  Jesuits,  as  distiu-bers  of  the  public 
peace,  and  authors  of  the  present  difficulties,  shall 
be  banished  from  the  empu-e. 

8th.  Protestants  as  well  as  Romanists  shall  be 
admitted  into  every  institution. 

9th.  The  monasteries  in  the  Duchy  of  Wurtcm- 
berg  which  have  been  illegally  taken  possession  of 
by  the  Romanists  shall  be  restored. 

10th.  Out  of  gratitude  for  the  salvation  of  the 
German  Empire,  your  Majesty  the  King  of  Sweden 
shall  be  elected  King  of  Rome. 

1 1th.  All  expenses  incurred  in  the  imperial  cities 
and  in  the  Duchy  of  Wurtemberg  by  the  Edict  of 
Restitution  shall  be  repaid. 

12th.  There  shall  be  as  many  Lutheran  as 
Catholic  canons  appointed  to  the  cathedral.' 

We  have  two  lists  of  these  conditions — one  by 


>  Ludwig  Hiiusser,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  170,  171. 


WALLENSTEIN   RECALLED. 


291 


Kheveiihillei-,'  and  another  by  Riclielieu.'  In  the 
latter  list  the  10th  article,  which  stipulates  that 
Gustavus  should  be  made  King  of  the  Romans,  is 
wanting.  To  be  King  of  Rome  was  to  hold  in 
reversion  the  empire ;  but  this  article  is  far  from 
being  authenticated. 

Such  were  the  terms  on  which  the  conqueror 
was  willing  to  sheathe  his  sword  and  make  peace 
^vith  the  emperor.  Substantially,  they  implied  the 
return  of  Germany  to  its  condition  before  the  war 
(statvs  quo  ante  belluin) ;  and  they  were  not  only 
just  and  equitable,  but,  though  Richelieu  thought 
othei-wise,  extremely  moderate,  when  we  think  that 
they  were  presented  by  a  king,  in  the  heart  of 
Gennany,  at  the  head  of  a  victorious  host,  to 
another  sovereign  whose  army  was  all  but  amii- 
hOated,  and  the  road  to  whose  capital  stood  open  to 
the  conqueror.  The  stipulations,  m.  brief,  were  the 
free  profession  of  religion  to  both  Romanists  and 
Lutherans  throughout  the  empire."*  The  terms 
were  rejected,  and  the  war  was  resumed. 

In  the  middle  of  Februaiy,  1532,  the  king  put 
his  army  in  motion,  advancing  southward  into 
Bavaria,  that  he  might  attack  the  League  in  the 
chief  seat  of  its  power.  The  fallen  Tilly  made  a 
la-st  effort  to  retrieve  his  fame  by  the  overthrow 
of  his  great  antagonist.  Having  collected  the 
wi-eck  of  his  routed  host,  with,  the  addition  of  some 
new  levies,  he  waited  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Lech  for  the  approach  of  Gustavus.  The  defeat  of 
the  general  of  the  League  was  complete  :  both  the 
amiy  and  its  leader  were  utterly  lost ;  the  foi-mer 
being  dispersed,  and  Tilly  dying  of  his  wounds  a  few 
days  after  the  battle.  It  delights  us  to  be  able  to 
pay  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  wamor  whom  we 
now  see  expiring  at  the  age  of  seventy-thi-ee.  He 
was  inflamed  with  bigotry,  but  he  was  sincere  and 
open,  and  had  not  stained  himself  with  the  low 
vices  and  shameless  hypocrisy  of  the  Jesuits,  nor 
with  the  dark  arts  which  Wallenstein  studied. 
He  was  chaste  and  temperate  —  virtues  beyond 
price  in  every  age,  but  especially  in  an  age  like 
that  in  which  Tilly  lived.  The  cloud  on  his  glory 
is  the  sack  of  Magdeburg,  but  retribution  soon 
followed  in  the  eclipse  of  Leipsic.  After  that  the 
sun-light  of  his  face  never  returned.  He  complained 
that  the  world  spoke  ill  of  him,  and  that  those 
whom  he  had  faithfully  served  had  left  him  desolate 
in  his  age.  He  died  gi-asping  the  crucifix,  and  ex- 
pended hLs  parting  breath  in  repeating  a  verse  from 
theP.salms — "  In  thee,  O  Lord,  have  I  put  my  trust."* 


'  Klievenhiller,  vol.  lii.,  p.  87. 

'  Richelieu,  Memoirs,  vol.  vii.,  p.  45. 

^  Chapman,  pp.  296,  297. 

*  Aldzreitter,  vol.  iii.,  p.  263 — apud  Chapmau,  p.  313. 


The  overthrow  of  Tilly,  and  the  utter  rout  of 
his  army,  had  left  the  frontiers  of  Austria  without 
defence  ;  and  the  empei'or  saw  with  alarm  that  the 
road  to  his  capital  was  open  to  the  victorious 
Swede  if  he  chose  to  pursue  it.  The  whole  of 
Germany  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  was 
in  possession  of  Gustavus,  and  a  new  army  must 
be  found  if  Ferdinand  would  prevent  the  conqueror 
seating  himself  in  Vienna.  Even  gi-anting  that  an 
army  were  raised,  who  was  to  command  it  1  All  his 
generals  had  fallen  by  the  sword ;  one  only  sur- 
vived, but  how  could  Ferdinand  approach  him, 
seeing  he  had  requited  his  great  services  by  dis- 
missal ?  But  the  desperate  sti-aits  to  which  he  was 
reduced  left  the  emperor  no  alternative,  and  he 
made  overtures  to  Wallenstein.  That  consum- 
mately able,  but  vaultingly  ambitious  man,  listened 
to  the  royal  proposals,  but  deigned  them  no  reply. 
Living  in  a  style  of  magnificence  that  threw  Ferdi- 
nand and  all  the  sovereigns  of  the  day  into  the  shade, 
Wallenstein  professed  to  have  no  desire  to  return 
to  the  toils  of  a  military  life.  The  emperor  in 
distress  sent  again  and  again  to  the  duke.  At  last 
Wallenstein  was  moved.  He  would  succour  the 
empire  at  its  need ;  he  would  organise  an  army, 
but  he  would  not  command  it.  He  set  to  work  ; 
the  spell  of  his  name  was  still  omnipotent.  In 
three  months  he  had  raised  50,000  men,  and  he 
sent  to  the  emperor  to  tell  him  that  the  army  was 
ready,  and  that  he  waited  only  till  he  should  name 
the  man  who  was  to  command  it,  when  he  would 
hand  it  over  to  his  Majesty.  Every  one  knew  that 
the  troops  would  soon  disperse  if  the  man  who  had 
raised  them  was  not  at  theii-  head. 

Again  the  imperial  ambassadors  kneeled  befoi'e 
Wallenstein.  They  begged  him  to  undertake  the 
command  of  the  army  which  he  had  equipped.  The 
duke  was  inexorable.  Other  ambassadors  were 
sent,  but  they  entreated  in  vain.  At  last  came  the 
prince  of  Eggenberg,  and  now  Wallenstein  was 
won,  but  on  terms  that  would  be  incredible  were 
they  not  amply  authenticated. 

The  treaty  concluded  in  April,  16.32,  provided 
that  the  Duke  of  Friedland  should  l)e  generalissimo 
not  only  of  the  army,  but  of  the  emperor,  of  the 
arch-dukes,  and  of  the  Austrian  cro-rni.  The 
emperor  must  never  be  present  in  the  ai-my,  much 
less  command  it.  As  ordinary  reward  an  Austrian 
hereditary  territory  was  to  be  bestowed  on  Wallen- 
stein;  as  extraordinary  he  was  to  have  sovereign 
jurisdiction  over  all  the  conquered  territories,  and 
nearly  all  Germany  was  to  be  conquered.  He  was 
to  possess,  moreover,  the  sole  power  of  confiscating 
estates ;  he  only  could  pardon ;  and  the  emperorV 
forgiveness  was  to  be  valid  only  when  ratified  by 


292 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


tlip  duke.'  These  conditions  constituted  Walleustein 
the  real  master  of  the  empire.  To  Ferdinand  there 
remained  onl)'  the  title  of  king  and  the  shadow  of 
power.  Thus,  the  man  who  had  hid  the  rankling 
wound  inflicted  by  dismissal  beneath,  apparently, 
the  most  placid  of  submissions,  exacted  a  terrible 
revenge ;  but  in  so  using  the  advantage  which  the 
calamities  of  his  friends  put  in  his  power,  he 
over-reached  himself,  as  the  sequel  proved. 

Again  we  behold  the  duke  at  the  head  of  the 
imperial  armies.  His  first  efforts  were  followed  by 
success.  He  entered  Bohemia,  which  had  been 
occupied  by  the  Saxon  troops  after  the  battle  of 
Leipsic.  The  Saxons  had  taken  down  the  martyrs' 
heads  on  the  Bridge-tower  of  Prague,  as  we  have 
already  naiTated,  and  they  had  re-established  for  a 
brief  period  the  Protestant  worship  in  the  city  of 
Huss ;  but  they  retreated  before  the  soldiers  of 
Wallenstein,  together  with  their  spu-itless  Elector, 
who  was  but  too  glad  of  an  excuse  for  i-eturning  to 
his  palace  and  his  table.  Bohemia  was  again 
subjugated  to  the  sceptre  of  Ferdinand,  and 
Wallenstein  turned  westward  to  measure  swords 
■with  a  very  difTerent  antagonist — Gustavus  Adol- 
phus. 

"We  parted  from  the  King  of  Sweden  at  the 
passage  of  the  Lech,  where  Tilly  received  his 
mortal  wound.  From  this  point  Gustavus  marched 
on  towards  Augsbui-g,  where  he  arrived  on  the 
8th  of  April,  1632.  The  Augsburg  of  that  day 
was  renowned  for  the  multitude  of  its  merchants 
and  the  opulence  of  its  bankers.  It  was  the  city 
of  the  Fuggers  and  the  Baumgartens,  at  whose  door 
monarchs  knocked  when  they  would  place  an  army 
in  the  field.  These  men  lived  in  stately  mansions, 
surrounded  by  gardens  which  outvied  the  royal 
park  at  Blois.  It  was  in  one  of  their  parterres 
that  the  tulip  fii-st  unfolded  its  gorgeous  petals 
beneath  the  sun  of  Europe. 

But  Augsburg  wore  in  Protestant  eyes  a  yet 
oreater  attraction,  from  the  circumstance  that  its 
name  was  linked  with  the  immortal  Confession  in 
which  the  young  Protestant  Church  expressed  her 
belief  at  the  foot  of  the  throne  of  Charles  V. 
Here,  too,  had  been  framed  the  P.acification,  which 
Ferdinand  had  flagi-antly  violated,  and  which  the 
hero  now  at  her  gates  had  taken  up  arms  to 
restore.  Will  Augsburg  welcome  the  Protestant 
champion  1  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  she  closes 
her  gates  against  him.  Gustavus  began  to  prepare 
for  a  siege  by  digging  trenches ;  the  guns  of  the 
city   ramparts   fired   upon   his    soldiers   while    so 


engaged ;  but  he  did  not  reply,  for  he  was  loth  to 
deface  a  single  stone  of  a  place  so  sacred.  Before 
opening  his  cannonade  he  made  trial  if  haply  he 
might  re-kindle  the  old  fire  that  once  burned  so 
biightly  in  tliis  venerable  town.  His  appeal  was 
successful,  and  on  the  10th  of  April,  Augsbm-g 
capitulated.  On  the  1 4th  the  king  made  his  public 
entry,  .going  straight  to  St.  Ann's  Church,  where 
the  Lutheran  Litany  was  sung,  after  the  silence  of 
many  years,  and  Fabricius,  the  king's  chaplain, 
preached,  taking  Psalm  xii.  5  as  his  text.  After 
sermon  the  king  repaired  to  the  market-place, 
where  the  citizens  took  an  oath  of  fealty  to  himself 
and  to  the  crown  of  Sweden.- 

The  king  left  Augsburg  next  day,  and  proceeded 
to  Ingolstadt.  He  thought  to  take  this  city  and 
dislodge  the  nest  of  Jesuits  within  it,  but  being 
strongly  foi'tified,  its  siege  would  have  occupied 
more  time  than  its  importance  justified ;  and  so, 
leaving  Ingolstadt,  Gustavus  directed  his  course  to 
Munich.  The  capital  of  Bavaria  was  thus  added 
to  the  to-\^Tis  that  had  submitted  to  his  arms,  and 
now  the  whole  country  of  the  League,  Ingolstadt 
excepted,  was  his.  He  had  canied  his  arms  from 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic  to  the  foot  of  the  Tyrol, 
from  the  banks  of  the  Oder  to  those  of  the  Rhine. 
The  monarchs  of  Denmark  and  France,  jealous  of 
his  advances,  and  not  knowing  where  they  would 
end,  here  met  him  >vith  ofiers  of  mediating  between 
him  and  the  emperor  and  establishing  peace. 
Gustavus  frankly  told  them  that  he  had  drawn  the 
sword  for  the  vindication  of  the  rights  of  the 
Protestants  of  the  empii-e,  and  that  he  would  not 
sheathe  it  so  long  as  the  object  for  which  he  had 
begun  the  war  remained  unaccomplished. 

The  king  now  moved  toward  Nuremberg,  where 
he  established  his  camp,  which  he  fortified  with  a 
ditch  eight  feet  deep  and  twelve  wde,-''  ^^•itlun 
which  rose  redoubts  and  bastions  mounted  -n-ith  300 
cannon.  Wallenstein,  advancing  from  Bohemia, 
and  joined  by  the  army  under  the  Elector  of 
Bavaria,  pitched  his  camp  of  G0,000  men  on  the 
other  side  of  the  town.  Europe  watched  with 
breathless  anxiety,  expecting  eveiy  day  the  decisive 
trial  of  strength  between  these  two  armies.  Gus- 
tavus strove  by  eveiy  expedient  to  draw  his  great 
antagonist  into  battle,  but  Wallenstein  had  adopted 
a  strategy  of  famine.  Tlie  plan  succeeded.  The 
land  was  not  able  to  bear  two  such  mighty  hosts, 
and  the  scene  of  the  encampment  became  a  field 
of  horrors.     The  horses  died  in  thousands  for  want 


'  Klievenhiller,  vol.  xii.,  p.  13—apud  Chapman,  p.  323. 
Ludwig  Hausser,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  175, 176. 


2  SwecC.  Intell.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  152— 158— opittJ  Chapman, 
p.  326. 

3  Schiller,  vol.  ii.,  p.  98. 


BATTLE   OF   LUTZEN. 


293 


of  forage ;  tlie  steaming  putridity  of  the  uuburied 
carcasses  poisoned  the  aii-,  and  the  effluvia,  joined 
to  the  famine,  proved  more  fatal  to  the  soldiers  of 
both  camps  than  would  the  bloodiest  battle.  In 
the  city  of  Nuremberg  10,000  inhabitants  died. 
Gustavus  Adolphus  had  lost  20,000  of  his  soldiers  ; 
the  imperialists  had  lost,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  au 
equal  number ;  the  villages  around  Nuremberg 
were  in  ashes ;  the  plundered  pleasantry  were  ex- 
piring on  the  highway  :  the  most  ghastly  spectacles 
met  the  eye  on  every  side,  for  the  country  for 
leagues  had  become  a  graveyard.  In  the  middle 
of  September,  Gustavus  Adolphus  raised  his  camp 
and  returned  to  Bavaria,  to  complete  its  conquest 
by  the  reduction  of  lugolstadt.  Wallenstein  also 
broke  up  his  encampment,  and  marched  northwards 
to  Saxony.  A  second  time  the  road  had  been  left 
open  to  Vienna,  for  there  was  now  no  army  between 
Gustavus  and  that  capital.  While  he  was  revolv- 
ing a  march  southward,  and  the  ending  of  the 
campaign  by  the  dethronement  of  the  emperor,  he 
received  a  letter  from  his  chancellor,  Oxenstierna, 
informing  him  that  a  treachery  was  preparing  in 
his  I'ear.  The  Elector  of  Saxony  was  negotiating 
with  Wallenstein,  with  a  view  to  wthdrawing  from 
the  Swedish  alliance,  and  joining  in  affinity  with 
the  imperialists.  If  the  powerful  principality  of 
Saxony  should  become  hostile,  lying  as  it  did  be- 
tween Gustavus  and  the  Baltic,  a  march  on  Vienna 
was  impossible.  Thus  again  were  the  house  and 
throne  of  the  Hapsburgs  saved. 

Intent  on  preventing  the  defection  of  the  Elector 
of  Saxony,  an  example  likely  to  be  followed  by 
other  princes,  Gustavus  Adolphus  returned  north- 
ward by  forced  marches.  Traversing  the  Bavarian 
plains,  he  entered  Thuringia,  where  he  was  wel- 
comed ^vith  the  acclamations  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  towns  and  villages  through  which  he  passed. 
At  Erfurt  he  took  a  tender  leave  of  his  queen,  and 
hastened  forward  in  the  direction  of  Leipsic  to  meet 
Wallenstein.  On  his  march  he  was  informed  that 
the  enemy  was  stationed  in  the  villages  around 
LUtzen,  a  small  town  not  fiir  from  the  spot  where 
he  had  gained  his  gi'eat  victory  of  a  year  ago. 
Gustavus  darted  forward  on  liis  prey,  but  before  he 
could  reach  Liitzen  the  night  had  fallen,  and  the 
battle  could  not  be  joined.  Wallenstein,  who  had 
been  unaware  of  the  approach  of  the  Swedes,  jiro- 
lited  by  the  night's  delay  to  dig  trenches  on  the 
battle-field,  which  he  filled  with  musketeei's.  Ho  also 
recalled  Pappenhcim,  who  had  been  sent  oft"  with  a 
detachment  to  Cologne.  The  king  passed  the  night 
in  his  carriage,  arranging  with  his  generals  the 
order  of  battle,  and  waiting  the  breaking  of  the 
dav.      The   morning    rose    in   fog :    the   king   had 


prayers  read  by  his  chajilain,  Fabricius ;  then  the 
army,  accompanied  by  martial  music,  sang  Luther's 
hymn ;  after  which  Gustavus  himself  led  in  a 
second  hymn,  in  which  the  battalions  around  him 
joined  in  full  chorus.  The  mist  still  hung  over  the 
landscape,  concealing  the  one  army  from  the  other ; 
but  at  ten  o'clock  it  cleared  oS',  revealing  to  the 
eyes  of  the  Swedes  the  long  confronting  line  of  the 
imperialists,  and  the  town  of  Liitzen  in  flames, 
Wallenstein  having  ordered  it  to  be  fired  lest,  under 
cover  of  it,  the  Swedes  should  outflank  him.' 

The  king,  without  having  broken  his  fast,  mounted 
liLs  horse.  He  did  not  put  on  his  armour  before 
entering  the  battle  :  he  had  forborne  its  use  for 
some  time  owing  to  his  corpulence.  He  wore 
only  a  plain  buff  coat  or  leather  jerkin ;  replying, 
it  is  said,  to  one  who  tried  to  dissuade  him  from 
thus  exposing  his  life,  that  "God  was  his  harness."" 
He  addi'essed  in  brief  but  energetic  terms  first  the 
Swedes,  then  the  Germans,  reminding  them  of  the 
vast  issues  depending  on  the  battle  about  to  be 
joined;  that  on  this  day  their  bravery  would  vindi- 
cate, or  their  cowardice  would  crush,  the  religion 
and  liberty  of  Germany.  He  exhorted  them  not 
to  be  sparing  of  their  blood  in  so  great  a  cause,  and 
assured  them  that  posterity  would  not  forget  what 
it  owed  to  the  men  who  had  died  on  the  field  of 
Liitzen  that  they  might  be  free.  Having  so  spoken, 
Gustavus  rode  forward,  the  first  of  all  his  army,  to 
meet  the  enemy. 

At  the  moment  when  the  battle  began,  it  is 
probable  that  the  number  of  the  opposing  hosts  was 
about  equal ;  but  on  the  amval  of  Pappenhcim  the 
preponderance  was  thrown  on  the  side  of  the  im- 
perialists. The  calculations  of  the  best  authorities 
make  Wallenstein's  anny  amoimt  to  about  27,000, 
and  the  force  under  Gustavus  Adolphus  to 
from  18,000  to  20,000.  The  Swedish  infantiy 
advanced  against  the  trenches,  but  were  received 
with  a  tremendous  fire  of  musketry  and  artillery. 
Bearing  down  with  immense  impetuosity,  they 
crossed  the  trenches,  captured  the  battery,  and 
turned  the  guns  against  the  enemy.  The  first  of 
the  five  imperial  brigades  was  routed ;  the  second 
was  in  disorder ;  the  third  was  wavering.  Wallen- 
stein, wth  three  regiments  of  horse,  galloped  to  the 
spot,  shouting  with  a  voice  of  thunder,  and  cleav- 
ing in  his  rage  some  of  the  fugitives  with  his  own 
hand.  The  flight  of  his  soldici-s  was  arrested.  The 
brigades  formed  anew,  and  faced  the  Swedes.  A 
murderous  conflict  ensued.  The  combatants,  locked 
in  a  hand-to-hand  sti-uggle,  could  make  no  use  of 


'  Schiller,  vol.  ii.,  p.  122. 

■  Swed.  IntelL,  vol.  iii.,  ]>.  V^—npml  Chapman,  ]i.  SGU. 


294 


HISTORY  OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


tlR-ir  tireaiius.  They  fought  \vitli  their  swords, 
] likes,  and  the  butt-end  of  their  muskets;  the  chish 
<  if  steel,  blendiiig  with  the  groans  of  those  who  were 
lieuig  trampled  down,  resounded  over  the  field. 
The  Swedes,  at  last  overpowered  by  numbers,  were 
compelled  to  abandon  the  cannon  they  had  cajj- 
tured ;  and  when  they  retreated,  a  thousand  dead 
and  dying  covered  the  spot  where  the  conflict  had 
raged. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  at  the  head  of  his  Finland 
cuirassiere,  attacked  the  left  ^ving  of  the  enemy. 
The  light-mounted  Poles  and  Croats  were  broken 
liy  the  shock,  and  fleeing  in  disorder,  they  spread 
terror  and  confusion  among  the  rest  of  the  imperial 
cavalry.  At  this  moment  the  king  was  told  that 
his  iufimtry  was  recrossing  the  trenches,  and  that 
his  left  wing  was  wavering.  Committing  the  pur- 
suit of  the  vanquished  Croats  to  General  Horn,  he 
flew  on  his  white  steed  acrcss  the  tield,  followed 
by  the  regiment  of  Steinbock  ;  he  leaped  the 
trenches,  and  spiu'red  to  the  spot  where  his  soldiers 
were  most  closely  pressed.  Only  the  Duke  of 
Lauenburg  and  a  few  horsemen  were  able  to  keep 
pace  with  the  king ;  the  squadi-ons  he  led  had  not 
yet  come  up,  not  being  able  to  clear  the  trenches 
so  easily  as  the  king  had  done.     Gustavus,  short- 


sighted, and  eager  to  discover  an  opening  in  the 
enemy's  ranks  at  which  to  pour  in  a  charge,  ap- 
proached too  close  to  their  line  ;  a  musketeer  took 
aim  at  him,  and  his  shot  shattered  the  king's  left 
arm.  By  this  time  his  squadrons  had  come  up, 
and  the  king  attempted  to  lead  them,  but  overcome 
by  pain,  and  on  the  point  of  fainting,  he  requested 
the  Duke  of  Lauenbui'g  to  lead  him  secretly  out  of 
the  tumult.  As  lie  was  retii'ing  he  received  a 
second  shot  through  the  back.  Feeling  the  wound 
to  be  mortal,  he  said  to  Lauenburg,  "  I  am  gone; 
look  to  your  own  life."  A  page  assisted  him  to 
dismount,  and  while  in  the  act  of  doing  so  other 
cuirassiers  gathered  around  the  wounded  monarch, 
and  demanded  who  he  was.  The  page  refused  to 
tell,  but  Gustavus  himself  made  known  his  name 
and  rank,  whereupon  the  cuirassiers  completed  the 
w'ork  of  death  by  the  discharge  of  more  shots,  and 
the  king  sunk  in  the  midst  of  the  imperial  lioi-se- 
men.  Such  were  the  accounts  of  the  page,  who 
himself  was  wounded,  and  died  soon  after.  The 
king's  steed,  now  set  free,  galloped  wth  flowing 
rein  and  empty  saddle  over  the  field,  communi- 
cating to  the  Swedish  ranks  the  impression  that 
some  disaster  had  befallen,  of  which  they  knew  not 
as  yet  the  full  and  terrible  extent. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


DEATH    OF   GUSTAVUS    ADOLPHUS. 

Battle  Renewed— The  Cry,  "The  King  is  Dead!"— The  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar  takes  the  Command— Fury  of  the 
Swedes— Eout  of  the  Imperialists— AiTival  of  Pappenheim  on  the  Field— Eenewal  of  Battle  a  Third  Time— Death 
of  Pappenheim— Final  Rout  of  Wallenstein— Wallenstein  on  the  Field  of  Battle— Eetires  to  Leipsic— Escapes 
from  Germany— Swedes  remain  Masters  of  the  Field — Cost  of  the  Victory— The  King's  Body  Discovered — 
Embalmed  and  Conveyed  to  Sweden— Grief  of  the  Swedes— Sorrow  of  Christendom— Character  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus— Accomplishes  Ms  Mission — Germany  not  Able  to  Receive  the  Emancipation  he  Achieved  for  her. 


The  fall  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  so  far  from  ending 
the  battle,  was  in  a  sort  only  its  beginning.  The 
ridei-less  horse,  galloping  wildly  over  the  battle- 
field, only  half  told  its  tale.  It  was  possible  that 
the  king  was  only  womided.  The  bravery  of  the 
Swedes  was  now  changed  into  fury.  Horse  and 
foot  rushed  madly  onward  to  the  spot  where  the 
king  had  been  seen  to  enter  the  thick  of  the  tight, 
with  the  intention  of  rescuing  him  if  alive,  of 
avenging  liim  if  dead.  The  mournful  fact  was 
passed  in  a  whisper  from  one  Swedish  oflicer  to 
another,  that  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  no  more. 
They  rode  up  to  the  Croats,  who  were  stripping  the 
body  ill  their  desii'o  to  possess  some  memorial  of 


the  fiiUen  hero,  and  a  terrible  conflict  ensued  over 
his  corpse.  No  flash  of  firearm  was  seen,  only  the 
glitter  of  pike,  the  clash  of  sword,  and  the  heavy 
stroke  of  musket  as  it  fell  on  the  steel  helmet, 
came  from  that  struggling  mass  in  the  centre  of 
the  field,  for  again  the  tight  was  a  hand-to-hand 
one.  The  dead  fell  thick,  and  a  mound  of  corpses, 
rising  ever  higher,  -with  the  battle  raging  widely 
around  it,  formed  meanwhile  the  mausoleum  of  the 
great  warrior. 

From  the  oflicers  the  dreadful  intelligence  soon 
descended  to  the  ranks.  The  cry  ran  from  brigade 
to  brigade  of  the  Swedes,  "  The  king  is  dead  !" 
As  the  terrible  words  fell  on  the  soldier's  ear  his 


296 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


knitted  brow  grew  darker,  and  he  seized  his  weapon 
with  a  yet  licreer  grasp.  Tlie  most  sacred  life  of 
all  had  been  spilled,  and  of  what  value  was  now 
his  o^vn  ?  He  feared  not  to  die  on  the  same  tield 
\nth  the  king,  and  a  new  energy  animated  the 
soldier.  The  brave  Bernard,  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar, 
took  the  place  of  Gustavus,  and  his  squadrons 
advanced  to  the  charge  with  a  fire  that  showed 
that  the  spirit  of  the  fallen  hero  lived  in  the  troops. 
They  closed  in  dreadful  conflict  with  the  enemy. 
His  left  wmg  was  chased  completely  out  of  the 
field  ;  this  was  followed  by  the  rout  of  the  right 
wing.  Like  a  whii-lwind,  the  Swedes  again  passed 
the  trenches,  and  the  artillery,  which  had  done  such 
mui'derous  execution  upon  them,  was  seized,  and  its 
thunders  du-ected  against  the  foe.  The  heavy  bat- 
talions of  the  imperial  centre  were  now  attacked, 
and  were  giving  way  before  the  overwhelming 
impetuosity  of  their  antagonists.  At  that  moment 
a  temble  roar  was  heard  behind  the  imperial  army. 
The  ground  shook,  and  the  an-  was  black  with 
volumes  of  smoke,  and  lurid  with  flashes  of  fire. 
Theii-  powder  wagons  had  exploded,  and  bombs  and 
gi-enades  in  thousands  wei'e  shooting  wildly  into 
the  sky.  Wallenstein's  army  imagined  that  they 
had  been  attacked  in  the  rear ;  panic  and  flight 
were  setting  in  among  liis  troops;  another  moment 
and  the  day  would  be  won  by  the  Swedes. 

It  was  now  that  Pappenheim,  whom  Wallen- 
stein's recall  found  at  no  great  distance,  presented 
himself  on  the  field  at  the  head  of  fi-esh  troops. 
All  the  advantages  which  the  Swedes  had  gained 
were  suddenly  lost,  and  the  battle  was  begun  anew. 
The  newly-an-ived  cuirassiers  and  dragoons  fell 
upon  the  Swedes,  who,  their  numbers  thinned,  and 
wearied  with  their  many  hours'  fighting,  fell  back  ; 
the  trenches  were  again  recrossed,  and  the  cannon 
once  more  abandoned.  Pappenheim  himself  fol- 
lowed the  retreating  Swedes,  and  plunging  into  the 
thickest  of  the  fight,  wandered  over  the  field  in 
quest  of  Gustavus,  whom  he  believed  to  be  still 
living,  and  whom  he  burned  to  meet  in  single 
combat.  He  fell,  his  breast  pierced  by  two 
musket-balls,  and  was  cai'ried  out  of  the  field  by 
his  soldiers.  While  he  was  being  borne  to  the 
rear,  some  one  whispered  into  his  ear  that  the  man 
he  sought  lay  slain  upon  the  tield.  "His  dying 
eye,"  says  Schiller,  "  sparkled  with  a  gleam  of  joy." 
"  Tell  the  Duke  of  Friedland,"  said  he,  "  that  I  am 
mortally  wounded,  but  that  I  die  happy,  knowing 
that  the  implacable  enemy  of  my  faith  has  fallen  on 
the  same  day."  ' 

The  fall  of  their  leader  dispirited  his  troops,  and 


1  Schiller,  vol.  ii.,  p.  128. 


the  tide  of  battle  again  turned  against  the  impe- 
rialists. The  Swedes,  seeing  the  enemy's  confusion, 
\nt\i  great  promptitude  filled  up  the  gaps  that  death 
had  made  in  their  ranks,  and  forming  into  one  line 
made  a  last  decisive  charge.  A  thii-d  time  the 
trenches  were  crossed,  and  the  enemy's  artillery 
seized.  The  sun  was  setting  as  the  two  armies 
closed  in  that  last  desperate  struggle.  The  ardour 
of  the  combatants  seemed  to  grow,  and  the  battle 
to  wax  in  fury,  the  nearer  the  moment  when  it 
must  end.  Each  seemed  bent  on  seizing  the  victory 
before  darkness  should  descend  on  the  scene  and 
part  the  combatants.  The  night  came;  the  rival 
armies  could  no  longer  see  the  one  the  other ;  the 
trumpet  sounded ;  the  torn  relics  of  those  magni- 
ficent squadrons  which  had  formed  in  proud  and 
terrible  array  Ln  the  morning  now  marched  out  of 
the  field.     The  victory  was  claimed  by  both  sides. 

Both  ai'mies  left  their  artillery  on  the  battle- 
field, and  the  victory  would  rightfully  belong  to 
whichever  of  the  two  hosts  should  have  the  courage 
or  the  good  fortime  to  appropriate  it. 

Far  and  wide  on  that  field  lay  the  dead,  ui  all 
places  thickly  strewn,  in  some  piled  in  heaps,  with 
whole  regiments  lying  in  the  exact  order  in  which 
they  had  formed,  attesting  in  death  the  tenacity 
of  that  coui'age  which  had  animated  them  in  life. 
Wallenstein  retired  for  the  night  to  Leipsic.  He 
had  striven  to  the  utmost,  dui'ing  that  di'eadful  day, 
to  add  to  his  other  lam-els  the  tield  of  Liitzen.  He 
was  to  be  seen  on  all  parts  of  the  field  careering 
through  the  smoke  and  fire,  rallying  his  troops, 
encom-agiug  the  brave,  and  threatening  or  punish- 
ing the  coward.  He  feared  not  to  go  where  the 
shower  of  bullets  was  the  thickest  and  deadliest. 
His  cloak  was  pierced  by  balls  in  numerous  places. 
The  dead  were  falling  thick  around  him ;.  but  a 
shield  which  he  saw  not  covered  his  head,  and  he 
passed  scatheless  thi-ough  all  the  horrors  of  the  day, 
fate  having  decreed — -though  the  stars  had  hidden 
it  from  him — that  he  should  die  on  a  less  glorious 
tield  than  that  on  which  his  immortal  antagonist 
had  breathed  his  last. 

When  the  sun  rose  next  morning,  the  dead  and 
dying  alone  occupied  the  tield  of  Liitzen.  There 
were  the  camion,  their  thunders  hushed,  as  if  in 
reverence  of  those  who  were  breathing  out  their 
life  in  low  and  heavy  moanings.  The  two  armies 
stood  ofl'  from  the  spot  where  the  day  before  they 
had  wrestled  in  all  the  passionate  energy  of  battle. 
Wallenstein  sent  his  Croats  to  take  possession  of 
the  artillery,  that  he  might  have  a  pretext  for 
saying  that  he  had  vanquished  on  the  field  from 
the  vicinity  of  which  he  was  at  that  moment  pre- 
paring to  flee ;  but  when  his  messengers  saw  the 


THE  GENERAL  GRIEF  FOR  GUSTAVUS. 


297 


r/.-.-edt  i  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle  at  no  great 
distance,  they  forbore  the  attempt  to  execute  the 
orders  of  their  master.  The  same  day  Wallenstein 
was  followed  to  Leipsic  by  the  remnant  of  his  army, 
but  in  most  miserable  plight,  without  artillery,  with- 
out standards,  almost  without  arms,  covered  with 
woLinds  ;  in  short,  looking  tlie  reverse  of  victors. 
The  duke  made  a  short  stay  in  Leipsic,  and  soon 
removed  even  beyond  the  bounds  of  Saxony ;  in 
such  haste  was  he  to  escape  from  the  scene  of  his 
alleged  triumph,  for  which  the  bells  of  the  chui-ches 
of  Austria  were  at  that  moment  ringing  peals  of 
joy !  The  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar,  who  had  succeeded 
the  fallen  king  in  the  command  of  the  Swedes,  took 
possession  of  the  battle-field,  with  all  on  it ;  and 
soon  thereafter  established  himself  in  Leipsic,  thus 
incontestably  proving  that  the  victory  was  bis.' 

When  the  terrible  cry,  "  The  king  is  dead  !  "  rang 
along  the  Swedish  ranks  on  the  day  of  battle,  it 
striick  as  a  knell  of  woe  on  every  ear  on  which  it 
fell.  But  the  soldier  had  only  a  moment  to  think 
on  the  extent  of  the  calamity ;  the  uppermost  idea 
in  his  mind  was  "to  conquer."  The  field  beneath 
him,  witli  its  burden  of  ghastly  hon-ors,  and  the 
enemy  vanishing  in  the  distance,  was  the  proof  that 
he  had  conquered ;  but  now  he  had  time  to  reflect 
at  what  a  cost  victory  had  been  won !  Some- 
where on  that  field  on  which  he  was  now  gazing 
with  an  eye  in  which  sadness  had  taken  the  place 
of  fuiy,  lay  the  hero  who  had  yesterday  led  them 
forth  to  battle.  This  changed  victory's  psean 
into  a  funeral  dirge.  How  much  lay  buried 
wth  that  hero !  The  safety  of  Sweden,  the  hopes 
of  the  Protestant  princes,  the  restoration  of  the 
Protestant  worship  in  Germany;  for  what  so  likely, 
now  that  the  strong  arm  which  had  rolled  back  the 
Catholic  Restoration  was  broken,  as  that  the  flood 
would  return  and  again  overflow  those  countries 
from  which  its  desolating  waters  had  been  dried 
upf 

The  first  care  of  the  Swedes  was  to  search  for 
the  body  of  their  king.  The  quest  was  for  some 
time  inefiectual ;  but  at  last  the  royal  corpse  was 
discovered  1)eneath  a  heap  of  slain,  strip]ied  of  all 


'  Wo  have  followed  the  standard  authorities  for  our 
description  of  tliis  celebrated  battle ;  still,  it  is  impossible 
to  give  very  mimite  or,  it  may  be,  perfectly  accurate  de- 
tails of  it.  It  was  variovisly  reported  at  the  time.  The 
king's  death,  for  instance,  has  been  set  down  as  the  act 
of  an  assassin,  and  the  Swedes  generally  believed  that  tlio 
perpetrator  of  the  base  act  was  Francis,  Duke  of  Lauen- 
burg.  The  antecedents  of  this  man,  and  his  subsequent 
history,  gave  some  grounds  for  the  suspicion.  But  it 
needs  not  assassination  to  account  for  the  death  of  one 
who,  with  incomparable  but  iinjustifiable  bravery,  was 
fighting,  almost  alone  and  without  armour,  in  the  midst 
of  hundreds  of  enemies. 


its  ornaments,  and  most  of  its  clothing,  and  covered 
with  blood  and  wounds.  The  king  had  fallen  near 
to  a  great  stone,  which  for  a  century  had  stood 
between  Liitzen  and  the  canal,  and  which  from  that 
day  has  borne,  in  memory  of  the  event,  the  name 
of  the  "  Stone  of  the  Swede."  Tlie  body  of  the 
king  was  carried  to  the  neighbouring  town  of 
Weissenfels,  and  there  embalmed  and  laid  out  in 
state.  The  queen  embraced  his  remains  in  an 
agony  of  grief;  his  generals  stood  round  his  bier  in 
speechless  sorrow,  gazing  on  the  majestic  coun- 
tenance of  him  who  would  no  more  lead  them  forth 
to  battle,  and  stri-\-ing  to  tui-n  their  thoughts  away 
from  the  contemplation  of  a  future  which  his  death 
had  so  suddenly  darkened.  His  remains  were 
conveyed  to  Stockholm,  and  interred  in  the  sepul- 
chres of  the  Kings  of  Sweden  in  the  Chui'ch  of 
Ritterholm." 

"  When  the  great  king,  lord  of  the  half  of  Ger- 
many, sank  in  the  dust  of  the  battle-field,"  says 
Freytag,  "  a  cry  of  woe  went  through  the  whole 
Protestant  territories.  In  city  and  country  there 
was  a  funeral  service  held  ;  endless  were  the  elegies 
wiitten  upon  him ;  even  enemies  concealed  their 
joy  behind  a  manly  sympathy  wliich  was  seldom 
shown  in  that  time  to  any  opponent. 

"  His  end  was  considered  as  a  national  misfoi-- 
tune  ;  to  the  people  the  '  Liberator,'  the  '  Saviour,' 
was  lost.  Also  we,  whether  Protestants  or 
Catholics,  may  look,  not  only  vriih  cordial  interest 
upon  a  pure  heroic  life,  which  in  the  years  of  its 
highest  power  was  so  suddenly  extinguished ;  we 
.should  also  consider  with  th.anks  the  influence 
which  the  king  had  upon  the  German  war.  For 
he  has  in  desperate  times  defended  what  Luther 
obtamed  for  the  whole  nation — the  freedom  of 
thought,  and  capacity  for  national  development 
against  the  frightful  enemy  of  German  existence,  a 
soulless  despotism  in  Church  and  State.  "^ 

So  ended,  in  the  thirty -eighth  year  of  his  age,  the 
great  career  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  His  sudden 
appearance  on  the  scene,  and  his  sudden  departure 
from  it,   are   equally  striking.       "  History,"  says 


-  The  traveller  Cox  says :  "  A  few  years  ago,  Princi' 
Henry  of  Prussia,  being  at  Stockholm,  descended  into 
the  vault,  and  opened  the  coffin  which  contains  the 
remains  of  Gustavus.  A  Swedish  nobleman  who  accom- 
panied the  prince  into  the  vault  assured  me  that  the 
body  was  in  a  state  of  complete  preservation  "  (about  150 
years  after  burial),  "that  the  countenance  still  retained 
the  most  perfect  resembbance  to  the  pictures  and  coins, 
and  particularly  that  the  whiskers  and  short  pointed 
beard,  which  he  wore  accoi-ding  to  the  fashion  of  the 
times  in  which  he  lived,  were  distinctly  visible.'  (Cox, 
Travels  into  Poland,  Russia,  Sv!cdcn,  and  Denmark,  vol.  iii., 
p.  102;  Dublin,  1784.) 

'  Gustav  Freytag,  p.  180. 


298 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


Schiller,  "  so  often  engageil  iii  the  ungi-ateful  task 
of  analysing  the  uniform  coui-se  of  human  passions, 
is  sometimes  gi-atified  by  the  ajipearance  of  events 
which  strike  like  a  hand  from  heaven,  into  the 
calculated  machinery  of  human  affairs,  and  recall 
to  the  contemplative  mind  the  idea  of  a  higher 
order  of  things.  Such  appears  to  us  the  sudden 
vanishing  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  from  the  scene."  ' 
It  does  not  pei-tain  to  our  subject  to  dwell  on  his 
gi-eat  militar}'  genius,  and  the  original  tactics  which 
he  introduced  into  the  art  of  war.  He  was  the 
greatest  general  ia  an  age  of  great  generals. 
Among  the  eight  best  commanders  whom,  in  his 
opinion,  the  world  had  ever  seen,  Napoleon  gave  a 
place  to  Gustavus  Adolphus." 

Gustavus  Adolphus  falls  below  the  gi-eat  Wil- 
liam of  Orange,  but  he  rises  high  above  all  his 
contemporaries,  and  stands  forth,  beyond  question, 
as  the  greate.st  man  of  his  age.  In  each  of  the 
three  departments  that  constitute  greatness  he 
excelled — in  the  largeness  of  his  moral  and  intel- 
lectual nature ;  in  the  grandem-  of  his  aims ;  and 
in  the  all  but  perfect  success  that  crowned  what 
he  undertook.  The  foundation  of  his  character  was 
his  piety.  "  He  was  a  king,"  said  Oxenstiema, 
"  God-fearing  in  all  his  works  and  actions  even 
unto  death."  From  his  youth  his  soul  had  been 
visited  with  impulses  which  he  believed  came  from 
beyond  the  sphere  of  humanity.  His  gi-andfather's 
dying  words  had  consecrated  him  to  a  sublime  but 
most  arduous  mission;  that  mission  he  could  scarcely 
misunderstand.  The  thovights  that  began  to  stir 
within  him  as  he  gi-ew  to  manhood,  and  the  aspects 
of  Providence  around  him,  gave  depth  and  strength 
to  his  early  impressions,  which  so  gi'ew  upon  him 
from  day  to  day  that  ho  had  no  rest.  He  saw  the 
labours  of  the  Reformers  on  the  point  of  being 
swept  away,  the  world  about  to  be  rolled  back  into 
darkness,  and  the  religion  and  liberty  of  Christen- 
dom ovei-whelmed  by  a  flood  of  arms  and  Jesuitry. 
Among  the  princes  of  Germany  he  could  discern  no 
one  who  was  able  or  at  all  willing  to  cope  with  the 
crisis.  If  the  tei-rible  ruin  was  to  be  averted,  ho 
himself  nmst  stand  in  the  breach  :  he  was  the  last 
hope  of  a  perishing  world.  Thus  it  was  that  he 
came  across  the  sea  ^vith  a  feeling  that  he  was  the 
chosen  instiniment  of  Providence  to  set  limits  to  the 
ruinous  reaction  that  was  overwhelming  Christen- 
dom. In  the  gi-eat  generals  who  had  gi'own  uj) 
around  him ;  in  the  anny,  disciplined  and  hai-dened 


'  Schiller,  vol.  ii.,  p.  135. 

'  Alexander,  Hannibal,  Julius  CiEsar,  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus, Turcnne,  Prince  Eugene,  Frederick  II.  of  Prussia, 
Napoleon.    (Qfrorer,  p.  1015.) 


in  many  a  campaign,  now  gathered  under  his 
banners ;  in  the  union  of  gi-eat  qualities  in  him- 
self, fitting  him  for  his  task  ;  in  his  power  of  com- 
mand ;  in  his  love  of  order  and  system ;  in  his 
intuitive  faculty  of  quick  and  rapid  combinations  ; 
in  his  genius  for  fonning  plans,  and  the  caution, 
united  with  daring  courage,  which  never  pei-mitted 
him  to  take  a  single  step  forward  without  ha^•ing 
secured  a  line  of  safe  retreat  in  the  rear — in  this 
assemblage  of  great  attributes,  so  fully  possessed 
and  so  easily  exercised  by  him,  he  read  the  authen- 
tication of  his  great  mission. 

Tliat  mission  was  publicly  and  conclusively 
certified  to  both  friend  and  foe  on  the  field  of 
Leipsic.  That  marvellous  victory  proclaimed 
Gustavus  Adolphus  to  be  one  of  those  sav-iours 
whom  the  Great  Ruler,  at  times,  raises  up  in  pity 
for  a  fallen  race,  and  whom  he  employs  suddenly 
and  beneficently  to  change  the  current  of  liistory. 
A  greater  consciousness  of  this  breathes  hence- 
forward in  every  word  and  act  of  Gustavus.  He 
displays  greater  elevation  of  soul,  a  nobler  bear- 
ing and  a  higher  faith  in  his  mission ;  and  from 
this  hour  his  conquests  become  more  rapid  and 
biilliant.  He  sees  One  mo^ong  before  him,  and 
giving  him  victory ;  mighty  armies  and  renowned 
captains  are  driven  before  him  as  chaflT  is  driven 
before  the  vrind  ;  the  gates  of  proud  cities  are  lui- 
locked  at  his  approach,  and  the  keys  of  strong 
fortresses  are  put  into  his  hand ;  rivers  are  divided 
that  he  may  pass  over;  and  his  banners  are  borne 
triumphantly  onwards  till  they  are  seen  waving  on 
the  frontier  of  Austria.     Germany  was  liberated. 

But  Germany  was  not  able  to  accept  her  libera- 
tion. The  princes  who  were  now  delivered  from  a 
yoke  \inder  which  they  had  groaned,  and  who 
might  now  freely  profess  the  Protestant  faith,  and 
re-establish  the  exercise  of  the  Protestant  worsliij) 
among  their  subjects,  were  unable  to  prize  the  boon 
which  had  been  put  within  their  reach.  They 
began  to  mistrust  and  intrigue  against  their  de- 
liverer, and  to  quarrel  with  the  an'angements 
necessary  for  securing  the  fruits  of  what  had  been 
achieved  with  so  much  toil  and  danger.  These 
imworthy  princes  put  away  from  them  the  proffered 
liberty ;  and  then  the  deliverer  was  withdrawn. 
Tlie  man  who  had  passed  unharmed  over  a  hundred 
battle-fields  fell  by  the  bullet  of  an  imperial  cuii-as- 
sier.  But  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  not  borne  toil 
and  braved  danger  in  \-ain ;  nor  did  he  leave  his 
work  unfinished,  although  it  seemed  so  to  his  con- 
temporaries. Germany,  after  being  chastened  by 
yet  other  sixteen  years  of  terrible  suffering,  accepted 
the  boon  for  which  she  was  not  prepared  in  the 
lifetime   of  her   great   deliverer ;    for  it  was  the 


SUCCESS  OF  GUSTAVUS'  PLANS. 


299 


T-ictories  of  Gnstavnas  Aclolphns  that  made  possible, 
and  it  was  his  proposals  that  formed  the  basis 
\iltimately  of  that  great  charter  of  toleration  under 


which  Christendom  finally  sat  down,  and  which  is 
known  in  histoiy  as  the  Pacification  of  West- 
phalia. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    PACIFICATION   OF  WESTPHALIA. 

Gustavus'  Mission  no  Failure— Osenstierna  comes  to  the  Helm— Diet  of  Heilbriinn— Wallenstein's  Advice  to  Terdi- 
nand— Success  of  the  Swedes— Inactivity  of  Wallensteia— His  Offer  to  Join  the  Swedes— His  Supposed  Conspiracy 
against  Ferdinand— He  is  Assassinated — Defeat  of  the  Swedes— Battle  of  Nordlingen— Defection  of  the  Elector 
of  Saxony— Peace  of  Prague— Rejected  by  the  Swedes— Treaty  with  France— Great  Victory  of  the  Swedes— Pro- 
gress of  the  War— Isolation  of  Ferdinand— Cry  for  Peace— Negotiations  at  Munster— The  Peace  of  WestphaMa. 


Most  historians,  reviewing  the  career  of  Gustavns 
Adolphus,  have  given  it  as  their  opinion  that 
when  he  died  he  had  reached  the  maturity  of 
his  glory,  but  not  of  his  designs.  We  are  dis- 
posed to  regard  this  judgment  as  a  narrow  and 
mistaken  one.  That  he  had  reached  the  summit 
of  his  fame  we  readily  admit ;  but  we  also  hold 
that  at  the  moment  of  his  death  he  had  reached 
the  consummation  of  his  plans,  so  far  as  theu- 
accomplishment  rested  with  himself  Had  Gus- 
ta\ais  Adolphus  crossed  the  Biiltic  to  found  a 
new  kingdom,  and  reign  as  head  of  the  Gennan 
Empire,  then  indisputably  he  failed  in  the  object  for 
which  he  had  girded  on  the  sword ;  and,  in  the 
words  of  Schiller,  "the  proud  edifice  of  his  past 
greatness  sunk  into  ruins  when  he  died."  But  this 
was  far  indeed  from  being  what  the  hero  of  Sweden 
aimed  at.  He  sought  to  roll  back  the  Catholic 
reaction,  and  to  set  free  the  princes  and  States  of 
Germany  from  the  treble  despotism  of  Ferdinand, 
of  the  League,  of  Rome  :  this  ho  did.  The  battle 
of  Leipsic  scattered  the  anny  of  the  emperor ;  tlio 
campaigns  that  followed  carried  the  banners  of 
Gustavus  in  triumph  to  the  Rhine  on  the  west,  and 
to  the  veiy  frontier  of  Austria  on  thfe  south,  in- 
cluding Bavaria,  the  seat  of  the  League.  The 
crowning  victory  of  Liitzen  set  the  seal  upon  all  liis 
past  achievements,  by  completing  the  discomfiture 
of  Ferdinand  and  of  the  League,  and  consummating 
the  emancipation  of  Germany.  Wlien  he  expired 
on  the  last  and  bloodiest  of  all  his  fields,  the 
Fatherland  was  freed.  It  does  not  at  all  dimini.sh 
from  the  perfection  of  his  work,  that  neitlier  the 
princes  nor  the  people  of  Germany  were  prepared 
to  profit  by  the  boon  which  he  put  within  their 
reach.  These  craven  sons  of  heroic  sires  were  not 
■worthy  of  freedom.     They  were  incapable  of  appre- 


ciating the  character  or  sympathising  with  the 
grand  aims  of  their  liberator;  and  had  Gustavus 
Adolphus  lived,  it  is  probable  that  these  easy-going 
men,  who  were  so  unbending  in  points  of  dignity 
but  so  pliant  in  matters  of  conscience,  so  zealous 
for  the  enlargement  of  their  estates  but  so  luke- 
warm in  the  defence  of  their  faith,  would  have 
quarrelled  over  the  spoils  of  his  victories,  while 
they  undervalued  and  neglected  that  which  was 
the  gi-eatest  of  them  all — Protestant  liberty.  He 
was  spared  this  mortifying  sight  by  his  early 
removal.  It  does  not  follow  that  the  fruits  of  his 
labours  perished.  They  were  postponed,  bxit  not 
lost.  They  were  gathered-in  sixteen  years  after- 
wards at  the  Peace  of  Westphalia. 

The  Protestant  interest  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
ends  with  the  life  of  Gustavus.  The  two  parties 
continued  the  struggle,  and  the  Fatherland  was 
still  deluged  with  blood  ;  but  the  moral  end  of  the 
conflict  wa-s  lost  sight  of,  and  the  bearing  as  well  as 
the  aims  of  the  combatants  rapidly  and  sadly  de- 
generated. They  fought,  not  for  the  ^indication  of 
Protestant  liberties,  but  for  plunder,  or  for  pay,  or 
at  best  for  victory.  To  record  battles  and  campaigns 
waged  for  these  objects  is  not  our  purpose,  and  we 
shall  sutticiently  discharge  our  duty  to  our  subject 
if  wo  trace  rapidly  the  course  of  events  to  their 
issue  in  the  great  European  Settlement  of  1648, 
which  owed  its  existence  mainly  to  the  man  who 
had  laid  down  his  sword  on  the  field  of  Liitzen. 

When  Gustavus  Adolphus  died,  the  gi-eat  chan- 
cellor and  statesman,  Gxenstierna,  sprang  to  the 
helm.  His  wei-e  the  ablest  hands,  after  those 
of  Gusta\nis,  to  guide  the  State.  Oxenstiema 
was  the  friend,  as  well  as  the  minister,  of  the 
deceased  monarch ;  he  perfectly  knew  and  tho- 
roughly sympathised  with  the  policy  of  the  king, 


300 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


and  of  all  the  survivors  he  was  the  best  fitted  by 
his  genius,  his  lofty  patriotism,  and  liis  undoubted 
Protestantism,  to  carry  out  the  views  of  his  late 
master.  The  Senate  of  Sweden  was  equally 
valorous  and  prompt.  It  met  at  Stockholm  on  the 
IGth  of  March,  1633,  and  passed  a  resolution  "to 
prosecute  the  war  against  the  Roman  emperor  and 


degree  lived  in  Bernard  of  Saxe-Weimar,  Bauer, 
Torstenson,  and  Wrangel.  It  was  not  on  the 
leaders  only  that  Gustavus  had  stamped  his  image, 
he  had  infused  his  spirit  into  the  common  soldiers, 
and  thus  all  three — the  Diet,  the  minister,  and  the 
army — continued  to  pursue  the  career  in  which  the 
late  king  had  started  them,  just  as  a  machine,  to 


JOHN,  COUNT  DE  TILLY.     (From  the  Portrait  engraved  by  Ainlmg  in  1677.) 


Popish  League  in  Germany,  until  it  should  please 
Almighty  God  to  establish  a  happy  peace  for  the 
good  of  his  Church." '  Nor  were  able  generals 
wanting  to  the  Diet  to  carry  oiit  its  resolution.  If 
the  deceased  king  had  a  not  unworthy  successor  in 
the  State  in  Oxenstierna,  he  had  also  not  unmeet 
representatives  in  the  field  in  the  generals  who  had 
been  trained  under  him.  The  tactics,  the  power  of 
rapid  combination  of  masses,  the  intrepidity,  and 
above  all  the  lofty  spirit  of  Gustavus,  to  a  great 


>  Bwed.  Intell,  vol.  iii.,  p.  200— ojntd  Chapman,  p. : 


which  a  mighty  impulse  has  been  communicated, 
continues  to  revolve  after  the  strong  hand  from 
which  the  impulse  came  is  withdrawn. 

The  work  which  hitherto  had  been  done  by  one 
was  now  divided  among  many.  Gustavus  Adolphus 
had  centred  Ln  himself  the  ofSce  of  minister,  of 
Diet,  of  diplomatist,  of  statesman,  and  of  general. 
The  conception  of  his  plans  was  his,  and  so  too  was 
the  execution  of  them.  The  comprehensiveness  of 
his  mind  and  the  versatility  of  his  genius  made  these 
various  parts  easy  and  natural  to  him,  and  gave 
him  a  prodigious  advantage  over  his  opponents,  by 


CONTINUED   SWEDISH   SUCCESSES. 


301 


giving  a  more  perfect  unity  and  a  quicker  dispatch 
to  all  his  plans.  This  perfect  accord  and  harmony 
were  henceforward  wanting ;  but  it  was  some  time 
till  its  loss  became  apparent.  Oxenstierna  did 
his  best  to  maintain  the  tottering  fabric  of  the 
German  Confederacy,  which  had  shown  signs  of 
dissolution  even  before  the  fall  of  Gustavus. 
Everything  depended  upon  the  Protestant  princes 
remaining  united,  and  continuing  in  alliance  with 
Sweden ;  and  the  chancellor  succeeded  in  strength- 
ening the  bond  of  union  among  his  allies,  in  spite 
of  the  jealousies,  the  interests,  and  the  many 
difficulties  he  had  to  overcome.  At  the  Diet  of 
Heilbronn    the    Directorship    of    the    cii'cles    of 


imqualified  amnesty;  =  and  had  the  emperor  done  so 
he  would  very  probably  have  broken  their  union,  and 
brought  back  the  more  pliant  and  wavering.  But 
blinded  by  bigotry  and  the  brilliant  prospects  of 
triumph,  which  he  imagined  the  fall  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  had  opened  to  him,  he  rejected  the  Duke  of 
Friedland's  counsel,  and  instead  of  holding  out  the 
olive-branch  to  the  Protestants,  oftered  them  battle 
by  inoreasiiig  the  number  of  his  army.  Hostilities 
soon  again  commenced. 

Victory  still  followed  the  standards  of  the  Swedes. 
During  the  campaign  of  1633,  they  overran  the 
territory  of  Bamberg,  swept  along  the  Danube,  and 
took  the  town  of  Ratisbon,  which  gave  them  the 


COURT  OF  A  HOUSE  IN  NURBMBEKG. 


Franconia,  Suabia,  and  the  Ujiper  and  Lower 
Rhine  was  conferred  upon  him,  "  the  princes  of 
these  circles  entering  into  a  league  with  the  Crown 
of  Sweden,  and  with  one  another,  against  the 
emperor,  until  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of 
Germany  should  be  restored,  and  Sweden  indem- 
nified for  tlie  cost  of  the  war." ' 

If  Sweden  and  her  German  allies  had  resohed 
not  to  sheathe  the  sword  till  the  civil  and  religious 
liberties  of  Germany  had  been  restored,  not  less 
were  the  emperor  and  his  allies — the  Pope,  the  King 
of  Spain,  and  Maximilian  of  Bavaria — resolved 
that  the  war  should  go  on.  Wallenstein  advised 
Ferdinand  to  meet  the  Protestant  States  >vith  an 

"  Diet  of  Heilbronn— Suied.  InteU.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  312. 

130 


command  of  Bavaria,  the  cradle  of  the  League. 
TlieLr  amis  were  attended  with  equal  success  in 
Suabia,  and  on  the  Upper  and  Lower  Rhine.  Lower 
Saxony  and  Westphalia  also  became  the  scene  of 
their  triumphs.  They  crossed  and  re-crossed 
Germany,  scatteiing  the  imperial  ai-mies,  capturing 
the  enemy's  fortresses,  and  wresting  from  him  the 
keys  of  all  his  important  cities,  besides  other 
trophies  of  war,  such  as  cannon,  baggage,  and 
standards.  One  who  did  not  know  what  had  taken 
place  on  the  field  of  Liitzen,  would  have  thought 
that  Gustavus  Adol])hus  was  still  at  the  head  of  the 
Swedish  warriors.  Their  banners,  floatmg  trium- 
phant in  every  part  of  Germany,  again  proclaimed 


=  Schiller,  vol.  ii.,  p.  148. 


302 


HISTORY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


the  fact  that  iiotking  was  -wauting  to  the  Protestant 
princes,  save  hearty  zeal  ani.1  tirm  concord,  to  re- 
cover all  the  rights  which  the  Catholic  reaction  had 
swept  away,  and  to  establish  Protestant  liberty  in 
Germany  as  it  had  existed  a  century  before. 

While  the  Swedish  arms  had  come  up  to  the 
Austrian  frontier,  and  it  seemed  as  if  a  few  marches 
and  one  or  two  battles  would  carry  them  to  tho 
gates  of  Vienna,  the  generalissimo  of  Ferdinand 
was  maintaining  a  most  luiaccomitable  inactivity. 
Wallenstein  lay  encamped  in  Bohemia,  with  40,000 
soldiers  under  him,  apparently  an  uninterested 
spectator  of  the  dLsastei-s  befalling  the  empii-e. 
Ferdinand  sent  message  after  message,  each  more 
pressing  than  that  which  had  preceded  it,  com- 
manding him  to  put  his  army  in  motion  against  the 
invaders.  Wallenstein  answered,  "I  go ; "  but 
went  not.  At  last  he  marched  to  Munsterberg, 
where  he  formed  an  entrenched  camp.  The  Swedes 
offered  him  battle,  but  he  declined  it.  The  two 
armies  remained  nine  days  within  musket-shot  of 
each  other,  but  neither  stirred  from  their  entrench- 
ments. At  last  the  mystery  of  Wallenstein's 
inactivity  was  made  plain.  Count  Terzky,  attended 
by  a  trumpeter,  appeared  in  the  Swedish  camp, 
with  proposals  of  peace  from  the  imperial  generalis- 
simo. Wallenstein  offered  to  joiir  the  allies,  and 
turn  his  arms  against  the  emperor,  on  condition  of 
being  made  King  of  Bohemia.  He  further  promised 
that,  should  the  Bohemian  crown  be  placed  on  his 
head,  he  would  recall  the  exOes,  restore  the  confis- 
cated estates,  and  establish  toleration  in  that 
comitry.'  So  do  contemporary  historians  relate. 
Besides  his  own  ambition,  the  stars  had  jiromised 
this  dignity  to  Wallenstein.  The  Swedes  did  not 
know  what  to  make  of  this  strange  proposal ;  but 
at  last,  deeming  it  an  artful  trap  to  seize  their 
army  and  deliver  it  up  to  the  emperor,  they  re- 
jected it.  The  real  intentions  of  Wallenstein  still 
remain  a  mystery  ;  but  we  incline  to  the  belief  that 
he  was  then  meditating  some  deep  revenge  on  the 
emperor,  whom  he  had  never  forgiven  for  dismissing 
him,  and  that  he  was  not  less  desirous  of  striking  a 
blow  at  the  Jesuits,  who  he  knew  cordially  hated 
Lim,  and  wei-e  intriguing  against  him  at  the  court 
of  Vienna.  It  is  said  that  he  was  revolving  even 
mightier  projects.  He  harboured  the  daring  pur- 
pose of  putting  down  all  the  lords,  lay  and 
ecclesiastical,  of  Germany,  of  combining  its  various 
countries  into  one  kingdom,  and  setting  over  it 
a  single  chief.     Ferdinand  II.  was  to  be  installed 


'  Schiller,  vol.  ii.,  p.  170.  Klievenhiller,  vol.  xii.,  p.  591- 
Fttrster,  Wallenstein's  Brie/e,  vol.  iii.,  p.  30— ajMwJ  Chap- 
man, p.  391. 


meanwhile  as  the  nominal  sovereign,  but  Wallen- 
stein would  govern  through  him,  as  Richelieu  did 
through  Louis  XIII.  The  Turks  were  to  be  driven 
out  of  Europe,  and  Wallenstein,  at  the  head  of  a 
gigantic  army,  was  to  make  himself  Dictator  of 
Christendom.  Such  was  the  colossal  scheme  with 
which  he  was  credited,  and  which  is  said  to  have 
alarmed  the  Pope,  excited  the  jealousy  of  Richelieu, 
intensified  the  hatred  of  the  Jesuits,  and  made 
them  combine  to  effect  his  destruction. - 

His  ruin  soon  followed.  To  have  sent  him  his 
dismissal  in  the  ordinary  way  would  have  been  to 
bring  on  the  explosion  of  the  terrible  plot.  He 
held  the  army  in  liis  hand,  and  Ferdinand  was  not 
powerful  enough  to  wrest  that  weapon  from  him. 
He  could  be  approached  only  with  the  dagger. 

Wallenstein  was  residing  at  Eger,  where  he 
was  busOy  engaged  corresponding  with  his  accom- 
plices, and  studying  the  stars.  They  rolled  night 
by  night  over  his  head,  without  notifying  that  the 
hour  had  come  for  the  execution  of  his  great  design. 
While  he  waited  for  the  celestial  summons,  dark 
preparations  were  forming  round  him  on  earth.  On 
the  evening  of  the  25th  of  February,  1634,  the 
officers  of  the  garrison  who  remained  loyal  to 
Ferdinand  invited  the  four  leading  conspiratora 
of  Wallenstein  to  sup  with  them.  The  -wine  was 
circulating  freely  after  supper,  when  one  of  the 
company  rose  and  gave  as  a  toast,  "  The  House  of 
Austria.  Long  live  Ferdinand  ! "  It  was  the  pre- 
concerted signal.  Thirty-six  men-at-arms,  who  had 
been  stationed  in  the  ante-chamber,  rushed  in, 
overturned  the  table,  and  threw  themselves  upon 
their  victims.  In  a  few  minutes  Wallenstein's 
partisans  lay  sabred  and  dying  on  the  floor  of  the 
apartment. 

This  was  only  a  beginning.  The  gi-eat  conspi- 
rator still  lived ;  biit,  whatever  the  prognostication 
of  the  stars,  his  last  sands  were  running.  The 
elements  seemed  in  accord  with  the  violent  deeds 
on  foot,  for  a  frightful  tempest  had  burst  over 
Eger,  and  the  black  clouds,  the  howling  winds, 
and  the  pelting  rains  favoured  the  assassins. 
Devereux,  followed  by  twelve  halberdiers,  pro- 
ceeded to  Wallenstein's  residence,  and  was  at  once 
admitted  by  the  guard,  who  were  accustomed  to 
see  him  visit  the  duke  at  all  hours.  Wallenstein 
had  retired  to  rest ;  but  hearing  a  noise  he  had  got 
out  of  bed,  and  going  to  the  window  he  opened  it 
and  challenged  the  sentinel.  He  had  just  seated 
himself  in  a  chair  at  a  table  in  his  night-dress, 
when  Devereux  biu-st  open  the  door  and  entered 


"  Michicls,  Secret  History  of  the  Austrian  Government, 
pp.  78,  79. 


DEFECTION   OF  THE   ELECTOR  OF  SAXONY. 


303 


with  the  halberdiers.  The  man  whom  armies 
obeyed,  and  who  was  the  terror  of  kings,  was 
before  him.  Rushing  towards  him,  he  shouted, 
"  Thy  hoiu'  is  come,  villain  !  "  The  duke  rose,  and 
attempted  to  reach  the  window  and  summon  the 
guard,  but  the  men-at-arms  barred  his  way. 
Opening  his  arms,  he  received  the  stroke  of  their 
halberds  in  liis  breast,  and  fell  bathed  in  his  blood, 
but  without  utteruig  a  word.  His  designs,  what- 
ever they  were,  he  took  with  him  to  his  grave. 
The  ■wise  man  had  said  long  before,  "As  passeth 
the  whii-hvind,  so  the  -wicked."  ' 

After  the  death  of  Wallenstein,  Ferdinand's  son, 
the  King  of  Hungary,  bore  the  title  of  general- 
issimo, but  Count  Gallas  discharged  the  duty  by 
leading  the  army.  The  tide  of  success  now  began  to 
turn  against  the  Swedes.  They  had  already  lost 
several  impoi-tant  to-svns,  among  othei-s  Ratisbon, 
and  their  misfortunes  were  crowned  by  a  severe 
defeat  which  they  encountered  imder  the  walls  of 
Nordlingen.  Some  12,000  men  lay  dead  on  the 
field,  t<0  cannon,  4,000  wagons,  and  300  standards 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  imjierialists.  The  Swedes 
had  lost  their  superiority  in  the  field  ;  consternation 
reigned  among  the  members  of  the  Protestant  Con- 
federacy, and  the  free  cities ;  and  O.xenstierna,  to 
save  the  cause  from  ruin,  was  obliged,  as  he  believed, 
to  cast  himself  upon  the  protection  of  Richelieu, 
gi\ing  to  France,  as  the  price  of  her  help,  the 
province  of  Alsace.  This  put  the  key  of  Germany 
into  her  hands,  and  her  ai-mies  poured  along 
the  Rhine,  and,  under  pretext  of  assisting  the 
Swedes,  phmdered  the  cities  and  devastated  the 
j)rovinces. 

And  now  a  severer  blow  befell  the  Swedes  than 
even  the  defeat  at  Nordlingen.  John  George,  the 
Elector  of  Saxony,  deserting  his  confederates, 
entered  into  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  emperor. 
The  weakness  of  the  Protestant  cause,  all  along, 
luul  lain,  not  in  the  strength  of  the  imperialists, 
but  in  the  divisions  of  the  German  princes,  and  now 
this  heavy  and,  for  the  time,  fotal  blow  was  dealt  it 
by  the  defection  of  the  man  who  had  so  largely  con- 
tributed to  begin  the  war,  by  helping  the  League  to 
take  Prague,  and  suppress  the  Protestantism  of 
Bohemia.  All  the  Protestant  States  were  invited 
to  enter  this  peace  along  with  the  emperor  and 
elector.  It  effected  no  real  settlement  of  difler- 
ences ;  it  oflfei-ed  no  effectual  redress  of  gi-ievances  ; 
and,  wliile  it  swept  away  nearly  all  that  the  Pro- 
testants had  gained  in  the  war,  it  left  undetermined 

'  FOrster,  Wallenstein' s  Briefe,  vol.  iii.,  p.  199.  Chem- 
nitz, vol.  ii.,  p.  332.  Khevenhiller,  vol.  xii.,  p.  llC;i. 
Schiller,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  197—201.  Michiels,  Secret  Histury, 
pp.  87  -  91.    Cliapman,  pp.  396—398. 


innumerable  points  which  were  sure  to  become  the 
seeds  of  conflicts  in  the  futiu-e.  Nevertheless,  the 
peace  was  acceded  to  by  the  Elector  of  Branden- 
burg, DiUce  William  of  Weimar,  the  Princes  of 
Anhalt,  the  Dukes  of  Mecklenbvirg,  the  Dukes  of 
Brimswick,  Liineburg,  the  Hanseatic  towns,  and 
most  of  the  imperial  cities." 

This  peace,  termed  the  Peace  of  Prague,  from  the 
town  where  the  treaty  was  framed,  was  scornfully 
rejected  by  the  Swedes,  and  on  just  gi'ounds.  It 
offered  them  no  indemnification  for  the  expenses 
they  had  incurred,  and  no  compensation  for  the  con- 
quests they  were  to  leave  beliind  them.  They 
loudly  protested  against  the  pi'mces  who  had  made 
their  reconciliation  with  the  emperor,  as  guilty  of  a 
shamefid  abandonment  of  themselves.  They  had 
come  into  Germany  at  their  in\'itation ;  they  had 
vindicated  the  Protestant  rights  and  the  German 
liberties  with  their  blood,  and  "  the  sacred  life  of 
their  king,"  and  now  they  were  to  be  expelled  from 
the  empii-e  without  reward,  without  even  thanks, 
by  the  very  men  for  whom  they  had  toiled  and  bled. 
Rather  than  be  thus  dishonoiu-ed,  and  lose  into  the 
bargain  all  for  which  they  had  fought,  they  re- 
solved to  continue  the  war. 

Oxenstierna,  in  this  extremity  of  Swedish  aftaii's, 
turned  to  France,  and  Richelieu  met  him  with 
offers  of  assistance.  The  Swedes  and  French 
formed  a  compact  body,  and  penetrated  into  the 
heart  of  the  empire.  The  Swedes  fought  with  a 
more  desperate  bravery  than  ever.  The  battles 
were  bloodier.  They  fell  on  Saxony,  and  avenged, 
in  the  devastation  and  slaughter  they  inflicted,  the 
defection  of  the  Elector.  They  defeated  him  in  a 
great  battle  at  Wittsbach,  in  1G36,  the  Elector 
leaving  5,000  men  on  the  field,  with  baggage, 
cannon,  standards,  and  silver  plate,  the  booty  being 
enhanced  by  the  capture  of  some  thousands  of 
prisoners.  After  this,  victory  oscillates  fi'om  side 
to  side ;  now  it  is  the  imperialists  who  triumph  on 
the  I'ed  field ;  now  it  is  the  Swedes,  grown  as 
savage  as  the  imperialists,  who  remain  masters; 
but  though  battle  succeeds  battle,  the  war  makes 
no  progi'ess,  and  the  end  for  which  it  was  commenced 
has  been  entirely  lost  sight  of. 

At  length  there  appeared  a  new  Swedish  general- 
issimo, Bernard  Torstenson,  a  pupil  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  and  the  leader  who,  of  all  who  had  been 
reared  in  the  same  school,  approached  the  most 
nearly  to  his  great  master.  He  transferred  the 
seat  of  war  from  the  exhausted  proWnces  to  those 
which  had  not  yet  tasted  the  miseries  of  the  cam- 
paigns.     He    led    the    Swedish    hosts    into    the 

=  Schiller,  vol.  ii.,  p.  22L 


304 


HISTORY  OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Austiiim  territories  which  had  hitherto  been 
exempted  by  their  remoteness  from  the  calamities 
under  which  the  rest  of  Germany  groaned.  "  He 
hurled  the  torch  of  wai-,"  says  Schiller,  "  even  to 
the  very  footsteps  of  the  imperial  throne."  By  his 
gi'eat  victory  at  Jancowitz,  where  the  emperor  lost 
his  best  general,  Hatzfeld,  and  his  last  ai-my, 
the  whole  territory  of  Austria  was  thrown  open  to 
him.  The  victorious  Swedes,  pouring  over  the 
frontiers,  spread  themselves  like  an  inundation 
over  Moravia  and  Austria.  Ferdinand  fled  to 
Vienna  to  save  liis  family  and  his  treasures.  The 
Swedes  followed  hard  on  hLs  fleeing  steps,  carried 
the  entrenchments  at  the  Wolf's  Bridge,  and  showed 
themselves  before  the  walls  of  Vienna.  Thus,  after 
a  long  and  destructive  circuit  through  every  pro- 
vince of  Germany,  the  terrible  procession  of  battles 
and  sieges  had  returned  to  the  spot  whence  it  set 
out.  The  artillery  of  the  Swedes  that  now  thun- 
dered around  the  Austrian  capital  must  have 
recalled  to  the  memory  of  the  inhabitants  the  balls 
shot  into  Vienna  twenty-seven  years  ago  by  the 
Bohemians.  Since  that  day,  whole  armies  had 
sunk  into  the  German  plains.  All  the  great 
leaders  had  fallen  in  the  war.  Wallenstein,  Tilly, 
Count  Mansfeld,  and  dozens  of  inferior  generals 
had  gone  to  the  grave.  Monarchs,  a-s  well  as  men 
of  lower  degree — the  great  Gustavus  and  the 
bigoted  Ferdinand — had  bowed  to  the  stroke  of 
fate.  Richelieu  too  slept  in  the  marble  in  which 
France  lays  her  gi-eat  statesmen,  and  the  "  odour  " 
in  which  Rome  buries  her  faithful  servants.  Still 
above  the  graves  of  those  who  began  it,  this  war 
was  holding  its  fearful  course,  as  if  it  longed  to 


gather  beneath  its  scythe  not  the  German  people 
only,  but  the  nations  of  Christendom.  Now  awoke 
a  loud  and  luiiversal  cry  for  peace.  Even  Maxi- 
milian of  Bavaria  had  gi-own  weary  of  the  war. 
The  House  of  Austria  was  left  alone  in  tliis  gi-eat 
field  of  blood  and  corpses,  and  negotiations  for 
peace  were  opened  at  Munster  and  Osnabm'g.  These 
negotiations  proceeded  slowly.  The  conflicting  ia- 
terests  that  had  to  be  reconciled,  and  the  deep-seated 
jealousies,  antipathies,  and  bigotries  that  had  to  be 
conquered,  before  the  sword  could  be  sheathed,  were 
innumerable.  The  demands  of  the  negotiating  parties 
rose  and  fell  according  to  the  position  of  their-  arms. 
But  at  last  the  great  victory — more  glorious  than 
any  that  had  preceded  it — was  achieved.  They 
were  exchanging  the  last  shots  on  the  veiy  spot 
where  the  first  had  been  fii-ed,  namely  at  Prague, 
when  a  messenger  brought  the  news  that  a  peace 
had  been  concluded  on  the  24th  of  October,  1648. 
Fii-st  of  all,  the  new  treaty  confirmed  the  old  ones 
of  Passau  and  Augsburg  (1552-5),  and  declared 
that  the  interpretation  now  put  ujaon  them  was  to 
remain  valid  in  spite  of  all  protests,  from  any 
quarter  whatsoever.  But  the  new  advanced  a  step 
beyond  the  old  treaties,  and  gave  still  more  im- 
portant results.  Besides  a  number  of  territorial 
and  political  concessions,  such  as  giving  Pomerania 
to  Sweden,  it  extended  Toleration  to  Calvinists 
as  well  as  Luther'ans.  This  was  the  crowning 
blessing  which  rose  out  of  these  red  fields. 
And  to  this  day  the  balance  of  power  between 
Romanist  and  Protestant  has  remained  sub- 
stantially as  it  was  fixed  by  the  Pacification  of 
Westphalia. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE      F.\TnERLAND      AFTKR      THE      WAR. 


Peace  rroclaimed— Banquet  at  Nuremberg — Varied  Feelings  awakened  by  the  Peace— Celebration  of  the  Peace  in 
Diilstadt — Symbolical  Figures  and  Procession — The  Fatherland  after  the  War— Its  Recovery  Slow — Invaded 
Ijy  Wandering  and  Lawless  Troops — Poverty  of  the  Inhabitants — Instances  of  Desolation  of  the  Land — 
Unexampled  Extent  of  the  Calamity— Luther's  Warnings  Verified. 


The  peace  had  been  sigiied.  The  ambassadors 
had  solemnly  shaken  hands  with  one  another  in 
token  of  its  ratification,  and  on  all  the  roads 
rode  trumpeters  to  caiTy  to  city  and  rural  village 
the  news  of  the  happy  event.  The  rude  temjiests 
of  war  had  spent  themselves,  and  now  mild-eyed 
Peace  looked  forth  and  smiled. 


The  peace  was  celebrated  at  Nuremberg  by  a 
groat  banquet,  at  which  imperialists  aird  Swedes 
sat  down  together  at  the  same  table,  and  mingled 
their  rejoicings  under  the  same  roof  Brilliant 
lights  illuminated  the  vaulted  roof  of  the  magnifi- 
cent town-hall.  Between  the  blazing  chandeliers 
were  hung  thii-ty  kinds  of  fruits  and  a  profusion 


PEACE   REJOICINGS   THROUGHOUT   GERMANY. 


305 


of  flovrors,  bound  together  with  gold  wire.  Four 
bands  were  appointed  to  discourse  sweet  music, 
and  in  six  difl'erent  rooms  were  assembled  the  six 
classes  of  invited  guests.  Two  enormous  allegorical 
figures  had  been  erected  on  the  tables — the  one  an 
arch  of  victory,  the  other  a  six-sided  mountain, 
covered  with  mythological  and  allegorical  figures 
from  the  Latin  and  German  mythologies.  Dinner 
was  served  iir  four  courses,  each  consisting  of  150 
dishes.  Then  came  the  fruits,  some  of  which  were 
served  in  silvei",  and  others  on  the  boughs  of  the 
very  trees  on  wliich  they  had  gi-o^vn,  and  wliich 
had  been  transfeiTed  root  and  all  into  the  banquet- 
ing-room.  Along  the  table  at  intervals  burned 
fine  incense,  which  filled  the  spacious  hall  with  a 
delightful  perfume.  There  was  also  confectionery  in 
great  abundance,  made  up  in  a  variety  of  fanciful 
and  fantastic  forms.  A  herald  now  rose  and  an- 
nounced the  toast  of  the  day — "  The  health  of  his 
Imperial  Majesty  of  Vienna,  and  his  Royal  Majesty 
of  Sweden."  The  toast  of  the  newly-concluded 
peace  followed,  and  was  drunk  with  rapturous 
cheers  by  the  assembled  ambassadors  and  generals, 
while  a  response  was  thundered  from  the  artillery 
of  the  castle.  A  somewhat  perilous  play  at  soldiers 
now  diversified  the  entertainment.  Muskets  and 
swords  were  brought  into  the  room,  and  the  com- 
pany, anning  themselves  and  forming  in  file, 
marched  round  the  table,  and  fired  ofl'  a  salvo. 
After  this  they  marched  out,  and  ascended  the 
streets  to  the  old  Margrave's  Castle  at  the  northern 
gate,  and'  discharged  several  pieces  of  ordnance. 
On  their  return  to  the  town-hall  they  were 
jestingly  thanked,  and  discharged  from  the  service 
on  the  ground  that  now  War  had  sheathed  his 
sword,  and  Peace  begiui  her  reign.  To  regale  the 
poor,  two  oxen  had  been  kUled,  and  quantities  of 
bread  were  distributed,  and  out  of  a  lion's  jaws 
there  ran  for  six  liours  white  and  red  wine.  Out 
of  a  still  gi-eater  lion's  jaws  had  run  for  thirty 
years  teai-s  and  blood.  As  did  the  ambassadors  at 
Nuremberg,  so  in  every  town  and  half-destroyed 
village  this  thrice-welcome  peace  was  celebrated  by 
the  rejoicings  of  the  inhabitants. 

From  the  banq\iet-hall  of  Nuremberg,  let  us 
turn  to  the  homesteads  of  tlie  people,  and  mark 
the  varied  feelings  awakened  in  their  breasts 
by  the  cessation  of  this  terrible  war.  "  To  the 
old,"  says  Gustavus  Freytag,  "  peace  api)eared 
like  a  return  of  their  youth  ;  they  saw  the  rich 
liarvests  of  their  childhood  brought  back  again  ; 
the  thickly-peopled  villages ;  the  merry  Sundays 
tinder  the  now  cut-down  village  lindens ;  the 
pleasant  hours  which  they  had  sjient  with  their  now 
dead  or  impoverished  relations  and  companions — 


in  short,  all  the  pictures  that  made  up  the  memory 
of  early  days  they  saw  reviving  again  to  gladden 
their  age.  They  found  themselves  happier,  manlier, 
and  better  than  they  had  become  in  almost  thirty 
years  filled  with  misery  and  degradation.  The  young 
men,  that  hard,  war-begotten,  wild  generation, 
felt  the  approach  of  a  wonderfid  time;  it  seemed 
to  them  like  a  fable  out  of  a  far-ofi"  land;  they 
saw  in  vista  a  time  when  on  every  field  there  would 
wave  in  the  wind  thick  yellow  ears  of  corn,  when 
in  every  stall  the  cows  would  low,  when  in  every 
sty  would  bask  a  round  little  pig,  when  they 
themselves  should  drive  two  horses  to  the  merry 
crack  of  the  whip,  and  no  hostile  soldier  would  dare 
to  lay  rough  hands  upon  their  sisters  and  sweet- 
hearts ;  when  they  would  no  longer  lie  in  wait  in 
the  bushes  with  hay-forks  and  rusty  muskets  for 
stragglers ;  when  they  would  no  longer  sit  as 
fugitives,  in  the  eerie  nights  of  the  forest,  on  the 
graves  of  then-  stricken  comrades ;  when  the  roofs 
of  the  village  houses  would  be  without  holes,  the 
yards  without  crumbling  barns  ;  when  one  would 
no  longer  hear  the  cry  of  the  wolf  at  the  yard-gate: 
when  the  village  church  would  again  have  glass 
windows  and  beautiful  bells  ;  when  in  the  befouled 
choii-  of  the  church  there  would  stand  a  new  altar, 
with  a  silk  cover,  a  silver  crucifix,  and  a  gilt  cup  ; 
and  when  once  again  the  young  men  would  lead 
the  brides  to  the  altar  with  the  maiden-wreath  in 
their  hair.  A  passionate,  painful  joy  throbbed  in 
every  breast ;  and  even  war's  wildest  brood,  the 
common  soldiers,  felt  its  convulsive  thrill.  The 
callous  governing  powers  even,  the  princes  and 
their  ambassadors,  felt  that  the  great  fact  of  peace 
was  the  saving  of  Germany  from  the  last  extremity 
of  ruin.  Solemnly,  and  with  all  the  fervour  of 
which  the  people  were  capable,  was  the  peace 
celebrated  throughout  the  land.'" 

As  an  example  of  the  way  in  which  the  peace 
was  welcomed  in  the  smaller  towns  we  take 
DiJlstadt,  in  the  Dukedom  of  Gotha.  The  glimpse 
it  gives  lis  of  the  morals  of  the  Fatherland  at 
this  era  is  far  from  pleasant,  and  shows  us 
how  far  the  sons  of  the  Reformers  had  degene- 
rated ;  and  it  paints  in  aflecting  colours  the 
character  of  the  men  on  whom  the  great 
calamity  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  fell.  The 
Pastor  of  Dolstadt,  vexed  from  day  to  day  with 
the  impiety  of  his  flock,  denoiuiced  against  them 
the  judgment  of  Heaven  unless  they  turned  from 
their  wickedness.  They  only  laughed  at  his  warn- 
ings, and  showed  him  all  manner  of  disrespect. 
They   tore   dowi   his   hops    from   the   pole,    they 


Gustav.  Fieytog,  pp.  221—223. 


306 


HISTORY   OF  TROTESTANTISM. 


carried  off  the  corn  from  his  field,  and  many  other 
injuries,  as  ho  comphuned  witli  tearful  eyes  in  1634, 
did  they  inflict  upon  liim.  When  ho  came  to  die 
he  liui-st  into  toai-s,  uttering  the  following  sorrowful 
exclamation — "  Alas  !  poor  DiJlstadt,  how  ill  it  will 
go  with  thee  after  my  departure!"  Directing  a 
look  towards  the  church,  and  survoj-ing  it  with  a 


1627  to  1637,  29,595  guldens  had  been  exacted 
of  it.  The  inliabitants  dwindled  away,  and  in  a 
short  while  the  place  became  almost  as  deserted  as 
the  -wilderness.  In  1636  there  were  only  two 
married  couples  in  the  village.  In  1641,  first 
Bannier,  and  after  him  the  French  were  quai-tered 
there  in  •winter ;  one  half-acre  was  the  whole  extent 


AXLL,    toLNT  o\l  NMILliN  V       (From  a  I'ortmii  i'J  Ihe  I'l 


n  the  BitiJiothiquc  Nationak.) 


heart  heavy  with  sorrow  and  eyes  dim  with  doath, 
he  made  liLs  attendants  raise  him  in  bed,  and  again 
exclaimed,  "  Ah  !  dear,  dear  church,  how  wilt  thou 
fare  after  my  death  !  thou  shalt  be  swept  into  a 
heap  with  the  broom  of  judgment  !"  His  prophecy 
came  true.  In  1636  the  armed  corps  of  Hatzfeld 
fell  upon  the  place,  ravaging  and  spoiling ;  the 
church  was  plundered,  and  its  wood-work  torn 
dow^^  and  burned,  as  Pastor  Dekner  had  not 
obscurely  foretold.  In  the  same  year  the  village 
had  to  pay  5,500  guldens  of  war  indemnity.    From 


of  soil  cultiv.'ited,  and  the  population  amounted  to 
just  four  persons. 

After  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  under  the  fos- 
tering care  of  Duke  Ernest,  the  pious  sovei-eign 
of  Gotha,  tliis  as  well  as  the  other  abandoned 
villages  were  rpiickly  rcpopulated,  so  that  in  1650 
there  Wiis  held  also  in  Dolstadt  a  festival  in 
honour  of  the  peace.  The  morning  of  the  19th  of 
August  was  ushered  in  by  the  singing  of  hymns. 
At  six  o'clock  the  bells  were  set  ariinging,  and  the 
■whole  population  of  the  place  assembled  before  the 


308 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


entrance  of  the  village — the  women  grouped  on 
one  side  of  the  path,  and  the  men  on  the  other. 
Before  the  females  stood  an  allegorical  figure  of 
Peace,  dressed  in  a  robe  of  gi-een  silk,  cro^^^led  with 
a  gi-eeu  -vn-eath,  varied  with  yellow  flowers,  and 
holding  in  its  hand  a  branch  of  olive.  In  front  of 
the  men  was  a  symbolical  representation  of  Justice, 
clothed  in  white,  wearing  a  green  ■wTeath,  and 
holding  in  one  hand  a  naked  sword,  and  in  the 
other  a  yellow  rod.  The  young  men  stood  at  some 
distance,  with  a  representation  of  Mars  before  them, 
dressed  as  a  soldier  and  carrying  a  ci'oss-bow.  In 
the  middle  of  tlicse  groups  stood  the  scholare  and 
villagers,  with  the  pastor  at  their  head,  the  director 
of  the  day's  j)roceeduigs,  and  afterwards  their 
narrator.  The  pastor  directed  their  glance  back  on 
the  awful  tempests  which  had  beat  upon  them, 
now  happily  ended.  He  told  them  how  often  they 
had  had  to  flee  from  their  homes,  fear  in  their 
hearts  and  tears  in  their  eyes ;  and  how  glad  they 
were,  the  stoi-m  over,  to  return,  though  to  enter 
naked  and  devastated  dwellings,  and  sit  at  hearths 
blackened  and  cold.  "And  now  let  us,"  he  said, 
"  pass  in  with  praise  at  these  same  gates,  oiit  of 
which  we  have  often  i)assed  in  flight ;  and  let  us 
enter  the  sa)ictuary  of  the  Eternal  with  a  psalm 
of  thanksgiving,  and  lifting  up  oiu-  voices  with  one 
accord,  sing  to  God  on  high."  Thereupon  the 
^^•hole  a.ssembly,  wearing  green  wi-eaths,  and  caiTy- 
ing  in  their  hands  green  branches,  marched  to 
the  church  singing  liymns.  The  villagers  had  been 
joined  by  the  gentry  and  nobility  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  the  procession  was  a  long  and 
imposing  one.  In  the  chui-ch  hymns  were  again 
sung  by  voices  which  trembled  with  varied  emo- 
tions ;  prayers  breathed  out  with  touching  pathos 
and  solemnity  ascended  upward ;  and  the  pastor, 
mounting  the  pulpit,  preached  a  sermon  suited  to 
the  joyful  occasion.  Thereafter  the  whole  as- 
semblage gathered  in  the  market-place,  and  the 
strij)ling  and  the  patriarch,  the  village  maiden  and 
the  high-born  dame,  mingling  their  voices  in  one 
mighty  chorus,  sang  a  closing  hymn  and  then  dis- 
persed.' 

Tlie  condition  of  the  Fatherland  after  the  w;u' 
was  of  the  most  serious  and  painful  character. 
Peace  had  been  proclaimed,  but  many  years  wei'e 
needed  to  staunch  the  wounds  and  eSace  the  deep 
scars  which  the  war  had  made.  Wlien  one  has 
been  brought  to  the  grave's  brink  and  again  re- 
covers, slowly  the  pallor  depaits  from  the.  face,  and 
slowly  does  the  dimmed  eye  brighten  and  the  sickly 


'  From  the  Church-Book  of   Pastor  Trumper  of  Dul- 
Btadt,  apud  Gustav.  Freytag,  pp.  223—227. 


frame  wax  strong.  So  ^vith  Germany :  tlie  work 
was  both  laborious  and  tedious  of  re-building  its 
cities,  restormg  the  verdure  of  its  fields  and  the 
shade  of  its  forests,  and  especially  revi-\-ing  its  all 
but  extinct  population.  Unconscionable  war  taxes, 
ravaging  camps  waiting  for  disbandment,  pro- 
longed into  the  era  of  peace  the  misei'ies  that  had 
darkened  the  period  of  war.  To  these  were  added 
annoyances  of  another  kind.  The  whole  country 
swarmed  with  "  masterless  bands,"  made  up  of  run- 
away serfs  and  discharged  soldiers,  -vidth  women  and' 
camp  followers.  After  these  came  troops  of  beggars 
and  hosts  of  robbers,  who  wandered  from  province 
to  province  in  quest  of  prey.  "  A  stream  of 
beggars,"  says  Gustavus  Freytag,  "  of  every  kind 
wandered  over  the  country — dismissed  soldiers, 
cripples,  homeless  people,  old  and  sick  people ; 
among  the  rest,  lepers,  with  certificates  from  the 
hospitals ;  exiles  from  Bohemia  and  Hungaria,  who 
had  left  their  home  for  their  religion ;  expelled  nobles 
from  England,  Ireland,  and  Poland  ;  coUectoi-s  who 
>VLshed  to  set  free  their  relations  from  the  Turkish 
prisons ;  travellers  who  had  been  plundered  at  way- 
side inns ;  a  blind  pastor,  with  five  children,  from 
Denmark  ;  and  not  one  of  this  long  troop  was  there 
who  had  not  a  tale  of  sufiTering  or  adventure  to 
recount,  in  order  to  jirocure  money  or  excite  ad- 
mu-ation."  -  They  forcibly  quartered  themselves  in 
the  villages  where  there  stUl  remauaed  a  few  in- 
habitants ;  and  where  the  population  had  totally 
disappeared  they  took  unchallenged  possession  of 
the  empty  dwellings.  But  the  infection  of  evil 
habits  spreads  fast;  and  the  inliabitants,  discover- 
ing that  it  was  easier  to  rob  than  to  cultivate  the 
fields,  began  to  make  secret  incursions  into  their 
neighbours'  territories,  and  appropriated  whatever 
they  coveted.  The  Romanists  plundered  the  Pro- 
testant communities,  and  the  Protestants  repaid  the 
visit  by  plundering  the  Romanists.  The  gipsy  tribes 
began  to  swarm  and  multiply;  theirwanderinghordes 
would  gather  in  every  ^'illage.  Fantastically  dressed, 
they  would  encamp  round  the  stone  troughs  in  the 
mai-ket-places,  with  laden  carts,  stolen  horses,  and 
naked  children.  Only  where  there  existed  a  strong 
municipality  could  these  wild  wanderers  be  kept 
away.  In  the  Dukedom  of  Gotha  sentinels  were 
placed  on  the  bridges  and  at  the  fords  of  rivers,  to 
sound  the  alarm  when  they  saw  any  of  these  law- 
less troops  approaching.  Gradually  something  like 
a  police  force  was  organised  ;  a  register  of  house- 
holders was  made,  and  an  account  taken  of  the 
land  each  occupied,  and  the  manner  in  which  he 
cultivated  it,  and  the  taxes  fixed  which  he  was  to 

■  Freytas,  p.  229. 


FEAEFUL  DEPOPFLATION   OF  GERMANY. 


309 


pay.  By  these  means  the  inhabitants  were  again 
broken  into  habits  of  industry.  Those  who  had  fled 
to  the  mountains,  or  had  sought  refuge  in  the  cities, 
or  in  foreign  countries,  returned,  the  villages  arose, 
marriages  and  baptisms  were  numerous,  and  some- 
thing like  its  old  face  began  again  to  be  seen  on  the 
Fatherland. 

The  poverty  of  the  inhabitants  was  so  great  that 
they  were  not  able  to  procure  implements  to  culti- 
vate their  fields,  and  large  tracts  of  Germany  long 
lay  fallow,  or  covered  with  brushwood.  "  There 
were  parts  of  the  country  where  a  horseman  could 
ride  for  many  hours  without  coming  to  a  single 
inliabited  dwelling.  A  messenger,  who  hastened 
from  Saxony  to  Berlin,  travelled  from  morning  till 
evening  over  uncultivated  laud,  through  thorns 
and  thistles,  without  finding  one  village  in  which 
to  rest." '  In  Thuringia  and  Franoonia,  fail'  samples 
of  tlie  rest  of  Germany,  it  is  calculated  that  seventy- 
fi.ve  per  cent  of  the  male  population  had  perished. 
They  had  lost  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  horses, 
eiglity-three  of  goats,  and  eighty-two  of  cows ;  the 
remaining  horses  were  lame  and  blind,  aaid  the 
sheep  in  all  places  were  completely  anni]iilated. 
The  population  of  Hesse  had  shrunk  to  a  fourth  of 
its  former  number.  Augsburg  was  reduced  from 
80,000  to  18,000;  Frankenthal,  from  18,000  to 
324;  Wurtemberg,  from   400,000  to  48,000.     In 


the  Palatinate  but  a  fiftieth  part  of  the  popu- 
lation remained.  In  Ummerstadt,  near  Coburf 
which  before  the  war  had  a  population  of  800,  so 
great  was  the  reduction  that  in  two  years  not  one 
child  was  born.  It  is  a  bloody  liistory  which  these 
facts  record.^ 

In  olden  time,  when  nations  were  migrating  from 
one  country  to  another,  it  would  happen  that  par- 
ticular territories  were  even  more  completely  bereft 
of  inhabitants,  or  when  plague  smote  a  city  there 
might  be  even  a  more  terrible  destruction  of  its 
people.  These  depopulations  were  local,  and  were 
easily  repaired  from  the  abundant  population  around 
the  stricken  spot ;  but  here  was  an  ancient  nation, 
possessing  hundreds  of  walled  towns,  numerous 
villages,  with  meadow-lands  and  fields,  cultivated 
for  thirty  generations,  overtaken  by  a  stroke  beneath 
which  their  cities  fell  into  ruins,  their  villages  sank 
into  heaps,  their  morals  and  religion  were  lost,  and 
the  soil,  refusing  longer  to  be  the  servant  of  man, 
sent  forth  only  weeds,  and  oflered  only  a  lair  to 
the  wild  beast. 

The  prophetic  eye  of  Luther  saw  the  approach 
of  terrible  evils  to  Germany,  should  the  Gospel  he 
had  preached  not  be  held  fast  by  her  sons.  His 
warnings  had  been  despised,  and  a  night,  blacker 
even  than  any  he  had  foreseen,  descended  on  the 
Fatherland. 


Book  Ci«entp--E(frontr, 

raOTESTANTISJI  IN  FEANCE    FKOM    DEATH  OF   HENRY  IV.   (IGIO)   TO   THE   EEVOLUTION   (17S9). 


CHAPTER   I. 


LOUIS   XIII.    AND    THE    WARS    OF    RELIGION. 

Htnry  IV.— Dies  in  the  Midst  of  his  Great  Schemes— Louis  XIII.— Maria  de  Moclici  Eegont— Alarm  of  the  Protos- 
tants— Cliaractor  of  Maria  de  Medici— Astrology— Governs  her  Son— Protestants  hold  a  Political  Convocation- 
Henri  de  Eohan— Deseneracy  o£  the  Huguenots— .Synods  of  the  French  Protestant  Church— New  Policy  of 
Louis  XIII.— The  Jesuits— Toleration— Invasion  of  Beam— Its  Protestantism  Suppresse<l— Jesuit  Logic- Shall  tho 
Sword  bo  Drawn  ?— War- Saumur— Death  of  Duplossis-Mornay- Siego  of  Montaubau— of  St.  Jean  d'Angely— 
A  Scotch  Pastor  on  the  Eampai-ts— Peace- Question  of  tho  Distinct  Autonomy  of  tho  Huguenots. 


We  resume  our  history  of  Protestantism  in  France 
at  the  death-bed  of  Henry  IV.  The  dagger  of 
Eavaillac  arrested  that  monarch  in  the  midst  of  his 
great  schemes.-  Henry  had  abjured  his  mother's 
faith,  in  the  hope  of  thei-eby  purchasing  from  Rome 


'  Freytag,  pp.  230,  231. 


2  See  ante,  vol.  ii.,  p.  G21. 


tho  sure  tenure  of  liis  crown  and  the  peaceful 
possession  of  his  kingdom.  He  fancied  tliat  he 
had  got  what  he  bargained  for ;  and  being,  as  he 
supposed,    firmly   seated   on   the    throne,   lie   was 


^  Chapman,  p.  400.    Freytag,  p.  235.    Ludwig  Hiiusser, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  277. 


310 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


milking  prodigious  efforts  to  lift  France  out  of  the 
abyss  in  wliicli  he  found  her.  He  was  labouring 
to  re-t'.stablish  onler,  to  plant  confidence,  and  to  get 
rid  of  the  immense  debts  which  prodigality  and 
dishonesty  had  accumulated,  and  which  weighed  so 
hea\ily  upon  the  kingdom.  He  was  taking  the 
legitimate  means  to  quicken  commerce  and  agri- 
culture— in  short,  to  eftace  all  those  frightful  traces 
which  had  been  left  on  the  country  by  what  are 
known  in  history  as  the  "ci-s-il  wai-s,"  but  which 
were,  in  fact,  crusades  organised  by  the  Grovern- 
ment  on  a  great  scale,  in  vnolation  of  sworn  treaties 
and  of  natural  rights,  for  the  extirpation  of  its 
Protestant  subjects.  Henry,  moreover,  was  medi- 
tating gi-eat  schemes  of  foreign  policy,  and  had 
already  dispatched  an  army  to  Germany  in  order 
to  humble  the  House  of  Austria,  and  reduce  the 
Spanish  influence  in  Em-ope,  so  menacing  to  the 
liberties  and  peace  of  Christendom.  It  did  seem  as 
if  the  king  would  succeed;  but  his  Austrian  pro- 
ject too  nearly  touched  the  Papal  interests.  There 
were  eyes  watching  Henry  which  he  knew  not  of. 
His  heretical  foreign  policy  excited  a  suspicion  that, 
although  he  was  outwardly  a  Roman  Catholic,  he 
was  at  heart  a  Huguenot.  In  a  moment,  a  Hand 
was  stretched  forth  from  the  darkness,  and  all  was 
changed.  The  policy  of  Hemy  IV.  perished  with 
him. 

He  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  by  his  son, 
Louis  XIII.,  a  youth  of  eight  and  a  half  years. 
That  same  evening,  an  edict  of  the  Parliament  of 
Paris  made  his  mother,  Maiia  de  Medici,  regent. 
The  consternation  of  the  Huguenots  was  great. 
Tlieii-  hands  instinctively  grasped  their  sword-hilts. 
The  court  hastened  to  calm  their  fears  by  pub- 
lishing a  decree  ratifying  all  the  former  edicts  of 
toleration,  and  assuring  the  Protestants  that  the 
death  of  Henry  IV.  would  bring  ■with  it  no  change 
of  the  national  policy ;  but  with  so  many  torn 
treaties  and  violated  oaths,  wliich  they  could  not 
biinish  from  their  memory,  what  reliance  could  the 
Huguenots  place  on  these  assiu-ances  'i  Was  it  not 
but  a  sjjreading  of  the  old  snare  around  their  feet  t 
In  the  regent  and  her  son  they  saw,  under  a  change 
of  names,  a  second  Catherine  de  Medici  and  Charles 
IX.,  to  be  followed,  it  might  be,  by  a  second  St. 
Partholomew. 

The  boy  of  eight  years  who  wore  the  crown 
could  do  only  what  liis  mother,  the  regent,  coun- 
selled, or  rather  commanded.  Maria  de  Medici 
was  the  real  sovereign,  That  ill-fiited  marriage 
with  the  Pope's  niece,  alas !  of  how  many  wars 
was  it  destined  to  bo  the  prolific  source  to  France  ! 
Maria  de  Medici  lacked  the  talent  of  her  famous 
predecessor,  Catherine    de    Medici,  but    she    pos- 


sessed all  her  treachery,  bigotry,  and  baseness. 
She  was  a  profound  believer  in  -witchcraft,  and 
guided  the  vessel  of  the  State  by  her  astrological 
calculations.  When  divination  fiiiled  her  she  had 
recoiu'se  to  the  advice  of  the  Pope's  nuncio,  of 
the  Spanish  ambassador,  and  of  Concini,  a  man  of 
obscure  birth  from  her  native  city  of  Florence, 
on  whom  she  heaped  high  titles,  though  she  could 
not  impart  to  him  noble  qualities.  Under  such 
guidance  the  vessel  of  the  State  was  drawn  farther 
and  farther  every  day  into  the  old  whirlpool. 
When  Louis  XIII.  grew  to  be  a  few  years  older, 
he  strove  to  break  the  trammels  in  which  he 
was  held,  by  banishing  his  mother  to  Blois,  and 
instigating  men  to  murder  Concini,  but  he  only  fell 
under  the  influence  of  a  favourite  as  worthless  and 
profligate  as  the  man  he  had  employed  assassins  to 
rid  him  of.  Intrigue,  blood,  and  peculation  dis- 
graced the  court.  The  great  nobles,  contemning 
the  power  of  the  sovereign,  retired  to  theu-  estates, 
where,  at  the  head  of  their  encampments,  they 
lived  like  independent  kings,  and  gave  sad  presage 
of  the  distractions  and  civil  broils  yet  awaiting  the 
unhappy  land.  But  it  is  the  Protestant  thread, 
now  becoming  somewhat  obscure,  that  we  wish  to 
follow. 

The  year  after  the  king's  accession  (1611)  the 
Protestant  nobles  met  at  Saumur,  and  held  one  of 
those  political  assemblies  which  they  had  planned 
for  the  regulation  of  religious  interests  after  the 
abjuration  of  Henry  IV.  The  illustrious  Duplessis- 
Mornay  was  elected  president,  and  the  famous 
Pastor  Chaumier  was  made  vice-president.  The 
convocation  consisted  of  seventy  persons  in  all — 
noblemen,  ministers,  delegates  from  the  Tiers  Etat, 
and  deputies  from  the  town  of  La  Rochelle  :  in  short, 
a  Huguenot  Parliament.  The  Government,  though 
reluctantly,  had  granted  permission  for  their  meet- 
ing; and  their  chief  business  was  to  elect  two 
deputies-general,  to  be  accepted  by  the  court  as  the 
recognised  heads  of  the  Protestant  body.  The 
assembly  met.  They  refused  simply  to  inscribe 
two  names  in  a  bulletin  and  break  up  as  the  court 
-wished;  they  sat  four  months,  discussed  the  matters 
affecting  their  interests  as  Protestants,  and  asked 
of  the  Government  redress  of  their  grievances. 
They  renewed  their  oath  of  union,  which  consisted 
in  swearing  fidelity  to  the  king,  always  reserving 
theu'  duty  to  "  the  sovereign  empu-e  of  God."  It 
was  at  this  assembly  that  the  talents  of  Henri  de 
Rohan  as  a  statesman  and  orator  began  to  display 
themselves,  and  to  give  promise  of  the  prominent 
place  he  was  afterwards  to  fill  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Reformed.  He  strongly  urged  union  among  them- 
selves, he  exhorted  them  to  show  concern  for  the 


COMING   EVILS   FOE   THE   FRENCH   PROTESTANTS. 


311 


welfare  of  tlie  liumblest  as  well  as  of  the  liighest  iu 
their  boily,  and  to  display  a  fii-m  spii'it  in  dealing 
with  Government  in  the  way  of  exacting  all  the 
rights  which  had  been  guaranteed  by  treaty.  "We 
are  not  come,"  he  said,  "  to  four  cross-roads,  but  to 
a  point  where  safety  can  be  found  in  only  one  path. 
Let  our  object  be  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  security 
of  the  chvirches  he  hiis  so  mmiculously  established 
in  this  kingdom,  providing  eagerly  for  each  other's 
benefit  by  every  legitimate  means.  Let  us  reli- 
giously demand  only  what  is  necessary.  Let  us  be 
firm  in  order  to  get  it." 

The  want  of  union  was  ijainfully  manifested  at 
this  assembly  at  Saumur,  thanks  to  then-  enemies, 
who  had  done  all  in  their  jjower  beforehand  to  sow 
jealousies  among  them.  The  fervent  piety  which 
chai-aoterised  their  fathers  no  longer  distinguished 
their  sons;  the  St.  Bartholomew  had  intlicted  worse 
evils  than  the  blood  it  spilt,  great  as  that  was ; 
many  now  cleaved  to  the  Huguenots,  whose  religion 
was  only  a  pretext  for  the  advancement  of  their 
ambition  ;  others  were  timid  and  afraid  to  urge 
even  the  most  modei-ate  demands  lest  they  should 
be  crushed  outright.  There  was,  too,  a  marked 
difierence  between  the  spirit  of  the  Protestants  in 
the  north  and  in  the  south  of  France.  The  former 
were  not  able  to  shake  off  the  terror  of  the  tur- 
bulent and  Pojiish  capital,  in  the  neighboui'hood  of 
which  they  lived  ;  the  latter  bore  about  them  the 
free  air  of  the  mountains,  and  the  bold  spii-it  of  the 
Protestant  cities  of  the  south,  and  when  they  spoke 
in  the  assembly  it  was  with  their  swords  half  drawn 
from  the  scabbards.  Similar  political  assemblies 
were  held  in  subsequent  years  at  Grenoble,  at 
Nlmes,  at  La  Rochelle,  and  at  other  towns. 
Meetings  of  their  National  Synod  were,  too,  of 
frequent  occurrence  during  this  period,  the  Mode- 
rator's chair  being  occupied  not  unfrequently  by 
men  whose  names  were  then,  and  are  still,  famous 
in  the  annals  of  Protestant  literature — Chamier 
and  Dumoulin.  These  Synods  sought  to  rebuild 
the  French  Protestant  Church,  almost  fallen  into 
ruins  daring  the  wars  of  the  foregoing  era,  by 
restoring  the  exercise  of  piety  in  congregations, 
cutting  oflf  unworthy  members,  and  composing  dif- 
ferences and  strifes  among  the  Protestant  nobles. 
Gathered  from  the  battle-fields  and  the  deserts  of 
France,  bitter  memories  behind  and  darkening 
prospects  before  them,  these  men  were  weary  in 
heart  and  broken  in  spirit,  and  were  without  the 
love  and  zeal  which  had  animated  their  fathers  who 
sat  in  the  Synod  of  La  Rochelle  forty  years  before, 
when  the  French  Protestant  Church  was  in  the 
prime  and  flower  of  her  days. 

The  Hugxienots  were  warned  by  m;my  signs  of  the 


siu-e  approach  of  evil  tunes.  One  ominous  pro"- 
nostic  was  the  reversal  of  the  foreign  policy  of 
Hemy  IV.  His  last  years  were  devoted  to  the 
maturing  of  a  great  scheme  for  humbling  the  Aus- 
trian and  Spanish  Powers  ;  and  for  this  end  the 
monarch  had  allied  himself,  as  we  have  already 
related,  with  the  northern  Protestant  nations. 
Louis  XIII.  disconnected  himself  from  Ids  father's 
allies,  and  joined  himself  to  liis  father's  enemies,  by 
the  project  of  a  double  marriage  ;  for  while  he 
solicited  for  himself  the  hand  of  the  SjDanish 
Infanta,  he  oflered  his  sister  in  marriage  to  the 
Prince  of  the  Astui'ias.  This  boded  the  ascen- 
dency of  Spain  and  of  Rome  once  more  in  France 
— in  other  words,  of  persecution  and  war.  Sinister 
reports  were  circulated  through  the  kingdom  that 
the  price  to  he  iiaid  for  this  double  alliance  was  the 
suppression  of  heresy.  Soft  words  contiimed  to 
come  from  the  coiu-t,  but  the  acts  of  its  agents  in 
the  provinces  were  not  in  correspondence  therevvith. 
Those  were  hard  enough.  The  swoi'd  was  not  brought 
forth,  it  is  true,  but  every  other  weapon  of  assault 
was  vigorously  plied.  The  priests  incessantly  im- 
portuned the  king  to  forbid  the  Protestants  from 
calling  in  question,  by  voice  or  by  pen,  the  authority 
of  the  Church  or  of  the  Pope,  He  was  solicited  not 
to  let  them  open  a  school  in  any  city,  not  to  let  any 
of  their  ministers  enter  a  hospital,  or  administer 
religious  consolation  to  any  of  their  sick  ;  not  to  let 
any  one  from  abroad  teach  any  faith  save  the  Roman; 
not  to  let  them  perform  their  religious  rites ;  in 
short,  the  monarch  was  to  abrogate  one  by  one  all 
the  rights  secured  by  treaty  to  the  Protestants,  and 
disannul  and  make  void  by  a  process  of  evacuation 
the  Edict  of  Nantes.  The  poor  king  did  not  need 
an}"-  importuning ;  it  was  not  the  will  but  the  power 
that  was  wanting  to  him  to  fulfil  the  oath  sworn  at 
his  coronation,  to  expel  from  the  lands  under  his 
sway  every  man  and  woman  denounced  by  the 
ChurcL  At  this  time  (161-1)  the  States-General, 
or  Supreme  Parliament,  of  France  met,  the  last  ever 
convoked  until  that  memorable  meeting  of  1789, 
the  precursor  of  the  Revolution.  A  deputy  of  the 
Tiers,  or  Commons,  rose  in  that  as.sembly  to  plead 
for  toleration.  His  words  sounded  lilce  blasphemy 
in  the  ears  of  the  clergy  and  nobles;  he  was  re- 
minded of  the  king's  oath  to  exterminate  heretics, 
and  told  that  the  treaties  sworn  to  the  Huguenots 
wore  only  jirovisional ;  in  other  words,  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  Government  always  to  persecute  and 
slay  the  Protestants,  except  in  one  case — namely, 
when  it  was  not  able  to  do  it. 

Of  these  destructive  maxims — destructive  to  the 
Huguenots  in  the  fii-st  instsmce,  but  still  more  de- 
structive to  France  in  the  long  run — two  terrible 


VIEW    Of    THE    TOMB    01'    ST.    SEBALD,    NUKEMBEilQ. 


INJUSTICE   AND   TYRANNY   IN   BEARN. 


313 


exemplifications  were  about  to  be  given.  Tbe  terri- 
tory of  Lower  Navarre  and  Bdarn,  in  the  mountains 
of  the  Pyrenees,  was  the  hereditary  kingdom  of 
Jeanne  d'Albret,  and  we  have  already  spoken  of 
her  efforts  to  plant  in  it  the  Protestant  faith.  She 
established   churches,   schools,  and  hospitals;    she 


ever  to  the  projected  incorporation.  The  Beamese 
had  no  right  to  be  of  any  but  the  king's  religion. 
A  decree  was  issued,  restoring  the  Roman  Catholic 
faith  in  Beam,  and  giving  back  to  the  Romish 
clergy  the  entii-e  ecclesiastical  property,  which  had 
for  a  half-century  been  in  possession  of  the  Pro- 


VIEW    IN    lA    UUCHELLE;    the    STEEET    of    the    msHOPUIC    AND    ST.    BABTHOLOMEW    BELFRV. 


endowed  these  from  the  national  property,  and  soon 
her  little  kingdom,  in  point  of  intelligence  and 
wealth,  became  one  of  the  most  flourislung  spots  in 
all  Christendom.  Under  her  son  (Henry  IV.)  this 
kingdom  became  vii-tually  a  part  of  tlie  French 
monarchy;  but  now  (1G17)  it  was  ^vished  more 
thoroughly  to  incorporate  it  with  France.  Of  its 
inhabitants,  two -thirds — some  say  nine -tenths — 
were  Protestants.  This  appeared  no  obstacle  what- 
131 


testants.  "  These  estates,"  so  reasoned  the  Jesuit 
Amoux,  a  disciple  of  the  school  of  Escobar, 
"  belong  to  God,  who  is  the  Proprietor  of  them, 
and  may  not  be  lawfully  held  by  any  save  his 
priests.'"  Consternation  reigned  in  B&im;  all 
classes  united  in  remonstrating  against  this  tyi-an- 


•  Felice,  Eisionj  of  the  Protestants  of  France,  vol.  i., 
p.  309. 


314 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


nical  decree,  which  swept  away  at  once  their  con- 
sciences and  then-  property.  Theii'  remonstrance 
was  unheeded,  and  the  king  put  him  .self  at  the  head 
of  an  army  to  compel  the  Biiarnese  to  submi.ssion. 
The  soldiers  led  against  this  heretical  territory, 
which  they  burned  with  zeal  to  purge  and  convert, 
wei-e  not  very  scrupulous  as  to  the  means.  They 
broke  open  the  doors  of  the  churches,  they  burned 
the  Protestant  books,  compelled  the  citizens  to  kneel 
when  the  Host  passed,  and  drove  them  to  mass 
■svith  the  cudgel.  They  dealt  the  more  obstinate  a 
thrust  with  the  sabre ;  the  women  dared  not  show 
themselves  in  the  street,  dreading  worse  violences.' 
In  this  mamier  was  the  Popish  religion  re-established 
in  Beam.  This  was  the  fir.st  of  the  dragomiades. 
Louis  XIV.  was  afterwards  to  repeat  on  the 
greater  theatre  of  France  the  bloody  tragedy  now 
enacted  on  the  little  stage  of  Beam. 

This  was  what  even  now  the  Protestants  feared. 
Accordingly,  at  a  political  assembly  held  m  La 
Rochelle,  1G21,  they  made  preparations  for  the 
worst.  They  di\'ided  Protestant  France  into  eight 
departments  or  circles  ;  they  appointed  a  governor 
over  each,  mth  power  to  impose  taxes,  raise 
soldiers,  and  engage  in  battle.  The  supreme 
military  power  was  lodged  in  the  Duke  de 
Bouillon,  the  assembly  reserving  to  itself  the 
power  of  making  war  or  concluding  peace.  The 
question  was  put  to  the  several  cu'cles,  whether 
they  should  declare  war,  or  wait  the  measures  of 
the  court  1  The  majority  were  averse  to  hostilities. 
They  felt  the  feeble  tenm-e  on  which  himg  their 
rights,  and  even  then-  lives ;  but  they  shuddered 
when  they  remembered  the  miseries  which  previous 
wars  had  brought  in  their  train.  They  counselled, 
therefore,  that  the  sword  should  not  be  drawn  till 
they  were  compelled  to  unsheathe  it  in  self- 
defence.  This  necessity  had,  in  fact,  already  arisen. 
The  king  was  advancing  against  them  at  the 
head  of  his  army,  his  Jesuit  confessor,  Amoux, 
having  removed  all  moral  impediments  from  his 
path.  "  The  king's  promises,"  said  his  confessor, 
"are  either  matters  of  conscience  or  matters  of 
State.  Those  made  to  the  Huguenots  are  not 
promises  of  conscience,  for  they  are  contraiy  to  the 
precepts  of  the  Chm-ch  ;  and  if  they  are  pi-omises 
of  State  they  ought  to  be  i-eferred  to  the  Privy 
Council,  which  is  of  opinion  they  ought  not  to  be 
kept."2     The  Pope  and  cardinals  united  to  smooth 


'  Elie  Benoit,  Histoire  de  I'Edit  de  Nantes,  torn,  ii.,  p. 
295.  This  is  a  work  in  five  volumes,  filled  with  tho  acts 
of  violence  and  persecution  which  befell  the  Protestants 
from  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  to  tho  Eevocation  of  tho 
Edict  of  Nantes. 

=  Felice,  vol.  i.,  p.  315. 


the  king's  way  financially,  by  contributing  between 
them  400,000  cro\vns,  while  the  other  clergy  offered 
not  less  than  a  million  of  crowns  to  defray  the  war 
expenses. 

The  royal  army  crossed  the  Lou-e  and  opened  the 
campaign,  which  they  prosecuted  with  various  but, 
on  the  whole,  successful  fortune.  Some  places 
sm-rendered,  others  were  taken  by  siege,  and  the 
inhabitants,  men  and  women,  were  often  put  to  the 
sword.  The  Castle  of  Saumur,  of  which  Duplessis- 
Mornay  was  governor,  and  which  he  held  as  one  of 
the  cautionary  fortresses  granted  by  the  edicts, 
was  taken  by  perfidy.  The  king  pledged  his  word 
that,  if  Mornay  would  admit  the  royal  troops,  the 
immmiities  of  the  place  should  be  maintained.  No 
sooner  had  the  king  entered  than  he  declaimed  that 
he  took  definite  possession  of  the  castle.  To  give 
this  act  of  ill-faith  the  semblance  of  an  amicable 
arrangement,  the  king  offered  Mornay,  in  addition 
to  the  arrears  of  his  salary,  100,000  crowns  and  a 
marshal's  baton.  "  I  cannot,"  replied  the  patriot, 
"  in  conscience  or  in  honoiu-  sell  the  liberty  and 
security  of  others;"  adding  that,  "as  to  dig- 
nities, he  had  ever  been  more  desirous  to  render 
himself  worthy  of  them,  than  to  obtain  them." 
This  great  man  died  two  years  afterwards.  His 
end  was  like  his  life.  "  We  saw  liim,"  says  Jean 
Daille,  his  private  chaplain,  "in  the  midst  of  death 
fii-mly  laying  hold  on  life,  and  enjoying  full  satis- 
faction where  men  are  generally  terrified."  He 
was  the  last  re25re.sentative  of  that  noble  generation 
which  had  been  moulded  by  the  instructions  of 
Calvin  and  the  example  of  Beza. 

The  next  exploit  of  the  kuig's  arms  was  the 
taking  of  St.  Jean  d'Angely.  The  besiegers  were  in 
great  force  around  the  walls,  theii-  shot  was  falling 
in  an  incessant  shower  upon  the  city,  and  the  in- 
habitants, when  not  on  duty  on  the  ramparts,  were 
forced  to  seek  refuge  in  the  cellars  of  their  houses. 
Provisions  were  begimiing  to  fail,  and  the  citizens 
were  now  worn  out  by  the  fatigue  of  fighting  night 
and  day  on  the  walls.  In  these  circumstances,  they 
sent  a  deputation  to  Mr.  John  Welsh,  a  Scottish 
minister,  who  had  been  exiled  from  his  native 
land,  and  was  now  acting  as  pastor  of  the  Protes- 
tant congregation  in  St.  Jean  d'Angely.  They  told 
him  that  one  in  particular  of  the  enemy's  guns, 
which  was  of  gi'eat  size,  and  moreover  was  very 
advantageously  placed,  being  mounted  on  a  rising 
giwmd,  was  sweeping  that  entire  portion  of  the 
walls  which  was  most  essential  to  the  defence,  and 
had  silenced  their  guns.  What  were  they  to  do  1 
they  asked.  Welsh  exhorted  them  to  defend  the 
city  to  the  last,  and  to  encourage  them  he  accom- 
panied them  thi'ough   the  streets,  "in  which  the 


ATTITUDE  OF  THE  FRENCH  PROTESTANTS. 


315 


bullets  were  ftilling  as  plentifully  as  hail,"'  and 
mounted  the  ramparts.  Going  up  to  one  of  the 
silent  gims,  he  bade  the  cannonier  resume  firing ; 
but  the  man  had  no  powder.  Welsh,  seizing  a 
ladle,  hastened  to  the  magazine  and  filled  it  with 
powder.  As  he  was  returning,  a  shot  tore  it  out  of 
his  hand.  Using  Ixis  hat  instead  of  a  ladle,  he  filled 
it  with  powder,  and  going  up  to  the  gunner,  made 
him  load  his  piece.  "  Level  well,"  said  Welsh,  "  and 
God  will  direct  the  shot."  The  man  fired,  and  the 
fii-st  shot  dismounted  the  gun  which  had  inflicted  so 
much  damage  upon  the  defenders.  The  incident  re- 
vived the  courage  of  the  citizens,  and  they  resumed 
the  defence,  and  continued  it  till  they  had  extorted 
from  their  besiegers  ftwourable  terms  of  capitti- 
lation.^ 

Montauban  withstood  the  royal  arms,  despite  the 
prophecy  of  a  Carmelite  monk,  who  had  come  from 
Bohemia,  with  the  reputation  of  working  mii-acles, 
and  who  assured  the  king  that  the  city  would,  without 
doubt,  fall  on  the  firing  of  the  four-himdi-edth  gun. 
The  mystic  number  had  long  since  been  completed, 
but  Montauban  still  stood,  and  at  the  end  of  two 
months  and  a  lialf,  the  king,  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
retired  from  before  its  walls.  It  is  related  that  the 
besieged  were  apprised  of  the  approaching  departure 
of  the  army  by  a  soldier  of  the  Reformed  religion, 
who,  on  the  evening  before  the  siege  was  raised, 
was  playing  on  his  flute  the  beginning  of  the  sixty- 
eighth  Psalm,  "  Let  God  arise,  and  let  his  enemies  be 
scattered,  and  let  them  also  that  hate  him  flee  before 
him,"  &c.^  The  king  had  better  success  at  Mont- 
pellier,  on  the  taking  of  which  he  judged  it  prudent 
to  close  the  campaign  by  signing  terms  of  peace  on 
the  19th  October,  1622.  The  peace  indicated  a  loss  of 
position  on  the  part  of  the  Protestants.  The  Edict 
of  Nantes  was  confirmed,  but  of  the  cautionary 
towns  which  that  edict  had  put  into  the  hands  of 
the  Protestants,  only  two  were  now  left  them — 
Montauban  and  La  Rochelle. 

The  French  Protestants  at  tliis  stage  of  their 
history  are  seen  withdi-awing  to  a  certain  extent 
fi"om  the  rest  of  the  nation,  constituting  themselves 
into  a  distinct  civil  community,  and  taking  in- 
dependent political  and  military  action.  This  was 
a  strong  step,  but  the  attitude  of  the  Government, 
and  its  whole  procedure  towards  them  for  a  century 
previous,  may  perhaps  be  held  as  justifying  it.     It 


•  Serres,  Gen.  Bist.  of  France,  continued  by  Grimston, 
pp.  256,  257. 

2  Ibid.  Young,  Ufe  of  John  Welsh,  pp.  396,  397;  Edin., 
1866. 

^  Elie  Benoit,  torn,  ii.,  p.  377. 


appeared  to  them  the  only  means  left  them  of  de- 
fending their  natural  rights.  We  are  disposed  to 
think,  however,  that  it  would  have  been  well  had 
the  French  Protestants  dra'wn  more  strongly  the 
line  which  separated  their  action  as  citizens  from 
their  action  as  church  meml)ers — in  other  words, 
given  more  prominence  to  their  church  organisa- 
tion. The  theory  which  they  had  received  from 
Calvin,  and  on  which  they  professed  to  act,  was 
that  while  society  is  one,  it  is  divided  into  the 
two  great  spheres  of  Church  and  State ;  that  as 
members  of  the  first — that  is,  of  the  Church — they 
fonned  an  organisation  distinct  from  that  of  the 
State  ;  that  this  oi-ganisation  was  constituted  upon 
a  distinct  basis,  that  of  Revelation  ;  that  it  was 
placed  under  a  distinct  Head,  namely,  Christ;  that  it 
had  distinct  rights  and  laws  given  it  by  God ;  and 
that  in  the  exercise  of  these  rights  and  laws,  for  its 
own  proper  ends,  it  was  not  dependent  upon,  or 
accountable  to,  the  State.  This  view  of  the  Church's 
origin  and  constitution  makes  her  claims  and  jurisdic- 
tion perfectly  intelligible ;  and  gives,  as  the  French 
style  it,  her  raismi  d'etre.  It  may  not  be  assented 
to  by  all,  but  even  where  it  is  not  admitted  it  can 
be  understood,  and  the  independent  jurisdiction  of 
the  Church,  whether  right  or  wi-ong  in  fact,  on 
which  we  are  here  pronoimcing  no  opinion,  will  be 
seen  to  be  in  logical  consistency  with  at  lea.st  this 
theory  of  her  constitution.  This  theory  was  em- 
braced in  Scotland  as  well  as  in  France,  but  in  the 
foi-mer  country  it  was  more  consistently  carried  out 
than  in  the  latter.  While  the  French  Protestants 
were  "  the  Religion,"  the  Scots  were  "the  Church  ;" 
while  the  former  demanded  "  freedom  of  worship," 
the  latter  claimed  "  liberty  to  administer  their 
ecclesiastical  constitution."  The  weakness  of  the 
French  Pi-otestants  was  that  they  failed  to  put 
prominently  before  the  nation  their  rights  as  a 
divinely  chartered  society,  and  in  their  action  largely 
blended  things  civil  and  things  ecclesiastical.  The 
idea  of  "  Headship,"  which  is  but  a  summary 
phrase  for  their  whole  conception  of  a  Church, 
enabled  the  Scots  to  keep  the  two  more  completely 
separate  than  perhaps  anywhere  else  in  Christen- 
dom. In  Germany  the  magistrate  has  continued 
to  be  the  chief  bishop ;  in  Geneva  the  Church 
tended  towards  being  the  supreme  magistrate ;  the 
Scots  have  aimed  at  keeping  in  the  middle  path 
between  Erastianism  and  a  theocracy.  Yet,  as  a 
proof  that  the  higher  law  \vi\\  always  rule,  while  no- 
wliere  has  the  action  of  the  Church  been  so  little 
directly  political  as  in  Scotland,  nowhere  has  the 
Church  so  deeply  moulded  the  genius  of  the  people, 
or  so  strongly  influenced  the  action  of  the  State. 


SIG 


HISTORY  OF  PEOTESTANTISM. 


CHAPTER  II. 


FALL    OP   LA   ROCHELLEj    A>'D   END   OF   THE   WARS   OF   RELIGION. 


Cardinal  Eichelieu — His  Genius — His  Schemes— Resolves  to  Crush  the  Huguenots— Siege  of  La  EocheUe — Importance 
of  the  Town— English  Fleet  Sent  to  Succour  it— Treachery  of  Charles  I.— The  Fleet  Eeturns— A  Second  and  Third 
Fleet — Famine  in  La  Roohelle — Fall  of  the  City— End  of  the  Religious  Wai-s- Despotism  Established  in  France — 
Fruitless  Efforts  of  Rohan  to  Rouse  the  Huguenots— Policy  of  Eichelieu— His  Death— Louis  XIII.  Dies. 


There  was  now  about  to  appear  on  the  scene  a  man 
who  was  destiued  to  act  a  great  part  in  the  aflaii's 
of  EuroiJe.  The  Bishop  of  Lu^on  was  a  member  of 
the  States-General  which,  as  we  have  ah-eady  said, 
assembled  in  1614 ;  and  there  he  first  showed  that 
aptitude  for  business  which  gave  him  such  un- 
rivalled influence  and  unbounded  fame  as  Cardinal 
Richelieu.  He  was  a  man  of  profound  penetration, 
of  versatile  genius,  and  of  vmconquerable  activit}'. 
The  queen-mother  introduced  him  to  the  council- 
table  of  her  son  Louis  XIII.,  and  there  the  force  of 
his  character  soon  I'aised  him  to  the  first  place.  He 
put  down  every  rival,  became  the  master  of  his 
sovereign,  and  governed  France  as  he  pleased.  It 
Vas  about  this  time  (1624)  that  his  power  blos- 
somed. He  was  continually  revolving  great  schemes, 
but,  great  as  they  were,  his  genius  and  activity 
were  equal  to  the  execution  of  them.  Although  a 
churchman,  the  aim  of  his  ambition  was  rather  to 
aggrandise  France  than  to  serve  Rome.  The  Roman 
purple  was  to  him  a  garment,  and  nothing  more  ;  or, 
if  he  valued  it  in  any  degree,  it  was  because  of  the 
aid  it  brought  him  in  the  accomplishment  of  his  poli- 
tical projects.  Once  and  again  in  the  pursuit  of 
these  projects  he  crossed  the  Pope's  patli,  without 
paying  much  regard  to  the  anger  or  alarm  his  policy 
might  awaken  in  the  Vatican.  His  projects  were 
mainly  tliree.  He  found  the  throne  weak — in  fact 
contemned — and  he  wished  to  raise  it  up,  and  make 
it  a  power  in  France.  He  found  the  nobles  turbu- 
lent, and  all  but  ungovernable,  and  he  wished  to 
break  their  power  and  curb  their  pride.  In  the 
third  place,  he  revived  the  policy  of  Hem-y  IV., 
which  sought  to  reduce  the  power  of  Austria,  in 
both  the  Imperial  and  Spanisli  branches,  and  with 
this  view  the  cardinal  courted  alliances  with 
England  and  the  (xerman  States.  So  far  well,  as 
regarded  the  great  cause  of  Protestantism  ;  but, 
unfortunately,  Riclielieu  accounted  it  a  necessary 
step  toward  the  accomplishment  of  these  three 
leading  objects  of  his  ambition,  that  he  should  first 
subdue  the  Huguenots.  They  had  come  to  be  a 
powerful  political  body  in  the  State,  wth  a  gorern- 
ment  of  theii-  own,  thus  dividing  the  kingdom,  and 


weakening  the  throne,  which  it  was  one  of  his  main 
objects  to  strengthen.  The  Protestants,  on  the 
other  hand,  regarded  their  political  organisation  as 
theii-  onlj'  safeguard — the  bulwark  behind  which 
they  fought  for  theii'  religious  liberties.  How 
feeble  a  defence  were  royal  promises  and  oaths,  was 
a  matter  on  which  they  had  but  too  ample  an 
experience;  and,  provided  then-  political  combina- 
tions were  broken  up,  and  their  cautionary  towns 
wrested  from  them,  they  would  be  entii-ely,  they 
felt,  at  the  mercy  of  their  enemies.  But  this  was 
what  the  powerful  cardinal  had  resolved  upon. 
The  political  rights  of  the  Huguenots  were  an 
obstacle  in  his  path,  which,  postponing  every  other 
project,  he  now  tm-ned  the  whole  resources  of  the 
crown,  and  the  whole  might  of  hLs  genius,  to  sweep 
away. 

About  this  time  an  incident  happened  at  court 
which  is  worth  recording.  One  day  Father  Ai'- 
noux,  the  king's  confessor,  was  preaching  before  his 
Majesty  and  courtiers.  The  Jesuit  pronounced  a 
.strong  condemnation  on  regicide,  and  afiirmed 
solemnly  that  the  Order  of  Jesus  allowed  no  such 
practice,  but,  on  the  contrary,  repudiated  it. 
Louis  XIII.,  in  whose  memory  the  murder  of  his 
father  was  still  fresh,  felt  this  doctrine  to  be  re- 
assuring, and  expressed  his  satisfaction  with  it.  A 
Scottish  minister  of  the  name  of  Primrose  chanced 
on  that  day  to  be  among  the  auditors  of  Father 
Arnoux,  and  easily  saw  tlu-ough  the  sophism  witli 
which  he  was  befooling  the  king.  Primrose  made 
the  Jesuit  be  asked  if  Jacques  Clement  had  killed 
his  king,  or  even  a  kiny,  when  he  stabbed  a  prince 
excommunicated  hi/  the  Pope  ?  and  further,  in  the 
event  of  the  Pope  excommunicating  Louis  XIII., 
would  the  Jesuits  then  acknowledge  him  as  their 
king,  or  even  as  a  king?  and,  finally,  were  they 
disposed  to  condemn  their  disciple  RavaUlac  as 
guilty  of  high  treason  1  These  were  embarrassing 
questions,  and  the  only  response  which  they  drew 
forth  from  Arnoux  was  an  order  of  banishment 
against  the  man  who  had  put  them.' 

'  Felice,  pp.  326,  327. 


SIEGE   OF   LA   EOCHELLE. 


317 


Tlic  Huguenot  body  at  this  period  had,  to  use  the 
old  classic  figure,  but  one  neck  —  that  neck  was 
their  stronghold  of  La  Rochelle,  and  the  cai-dinal 
resolved  to  stiike  it  through  at  a  blow.  La  Rochelle 
was  perhaps,  after  Paris,  the  most  famous  of  the 
cities  of  France.  It  enjoyed  a  charter  of  civic 
independence,  which  dated  from  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. It  was  governed  by  a  mayor  and  council 
of  100.  Its  citizens  amounted  at  this  time  to 
30,000.  They  were  industrious,  rich,  intelligent, 
and  strongly  attached  to  the  Protestant  faith,  which 
they  had  early  embraced.  Not  once  throughout  the 
long  struggle  had  La  Rochelle  succumbed  to  the  royal 
ai-ms,  though  often  besieged.'  This  virgin  fortress 
was  the  strongest  rampart  of  the  Huguenots.  The 
great  chiefs — Conde,  C'oligny,  Henry  of  Navan-e — 
had  often  made  it  then-  head-quarters.  Within  its 
gates  had  assembled  the  famous  Synod  of  1571, 
which  comprised  so  much  that  was  illustrious  in 
rank,  profound  in  erudition,  and  venerable  in  Jjiety, 
and  which  marks  the  culminating  ejjoch  of  the 
French  Reformed  Chm'ch.  La  Rochelle  was  the  basis 
of  the  Huguenots ;  it  was  the  symbol  of  then-  power, 
and  wliile  it  stood  theu-  political  and  religious  exist- 
ence could  not  be  crushed.  On  that  very  account 
Richelieu,  who  had  resolved  to  erect  a  monarchical 
despotism  in  France,  was  all  the  more  determined  to 
overthrow  it. 

The  first  attempt  of  the  cardinal  against  this 
redoubtable  city  was  made  in  1625.  A  rising 
under  the  Dukes  of  Rohan  and  Soubise,  the  two 
military  leaders  of  the  Protestants,  disconcerted  the 
plans  which  Richelieu  was  carrying  out  against 
Austria.  He  instantly  dropped  his  schemes  abroad 
to  strike  a  blow  at  home.  Sending  the  French 
fleet  to  La  Rochelle,  a  gi-eat  naval  battle,  in  which 
Richelieu  was  completely  victorious,  was  fought  oS 
the  coast.  La  Rochelle  seemed  at  the  mercy  of  the 
victor ;  but  the  discovery  of  a  plot  against  his  life 
called  the  cardinal  suddenly  to  court,  and  the 
doomed  city  escaped.  Richelieu  crushed  liis 
enemies  at  Paris,  grasped  power  more  firmly  than 
n^'er,  and  again  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  reduction 
of  the  stronghold  of  tho  Protestants.  The  taking 
of  La  Rochelle  was  the  key  of  his  whole  policy, 
home  and  foreign,  and  he  made  prodigious  efibrts 
to  bring  the  enterprise  to  a  successful  issue.  He 
raised  vast  land  and  naval  armaments,  and  opened 
the  siege  in  October,  1G27.  The  eyes  of  all  Europe 
were  fixed  on  the  city,  now  enclosed  both  by  sea 
and  land,  by  the  French  armies.  All  felt  bow 
momentous  was  the  issue  of  tho  conflict  about  to 
open.     The  spirit  of  the  Rochellois  was  worthy  of 

•  Felice,  p.  329. 


the  brave  men  from  whom  they  were  sprung,  and 
of  the  place  their  city  held  in  the  gi-eat  cause  in 
which  it  had  embarked.  The  mayor,  Guiton,  to 
an  earnest  Protestantism  added  an  ii-on  will  and 
a  dauntless  courage.  With  nothing  around  them 
but  anned  enemies,  the  ships  of  the  foe  covering 
the  sea,  and  the  lines  of  his  infantry  occujjying 
the  land,  the  citizens  were  of  one  mind,  to  resist 
to  the  last.  The  attitude  of  the  brave  city,  and 
the  greatness  of  the  issue  that  hung  upon  its 
standing  or  fiilling,  as  regarded  the  Protestant 
cause,  awakened  the  sympathies  of  the  Puritans  of 
England.  They  raised  a  powerful  army  for  the 
relief  of  their  brethren  of  La  Rochelle ;  but  their 
eflbrts  were  frustrated  by  the  treachery  of  the 
court.  Charles  I.,  influenced  by  his  wife,  Henrietta 
of  France,  wrote  to  Pennington,  the  commander  of 
the  fleet,  "  to  dispose  of  those  ships  as  he  should  be 
directed  by  the  French  king,  and  to  sink  or  fire 
such  as  should  refuse  to  obey  these  orders."  When 
the  sailors  discovered  that  they  were  to  act  not  for, 
but  against  the  Rochellois,  they  returned  to  Eng- 
land, declaring  that  they  "  would  rather  be  hanged 
at  home  for  disobedience,  than  either  desert  their 
ships,  or  give  themselves  up  to  the  French  like 
slaves,  to  fight  against  their  o^vll  religion." 

Next  year,  after  the  Duke  of  Soubise,  who  com- 
manded in  La  Rochelle,  had  visited  England,  the 
kmg  was  prevailed  upon  again  to  declare  himself  the 
protector  of  the  Rochellois,  and  an  army  of  about 
7,000  marines  was  raised  for  that  service.  The 
English  squadron  set  sail  under  the  command  of 
Buckingham,  an  incompetent  and  unpi-incipled 
man.  Its  appearance  ofl'  La  Rochelle,  100  sail 
strong,  gladdened  the  eyes  of  the  Rochellois ; 
but  it  was  only  for  a  moment.  There  now  com- 
menced on  the  part  of  Buckingham  a  series  of 
blunders  and  disasters,  which,  whether  owing  to 
incompetency  or  pei-fidy,  tarnished  the  naval  glory 
of  England,  and  bitterly  mocked  the  hopes  of  those 
to  whom  it  had  held  out  the  delusive  prospect  of 
deliverance.  Better,  in  truth,  it  had  never  come, 
for  its  appearance  suggested  to  Richelieu  the  ex- 
pedient which  led  inevitably  to  the  fall  of  the  city. 
La  Rochelle  might  be  victualled  by  sea,  and  so  long 
as  it  was  so,  its  reduction,  the  cardinal  felt,  was  im- 
practicable. To  prevent  this,  Richelieu  bethought 
him  of  the  same  expedient  by  which  a  conqueror 
of  early  times  had  laid  a  yet  prouder  city.  Tyre, 
level  with  the  waters.  The  cardinal  i-aised  a  dyke 
or  mole  across  the  channel  of  about  a  mile's 
breadth,  by  which  La  Rochelle  is  a])proached,  and  so 
closed  the  gates  of  the  sea  against  its  succour.  The  ' 
English  fleet  assailed  this  dyke  in  vain.  Baffled  in 
all    their    ;itteinpis,    they   returned    to    theh-    own 


318 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


shores,  and  left  the  beleaguered  city  to  its  fate. 
Famine  now  set  in,  and  soon  became  sore  in  the 
city ;  but  it  would  be  too  harrowing  to  dwell  on  its 
hon-ors.  The  deaths  were  300  daOy.  The  most 
revolting  garbage  was  cooked  and  eaten.  Spectres, 
rather  than  men,  clad  in  armour,  moved  through 
the  streets.     The  houses  were  full  of  dead,  which 


Rochellois  waited,  if  haply  from  any  quarter — the 
Protestants  of  other  countries,  or  their  brethren  in 
the  provinces — deliverance  might  arise.  In  no 
quarter  could  they  descry  sign  or  token  of  help ; 
not  a  voice  was  raised  to  cheer,  not  a  hand  was 
stretched  out  to  aid.  Fifteen  terrible  months  had 
jjassed  over  them.     Two-thii-ds  of  the  popijiatiw 


AKIU.NAL    KICHELIEV.       (frOlll  lllC  Poftmil    IK   llic   (JulUfJ  OJ    I 


the  living  had  not  strength  to  bury.  Crowds  of 
old  women  and  children  went  out  at  the  gate,  at 
times,  in  the  hope  that  the  sight  of  their  gi-eat 
miseiy  might  move  their  enemies  to  pity,  or  that 
they  might  find  something  by  the  way  to  assuage 
their  hunger;  but  they  were  dealt  with  as  the 
caprice  or  cnielty  of  the  besiegers  prompted. 
Sometimes  they  were  strangled  on  gibbets,  and 
sometimes  they  were  stripj)ed  naked  and  scourged 
back  into  the  city.  Still  no  thought  of  a  surrender 
was  entertained.     For  more  than  a  year  had  the 


were  dead.  Of  the  fighting  men  not  more  than 
150  remained.  Ai-ound  their  walls  was  assembled 
the  whole  power  of  France.  There  seemed  no 
alternative,  and  on  October  28th,  1628,  La  Rochelle 
sun-endered  at  discretion.  So  fell  the  Huguenots 
as  a  political  power  in  France.  The  chief  obstacle 
ia  the  path  of  Richelieu  was  now  out  of  his  way. 
The  despotism  which  he  strove  to  rear  went  on 
growing  apace.  The  throne  became  stronger  every 
year,  gradually  drawing  to  itself  all  rights,  and 
stretching  its  absolute  sw.iy  over  all  classes,  the 


THE. FALL   OF   LA   ROCHELLE. 


319 


nobles  as  well  as  the  peasants,  till  at  last  Louis 
XIV.  could  say,  "  The  State,  it  is  I."  And  so 
continued  matters  till  the  Revolution  of  1789  came 
to  cast  down  this  overgi'own  autocracy. 

But  one  is  cui-ious  to  know  how  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  great  body  of  the  Protestants  in  the  south 
of  France  looked  quietly  on,  while  then-  brethren 
and  their  own  political  rights  were  so  perilously 
endangered  in  the  fiill  of  La  Rochelle.     While  the 


admire  the  versatility  of  his  genius.  During  the  sieo'e 
he  had  shown  himself  the  ablest  and  most  resolute 
soldier  in  the  whole  camp.  All  the  operations  of  the 
siege  were  of  his  planning;  the  construction  of  the 
mole,  the  lines  of  circumvallation,  all  were  prepared 
by  his  Ltisti-uctions,  and  executed  under  his  super- 
intendence; and  now,  the  bloody  work  at  an  end, 
he  put  off  his  coat  of  mail,  washed  his  hands,  and 
appearing  before  the  altar  in  his  priestly  robes,  he 


siege  was  in  progress,  the  Duke  of  Rohan,  the  last 
great  military  chief  of  the  Protestants,  traversed  the 
whole  of  the  Cevennes,  where  the  Huguenots  were 
numerous,  appealing  to  their  patriotism,  to  the 
memoiy  of  their  fathers,  to  their  own  political  and 
religious  privileges — all  suspended  upon  the  issue 
at  La  Rochelle — in  the  hope  of  rousing  them  to 
succour  their  brethren.  But  his  words  fell  on  cold 
hearts.     The  ancient  spirit  was  dead. 

All  the  ancient  privileges  of  La  Rochelle  were 
annulled,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  was  re- 
established in  that  city.  The  first  mass  was  sung 
by  Cardinal  Richelieu  himself.     One  cannot   but 


inaugurated  the  Roman  worship  in  La  Rochelle  by 
celebrating  the  most  solemn  service  of  his  Church. 
A  Te  Deum,  by  Pope  Urban  VIII.,  for  the  fall  of 
the  stronghold  of  the  Huguenots,  showed  how  the 
matter  wa.s  ^Hewed  at  Rome. 

After  this  the  Protestants  could  offer  no  organised 
resistance,  and  the  king,  by  way  of  setting  up  a 
monument  to  commemorate  his  triumph,  placed 
the  Huguenots  under  an  edict  of  grace.  Tliis  was 
a  virtual  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes ;  the 
father,  however,  left  it  to  the  son,  Louis  XIV.,  to 
complete  foi-mally  what  he  had  begun;  but  lience- 
forward  the  French  Protestants  held  their  lives, 


320 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


and  wliat  of  thcii-  political  and  religious  rights  was 
left  them,  of  grace  and  not  of  right.  Had  the  nation 
of  Fi-auce  rest  now  that  the  wars  of  religion  were 
ended  1  No  ;  the  ware  of  jn-erogative  immediately 
opened.  The  Roman  Catholic  nobles  had  assisted 
Richelieu  to  put  do^vn  the  Huguenots,  and  now 
they  found  that  they  had  cleared  the  way  for  the 
tempest  to  reach  themselves.  They  were  humbled 
in  their  turn,  and  the  thi-one  rose  above  all  classes 
and  interests  of  the  State.  The  cardinal  next  gave 
his  genius  and  energy  to  afl'airs  abroad.  He  took 
l)art,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  Thii-ty  Yeai-s'  War, 
uniting  his  aims  ^v^th  those  of  the  heroic  Gusta^^is 
Adolphus,  not  because  he  ■wished  to  lift  up  the 
Protestants,  but  because  he  sought  to  humble  the 
House  of  Austria  and  the  Catholic  League.  Per- 
sonal enemies  the  cardinal  readily  forgave,  for, 
said  he,  it  is  a  duty  to  pardon  and  forget  offences ; 
but  the  enemies  of  his  policy,  whom  he  styled  the 
enemies  of  Church  and  State,  he  did  not  pardon, 
"  for,"  said  he,  "  to  forget  these  offences  is  not  to 
forgive  them,  it  is  to  repeat  them." 

It  was  the  design  of  God  to  humble  one  class  of 
his  enemies  by  the  instrumentality  of  another,  and 


so  Richelieu  prospered  in  all  he  undertook.  He 
weakened  the  emperor ;  he  mightily  raised  the 
prestige  of  the  French  arms,  and  he  made  the 
throne  the  one  power  in  the  kingdom.  But  these 
brilliant  successes  added  little  to  the  personal 
happiness  of  either  the  king  or  his  minister. 
Louis  XIII.  was  of  gloomy  temper,  of  feeble  in- 
tellect, of  no  capacity  for  business ;  and  his  ener- 
getic minister,  who  did  aU  himself,  permitted  his 
sovereign  little  or  no  shai'e  in  the  management 
of  aflaii's.  Louis  lived  apart,  submitting  painfully 
to  the  control  of  the  man  who  governed  both  the 
king  and  the  kingdom.  As  regards  the  cardinal, 
wliile  passing  from  one  victory  to  another  he  was 
constantly  followed  by  a  menacing  shadow.  Ever 
and  anon  conspiracies  were  formed  to  take  away 
his  life.  He  triumphed  over  them  all,  and  held 
power  to  the  last,  but  neither  he  nor  the  king 
lived  to  enjoy  what  it  took  such  a  vast  amount  of 
toil  and  talent  and  blood  to  achieve.  The  cardinal 
fii-st,  and  six  months  after,  the  king,  were  both 
stricken,  in  the  mid-time  of  then-  days  and  in  the 
height  of  their  career.  They  returned  to  their 
dust,  and  that  day  thcii-  thoughts  perished. 


CHAPTER  III. 


INDUSTRIAL  AND    LITERARY   EMINENCE   OF   THE   FRENCH    PROTESTANTS. 

Liberty  Palla  with  the  Huguonots— Louis  XTV.— Mazarin  at  the  Helm— His  Character— The  Nobles  and  the  Mob— 
The  Protestants— They  Excel  in  Agriculture— Their  Eminence  in  Trade  and  Manufactures— Their  Superior 
Probity — Foreign  Commerce  in  their  Hands — Their  Professional  and  Literary  Eminence — Pulpit  Eloquence — 
French  Synods— Mere  Shadows  of  Former  Assemblies — French  Protestant  Seminaries — Montauban — Saumur — 
Sedan— Nimea— Eminent  Protestant  Pastors— Chamier — Dumoulin — Petit— Rivet — Basnage — Blondel — Bochart 
— Drelincourt. 


The  mob  and  the  nobles  took  part  with  the  French 
coui-t  in  its  efforts  to  extinguish  Protestantism. 
With  their  help  the  court  triumphed.  The  seeds 
of  Protestantism  were  still  in  the  soil  of  France, 
covered  up  by  a  million  of  coi'pses,  and  these  the 
very  men  who,  had  their  lives  been  spared,  would 
have  enriched  the  nation  with  tlicir  industry,  glori- 
fied it  \vith  then-  genius,  and  defended  it  with  their 
arms.  We  are  now  airived  at  the  end  of  the 
religious  wars.  What  has  France  gained  by  her 
vast  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure  ?  Peace  ? 
No ;  despotism.  The  close  of  the  reign  of  Louis 
XIII.  shows  us  the  nobles  and  the  mob  crashed  in 
theu"  turn,  and  the  throne  rising  in  autocratic 
supremacy  above  all  rights  and  classes.  One  class, 
however,  is  exempt  from  the  geueral  serfdom.    The 


Church  shares  the  triumph  of  the  throne.  The 
hand  of  a  priest  has  been  laid  upon  the  helm  of  the 
State,  and  the  king  and  the  clergy  together  sway 
the  destinies  of  a  jn-ostrate  people.  This  ill-omened 
alliance  is  destined  to  continue — for,  though  one 
cardinal  minister  is  dead,  another  is  about  to  take 
his  place — and  the  tyranny  wliich  has  gro'WTi  out  of 
it  is  destined  to  go  on,  adding  year  by  year  to  its 
own  prerogatives  and  the  people's  burdens,  until  its 
existence  and  exactions  shall  terminate  together  by 
the  arrival  of  the  Revolution,  which  \vill  mingle  all 
foiu' — the  throne,  the  priesthood,  the  aristocracy, 
and  the  commonalty — in  one  great  ruin. 

Louis  XIV.,  now  king,  was  a  child  of  four  and  a 
half  years.  His  father  on  his  death-bed  had  named 
a  council  of  regency  to  assist  the  queeu-mother  in 


INDUSTllIAL   EMINENCE   OF  THE    HUGUENOTS. 


321 


governing  the  kingdom  during  tho  minority  of  his 
son.  The  tirst  act  of  Anne  of  Austria  was  to 
cancel  the  will  of  her  husband,  and  to  assume  the 
reins  of  government  as  sole  regent,  calling  to  her 
aid  as  jM'ime  miiuster  Cardinal  Mazarin,  the  disciple 
of  RicheUeu.  There  fell  to  him  an  easier  task  than 
that  which  had  taxed  the  energies  and  genius  of  his 
gi-eat  predecessor.  Richelieu  had  fought  the  battle 
of  the  crown,  and  subjected  to  it  both  the  nobles 
and  the  people  :  the  work  expected  of  Mazarin  was 
that  he  should  keep  what  Richelieu  had  won.  This 
he  found,  however,  no  easy  matter.  Richelieu  had 
carefidly  husbanded  the  revenues  of  the  State ; 
Mazarin  wasted  them.  Extravagance  created  debts  ; 
debts  necessitated  new  taxes  ;  the  taxes  were  felt  to 
be  gi-ievous  burdens  by  the  people.  First  murmurs 
were  heard ;  then,  finally,  insurrection  broke  out. 
The  nobles,  now  that  Richelieu  was  in  his  gi-ave, 
were  attempting  to  throw  off  the  yoke.  An 
oppressed,  turbulent,  and  insurrectionary  people 
were  pai'ading  the  streets  of  the  capital,  and  carry- 
ing theii-  threats  to  the  very  gates  of  the  palace. 
Both  nobles  and  mob  thought  the  time  favourable 
for  reduciag  the  power  of  the  thi'one,  and  recovering 
those  privileges  and  that  influence  of  which  the 
great  minister  of  Louis  XIII.  had  stripped  them. 
They  did  not  succeed.  The  yoke  which  them- 
selves had  so  large  a  share  in  fitting  upon  then- 
own  necks  they  were  compeDed  to  wear;  but 
the  troubles  in  which  they  plunged  the  country 
were  a  shield  for  the  time  over  the  small  rem- 
nant of  Protestantism  which  had  been  spared  in 
Fi-ance. 

That  remnant  began  again  to  flourish.  Shut 
out  from  the  honours  of  the  coiu't,  and  the  ofiices 
of  the  State,  the  great  body  of  the  Protestants 
transferred  their  talents  and  activity  to  the  pursuits 
of  agriculture,  of  trade,  and  of  maniifactm'es.  In 
these  they  eminently  excelled.  The  districts  where 
they  lived  were  precisely  those  where  the  richest 
hai-vests  were  seen  to  wave.  The  farms  they  o■^^^led 
in  Beam  became  proverbial  for  theii'  fertility  and 
beauty.  The  Protestant  portions  of  Languedoc 
were  known  by  their  richer  vines,  and  more  luxu- 
riant wheat.  The  mountains  of  the  Cevennes  were 
covered  mth  noble  forests  of  chestnuts,  which,  in 
harvest-time,  let  fall  then'  nuts  in  a  I'ain  as  plenteous 
as  that  of  the  mamia  of  the  desert,  to  which  the 
inhabitants  compared  it.  In  those  forests  wandered 
numerous  herds,  which  fed  on  the  rich  grasses 
that  floiu'ished  imdemeath  the  great  trees.  Em- 
bosomed in  one  of  the  mountains,  the  Eperon, 
was  a  plain  wliich  the  traveller  foimd  gi-ecn  and 
enamelled  with  flowers  at  all  seasons.  It  abounded 
in  springs,  and  when  the  summer  had  wasted  the 


neighbouring  herbage,  the  sun  touched  the  pastures 
of  this  plain  with  a  brighter  green,  and  tinted  its 
blossoms  with  a  livelier  hue.  It  was  not  unworthy 
of  the  name  given  it,  the  Uort-Dieu,  or  garden  of  the 
Lord.  The  Vivrais  produced  more  com  than  the 
inhabitants  could  consume.  The  diocese  of  Uz6s 
overflowed  with  oil  and  wine.  The  valley  of  the 
Vaimage,  in  the  district  of  Nimes,  became  famous 
for  the  luxuriance  of  its  fields  and  the  riches  of  its 
gardens.  The  Protestants,  to  whose  skill  and 
industry  it  largely  owed  the  exuberance  that  gave 
it  renown,  had  more  than  sixty  churches  within  its 
limits,  and  marked  their  appreciation  of  its  happy 
conditions  by  calUng  it  the  "  Little  Canaan."  Every- 
where France  boasts  a  fertile  soO  and  a  sunny  aii-, 
but  wherever  the  Huguenot  had  settled,  there  the 
earth  opened  her  bosom  in  a  seven-fold  increase, 
and  nature  seemed  to  smile  on  a  faith  which  the 
Government  had  anathematised,  and  which  it  jmr- 
sued  with  persecuting  edicts. 

The  Protestants  of  France  were  marked  by  the 
same  superiority  in  trade  which  distinguished  them 
in  agriculture.  Here  theii*  superior  intelUgenoe  and 
application  were,  perhaps,  even  more  apparent,  and 
were  rewarded  with  a  yet  gi'eater  measm-e  of 
success.  The  wine  trade  of  many  districts,  especially 
that  of  Guienne,  was  almost  entirely  in  theii'  hands. 
The  goods  of  the  linen  and  cloth  weavers  of  Vire, 
Falaise,  and  Argentine,  in  Normand}',  they  sold  to 
the  English  and  Dutch  merchants,  thus  noiuishing 
the  home  industry  while  they  emiched  the  foreign 
market.  They  were  the  main  carriers  between 
Metz  and  Germany.  The  Nimes  merchants  were 
famous  all  over  the  south  of  France,,  and  by  their 
skill  and  capital  they  isrovided  employment  and 
food  for  innumerable  families  who  otherwise  would 
have  been  sunk  in  idleness  and  poverty.  "  If  the 
Nimes  merchants,"  wi'ote  Baville,  the  Intendant  of 
the  province,  in  1699,  "are  still  bad  Catholics,  at 
any  rate  they  have  not  ceased  to  be  very  good 
traders." '  In  the  centre  of  France,  at  Tom's,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  at  Lyons,  they  worked  in 
silks  and  velvets,  and  bore  off  the  palm  fi'om  every 
other  comitry  for  the  cpiality  of  their  fabrics  and 
the  origmality  and  beauty  of  their  designs.  They 
excelled  in  the  manufactm'e  of  woollen  cloths.  In 
the  mountainous  parts  of  the  Cevemies,  families 
often  passed  theii-  summers  a-field,  and  their  winters 
at  the  loom.  They  displayed  not  less  skill  iu  the 
manufacture  of  paper.  The  paper-mills  of  Ambert 
were  imrivalled  in  Europe.  They  produced  the 
paper  on  which  the  best  pi-inting  of  Pai-is,  Amster- 

'  Weiss,  History  of  the  French  Protestant  Refugees,  p.  26; 
Ediu,,  18W. 


323 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


dam,  aiid  London  was  executed.  They  were  workera 
in  iron,  and  fiibvicated  vnth  skOl  and  elegance 
weapons  of  war  and  implements  of  husbandry.  In 
all  these  industries  large  and  flourisliing  factories 
might  be  seen  in  all  parts  of  France.  If  the 
mercantile  marine  flourished  along  the  western  and 
northern  sea-board,  and  the  towns  of  Bordeaux, 
La  Eochelle,  and  the  Norman  ports  rapidly  grew  in 
population  and  wealth,  it  was  mainly  owing  to  the 
energy  and  enterprise  of  the  Huguenots.  After  the 
hon-id  din  of  battle  which  had  so  long  shaken 
France,  it  was  sweet  to  hear  only  the  clang  of  the 
hammer;  and  after  the  fearful  conflagi-ation  of 
burning  cities  which  had  so  often  lit  up  the  midnight 
skies  of  that  country,  it  was  pleasant  to  see  no 
more  startling  spectacle  than  the  blaze  of  the  forge 
reflected  from  the  overhanging  cloud. 

The  probity  of  the  French  Protestants  was  not 
less  conspicuous  than  their  intelligence.  This 
quality  could  not  be  liidden  from  the  quick  eyes  of 
foreign  merchants,  and  they  selected  as  theii' 
medium  of  communication  with  France  those  in 
whose  honesty  they  could  thoroughly  confide,  in 
preference  to  those  whom  they  deemed  of  doubtful 
integi'ity.  This  tended  to  their  further  importance 
and  wealth,  by  placing  the  foreign  ti-ade  of  the 
country  in  their  hands.  Tlie  commercial  con-e- 
spondents  of  the  Dutch  and  English  merchants 
were  almost  exclusively  Huguenots.  Their  word 
was  taken  where  the  bond  of  a  Romanist  would  be 
hesitatinglj'  accepted  or,  it  might  be,  declined. 
The  cause  of  this  superior  integi-ity  is  to  be  found 
not  only  in  theii-  higher  religious  code,  but  also  in 
the  fact  that,  being  continually  and  malignantly 
watched  by  their  countrymen,  they  found  their 
safety  to  lie  in  unremitting  cii-cimispection  and  un- 
impeachable integrity.  There  was,  moreover,  a 
flexibility  about  their  minds  which  was  wanting  in 
their  Romanist  countrjrmen.  Tlieii'  religion  taught 
them  to  inquire  and  reason,  it  awoke  them  from 
the  torpor  and  emancipated  them  from  the  stiffness 
that  weighed  upon  others,  and  this  gi-eater  versa- 
tility and  power  they  easily  transferred  to  the 
avocations  of  then-  daily  life.  The  young  Hu- 
guenot not  unfrequently  visited  foreign  countries, 
sometimes  in  the  character  of  a  traveller  im- 
pelled by  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  sometimes 
in  the  character  of  an  exile  whom  the  stoims  of 
persecution  had  cast  on  an  alien  shore ;  but  in 
whatever  capacity  he  mingled  with  foreigners,  he 
always  earned  \vith  him  a  mind  keen  to  observe, 
and  open  to  receive  new  ideas.  On  his  return  he 
improved  or  perfected  the  manufactui-es  of  his  o^v^l 
land,  by  gi-afting  upon  them  the  better  methods  he 
had    seen   abroad.      Thus,  partly  by  studying   in 


foreign  schools,  partly  by  their  o^vn  undoubted  in- 
ventive powers,  the  French  Protestants  carried  the 
arts  and  manufactures  of  France  to  a  pitch  of  ])er- 
fection  which  few  coimtries  have  reached,  perhaps 
none  excelled,  and  their  numbers,  their  wealth,  and 
then'  importance  increased  despite  all  the  efforts  of 
the  Government  to  degrade  and  even  to  exterminate 
them.  As  an  additional  element  of  theii-  prosperity, 
we  must  add  that  the  year  of  the  Huguenot  con- 
tained a  good  many  more  working  days  than  that 
of  the  Romanist.  The  fete-days  of  the  Church 
abridged  the  working  year  of  the  latter  to  260 
days  ;  whereas  that  of  the  Protestant  contained  50 
days  more,  or  310  in  all. 

Agriculture,  manufactures,  and  art  did  not  ex- 
clusively engross  the  French  Protestants.  Not  a 
few  aspired  to  a  higher  sphere,  and  there  their 
genius  shed  even  a  greater  glory  on  their  country, 
and  diffused  a  brighter  lustre  aroimd  then-  own 
names.  Protestants  took  a  foremost  place  among 
the  learned  physicians,  the  great  lawyers,  and  the 
illustrious  orators  of  France.  Their  intellectual 
achievements  largely  contributed  to  the  splendour 
which  in-adiated  the  era  of  Louis  XIV.  A  Pro- 
testant advocate,  Hemy  Basnage,  led  for  fifty  years 
the  Rouen  bar.'  His  friend,  Lemery,  father  of  the 
illustrious  chemist,  of  whose  bu-th  within  her  walls 
Rouen  is  to  this  day  proud,  discharged  with  rare 
distinction,  in  the  Parliament  so  hostile  to  the 
Huguenots,  the  duties  of  Procureur.-  The  glory  of 
founding  the  French  Academy  is  due  to  a  Pro- 
testant, Valentine  Corn-art,  a  man  of  fine  literary 
genius.  A  little  company  of  illustrious  men,  who 
met  at  Conrart's  house,  first  suggested  the  idea  of 
the  Academy  to  Richelieu.  The  statesman  gave  it 
a  charter,  but  Conrart  gave  it  rules,  and  continued 
to  be  its  life  and  soul  until  the  day  of  his  death.  In 
this  list  of  Protestants  who  adorned  the  country  that 
knew  so  ill  to  appreciate  theii-  faith,  was  Guy  Pantin. 
He  was  distinguLshed  as  a  man  of  letters,  and  not 
less  distinguished  as  a  philosopher  and  a  physician. 
Another  gi-eat  name  is  that  of  Pierre  Dumoulin, 
who  is  entitled  to  rank  with  the  best  of  the  classical 
prose  writers  of  France.  "With  more  respect  for 
the  proprieties,"  says  Weiss,  "  and  less  harshness  of 
character,  his  style  reminded  the  reader  of  the 
gi-eat  qualities  of  that  of  Calvin,  whose  Institutes  of 
Christianity  had  supplied  France  with  its  first 
model  of  a  lucid,  ingenious,  and  vehement  prose, 
such  as  the  author  of  the  Provincial  Letters  woidd 
not  have  disowned."' 

With  the  Huguenots   came   the   era   of  pulpit 


Weiss,  Hisi.  French  Prot.  Refugees,  p.  34. 
3  Ibid.,  p.  35. 


HUGUENOT   PASTORS   AND   PREACHERS. 


323 


eloquence  in  France.  In  the  worship  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  the  sermon  was  but  the  mere  accessory. 
In  the  Protestant  Church  the  sermon  became  not 
indeed  the  essential,  but  the  central  part  of  the 
service.  The  Reformation  removed  the  sacrifice 
of  the  mass  and  restored  the  Word  of  God,  it 
banished  the  priest  and  brought  back  the  preacher. 
Thus  the  pulpit,  which  had  played  a  prominent 
part  in  the  early  Church,  but  had  long  been  for- 
gotten, was  again  set  up,  and  men  gathered  i-ound 
it,  as  being  almost  solely  the  font  of  Divine  know- 
ledge so  long  as  the  Bible  in  the  vernacular  was 
scarcely  accessible.  The  preacher  had  to  study 
that  he  might  teach.  His  office  was  to  instruct,  to 
convince,  to  exhort ;  and  the  more  than  human 
grandeur  of  his  topics,  and  the  more  than  temporary 
issues  of  his  jireaching,  tended  to  beget  a  sublimity 
both  of  thought  and  utterance  that  reached  the 
loftiest  oratory.  The  audiences  daily  grew :  the 
preacher  excelled  more  and  more  in  his  noble  art, 
and  the  Protestant  puljjit  became  the  grand  jiioneer 
of  modern  eloquence. 

Rome  soon  saw  that  she  could  not  with  safety 
to  hex'self  despise  an  instrumentality  so  powerful. 
Hence  arose  a  rivalship  between  the  two  Churches, 
which  elevated  the  jJulpits  of  both,  but  in  the  end 
the  Popish  seemed  to  distance  the  Protestant  pul- 
pit. The  Protestant  preacher  gave  more  attention 
to  the  truth  he  delivered  than  to  the  words  in 
which  he  expressed  it,  or  the  gestures  with  which 
he  set  it  forth.  The  preachers  who  filled  the 
Roman  pulpits  brought  to  theii-  aid  the  arts  of  a 
brilliant  rhetoric,  and  the  graces  of  an  impassioned 
delivery,  and  thus  it  came  to  pass  that,  towards  the 
end  of  the  century,  the  Church  of  Rome  bore  ofi'  the 
palm  of  pulpit  oratoiy  in  Fiunce.  The  Protestant 
preachers  of  that  day  had  much  to  dishearten  and 
depress  them ;  the  gi-eat  orators  of  the  Romish 
Church — Bossuet,  MassUlon,  Fleohier,  Bourdaloue, 
and  F6nelon — had,  on  the  contrary,  everything  to 
awaken  and  reward  then-  eftbrts ;  but  it  was  the 
preachers  formed  in  the  school  of  Calvin  that 
paved  the  way  for  those  who  so  successfully  and  so 
brUliantly  succeeded  them.  "  If  France  had  never 
had  her  Saurins,"  said  one  of  the  great  orators  of 
the  English  pulpit,  "  her  Claudes,  her  Du  Plessis- 
Mornays,  her  national  Churcli  had  never  boasted 
the  genius  of  Bossuet,  and  tlio  virtues  of  F6nelon."' 

From  the  pulpit  wo  turn  to  the  Protestant 
Spiods  of  France.  During  the  wars  wliich  the 
ambition  of  Richelieu  carried  on  in  the  latter  end 
of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.,  and  the  troubles 
which  distracted  the  nation  in  the  opening  yeare 

'  Hall's  Works,  vol.  vi.,  p.  378. 


of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  several  National 
Synods  of  the  Protestant  Church  were  held.  These 
were  but  mere  shadows  of  the  numerous  and  majestic 
assemblies  of  the  better  days  of  the  French  Church, 
and  the  hearts  of  the  members  could  not  but  be  sad 
when  they  thought  howgloryand  power  had  departed 
from  them  since  the  days  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
and  of  Admual  Coliguy,  illusti-ious  as  a  wan-ior  and 
statesman,  but  not  less  illustrious  as  a  Christian, 
The  right  of  meeting  had  to  be  solicited  from  the 
court ;  it  was  always  obtained  -with  difficulty  ;  and 
the  interval  between  each  successive  Synod  was 
longer  and  longer,  preparatory  to  their  final  sup- 
pression. The  royal  commissioner  brought  with 
him  from  court  most  commonly  an  ungrateful 
message ;  it  was  delivered  in  an  imperious  tone, 
and  was  heard  in  obsequious  silence.  The  members 
of  Synod  were  reminded  that  if  the  throne  was 
powerful  its  authority  was  theii'  shield,  and  that  it 
was  their  wisdom  to  uphold,  as  it  was  their  duty  to 
be  thankful  for,  a  prerogative  which  in  its  exercise 
was  so  benignant  towards  them.  Men  who,  like 
these  French  pastors,  met  under  the  shadow  of  a 
tyrannical  king,  with  the  sword  of  persecution  hang- 
ing by  a  single  thread  above  theii'  heads,  could  not 
be  expected  to  show  much  life  or  courage,  or  devise 
large  and  effective  measures  for  the  building  \ip  of 
their  ancient  Church.  They  were  entirely  in  the 
power  of  their  enemy,  and  any  bold  step  would 
have  been  eagerly  laid  hold  of  by  the  Government 
as  a  pretext  for  crushing  them  outright.  They  were 
spared  because  they  were  weak,  but  theii-  final  e.x- 
tinction  was  ever  kept  in  view. 

Still  all  glory  had  not  departed  from  the  Pro- 
testant Church  of  France,  Among  its  pastors,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  were  men  of  great  genius,  of  pro- 
found erudition,  and  of  decided  piety  ;  and  these, 
finding  all  corporate  action  jealously  denied  them 
by  the  Government,  turned  their  energies  into  other 
chaimels.  If  Protestantism  was  decaying  and  pass- 
ing from  view,  there  were  individual  Protestants 
who  stood  nobly  out,  and  whose  names  and  labours 
were  renowned  in  foreign  countries,  French  Pro- 
testant literatiu-e  blossomed  ui  the  seventeenth 
century,  which  was  the  age  of  great  tlieological 
writers  in  France,  as  the  sixteenth  had  been  the 
age  of  ftimous  Synods,  Of  these  writers  not  a  few 
keep  their  place  after  the  lapse  of  two  centimes, 
and  their  works  are  accounted,  both  in  our  own 
country  and  in  Germany,  standards  on  the  subjects 
of  which  they  treat.  Their  -vnitings  arc  characterised 
by  the  same  fine  qualities  which  distinguished  the 
great  authors  of  their  nation  in  other  departments 
of  literature — a  penetrating  judgment,  an  acute 
logic,  a  rich  illustrative  power  which  makes  the 


324 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISIM. 


lights  and  shadows  of  fancy  to  play  across  the  page, 
and  a  brilliant  diction  which  enriches  and  purifies 
the  thought  that  shines  thi-ough  it.  These  men 
occupied  the  pulpits  of  some  of  the  most  important 
to^^^ls,  or  they  filled  the  chairs  of  the  seminaries  or 
colleges  which  the  Protestant  Church  was  permitted 
to  maintain,  and  which  she  richly  endowed.  The 
French  Church  at  that  time  had  four  such  acade- 
mies— Montauban,  Saumm-,  Sedan,  and  Nimes. 

The  first  of  these  four  seminaries,  Montauban, 
was  famous  for  the  high  tone  of  its  orthodoxy.  It 
was  a  well  of  Calvinism  undefiled.  It  was  not  less 
distinguished  for  the  eminent  talents  of  its  teachers. 
Among  others,  it  boasted  Daniel  Chamier,  a  re- 
markable man,  whose 
name  was  famous  in  his 
own  day,  and  is  not  un- 
kno^vn  in  ours.  Com- 
bining the  sagacity  of 
the  statesman  ^vith  the 
erudition  of  the  theolo- 
gian, he  had  a  chief 
hand  in  the  drawing  up 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 
He  was  a  dis- 
tinguished 
controver- 
sialist, and 
bore  away 
the  prize  in 
a  j)ublic  dis- 
cussion at 
Nimes  with 
the  confessor 

of  Henry  IV.  At  the  request  of  his  brethren,  he 
undertook  a  refutation  of  Bellarmin,  the  ablest  of 
the  Papal  champions.  This  work,  in  four  volumes, 
has  received  the  praise  of  a  modern  German  theo- 
lotnan,  Staiidlin,  for  the  stoi-es  of  knowledge  its 
author  displays,  and  the  searching  criticism  which 
he  biings  to  bear  upon  the  Popish  system.  The 
manner  of  his  death  was  iinusual.  During  the 
siege  of  Montauban  (1621)  he  was  sent  to  preach 
to  the  soldiers  on  the  walls,  who  had  not  been  able 
to  attend  church.  As  he  mounted  the  ramparts, 
he  was  stiiick  by  a  cannon-ball,  and  expired. 

Saumiu-  was  the  symbol  of  a  declining  theology. 
Its  professors  conducted  their  labours  chiefly  ^vith 
an  eye  to  smoothing  the  descent  from  Calvinism  to 

'  These  medals  were  called  "  Marreaux."  No.  1  was  in 
use  in  all  the  western  and  south-western  part  of  Fr.ance, 
from  La  Eochelle  to  Toulouse.  It  is  the  finest.  On  the 
one  side  la  a  shepherd  blowing  a  horn  and  callinf?  his 
sheep,  on  the  other  is  an  open  book  with  the  inscription 
"No  Grains  point,  petit  troupe" — i.e.,  "Fear  not,  little 
flock."    Nos.  2  and  3  belong  to  villages  of  the  Poitou. 


Arminianism.  They  were  learned  men  Ln  tlio 
main,  and  produced  works  which  excited  a  various 
interest.  A  moderate  theology  has  ever  had  a 
tendency  to  stereotype  men  in  moderate  attain- 
ments :  the  professors  of  Saumur  are  no  exception. 
Their  names  would  awaken  no  recollections  now, 
and  it  is  unnecessary  therefore  to  mention  them. 

Sedan  had  a  purer  fame,  and  a  more  intei'esting 
history.  It  is  associated  with  the  name  of  Andrew 
Melville,  and  of  numerous  other  Scotsmen  who 
here  taught  with  distinction.  Pierre  Dumoulin 
(1658),  one  of  the  greatest  Protestants  of  his  day, 
filled  one  of  its  chairs.  As  minister  of  Charenton, 
he  had  been  the  head  of  the  Protestants  of  Paris, 
where  his  talents  and 
influence  were  of  gi-eat 
service  to  the  cause  in 
every  part  of  France ; 
l)ut  becoming  obnoxious 
1 0  the  Jesuits,  he  fled  to 
Sedan,  then  an  indepen- 
dent principality,  though 
under  the  King  of 
France.  Here  the  re- 
mainder of 
_^  his       most 

laborious 
1  if  e  was 
passed.  No 
fewer  than 
seventy- 
tlu-ee  works 


IHCLENOT    MEDALS    Oil   tOMMLMOS 


proceeded 
from     his 

pen ;  of  these  the  most  popular  were  the  Buckler 
of  the  Faith,  and  the  Aiuiiomy  of  the  Mass.  The 
latter  stUl  finds  numerous  readers.  Dumoulin  was 
a  child  of  four  yeai's  when  the  St.  Bartholomew 
Massacre  took  place,  and  would,  even  at  that  tender 
age,  have  been  included  among  its  ^  ictims  but  for 
the  kindness  of  a  servant.  He  lived  to  the  age  of 
ninety.  Wlien  one  told  him  that  his  dissolution 
was  near,  he  thanked  liim  for  bringing  liim  such 
happy  tidings,  and  broke  out  into  a  welcome  to 
death — "  that  lovely  messenger  that  would  bring 
liim  to  see  his  God,  after  whom  he  had  so  long 
aspired."  And  so  he  ceased  to  be  seen  of  men. 
It  was  in  this  university  that  Daniel  TUenius 
taught.  He  was  the  first  to  introduce  into  France 
those  theological  controversies  touching  Grace  and 
Free  Will,  which  the  celebrated  Arminius  had,  as 
we  have  seen,  begun  in  Holland  a  few  years  befoi-e. 
The  progi-ess  of  Arminian  views  gradually  weakened 
the  hold  of  Calvinism  on  the  French  Reformed 
Church. 


FRENCH    PROTESTANT   DIVINES. 


325 


Of  these  four  seats  of  Protestmit  leariiiiig,  Niines 
was  the  leu.st  f;iiiiou.s.  It  mniiliered  among  its  pro- 
fessors Samuel  Petit  (1(J43).  Tliis  man,  who  was 
a  tlistiiiguished  Oriental  scholar,  filled  the  cliaii-  of 
Greek  and  Hebrew  in  this  academy.  An  anec- 
dote is  told  of  him  which  attests  the  familiarity 
he  had  acquired  with  the  latter  language.     One 


of  his  learning  as  to  court  his  friendship,  offered  to 
obtaui  for  him  admission  into  the  Vatican  Library 
at  Rome,  with  liberty  to  inspect  the  manuscrii)ts. 
The  offer  must  have  been  a  tempting  one  to  an 
Orientalist  like  Petit,  but  for  reasons  which  he  did 
not  think  himself  obliged  to  state  to  the  cardinal 
lie  courteously  declined  it. 


CARDINAL  MAZARIN.      (From  a  Portrait  iii  (lie  QaUery  of  Versailles.) 


day  he  entered  the  synagogue  of  Avignon,  and 
found  the  rabbi  delivering  a  bitter  vituperation 
in  Hebrew  upon  Christianity  and  Christians.  Petit 
waited  till  the  speaker  had  made  an  end ;  and  then, 
to  the  no  small  astonishment  of  the  rabbi,  he  began 
a  re])ly  in  the  same  tongue,  in  which  he  calmly  vin- 
dicated the  faith  the  Jew  had  aspei-sed,  and  exliorted 
its  assailant  to  study  Christianity  before  again 
attacking  it.  The  rabbi  is  said  to  have  offered  an 
apoloffv-  A  cardinal,  who  had  so  high  an  esteem 
"132 


Besides  the  men  we  have  mentioned,  the  Protes- 
tant Church  of  France,  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
possessed  not  a  few  pastora  eminent  for  theii-  piety 
and  labours,  whose  works  have  long  presei-ved  their 
names.  Among  these  we  mention  Anch-6  Rivet 
(16.51),  a  distinguished  commentator.  He  began  his 
career  as  a  pastor  in  France,  and  closed  it  as  a  pro- 
fessor of  theology  in  Holland.  The  princijiles  of 
criticism  which  he  lavs  down  in  his  Introduction 
to  the  Study  of  the  Bible   he   exemplifies    in    his 


326 


HISTORY  OP  PROTESTANTISM. 


Commentcm/  on  the  Psalms,  wLicli  is  one  of  tlio  Kcst 
expositions  of  that  jjart  of  Holy  AVi-it  i>liat  we 
possess.  Aubertin  (1052)  was  the  author  of  a  work 
on  the  Eucharist,  wliioli  thoso  of  tlio  contrary 
opinion  found  it  much  easier  to  denounce  to  the 
Privy  Council  than  to  answer.  Benjamin  Basnaj,'e 
(1G.j2)  wa.s  a  man  of  ability;  his  grandson,  Jacques 
Basuage,  was  still  more  so.  Blondel  (1055)  was 
the  ecclesiastical  historian  of  his  day,  and  one  of 
the  tirst  to  expose  the  forged  decretals  of  Rome. 
Bochart  (1067),  a  man  of  prodigious  learning,  and 
of  equal  modesty,  has  left  behind  him  an  intperish- 
able  name.  Mestrezat  (16.^7)  wielded  a  logic  which 
was  the  terror  of  the  Jesuits.  Drelincourt  (1669) 
spent  his  days  in  visiting  his  flock,  and  his  nights 
in  meditation  and  ■wi'iting.  His  Connoladoiis 
u'jaiiiat  Death  still  preserves  his  fame,  having  been 
translated  into  nearly  all  the  langiuiges  of  Euro])e. 
One  other  name  only  will  we  here  mention,  that  of 
Jean  Daille  (1070),  who  was  one  of  Drelincourt's 
colleagues  in  Paris.  The  woi-k  by  which  the  col- 
laborator and  friend  of  the  author  of  the  Cotiso- 
lations  against  Death  is  best  knowni  is  liis  Apoloi/i/ 
for  the  Reformed  Churches,  in  which  he  vindicates 


them  from  the  charge  of  .schism,  and  establishes,  on 
irrefragable  historic  proofs,  their  claini  to  apostc- 
licity. 

So  many  were  the  lights  that  still  shone  in  the 
sky  of  French  Protestantism.  The  whole  power  of 
th(!  Government  had  for  a  c-cntury  Ijcen  put  forth  to 
extinguish  it.  War  had  done  its  worst.  All  the 
great  military  leaders,  and  the  flower  of  tlu;  common 
soldiers,  lay  rotting  on  the  battle-ljeld.  To  war 
was  added  massacre.  Again  and  again  had  the 
soil  of  Prance  Ijeen  drenched  in  blood.  Violence 
had  so  far  pre\ailed  that  the  fiynods  of  the  French 
( "hurch  were  now  but  a  name.  But  the  piety 
and  learning  of  individual  Protestants  survived  all 
these  disasters ;  and,  like  stars  appealing  after  the 
clouds  of  tempest  have  passed  away,  they  lent  a 
glory  to  the  remnant  that  was  spared,  and  pro- 
claimed to  France  how  inherently  noble  was  the 
cause  which  it  was  striving  to  extinguish,  and  what 
a  splendour  Protestantism  would  shed  upon  the 
nation,  had  it  been  permitted  in  peace  to  put  forth 
its  mighty  energies,  and  to  difl'use  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  France  its  many  virtues,  and 
ripen  its  precious  fruits. 


CHAPTER   TV. 


THE      DRAGONNADER. 

The  War  of  the  Fronde— Mazarin  adopts  the  Foreign  Policy  of  Riclielieu— Bios  at  the  Height  of  his  Power—  Louis  XIV. 
now  Absolute—"  The  State,  it  is  I  "—His  Error  as  a  King— His  Error  as  a  Man— Alternate  Sinning  and  Repenting 
— Extermination  of  the  Huguenots- Confiscation  of  their  Churches— .4 n-^(s  against  Protestants— Fund  for  the 
Purchase  of  Consciences— Father  la  Chaise— Madame  de  Maintenon— The  Dragonnades— Conversions  and  Per- 
secutions. 

We  now  resume  our  narrative.  Louis,  a  mere 
youth,  was  king ;  his  mother,  Anne  of  Austria, 
was  regent ;  but  Cardinal  ^lazaiin  was  the  master 
of  both,  and  the  niler  of  the  kingdom.  ^Mazarin, 
as  wo  have  alreaily  said,  squandered  with  prodigal 
hand  the  treasures  which  Richelieu  had  hus- 
banded for  wars  of  ambition.  The  coflers  of  the 
State  begaji  to  be  empty,  and  had  to  bo  replenished 
by  new  taxes.  This  brought  on  insurrection,  and 
now  commenced  the  War  of  the  Fronde.  This 
war  was  an  attempt,  on  the  part  of  the  nation, 
to  raise  itself  out  of  the  gulf  of  dependence  on 
the  crown  into  which  Richelieu  had  sunk  it. 
On  the  part  of  the  crown,  it  was  a  struggle 
to  retain  its  newlj'-acquii'cd  ]5rerogatives,  and  to 
wield  over  both  nobles  and  people  that  despotic 
sway  from  the  path  of  which  all  impediment  had 


been  removed,  now  that  the  Huguenots  had  been 
suppressed.  The  War  of  the  Fronde  divided  the 
aristocracy,  some  of  the  nobles  taking  part  with  the 
court-,  others  with  the  people.  The  two  great 
military  leaders,  Conde  and  Turenne,  brilliant  in 
arms  but  uncertain  in  politics,  passed  from  side  to 
side,  now  supporting  the  court,  now  betraying  it ; 
now  fighting  for  the  people,  now  deserting  them, 
as  the  caprice  of  the  moment  or  the  interest  of  the 
hour  led  them.  The  war  extended  over  the  pro- 
vinces, and  even  entered  the  gates  of  Paris.  Barri- 
cades rose  in  the  streets ;  the  Loxivre  was  besieged, 
and  Mazarin  and  the  court  had  to  flee.  But  not- 
withstanding these  successes,  the  arms  of  the 
insurgents  did  not  jn'osjier.  The  tide  again  turned ; 
■s'ictory  declared  in  favour  of  thc^  royalists  ;  and  the 
court  I'etumed  to  Pans  in  triumphi     The  War  of 


CHARACTER   OF   LOUIS   XIV. 


327 


the  Fi'onde  was  at  an  end.  The  nobles,  with  tlie 
people  and  the  municipal  corporations,  had  signally 
fiiLled  to  curb  the  despotism  of  the  crown,  and  now 
these  classes  were  in  a  worse  plight  than  ever.  Nor 
for  150  years  thereafter  was  there  the  least  attempt 
to  resuscitate  the  popular  liberties. 

From  this  time  forward  Mazarin's  power  con- 
tinued to  grow,  and  remained  unshaken  to  the 
close  of  his  life.  Having  quieted  France  within, 
he  set  himself  to  carry  out  the  great  projects  of 
Richelieu,  so  far  as  that  gi-eat  statesman  had  left 
them  incomplete.  He  made  war  with  Spain,  and 
his  arms  were  successful ;  for  he  brought  to  a  close 
the  protracted  conflict  which  France  had  waged 
with  the  House  of  Austria,  humbling  it  in  both  its 
branches,  and  transferring  to  France  that  political 
and  military  preponderance  in  Europe  which  its 
rival,  the  jiroud  and  powerfvil  House  of  Austria, 
had  held  for  a  century  and  a  half  These  events  it 
does  not  concern  us  to  relate,  fui'ther  than  to  note 
the  very  significant  fact  that  two  prmces  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  were  employed  in  weaken- 
ing a  power  which  was  the  main  support  of  that 
Chui'ch,  and  in  paving  the  way  for  that  great  Revo- 
lution which  was  to  reverse  the  position  of  all  the 
kingdoms  of  Europe,  stripping  the  Papal  nations  of 
their  power,  and  lifting  up  the  Protestant  kingdoms 
to  supremacy. 

Mazarin  had  prospered  Ln  all  his  plans.  Abroad 
he  had  triumphed  over  Austria  and  Spain.  At 
home  he  had  abased  the  nobles.  The  Parliament 
and  the  municipal  corporations  he  had  i-educed  to 
insignificance.  The  people  he  had  sunk  into  vas- 
salage. The  throne  he  had  made  supreme.  But 
he  did  not  live  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  anxieties 
and  toils.  Like  Richelieu,  he  died  just  as  his 
fortunes  culminated.  He  climbed  to  the  summit  of 
his  glory  to  find  that  he  had  arrived  at  the  brink 
of  his  gi'ave.  Smitten  with  an  incurable  malady 
(1661),  he  was  warned  by  his  physicians  that  his 
end  drew  nigh.  He  sketched  in  outline  the  policy 
which  he  reconmiended  Louis  XIV.  to  follow,  he 
named  the  ministers  whom  he  advised  him  to 
employ  in  his  service  ;  and  then,  turning  his  face 
to  the  wall,  he  took  farewell  of  all  his  glory. 

Louis  XIV.  had  already  reigned  eighteen  years  ; 
he  now  began  to  govern.  He  called  to  him  the 
men  Mazarin  had  named  on  his  death-bed — Le 
Tellier  and  the  gi'eat  Colbei-t — and  told  them  that 
they  were  to  be  .simply  the  ministers  through  whom 
he  was  to  act.  And  seldom  ha-s  monarch  had  it 
more  in  his  power  than  Loiu.s  XIV.  to  do  as  he 
pleased  throughout  the  wide  extent  of  his  realms.' 


•  Voltaire,  Age  of  Louis  XIV.,  vol.  i.,  p.  73;  Glas.,  1753. 


Abroad  he  was  powerful,  at  home  he  was  absolute. 
In  liis  person  centred  all  rights  and  functions  • 
he  was  the  sole  fountain  of  law.  Seldom  indeed  has 
there  been  despotism  more  complete  or  more  cen- 
tralised than  that  now  embodied  in  Louis  XIV. 
His  own  well-known  words  exactly  express  it — 
"  The  State,  it  is  I."  It  was  a  fearfully  responsible 
position.  Sole  master  of  the  rights,  the  liberties, 
the  lives,  and  we  may  add  the  consciences  of  the 
millions  who  were  his  subjects,  his  reign  must  be  a 
fountain  of  untold  blessings,  or  a  source  of  number- 
less, enduring,  and  far-extending  miseries.  Nor 
did  he  lack  qualities  which  might  have  enabled  him 
to  make  it  the  former.  He  had  a  sound  judgment, 
a  firm  will,  a  princely  dis]iosition,  and  gi'eat  capacity 
for  affairs.  He  liked  hard  work,  and  all  thi-ough 
his  long  reign  was  never  less  than  eight  hours  a  day 
in  the  cabinet.  He  was  not  ci-uel  by  natm'e,  though 
he  became  so  by  policy.  The  rock  on  which  he 
split  as  a  monarch  was  ambition.  He  had  tasted 
of  the  sweets  of  conquest  under  Mazarin,  and  ever 
after  he  thirsted  with  an  luiappeasable  desire  for 
the  spoils  of  the  battle-field.  In  the  course  of  his 
wars,  there  was  scarcely  a  country  in  Eui-ope  which 
he  did  not  water  'with  French  blood.  By  these  long- 
continued  and  sanguinary  conflicts  he  stiU  further 
humbled  the  House  of  Austria,  and  annexed  cities 
and  provinces  to  his  domuiions,  to  be  stripped  of 
them  before  his  reign  closed  ;  lie  crowned  himself 
with  laurels,  to  be  torn  from  liis  brow  before  he 
died.  He  got  the  title  of  "the  Great;"  he  had 
two  triumphal  arches  erected  in  his  honour  in 
Paris ;  and  he  contracted  an  enormous  debt,  which 
paved  the  way  for  the  Revolution,  that  came  like 
a  whirlwind  in  his  grandson's  time  to  sweep  away 
that  throne  which  he  had  suirounded,  as  he  believed, 
with  a  power  that  was  impregnable  and  a  glory 
that  was  boundless. 

The  eiTor  of  Louis  XIV.,  as  a  man,  was  his  love 
of  pleasure.  He  lived  in  open  and  uni'estrained 
licentiousness.  This  laid  him  at  the  feet  of  Ms 
confessor,  and  sank  him  into  a  viler  vassalage  than 
that  of  the  meanest  vassal  in  all  his  dominions.  The 
"  Great"  Louis,  the  master  of  a  mighty  kingdom, 
whose  will  was  law  to  the  millions  who  called  him 
their  sovereign,  trembled  before  a  man  ^\'ith  a 
shaven  crown.  From  the  feet  of  his  confessor  he 
went  straight  to  the  commission  of  new  sins ;  from 
these  he  came  back  to  the  priest,  who  was  ready 
with  fresh  penances,  which,  ala.s  !  were  but  sins  in 
a  more  hideous  fonn.  A  more  miserable  and 
dreadful  life  there  never  was.  Guilt  was  piled 
upon  guilt,  remorse  upon  remorse,  till  at  length  life 
was  pa.ssed,  and  the  gi-eat  reckoning  was  in  \'iew. 

But    how  fared    it  with  the    Protestants    under 


328 


HISTOllY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Louis  XIV.?  Their  condition  became  woi-se  from 
the  moment  tliat  Jlazariu  breathed  his  last  and 
Louis  began  to  govern  in  ])erson.  One  of  his  first 
ideas  was  that  Protestantism  weakened  Prance,  and 
must  be  rooted  out ;  that  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was 
an  error,  and  must  be  revoked.  This  was  the 
policy  on  which  he  acted  as  regards  the  Huguenots 
— the  goal  towards  which  he  worked — all  through- 
out his  reign  :  the  extii'pation  of  Huguenotism,  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  The  wars  of  his 
earlv  years  interfered  with  the  pursuit  of  this 
object,  but  he  never  lost  sight  of  it.  No  sooner 
had  he  taken  the  government  into  his  own  hands 
(IGOl)  than  commissioners  were  appointed,  and  sent, 
two  and  two — a,  "Roman  Catholic  and  a  Protestant 
— into  all  the  provinces  of  Fi-ance,  with  authority  to 
hear  all  comj)laints  and  settle  all  quaiTels  which 
had  sprung  up  between  the  two  communions.  In 
almost  every  case  the  commissioners  found  that  the 
Roman  Catholics  were  in  the  right,  and  the  Pro- 
testants in  the  wi-ong.  The  commissioners  wei-e 
fiu-ther  instructed  to  examine  the  title-deeds  of 
ehurchoK.  In  many  instances  none  could  be  pro- 
duced ;  they  had  gone  amissing  in  the  lapse  of  time, 
or  had  perLshed  during  the  wars,  and  the  circum- 
stance was  in  every  case  made  available  for  the 
supjiression  of  the  church.  It  is  impossible  to  tell 
the  number  of  cluu-ches  pulled  do-^vn,  of  schools 
suppressed,  and  charitable  establishments  confiscated 
for  the  benefit  of  Popish  institutions.  Next  came 
the  decree  against  "  Relapsed  Heretics."  This 
ordonmince  denounced  against  such  the  penalty  of 
baiu.shment  for  life.  If  one  asked  for  the  j^riest's 
blessing  at  a  mixed  mamage,  or  had  been  heard  to 
say  to  one  that  he  should  like  to  enter  the  Chm'ch  of 
Rome,  or  had  done  an  act  of  abjuration  twenty  years 
before,  or  given  any  occasion  in  any  way  for  a  sus- 
picion or  repoi-t  of  being  inclined  to  Romanism,  he 
was  held  as  having  joined  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
the  law  against  "Relapsed  Heretics"  was  applied 
to  him  ;  and  if  ever  afterwards  he  entered  a  Protes- 
tant church,  he  was  seized  and  carried  before  the 
triViunals.  By  another  ordomvni.ce,  a  priest  and  a 
magistrate  were  authorised  to  visit  every  sick  ])er- 
son,  and  ask  if  he  wished  to  die  in  the  Roman  faith. 
The  scandalous  scenes  to  which  this  gave  rise  can 
be  imagined.  The  dying  were  distracted  and  tor- 
tured with  exliortations  to  abandon  their  faith  and 
pray  to  the  Vii-gin.  Children  were  caj)able  of 
abjuring  Protestantism  at  the  age  of  fourteen  ;  and 
by  a  subsequent  decree,  at  the  age  of  seven  ;  and 
their  jjarents  were  comi)elled  to  pay  for  their  maiu- 
tenanc(!  \inder  a  Roman  Catholic  roof.  Si>ies  haunted 
the  sermons  of  Protestant  ministers,  and  if  the 
pastor  sj)oke  a  disparaging  word  of  the  Virgin,  or 


any  saint  of  the  Romish  calendar,  he  was  indicted 
for  blasphemy.  If  one  pleaded  a  suit-at-law,  and 
were  doul)tful  of  success,  he  had  only  to  Sixy  that  ho 
was  arguing  against  a  heretic,  and  the  magic  words 
were  instantly  followed  by  an  award  in  his 
favour.  Protestants  were  excluded  from  all  ofiices 
under  the  crown,  from  all  mimicii)al  posts,  from 
the  practice  of  law  and  medicine,  and  generally  of 
all  the  liberal  professions.  They  were  foi-bidden  to 
sing  psalms  in  their  workshops  or  at  the  doors  of 
their  houses.  They  had  to  suspend  their  psalmody 
when  a  Roman  Catholic  procession  passed  the  doors 
of  their  churches.  They  could  bury  their  dead  only 
at  break  of  day  or  on  the  edge  of  night.  Not 
more  than  ten  mourners  cotild  follow  the  bier ;  and 
the  statvitory  number  of  a  wedding  procession  was 
restricted  to  twelve.  This  did  not  satisfy  the  priest- 
hood, however.  In  1665  they  declared  that  more 
zeal  must  be  exercised  in  order  "to  cause  the 
formidable  monster  of  heresy  to  expire  completely." 
From  this  time  the  Protestants  began  to  flee  from 
their  native  land.  It  was  now,  too,  that  Marshal 
Tureime  abjured  in  his  old  age  the  faith  he  had 
professed  through  life.  His  virtue  had  declined 
before  his  Protestantism  was  renounced.  His 
example  was  followed  by  the  great  nobles  about 
coiu-t,  and  it  was  remarked  of  all  of  them,  as  of 
Turemie,  that  they  had  espoused  the  morals  of  the 
king  before  embracing  his  faith.  The  names  of 
Count  Sehomberg,  the  Dtike  de  la  Force,  the  Mar- 
quis de  Ruvigny,  and  also  several  descendants  of 
Duplessis-Mornay  stand  out  in  noble  relief  from 
this  degenerate  crowd.^ 

Attempts  were  next  made  to  unite  the  two 
Churches.  These  came  to  nothing,  notwithstanding 
the  numerous  reforms  in  the  Romish  Chiu'ch  jiro- 
mised  by  the  king,  all  the  more  freely,  perhaps, 
that  he  had  no  power  to  fidfil  them.  Then,  after  a 
little  space,  the  work  of  persecution  was  resumed  ; 
a  new  discharge  of  ordonnances  and  arrets  .struck 
the  Protestants.  We  can  mention  only  a  very  few 
of  the  new  grievances.  The  Reformed  were  for- 
bidden to  print  religious  books  without  permission 
of  a  magistrate  of  the  Romish  communion  ;  to  cele- 
brate worship  when  the  bishop  was  holding  a 
visitation  ;  their  domestic  privacy  was  invaded  ; 
their  lights  as  parents  violated ;  their  temples  de- 
molished ;  and  if  they  dared  to  meet  around  the 
ruins  and  i>ray  beside  the  sanctuaries  in  which  their 
fathers  had  worshipped  they  were  punished. 

But  i>erhaps  the  most  extraordinary  means  em- 
ployed was  the  creation  of  a  fund  for  the  purchase 


'  A^ipw,  Protestant  Exiles  from  France  in  the  Reign  of 
Louis  XIV.,  vol.  i.,  p.  94  (a  work  of  great  research), 


CONSCIENCE -PURCHASE   FUND. 


329 


of  consciences.  This  fund  was  fed  from  the  re- 
sources of  ■N'acant  bishoprics,  which  were  the  right 
of  the  crown,  but  wliicli  the  king  now  made  over 
to  this  fund.  In  every  case,  when  a  see  became 
^■;lcant,  a  year's  revenue  was  thus  applied,  but  sees 
were  often  kept  vacant  for  years  tliat  tlie  fund  for 
conversions  might  profit  tliereby.  Pellisson,  by 
bii-th  a  Calviuist,  but  wlio,  having  gone  over  to 
tlie  king's  religion,  from  a  convert  became  a  zealous 
converter,  presided  over  tliis  fund.  It  was,  in 
truth,  a  gieat  mercantile  establishment,  organised 
according  to  the  rules  and  wielding  the  machinery 
of  other  mercantile  establishments.  It  had  its 
head  office  in  Paris,  and  branch  offices  in  all  the 
])rovinces.  It  had  its  stafl"  of  clerks,  its  corre- 
sjtondents,  its  table  of  prices,  its  letters  of  credit, 
and  its  daily  published  lists  of  articles  purchased, 
these  articles  being  the  bodies  and  the  souls  of  men. 
A'  curious  circular  letter  (.June  12th,  1677)  of  its 
])resident,  Pellisson,  has  been  given  by  the  historian 
Felice,  and  is  as  follows  : — "  Although  you  may  go 
as  far  as  a  hundred  francs,  it  is  not  meant  that  you 
are  always  to  go  to  this  extent,  as  it  is  necessary  to 
use  the  utmost  possible  economy  ;  in  the  first  place, 
to  shed  this  dew  on  as  many  persons  as  possible ; 
and,  besides,  if  we  give  a  hundred  francs  to  people 
of  no  consequence,  without  any  family  to  follow 
them,  those  who  bring  a  number  of  children  after 
them  will  demand  far  larger  sums.  This,  however, 
need  not  hinder  you  from  furnishing  still  larger 
assistance  in  very  important  cases,  if  yovi  advise  me 
of  it  beforehand,  whenever  his  Majesty,  to  whom 
explanations  will  be  given,  thinks  it  proper."  The 
daily  lists  of  abjurations  amounted  to  many  hun- 
dreds ;  but  those  who  closely  examined  the  names 
said  that  the  majority  were  knaves,  or  persons  who, 
finding  convci-sion  profitable,  thought  it  not  enough 
to  be  once,  but  a  dozen  times  converted.  The 
king,  however,  was  delighted  with  his  success,  and 
nothing  was  talked  of  at  court  but  the  miracles  of 
Pellisson.  Every  one  huuled  his  golden  eloquence — 
less  learned,  they  said,  but  far  more  efficacious  than 
that  of  BossiU'l. 

Louis  XIV.  was  now  verging  on  old  age,  but  his 
bigotry  gi-ew  with  his  years.  His  great  minister 
Colbei-t,  whose  co\insels  had  ever  been  on  the  side 
of  moderation,  was  now  in  his  grave.  There  were 
left  him  tlie  Chancelloi-,  LeTellicr,  and  the  Minister 
of  War,  Lou\ois,  both  stern  haters  of  tlie  Hugue- 
nots. His  confessor  was  the  well-known  Father 
la  Chaise.  No  fitter  tool  than  Louis  XIV.  could 
the  Jesuit  have  found.  His  Spani.sh  mother  had 
educated  him  not  to  hesitate  at  scruples,  but  to  go 
forwai-d  without  compunction  to  the  perpetnition 
of  enormous  crimes.     To  make  matters  still  worse, 


the  khig  now  fell  cntii'ely  under  the  influence  of 
Madame  de  Maintenon.  This  woman,  who  figvu-es 
so  pi'ominently  in  these  awful  tragedies,  was  the 
grand-daughter  of  the  Protestant  historian  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne.  She  was  a  Calvinist  by  birth,  but 
changed  her  religion  at  an  eai-ly  age,  and  being 
governess  in  the  family  of  one  of  the  royal  mis- 
tresses, her  beauty  and  address  fascinated  the  king, 
who  privately  married  her  on  the  death  of  the 
queen,  Maiia  Theresa.  Madame  de  Maintenon  did 
not  particularly  hate  her  former  co-religionists,  but 
being  resolved  above  all  things  to  retain  her  in- 
fluence over  Louis,  and  seeing  the  direction  in 
which  his  humour  set — namely,  that  of  expiatmg 
his  profligacies  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  Huguenot 
heretics — she  and  Father  la  Chaise  became  the 
counsellors  and  partners  of  the  unluippy  monarch 
in  those  deeds  of  tyi-anny  and  blood  which  shed 
an  ever-deepening  darkness  and  horror  o\er  the 
life  of  Louis  XIV.  as  he  approached  the  grave. 

Whether  it  was  the  number  or  the  quality  of  the 
conver.sions  that  did  not  satisfy  the  court  it  is  hard 
to  say,  but  now  gi-eater  severities  were  had  recourse 
to.  It  was  deemed  bad  economy,  perhaps,  to  do 
with  money  what  could  be  done  by  the  sword. 
Accordingly  the  dragon  nades  were  now  set  on  foot. 
A  commencement  was  made  in  Poitou.  In  1681  a 
regiment  of  cavalry  was  sent  into  this  province, 
with  instructions  from  the  jMinister  of  War, 
Louvois,  that  the  gi-eater  part  of  the  nien  and 
officers  should  be  quartered  on  the  Protestants. 
"  If,"  said  he,  "  according  to  a  fair  distribution,  the 
Religionists  ought  to  have  ten,  we  may  billet  twenty 
on  them."  The  number  of  soldiers  allotted  to  each 
Protestant  family  varied  from  four  to  ten.  The 
men  were  made  aware  that  they  might  do  as  they 
had  a  mind,  short  of  actually  killing  the  inmates. 
"  They  gave  the  i-eins  to  their  passions,"  says 
Migaidt,  desciibing  the  horrors  of  which  he  was 
eye-witness  ;  "  devastation,  pillage,  torture — there 
was  nothing  they  recoiled  at."  The  details  must 
be  supi)resscd  ;  they  are  too  horrible  to  be  I'ead. 
The  poor  people  knew  not  what  to  do ;  tliey  fled  to 
the  woods  ;  they  hid  themselves  in  the  ca\-es  of  the 
mountains;  many  went  mad;  and  others,  scarce 
knowing  what  they  did,  kissed  a  crucifix,  and  had 
their  names  eniDlled  among  the  converts.  The 
emigration  was  resumed  on  a  great  .scale.  Thou- 
sands rose  to  flee  from  a  land  where  nothing  awaited 
them  but  misery.  The  court  attempted  to  arrest 
the  fugitives  by  threatening  them  with  the  galleys 
for  life.  Tlie  exodus  contiinied  despite  this  terrible 
law.  The  refugees  were  joyfully  welcomed  in  Eng- 
land and  in  the  other  Protestant  lands  to  which,  with 
their  persons,  they  transfeiTed  their  iudustrj-,  their 


330 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


knowleflge  of  art  and  letters,  and  their  piety.  They 
now  made  Europe  resound  with  tlicir  wrongs — 
though  not  one  of  their  books  could  cross  the  fron- 
tier of  their  native  land.  We  quote  a  few  sentences 
from  Jurieu  (1682),  who,  fleeing  to  Holland,  became 
Pastor  of  the  French  Church  in  Rotterdam; — "We 
were  treated  as  if  we  were  the  enemies  of  the 
Christian  name.  In  those  places  where  Jews  are 
tolerated  they  have  all  sorts  of  liberties;  they 
exercise  the  arts,  and  carry  on  trades;  they  are 


our  morality  are  pure  beyond  contradiction ;  we 
res])ect  kings ;  we  are  good  subjects  and  good 
citizens ;  we  are  as  much  Frenchmen  as  we  are 
Reformed  Christians." 

The  Protestants  thought  one  other  attempt  ought 
to  be  made,  though  not  by  arms,  to  recover  some 
little  from  the  wreck  of  their  liberties.  They  agi-eed 
that  such  of  their  chui'ches  as  were  still  standing 
should  be  re-opened  for  public  worship  on  the  same 
day  in  all  the  southern  provinces  of  France.     This 


VIEW    IN    NANTES,    SHOWINO    THE    TOWEU. 


physicians ;  they  are  consulted,  and  Christians  put 
their  lives  and  health  into  their  hands.  But  we, 
as  if  polluted,  are  forbidden  to  touch  children  on 
their  entrance  into  the  world ;  we  are  excluded 
from  the  bar,  ami  from  all  the  faculties  ;  we  are 
di'iven  away  from  the  king's  person  ;  all  public 
posts  are  taken  away  from  us  ;  we  are  forbidden  to 
use  those  means  by  which  we  save  ourselves  from 
dying  of  hunger ;  we  are  given  up  to  the  hatred  of 
the  mob ;  we  are  deprived  of  that  precious  liberty 
which  we  have  pui'chased  by  so  many  services ;  our 
children,  who  are  part  of  ourselves,  are  taken  away 
from  us.  Are  we  Turks  or  infidels  1  We  believe 
in  Jesus  Christ,  we  believe  in  the  eternal  Son  of 
God,  the  Redeemer  of  the  world  ;  the   maxims  of 


they  thought  would  jirove  to  the  king  in  a  peace- 
able way  that  the  abjurations,  so  loudly  vaunted 
by  his  counsellors,  were  a  wholesale  delusion.  The 
project  was  cai'ried  into  effect,  but  the  Government 
pretended  to  see  in  it  insun-ection,  and  the  poor 
Hiiguenots  were  visited  with  a  yet  heavier  measure 
of  vengeance.  The  dragonnades  were  extended  to 
all  the  provinces  of  Southern  France.  The  Pro- 
testants fled  to  the  forests,  to  the  deserts  of  the 
Cevennes,  to  the  mountains  of  the  Pyrenees. 
They  were  tracked  by  the  soldiers,  and  on  refusing 
to  abjure,  were  sabred  or  hanged.  Some  of  the 
pastors  were  broken  on  the  wheel.  Many  of  the 
churches  sjiared  till  now  were  demolished,  and  a 
hideous  devastation  was  inflicted  on  private  dwell- 


332 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


ings  and  property.  Every^vhere  tliere  was  a  Reign 
of  Terror ;  and  the  populace,  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  ruffians,  who,  if  they  forbore  to  kill,  did  so  that 
they  might  practise  excruciating  and  often  iin- 
nameable  tortures  \ipou  their  victims,  now  came 
in  crowds  to  the  priests  to  abjure.  "Not  a  post 
arrives,"    wrote  3Iadauic    de   ilaintenou,    in    Sep- 


tember, 1685,  "without  bringing  tiding.s  that  fill 
liim  (tlie  king)  with  joy ;  the  convei'sions  take 
place  every  day  by  thousands."  Twenty  thou.sand 
abjured  in  Beam,  sixty  thousand  in  the  two  dioceses 
of  Nimes  and  Montpellier  :  and  while  this  honible 
persecution  went  on,  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  still 
law.-* 


CHAPTER  V. 


REVOC.A.TION    OF    THE    EDICT    OF    N.VXTES. 

Edict  of  Kevocatiou— Summaiy  of  its  Enactments— The  Pi'otestant  Churches  Demolished — Charenton,  ic— The 
Pastors  Banished— Severe  Penalties— No  Burial  without  the  Sacrament — Lay  Protestants  Forbidden  to  Emigrate 
— Schomberg  and  A.dmiral  Duquesne— The  Ports  and  Outlets  from  France  Cdosed — The  Flight  of  the  Huguenots— 
Their  Disguises— Flight  of  Women— Theii;Sufferings  on  the  Way— Probable  Numbers  of  the  Refugees— Disastrous 
Influence  of  the  Revocation  on  Science  and  Literature — on  Trade  and  Manufactures — on  tlie  Army  and  Navj-^ 
France  Weakened  and  Other  Countries  Enriclied — Panegyrics  of  the  Clergy — Approval  of  the  Pope — A  Te  Dcttm 
at  Rome — Medals  in  Commemoration  of  the  Event. 


The  Edict  of  Nantes  was  already  in  eti'ect  repealed. 
There  was  hardly  one  of  its  provisions  which  had 
not  been  set  aside  either  by  interpretations  which 
explained  it  away,  or  by  edicts  which  du'ectly  nul- 
lified it ;  and  now  scai'cely  anything  remained  of 
that  famous  charter  of  Huguenot  rights,  save  the 
parchment  on  which  it  v/as  written  and  the  seals 
that  attested  its  stipidations  and  promises,  which, 
read  in  the  light  of  the  scenes  that  were  being 
enacted  all  over  France,  looked  like  mockery.'  But 
the  work  must  be  completed.  The  king  judged 
that  tlie  hour  had  now  arrived  for  dealing  the  blow 
which  should  extinguish  for  ever  Protestantism  in 
France.  By  the  advice  of  his  counsellors — Father 
la  Chaise,  liis  confessor  ;  jMadame  de  Maintenon,  his 
wife;  the  Chancellor  Le  Tellier,  and  Count  Louvois 
— the  king,  on  the  18tli  of  Octobei-,"  1685,  signed 
tho  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

The  Revocation  swept  away  all  the  rights  and 
liberties  which  Henry  IV.  and  Louis  XIII.  Lad 
solenndy  guaranteed  to  the  Protestants.  It  de- 
clared all  further  exercise  of  the  Reformed  worship 
within  tlie  kingdom  illegal ;  it  ordered  the  demoli- 
tion of  all  tho  Protestant  churches  ;  it  commanded 
the  pastors  to  quit  the  kingdom  within  a  fortnight, 
and  forbade  them  to  perform  any  clerical  function 
on  pain  of  tlie  galleys  ;  all  I'rotestant  schools  were 


'  See  Bulletin  de  la  SocidW  de  I'HisMre  du  Proteslantisme 
Franrnis  :  Deuxii'mc  anm'e ;  p.  167  et  seq.;  Paris,  ISM. 

-  Weiss  8ay.-f  the  22ncl  of  October.  It  was  probably 
signed  on  the  18th  and  published  on  the  22nd  of  October. 


closed ;  and  all  infants  born  subsequent  to  the 
I'evocation  of  the  edict  were  to  be  baptised  by 
priests,  and  educated  as  Roman  Catholics  ;  all  re- 
fugees were  requii-ed  to  return  to  France  and  abjure 
their  religion  within  four  months,  and  after  the 
expiry  of  that  term  non-compliance  was  to  be  pun- 
ished with  confiscation  of  all  their  property ;  all 
Protestants  were  forbidden  to  quit  the  kingdom 
under  pain  of  the  galleys  if  men,  and  of  confiscation 
of  body  and  goods  if  women ;  and,  in  fine,  all  laws 
against  relajjsed  heretics  were  confinned.  A  clause 
was  added  which  occasioned  a  cruel  disappointment : 
it  was  couched  in  the  following  seemingly  clement 
terms  : — -"  Those  Protestants  who  have  not  changed 
their  religion  shall  be  allowed  to  dwell  in  the  cities 
and  places  of  our  realm  unmolested  till  it  shall 
pledge  God  (o  enHi/hteu  them,  as  he  has  others."  This 
clause  was  interpreted  as  a  permission  to  the  Re- 
formed to  liold  their  opinions  in  their  own  breast 
and  practise  their  worship  in  pi-ivate.  It  was  not 
long  before  they  had  discovered  that  the  true 
reading  of  the  clause  Wiis  as  follows— until  they 
sliall  be  converted,  as  othei-s  lia%e  been,  by  the 
di'agoons. 

On  the  22nd  of  October  the  Act  was  registered, 
and  on  the  same  day  the  Protestants  were  noti- 
lied  by  a  public  spectacle  that  its  execution  had 
commenced.  The  great  Chui-eli  of  Charenton,  in  the 
neiglibourhood   of  Paris,  built  by  the   celebrated 

'  Elie  Bcnoit,  Hisioire  de  L'Edil  dc  Kantes,  torn.  IV., 
livx'.  ivli.,  iviii. ;  Delft,  1G95. 


PERSECUTION   OF  THE   HUGUENOTS. 


S33 


architect  Jacques  Debrosse,  and  c;ipal)le  of  contain- 
ing 14,000  persons,  was  razed  to  the  ground.  The 
tirst  l)low  was  dealt  the  detested  structui-e  by  two 
Government  commissioners ;  then  a  mob  of  some 
hundreds  threw  themselves  upon  it,  with  pickaxes 
and  levers ;  in  five  days  not  a  trace  of  the  colossal 
fixbric  was  to  be  seen,  and  a  cross  twenty  feet  high, 
adorned  with  the  royal  arms,  rose  in  triumph  over 
the  demolished  edifice.  Other  temples  throughout 
France,  venerable  for  their  age,  or  imposing  from 
their  size,  which  had  escaped  the  demolitions  of 
former  years,  were  now  swept  away.  Alas,  the 
soiTOwful  scenes  that  marked  the  closing  of  these 
churches !  Drowned  in  tears,  the  congregation 
assembled  to  hear  their  pastor's  farewell  sermon, 
and  sing  their  last  psalm  ;  then,  forming  a  long  and 
inouniful  procession,  they  passed  before  the  minister, 
who  liestowed  on  each  singly  his  benediction,  ex- 
horting him  to  be  steadfast  unto  the  death.  With 
many  a  hallowed  Communion  Sunday  lingering  in 
their  memories,  they  then  passed  out  for  ever. 
Many  of  these  churches  fell  amid  a  confused  noise  of 
blaring  trumpets,  the  shoutings  of  Romanists,  and 
the  sobbings  of  Protestants.  Topping  the  ruins  of 
the  Church  of  Nimes  niight  long  be  seen  a  stone 
which  had  formed  the  lintel  of  the  portico  of  the 
now  overthrown  edifice,  on  which  were  graven  the 
words,  "  This  is  the  House  of  God,  this  is  the  Gate 
of  Heaven."  ' 

Though  but  the  crowning  act  of  a  treacherous, 
cruel,  and  most  tyrannical  policy  under  which  they 
had  groaned  for  years,  the  Revocation  fell  upon  the 
Huguenots  like  a  tlamder-bolt.  Their  eyes  opened 
on  blank  desolation  !  Not  a  single  safe-guard  had 
been  left  them ;  not  a  single  right  of  conscience,  or 
of  property,  or  of  body  of  which  they  had  not  been 
stripped.  The  fact  seemed  too  terrible  to  be  real ; 
the  crime — the  folly — too  stupendoxis  for  any  king 
to  commit !  The  Protestants  amoimted  to  be- 
tween one  and  two  millions  ;  their  factories  and 
workshops  were  to  be  found  in  nearly  all  parts  of 
France  ;  their  commerce  and  merchandise  upheld 
its  great  cities,  their  energy  and  enterprise  were 
the  life  of  the  nation  ;  and  to  be  all  at  once  flung 
beyond  the  pale  of  law,  ))eyond  the  j)ale  of  humanity  I 
They  were  stupefied. 

But  they  soon  foimd  that  the  first  blow  was  far 
indeed  from  exhausting  the  calamities  with  which 
this  measure  was  pregnant.  The  edict  oi)eHed  out 
in  a  .series  of  oppressions  to  which  tliey  could  see 
neither  limit  nor  end.  Troops  were  sent  into  the 
pro^•^ncPS  to  execute  it.  As  an  inundation  breaks 
in,  or  a.s  a  tempest  sweeps  onward,  so  did  a  ton-ent 


'  Weiss,  p.  72 


of  pillagings,  outrages,  and  murders  rush  upon 
France.  Louis  XIV.  in  all  this  was  not perKenilhic/, 
he  was  only  conrertvag ;  for  had  not  the  Savioiu" 
sjiid,  "  Compel  them  to  come  in "  ]  An  army  of 
"  liooted  ajjo.stles "  scouring  the  country  and  800 
Protestant  churches  now  in  ruins  attested  the  reality 
of  the  Revocation  ;  but  instantly  came  new  provi- 
sions to  amplify  and  perfect  the  edict.  Protestant 
preaching  had  already  been  forbidden  on  land ;  now 
it  was  forbidden  on  board  ship.  Protestants,  or 
new  Catholics,  as  they  were  termed — for  it  was 
assumed  that  now  there  were  not  any  more  Pro- 
testants in  France — wei-e  foi'bidden  to  emploj-  as 
servants  any  save  Roman  Catholics,  under  penalty 
of  a  fine  of  1,000  livres.  Huguenots  were  abso- 
lutely foi'bidden  to  enter,  in  the  capacity  of  servants, 
any  family,  whether  Roman  Catholic  or  Huguenot, 
under  pain,  if  men,  of  being  sent  to  the  galleys,  and 
if  women,  of  being  flogged  and  branded  with  a 
feur-de-lis.  Even  English  families  resident  in  France 
were  not  exemi)t  from  the  operation  of  this  law. 
Protestant  ministers  foimd  lurking  in  France  after 
the  expiry  of  the  fifteen  days  given  them  for  removal 
wei'e  to  be  put  to  death  ;  and,  to  hasten  their  depar- 
ture and  make  sure  that  not  one  heretical  teacher 
remained  in  the  country,  a  reward  of  5,. "500  livres 
was  ofl'ered  for  the  apprehension  of  ministers  in 
hiding.  Pastors  who  should  return  to  their  native 
land  without  a  written  permission  from  the  king 
were  to  expiate  their  offence  with  their  lives, 
while  the  terrors  of  the  galleys,  imprisonment  for 
life,  and  confiscation  of  property  were  suspended 
above  those  who  should  dare  to  harbour  such. 
Not  a  few  foreigners,  particularly  Englishmen,  were 
summoned  to  abjure,  and  on  their  refusal  were 
throttii  into  prison.  The  English  monarch  sent 
tardy  remonstrances  against  these  insults  to  his 
crown,  and  the  Court  of  Versailles  responded  ■n'ith 
an  equally  tardy  satisfaction. 

Nor  did  these  annoyances  and  torments  termi- 
nate with  life.  Not  only  were  the  death-beds  of  all 
Protestants  besieged,  and  their  last  moments  dis- 
turbed by  the  jiresence  of  priests,  but  no  grave 
could  receive  the  body  of  the  man  who  died  without 
confession  and  without  the  Sacrament  of  extreme 
tuiction.  His  corpse  was  a  thing  too  ^•ile  to  rest  in 
the  bosom  of  the  earth  ;  it  must  rot  above  ground ; 
it  was  exposed  on  the  highway,  or  was  flung  into 
the  public  sewer.  The  body  of  M.  de  Chevenix, 
a  man  illustrious  for  his  learning  and  piety,  wsis 
subjected  to  this  indignity.  Dragged  away  on  a 
Inu'dle,  it  was  thrown  upon  a  dung-hill.  His  friends 
came  by  night,  and  wrapping  it  in  linen,  bore  it 
reverently  on  their  shoiddei-s,  and  bm-ied  it  in  a 
garden,  giving  vent  to  their  son-ow,  as  they  lowered 


334 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


it  slowly  into  its  place  of  sepulture,  by  singing  the 
seventy-ninth  Psalm  :  "  Save  me,  O  Lord,  for  the 
waters  are  come  into  my  sotil."' 

While  one  clause  of  the  Act  of  Revocation  made 
it  death  for  the  pastor  to  remain  in  France,  another 
clause  of  the  same  Act  made  it  death  for  the  lay- 
man to  flee  from  it.  The  land  was  converted  into 
a  vast  prison.  The  frontiei'S  were  jealously  guarded  ; 
sentinels  were  placed  at  all  the  great  outlets  of  the 
kingdom ;  numerous  spies  kept  watch  at  the  sea- 
ports ;  officers  patrolled  the  shore  ;  and  ships  of 
war  hovered  off  the  coast  to  prevent  escape  beyond 
those  dismal  limits  within  which  the  Protestant  had 
only  the  terrible  alternative  of  sacrificing  his  con- 
science, or  sun-endering  his  liberty  or  life.  Many 
earnestly  petitioned  for  leave  to  withdraw  from  a 
land  where  to  obey  God  was  to  inciu'  the  wi-ath 
of  the  king,  but  they  petitioned  in  vain.  Of 
the  native  subjects  of  Louis,  we  know  of  only  two 
to  whom  this  favour  was  conceded.  The  Marshal 
Schomberg  and  the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny  were  per- 
mitted to  retire,  the  first  to  Portugal,  and  the 
second  to  England.  The  Admii-al  Duquesne  was 
summoned  into  the  presence  of  Louis  XIV.,  and 
urged  to  change  his  religion.  Pointing  to  his  hairs, 
which  tempest  and  battle  had  bleached,  the  hero 
said,  "  For  sixty  years,  su-e,  have  I  rendered  unto 
Cajsar  that  which  I  owe  to  Caesar  :  suffer  me  still  to 
render  to  God  that  which  I  owe  to  God."  He  was 
permitted  to  live  in  his  native  land  unmolested. 
Among  the  names  that  lent  a  glory  to  France  there 
were  none  greater  than  these  three.  Schomberg 
was  at  the  head  of  the  army,  Duquesne  was  the 
creator  of  the  navy,  and  De  Ruvigny  was  equally 
renowned  in  diplomacy ;  the  Revocation  deprived 
France  of  the  services  of  all  the  three.  This  was 
much,  and  yet  it  was  but  the  first  instalment  of 
that  mighty  sum  which  France  was  destined  to  pay 
for  the  Revocation  in  after-years. 

Nothing  can  be  imagined  more  appalling  than 
was  now  the  condition  of  the  Protestant,  as  he 
looked  ai-ound  him  in  his  native  land.  The  king 
was  his  enemy,  the  law  was  his  enemy,  his  fellow- 
countrymen  were  his  enemies ;  and  on  all  sides  of 
him  was  a  cordon  of  guards  and  gens-d'armes,  to 
a])prehend  and  svibject  him  to  tenible  sufferings 
should  he  attempt  to  escape  from  the  vast  prison 
which  had  shut  him  in.  But  fruitless  were  all  the 
means  taken  to  pi-event  the  flight  of  the  Huguenots. 
Fruitless  were  the  peasants  that  day  and  night. 


'  The  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  Richard  Chevenix  Trench, 
is  his  great-grandson.  The  archbishop  is  descended  by 
the  mother's  side  from  tlio  family  of  Chevenix,  and  liy  tin" 
father's  side  from  another  Huguenot  family,  that  of  La 
Tranches, 


armed  with  scythes  and  similar  weapons,  guarded 
the  high-roads,  and  watched  the  fords  of  rivei-s ; 
fruitless  the  troops  that  Imed  the  frontier,  and  the 
ships  that  cruised  off  the  ports  and  e.xamined  all 
outward-bound  vessels ;  fruitless  the  oft'ered  spoils 
of  the  captured  fugitives,  by  which  it  was  sought 
to  stimulate  the  vigilance  of  the  guards ;  fruitless 
even  the  reports  which  were  put  in  circulation,  that 
no  asylum  was  to  be  found  in  foreign  countries ; 
that  10,000  refugees  had  died  of  starvation  in 
England,  and  that  of  those  who  had  fled,  the  vast 
majority  were  soliciting  permission  to  return.  In 
vain  were  all  tliese  efforts  to  check  the  emigi'ation ; 
danger  was  braved,  vigilance  was  eluded  ;  and  the 
frontiers  were  crossed  by  an  ever-enlarging  crowd, 
who  were  even  more  anxious  to  find  liberty  of  con- 
science than  to  escape  from  death. 

The  devices  resorted  to  and  the  disguises  assumed 
by  the  fugitives  to  avoid  detection  were  infinite. 
Some  attired  themselves  in  the  garb  of  pilgi'ims, 
and  with  shallop  and  palmer-staff'  pursued  their 
journey  to  theii'  much-wished-for  shi'ine — a  land  of 
liberty.  Some  travelled  as  couriers  ;  some  as  sports- 
men, carrying  a  gun  on  their  shoulder ;  some  as 
peasants  driving  cattle  ;  some  aflected  to  be  porters, 
can-ying  burdens ;  others  were  attired  in  footmen's 
liveries,  and  others  wore  soldiers'  uniforms.  The 
rich  in  some  cases  liii-ed  guides,  who,  for  sums 
varying  from  1,000  to  6,000  livres,  conducted  them 
across  the  frontier.  The  poor,  setting  out  alone, 
chose  by-paths  and  diflicult  mountain-tracks,  begin- 
ning each  day's  joiu'uey  at  night-fall,  and  when  the 
dawn  appeared,  retiring  to  some  forest  or  cavern 
for  rest  and  sleep.  Sometimes  they  lay  concealed 
in  a  barn,  or  burrowed  in  a  hay-stack,  till  the 
return  of  the  darkness  made  it  safe  for  them  to 
contiiuie  their  flight.  Nobles  and  gentlemen,  set- 
ting their  servants  on  horseback,  would  put  on 
their  dress,  and  follow  on  foot  as  though  they  were 
lackeys. 

The  women  were  not  less  fertile  in  artifices  and 
disguises.  They  di'essed  themselves  as  servants,  as 
peasants,  as  nurses ;  even  noble  ladies  would  jour- 
ney onward  trundling  wheel-barrows,  or  carrying 
hods,  or  bearing  burdens.  The  young  disfigured 
their  faces  by  smearing  or  dyeing  theii-  skin  and 
cutting  off  their  haii-,  thus  converting  blooming 
youth  into  wthered  and  wrinkled  age.  .  Some 
dressed  themselves  as  beggars,  some  sold  rosaries, 
and  some  feigned  to  be  deaf  or  insane.-  The  perils 
that  environed  them  on  every  side  could  not  daunt 
their  heroic  resolution.  They  urged  their  fleeing 
steps  onward  through   the   darkness  of  night  and 

-  Elie  Benoit,  vol.  v.,  pp.  554, 953. 


EMIGRATION  OF  HUGUENOTS. 


335 


the  tempests  of  winter,  through  tangled  forests  and 
quaking  morasses,  through  robbers  and  phmderers, 
forgetting  all  these  dangers  in  their  anxiety  to 
escape  the  guards  of  the  king  and  arrive  at  the 
rendezvoxis,  and  rejoin  fathers,  or  brothers,  or  hus- 
bands, who  had  reached  the  api)ointed  place  by 
another  route.  The  terrors  of  the  persecutor  had 
overcome  the  sense  of  weariness,  and  hundreds  of 
miles  seemed  short  to  some  who,  brought  uj)  in 
luxury  and  splendour,  had  never  before,  perhaps, 
walked  a  league  on  foot.  The  ocean  had  no  terrors 
to  those  who  knew  that  there  was  a  land  of  liberty 
beyond  it,  and  many  crossed  the  English  Channel 
at  that  inclement  season  in  open  boats.  Those  on 
the  sea-board  got  away  in  Dutch,  in  English,  and  in 
French  merchantmen,  hidden  in  bales  of  goods,  or 
buried  luuler  heaps  of  coal,  or  stowed  in  empty 
barrels,  where  they  had  only  the  bung-hole  to 
breathe  through.  The  very  greatness  of  their  misery 
wrought  some  alleviation  of  their  hardship.  Their 
woeful  plight  melted  the  hearts  of  the  peasants  on 
the  frontier,  and  they  suffered  them  in  some  in- 
stances to  escape,  when  it  was  in  their  power  to 
liave  delivered  them  up  to  the  dragoons.  Even 
the  sentinels  sometimes  acted  as  the  guides  of  those 
whom  they  had  been  appointed  to  arrest.  There 
was  hardly  a  country  in  Europe  into  which  these 
men  did  not  Mee,  but  England  and  Holland  and 
Germany  were  their  main  asylums. 

It  is  only  an  approximate  appreciation  that  can 
now  be  formed  of  the  numbers  of  Protestants  who 
succeeded  in  escaping  from  France.  The  official 
reports  sent  in  to  the  Government  by  the  Intendants 
fire  not  to  be  relied  on.  Those  whose  duty  it  was 
to  frame  them  had  many  motives  for  making  the 
emigration  appear  less  than  it  really  was.  They 
naturally  were  unwilling  to  falsify  the  previsions  of 
the  court,  which  had  buoyed  itself  up  -srith  the  hope 
that  only  a  very  few  would  leave  their  native  land. 
Besides,  to  disclose  the  real  extent  of  the  emigration 
might  seem  to  be  to  present  an  indictment  agaiast 
them.selves,  as  chargeable  with  lack  of  vigilance  in 
permitting  so  many  to  e.scape.  It  is  vain,  then,  to 
think  of  ariiving  at  an  exact  estimate  from  these 
documents,  and  these  are  the  only  official  sources  of 
infonnation  open  to  us.  But  if  we  look  at  the 
dismal  blanks  left  in  France,  at  the  large  and 
numerous  colonies  planted  in  foreign  countries,  and 
at  the  length  of  time  during  which  the  exodus  con- 
tinued, which  was  not  less  than  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  years,  it  is  impossible  to  resist  the  conclusion 
that  the  emigration  was  on  a  scale  of  gigantic 
magnit\ule.  Of  the  one  million  Protestants  and 
upwiu'ds  scattered  among  the  twenty  millions  of 
Frenchmen,  it  is  i)robable  that  from  a  quarter  to 


half  a  million  emigrated.  Jurieu  estimates  that 
in  1687,  200,000  persons  had  already  left  France. 
Antoine  Court,  one  of  the  preachers  of  the  desei"t, 
makes  the  total  800,000  persons.  Sismondi  says 
from  300,000  to  400,000.  In  a  celebrated  memorial 
addressed  to  Louvois  in  1688,  Vauban  says  "that 
France  had  lost  100,000  iidiabitants,  60,000,000  of 
francs  in  specie,  t),000  sailors,  12,000  veterans,  600 
officers,  and  her  most  flourishing  manufactures.  The 
Duke  de  Saint  Simon  says  in  his  Memoirs  that  all 
l)ranches  of  trade  were  ruined,  and  that  a  quarter 
of  the  kingdom  was  perceptibly  depopulated."  ' 

The  face  of  France  was  changed  in  a  day.  Its 
framework  was  suddenly  and  violently  shaken  and 
loosened,  as  if  an  earthquake  had  rocked  the  laud. 
The  current  of  the  nation's  life  was  not  indeed  stopped 
outright,  but  its  flow  became  languid  and  sluggish 
beyond  the  power  of  king  or  of  parliament  again 
to  quicken  it.  The  shock  was  felt  in  every  de- 
partment of  national  enterprise,  whether  mental  or 
industrial.  It  was  felt  at  the  bar,  which  it  stripped 
of  some  of  its  brightest  ornaments.  It  was  felt  iu 
the  schools  of  philosophy.  Some  of  the  ablest 
cultivators  of  science  it  drove  away.  The  great 
astronomer  and  mathematician,  Huygens,  had  to 
qviit  France  and  seek  asylum  in  Holland,  It 
was  felt  in  the  ranks  of  literature.  It  chased 
beyond  the  frontier  some  of  the  finest  writers  and 
most  eloquent  orators  that  France  contained.  In 
the  list  of  these  illustrious  refugees  we  find  Claude, 
Jurieu,  Lenfant,  Saurin,  Basnage,  Bayle,  and  Rapin, 
It  was  felt  in  the  army  and  navj-.  The  Revocation 
drove  beyond  the  frontier  the  flower  of  the  French 
soldiers,  and  decreed  that  henceforth  those  banners 
which  had  waved  so  proudly  on  many  a  victoiious 
field  should  be  folded  in  humiliation  and  defeat. 
The  Revocation  was  felt  in  the  iron  works  and 
smelting  furnaces  on  the  Vrigne  and  at  Poiiru- 
Saint-R6my.  It  was  felt  in  the  manufactures  of 
arms  and  implements  of  husbandry  in  the  Sedanais. 
It  was  felt  in  the  gold  and  silver  lace  works  of 
ilontmorency  and  Villiers-le-Bel.  It  was  felt  in 
the  hat  factories  of  Coudebec.  It  was  felt  in  the 
wool-carding  establishments  of  Meaux ;  in  the  cloth 
manufactories  of  Picardy,  Champagne,  and  Nor- 
mandy ;  in  the  silk-weaving  establishments  of  Tours 
and  Lyons;  in  the  paper  mills  of  Auvergne  and  the 
Angoumois  ;  in  the  tanneries  of  Touraine  ;  on  the 
shipping  wharves  and  in  the  trading  establishments 
of  Bordeaux,  I^  Rochelle,  and  other  towns,  where 
the  foreign  trade   had  been  almost  exclusively  in 


'  Felice,  vol.  ii.,  p.  63.  See  als».  Bulletin  de  la  Soeirlr  de 
VHistoire  du.  Prntetitantisnui  iVoiifuis  :  PreiiiiVcK  Antuc / 
pp.  SIC,  KV, ;  Paris,  18.1.?. 


336 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


tlic  Lands  of  Protestants.  lu  short,  not  an  art  was 
cultivated,  not  a  traile  wan  carried  on  in  France 
whicli  did  not  sutler  from  this  blow  ;  not  a  j)rovince 
was  there  where  the  blight  it  had  inflicted  was  not 
to  be  seen  in  villages  lialf-depoj)ulated,  in  habita- 
tions deserted,  in  fields  lying  \inj>loughed,  and  in 
gardens  and  vineyards  overgrown  with  weeds  and 
abandoned  to  desolation.  The  ravages  inHieted  by 
the  Revocation  were  to  be  traced  not  on  the  land 
o;ily,  but  on  the  ocean  also.  The  fleet  of  foreign 
ships  which  had  gladdened  the  shores  and  crowded 
the  harbours  of  France,  to  carry  thence  the  beautiful 
and  varied  fabrics  which  her  ingenious  sous  had 
worked  on  her  looms  and  forged  on  her  anvils, 
from  this  time  all  but  disappeared.  The  art 
and  genius  which  created  these  marvels  had  trans- 
ferred themselves  to  Germany,  to  Holland,  to 
England,  and  to  Scotland,  where  they  had  taken 
root,  and  were  producing  those  implements  \vith 
which  France  had  been  accustomed  to  enrich  other 
nations,  but  which  now  she  had  to  beg  from  her 
neighbours.  Thus  strangely  did  that  country  de- 
feat what  had  been  the  grand  object  of  her  policy 
for  half  a  century.  Her  aim  all  through  the 
administrations  of  Richelieu  and  Mazarin  was  to 
consolidate  her  power,  and  lead  in  the  councils  of 
Europe.  But  this  one  act  of  Louis  XIV.  did  more 
to  weaken  France  than  all  that  Richelieu  and 
Mazai'in  had  done  to  strengthen  her.  Not  only  did 
Louis  weaken  the  fabric  of  his  o^vn  powei-,  he 
erdianoed  the  strength  of  that  interest  which  it 
was  his  gi-eat  object  to  abase.  The  learning,  the 
genius,  the  art  which  were  the  glory  of  his  realm, 
and  would  have  been  the  bulwark  of  his  throne,  he 
drove  away  and  scattered  among  Protestant  nations. 
His  folly  herein  was  as  conspicuous  and  as  stupen- 
dous as  his  wickedness. 

But  the  Revocation  was  not  the  act  of  the  king 
alone.  The  clergy  and  the  nation  equally  with  Louis 
must  bear  the  guilt  of  his  great  crime.  The  people 
by  their  approbation  or  their  sdence  became  the  ac- 
complice of  the  monarch  ;  and  the  clergy  made  his 
act  their  own  by  exhausting  the  whole  vocabulary 
of  panegyric  in  its  ]5raise.  According  to  them  the 
past  history  of  the  world  had  nothing  more  wise  or 
more  magnanimous  to  show,  and  its  author  had 
placed  himself  among  the  heroes  and  demi-gods  of 
fame.  We  might  fill  almost  a  volume  with  the 
laudations  written  and  spoken  on  the  occasion. 
"  You  have  doubtless  seen  the  edict  by  which  the 
king  revokes  that  of  Nantes,"  wrote  Madame  de 
Sevigne  to  her  daughter  a  few  days  after  the 
publication  of  the  decree.  "Tliere  is  nothing  so 
fine  as  all  that  it  contains,  and  never  has  any  king 
done  or  ever  will  do  a\ight  so  memorable  !"     The 


chancellor,  Le  Tellier,  was  so  carried  away  by  the 
hono\ir  of  affixing  the  .seal  of  state  to  thi.s  atro- 
cious edict,  that  he  declared  that  he  would  never 
seal  another,  and  in  a  fit  of  devout  enthusiasm  he 
buret  out  in  the  song  with  which  the  aged  Simeon 
celebrated  the  advent  of  the  Saviour  :  "  Now  lettest 
thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  since  mine  eyes 
have  seen  thy  salvation."  When  the  men  of  law 
were  so  moved,  what  might  we  not  expect  in  the 
priests'!  They  summoned  the  people  to  the 
churches  to  unite  in  public  thanksgivings,  and  they 
exhausted  all  their  powers  of  eloquence  in  extolling 
the  deed.  "  Touched  by  so  many  marvels,"  ex- 
claimed Bossuet,  "  let  us  expand  our  hearts  in  praises 
of  the  piety  of  Louis.  Let  our  acclamations  ascend 
to  the  skies,  and  let  us  say  to  this  new  Constantine, 
this  new  Theodosius,  this  new  Marcian,  this  new 
Charlemagne,  what  the  thirty-six  Fathers  foi'merly 
said  in  the  Council  of  Chalcedon :  '  You  have 
strengthened  faith,  you  have  extenninated  heretics ; 
it  is  a  work  worthy  of  your  reign,  whose  proper 
character  it  is.  Thanks  to  you,  heresy  is  no  more.' 
God  alone  can  have  worked  this  marvel.  King  of 
heaven,  preserve  the  king  of  earth  :  it  is  the  prayer 
of  the  Church ;  it  is  tlie  prayer  of  the  bishops. " 

The  other  great  preachers  of  Paris  also  celebrated 
this  edict,  as  tlu-owing  into  the  shade  all  past  monu- 
ments of  wisdom  and  heroism.  It  is  in  the  follow- 
ing terms  that  Massillon  glorifies  Louis'  victory 
over  heresy  :  "  How  for  did  he  not  carry  his  zeal 
for  the  Church,  that  virtue  of  sovereigns  who  have 
received  power  and  the  sword  only  that  they  may 
be  jjrops  of  the  altar  and  defendere  of  its  doctrine  ! 
Specious  reasons  of  state  !  in  vain  did  ye  oppose  to 
Louis  the  timid  views  of  human  wisdom,  the  body 
of  the  monarchy  enfeebled  by  the  flight  of  so  many 
citizens,  the  course  of  trade  slackened  either  by  the 
deprivation  of  theii-  industry  or  by  the  furtive  re- 
moval of  their  wealth ;  dangers  fortify  his  zeal ;  the 
work  of  God  fears  not  man ;  he  believes  even  that 
he  strengthens  his  throne  by  overthrowing  that  of 
error.  The  profane  temples  are  destroyed,  the 
pulpits  of  seduction  are  cast  down,  the  projiliets  of 
falsehood  are  torn  from  their  flocks.  At  the  first 
blow  dealt  to  it  by  Louis,  heresy  falls,  disajipears, 
and  is  reduced  either  to  hide  itself  in  the  obscurity 
whence  it  issued,  or  to  cross  the  seas,  and  to  bear 
with  it  into  foreign  lands  its  false  gods,  its  bitter- 
ness, and  its  rage."' 

Nor  was  it  popular  assemblies  only  who  listened 
approvingly  to  these  flights  of  rhetoric ;  similar 
laudations  of  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
were  pronounced  before  the  French  Academy,  and 

'  Massillon '7  Funeral  Ovation  on  Louis  XIV. 


APPROVAL  OF  THE  REVOCATION. 


337 


received  the  meed  of  its  ajijilause.  The  Abbe 
Tullciuand,  when  speaking  of  the  demolition  of 
the  Protestant  church  at  Charenton,  exclaimed — 
"  Happy  i-uins,  the  finest  trophy  France  ever 
beheld !  The  statues  and  the  triumphal  arches 
erected  to  the  glory  of  the  king  will  not  exalt  it 


In  the  midst  of  this  univcr.-al  chorus  of  iii)iil:iuse 
we  expect  to  hear  one  dissenting  voice  lifted  up. 
Surely  the  Jansenists  will  rebuke  the  madness  of 
the  nation,  and  in  some  small  degree  redeem  the 
honour  of  France.  Alas  !  they  are  silent.  Not 
one  solitary  protest  do  we  hear  against  this  gi-eat 


PORTKAIT    OP    L0VI9    XIV 


more  than  this  temple  of  heresy  overthrown  by  his 
piety.  Tliat  heresy  which  thought  itself  invincible 
is  entirely  vanquished."  Bossuet  luid  compared 
Louis  to  Constantine  and  Theodosius ;  Tallemand, 
discoursing  to  a  body  of  learned  men,  seeks  for  a 
more  classic  prototype  of  the  King  of  France.  A 
second  Hercules  had  arisen,  lie  told  the  Academy, 
and  a  second  hydra,  more  terrible  by  far  than  the 
monster  which  the  pagan  god  had  slain,  had  fallen 
beneath  the  blows  of  this  second  and  greater 
Hercules. 

133 


crime.  But  the  Jansenists  are  not  content  to  be 
silent ;  they  must  needs  speak,  but  it  is  to  ap- 
prove of  the  Revocation.  Through  their  gi-eat 
interpreter  Arnault,  they  declared  that  "the  means 
which  had  been  employed  were  rather  violent,  but 
nowise  unjust." 

It  remained  for  one  other  and  mightier  voice  to 
speak.  And  now  that  voice  is  heard,  from  the 
other  side  of  the  Alps,  exjjressing  a  full  approval 
of  the  Revocation.  All  the  pre\-iou3  inferior  ut- 
terances are  repeated  and  sanctioned  in  this   last 


338 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


and  greatest  utterance,  and  thus  the  Roman  Catliolic 
woi-ld  makes  the  deed  its  own,  and  accepts  the  Re- 
vocation with  all  its  phinder  and  blood,  and  the 
punishment  that  is  to  follow  it.  The  Pope,  Inno- 
cent XI.,  made  a  Te  Deum  bo  sung  at  Rome  for  the 
convei-sion  of  the  Huguenots,  and  sent  a  special 
brief  to  Louis  XIV.,  in  which  he  promised  him  the 
eternal  praises  of  the  Church,  and  a  special  recom- 
pense from  God  for  the  act  of  devotion  by  which  he 
had  made  his  name  and  reign  gloi-ious. 

Art  was  summoned  to  lend  her  aid  in  appro- 
priately commemorating  the  triumph  of  Louis  over 
heresy.  In  front  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  the  provost 
and  sheriffs  of  Paris  erected  a  brazen  statue  in 
honour  of  the  king.'  It  bore  the  proud  words — 
Ludovico  Magno,  Victori  perpetuo,  Eeclesioe  ac 
Regum  Dignitatis  Assertori  (To  Louis  the  Great, 
eternal  Conquerpr,  and  Assertor  of  the  Dignity  of 
the  Church  and  of  Kings).  Its  bas-reliefs  dis- 
played a  frightful  bat  hovering  above  the  works 
of  Calvin  and  Huss,  and  enveloping  them  in  its 
dark  wings — emblematic  imagery  borrowed  pro- 
bably from  one  of  Lesueur's  masterpieces  in 
Versailles,  commemorating  a  similar  event.  Three 
medals  were  struck  to  perpetuate  the  memory 
of  the  Revocation.-  One  of  them  represented 
Religion  planting  a  cross  on  a  heap  of  niins,  de- 
noting the  triumph  of  truth  over  error  ;  with  this 


legend,  I'cliyio  I'ictrix  (Religion  the  Conqueror) ; 
and  \inderneath  were  the  words,  'I'emplis  C'al- 
rinianonnn  eversis,  1685  (The  Temples  of  Calvin 
overturned,  1685).  Another  displays  a  figure  hold- 
ing a  cross,  its  foot  planted  on  a  prostrate  foe, 
while  in  the  background  rises  proudly  an  edifice, 
surmounted  by  the  motto,  Ilm-esis  Ectiacta,  and 
underneath  are  the  words,  Edictum  Octobris,  1685, 
— intimating  that  by  the  edict  of  October,  1085, 
heresy  had  been  extinguished.  A  thii-d  represents 
Religion  placing  a  crown  on  the  head  of  Louis,  who 
stands  leaning  upon  a  rudder,  and  trampling  under 
foot  a  dead  enemy,  the  symbol  of  heresy.  The 
motto — wliich,  says  Weiss,  "comprises  at  once  an 
error  and  a  lie" — is  Ob  vicies  centena  millia  Cal- 
vinianorum  ad  Ecclesiam  revocata,  1685  (For  a 
hundred  thousand  Calvinists,  twenty  times  told, 
brought  back  to  the  Church,  1685). 

All  these  medals  proclaim  what  Louis  XIV.  and 
the  Jesuits  believed  to  be  the  fact,  that  Calvinism 
had  been  eternally  extinguished.  The  edict  of  Oc- 
tober, 1685,  was  the  date  (they  imagined)  of  its 
utter  overthrow.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
it  was  the  treachery  and  cruelty  of  the  Revocation 
that,  above  most  things,  aroused  the  Protestant 
spirit  of  Europe,  and  brought  about  that  great  Re- 
volution which,  three  short  years  afterwai'ds,  placed 
William  of  Orange  on  the  throne  of  Great  Britain. 


CHAPTER   VL 

THE    PRISONS   AND   THE   GALLEYS. 

'  N'ew  Catholics  "—Suspected  and  Watched— New  and  Terrible  Persecutions— Described  by  Quick— The  Dungeons 
—  Their  Horrors— M.  de  MaroUes,  .and  ottier  Prisoners— Other  Modes  of  Punishment— Transportation— Sold  into 
Foreign  Slavery— Martyrdom  of  FuIo'-.ti  Eey— Claude  Brousson— His  Preaching— His  Martyrdom— Drums  round 
the  Scaffold— The  Galley  Chaiu-C.  iteau  de  la  Tournellc— The  Galleys. 


Of  the  tens  of  thovisands  o*^  Frenchmen,  of  all 
ranks,  and  in  every  disguis'.;,  who  were  now  hin-ry- 
ing  along  the  highway  and  byways  of  France, 
intent  only  on  escaping  from  the  soil  that  gave 
them  bh-th,  all  were  not  equally  fortunate  in  reach- 
ing the  frontier.  -Many  hundreds  were  arrested  in 
their  flight,  and  brought  back  to  endure  the  rage 
of  their  persecutors.     Their  miserable  fate  it  now 

'  This  statue  wag  melted  in  1792,  and  east  into  cannon, 
which  thundered  at  V.ilniy.    (Weiss,  p.  93.) 

-  We  say  three,  althonph  there  are  five,  because  two 
of  the  number  are  obviously  reproductions  with  slight 
variations  in  the  design. 


becomes  our  duty  to  describe.  Nor  of  these  only 
shall  we  speak,  but  also  of  their  many  companions 
in  suffering,  who  remained  in  theii-  native  land, 
when  their  brethren  had  fled  before  the  awful 
tempest  that  was  now  thundering  in  the  skies  of 
France.  It  is  a  tale  of  woe,  with  scarcely  one 
bright  feature  to  relieve  it. 

Of  those  who  remained,  estimated  by  Sismondi 
at  about  a  million,  many  conformed  to  the  king's 
religion,  impelled  by  the  teiTors  of  the  edict,  and 
such  now  passed  under  the  name  of  "  The  New 
Catholics."  But  their  downcast  looks  belied  their 
professions  ;  their  sincerity  was  suspected,  and  they 


TERRIBLE   AND   MORE   TERRIBLE   PERSECUTIONS. 


339 


■were  constantly  watched.  So  little  faith  had  the 
Jesuits  in  the  conversions  of  which  they  boasted 
so  loudly  in  public  !  Inspectors  were  established 
ill  several  parishes  to  examine  if  the  new  converts 
went  regularly  to  mass,  if  they  took  the  Sacrament 
at  Eiister,  and  if  they  paid  a  dutiful  obedience  to 
the  commandments  of  the  Church.  This  was  a 
return,  in  the  polished  ei-a  of  Louis  XIV.,  to  the 
reylme  of  the  tenth  century.  Even  the  monarch 
deemed  this  scrutiny  somewhat  too  close,  and  issued 
private  instiiictions  to  his  agents  to  temper  their 
zeal,  and  moderate  the  rigour  of  the  Act.'  Accord- 
ing to  the  edict,  all  Protestant  children  must  attend 
a  Roman  Catholic  school,  and  receive  instruction  in 
the  catechism.  A  new  ordinance  enjoined  that  all 
children  above  six  years  of  age,  whose  parents  were 
suspected  of  being  still  Protestant  at  heart,  should 
be  taken  from  their  homes,  and  confided  to  Roman 
Catholic  relations,  or  placed  in  hospitals.  The  con- 
vents and  asyhims  of  all  France  were  not  enough 
to  accommodate  the  crowd  of  abducted  youth 
about  to  be  swejit  into  them,  and  the  priests 
contented  themselves  with  seizing  only  the  children 
of  the  rich,  who  were  aljle  to  j)ay  for  theii-  main- 
tenance. 

The  edicts  of  the  king  threatened  books  as  well 
as  persons  with  extermination.  The  Archbishop  of 
Palis  had  compiled  a  list  of  works  which  the  faithful 
could  not  read  but  at  the  lisk  of  deadly  injury. 
With  this  list  in  his  hand  the  officer  entered  every 
suspected  house,  and  whenever  he  found  a  forbidden 
book  he  instantly  destroyed  it.  These  visits  were 
repeated  so  often  that  many  books  of  rare  value, 
known  to  have  then  existed,  are  now  extinct,  not 
one  copy  having  escaped.  The  records  of  Synods, 
and  the  private  jiapers  and  books  of  pastors,  were 
the  first  to  be  destroyed.  Wherever  a  Bible  was 
found  it  was  straightway  given  to  the  flames.- 
Tho  edict  required  that  the  "  New  Catholics  "  should 
be  instructed  in  the  faith  they  professed  to  have 
adopted ;  but  the  priests  were  too  few  and  the 
crowd  of  converts  too  many,  so  the  cures  lightened 
their  labours  by  calling  the  Capuchins  to  share 
them  wth  them.  But  these  were  nide  and  illite- 
rate men.  The  merest  youth  could  put  them  to 
silence.  To  gi-oss  ignorance  they  not  unfreqnently 
ailded  a  debauched  life,  and  in  the  case  of  Protes- 
tants of  riper  years,  their  approach  awakened  only 
disgiist,  and  their  teachings  had  no  other  eH'cct  on 
those  to  whom  they  were  given,  than  to  deepen  their 
aversion  to  a  Church  which  employed  them  as  her 
ministei's. 

When  the  fir-st  .stunning  shock  of  the  edict  had 


Felice,  vol.  ii.,  p.  79. 


'  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  78. 


spent  itself,  there  came  a  recoil.  The  more  closely 
"  the  new  converts  "  viewed  the  Church  into  which 
they  had  been  driven,  the  stronger  became  their 
dislike  of  it.  Shame  and  remoree  for  their  apostacy 
began  to  burn  within  them.  Their  sacrilegious 
participation  ui  the  mass  awoke  their  consciences ; 
thousands  resolved,  rather  than  lead  a  life  of  such 
base  and  criminal  hypocrisy,  to  abandon,  at  what- 
ever cost,  the  communion  they  professed  to  have 
espoused,  and  return  to  the  open  profession  of  the 
Protestant  worship.  They  withdrew  from  the 
cities.  They  sought  a  dwelling  in  the  wildernesses 
and  forests,  and  practised  their  worship  in  dark 
caves,  in  deep  ravines,  and  sometimes  on  the  tops  of 
mountains.  There  they  promised  to  one  another  to 
live  and  die  in  the  Reformed  faith. 

When  the  king  and  his  counsellors  saw  the  flag 
of  defiance  waving  on  the  moimtains  of  the  Ce- 
vennes,  and  the  Lower  Languedoc,  their  rage  rose 
to  frenzy.  New  ordinances  came  to  intensify  the 
rigours  of  the  persecution.  Quick  has  gi-ouped  the 
horrors  that  now  overwhelmed  the  poor  Protestants 
of  France,  in  a  recital  that  is  almost  too  haiTOwing 
for  perusal. 

"  Afterwards,"  says  Quick,  "  they  fell  upon  the 
persons  of  the  Protestants,  and  there  was  no  wicked- 
ness, though  ever  so  horrid,  which  they  did  not  put 
in  practice,  that  they  might  enforce  them  to  change 
their  religion.  Amidst  a  thousand  ludeous  cries 
and  blasphemies,  they  hung  up  men  and  women 
by  the  hail-  or  feet  upon  the  roofs  of  the  chambers, 
or  nooks  of  chimneys,  and  smoked  them  ^^^th  wisps 
of  wet  hay  till  they  were  no  longer  able  to  bear  it ; 
and  when  they  had  taken  them  do\vn,  if  they  would 
not  sign  an  abjuration  of  their  pretended  heresies, 
they  then  trussed  them  uji  again  immediately. 
Some  they  threw  into  great  fires,  kindled  on  purpose, 
and  would  not  take  them  out  till  they  were  half 
roasted.  They  tied  ropes  under  their  arms,  and 
jilunged  them  once  and  again  into  deep  wells,  from 
whence  they  would  not  draw  them  till  they  had 
promised  to  change  their  religion.  Tliey  bound 
them  as  criminals  are  when  they  are  put  to  the 
rack,  and  in  tliat  posture  putting  a  funnel  into 
their  mouths,  they  poured  wine  do^v^l  theii-  throats 
till  its  fumes  had  deprived  them  of  their  reason, 
and  they  had  in  that  condition  made  them  consent 
to  become  Catholics.  Some  they  striiijied  stark 
naked,  and  after  thoy  had  ofiered  them  a  thousand 
indignities,  they  stuck  them  with  jiins  from  head  to 
foot ;  they  cut  them  with  pen-knives,  tore  them  by 
the  noses  with  red-hot  pincers,  and  dragged  them 
about  the  rooms  till  they  promised  to  become  Roman 
Catholics,  or  till  the  doleful  cries  of  the.se  poor 
tormented  creatures,  calling  upon  God  for  mercy, 


340 


HISTORY   OF   PKOTESTANTISM. 


coustrainctl  them  to  let  them  go.  They  beat  them 
wth  staves,  and  dragged  them  all  bruised  to  the 
Popish  churches,  where  their  enforced  presence  is 
reputed  for  an  abjuration.  Tliey  kept  them  waking 
seven  or  eight  days  together,  relieving  one  another 
by  turns,  tliat  they  might  not  get  a  wink  of  sleep 
or  rest.  In  case  they  begiui  to  nod,  they  threw 
buckets  of  water  on  theii-  faces,  or  holding  kettles 
over  their  heads,  they  beat  on  them  -with  such  a 
continual  noise,  that  these  poor  ^vl•etches  lost  their 
senses.  If  they  found  any  sick,  who  kept  theii- 
beds,  men  or  women,  be  it  of  fevers  or  other  diseases, 
they  were  so  cruel  as  to  beat  up  an  alarm  with 
twelve  drums  about  their  beds  for  a  whole  week 
together,  without  intermission,  till  they  had  pro- 
mised to  change."' 

What  follows  is  so  disgusting  that  it  could  not 
be  quoted  here  unless  it  were  covered  with  the 
decent  veil  of  a  dead  langiiage. 

The  Lutherans  of  Alsace,  protected  by  recent 
diplomatic  conventions,  were  exempt  from  these 
miseries  ;  but  with  this  exception  the  persecution 
raged  through  the  whole  of  France.  In  Paris  and 
its  immediate  neighbourhood,  matters  were  not 
urged  to  the  same  dire  extremity.  Those  who  had 
instigated  the  king  to  revoke  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
had  assured  him  that  the  mere  terror  of  the  Act 
would  suffice  to  accomplish  all  he  wished,  and  they 
now  strove  to  conceal  from  Louis  the  formidable 
proportions  of  the  actual  hori-oi-s.  But  in  other 
parts  of  France  no  check  was  put  upon  the  mur- 
derous passions,  the  brutal  lusts,  and  the  plundering 
gi-eed  of  the  soldiery,  and  there  a  baffled  bigotry 
and  tyi-anny  glutted  their  vengeance  to  the  utmost. 
Among  the  dreadful  forms  of  punishment  inflicted 
on  the  Protestants  was  the  dungeon.  Such  as 
were  caught  in  attempts  to  escape,  or  refused  to 
abjure,  were  plunged  into  loathsome  prisons.  Here 
generally  there  reigned  unbroken  silence  and  dark- 
ness. The  poor  prisoner  could  not  receive  a  visit 
from  pastor  or  relation  ;  he  could  not  console  him- 
self by  singijig  a  psalm  or  by  reading  his  Bible: 
shut  up  with  lewd  and  blaspheming  felons,  he  was 
constrained  to  hear  their  horrible  talk,  and  endure 
their  vile  indignities.  If  his  meekness  and  patience 
overcame  their  cruelty,  or  softened  the  gaoler,  he 
was  at  once  shifted  to  another  prison,  to  prevent  his 
being  treated  more  tenderly  by  those  whose  compas- 
sion he  liad  excited.  The  letters  of  JNI.  le  Febvre, 
arrested  in  1686,  and  confined  fifteen  years  in  a 
solitaiy  dungeon,  liave  disclosed  the  terrible  suffer- 
ings borne  by  those  who  were  shut  up  in  these  places. 


'  John  Quick,  Sxjnodicon  in  Qallia  Ee/ormata,  pp.  130, 
131  ;  Lond.,  1692. 


'■  For  several  weeks,"  says  he,  "  no  one  has  been 
allowed  to  enter  my  dungeon  ;  and  if  one  spot 
could  be  found  where  the  air  was  more  infected 
than  another,  I  was  placed  there.  Yet  the  love  of 
truth  prevails  in  my  soul ;  for  God  who  knows  my 
heart,  and  the  purity  of  my  motives,  supports  me 
by  his  grace."  He  shows  us  his  dungeon.  "  It  is 
a  vault  of  ii-regular  form,  and  was  formerly  a  stable, 
but  being  very  damp,  it  was  injurious  to  horses. 
The  rack  and  manger  are  here  still.  There  is  no 
way  of  admitting  light  but  by  an  opening  with  a 
double  grating,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  door. 
Opposite  the  opening  there  are  iron  bars,  fastened 
at  their  upper  ends  into  the  wall.  The  place  is 
very  dark  and  damp.  The  air  is  noisome  and  has 
a  bad  smell.  Everj'thing  rots  and  becomes  mouldy. 
The  wells  and  cisterns  are  above  me.  I  have  never 
seen  a  fire  here,  except  the  flame  of  a  candle.  Yon 
will  feel  for  me  in  this  misery,  but  think  of  the 
eternal  weight  of  glory  that  will  follow." 

Another  prisoner,  M.  de  Slarolles,  a  distinguished 
scientist,  tells  ns  that  the  solitude  and  perpetual 
darkness  of  his  prison  engendered,  at  last,  the  most 
frightful  and  terrifying  ideas  in  his  mind.  Believing 
himself  on  the  brink  of  insanity,  he  had  recourse  to 
prayer,  and  was  delivered.  A  perfect  calm  filled 
his  mind,  and  those  phantoms  took  flight  that  had 
so  troubled  his  soul.  "  He  makes  the  days  of  my 
affliction  pass  speedily  away,"  said  he  ia  the  last 
letter  he  was  ever  to  write.  "  With  the  bread  and 
water  of  affliction.  He  affords  me  continually  most 
delicious  repasts." - 

In  the  letters  of  M.  le  Febvre,  cited  above, 
mention  is  made  of  a  shepherd  who  was  removed 
from  Fort  St.  Nicholas  to  a  dungeon  in  the 
Chateau  d'lf.^  The  descent  into  this  dungeon  was 
by  a  ladder,  and  it  was  lighted  only  by  a  lamp, 
for  which  the  gaoler  made  the  prisoners  pay. 
The  shepherd,  when  first  consigned  to  it,  had  to  lie 
on  its  miry  bottom,  almost  ^\'ithout  clothing.  A 
monk,  who  went  down  into  it  to  visit  its  wretched 
inmates,  could  not  help  declaring  that  its  horrors 
made  him  .shudder,  that  he  had  not  nerve  enough 
to  go  again.  He  could  not  refrain  from  tears  at 
the  sight  of  the  unliappy  Ijeings  before  him,  one  of 
whom  had  already,  though  still  alive,  become  the 
prey  of  worms.  This  was  the  terrible  fate  not  of 
a  few  hundreds  only.  It  is  believed  that  at  one 
stage  of  the  persecution  tlijere  were  from  12,000  to 


-  History  of  the  Svfferings  of  M.  Louis  de  MarolUs ;  the 
Hague,  1699.  See  also  Admiral  Baudin's  letter  to  the 
President  of  the  Society  of  the  History  of  French  Pro- 
testantism— Bulletin  for  Juno  and  July,  18.52. 

^  Situated  on  the  rocl;y  isle  that  fronts  the  harbour  of 
Marseilles. 


FEENCH   PEOTE&TANT   MARTYRS. 


341 


15,000  persons   m   the   prisons  and   dungeons  ot" 
France. 

Another  mode  of  punishment  was  transportation 
to  Canada — the  Canada  of  200  years  ago.  Tliis 
method  was  resorted  to  in  order  to  relieve  the 
j)risons,  which,  full  to  overMow,  could  not  receive 
the  crowds  that  were  being  daily  consigned  to 
them.  Collected  from  the  various  prisons  of 
France,  or  gathered  from  the  country  around 
Nimes  and  ISIontjiellier,  these  confessors  of  the 
Gospel  were  brought  down  in  gangs  to  Slarseilles, 
the  women  strapped  down  in  carts,  and  the  men 
moimted  on  horses,  their  feet  tied  below  the 
animal's  belly.  The  embarkation  and  voyage  en- 
tiiiled  incredible  and  protracted  suffering.  The 
vessels  that  bore  them  across  the  Atlantic  were 
small,  filthy,  and  often  unseaworthy.  Nor  did 
their  miseries  end  wiiix  their  voyage.  On  their 
arrival  in  the  New  World  they  were  sold  into  a 
slavery  so  cruel,  that  in  most  cases  they  speedily 
perished.  Those  who  were  thus  dragged  from  the 
pleasant  fields  of  France,  and  put  under  the  lash 
of  barbarous  task-masters  in  a  foreign  land,  were 
not  the  i-efuse  of  French  society ;  on  the  contrary, 
they  were  the  flower  of  the  nation.  In  these 
manacled  gangs  were  men  who  had  shone  at  the 
bar,  men  who  had  been  eminent  in  the  pulpit, 
■writers  who  were  the  glory  of  their  countiy,  and 
men  and  women  of  noble  or  of  gentle  bii-th  ;  yet 
now  we  see  them  bonie  across  the  deep,  and  flung 
into  bondage,  ))ecause  a  sensualist  king — the  slave 
of  mistresses  and  ])riests — so  willed  it. 

The  policy  of  the  pei-secutors  was  to  "  wear  out" 
the  Prote.stants,  in  preference  to  summarily  ex- 
tei-minatuig  them  by  fire  and  cord.  It  is  true  the 
murders  in  the  fields  were  numerous ;  there  were 
few  spots  in  the  Cevenncs  which  martyr-blood  did 
not  moisten  ;  but  only  occasionally  in  the  cities  was 
the  scaffold  set  uj).  We  select  from  the  Lettre.t 
Pmtoraka  of  Jurieu'  a  few  instances.  One  of  the 
first  to  suSer  in  this  way  wa-s  Fulcran  Rey,  a  young 
man  of  Nimes.  He  had  just  finished  his  coui-so  of 
theological  study  when  the  storm  bunst.  Does  he 
now  decline  the  office  of  jiastor  ?  No  :  accepting 
martyrdom  beforehand,  ho  writes  a  farewell  letter 
to  those  at  his  father's  hoiise,  and  goes  forth  to 
break  the  silence  which  the  banishment  of  the 
ministors  had  created  in  Franco  by  preaching  the 
Gospel.  In  a  little  while  he  was  an-ested.  On  his 
trial  he  was  jiromised  the  most  flattering  favours  if 
he  would  abjure,  but  his  constancy  was  in-\-inciblc. 
He  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged,  after  having  been 


tortured.  On  hearing  his  doom,  he  exclaimed,  "  I 
am  tieati'd  more  gently  than  my  iSaviour  was  in 
being  condemned  to  so  mild  a  form  of  death.  I 
had  prepared  my  mind  to  being  broken  on  the 
wheel,  or  being  burnt  to  death."  Then,  raising  his 
eyes  to  heaven,  he  gave  thanks  to  God  for  this 
mitigation  of  his  anticipated  agonies.  Being  come 
to  the  scattold,  he  wished  to  address  the  crowd,  and 
confess  before  them  the  faith  in  which  ho  died ; 
but,  says  Jurieu,  "  they  were  afraid  of  a  .sermon 
delivered  by  such  a  preacher,  and  from  such  a 
pulpit,  and  had  stationed  around  the  gibbet  a  num- 
ber of  drummers,  with  orders  to  beat  their  drums  all 
at  once."  He  died  at  Beaucairc,  July  7th,  1686,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-four. 

But  the  martyr  of  greatest  fame  of  that  era  is 
Claude  Brousson.  Brousson  had  been  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  bar  at  Toulouse,  where  he  pleaded 
the  cause  of  the  oppressed  Churches.  Silenced  as 
an  advocate,  he  opened  his  lips  as  a  preacher  of  the 
Gospel.  His  consecration  to  his  oftice  took  place 
in  the  wilds  of  the  Ceveimes,  which  were  then 
continually  resounding  with  the  muskets  of  the 
murderous  soldiery.  The  solitary  hut,  or  the  dark 
wood,  or  the  deep  ravine  henceforth  became  his 
home,  whence  he  issued  at  appointed  times  to  preach 
to  the  flock  of  the  desert.  After  awhile  he  was  so 
hotly  pursued  that  he  judged  it  prudent  to  -withdraw 
from  France.  But  in  his  foreign  asylum  his  heart 
yearned  after  his  flock,  and,  finding  no  rest,  he 
I'eturned  to  those  "few  sheep  in  the  wilderness." 
A  sum  of  500  louis  was  oflered  to  any  one  who 
would  bring  him  to  the  Intendant,  dead  or  alive ; 
nevertheless  Brousson  went  on  for  five  years  in  the 
calm  exercise  of  his  ministry.  His  sermons  were 
published  at  Amsterdam  in  1095,  imder  the  title  of 
Tlte  Mystical  Manna  of  ihe  Desert.  "  One  wovdd 
have  expected,"  says  Felice,  "  that  discourses  com- 
posed by  this  proscribed  man,  under  an  oak  of  the 
forest,  or  on  a  rock  by  some  mountain  torrent,  and 
delivered  to  congregations  where  the  dead  were  fre- 
({uently  gathered  as  on  a  field  of  battle,  woxdd  have 
been  marked  by  eager  and  gloomy  enthusiasm. 
Nothing  of  the  kind  is,  however,  to  be  found  in  this 
Mystical  Manna.  Tlie  preacher's  language  is  more 
moderate  and  graceful  than  that  of  Saurin  in  his 
quiet  church  of  the  Hague  ;  in  the  persecution  lie 
points  only  to  the  hand  of  God,  and  is  vehement 
only  when  he  censures  his  hearers."-  At  last,  in 
1098,  he  was  an-ested  at  Oleron  and  carried  to 
Montpellier.  Before  his  judges  he  freely  admitted 
the  graver  charge  of  his  indictment,  which  was  that 
he  had  preached  to  the  Protestant  outlaws  ;   but  he 


'  Published  b}'  him  every  fortnight  after  the  Revoca- 
tion of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 


-  Felice,  vol.  ii.,  p.  87 


342 


HISTORV  of  Pl^OtEStANTlSM. 


repudiated  ehcrgetically  anotlioi-  apoisatinn  pre- 
ferred against  liLiii,  that  lie  had  cou.s[)ii-ed  to  bring 
Marslial  Sclioniberg  into  France  at  the  head  of  a 
foi-eign  arm_v.  He  was  condemned  to  die.  On  the 
scaffold,  which  he  mount(!d  on  the  4th  of  November, 
he  would  once  more  have  raised  liis  voice,  but  it 
■was  dro\VTied  by 
the  roll  of  eighteen 
drums.  Little  did 
Louis  XIV.  then 
dream  that  his 
great-grandson, 
and  next  successor 
save  one  on  the 
throne  of  France, 
should  have  his 
dying  words 
drowned  by  drums 
stationed  round  his 
scaffold. 

Of     all     the 
punishments  to 
which  the  pro- 
scribed  Protes- 
tants of  France 
were     doomed, 
the  mo.st  dread- 
ful     was      the 
galleys.        The 
more       famous 
galleys       were 
those    of   Mar- 
seilles,    and      the 
journey        thither 
entailed  hardsliips 
so  terrible  that  it 
was     a      common 
thing     for     about 
three  -  fourths      of 
the  condemned  to 
die   on   the   road. 
They     marched 
along     in     gangs, 
cairying        heavy 
irons,    and    sleep- 
ing   at   night    in 

stables  or  vaults.  "  They  chained  us  by  the  neck 
in  couples,"  says  o^e  who  underwent  this  dread- 
ful ordeal,  "  with  a  thick  chain,  three  feet  long, 
in  the  middle  of  which  was  a  round  ring.  After 
having  thus  chained  us,  tliey  placed  us  all  in  file, 
couple  behind  couple,  and  then  they  passed  a  long 
and  thick  chain  through  all  these  lings,  so  that 
we  were  thus  all  chained  together.  Our  chain 
made  a  very  long  file,  for  we  were  about  four  hun- 


FAC-SIMILES    OF    MEDALS    STHVCK    IN    HONOrR    OF    THE    KEVOCATION 
OF   THE    EDICT    OF    NANTES.^ 


dred."'  The  fatigue  of  walking  was  excessive,  each 
having  to  carry  about  fifty  pounds  weight  of  chains. 
Of  one  of  their  halting'places,  the  Chateau  de  la 
Tournelle,  he  thus  speaks  :  "It  is  a  large  dungeon, 
or  rather  spacious  cellar,  furnished  vnth  huge 
beams  of  oak  placed  at  the  distance  of  about  three 
feet  apart.  To 
these  beams  thick 
iron  chains  are 
attached,  one  and 
a  half  feet  in 
length,  and  two 
feet  a])art,  and  at 
the  end  of  these 
chains  is  an  iron 
collar.  When  the 
wretched  galley- 
slaves  arrive  in 
this  dungeon,  they 
are  made  to  lie 
half  down,  so 
that  their  heads 
may  rest  upon 
the  beam ;  then 
this  collar  is 
put  round  their 
necks,  closed, 
and  riveted  on 
an  anvil  with 
heavy  blows  of 
a  h  a  m  m  e  r. 
And  these 
chains  with  collars 
are  about  two  feet 
apart,  and  as  the 
beams  are  gene- 
rally about  forty 
feet  long,  twenty 
men  are  chained 
to  them  in  file. 
This  cellar,  which 
is  round,  is  so 
large  that  in  this 
way  they  can  chain 
up  as  many  as  five 
hundred.  There  is 
nothing  so  dreadful  as  to  behold  the  attitudes  and 
postures  of  these  wretches  there  chained.      For  a 

'  Autobiography  of  a  French  Protestant  condemned  to  the 
Galleys  for  the  sake  of  his  Rcliriion  (transl.  from  the  French), 
p.  209.  This  work  was  written  by  Joan  Martcilhe,  who 
passRd  some  years  in  the  French  galleys.  It  was  trans- 
lated by  Oliver  Goldsmith,  first  published  at  Eotterdam 
in  1757,  and  has  since  been  re-published  by  the  Religious 
Tract  Society,  London.     See  also  Elie  Benoit,  bk.  xxiv. 

'  Copies  of  the  medals  on  this  and  the  next  page  are 


PROTESTANTS  AT  THE  GALLEYS. 


343 


tnan  so  cLained  cannot  lie  down  at  full  length,  the 

beam  upon  which  his  head  is  fixed  being  too  high ; 

neither   can   he    sit, 

nor    stand    upright, 

the  beam   being   too 

low.    I  cannot  bettor 

describe  the  posture 

of  such  a  man  than 

by  saying  he  is  half 

lying,     half    sitting, 

— part   of   his    body 

being     upon     the 

stones    or     flooring, 

the  other  part 

iipon  this  beam. 

The  three  days 

and      three 

nights      which 

we  were  obliged 

to  pass  in  this 

cruel    situation 

so    racked    our 

bodies   and   all 

our  limbs  that 

we    could    not 

longer        have 

survived     it — 

especially     our 

poor  old  men,  who  cried  out  every  moment  that 

they   were    dying,    and   that  they   had    no   more 

strength  to  endure  this  terrible  torture."' 


FAC-SIMILES    OP    MEDALS    STRUCK    IN    HONOUR    OF   THE    REVOCATION 
OF    THE    EDICT    OF    NANTES. 


This  dreadful  journey  was  but  the  prelude  to  a 
more  di'eadful  doom.  Chained  to  a  bench  of  his 
galley,  the  poor 
prisoner  remained 
there  night  and  day, 
with  felons  for  his 
companions,  and 
scarcely  any  clothing, 
scorched  by  the  sun, 
frozen  by  the  cold, 
or  drenched  by  the 
sea,  and  compelled  to 
row  at  the  utmost  of 
his  strength — 
and  if,  being  ex- 
hausted, he  let 
the  oar  drop, 
he  was  sure  to 
be  visited  with 
the  bastinado. 
Such  were  the 
sufferings  amid 
which  hun- 
dreds of  the 
Protestants  of 
France  wore 
out  long  years. 
It  was  not  tDl 
1775,  in  the  beginning  of  Louis  XVI. 's  reign,  that 
the  galleys  released  their  two  last  Protestant  pri- 
soners, Antoinc  Eialle  and  Paul  Aeliard.- 


CHAPTER  VIL 


THE       "CHURCH      OF      THE      D  E  ,S  E  R  T." 

Secessions — Kise  of  the  "Church  of  the  Desert" — Her  Places  of  Meeting— Her  Worship— Pastors — Communion 
"  Tokens  "—Night  Assemblies— Simplicity  yet  Sublimity  of  her  Worship— Renewed  Persecutions— War  of  the 
Camisards— Last  Armed  Struggle  of  Froncli  Protestantism— No  Voice— Bossuet—Antoine  Court— Tlie  "Restorer 
of  Protestantism  "-Death  of  Louis  XIV. — Theological  Seminary  at  Lausanne — Paul  Rabaut— The  Edict  of 
Malesherbes— The  Revolution. 


It  seemed  in  very  deed  as  if  the  once  glorious 
Protestant  Church  of  France  had  fallen  before  the 
storm,  and  passed  utterly  from  oft"  the  soil  she 
had  but  a  century  before  covered  with  her  goodly 


in  the  possession  of  C.  P.  Stewart,  Esq.,  M.A.,  who  has 
kindly  permitted  engravings  to  be  made  of  them  for  this 
Work. 

'  Autobiograi>hy  of  ii  French  Protestant,  &c.,  pp.  203,  204. 


boughs.  Her  ministers  banished,  her  churches 
razed,  her  colleges  closed,  her  sons  driven  into  exile, 
and  such  of  them  as  remained  in  the  land  languish- 
ing in  ])rison,  or  dragging  out  a  life  of  wretched 
confoi-mity  to  the  Romish  Churcli — all  public 
monument  of  French  Protestantism  had  been  swept 


-  Bulletin  de  la  Societf  de  VHiftoire  du  Protestantisme 
F.  anrais,  pp.  176,  320 ;  Paris,  1853. 


344 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


:i\vay,  and  the  jjlace  that  liad  known  it  once  seemed 
fated  to  know  it  no  more  for  ever. 

A  deep  si)irit>uil  decay  jnovcd  tlie  forerunner  of 
this  .sore  judgment.  An  ema.scul.ited  Protestantism 
liad  taken  the  pLice  of  that  grand  Scriptural  faith 
which  had  given  such  breadth  of  view  antl  ele\Mtion 
of  .suul  to  the  fathers  of  the  Huguenots.  This  cold 
belief,  so  far  front  ralh'ing  new  champions  to  the 
Protestant  standard,  coulil  not  even  retain  those 
who  were  already  around  it.  The  nobles  and  gieat 
I'amilies  were  apostatising;  the  ministers  were  going 
over  to  Rome  at  the  rate  of  a  score  or  so  year  by 
year;  and  numbers  of  the  people  had  eiUisted  in  the 
armies  of  Louis  XIV.,  although  they  knew  that 
they  slioidd  have  to  contend  on  the  battle-field 
against  their  brethren  in  the  faith,  iind  that  the 
king's  object  in  the  war  was  to  make  Prance  strong 
that  it  might  be  able  to  deal  a  fatal  blow  to  the 
Protestantism  of  Eiirope.'  These  were  sj'mptomatic 
of  a  most  melanchol}'  decline  at  the  heart  of  French 
Protestantism,  and  now  the  axe  was  laid  at  the 
root  of  that  tree  which,  had  it  been  left  standing 
in  the  soil,  would  in  a  few  years  have  died  of 
utter  rottenness. 

The  cutting  down  of  the  trunk  was  the  .savmg  of 
the  life,  for  that  moment  shoots  began  to  spring 
forth  from  the  old  root.  In  the  remote  south, 
amid  the  mountains  of  Dauphinc  and  the  Cevennes, 
after  the  first  stunning  efl'ects  of  the  blow  had 
abated,  the  Reformed  began  to  look  forth,  and  draw 
to  one  another;  and  taking  courage,  they  met  in 
little  companies  to  celebrate  their  worshij),  or  to 
partake  of  the  Sacramental  bread.  Thus  arose 
The  "  Church  of  the  Desert."  These  assemblies 
speedily  increased  from  a  dozen  or  score  of  persons 
to  hundreds,  and  from  hundreds  at  last  to  thou- 
sands. They  were  ministered  to  by  men  who  had 
learned  their  theology  in  no  school  or  college,  nor 
had  the  hands  of  presbyter  been  laid  upon  their 
head  ;  on  them  had  come  only  "  the  anointing  of 
the  Holy  Spiiit."  The  assemblies  they  addressed 
met  on  the  side  of  a  mountain,  or  on  some 
lonely  moor,  or  in  a  deserted  quarry  or  gloomy 
cavern,  or  amid  the  great  stems  and  overshadowing 
branches  of  a  forest.  Intimation  of  the  meeting 
was  sent  round  only  on  the  evening  beftire,  and  if 
anyone  had  scandalised  his  brethren  by  immorality, 
lie  was  omitted  in  the  invitation.  It  was  the  only 
ecclesiastical  discij)line  which  was  adminis.tered. 
Sentinels,  stationed  all  round,  on  rocks  or  on  hill- 
tops, signalled  to  the  worshippers  below  the  aji- 
proach  of  the  dragoons,  indicating  at  the  same  time 


'  "W ciaa— Bulletin  dc  la  SociHd  de  VHistoire du  rrotcstani- 
isme  Fran(:ais,  pp.  231—234 ;  Paris,  1853. 


the  quarter  from  which  they  were  advancing,  that 
the  people  might  Icuow  in  what  direction  to  flee. 
While  the  congregation  was  assembling,  worship 
was  commenced  by  the  singing  of  a  psalm,  the 
Hundredth  being  commonly  selected.  The  elders 
then  read  several  chapters  of  the  Bible.  At  this 
stage  the  pastoi-,  who  had  kept  his  i)lace  of  coiv- 
cealment  till  now,  made  his  appeai-ance,  attended 
by  a  bod}- -guard  of  young  men,  who  e.scorted  Lim 
to  and  from  the  place  of  meeting,  and  were  pre- 
pared to  jjrotect  Ids  flight  should  they  be  surprised 
by  the  soldiers.  The  sex-mon  was  not  to  exceed  an 
hour  and  a  quarter  in  length.  Such  were  the 
limits  which  the  Synods  of  the  Church  had  fixed, 
with  an  obvious  regard  to  the  safety  of  the  wor- 
shippei's. 

The  "Church  of  the  Desert"  had  been  some  time 
in  existence  before  she  had  the  happiness  of  enjoy- 
ing the  ministry  of  her  exiled  pastors.  A  few 
returned,  at  the  peril  of  theii-  lives,  when  they 
heard  that  their  scattered  flocks  had  begun  to  meet 
together  for  the  performance  of  worship.  About 
1730  a  theological  academy  was  established  at 
Lausanne,  in  Switzerland,  and  thence  emanated  all 
the  Protestant  pastors  of  France  tdl  the  reign  of 
Napoleon.  The  same  forms  of  worship  were  ob- 
served in  the  wilderness  as  in  the  city  church  in 
former  times.  Public  prayer  formed  an  important 
part  of  tlie  service,  conducted  either  by  the  ministers 
or,  in  their  absence,  by  the  elders.  The  prayers 
of  the  jiastors  were  commonly  extemporaneous, 
whei-eas  the  elders  usually  availed  themselves 
of  the  aid  of  a  liturgy.  The  Sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  disj)ensed  at  Christmas,  at 
Easter,  and  at  Pentecost,  as  well  as  at  other 
times.  The  purity  of  the  table  was  anxiously 
guarded.  No  one  was  admitted  to  it  till  first  he 
had  signified  his  desire  to  an  elder,  and  received 
fiom  him  a  little  medal  or  "token."-  These 
were  made  of  lead,  and  roughly  engi-aved,  having 
on  one  side  an  open  Bible,  with  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
emblematic  of  the  Spirit's  light,  illuminating  its 
page,  and  the  motto,  "Fear  not,  little  flock;"  and 
on  the  other,  a  shej)herj  tending  liis  sheep,  or  a 
Connnimion  cup,  and  a  cross,  sxiggestive  of  perse- 
cution. Tlie  communicant  ])ut  down  his  "token" 
(111  the  table,  and  the  bread  and  cup  were  then 
given  to  him.  Often  would  it  hajjpen  that  those 
who  had  gone  to  mass  would  beg,  -n-ith  tears  in 
their  eyes,  admission  to  the  table,  but  there  they 
could  not  sit  till  they  had  given  ample  proof  of 
their  penitence. 

-  These  medals  or  "tokens"  are  enfrraved  on  p.  32t. 
Soe  BuUelin  de  la  Socu'ii'  de  VHistoire  du  Frotestantismc 
Francois,  p.  13;  Paris,  ISo-l. 


THE   CAMISARD  WAR. 


345 


These  worshipping  assemblies  were  usually  con- 
vened at  night,  the  more  effectively  to  avoid  pursuit. 
When  tliey  met  in  a  wood,  as  very  often  happened, 
they  hung  lamps  on  the  boughs  of  the  trees,  that 
they  might  see  the  passages  of  Scripture  which 
were  i-ead,  and  the  psalms  that  were  sung.  After- 
wards, when  the  congregations  had  swelled  to 
thousands,  they  met  during  day,  selecting  as  their 
rendezvous  the  mountain-top,  or  some  vast  stretch 
of  solitary  moor.  Their  worship,  how  simple  in 
its  outward  forms,  but  in  .spirit  how  sublime,  and 
in  its  acces.sories  how  grand !  the  open  vaidt  above, 
the  vast  solitude  around,  the  jisalm  and  prayer  th.it 
rose  to  heaven  amidst  the  deep  stillness,  the 
dangers  that  envu-oned  the  worshippers — all  tended 
to  give  a  reality  and  earnestness  to  the  devotions, 
and  impart  a  moral  dignity  to  the  worsliip,  compared 
with  which  the  splendour  of  rite  or  of  arcliitecturo 
would  have  been  but  desecration.  The  Protestant 
Church  of  France  had  returned  to  her  early  days. 
It  was  now  with  her  as  when  Calvin  administered 
to  her  the  first  Communion  on  the  banks  of  the 
Clain.     This  was  her  second  birthday. 

Wlien  the  king  and  the  Jesuits  learned  that  the 
Protestants  had  begun  again  to  perform  their  wor- 
ship, they  broke  out  into  a  transport  of  wrath  that 
was  speedUy  quenched  in  blood.  More  arrests, 
more  dragoons,  more  sentences  to  the  galleys,  more 
scaffolds ;  such  were  the  means  by  which  they 
sought  to  crush  the  "  Church  of  the  Desert." 
Everywhere  in  Languedoc  and  Dauphine  the  troops 
wei-e  on  the  alert  for  the  Reformed.  "  It  was  a 
chase,"  as  Voltaire  has  expressed  it,  "  in  a  wide 
ring."  The  Marquis  de  la  Trousse,  who  commanded 
in  the  Cevennes,  when  he  sui-jnised  a  congi'egation, 
made  his  soldiers  fire  into  it  as  if  it  was  a  covey  of 
game.  Tlie  Protestants  had  no  arms,  and  could 
offer  no  resistance.  They  dropped  on  their  knees, 
and  raising  their  hands  to  heaven,  awaited  death. 
The  tnjthful  Antoine  Court  says  that  "  he  was 
furnished  with  an  exact  list  of  assemblies  massacred 
in  different  places,  and  that  in  some  of  these 
encounters  from  .300  to  -100  old  men,  women,  and 
children  were  left  dead  upon  the  spot."'  But  no 
\iolence  could  stop  these  liekl-preachlngs.  They 
gi-ew  ever  larger  in  numbers,  and  ever  mor(!  fre- 
quent in  time,  till  at  last,  we  are  assured,  it  was 
nothing  uncommon,  in  traversing  the  mountain-side 
or  the  forest  where  they  had  met,  to  find,  at  every 
four  paces,  dead  bodies  dotting  the  sward,  and 
corpses  hanging  suspended  from  the  trees. 

The  outbreak  of  the  Camisards  came  to  diversify 
with  new  and   even  greater  horrors  this  terrible 


>  Felice,  vol.  ii.,  p.  82. 


tragedy.  Driven  to  desperation  and  stung  to  mad- 
ness by  the  numberless  cruelties,  injvistices,  and 
infamies  of  the  Government,  and  pennitting  thcm- 
.selves  to  be  directed  by  certain  of  their  own  number 
whom  they  regarded  as  prophets,  the  peasants  of 
Vivarais  and  Languedoc  rose  in  arms  against  the 
royal  troops.  Ignorant  of  the  art  of  war,  and  pro- 
vided only  with  such  weapons  as  they  took  from 
their  enemies,  they  lurked  behind  the  bushes  and 
crags  of  theu-  mountains,  and  sold  their  lives  as 
dearly  as  they  were  able.  They  never  amounted  to 
more  than  10,000,  but  at  times  they  held  in  check 
armies  of  double  that  number.  Tliis  guerilla  war- 
fare lasted  from  1702  to  1706,  and  was  attended 
with  frightful  slaughter  on  both  sides.  The  Ceve- 
nols  joined  the  Camisards,  which  enlarged  the  seat 
and  intensified  the  fury  of  the  war.  The  court  took 
the  alarm,  and  more  soldiers  were  poured  into  the 
infected  provinces. 

The  more  effectually  to  suppress  the  rising,  the 
Romanist  population  were  removed  into  the  cities, 
and  the  country  was  laid  waste.  And  the  work 
of  devastation  not  proceeding  rapidly  enough  with 
the  musket,  the  sword,  and  the  axe,  the  faggot 
was  called  in  to  expedite  it ;  the  dwellings  of  the 
peasantiy  were  burned  down,  and  the  district,  so 
flourishing  before  the  Revocation,  was  converted 
into  one  vast  gloomy  wilderness.  This  was  the  last 
armed  straggle  of  the  Reformation  in  France.  No 
noble  or  pastor  took  part  in  it ;  it  was  waged  for 
liberty  rather  than  for  religion,  and  though  it 
stained  rather  than  honoured  the  cause  in  the 
name  of  which  it  was  waged,  it  emboldened  the 
Protestants,  who  from  this  time  were  treated  some- 
what less  mercilessly,  not  because  the  Government 
hated  them  less,  but  because  it  feared  them  more. 

These  atrocities  were  enacted  upon  no  obscure 
stage,  and  in  no  dark  age,  but  in  the  brilliant  era 
of  Louis  XIV.  Science  was  then  cultivated,  letters 
flourislied,  the  divines  of  the  court  and  of  the  capital 
were  learned  and  eloquent  men,  and  gi'eatly  affected 
the  graces  of  meekness  and  charity.  We  wait  to 
hear  these  lights  of  their  age  exclaim  against  the 
awful  crimes  of  which  France  was  the  theatre. 
Surely  some  voice  will  be  lifted  up. 

Rossuet,  "  the  Eagle  of  JMeaux,"  ha.s  come  to  be 
ci'eilited  with  a  "  charity"  superior  to  his  country, 
and  which  shone  all  the  brighter  from  the  darkness 
that  surrounded  it.  It  would  mispoakably  delight 
one  to  find  a  name,  otlienrise  so  brilliant,  un- 
stained by  the  oppressions  and  crimes  of  the  period ; 
but  the  facts  l)rought  to  light  by  M.  'M.  Hiwg, 
in  La  France  Protestante,  completely  disprove 
the  ti-uthfulness  of  the  panegyrics  which  the  too 
partial  biographei-s  of  the  distinguished  bishop  have 


346 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


pronounced  npon  liia  moderation.  Tliese  sliow  that 
Bossuet  wji-s  not  superior  in  tliis  resj)cct  to  his  con- 
temporaries. In  giving  vigorous  enforcement  to 
tlie  edicts  of  the  king  witliin  his  own  diocese,  he  but 
acted  consistently  with  liis  avowed  principles.  "  It 
liehoves  us  to  give  obedience  to  kings,"  said  Bossuet, 
'•  as  to  Justice  itself.  They  are  gods,  and  participate 
in  a  certain  sense  in  the  independence  of  God.  No 
other  than  C!od  can  judge  theu-  sentences  or  theu- 
persons."'  This  prepares  us  for  the  part  he  acted 
agaiirst  the  Protestants.  The  Intendant  who 
executed  the  law  in  his  diocese,  and  who  had  orders 
to  act  according  to  Bossuet's  advice,  condemned  to 
death  sevei-al  Protestants  of  Nanteuil,  and  even  the 
Abbe  le  Dieu  admits  that  the  bishop  demanded 
their  condemnation.  True,  he  demanded  also  their 
jiardon,  but  this  "pardon"  consisted  in  the  commu- 
tation of  the  penalty  of  death  to  the  galleys  for  life. 
Further,  it  is  certified  by  a  letter  of  Frotte,  a  former 
canon  of  St.  Genevieve,  and  whom  Bossuet  himself 
describes  as  a  very  honest  man,  that  the  bishop 
caused  Protestants  to  be  dragged  from  the  villages 
of  his  diocese,  cited  them  before  him,  and  with  a 
military  officer  sitting  by  his  side,  summoned  them 
to  abjure  their  religion;  that  he  used  to  have 
children  torn  from  theii-  parents,  wives  from  theii- 
husbands,  and  to  have  dragoons  quartered  upon 
Calvinists  to  force  them  to  abandon  their  faith. 
He  asked  for  lettres  de  cachet  to  be  issued  against 
the  Crochards,  father  and  son,  at  the  very  time  that 
the  former  was  dying.-  He  instigated  a  ruthless 
jiersecution  of  two  children,  the  Mitals.  ^  We  find 
him  too  in  the  memoir  addressed  to  the  minister 
Pontchartrain,  which  is  published  in  the  seventeenth 
volume  of  his  works,  demanding  the  imprisonment 
of  two  orphans,  the  Demoiselles  de  Neuville,  whose 
father  was  serving  in  the  ai-my  of  William  of 
Orange,  thus  punishing  the  children  for  the  fiiults, 
as  he  deemed  them,  of  the  parent.  These  facts, 
which  are  beyond  dispute,  completely  overthrow 
the  claim  for  superior  clemency  and  mildness  which 
has  been  set  up  for  the  eloquent  Inshop. 

To  pursue  the  century  year  by  year  to  its  close 
would  only  be  to  repeat  endlessly  the  same  tale  of 
crime  and  blood  ;  the  facts  appertaining  to  the 
progi'ess  of  Protestantism  in  France,  from  the  war 
of  the  Camisards  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  great 
Revolution,  group  themselves  around  two  men — 
Antoine  Court  and  Paul  Raba\it.  Antoine  Court 
has  received  from  the  French  Reformed  the  well- 


earned  title  of  "  Restorer  of  Protestantism."  He 
found  the  French  Protestant  Church  at  the  close 
of  the  Camisard  war  at  the  last  extremity.  She 
needed  educated  pastors,  she  needed  public  instruc- 
tion, she  needed  order  and  discipline,  and  above  all 
a  revival  of  piety ;  and  he  set  al  lOut  restoring  the 
Protestant  Church  as  originally  constructed  by  the 
first  Synod  at  Paris  in  1559.  He  was  then  young, 
and  his  task  was  gi'eat,  but  he  brought  to  it  a  sound 
judgment  and  admu'able  prudence,  an  indefatig- 
able zeal,  and  a  bodily  constitution  that  sustained 
itself  under  the  pressure  of  prodigious  laboui-s, 
and  he  succeeded  in  raising  again  the  fallen  edifice. 
Commencing  with  assemblies  of  ten  or  a  dozen,  he 
saw  around  him  before  ending  his  career  congrega- 
tions of  eight  and  ten  thousand.  By  his  missionary 
tours  he  revived  the  all  but  extinct  knowledge 
and  zeal  of  the  Protestants.  He  re-organised  the 
worshipping  assembly;  he  re-constituted  the  Con,sis- 
tory,  the  Colloquy,  and  the  Synod ;  and  he  provided 
a  race  of  educated  inid  pious  pastoi-s.  He  convoked 
a  Synod  (October  21st,  1715),  the  first  which  had 
met  since  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 
At  that  moment  Louis  XIV.  lay  dying  in  his 
splendid  palace  of  Versailles.  History  delights 
in  contra,sts,  and  we  have  here  one  that  will  repay 
our  attention.  On  the  one  side  is  the  great 
monarch ;  his  children  dead ;  his  victories  swept 
away ;  the  commerce  and  industry  of  his  kingdom 
ruined ;  many  tracts  lying  untilled  ;  while  his  sub- 
jects, crashed  under  enormous  taxes,  and  cursing  the 
man  whose  wars  and  pleasures  had  plunged  his  realm 
into  millions  of  debt,  waited  gloomily  till  his  re- 
mains should  be  borne  to  the  grave,  that  they  might 
throw  stones  and  mud  at  his  cofiin.  On  the  other 
side  we  behold  a  youth  of  nineteen  laying  anew  the 
foundations  and  raising  up  the  walls  of  that  Pro- 
testantism to  commemorate  the  entire  destruction 
of  which  Louis  XIV.  had  caused  so  many  medals 
to  lie  .struck,  and  a  bronze  statue  to  be  erected. 

Having  re-constituted  upon  its  original  bases  the 
Reformed  Church  of  France,  Antoine  Court  in  1730 
retired  to  Lausamie  to  preside  over  the  seminary 
he  had  there  founded,  and  which  continued  for 
eighty  years  to  send  forth  pastors  and  martjTS  to 
France.''  Paul  Rabaut  took  his  jilace  as  nourisher 
of  that  Protestantism  which  Antoine  Court  had  re- 
.stored.     The  life  of  Rabaut  was  full  of  laboui-s  and 


'  Politique  Tir4e  de  VEcriture  Sainte,  livr.  rr.,  art.  i., 
prop.  2. 

-  Bulletin  de  la  SociHl  de  VHistoire  du  Protestantisme 
Franrais,  vol.  iv. 

■'  Ibiil.,  vol.  X.,  p.  50. 


■•  Weiss,  in  his  History  of  the  Refugees,  says  that  more 
than  700  pastors  emanated  from  this  famous  school. 
M.  Coquerel,  in  his  Histoi-y  of  the  Churches  of  the 
Desert,  reduces  the  number  to  100.  The  most  reasonable 
calculation  would  not  give  less  than  450,  among  whom 
were  Alphonse  TuiTetin  and  Abraham  Ruchat,  the  his- 
torian of  the  Reformation  in  Switzerland. 


THE   EDICT   OF   ^lALEf^HETU'.ES. 


34; 


perils ;  but  he  bad  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  tlie 
Protestant  Cluirch  growing  from  day  to  day  in  spite 
of  bloody  arretK,  and  in  defiance  of  the  continued 
operation,  sometimes  in  gi-eater  and  sometimes  in 
less  intensity,  of  the  dragoiinado,  the  galleys,  and 
the  scaiibld.  As  the  result  of  continual  journey- 
ings,  during  which  he  seldom  slept  more  than  two 
nights  in  the  same  hiding-place,  he  kept  flowing 
the  fountains  that  his  great  predecessor  had  opened, 
and  streams  went  forth  to  water  the  weary  hind. 
But  neither  then  nor  since  has  the  Protestant 
Church  of  France  attained  the  glory  of  her  former 
days,  when  sovereigns  and  priiices  sat  in  her  Synods, 
when  gi-eat  generals  led  her  armies,  and  learned 


theologians  and  eloquent  preachers  tilled  her  pulpits. 
.She  continued  still  to  wear  her  chains.  At  length 
in  1787  came  the  Edict  of  Malesherbes,  which  merely 
pci-mitted  thr*  Protestants  to  register  theii-  birtlis, 
marriages,  and  deaths  ;  in  other  words,  recognised 
them  as  subjects,  and  permitted  them  to  prosecute 
their  professions  and  trades,  but  still  held  them 
punishaljle  for  their  religious  opinions.  At  last, 
amid  clouds  of  seven-fold  blackness,  and  the 
thunderings  and  lightnings  of  a  righteous  wTath, 
came  the  gi'eat  Revolution,  which  with  one  stroke 
of  awful  justice  rent  the  fetters  of  the  French 
Protestants,  and  smote  into  the  dust  the  throne 
which  had  so  long  oppressed  them. 


rROTESTANTISH  IX   EXdLAND   FROJI  THE  TIMES   OF   HENRY  Xlll. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE     KING     AND     THE     SCHOLARS. 

TliG  Darkness  Fulfils  its  Period — Two  Currents  iu  Christendom — Two  Phases  of  the  One  Movement  in  England- 
Henry  VIII. — His  Education — His  Character— Popularity— Dean  Colet— His  Studies  at  Florence— Englishmen 
in  Italy — Colefs  Lectures  at  St.  Paul's — William  Grocyn — Colet  Founds  St.  Paul's  School — William  Lily — 
Linacre — Dean  Colet's  Sermon  at  St.  Paul's — Pitzjames,  Bishop  of  London — Warham,  the  Primate — Erasmus 
—Sir  Thomas  More— The  Plough  of  Reform  Begins  again  to  Move. 


It  is  around  the  person  and  ministry  of  Wiclifle 
that  the  dawn  of  the  new  times  is  .seen  to  break. 
Down  to  his  day  the  powers  of  sujjerstition  had 
continued  to  grow,  and  the  centnries  as  they  passed 
over  the  world  lieheld  the  night  deepening  around 
the  human  soul,  and  the  slavery  in  which  the 
nations  were  sunk  becoming  ever  viler.  But  with 
the  appearance  of  WiclifTe  the  darkness  fulfils  its 
period,  and  the  gi-eat  tide  of  evil  begins  to  be  rolled 
back.  From  the  times  of  the  English  Reformer  M-e 
are  able  to  trace  two  great  currents  in  Christendom, 
which  have  never  intermitted  theii-  flow  from  that 
day  to  this.  The  one  is  seen  steadily  l)earing  down 
into  min  the  great  empire  of  Roman  superstition 
and  bondage ;  the  other  is  seen  lifting  higher  and 
higher  the  kingdom  of  tiiith  and  liberty. 

Let  us  for  a  moment  consider,  first,  the  line  of 
calamities  which  fell  on  the  anti-Christian  interest, 
drying  up  the  sources  of  its  power,  and  jiaving  the 
way  for  its  fiiuil  destruction ;  and  ne.xt,  that  gi-and 
chain  of  beneficent  dispensations,  beginning  with 


Wiclifle,  which  came  to  rewe  the  cause  of  righteous- 
ness, all  but  extinct. 

In  the  days  of  WiclifTe  came  the  Papal  schi.sm, 
the  first  opening  iu  that  compact  tyranny  which 
had  so  long  burdened  the  earth  and  defied  the 
heavens.  Next,  and  as  a  consequence,  came  the 
struggles  of  the  Councils  against  the  Papal  auto- 
cracy :  these  were  followed  by  a  series  of  terrible 
wars,  first  in  France  and  next  in  England,  by 
which  the  nobles  in  both  countries  were  nearly 
exterminated.  These  wars  broke  the  power  of 
feudalism,  and  raised  the  kings  above  the  Papal 
chair.  This  was  the  fii-st  step  in  the  emancipation 
of  the  nations  ;  and  by  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  process  was  so  far  advanced  that  we 
find  only  three  gi-eat  thrones  in  Em'ope,  whose 
united  power  was  more  than  a  match  for  the  Pope- 
dom, but  whose  conflicting  interests  kept  open  the 
door  for  the  escape  of  tlu^  nations. 

When  we  turn  to  the  other  line  of  events,  we 
find  it  too  taking  its  rise  at  the  feet,  so  to  speak, 


WICLIFFE'S  WORK   AND   ITS   RESULTS. 


349 


of  Wiclifle.  First  comes  tlie  translation  of  tlie 
Bible  into  tlie  vulgar  tongue,  with  the  consequent 
spread  of  LoUardism — in  other  words,  of  Protestant 
doctrines  in  England  ;  this  was  followed  by  the  fall 
of  Constantinople,  and  the  scattering  of  the  seeds 
of  knowledge  over  the  West ;  by  the  invention  of 
the  art  of  printing,  and  other  discoveries  which 
aided  the  awakening  of  the  human  mind ;  and 
finally  by  the  diffusion  of  the  light  to  Bohemia  and 
other  countries  ;  and  ultimately  by  the  second  great 


of  one  great  movement,  and  both  wei-e  needeil  to 
create  a  perfect  and  powerful  Protestantism.  For 
if  the  corruptions  of  the  Papacy  had  rendered 
necessary  a  reformation  of  doctrine,  not  less  had 
the  encroachments  and  usurpations  of  the  Vatican 
necessitated  a  vindication  of  the  national  liberties. 
The  successive  laws  placed  on  the  statute-book 
during  the  reigns  of  Henry  V.  and  Hemy  VI., 
remain  the  monuments  of  the  great  struggle  waged 
by  England  to  disenthral  herself  from  the  fetters 


OLD   ST.    I'.yul's   CATUEUKAL.      (FlOI/l  Ike  Vicic  b:j  ILiUar.) 


opening  of  the  day  in  the  era  of  Luther  and  the 
Reformers.  From  the  DiWne  seed  deposited  by 
the  hand  of  Wicliffe  spring  all  the  infl\iences  and 
events  that  constitute  the  modem  times.  The  re- 
fonning  movements  which  we  have  traced  in  both 
the  Lutheran  and  the  Calvinistic  countries  are  about 
to  culminate  in  the  Bi-itish  Reformation — the  to]i- 
stone  which  crowns  the  edifice  of  the  sLxteenth 
century. 

The  action  into  which  the  English  nation  had 
been  roused  by  the  instnimentality  of  Wicliife  took 
a  dual  form.  With  one  party  it  was  a  stniggle  for 
religious  truth,  with  the  otlier  it  was  a  contest  for 
national  independence.  These  were  but  two  phases 
134 


of  the  Papal  supremacy.  Tliese  we  have  nai-rated 
down  to  the  times  of  Henry  VIII.,  where  we  now 
resume  our  narrative. 

Henry  VIII.  ascended  the  throne  in  L'i09,  and 
thus  the  commencement  of  his  reign  was  contempo- 
raneous with  the  birth  of  Calvin,  of  Knox,  and  of 
others  who  were  destined,  by  their  genius  and  their 
virtues,  to  lend  to  the  age  now  opening  a  glory 
which  their  contemjioraries,  Henry  and  Francis 
and  Charles,  never  could  have  given  it  by  their 
arms  or  their  statesmanship.  It  was  a  long  while 
since  any  English  king  had  mounted  the  throne 
with  such  a  prospect  of  a  peaceful  and  glorious 
reign,   as    the    young    prince   who    now   grasped 


nnn 


HISTORY   Ol'^   rROTESTANTIR?iI. 


the  sceptre  which  luul  Ijoen  swayed  by  Alfred 
the  Great.  Uuitiiit;  in  liis  person  the  rival  olainis 
of  York  and  Lancaster,  he  received  the  warm 
devotion  of  the  adherents  of  hoth  liouses.  Of 
majestic  port,  courteous  manners,  and  frank  and 
open  disposition,  he  was  the  idol  of  the  people. 
Destined  to  fill  the  See  of  Canterbury,  his  naturally 
vigorous  understanding  liad  been  improved  by  a  care- 
fully conducted  education,  and  his  mental  accom- 
plishments far  exceeded  the  customary  measure  of 
the  princes  of  his  age.  He  had  a  taste  for  lettei-s,  lie 
delighted  in  the  society  of  scholars,  and  he  prodigally 
la\-ished  in  his  patronage  of  literature,  and  the 
gaieties  and  entertainments  for  which  he  had  a 
fondness,  those  vast  treasures  which  the  avarice  and 
pareimony  of  his  father,  Hemy  VII.,  had  accumu- 
lated. The  court  paid  to  him  by  the  two  powerful 
monarchs  of  France  and  Spain,  wlio  each  strove 
to  have  Hem-y  as  his  ally,  also  tended  to  enliance 
his  impoi-tiince  in  the  eyes  of  his  subjects,  and 
increase  their  devotion  to  him.  To  his  youth,  to 
the  grace  of  his  person,  to  the  splendour  of  his 
court,  and  the  wit  and  gaiety  of  his  talk,  there  was 
lidded  the  prestige  that  comes  from  success  in  arms, 
though  on  a  small  scide.  The  conquest  of  Toumay 
in  France,  and  the  victory  of  Flodden  in  Scotland, 
were  just  enough  to  gild  with  a  gleam  of  military 
glory  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  and  enhance 
the  favourable  auspices  under  which  it  opened. 
But  we  turn  from  Henry  to  contemplate  persons 
of  lower  degi-ee,  but  of  more  inherent  gi-andeur,  and 
whose  lives  were  destined  to  yield  richer  fruit  to 
the  realm  of  England.  It  is  not  at  the  foot  of  the 
throne  of  Henry  that  the  Reformation  is  seen  to 
take  its  rise.  The  movement  took  root  in  England 
a  full  century  before  he  was  bom,  or  a  Tudor  had 
ascended  the  throne.  Henry  will  reappear  on  the 
stage  in  his  own  time ;  meanwhile  we  leave  the 
palace  and  enter  the  school. 

The  first  of  those  illustrious  men  with  whom 
we  are  now  to  be  concerned  is  Dr.  John  Colet, 
Dean  of  St.  Paul's.  The  young  Colet  was  a 
student  at  0.\ford,  but  disgusted  with  the  semi- 
bai'barous  tuition  wliich  ])revailed  there,  and  pos- 
.sessed  of  a  large  fortune,  he  resolved  to  travel,  if 
haply  lie  might  find  in  foreign  universities  a  more 
rational  system  of  knowledge,  and  purer  models  of 
study.  He  visited  Italy,  where  he  gave  himself 
ardently  to  the  acquisition  of  the  tongue  of  ancient 
Rome,  in  company  with  Linacre,  Grocyn,  and  Wil- 
liam Lily,  his  countrymen,  who  had  jireceded  him 
thither,  drawn  by  their  thirst  for  the  new  learning, 
especially  the  Greek.  The  change  which  the  stiuly 
of  the  clii-ssic  writers  had  begun  in  Colet  was  com- 
pleted by  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  ;  and  when 


he  returned  to  England  in  1497,  the  shackles  of  the 
schoolmen  had  been  rent  from  his  mind,  and  he  was 
a  discountenancer  of  the  rites,  the  austerities,  and 
the  image-worship  of  the  still  dominant  Church.' 
To  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  he  added  the  study 
of  the  Fathers,  who  furnished  him  with  additional 
proofs  and  arguments  against  the  prevailing  doc- 
trines and  customs  of  the  times.  He  began  a  course 
of  lectures  on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  in  his  cathedral 
church  ;  and  deeming  his  own  labours  all  too  little 
to  dispel  the  thick  night  that  brooded  over  the 
land,  he  summoned  to  his  aid  labourers  ■whose 
minds,  like  his  own,  had  been  enlarged  by  the  new 
learning,  and  especially  by  that  diviner  knowledge, 
to  the  fountains  of  which  that  learning  had  given 
them  access.  Those  who  had  passed  their  studious 
hours  together  on  the  banks  of  the  Arno,  and  under 
the  delicious  sky  of  Florence,  became  in  London 
fellow-workmen  in  the  attempt  to  ovei-thi-ow  the 
monkish  .system  of  tuition  which  had  been  pui'sued 
for  ages,  and  to  introduce  then-  countrymen  to  true 
learning  and  sound  knowledge.  Colet  employed 
William  Grocyn  to  read  lectures  in  St.  Paul's  on 
portions  of  Holy  Scripture ;  and  after  Grocyn,  he 
procured  other  learned  men  to  read  divinity  lectures 
in  his  cathedral." 

But  the  si)ecial  service  of  Colet  was  the  founding 
of  St.  Paid's  School,  which  he  endowed  out  of  his 
ample  fortune,  in  order  that  soiuid  learning  might 
continue  to  be  taught  in  it  by  duly  qualified  in- 
structors. The  first  master  of  St.  Paul's  School  was 
selected  from  the  choice  band  of  English  scholars 
with  whom  Colet  had  formed  so  endeai-ing  a  friend- 
ship in  the  capital  of  Tuscany.  William  Lily 
was  appointed  to  preside  over  the  newly-founded 
seminary,  which  had  the  honoiu-  of  being  the  fii-st 
jniblic  school  in  England,  out  of  the  universities, 
in  which  the  Gi'eek  language  was  taught.  This 
eminent  scholar  had  been  initiated  into  the  beau- 
tiful language  of  ancient  Greece  at  Rhodes,  where 
he  is  said  to  have  enjoyed  for  several  years  the  in- 
struction of  one  of  the  illustrious  refugees  whom 
the  triumph  of  the  Ottoman  arms  had  chased  from 
Constantinople.  Cornelius  Vitelli,  an  Italian,  was 
the  first  who  taught  Greek  in  the  L^niversity  of 
O.xford.  From  him  William  Grocyn  acquired  the 
elements  of  that  tongue,  and,  succeeding  his  master, 
he  was  the  first  Englishman  who  taught  it  at 
O.xford.  His  contemporary,  Thomas  Linacre,  was 
not  less  distingiiished  as  a  "Grecian."  Linacre  had 
spent  some  delightful  years  in  Italy — the  friend  of 
Lorenzo  de  Medici,  and  the  pupil  of  Politianus  and 


'  Knight,  Life  of  Colet,  p.  C7 ;  Oxford,  ISl-?: 
=  Ibid.,  p.  Gl. 


COLET'S   SERMON  TO   CONVOCATION. 


361 


Chalcondyles,  at  that  time  the  most  renowned  clas- 
sical teachers  in  Europe — and  when  afterwards  he 
returned  to  his  native  land,  he  became  successively 
physician  to  Arthur,  Prince  of  Wales,  and  to  Henry 
VIII.  These  men  were  scholars  rather  than  Re- 
formers, but  the  religious  movement  owed  them 
muck  Having  caught  on  the  soil  of  Vu-gil  and 
Cicero  an  enthusiastic  love  of  classic  learning,  they 
imbibed  therewith  that  simplicity  and  freedom, 
that  vigour  and  independence  of  thought  which 
characterised  the  ancients,  and  they  transplanted 
these  gi-eat  qualities  into  the  soil  of  England.  The 
teaching  of  the  monks  now  began  to  offend  the 
quickened  intellect  of  the  English  people,  and  the 
scandalous  lives  of  the  clergy  to  revolt  their  moral 
sense.  Thus  the  way  was  being  paved  for  gi'eater 
changes. 

Colet,  however,  was  more  than  the  scholar ;  he 
attained  the  stature  of  a  Reformer,  though,  the  time 
not  being  ripe  for  separation  from  Rome,  he  lived 
and  died  within  the  pale  of  the  Chiu-ch.  In  a 
celebrated  sermon  which  he  preached  before  Con- 
vocation on  Conformation  and  Reformation,  he 
bewailed  the  unhappy  condition  of  the  Church  as  a 
flock  deserted  by  its  shepherds.  The  clergy  he 
describeol  as  greedy  of  lionoui's  and  riches,  as  having 
abandoned  themselves  to  sensual  delights,  as  spend- 
ing theii-  days  in  hunting  and  hawking,  and  theu' 
nights  in  feasting  and  reveliy.  Busied  they  truly 
were,  but  it  was  in  the  service  of  man ;  ambition 
they  lacked  not,  but  it  rose  no  higher  than  the 
dignities  of  earth ;  their  conversation  was  not  in 
heaven,  nor  of  heavenly  things,  but  of  the  gossip  of 
the  court ;  and  then-  dignity  as  God's  ministers, 
which  ought  to  transcend  in  brightness  that  of 
jtrinces  and  emperors,  was  sorely  bedimmed  by  the 
shadows  of  earth.  And  i-efening  to  the  new 
doctrines  which  were  beginning  to  be  ])ut  forth  in 
many  quarters,  "  We  see,"  said  tlie  dean,  "  strange 
and  heretical  opinions  appearing  in  our  days,  and  I 
wonder  not ;  but  has  not  St.  Bernard  told  us  that 
there  is  no  heresy  more  dangerous  to  the  Church 
than  the  vicious  lives  of  its  priests'!"  And  coming 
in  the  close  to  the  remedy,  "  The  way,"  said  he, 
"  by  wliich  the  Church  may  be  reformed  into  a 
better  fashion  is  not  to  make  new  laws — of  these 
tliere  are  already  enough — but  to  live  new  lives. 
With  you,  0  Fathers  and  bishops,  miist  begin  the 
refonnation  so  much  needed  ;  we,  the  priests,  will 
follow  when  we  see  you  going  before,  and  then  we 
need  not  fear  that  the  whole  body  of  the  people 
\vill  come  after.  Your  holy  lives  will  be  as  a  book 
in  which  we  shall  read  the  Gosjiel,  and  be  taught 
how  to  practise  it ;  your  e.xample  will  be  a  sei-mon, 
luid  its  sweet  eloquence  wUl  be  more  eflfectual  to 


draw  the  people  into  the  right  path  than  all  the 
terror  of  cursings  and  excommunications."  ' 

The  people  listened  with  delight  to  the  Dean  of 
St.  Paid's  ;  but  not  so  the  clergy.  The  times  were 
too  early,  and  the  sermon  too  outspoken.  Among 
Colet's  auditoi's  was  the  Bishop  of  London,  Fitz- 
james.  He  was  a  man  of  eighty,  of  instable 
temper,  innocent  of  all  theology  save  what  he  had 
learned  from  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  he  clung  only 
the  more  tenaciously  to  the  traditions  of  the  past 
the  older  he  gi-ew.  His  ii'e  being  kindled,  he  went 
with  a  complaint  against  Colet  to  Warhani  of 
Canterbury.  "  What  has  he  said  I "  asked  the 
archbishop.  "  Said  !"  exclaimed  the  aged  and  irate 
bishop,  "what  has  he  not  said?  He  has  said  that  it 
is  forbidden  to  worship  by  images;  that  it  is  lawful 
to  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  one's  mother  tongue ; 
that  the  text,  '  Feed  my  sheep,'  does  not  impose 
temporal  dues  on  the  laity  to  the  priest ;  and," 
added  he,  with  some  hesitation,  "he  has  said  that 
sermons  in  the  pulpit  ought  not  be  read."  Warham 
smiled,  for  he  himself  was  wont  in  preaching  to 
read  from  his  manuscript.  To  these  weighty  ac- 
cusations, as  Fitzjames  doubtless  accounted  them, 
the  dean  had  no  defence  to  ofl'er ;  and  as  little  had 
the  archbishop,  an  able  and  liberal-minded  man, 
ecclesiastical  censure  to  inflict.  Another  indication 
had  been  given  how  the  tide  was  setting;  and  Dean 
Colet,  feeling  his  position  stronger,  laboured  from 
that  day  more  zealously  than  ever  to  dispel  the 
darkness  around  him.  It  was  after  the  deliveiy  of 
this  famous  sermon  that  he  resolved  to  devote  his 
ample  fortune  to  the  difiiision  of  sound  learning, 
knowing  that  ignorance  was  the  nurse  of  the 
numerous  superstitions  that  deformed  his  day,  and 
the  rampart  around  those  monstrous  evils  he  had  so 
imsparingly  reprobated. 

Erasmus,  the  famous  scholar  of  Holland,  and 
More,  the  nearly  as  famous  scholar  of  England, 
belong  to  the  galaxy  of  learned  men  that  consti- 
tuted the  English  Renaissance.  Both  contributed 
aid  to  that  literary  movement  which  helped  to  till, 
at  this  early  hour,  the  skies  of  England  with  light. 
The  service  rendered  by  Erasmus  to  the  Reforma- 
tion is  worthy  of  eternal  remembrance.  He  it 
was  who  firet  opened  to  the  learned  men  of  Europe 
the  portals  of  Divine  Revelation,  by  his  edition 
of  the  Greek  New  Testament,  accompanied  by  a 
ti-anslation  in  Latin.  It  was  published  in  1516, 
and  forms  a  _gi-eat  ejioch  in  the  movement.  Erasmu.^ 
visited  England,  contracted  a  warm  friendship  with 
Colet,  and  learned  from  him  to  moderate  his  ad- 


'  Colet's  Sermon  to  the  Convocation— Plianii,  vol.  ii., 
pp.  1-U. 


352 


HISTOEY  OF  rnOTESTANTISM. 


miration  of  the  great  sclioolman,  Aquinas.  He 
wiis  introduced  at  coui-t,  was  caressed  by  Henry, 
and  permitted  to  share  in  the  munificence  with 
which  that  monarch  then  patronised  learned  men. 
Ei-asmus  could  not  endure  the  indolence,  the 
tTeed,  the  gluttony,  the  crass  ignorance  of  the 
monies,  and  he  lashed  them  mercilessly  with  his 
keen  wit  and  liLs  pungent  satii-e.  The  two  gi-eat 
scholars,  Erasmus  and  More,  met  for  the  first  time 
at  the  table  of  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London.  A  short 
but  brilliant  encounter  of  wits  revealed  the  one  to 
the  other.  More  was  the  Erasmus  of  England ;  the 
Utopia  of  the  former  answers  to  the  Praise  of  Folly 
{En  comiimi  Mori(f)  of  the  latter.  Possessing  a  play- 
ful fancy,  a  vigorous  understanding,  and  a  polished 
sarcasm,  More  delighted  to  assail  with  a  delicate 
but  effective  raillery  the  same  class  of  men  against 
whom  Era.smus  had  levelled  his  keenest  shafts. 
He  united  with  Erasmus  in  calling  for  a  reforma- 
tion of  that  Church  of  wliich,  as  says  one,  "he 
lived  to  be  the  champion,  the  inquisitor,  and  the 
martyr."'  In  his  Utopia,  he  shows  us  what  sort 
of  world  he  would  fain  have  given  us — a  common- 
wea.lth  in  which  there  should  be  no  place  for  monks, 
in  which  the  number  of  priests  should  not  exceed 
the  number  of  churches,  and  in  which  the  right  of 
private  judgment  should  be  accorded  to  every  one, 
and  if  any  should  think  wrong,  he  was  to  be  put 
right  by  argument,  and  not  by  the  rack  or  the  faggot. 
Of  gi-eat  intellect,  but  not  of  equally  gi-eat  character, 
the  two  scholars  had  raised  then-  voices,  as  we 
have  said,  for  a  reformation  of  abuses  ;  but  when 
they  heard  the  voice  of  Luther  resounding  througli 
Europe,  and  raising  the  same  cry,  and  when  they 
saw  the  reformation  they  had  demanded  at  last 
approaching,  they  drew  back  in  affnght.     They  had 


failed  to  take  account  of  the  strength  of  error,  and 
the  forces  necessary  to  uproot  it;  and  when  they  saw 
altars  overturned  and  thrones  shaken — in  short,  a 
tempest  ai'ise  that  threatened  to  shake  "  not  the 
earth  only,  but  also  heaven" — they  resembled  the 
magician  who  shudders  at  the  spirit  himself  hath 
conjured  up. 

Such  were  the  men  and  the  agencies  now  at 
work  in  England.  They  were  not  the  Reformation, 
but  they  were  necessary  prepai-atives  of  that  gi'eat 
and  much-needed  change.  The  spii'itual  principles 
that  Wicliffe  had  taught  were  still  in  the  soil ;  but, 
like  flowers  in  the  time  of  winter,  they  had  liidden 
themselves,  and  waited  in  the  darkness  the  coming 
of  a  moi'e  mollient  time  to  blossom  forth.  Letters 
might  exist  where  they  woxild  not  be  suffered  to 
live.  But  meanwhile  the  action  of  these  prin- 
ciples was  by  no  means  suspended.  Wicliffe's 
Bible  was  being  disseminated  among  the  people ; 
the  line  of  his  disciples  was  perpetuated  in  the 
poor  and  despised  Lollards  :  Protestant  tracts  were 
frequently  arriving  in  the  Thames  from  Gennany  : 
and  here  and  there  young  priests  and  scholars  were 
reading  public  lectures  on  portions  of  the  Scriptures. 
In  the  political  sphere,  also,  preparations  were  going 
forward.  England  had  been  overturned — the  old 
tree  had  been  cut  down  to  its  roots,  as  it  were,  in 
order  that  fresh  and  more  friendly  shoots  might 
sprmg  forth.  The  barons  had  fallen  in  the  wars : 
the  Plantagenets  had  disappeared  from  the  throne  : 
a  Tudor  was  now  swajdng  the  sceptre ;  inveterate 
customs  and  traditions  were  vanishing  in  the  clear 
though  chilly  dawn  of  letters ;  and  the  plough  of 
Reform,  which  had  stood  motionless  in  the  furrow 
for  wellnigh  a  century,  was  once  more  about  to  go 
forward, 


CHAPTER    II. 


CARDINAL   WOLSEY   AND    THE   NEW   TESTAMENT    OF    EEASJIL'S. 

Arthur,  Prince  of  Wales,  Dies— Question  of  Henry's  Marrying  his  Widow— Sentiments  of  the  Primate— Dispensa- 
tion of  the  Pope — Henry's  Coronation  and  Marriage — Cardinal  Wolsey — His  Birth — Made  King's  Almoner — 
Made  Arclibiahop  of  York— Cardinal— Chancellor— Legate-il-Latere— Rules  the  Kingdom  Ecclesiastically  and 
Civilly— His  Grandeur- The  Priests  Eenew  the  War  against  Parliament— Are  Worsted— Resiune  their  Persecu- 
tion of  Heretics— Story  of  Richard  Hun— His  Murder— Burning  of  his  Bones — Martyrdom  of  John  Brown — 
Erasmus  Driven  out  of  England — Prints  his  Greek  and  Latin  New  Testament — Its  Enthusiastic  Reception  in 
England— England's  Reformation  eminently  Biblical— England  constituted  the  Custodian  and  Dispenser  of 
the  Bible. 


Henry  VIII.  again  appears  on  the  stage.      We 
find  him  still  the  idol  of  the  people  ;    his  court  con- 


Blunt,  B«/ormotioti  in  ^ajlontl,  p.  105;  Lond.,  1832. 


tinues  to  be  the  resort  of  scholars;  and  the  enormous 
wealtli  loft  him  by  his  father  enables  him  still  to 
extend  his  mimificent  patronage  to  learning,  and  at 
the  same  time  provide  those  .shows,  tournaments, 


HENRY'S   MAREIAGE   WITH   CATHERINE. 


353 


and  banquetfs,  which  made  liis  court  one  of  the 
gayest  in  all  Em-ope.  Nothing,  at  this  hour,  -wasj 
less  likely  than  that  this  prince  should  sepai-ato 
himself  from  the  communion  of  the  Roman  Chiu'ch, 
and  withdraw  his  kingdom  from  obedience  to  the 
Pontifical  jurisdiction.  He  had  been  educated  for 
the  priesthood  luitil  the  death  of  Pruice  Arthur, 
his  elder  brother ;  and  though  this  event  placed  a 
crown  instead  of  a  mitre  upon  hi.s  head,  it  left  him 
still  so  much  the  churchman  tluit  he  plumed  himself 
upon  his  theological  lore,  and  was  ever  ready  to  do 
battle  for  a  hierarchy  in  whose  ranks  he  had  looked 
forwai'd  to  being  enrolled,  and  at  whose  altars  he 
had  hoped  to  spend  his  life.  A  disciple  of  Thomas 
Aquinas,  the  subtlest  intellect  of  the  thii-teenth 
ccntiuy,  and  the  man  who  had  done  more  than  any 
other  doctor  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  fortify  the  basis 
of  the  Papal  supremacy,  Henry  was  not  likely  to  be 
wanting  in  reverence  for  the  See  of  Rome.  Indeed, 
in  one  well-known  instance  he  had  shown  abun- 
dance of  zeal  in  the  Pope's  behalf :  we  I'efer  to  his 
book  against  Luther,  for  which  the  conclave  at 
Rome  voted  him  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the 
Faith."  But  the  train  for  the  opposition  he  was  to 
show,  not  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Papacy,  but  to  its 
jurisdiction,  was  laid  nearly  twenty  years  before ; 
and  it  is  instructive  to  mark  that  it  was  laid  in  an 
act  of  submission  to  that  very  jurisdiction,  against 
which  Heni-y  was  fated  at  a  future  day  to  rebel. 

Arthur,  Prince  of  Wales,  was  married  duiing 
his  father's  lifetime  to  Catherine,  daughter  of  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella  of  Spain.  The  bride  of  the 
young  piince,  who  was  a  year  older  than  her 
husband,  was  the  wealthiest  heu-ess  in  Europe,  and 
her  dowry  had  been  a  prime  consideration  with 
Henry  VII.  in  promoting  the  match.  About  live 
months  after  the  marriage.  Prince  Arthur  fell  ill 
and  died  (2nd  April,  1502).  at  the  age  of  sixteen. 
AVhen  a  few  months  had  passrd,  and  it  was  seen 
that  no  issue  was  to  bo  expected  from  Arthur's 
marriage,  Prince  Henry  was  proclaimed  heir  to  the 
throne,  and  Catherine  was  about  to  retiu'n  to  Spain. 
Kvit  the  parsimonious  Henry  VII.,  gi-ieved  to 
think  that  her  dowry  of  200,000  ducats'  should 
have  to  be  sent  back  with  hci',  to  become,  it  might 
1)e,  the  possession  of  a  scion  of  some  other  royal 
liouse,  started  the  jtroposal  that  Henry  should  maiiy 
his  deceased  brother's  widow. 

To  this  proposal  Ferdinand  of  Spain  gave  his 
consent.  Warham,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  oj)- 
posed  it.  "  It  is  declared  in  the  law  of  God,"  said 
the  piimate,  "  that  if  a  man  shall  take  his  bi'other's 


wife,  it  is  an  unclean  tiling :  they  shall  be  child- 
less." ■  Fox,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  hinted  that  the 
difficulty  might  be  got  over  by  a  dispensation  from 
the  Pope.  The  warlike  Julius  II.  was  then  reigning ; 
he  thought  more  of  battles  than  of  the  Mosaic  code, 
and  on  being  applied  to,  he  readily  gi-anted  the  dis- 
pensation sought.  In  December,  1503,  a  bull  was 
issued,  authorising  Catherine's  marriage  with  the 
brother  of  her  first  husband.  This  was  followed 
by  the  betrothal  of  the  parties,  but  not  as  yet  by 
their  marriage,  the  Prince  of  Wales  being  then  only 
twelve  years  of  age.'' 

The  interval  gave  the  old  king  time  for  reflection. 
He  began  strongly  to  suspect  that  the  proposed 
marriage,  the  Pope's  bull  notwithstandmg,  was 
contrary  to  the  law  of  God ;  and  calling  Piince 
Henry,  now  fourteen  years  of  age,  to  him, 
he  caused  liim  to  sign  a  protest,  duly  authenti- 
cated, against  the  consummation  of  the  maiTiage.* 
And  when  four  years  afterwards  he  lay  on  his 
death-bed,  he  again  summoned  the  pi-ince  to  his 
presence,  and  conjui-ed  liim  not  to  marry  her  who 
had  been  the  wife  of  his  brother.^  On  the  9th  of 
May,  1509,  Henry  VII.  was  borne  to  the  tomb; 
and  no  sooner  had  the  coflin  been  lowered  into  the 
vault,  and  the  staves  of  the  officers  of  state,  who 
stood  around  the  gi'ave,  broken  and  cast  in  after 
it,  than  the  heralds  pi-oclaimed,  with  flourish  of 
trumpets,  King  Henry  VIII.  Henry  could  now 
do  as  he  liked  in  the  matter  of  the  mamage. 
Meanwhile  the  amiable  disposition  and  irreproach- 
able virtue  of  Catherine  had  conciliated  the  nation, 
which  at  first  had  asked,  "  Can  the  Pope  repeal  the 
laws  of  God?"  and  when  on  the  24th  of  June 
Henry  was  crowned  in  Westminster,  there  sat  by 
his  side  Catherine,  as  his  bride  and  queen.  Henry 
thus  began  his  reign  with  an  act  of  submission  to 
the  Papal  authority;  for  in  accepting  his  brother's 
widow  as  his  wife,  he  acccj>ted  the  Pope's  dispensa- 
tion as  valid  ;  and  the  Pontifi",  on  his  part,  rejoiced 
in  what  had  taken  place,  as  a  new  jjletlge  of 
obedience  to  the  Roman  See  on  the  part  of  England 
and  her  sovereign,  seeing  that  with  the  validity  of 
his  bull  was  now  clearly  bound  up  the  legitimai'y 
of  the  future  princes  of  the  realm.  The  two  nnist 
stand  or  fall  together;  for  if  his  bull  was  nought, 
so  too  ■\\as  their  title  to  the  crown. 

Years  passed  away  without  :inytliing  remarkable 
taking  jjlace  in  the  domestic  life  of  Henry  and 
Catherine.  These  years  were  spent  in  jousts  and 
costly  entertainments  ;  in  the  society  of  scholars  and 
the  patronage  of  learning ;  in  a  military  raid  into 


'  Buvnet,  History  of  the  Keformation  in  Eii'jh.i 
p.  aS;  Lond.,  1681. 


,  vol.  i.. 


-  Levit.  XX.  21. 
»  BuTBet,  i.  35,  30. 


*  Collier,  Records,  ii.  1. 
'  Burnet,  i.  30. 


354 


HISTORY   OP    PROTESTANTISM. 


France,  chiefly  at  the  instigation  of  Julius  II.,  who, 
himself  much  occupied  on  the  battle-tield,  delighted 
to  see  his  brother-sovereigns  similarly  engaged, 
well  knowing  that  their  rivalries  kept  them  weak, 
and  that  their  weakness  was  his  strength.  One 
thing  only  saddened  the  king  and  queen :  it  seemed 


of  Catheriiie,  Lady  Mary  alone,  born  in  1515, 
survived  the  period  of  infancy.  Doubts  touching 
the  lawfulness  of  his  marriage  began  to  spring  up 
in  the  king's  mind ;  but  before  seeuig  into  what 
these  scruples  I'ipened,  it  is  necessary  to  attend  to 
another  personage  who  now  stepped  upon  the  stage, 


VIEW    or    UNACRE  S    IKUSE,    KNIGHTRIDER    STUEF.T,    LONDON. 

(From  a  Pnnt  in  MacmichacVs  "  GoU-hcadci  Cane.") 


as  if  the  woe  denounced  against  hini  wlio  marries 
his  brother's  widow,  "  he  shall  be  chUdless,"  were 
taking  effect.  Henry's  male  progeny  all  died. 
Catherine  bore  him  three  sons  and  two  daughters  ; 
but  "  Heniy  beheld  his  sons  just  show  themselves 
and  then  sink  into  the  tomb.'"     Of  all  the  children 


'  Soamcs,  History  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Church  of 
England,  vol.  i.,  p.  17(>;  Lond.,  1820. 


and  who  was  destined  to  act  a  gi-eat  part  in  the 
events  which  were  about  to  engage  the  attention, 
not  of  England  only,  but  of  Christendom. 

From  the  lowest  ranks  there  now  sprang  up  a 
niiui  of  vast  ambition  and  equal  talent,  who  speedily 
rose  to  the  highest  posts  in  the  State,  and  the  most 
.sjileudid  dignities  of  the  Church,  and  who,  by  his 
gi-andeur  and  munificence,  illustrated  once  more 
before  the  eyes  of  the  English  people,  the  glory  of 


WOLSEY'S  AMBITION. 


355 


the  Church  of  Rome  before  it  should  finally  sink 
and  disappeai'.  His  nauie  was  Thomas  Wolsey — 
by  ftu-  the  most  famous  of  all  those  Englishmen  who 
have  borne  the  title  of  Cardinal.  A  few  sentences 
will  enable  us  to  trace  the  rapid  rise  of  this  man 
to  that  blaze  of  power  in  which,  for  a  season,  he 
shone,  only  to  fall  as  suddenly  and  portentously  as 
he  had  risen.  Wolsey  (born  1471)  was  the  son  of  a 
butcher  at  Ipswich,  and  after  studnng  at  Magdalen 
College,  Oxford,  he  passed  into  the  family  of  the  Mai'- 
quis  of  Dorset,  as  tutor. '  Fox,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
Keeper  of  the  Privy 
SciU,  finding  himself 
eclipsed  by  the  Earl  of 
Surrey  in  the  gi-aces  of 
Hem-y  VII. ,  looked 
about  him  for  one  to 
counterbalance  his 
rival ;  and  deeming 
that  he  had  found  a 
suitable  instrument  in 
Wolsey,  drew  him  from 
an  obscure  sphere  in 
the  country,  and  found 
a  place  for  him  at  court 
as  almoner  to  the  king. 
Wolsey  ingratiated 
himself  into  that 
monai-ch's  favour,  by 
executing  successfully 
a  secret  negotiation  at 
Brussels,  \vith  such  dis- 
patch that  he  returned 
before  he  had  had  time, 
as  Hemy  thought,  to 
set  out.  His  advance- 
ment from  that  moment 
would  have  been  rapid 
but  for  the  death  of  the 
not  long  afterwards.  Under  the  young  Henry, 
Wolsey  played  his  part  not  less  ach'oitly.  His 
versatility  developed  more  freely,  in  the  warm 
air  of  Henry  VIII. 's  court,  than  it  had  done 
in  the  cold  atmosphere  of  that  of  his  prede- 
cessor. Business  or  pleasure  came  alike  to  Wolsey. 
He  could  be  as  gay  as  the  gayest  of  the  king's 
comtiei's,  and  as  wise  and  grave  as  the  most 
staid  of  his  councillors.  He  could  retail,  for  the 
monarch's  amusement,  the  gossip  of  the  court  imd 
the  town,  or  edify  him  by  quoting  the  sayings  of 
some  mediieval  doctor,  and  especially  his  favourite, 
the  angelic  Aquinas.  Wolsey  was  no  ascetic  ;  in 
his  presence  Vice  never  hung  her  head,  and  he 

'  Hume,  vol.  i.,  chap.  27,  p.  4SS  ;  Loud.,  1S21J. 


SU!    THOMAS    MOKE 


which   happonctl 


never  forbade  in  his  sovereign  those  liaisons  in 
which,  unless  pubhc  report  hugely  calumniated 
him,  he  himself  freely  indulged.  Royal  favours 
fell  thick  and  fast  on  the  clever  and  most  accommo- 
dating churchman.  The  mitres  of  Tom-nay,  Lin- 
coln, and  York  wei-e  in  one  yeai-  placed  on  his 
head.  But  Wolsey  was  one  of  those  who  think 
that  nothing  has  been  gained  unless  all  has  been 
won.  He  refused  to  lower  the  cross  of  York  to 
the  cross  of  Canterbury,  thus  claiming  for  himself 
equality  with  the  primate ;  and  when  this  was 
denied  him,  he  reached 
his  end  by  another 
road.  He  solicited, 
through  Fi-ancis  I.,  the 
Roman  pui-ple,  and  in 
this  too  he  succeeded. 
In  November,  1515,  an 
envoy  from  Rome 
arrived  in  England, 
bringing  to  the  cai'dinal 
his  "  red  hat " — that 
gift  which  has  ever  in 
the  end  wi-ought  e\'il 
to  the  wearer,  as  well 
as  to  the  realm  ;  con- 
verting, as  it  does,  its 
o^vner  into  the  satrap 
of  a  foreign  Power. 

Wolsey  was  not  yet 
satisfied :  there  was 
something  higher  still, 
and  he  must  continue 
to  climb.  The  pious 
Warhani,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  weary- 
ing of  contending  with 
the  butcher's  son,  who 
had  clothed  his  person  in  Roman  purple,  and  his 
mind  in  more  than  Roman  i)ridc,  now  resigned  the 
seals  as  Chancellor  of  the  Kingdom,  and  the  king 
put  them  into  the  hands  of  Wolsey.^  He  wiis 
now  near  the  summit :  one  more  effort  and  he 
would  reach  it :  at  last  it  was  gained.  There  came 
a  bull  appointing  lum  the  Cardiaal  Legate-i-Latere 
of  "  Holy  Church."  This  placed  him  a  little,  and 
only  a  little,  below  the  Papal  throne  itself.  To  it 
Wolsey  began  to  lift  his  eyes,  as  the  only  one  of 
earth's  grandeurs  now  above  him  ;  but  meanwhile 
the  pui-suit  of  this  dazzling  prize  was  delayed,  and 
he  gave  himself  to  the  consolidation  of  those 
manifold  powers  which  he  wielded  in  England.  His 
jurisdiction  was  immense.     All  church  courts,  all 


(i.ul  bn  Hon.nn.) 


Ilumo,  vol.  i.,  cliap.  28,  p.  495. 


lilsJTOKf   OF   PROT£STANTIt>M. 


bishops  and  priests,  tlie  jmmate  liimself,  all  colleges 
and  mouasteries,  wcic  under  liini.  All  causes  in 
which  the  Church  was  intcresicd,  howe\er  remotely, 
were  adjudicated  by  hiin.  He  decided  in  all  matters 
of  conscience,  in  wills  and  testaments,  in  marriages 
and  divorces,  and  in  those  actioiLS  which,  though  they 
might  not  be  punishable  by  the  law,  were  censur- 
able by  the  Church  as  violations  of  good  monds. 
From  his  sentcuocs  there  was  no  appeal  to  the 
king's  tribimals.  The  throne  and  Parliament  must 
submit  to  have  their  prerogatives,  laws,  and  juris- 
diction circumscribed  and  regulated  by  the  cardinal, 
as  the  representative  of  God's  Vicar  in  England. 
Those  causes  which  were  excluded  from  his  juris- 
diction as  Legate-i-Latere,  came  under  his  cogni- 
sance as  Chancellor  of  the  Kingdom,  so  that 
Wolsey  really  governed  both  Chuich  and  State. 
He  was  v-irtually  king,  and  his  own  famous  plu-ase, 
Ego  et  Rex  meus — "  I  and  my  king  " — was  not  less 
in  accordance  with  fact  than  it  was  with  the  idiom 
of  the  language  in  which  it  was  expressed. 

Of  the  grandeurs  of  his  palace,  the  sumptuous- 
ness  of  his  table,  the  number  of  his  daily  guest.s, 
and  the  multitude  of  his  servants,  it  is  needless 
to  speak.  The  list  of  his  domestics  was  upwards 
of  500,  and  some  of  the  nobles  of  England  did 
not  account  it  beneath  them  to  be  em-olled  in 
the  number.  When  he  moved  out  of  doors  lie 
wore  a  ch-ess  of  crimson  velvet  and  silk ;  his  .shoes 
glittered  with  jewels;  the  goodliest  priests  of 
the  realm  marched  before  huu,  cari-j-ing  silver 
crosses,  whUe  his  pomp  was  swelled  by  a  retinue  of 
becoming  length.  When  Wolsey  said  mass,  it  was 
after  the  manner  of  the  Pope  himself ;  bishops  and 
abbots  aided  him  in  the  function,  and  some  of  the 
first  nobility  gave  him  water  and  the  towel.' 

But  with  his  jjomps,  pleasures,  and  hospitalities 
lie  mingled  manifold  labours.  His  capacity  was 
great,  and  .seemed  to  enlarge  with  the  elevation  of 
his  rank  and  the  increase  of  his  offices.  His  two 
redeeming  qualities  were  the  patronage  of  learning 
and  the  administration  of  justice.  His  decisions  in 
Chancery  were  impartial  and  equitable,  and  his 
enormous  wealth,  gathered  from  imiumerablc 
sources,  enabled  him  to  surround  himself  with 
scholai's,  and  to  found  institutions  of  learning,  for 
which  he  had  liis  reward  in  the  praises  of  tlie 
former,  and  the  posthumous  glory  of  the  lattei-. 
Nevertheles.^  he  did  not  succeed  in  making  himself 
popular.  His  haughty  deportment  oflended  the 
people,  who  knew  him  to  be  hollow,  selfish,  and 
vicious,  despite  his  grand  masses  and  his  ostenta- 
tious beneficence. 

'  Hume,  vol.  i.,  chap.  -8,  p.  iW. 


The  rise  at  this  hour  of  such  a  man,  who  had 
gathered  into  his  single  hand  all  the  powers  of  the 
State,  seemed  of  evil  augury  for  the  Reformation. 
Rome,  in  all  her  dominancy,  was  in  him  ixsing  u)) 
again  in  England.  The  priests  were  emboldened  to 
declare  war,  first  against  the  scholars  by  sounding 
the  alarm  against  Greek,  which  they  .stigmatised  as 
a  main  source  of  here.sy,  and  next  against  Parlia- 
ment by  demanding  back  the  immunities  of  which 
they  had  been  stripped  during  pi-eceding  reigns.  In 
addition  to  former  losses  of  prerogative,  the  jiriests 
wore  threatened  with  a  new  encroachment  on  their 
l)ri\-Lleges.  In  1513  a  law  was  passed,  ordering 
ecclesiastics  who  should  commit  murder  or  theft  to 
be  tried  in  the  secular  courts — bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons  excepted.  It  was  discovered  that  though 
the  Pope  could  dispense  with  the  laws  of  God,  the 
Parliament  coidd  not.  The  Abbot  of  Winchelcomb, 
preaching  at  St.  Paul's,  gave  the  signal  for  battle, 
exclaiming,  "  '  Touch  not  mine  anointed,'  said  the 
Lord."  Thereafter  a  clerical  deputation,  headed  by 
Wolsey,  proceeded  to  the  palace  to  demand  that  the 
impious  law  should  be  annulled.  "  Sii-e,"  said  the 
cardinal,  "  to  tiy  a  clerk  is  a  violation  of  God's 
laws."  "  By  God's  will  we  are  King  of  England," 
replied  Henry,  who  saw  that  to  put  the  clergy 
above  the  Parliament  was  to  put  them  above  him- 
self, "  and  the  Kings  in  England,  in  times  past,  had 
never  ;uiy  superior  but  God  only.  Therefore  know 
you  well  that  we  will  maintain  the  right  of  our 
ciown." 

Baffled  in  then-  attack  on  Parliament,  the  priests 
vented  their  fury  upon  others.  There  were  still 
many  Lollards  who,  although  living  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Roman  Church,  gave  the  priests  much 
disquiet.  One  of  these  was  Richard  Hun,  a  trades- 
man in  London,  who  spent  a  portion  of  each  day  in 
the  study  of  the  Bible.  He  was  summoned  before 
the  legate's  court  on  the  charge  of  refusing  to  pay 
a  fee  imposed  by  a  priest,  which  he  deemed  exor- 
bitant. Indignant  at  being  made  answerable  before 
a  foreign  court,  Hun  lodged  an  accusation  against 
the  priest  under  the  Act /'/■a;»7iM?ijVe."  "Such  bold- 
ness must  be  severely  checked,"  said  the  clerg}', 
'•  otherwise  not  a  citizen  but  will  set  the  Church  at 
dctiance."  Hun  was  accused  of  heresy,  consigned 
to  the  Lollards'  Tower  in  St.  Paul's,  and  left  there 
in  irons,  chained  so  heavily  that  his  fetters  hardly 
))ermitted  him  to  drag  his  steps  across  the  floor.  On 
his  trial  no  such  proof  of  heresy  was  produced  as 
would  sullice  for  his  condemnation,  and  his  pei'se- 
cutore  found  themselves  in  a  greater  dilemma  than 
before,  for  to  set  him  at  liberty  would  proclaim 

-  See  ante,  vol.  i.,  15.  G'J-l. 


MARTYRDOM  OF  JOHN   BROWN. 


357 


their  defeat.  Three  of  theii-  fanatical  agents  under- 
took to  extricate  them  from  their  difficulties. 
Climbing  to  his  cell  at  midnight  (.'ird  December, 
151-1),  and  dragging  Hun  out  of  bed,  they  first 
strangled  him,  and  then  putting  his  own  belt  round 
his  neck,  they  suspended  the  body  by  an  iron  ling 
in  the  wall,  to  make  believe  that  lie  had  hanged 
himself.' 

A  great  horror  straightway  fell  upon  two  of 
the  perpetrators  of  the  deed,  so  that  they  fled, 
and  thus  revealed  the  crime.  "  The  priests  have 
murdered  Hun,"  was  the  cry  in  London  ;  and  the 
fact  being  amply  attested  at  the  inquest,  as  well 
as  by  the  confession  of  the  murderers,  the  priests 
were  harder  put  to  than  ever,  and  had  recourse  to 
the  following  notable  device  : — They  examined  tlie 
Bible  which  Hun  had  been  wont  to  read,  and  found 
it  was  Wiclifle's  ti-anslation.  This  was  enough. 
Certain  articles  of  indictment  were  drafted  against 
Hun ;  a  solemn  session  of  Fitzjames,  Bishop  of 
London,  with  certain  assessors,  was  held,  and 
sentence  was  pronounced,  finding  Hun  guilt}'  and 
condemning  liis  dead  body  to  be  b\n-ned  as  that  of 
a  lieretic.  His  corpse  was  dug  up  and  burned  in 
Smithfield  on  the  20th  of  December.  "The  bones 
of  Richard  Hun  have  been  burned,"  argued  the 
priests,  "  therefore  he  was  a  heretic ;  he  was  a 
heretic,  therefore  he  committed  suicide."  The 
P.ii'liament,  however,  not  seeing  the  force  of  tliis 
syllogism,  found  that  Hun  had  died  by  the  hands 
of  others,  and  ordained  restitution  of  his  goods 
to  be  made  to  his  family.  The  BLshop  of  London, 
through  Wolsey,  had  influence  enough  to  prevent 
the  punishment  of  the  murderers.- 

There  was  quite  a  little  cloud  of  sufierers  and 
martyrs  in  London,  from  the  accession  of  Hemy 
VIIL  to  1517,  the  ei-a  of  Luther's  appearance. 
Their  knowledge  was  imjieifect,  some  only  had 
co>u-age  to  witness  unto  the  death,  but  we  behold 
in  them  proofs  that  the  Spirit  of  God  was  returning 
to  the  world,  and  that  he  was  opening  tlm  ej'es  of 
not  a  few  to  see  in  the  midst  of  the  great  darkness 
tlie  eiTors  of  Rome.  The  doctrine  about  which 
they  were  generally  incriminated  was  that  of  tran- 
substantiation.  Among  other  tales  of  persecution 
furnished  by  the  times,  that  of  John  Bro\\Ti,  of 
Ashford,  has  been  most  touchingly  told  by  the 
English  martyrologist.  Brown  happened  to  seat 
himself  beside  a  priest  in  the  Gravesend  barge. 
"  After  certain  commimication,  the  priest  asked 
him,"  says  Fox,   " '  Dost  tliou  know  who  I  am  ? 


'  For,  Acts  and  Mon.,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  183—165.     Lend., 
IMC. 
=  Uml,  p.  ISS. 


Thou  sittest  too  near  me:  thou  sittest  on  mj 
clothes.'  '  No,  sir,'  said  Brown ;  '  I  know  not 
what  you  are. '  '  I  tell  thee  I  am  a  priest.' 
'  What,  sii-,  are  you  a  parson,  or  vicar,  or  a  lady's 
chaplain]'  'No,'  quoth  he  again;  'I  am  a  soul- 
priest,  I  sing  for  a  soul,'  saith  he.  '  Do  you  so, 
sir  V  quoth  the  other ;  '  that  is  well  done.'  '  I 
pray  you  sii-,'  quoth  he,  '  where  find  you  the  soul 
when  you  go  to  mass?'  'I  cannot  tell  thee,'  said 
the  priest.  '  I  pray  you,  where  do  you  leave  it,  sir, 
when  the  mass  is  done  ? '  'I  cannot  tell  thee,'  said 
the  priest.  '  You  can  neither  tell  me  where  you 
find  it  when  you  go  to  mass,  nor  where  you  leave 
it  when  the  mass  is  done  :  how  can  you  then  have 
the  soul  V  said  he.  '  Go  thy  ways,'  said  the  priest ; 
'  thou  art  a  heretic,  and  I  will  be  even  with  thee.' 
So  at  the  landing  the  priest,  taking  with  him 
Walter  More  and  WULiam  More,  two  gentlemen, 
brethren,  rode  straightway  to  the  Archbishop 
Warham." 

Tlu-ee  days  thereafter,  las  Brown  sat  at  dinner 
ynth  some  guests,  the  oflicers  entered,  and  dragging 
him  from  the  house,  they  mounted  him  upon  a 
horse,  and  tying  his  feet  imder  the  animal's  belly, 
rode  away.  His  wife  and  family  knew  not  for  forty 
days  where  he  was  or  what  had  been  done  to  him. 
It  was  the  Friday  before  Whit-Sunday.  The 
servant  of  the  family,  having  had  occasion  to  go 
out,  hastily  returned,  and  rushed  into  the  house 
exclaiming,  "I  have  seen  him  !  I  have  seen  him!" 
Brown  had  that  day  been  taken  out  of  prison  at 
Canterbury,  brought  back  to  Ashford,  and  placed 
in  the  stocks.  His  poor  wife  went  forth,  and  .sat 
down  by  the  side  of  her  husband.  So  tightly  wa.s 
he  bound  in  the  stocks,  that  he  could  hardly  turn 
his  head  to  speak  to  his  -n-ife,  who  sat  by  him 
liathed  in  tears.  He  told  her  that  he  had  been 
examined  by  torture,  that  his  feet  had  been  placed 
on  live  coals,  and  bvmied  to  the  bones,  "  to  make 
me,"  said  he,  "  deny  my  Lord,  which  I  will  never 
do  ;  for  should  I  deny  my  Lord  in  this  world,  he 
woidd  here.after  deny  me.  I  pray  thee,  therefore," 
said  he,  "  good  Elizabeth,  continue  a.s  thou  hast 
begun,  and  bring  up  thy  children  virtuously,  and 
in  the  fear  of  God."  On  the  next  daj',  being 
Wiit-S>mday,  he  wa.s  taken  out  of  the  stocks  and 
bound  to  the  stake,  where  lie  was  burned  alive. 
His  wife,  his  daughter  Alice,  and  his  other  chil- 
dren, with  some  friends,  gathered  round  the  jiile  to 
receive  his  last  words.  He  stood  with  invincible 
courage  amid  tlie  flames.  Ho  sang  a  hvmn  of  his 
own  composing  ;  and  feeling  (h.at  now  the  fire  had 
nearly  done  its  work,  he  breathed  out  the  prayer 
ofl'ered  by  the  great  I\Iartyr  :  "  Into  thy  hands  I 
commend   my  spirit ;  thou   bast  redeemed  me,  O 


358 


HISTORY  OP   PROTESTANTISM. 


Lord  of  tnitli,"  and  so  he  ended.'  Slirieks  of 
anguish  rose  from  his  %vife  and  daughter.  The 
spectators,  moved  with  compassion,  regarded  them 
with  looks  of  pity;  but,  turning  to  the  executioners, 
they  cast  on  them  a  scowl  of  anger.  "  Come,"  said 
Chilton,  a  brutal  ruffian  who  had  presided  at  the 
dreadful  tragedy,  and  who  rightly  interpreted  the 
feeling  of  the  bystanders — "  Come,  let  us  cast  the 
children  into  the  fire,  lest  they,  too,  one  day  be- 
come heretics."  So  saying,  he  nished  towards  Alice 
and  attempted  to  lay  hold  upon  her;  but  the  maiden 
started  back,  and  avoided  the  vUlaiii.- 

Next  to  the  heretics,  the  priests  dreaded  the 
scholars.  Theii'  instincts  taught  them  that  the  new 
leai'ning  boded  no  good  to  their  system.  Of  all 
the  learned  men  now  in  England  the  one  whom 
they  hated  most  was  Erasmus,  and  with  just  reason. 
He  stood  confessedly  at  the  head  of  the  scholars, 
whether  in  England  or  on  the  Continent.  He  had 
gi-eat  influence  at  court ;  he  wielded  a  pungent  wit, 
as  they  had  occasion  daily  to  experience — in  short, 
he  must  be  expelled  the  kingdom.  But  Erasmus 
resolved  to  take  ample  compensation  from  those 
who  had  driven  him  out.  He  went  straight  to 
Basle,  and  establishing  himself  at  the  printing-press 
of  Frobenius,  issued  his  Greek  and  Latin  New 
Testament.  The  world  now  possessed  for  the  first 
time  a  printed  copy  in  the  origiiial  Greek  of  the 
New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  It  was  the  result  of  combined  labour  and 
scholarship;  the  Greek  was  beautifully  pure  ;  the 
Latin  had  been  purged  from  the  barbarisms  of  the 
Vulgate,  and  far  excelled  it  in  elegance  and  clear- 
ness. Copies  were  straightway  dispatched  to 
London,  Oxford,  and  Cambridge.  It  was  Erasmus' 
gift  to  England — to  Christendom,  doubtless,  but 
especially  England ;  and  in  giving  the  country 
this  gift  he  gave  it  more  than  if  he  had  added  the 
most  magnificent  empire  to  its  dominion. 

The  light  of  the  English  Renaissance  was  now 
succeeded  by  the  light  of  the  English  Reformation. 

'  Tax,  Acts  and  Mon.,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  181,  182. 
=  Ibid.,  p.  182. 


The  monks  had  thought  to  restore  the  darkness  by 
driving  away  the  great  scholar  :  his  departure  was 
the  signal  for  the  rising  on  the  realm  of  a  light 
which  made  what  had  been  before  it  seem  but 
as  twUight.  The  New  Testament  of  Erasmus  was 
haUed  with  enthusiasm.  Everywhere  it  was  sought 
after  and  read,  by  the  first  scholars  in  Gi'eek,  by 
the  gi-eat  body  of  the  learned  in  Latin.  The  ex- 
citement it  caused  in  England  was  something  like 
that  which  Luther's  appearance  produced  in  Ger- 
many. The  monk  of  Saxony  had  not  yet  posted  up 
his  Theses,  when  the  Oracles  of  Ti-uth  were  published 
in  England.  "  The  Reformation  of  England,"  says 
a  modern  historian,  who  of  all  others  e\'inces  the 
deepest  insight  into  history — "  The  Reformation  of 
England,  perhaps  to  a  gi-eater  extent  than  that  of 
the  Continent,  was  eflected  by  the  Word  of  God."^ 
To  Germany,  Luther  was  sent;  Geneva  and  France 
had  Calvin  given  to  them ;  but  England  received 
a  yet  gi-eater  Reformer — the  Bible.  Its  Reforma- 
tion was  more  immediate  and  du-ect,  no  gi'eat  in- 
dividuality being  interposed  between  it  and  the 
source  of  Divine  knowledge.  Luther  had  given  to 
Germany  lii.S  Theses;  Cahin  had  given  to  France 
the  Institutes;  but  to  England  was  given  the  Word 
of  God.  Within  the  sea-gu-t  isle,  in  prospect  of 
the  storms  that  were  to  devastate  the  outer  world, 
was  placed  this  Divine  Light — the  World's  Lamp 
— surely  a  blessed  augury  of  what  England's  func- 
tion was  to  be  in  days  to  come.  The  country  into 
whose  hands  was  now  placed  the  Word  of  God, 
was  by  this  gift  publicly  constituted  its  custodian. 
Freely  had  she  received  the  Scriptures,  freely  was 
she  to  give  them  to  the  nations  around  her.  She 
was  first  to  make  them  the  Instructor  of  her  people ; 
she  was  next  to  enshrine  them  as  a  perpetual  lamp 
in  her  Church.  Having  made  them  the  founda- 
tion-stone of  her  State,  she  was  finally  to  put 
them  into  the  hands  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
that  they  too  might  be  guided  to  Trath,  Order,  and 
Happiness. 

■■'  D'Avibigne,  Reformation  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  vol.  v., 
p.  199 ;  Edin.,  1853. 


EILNEY,  TYNDALE.  AND    FKYTII, 


359 


CHAPTER    III. 


WILLIAM   TYXDALE   AND   THE    ENGLISH   NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Bilney— Reads  the  Xew  Testament— Is  Converted  by  it— Tyndale— His  Conversion— Fryth— All  Three  Emancipated 
by  the  Bible— Foundations  of  England's  Reformation- Tyndale  at  Sodbury  Hall— Disputations  with  the  Priests— 
Preaclies  at  Bristol— Resolves  to  Translate  the  Scriptures— Goes  to  London— Applies  to  Tonstall — Received  into 
Humphrey  Monmouth's  House— Begins  his  Translation  of  the  New  Testament — Escapes  to  Germany — Leo's 
Bull  against  Luther  Published  in  England— Henry's  Bool:  against  Luther — Wolsey  Intrigues  for  the  Popedom — 
His  Disappointment— Tyndale  in  Hamburg— William  Eoye— Begins  Printing  the  English  New  Testament  in 
Cologne — Finishes  in  Worms— Sends  it  across  the  Sea  to  England. 


Erasmus  had  laid  his  New  Testament  at  the  feet  of 
England.  In  so  doing  he  had  sent  to  that  country, 
as  he  believetl,  a  message  of  peace ;  great  was  his 
astonishment  to  find  that  he  had  l)ut  blown  a 
trumpet  of  war,  and  that  the  roar  of  battle  was 
louder  than  ever.  The  sen'ices  of  the  great  scholar 
to  the  Reformation  were  finished,  and  now  he  re- 
tired. But  the  Bible  remained  in  England,  and 
wherever  the  Word  of  God  went,  there  came  Pro- 
testantLsm  also. 

There  was  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  a 
young  student  of  the  canon  law,  Thomas  Bilney 
by  name,  of  small  stature,  delicate  constitution, 
and  much  occupied  with  the  thoughts  of  eternity. 
Ho  had  striven  to  attain  to  the  assurance  of 
the  life  eternal  by  a  constant  adherence  to  the 
path  of  vii-tue,  nevertheless  his  conscience,  which 
was  -very  tender,  reproached  him  with  iiinumerablo 
shortcomings.  Vigils,  penances,  masses — all,  in 
short,  which  the  "  Church  "  prescribes  for  the  relief 
of  burdened  souls,  he  had  tried,  but  with  no  effect 
save  that  he  had  wasted  his  body  and  spent  nearly 
all  liis  means.  He  heard  his  friends  one  day  speak 
of  the  New  Testament  of  Erasmus,  and  he  made 
ha.ste  to  procure  a  copy,  moved  rather  by  the  plea- 
sure which  he  anticipated  from  the  jnirity  of  its 
Greek  and  the  elegance  of  its  Latin,  than  the  hope 
of  deriving  any  higher  good  from  it.  He  oijened 
the  book.  His  eyes  fell  on  these  words  :  "  Tliis  is  a 
faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of 
whom  I  am  chief"  "  The  chief  of  sinners,"  said  he 
to  himself,  musing  over  what  he  had  read  :  "  Paul 
the  chief  of  siimers  !  and  yet  Christ  came  to  save 
him  !  then  why  not  meT'  "  He  had  found,"  says 
Fox,  "a  better  teacher"  than  the  doctore  of  tlie 
canon  law — "the  Holy  Spirit  of  Christ."'  That 
hour  he  quitted  the  road  of  self-righteous  perfor- 
mances, by  which  lie  now  saw  ho  had  been 
travelling,   in  pain    of   body   and  soiTOw  of  soul, 


Foi,  Acts  and  ifon.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  620;  Lond.,  181G. 


and  he  entered  into  life  by  Him  who  is  the  door. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  triumphs  of  the  New- 
Testament  at  Cambridge.  How  fruitful  thus  one 
victory  was,  we  shall  afterwards  see. 

We  turn  to  Oxford.  There  was  at  this  uni- 
versity a  .student  from  the  valley  of  the  Severn, 
a  descendant  of  an  ancient  family,  William  Tyndale 
l)y  name.  Nowhere  had  Erasmus  so  many  friends 
as  at  Oxford,  and  nowhere  did  his  New  Testa- 
ment receive  a  more  cordial  welcome.  Our  young 
student,  "  of  most  virtuous  disposition,  and  life 
unspotted,"-  was  cbawn  to  the  study  of  the  book, 
fascinated  by  the  elegance  of  its  style  and  the 
sublimity  of  its  teaching.  He  soon  oame  to  be 
aware  of  some  marvellous  power  in  it,  which  he 
had  found  in  no  other  book  he  had  ever  studied. 
Others  had  invigorated  his  intellect,  thLs  regene- 
rated his  heart.  He  had  discovered  an  inestimable 
treasure,  and  he  would  not  hide  it.  This  pui-e 
youth  began  to  give  public  lectures  on  this  pure 
book  ;  but  this  being  more  than  Oxford  could  yet 
bear,  the  young  Tyndale  quitted  the  banks  of  the 
Isis,  and  joined  Bilney  at  Cambridge. 

These  two  were  joined  by  a  third,  a  young  man 
of  blameless  life  and  elevated  soul.  John  Frj-th, 
the  son  of  an  inn-keeper  at  Sevenoaks,  Kent,  was 
possessed  of  mai-vellously  quick  parts ;  and  -rt-itli  a 
diligence  and  a  delight  in  leaiTiing  equal  to  his 
genius,  he  would  have  opened  for  himself,  says 
Fox,  "  an  easy  road  to  honours  and  dignities,  had 
he  not  wholly  consecrated  himself  to  the  service  of 
the  Church  of  Clu-ist."''  It  was  William  TjTidale 
who  first  sowed  "  in  his  heart  the  seed  of  the 
Gospel.",^  These  three  young  students  were  per- 
fectly emancipated  from  the  yoke  of  the  Papacy, 
and  their  emancipation  had  been  accomplished  by 
tlio  Word  of  God  alone.  No  infallible  Church  had 
interpreted  that  book  to  them.     They  read  their 


-  Fox,  Ads  nnd  Mon.,  vol.  v.,  p.  115. 
■'  Ibid.,  p.  3. 
■*  Ibid.,  p.  4. 


TYNDALE   BECOMES   A   TU'J'OR. 


3(51 


Bibles  with  pi-ayer  to  the  Spirit,  and  as  they  read 
the  eyes  of  tlieu-  luiderstanding  were  opened,  and 
the  wonders  of  God's  law  were  revealed  to  them. 
They  came  to  see  that  it  was  faith  that  unlocked  all 
the  lilessings  of  salvation:  that  it  was  faith,  and  not 
the  priest,  that  united  them  to  Christ — Christ,  whose 


the  foundations  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  Eng- 
land, or  rather  dug  down  through  the  i-ubbLsh  of 
ages,  to  the  foundations  which  had  been  laid  of  old 
time  by  the  first  missionaries  to  Britain. 

Hemy  VIII.  was  aspii-Lng  to  become  emperor ; 
Wolsey  was   beginning  to   intrigue   for  the  tiara ; 


VIEW  OF  THE   INTERIOR  OP   OLD  ST.   PAUL  S  CATHEDEAL,  LOOKING  EAST. 


cross,  and  not  tho  Church,  was  the  source  of  forgive- 
ness ;  whose  Spirit,  and  not  the  Sacrament,  was  the 
author  of  holiness  ;  and  whose  righteousness  alone, 
and  not  the  merits  of  men  either  dead  or  living,  was 
the  foundation  of  the  sinner's  justification.  These 
views  they  had  not  received  from  Wittemberg ;  for 
Luther  was  only  then  beginning  his  career :  their 
knowledge  of  Divine  things  they  had  received  from 
the  Bible,  and  from  the  Bible  alone ;  and  they  laid 

135 


but  it  is  tho  path  of  Tyndalo  that  we  are  to  follow, 
more  glorious  than  that  of  the  other  two,  though  it 
seemed  not  so  to  the  world.  Having  completed 
liis  studies  at  Cambridge,  Tyndale  came  back  to 
his  native  Gloucestershire,  and  became  tutor  in  the 
family  of  Sir  John  Walsh,  of  Sodbury  Hall.  At 
the  table  of  his  patron  he  met  daily  the  clergy  of 
the  neighbourhood,  "  abbots,  deans,  archdeacons, 
with   divers   other   doctors,    and   great    beneficed 


3G2 


HISTORY   OF   PROTP]STANTISI\r. 


men."'  Tii  iliu  oouvprs-.itious  tli;it  ensued  the  name 
of  Luther,  who  was  then  beginuing  to  be  lieaiil  of, 
was  often  mentioned,  and  from  the  man  tlie  tran- 
sition was  easy  to  his  opinions.  Tlie  young  student 
from  Cambridge  did  not  conceal  liis  sympatliy  with 
tlie  (Jerman  monk,  and  kept  his  Greek  New 
Testament  ever  beside  him  to  support  his  senti- 
ments, which  stai-tled  one  half  of  those  around  the 
table,  and  scandalised  the  other  half.  The  dis- 
putants often  grew  warm.  "  That  is  the  book  that 
makes  heretics,"  said  the  priests,  glancing  at  the 
unwelcome  volume.  "  The  source  of  all  heresies 
is  pride,"  would  the  humble  tutor  reply  to  the 
lordly  clergy  of  the  rich  valley  of  the  Severn. 
"  The  ^■ulgar  cannot  imderstand  the  Word  of  God," 
said  the  priests;  "it  is  the  Church  that  gave  the 
Bible  to  man,  and  it  is  only  her  priests  that  can 
interpret  it."  "  Do  you  know  who  taught  the 
eagles  to  find  their  prey  V  asked  Tyndale ;  "that 
same  God  teaches  his  cliildren  to  find  their  Father 
ill  his  Word.  Far  from  liaA-ing  given  us  the 
Scriptiu-es,  it  is  you  who  have  hidden  them  from 
xis." 

The  ciy  of  heresy  was  raised  against  the  tutor ; 
and  the  lower  clergy,  resorting  to  the  ale-house, 
harangued  those  whom  they  found  assembled  there, 
violently  declaiming  against  the  errors  of  Tyndale.^ 
A  secret  accusation  was  laid  against  him  before  the 
bishop's  chancellor,  but  Tyndale  defended  himself 
so  admirably  that  he  escaped  out  of  the  hands  ot 
his  enemies.  He  now  began  to  explain  the  Scrip- 
tm-es  on  Sundays  to  Sir  John  and  liLs  household 
and  tenantry.  He  next  extended  his  laboura  to  the 
neighbouring  villages,  scattering  with  his  li-\-ing 
voice  that  precious  seed  to  which  as  yet  the  people 
had  no  access,  in  their  mother  tongue,  in  a  printed 
foiTTi.  He  extended  his  preachmg  tours  to  Bristol, 
and  its  citizens  assembled  to  hear  him  in  St.  Aus- 
tin's Green. '  But  no  sooner  had  he  sowed  the  seed 
than  the  priests  hastened  to  destroy  it ;  and  when 
Tyndale  returned  he  found  that  liis  labour  had 
been  in  vain  :  the  field  was  i-avaged.  "  Oh,"  said 
he,  "  if  the  people  of  England  had  the  Word  of 
God  in  their  o^vn  language  this  would  not  lia])iDen. 
Without  this  it  vnil  be  impossible  to  establish  i]w 
laity  in  the  truth." 

It  was  now  that  the  sublime  idea  entered  his 
mind  of  translating  and  pi-inting  the  Scriptures. 
The  pro])hets  spake  in  the  language  of  the  men 
whom  they  addressed ;  the  songs  of  the  temple 
were  uttered  in  the  vernacular  of  the  Hebrew 
nation ;  and   the  epistles   of  the  New  Testament 


'  Fox,  Acts  and  Hon.,  vol.  T.,  p.  115i 
»  Ibkl.,  p.  117. 


were  written  in  ilio  tongiic  of  those  to  whom  they 
were  sent ;  and  why,  asked  Tyndale,  should  not 
the  people  of  England  have  the  Oracles  of  God  in 
their  mother  tongue  %  "  If  God  spare  my  life,"  said 
he,  "  I  will,  before  many  years  have  passed,  cause 
the  boy  that  driveth  the  plough  to  know  more  of 
the  Scriptures  than  the  priests  do."* 

But  it  was  plaui  that  Tyndale  could  not  accom- 
plish what  he  now  proposed  should  be  his  life's 
woi'k  at  Sodbury  Hall :  the  hostility  of  the  priests 
was  too  strongly  excited  to  leave  him  in  quiet. 
Bidding  Sir  John's  family  adieu  he  repaired  (1523) 
to  the  metropolis.  He  had  hoped  to  find  admission 
into  the  household  of  Tonstall,  Bishop  of  London, 
whose  learning  Erasmus  had  lauded  to  the  skies, 
and  at  whose  door,  coming  as  he  did  on  a  learned 
and  ])ious  errand,  the  young  scholar  persuaded 
himself  he  should  find  an  instant  and  cordial 
welcome.  A  friend,  to  whom  he  had  brought 
letters  of  recommendation  from  Sir  John,  men- 
tioned liis  name  to  Bishop  Tonstall  ;  he  even 
obtained  an  audience  of  the  bishop,  but  only  to 
have  his  hopes  dashed.  "  My  house  is  already 
full,"  said  the  bishop  coldly.  He  turned  away : 
there  was  no  room  for  him  in  the  episcopal  palace 
to  translate  the  Scriptures.  But  if  the  doors  of  the 
bishop's  palace  were  closed  against  him,  the  door 
of  a  rich  London  merchant  was  now  opened  for  his 
reception,  in  the  following  manner. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  iu  the  metropolis,  Tyndale 
began  to  preach  in  public  :  among  his  hearei-s  was 
one  Humphi-ey  Monmouth,  who  had  learned  to 
love  the  Gosjjel  from  listening  to  Dean  Colet. 
Wlien  repulsed  by  Tonstall,  Tyndale  told  Mon- 
mouth of  liis  disappointment.  "  Come  and  live 
with  me,"  said  the  wealthy  merchant,  who  was  ever 
ready  to  show  hospitality  to  poor  disciples  for  the 
Gospel's  sake.  He  took  iip  his  abode  in  Mon- 
mouth's house ;  he  lived  abstemiously^  at  a  table 
loaded  with  delicacies ;  and  he  studied  night  and 
day,  being  intent  on  kindling  a  torch  that  should 
illuminate  England.  Eager  to  finish,  he  summoned 
Fiyth  to  his  aid  ;  and  the  two  friends  working  to- 
gether, chapter  after  chapter  of  the  New  Testament 
passed  from  the  Greek  into  the  tongue  of  England. 

The  two  scholars  had  been  a  full  half-year  en- 
gaged in  their  work,  when  the  storm  of  persecution 
broke  out  afresh  in  London.  Inquisition  was  made 
for  all  who  had  any  of  Luther's  works  in  tlieu- 
possession,  the  readers  of  which  were  threatened 
with  the  fire.     "  If,"  said  Tyndale,  "  to  possess  the 


*  Pox,  vol.  v.,  p.  117. 

"•  "  By  his  good  will  ho  would  cat  but  sodden  meat,  and 
drink  l)Ut  small  singlu  beer."  (Monmouth,  on  his  exaini- 
nation— Fox,  vol.  iv.,  p.  618.) 


"DEFENDER   OF  THE   FAITH.' 


363 


works  of  Luther  exposes  one  to  a  stake,  how  much 
gi'eater  must  be  the  crime  of  translating  the  Scrip- 
tures!" His  friends  ui'ged  him  to  withdi-aw,  as 
the  only  chance  left  him  of  ever  accomplishing  the 
work  to  which  he  had  devoted  himself  Tjndale 
had  no  alternative  but  to  adojot  ■svith  a  heavy  heart 
the  course  his  friends  recommended.  "  I  iinder- 
Btood  at  the  last,"  said  he,  "  not  only  that  there  was 
no  room  in  my  lord  of  London's  palace  to  translate 
the  New  Testament,  but  also  that  there  was  no 
place  to  do  it  in  all  England."'  Stepping  on  board 
a  vessel  in  the  Thames  that  was  loading  for  Ham- 
burg, and  taking  with  him  his  Greek  New  Testa- 
ment, he  saUed  for  Gennany. 

While  Tyndale  is  crossing  the  sea,  we  must  give 
attention  to  other  matters  which  meanwhile  had 
been  transpiring  in  England.  The  wTitings  of 
Luther  had  by  this  time  entered  the  kingdom  and 
were  being  widely  cii'culated.  The  eloquence  of  his 
words,  fitly  sustained  by  the  heroism  of  his  deeds, 
roused  the  attention  of  the  English  peoj)le,  who 
watched  the  career  of  the  monk  with  the  deejsest 
interest.  His  noble  stand  before  the  Diet  at 
Worms  crowned  the  interest  his  first  appearance 
had  awakened.  As  when  fresh  oil  is  poured  into 
the  dying  lamp,  the  spirit  of  Lollardism  revived. 
It  leaped  up  in  new  breadth  and  splendour.  The 
bishops  took  the  alarm,  and  held  a  council  to  de- 
liberate on  the  measures  to  be  taken.  The  bull  of 
Leo"  against  Luther  had  been  sent  to  England,  and 
it  was  resolved  to  publish  it.  The  Cardinal-legate 
Wolsey,  following  at  no  humble  distance  Pope  Leo, 
also  issued  a  bull  of  his  own  against  Luther,  and 
both  were  published  in  all  the  cathedral  and  parish 
churches  of  England  on  the  fii-st  Sunday  of  June, 
1.521.  The  bull  of  Wolsey  was  read  during  high 
m:uss,  and  that  of  Leo  was  nailed  up  on  the  church 
door.  The  principal  i-esult  of  this  jiroceeding  was 
to  advertise  the  wi-itings  of  Luther  to  the  people  of 
England.  The  car  of  Reformation  was  advancing ; 
the  priests  had  taken  counsel  to  stop  it,  but  the  only 
effect  of  their  interference  was  to  make  it  move 
onwards  at  an  accelerated  speed. 

At  this  stage  of  the  controvei-sy  an  altogether 
unexpected  champion  stepped  into  the  arena  to  do 
battle  with  Luther.  This  was  no  less  a  personage 
than  the  King  of  England.  The  zeal  which  ani- 
mated Henry  for  the  Roman  traditions,  and  the 
fury  with  which  he  was  transported  against  the 
man  who  was  uprooting  them,  may  be  judged  of 
from  the  letter  he  addressed  to  Louis  of  Bavaria. 


"  That  this  fire,"  said  he,  "  which  has  been  kindled 
by  Luther,  and  fanned  by  the  arts  of  the  devil, 
should  have  raged  for  so  long  a  time,  and  be  still 
gatheiing  strength,  has  been  the  subject  to  me  of 
greater  gi-ief  than  tongue  or  pen  can  express. 
For  what  could  have  happened  moi-e  calamitous  to 
Gennany  than  that  she  should  have  given  birth  to 
a  man  who  has  dared  to  interpret  the  Divine  law, 
the  statutes  of  the  Fathers,  and  those  decrees  which 
have  received  the  consent  of  so  many  ages,  in  a 
manner  totally  at  variance  with  the  opinion  of  the 
learned  Fathers  of  the  Church  ....  We 
earnestly  implore  and  exhort  you  that  you  delay 
not  a  moment  to  seize  and  exterminate  this  Luther, 
who  is  a  rebel  against  Christ ;  and,  \inless  he  re- 
pents, deliver  himself  and  Ids  audacious  writings  to 
the  flames."^ 

This  shows  us  the  fate  that  would  probably 
have  awaited  Luther  had  he  lived  in  England : 
happily  his  lot  had  been  cast  under  a  more 
benignant  and  gi-acious  sovereign.  But  Hemy, 
debarred  in  this  case  the  use  of  the  stake, 
which  would  speedily  have  consumed  the  heretic, 
if  not  the  heresy,  made  haste  to  unsheathe 
the  controversial  sword.  He  attacked  Luther's 
Babylonian  Captivity  in  a  work  entitled  A 
Defence  of  the  Seven  Sacraments.  The  king's 
book  discovers  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
mediaeval  and  scholastic  inventions  and  decrees, 
but  no  knowledge  whatever  of  apostolic  doctrine. 
Luther  ascribed  it  to  Lee,  afterwaixls  Archbishop 
of  York  ;  others  have  thought  that  they  coidd  trace 
in  it  the  hand  of  Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester.  But 
we  see  no  reason  to  ascribe  it  to  any  one  save 
Henry  himself.  He  was  an  apt  scholar  of  Thomas 
Aquinas,  and  here  he  discusses  those  questions  only 
wliich  had  come  within  the  range  of  his  previous 
studies.^  He  dedicated  the  work  to  the  Pontiff, 
and  sent  a  splendidly  bound  copy  of  it  to  Leo.  It 
was  received  at  Rome  in  the  manner  that  we 
should  expect  the  work  of  a  king,  wi'itten  in  defence 
of  the  Papal  chaii',  to  be  received  by  a  Pope.  Leo 
eulogised  it  as  the  crowning  one  among  the  glories 
of  England,  and  he  rewarded  the  messenger,  who 
had  earned  it  across  the  Aljis,  by  giving  him  his  toe 
to  kiss  ;  and  recompensed  Henry  for  the  labour  he 
had  incurred  in  writing  it,  by  bestowing  upon  him 
(1.521)  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  which 
was  confirmed  by  a  bull  of  Clement  VII.  in  1523.* 
"  We  can  do  nothing  against  the  ti-uth,  but  for  it," 
wrote  an  apostle,  and  his  woi-ds  were  destined  to  be 


'  Writings  of  Tindal,  p.  4;   Eeligious  Tract   Society, 
London. 
-  See  ante,  vol.  i.,  p.  310. 


'■'  Gerdesius,  Hist.  iJe/orm.,  torn,  iv.,  appen.  xxii.,  p.  117. 

<  Ibid.,  torn,  iv.,  pp.  177,  178. 

'  See  bull  in  Gerdesius,  torn,  iv.,  app.  xxiv. 


364 


HISTOKY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


signally  veritieil  in  tlip  C;i80  of  the  King  of  Englnud. 
Henry  set  <ip  TiaiUtiou  anil  the  Supremacy  as  the 
main  buttresses  of  the  Papal  system.  The  nation 
was  wearying  of  both ;  the  king's  defence  but 
showed  the  Protestants  where  to  direct  then-  as- 
sault ;  and  as  for  the  applauses  from  the  Vatican, 
so  agreeabh^  to  the  royal  car,  these  were  speedily 
drowned  in  the  thvmders  of  Luther ;  and  most 
people  came  to  see,  though  all  did  not  acknowledge 
it,  that  if  Heniy  the  king  was  above  the  monk, 
Hemy  the  author  was  below  him. 

Wolsey  now  turned  his  face  toward  the  Popedom. 
If  he  had  succeeded  in  acliieving  this,  which  was  the 
summit  of  his  ambition,  he  wonid  have  attempted 
to  revive  the  glories  of  the  era  of  Innocent  III. : 
it-s  substantial  power  he  never  could  have  wielded, 
for  the  wars  of  the  fifteenth  century,  by  putting  the 
kings  above  the  Popes,  had  made  that  impossible. 
Still,  as  Pope,  Wolsey  would  have  been  a  more  for- 
midable opponent  of  the  Reformation  than  either 
Leo  or  Clement.  It  was  clear  that  he  could  reach 
the  dignity  to  wliicli  he  aspired  only  by  the  help  of 
one  or  other  of  the  two  great  Continental  sovereign.s 
of  his  time,  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.  He  was  on 
the  most  friendly  footing  with  Francis,  whereas  he 
had  contracted  a  strong  dislike  to  Chai-les,  and  the 
emjieror  was  well  aware  that  the  cardinal  loved 
him  not.  Still,  on  weighing  the  matter,  Wolsey 
saw  that  of  the  two  sovei-eigns  Charles  was  the 
abler  to  assist  him ;  so  breaking  with  Fi-ancis,  and 
smothering  his  disgust  of  the  emperor,  he  solicited 
his  interest  to  secure  the  tiara  for  him  when  it 
should  become  vacant.  That  monarch,  who  could 
dissemble  as  well  as  Wolsey,  well  knowing  the 
influence  of  tlic  cardinal  with  Henry  VIII.,  and 
his  power  in  England,  met  this  request  with  pro- 
niises  and  flatteries.  Charles  thought  he  was  safe 
in  promising  the  tiara  to  one  who  was  some  years 
older  than  its  present  possessor,  for  Leo  was  still  in 
the  prime  of  life.  The  immediate  result  of  this 
friendship,  hollow  on  both  sides,  was  a  war  between 
Francis  and  the  emperor.  Meauwliile  Leo  suddenly 
died,  and  the  sincerity  of  Charles,  sooner  than  he 
had  thought,  wa.s  put  to  the  test.  With  no  small 
chagrin  and  moi-tilicatiou,  which  he  judged  it  politic 
meanwhile  to  conceal,  Wolsey  saw  Adrian  of 
Utrecht,  the  emperor's  tutor,  placed  in  the  Papal 
chair.  But  Adrian  was  an  old  man ;  it  was  not 
j>robable  that  he  would  long  survive  to  sway  the 
spiritual  sceptre  of  Christendom,  and  Charles  con- 
soled the  disappointed  cardinal  by  renewing  his 
promise  of  support  when  a  new  election,  which 
could  not  be  distant,  should  take  place.'     But  we 


>  Burnet.  Hist,  of  Reform.,  vol.  i.,  p.  4.;  Loncl.,  1681. 


must  leave  the  cardinal,  his  eyes  still  fixed  on  the 
dazzling  prize,  and  follow  the  track  of  one  who  also 
was  aspii'ing  to  a  c^o^vn,  but  one  more  truly  gloriou.s 
than  that  of  Pope  or  emperor. 

We  have  seen  Tyndale  set  sail  for  Gennany. 
Arri\'ing  at  Hambuig,  he  unpacked  the  MS.  sheets 
which  he  had  first  begun  in  the  valley  of  the  Severn, 
and  resumed  on  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  gi-eat  design.  William  Roye,  formerly 
a  Franciscan  friar  at  Greenwich,  but  who  had  abair- 
doned  the  cloister,  became  his  as.sistant.  The  Gos- 
pels of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark  were  translated 
and  printed  at  Hamburg,  and  in  1524  were  sent 
across  to  Monmouth  in  London,  as  the  first-fi-uits  of 
his  great  task.  The  merchant  sent  the  translator  a 
much-needed  supply  of  money,  which  enabled  Tyn- 
dale to  pay  a  visit  to  Luther  in  Wittemberg,  whence 
he  returned,  and  estal)lished  himself  at  the  printing- 
house  of  Quentel  and  Byi'ckmau  in  Cologne. 
Resimimg  his  great  labour,  he  began  to  print  an 
edition  of  .3,000  copies  of  his  English  New  Testa- 
ment. Sheet  after  sheet  was  passing  through  the 
press.  Great  was  Tyndale's  joy.  He  had  taken 
every  precaution,  meanwliile,  against  a  seizure, 
knowing  this  archiepiscopal  seat  to  be  vigorously 
watched  by  a  numerous  and  jealous  priesthood. 
The  tenth  sheet  was  in  the  press  when  BjTckman, 
hurrying  to  him,  informed  him  that  the  Senate  had 
ordered  the  printing  of  the  work  to  be  stopped. 
All  was  discovered  then  !  Tyndale  was  stunned. 
Must  the  labour  of  years  be  lost,  and  the  enlighten- 
ment of  England,  which  had  seemed  so  near,  be 
frustrated  ?  His  resolution  was  taken  on  the  spot. 
Going  straight  to  the  printing-house,  he  packed  up 
the  printed  sheets,  and  bidding  Roye  follow,  he 
stepped  into  a  boat  on  the  Rhine  and  ascended  the 
river.  It  was  Coehlreus  who  had  come  upon  the 
track  of  the  English  New  Testament,  and  hardly 
was  Tyndale  gone  when  the  officers  from  the  Senate, 
led  by  the  dean,  entered  the  printmg-house  to  seize 
the  work.- 

After  some  days  Tyndale  arrived  at  Worms,  that 
little  town  which  Luther's  visit,  four  years  before, 
had  invested  with  a  halo  of  historic  glory.  On 
his  way  thither  he  thought  less,  doubtless,  of  the 
picturesque  hills  that  enclose  the  "  mOk-white " 
ri\Tr,  with  the  ruined  castles  that  crown  their 
summits,  and  the  antique  tovnis  that  nestle  at  their 
feet,  than  of  the  precious  wares  embarked  with 
him.  These  to  his  delight  he  safely  convej'ed  to 
the  printing-house  of  Peter  Schrefer,  the  grandson 
of  Fust,   one  of   the  inventors   of   the  art.     Ho 


-  Anderson,  Annals  of  the  En'jUsTi  Bible,  vol.  i.,  p.  10 
et  seq.    Cochljcus,  p.  126.    Fox,  vol.  v.,  p.  119. 


YOUNG   HUGH   LATIMER. 


365 


instantly  resumed  the  jirinting,  but  to  niisloiul  tlie 
spies,  who,  he  thought  it  probuljlc,  woukl  follow 
liini  hither,  he  changed  the  form  of  the  work  from 
the  qnarto  to  the  uctaro,  which  was  an  advantage 
iu  the  end,  as  it  greatly  facilitated  the  circula- 
tion.' 

The  printing  of  the  two  editions  was  completed 
in  the  end  of  1.525,  and  soon  thereafter  1,500  cojjies 
were  dispatched  to  England.  "  Give  diligence  "■ — 
so  ran  the  solemn  charge  that  accompanied  them,  to 
the  nation  to   which   the   waves  were  wafting  the 


precious  pages — "  unto  the  words  of  eternal  life,  by 
the  which,  if  we  repent  and  believe  them,  we  ai-c  born 
anew,  created  afresh,  and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  the 
lilood  of  Christ."  Tpidale  had  done  his  great  work. 
While  Wolsey,  seated  in  the  splendid  halls  of  his 
palace  at  Westminster,  had  been  intriguing  for  the 
tiara,  that  he  might  conserve  the  darkness  that 
covered  England,  Tyndale,  in  obscure  lodgings  in 
the  German  and  Flemish  towns,  had  been  toUing 
night  and  day,  in  cold  and  hunger,  to  kindle  a  torch 
that  mii;ht  ilkmiinate  it. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

TYMDALe's   new   testament  arrives    IX    ENGLAND. 

Bilney's  Labours  at  Cambridge— Hugh  Latimer— His  Education- Monkiah  Asceticism— Bilney's  Device— Latimer's 
Conversion— Power  of  liis  Preaching  — Wolsey's  College — The  Bishops  try  to  Arrest  the  Evaugelisation—Pi-ior 
Buckingham— Bishop  of  Ely  and  Latimer— Dr.  Barnes  and  the  Augustine  Convent— Workers  at  Cambridge — 
Excitement  at  Cambridge  and  Oxford— Desire  for  the  Word  of  God— Tyudale's  New  Testament  Arrives  in  London 
—Distributed  by  Gai-ret  in  the  City— in  Oxford— over  the  Kingdom— Its  Reception  by  the  English  People. 


While  the  English  New  Testament  was  approach- 
ing the  shores  of  Britain,  preparations,  all  unsus- 
pected by  men,  were  being  made  for  its  reception. 
The  sower  never  goes  forth  till  first  the  plough  has 
opened  the  furrow.  Bilney,  as  we  have  already 
said,  was  the  fir.st  conveit  whom  the  Greek  New 
Testament  of  Erasmus  had  drawn  away  from  the 
Pojje  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  Christ.  When  Tyndale 
was  compelled  to  seek  a  foreign  shore,  Bilney 
remained  behind  in  England.  His  face  was  pale, 
for  Ids  constitution  was  sickly,  and  his  fiists  were 
frequent ;  but  his  eye  sixirkled,  and  his  conversation 
was  full  of  life,  inilicating,  as  Fox  tells  us,  the  \ehe 
ment  desire  that  burned  within  him  to  draw  others 
to  the  Gospel.  Soon  we  find  him  surrounded  by  a 
little  company  of  converts  from  the  students  and 
Fellows  of  Cambridge.  Among  these  was  George 
Stafford,  professor  of  divinity,  whose  pure  life  and 
deep  learning  made  his  conversion  as  gi'eat  a  loss 
to  the  supporters  of  the  old  religion  as  it  was  a 
strength  to  the  disciples  of  the  Protestant  faith. 
But  the  man  of  all  this  little  band  destined  to  bo 
hereafter  the  most  con.spicuous  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Ivefonuatiou  was  Hugh  Latimer. 

Latimer  was  the  son  of  a  yeoman,  and  was  born 
at  Thurcaston,  in  Leicestei'shire,  about   the  year 

'  In  the  Museum  of  the  Baptist  College  at  Bristol  is  a 
copy  of  the  octavo  edition  of  Tyndale's  New  Testament. 
{Ann.o/Eng.  Bible,  i.  70.) 


Ii72.  He  entered  Cambridge  the  .same  3'ear  (1505) 
that  Luther  entered  the  Augustine  Convent ;  and 
he  became  a  Fellow  of  Clai-e  Hall  in  the  year  (1509) 
that  Calvin  was  bom.  Of  a  serious  turn  of  miiid 
from  his  boyhood,  he  gave  liimself  ardently  to  the 
study  of  the  schoolmen,  and  he  so  di-ank  in  their 
spirit,  that  vrhen  he  took  orders  he  was  noted  for 
his  gloomy  asceticism.  The  outbreak  of  what  he 
deemed  heresy  at  Cambridge  gave  him  intolerable 
pain  ;  he  railed  spitefully  against  Staflbrd,  who  was 
giving  lectures  on  the  Scriptures,  and  he  could 
hardly  refrain  from  using  violence  to  compel  his 
companions  to  desist  from  reading  the  Greek  Nev/ 
Testament.  The  clergy  were  delighted  to  see  such 
zeal  for  the  Church,  and  they  rewarded  it  by 
appomting  him  cross-bearer  to  the  nniversity.- 
The  young  priest  strode  on  before  the  doctors, 
bearing  aloft  the  sacred  .symbol,  with  an  air  that 
showed  how  proud  he  was  of  his  office.  He 
signalised  the  taking  of  his  degree  as  Bachelor 
of  Divinity,  by  delivering  a  violent  Latin  discourse 
against  Philip  Melancthon  and  his  doctrines. 

But  there  was  one  who  had  once  been  as  gi'eat 
a  zealot  as  himself,  who  was  watching  his  career 
■with  deep  anxiety,  not  unmingled  with  hope,  and 
was  even  then  searching  in  his  qui-(-er  for  the 
arrow  that  should  brhig  down  this  strong  man. 
Tliis  was  Bilney.     After  re^wated  failures  he  found 


Fox,  vol.  iv.,  p.  620. 


36G 


HISTOEY   OF   PKOTESTANTISM. 


at  last  the  shaft  tliat,  jiierciiig  Latimer's  armour, 
made  its  way  to  his  heart.  "  For  the  love  of 
God,"  said  Bilney  to  him  one  day,  "  be  pleased  to 
hear  my  confession."  '  It  was  a  recantation  of  his 
Lutheranism,  doubtless  thought  Latimer,  that  was 
to  be  poured  into  his  ear.  Bilnej'  dropped  on  his 
knees  before  Latimer,  and  beginning  his  confession, 
he  unfolded  his  former  anguish,  his  long  but  fruit- 
less eftbrts  for  relief,  his  peace  at  last,  not  in  the 


by  One  who  said  to  him,  "  Son,  be  of  good  cheer, 
thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee."  So  has  Latimer  him- 
self told  us  in  his  sermons.  His  conversion  was 
instantaneous. 

That  ardour  of  temperament  and  energy  of  zeal, 
which  Latimer  had  aforetime  devoted  to  the  ma.ss, 
he  now  transferred  to  the  Gospel.  The  black 
garment  of  asceticism  he  put  off  at  once,  and 
clothed  himself  with  the  bright  robe  of  evangelical 


T4tlje  \»Olt)«  ofC|C«) 

re  hit  muUipIict^? 
roaWtlj  t\)i  poeple 
better,  wbere  hit  is 
mot  vt)6£Tftobe/th' 
«atc  [)\t  tmnml) 
tmakith  thecocple 


out «f ttje  b ouffc/attb  fait  V tb«  fee  fyVe/an^  "lo  =        ' 
chepe-Ciple  refortt'b  Tontoljim/fo  3retlj>t^at  IjETOet 
anb  fatmaf^)))'j3«/an^ain^upeoplc  ftoWontlje 

tocb/  \an\t  fell  by  tl)e  xoa-)<i<o  fpt-ji  t^e  fotollf  ca/atib  bevoxv 
TcbUxippe.  ©"omcfellapoti  flonygrcoiibewbe.TeitW'onott 
liiacyeTt|)/atib  anonit  fprongctippe/kcatife  it  \)ax>  noSe*- 
Tp\)i  of «vtl): anb  wbn tl)«  fon  teas  loppe  /Ijit cavt^  l)«<it  /anb 
for  late  of  rot^nse  w^bl>veb  awa^e.Qottie-  fdl  awoTigc  tbot* 
ms  /  attb  i^n  ttiOrncs  arofe  /anbcticicrhbit.  parte  fell  in 
Scobagrowtik/atib  broQl)t  fort^scob  frutr.  foTncaT<l)\ia<^ 
treb  folVfojne  fyftf  folVf»"T«  %1't)'  folW. VDl)orc«wr  (jat^ 
earjs  to  bcare/letpim  l)care. 

C[2(nbl)\)i5 bifciplis  cam /apb fa:vbe to ^im:  tt>l)^  fpeaFcft 
tboiT  tot^c)T)inj>ambleS!  t)«anft»«reb  anb  faibe  onto  t^«m: 
J^it  is  gevcn  vnto  :?oiito  fnowt  tl)e  fecrettf  of  tb^  f^jngbo'/ 
meoft)cvcn/buttott;em  it«tiott  g4V(m.  f or  tcl)of»"^«v^T 
l)atb/te  t)itn  f  ^all  l)tt  bc^even :  anb  be  (ball  bave  abounban--'^  '^" 
T)te*  Sut  t»l)ofoeucv  batl)  nott:  from  bim  fbalbc  taFyna 
vDay«  eve  tt)at  fame  tbaib^Mb-SbetfoTefpeafe^totbrn 
infimiKhib-f:  Jor tljougbtbey  [e/tbev  fCDolt:  anb  bearvnge 
tbeybcaTenottnetbcrv^betftonbe.^nbititbemjps  fTjlfyllcb  efa.X'i. 
tt)e  Uropbefy  ofefav/tDbicbpropbefi  favtb :  wirt)  >'onrcGarcs 
yefboU  b^are/anb  f  ballnot  unbcrflobe/  anb  roitt)  yoore?yes 
))«fbaU  fc/anb  fball  not  pmeave  3<>t  tljis  peoples  bert j)S 


FAC-SIMILi;  OF  ST.  MATTHEW's  GOSPEL,  CHAPTER  XIII.,  VEKSES  1  — 15;    FROM  TYXD.VLE'.^  TESTAMENT  (oCTAVO  EDITION). 


works  prescribed  l)y  the  Church,  but  in  the  Lamb 
of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world ; 
in  short,  he  detailed  the  whole  history  of  his  con- 
vei'sion.  As  he  spoke,  Latimer  felt  the  darkness 
■ttdthin  breaking  up.  He  saw  a  new  world  rising 
around  him — he  felt  the  hardness  of  his  heart 
passing  away — there  came  a  sense  of  sin,  and  with 
it  a  feeling  of  horror,  and  anon  a  burst  of  tears ; 
for  now  the  despair  was  gone,  the  free  forgiveness 
of  the  Gospel  had  been  suddenly  revealed  to  him. 
Before  rising  up  ho  had  confessed,  and  was  absolved 


'  Latimer'a  Sermous. 


joy.  He  grasped  the  great  idea  of  the  Gospel's 
absolute  freeness  even  better  than  Bilney,  or  in- 
deed than  any  convert  that  the  Protestantism  of 
the  sixteenth  century  had  yet  made  in  England  ; 
and  he  preached  with  a  breadth  and  an  eloquence 
which  had  never  before  been  heard  in  an  English 
pulpit.  He  was  now  a  true  cross-bearer,  and  the 
effects  that  followed  gave  no  feeble  presage  of  the 
glorious  light  with  which  the  preaching  of  the  Cross 
was  one  day  to  till  the  realm. 

While  the  day  was  opening  on  Cambridge,  its 
sister  Oxford  was  still  sitting  in  the  night,  but  now 
the  Protestaut  doctrines  began  to  be  heard  in  those 


WOLSEY  FOUNDS   A   COLLEGE   AT   OXFORD. 


367 


li;ills  iirounJ  which  there  still  lingered,  like  a  halo, 
the  memories  of  Wicliffe.  Wolsey  un\vittiiigly 
found  entrance  here  for  the  light.  Intending  to 
rear  a  monument  which  should  peipetuate  liis  name 
to  after-ages,  the  cardinal  projected  a  new  college 


at  this  university,  and  began  to  build  in  a  style  of 
most  unexampled  magniticenoe.  The  work  was  so 
costly  that  the  funds  soon  fell  short.  Wolsey 
obtained  a  supply  by  the  dissolution  of  the  monas- 
teiy  of  St.  Fridewide,  which,  having  been  surren- 


368 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


tiered  to  the  Cro\ra,  was  bestowed  by  Henry  on 
the  cardinal.  A  Papnl  bull  wiis  needed,  and 
procured,  to  sanction  the  transfer.  Wolsey,  j)ro- 
tectcd  by  this  precedent,  a.s  ho  thought,  proceeded 
to  confiscate  a  few  smaller  monasteries ;  but  a 
clamoiu'  arose  against  him  as  assailing  the  Church ; 
Le  was  compelled  to  stop,  and  it  was  said  of  him 
that  he  began  to  build  a  college  and  ended  by 
building  a  kitchen.  But  the  more  vital  part 
of  the  college  went  forwai-d  :  six  public  loctui-e- 
ships  were  established — one  of  theology,  one  of 
ci\dl  law,  one  of  medicine,  one  of  philosophy, 
one  of  mathematics,  and  one  of  the  Greek 
language.  Soon  after  Wolsey  added  to  these  a 
chair  of  humanity  and  rhetoric'  He  sought  all 
through  Europe  for  learned  men  to  fill  its  chairs, 
and  one  of  the  first  to  be  invited  was  John  Clark, 
a  Cambridge  Master  of  Arts,  learned,  conscientious, 
and  enlightened  by  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  no 
sooner  had  he  taken  his  jilace  at  that  famous  school 
than  he  began  to  expound  the  Scriptures  and  make 
converts.  Are  both  universities  to  become  foun- 
tains of  heresy  ?  asked  the  clergy  in  alarm.  The 
bishops  sent  do^\^l  a  commission  to  Cambridge  to 
make  an  investigation,  and  apprehend  such  as  might 
appear  to  be  the  leadei-s  of  this  movement.  The 
court  sat  down,  and  the  result  might  have  been 
what  indeed  took  place  later,  the  planting  of  a  few 
stakes,  had  not  an  order  siaddenly  arrived  from 
Wolsey  to  stop  proceedings.  The  Papal  chair  had 
again  become  vacant,  and  Wolsey  was  of  opinion, 
perhaps,  that  to  light  martyr-fires  at  that  moment 
in  England  would  not  tend  to  further  his  election  : 
as  a  consequence,  the  disciples  had  a  breathing- 
space.  This  tranrpiil  period  was  diligently  im- 
proved. Bilney  visited  the  jioor  at  their  own 
homes,  Stafford  redoubled  his  zeal  in  teaching,  and 
Latimer  waxed  every  day  more  bold  and  eloquent 
in  the  pulpit.  Knowing  on  what  task  Tyndale  was 
at  this  time  engaged,  Latimer  took  care  to  insist 
with  special  emphasis  on  the  duty  of  reading  the 
Word  of  God  in  one's  mother  tongue,  if  one  would 
avoid  the  snares  of  the  false  teacher. 

Larger  congregations  gathered  round  Latimer's 
pulpit  every  day.  The  audience  was  not  an  iin- 
mixed  one ;  all  in  it  did  not  listen  -wdth  the  same 
feelings.  The  majority  hung  upon  the  lips  of  the 
preacher,  and  drank  ii^  his  words,  as  men  athirst  do 
the  cu]]  of  cold  water  ;  but  here  and  there  dark 
faces,  and  eyes  burning  with  anger,  showed  that  all 
did  not  relLsh  the  doctrine.  The  dullest  among  the 
priesthood  could  see  that  the  Gospel  of  a  free  for- 


'  Fiddes,  Life  of  Wolsey,  p.  209  et  seq. 
Reform.,  vol.  i.,  p.  22. 


Burnet,  Hist,  of 


givoness  could  establish  itself  not  otherwi.sc  than 
upon  the  ruins  of  their  s\-stem,  and  felt  the  neces- 
sity of  taking  some  remedial  steps  before  the  evil 
should  be  consummated.  For  this  they  chose  one  of 
themselves,  Prior  Buckingham,  a  man  of  slender 
learnuig,  but  of  adventurous  coui-age.  Latimer, 
passing  over  Popes  and  Councils,  had  made  his 
appeal  to  the  Word  of  God  ;  the  prior  was  charged, 
therefore,  to  show  the  people  the  danger  of  reading 
that  book.  Buckingham  knew  hai-dly  anji^hing  of 
the  Bible,  but  setting  to  work  he  found,  after  some 
search,  a  passage  which  he  thought  had  a  very 
decidedly  dangerous  tendency.  Confident  of  suc- 
cess he  mounted  the  pulpit,  and  opening  the  New 
Testament  he  read  out,  with  much  solemnitj',  "  If 
thy  right  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast 
it  from  thee."  This,  said  he,  is  what  the  Bible 
bids  us  do.  Alas !  if  we  follow  it,  England  in  a 
few  years  will  be  a  "  nation  full  of  blind  beggars." 
Latimer  was  one  of  those  who  can  answer  a  fool 
according  to  his  folly,  and  he  announced  that  next 
Sunday  he  would  reply  to  the  Grey  Friar.  The 
church  was  crowded,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
audience,  planted  right  before  the  pulpit,  in  the 
frock  of  St.  Francis,  sat  Prior  Buckingham.  His 
fancied  triumph  could  yet  be  read  on  his  brow,  for 
his  pride  was  as  gi-eat  as  his  ignorance. 

Latimer  began ;  he  took  up  one  by  one  the  argii- 
ments  of  the  prior,  and  not  deeming  them  worthy 
of  gi'ave  refutation,  he  exposed  theii-  absurdity, 
and  castigated  their  author  in  a  fine  vein  of  irony 
and  ridicule.  Only  children,  he  said,  fail  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  popular  forms  of  speech  and 
their  deeper  meanings — between  the  image  and  the 
thing  wliich  the  image  represents.  "  For  instance," 
he  continued,  fixing  his  eye  on  Buckingham,  "  if 
we  see  a  fox  painted  jireaching  in  a  friar's  hood, 
nobody  imagines  that  a  fox  is  meant,  but  that  craft 
and  hypocrisy  are  described,  which  are  so  often 
found  disguised  in  that  garb."  -  The  blush  of  shame 
had  replaced  the  pride  on  Buckingham's  brow,  and 
rising  up,  he  hastily  quitted  the  church,  and  sought 
his  convent,  there  to  hide  his  confusion. 

Wlien  the  prior  retired  in  discomfiture,  a  greater 
functionary  came  forward  to  continue  the  battle. 
The  Bishoj)  of  Ely,  as  Ordinary  of  Cambridge,  for- 
bade Latimer  to  preach  either  in  the  univei'.sity  or 
in  the  diocese.  The  work  must  be  stopped,  and 
this  could  be  done  only  by  silencing  its  preacher. 
But  if  the  bishop  closed  one  door,  the  providence  of 
God  opened  another.  Robert  Bai-nes,  an  English- 
man, had  just  returned  from  Louvain,  with  a  great 
reputation  for  learning,  and  was  assembling  daily 

-  Gilpin,  lAfe  of  Latimer,  p.  10. 


TYNDALE'S   NEW   TESTAMENT   IN   ENGLAND. 


360 


crowds  nvoniid  him  liy  his  lectures  on  the  great 
writei's  of  antiquity,  in  the  Augustine  Convent,  of 
whicli  lio  had  been  appointed  prior.  From  the 
classics  lie  passed  to  the  New  Testament,  carrying 
with  him  his  audience.  In  instructuig  Ids  heareivs 
he  instructed  himself  also  in  the  Divine  myste- 
ries of  tlie  Pauline  Epistles.  About  the  time  that 
the  elorpient  voice  of  Latimer  was  silenced  by 
the  Bishop  of  Ely,  Barnes  had  come  to  a  fuller 
knowledge  of  the  Gospel ;  and,  tenderly  loving  its 
great  preacher,  he  said  to  Latimer  one  day,  "  The 
bishop  has  forbidden  you  to  preach,  but  my  monas- 
tery is  not  under  his  jurisdiction ;  come  and  preach 
in  my  pulpit."  The  brief  period  of  Latimer's  en- 
forced silence  had  but  quickened  the  public  interest 
in  the  Gospel.  He  entered  the  pulpit  of  the  Au- 
gustine Convent ;  the  crowds  that  gathered  round 
him  were  greater  than  ever,  and  the  preacher,  re- 
freshed in  soul  by  the  growing  interest  that  was 
taken  in  Divine  things  by  doctors,  students,  and 
townspeople,  preached  with  even  greater  warmth 
and  power.  The  kingdom  of  the  Gospel  was  being 
established  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  a  constellation 
of  lights  had  risen  in  tlie  sky  of  Cambridge — Bihiey, 
the  man  of  prayer ;  Bames,  the  scholar ;  Statibrd, 
whose  sjieech  dropped  as  the  dew  ;  and  Latimer,  wlio 
thundered  in  the  pulpit,  addressing  the  doctors  in 
Ijatin,  and  the  common  people  in  their  own  motlier 
tongue — tnie  yokefellows  all  of  them ;  their  gifts 
and  modes  of  acting,  which  were  wonderfully 
varied,  yet  most  happily  harmonised,  were  put 
foiih  ill  one  blessed  work,  on  which  God  the  Spirit 
was  setting  his  seal,  in  the  converts  which,  by 
their  labours,  were  being  daily  added  to  the  Gospel. 
This  was  not  as  yet  the  day,  but  it  was  the  morning 
— a  sweet  and  gi-acious  morning,  which  was  long 
remembered,  and  often  afterwards  spoken  about  in 
terms  which  liave  found  their  record  in  the  works 
of  one  of  the  converts  of  those  times — 

"  ^\'hcn  Master  Stafford  read, 
Ami  Master  Latimer  preaclicd, 
Tlien  was  Cambridge  blessed.'' ' 

Similar  scenes,  though  not  on  a  scale  quite  so 
marked,  were  at  this  hour  taking  ])lace  in  Oxford. 
Almost  all  the  scholars  whom  Wolsey  had  brought 
to  till  liis  new  cliaii-s  evinced  a  favour  for  the  new 
o])inions,  or  openly  ranged  themselves  on  their  side. 
Wolsey,  in  selecting  the  most  learned,  had  un- 
wittingly selected  those  most  friendly  to  Reform, 
besides  Clark,  whom  we  have  already  mentioned, 
and  the  new  men,  there  was  John  Fryth,  tin" 
modest  but  stable-minded  Clu-istian,  who  had  been 

'  Becon's  Works,  vol.  ii.,  y-  425. 


Tyndale's  associate  in  preparing  an  instrumentality 
which  was  destined  soon  and  powerfully  to  dispel 
the  darkness  that  still  rested  above  England,  and 
which  was  only  feebly  relieved  Vjy  the  partial  illumi- 
nation that  was  breaking  out  at  the  two  university 
seats  of  Cambridge  and  Oxford. 

A  desire  had  now  been  awakened  in  the  nation 
at  large  for  the  Word  of  God,  and  that  desire  could 
be  gratified  not  otherwise  than  by  having  the  Scrip- 
tures in  its  own  tongue.  The  learned  men  of 
England  had  been  these  nine  years  in  possession  of 
Erasmus'  Greek  and  Latin  New  Testament,  and  in 
it  they  had  access  to  the  fountain-heads  of  Divine 
knowledge,  but  the  common  people  must  receive 
the  Gosjjel  at  second  hand,  through  jjreachers  like 
Latimer.  This  was  a  method  of  communication  slow 
and  unsatisfactory;  something  more  direct,  full,  and 
rapid  could  alone  satisfy  the  popular  desire.  That 
wish  was  about  to  be  gratified.  The  fidness  of  the 
time  for  the  Bible  being  given  to  England  in  her 
own  tongue,  and  through  England  to  the  world  in 
all  the  tongues  of  earth,  had  now  come.  He  who 
brings  forth  the  sun  from  the  chambers  of  the  sky 
at  his  appointed  hour,  now  gave  commandment  that 
this  greater  light  should  come  forth  from  the  dark- 
ness in  which  it  had  been  so  long  hidden.  William 
Tyndale,  the  man  chosen  of  God  for  this  Labour, 
had,  as  we  have  seen,  finished  his  task.  The  pre- 
cious treasure  he  had  put  on  board  ship,  and  the 
waves  of  the  North  Sea  were  at  this  hour  bearing 
it  to  the  shores  of  England. 

Tyndale  had  entrusted  the  copies  of  his  New 
Testament,  not  to  one,  but  to  several  merchants. 
Carrying  it  on  boai'd,  and  hiding  it  among  theii' 
merchandise,  they  set  sail  with  tl;e  precious  volume 
from  Antwerp.  As  they  ascended  the  Thames  they 
began  to  be  uneasy  touching  their  venture.  C'och- 
Ifeus  had  sent  infoi-mation  that  the  Bible  translated 
by  Tyndale  was.  about  to  be  sent  into  England, 
and  had  advised  that  the  ports  should  be  watched, 
and  all  vessels  coming  from  Germany  examined; 
and  the  merchants  were  likely  to  find,  on  stejiping 
ashore,  the  king's  guards  waiting  to  seize  their 
books,  and  to  conmiit  themselves  to  prison.  Tiicir 
fears  were  disappoi)ited.  Tliey  were  allowed  to 
unload  their  vessels  without  molestation.  The  men 
whom  the  five  pious  merchants  had  imagined  stand- 
ing over  the  Word  of  God,  ready  to  desti'oy  it  the 
moment  it  was  landed  on  English  soil,  had  been 
dispersed.  The  king  was  at  Eitham  keeping  his 
Christmas ;  Tonstall  had  gone  to  Spain  ;  Cardinal 
Wolsey  had  some  pressing  political  matter.s  on 
hand ;  and  so  the  portentous  an-ival  of  which 
thoy  liad  been  advertised  was  overlooked.  The 
merchants  con-veyed  the  precious  treasure  they  had 


370 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


carried  across  the  sea  to  their  establishments  in 
Thames  Sti-eet.  The  Word  of  God  in  the  mother 
tongue  of  the  people  was  at  last  in  England. 

But  the  books  must  be  put  into  ciiculation.  The 
merchants  knew  a  pious  curate,  timid  in  things  of 
this  world,  bold  in  mattei-s  of  the  faith,  who  they 
thought  miglit  be  willing  to  undertake  the  dangerous 
work.  The  person  in  question  was  Thomas  Garret, 
of  All  Hallows,  Honey  Lane.  Garret  had  the 
books  conveyed  to  his  own  house,  and  hid  them 
there  till  he  should  be  able  to  arrange  for  their 
distribution.  Ha's'ing  meanwhile  read  them,  and 
felt  how  full  of  light  were  these  holy  books,  he  but 
the  more  ardently  longed  to  disseminate  them.  He 
began  to  circulate  them  in  London,  by  selling 
copies  to  his  friends.  He  next  started  off  for 
Oxford,  canying  wath  him  a  large  supply.  Students, 
doctoi-s,  monks,  townspeople  began  to  purchase  and 
read.'  The  English  New  Testament  soon  found  its 
way  to  Cambridge ;  and  from  the  two  \iniversities 
it  was  in  no  long  time  diffused  over  the  whole 
kingdom.  This  was  in  the  end  of  1525,  and  the 
beginning  of  1526.  The  day  had  broken  in  Eng- 
land with  the  Greek  and  Latin  New  Testament  of 
Erasmus  ;  now  it  was  approaching  noontide  splen- 
dour with  Tyndale's  English  New  Testament. 

We  in  this  age  find  it  impossible  to  realise  the 
transition  that  was  now  accomplished  by  the  people 
of  England.  To  them  the  publication  of  the 
Word  of  God  in  their  own  tongue  was  the  lifting 
up  of  a  veil  from  a  world  of  which  before  they  had 
heard  tell,  but  which  now  they  saw.  The  wonder 
and  ravishment  with  which  they  gazed  for  the 
fii-st  time  on  objects  so  pure,  so  beautiful,  and  so 
transcendently  majestic,  and  the  delight  ^vith  which 
they  were  filled,  we  cannot  at  all  conceive.  There 
were  narratives  and  doctrines ;  there  were  semions 
and  epistles ;  there  were  incidents  and  prayers ; 
there  were  miracles  and  apocalyptic  visions ;  and 
in    the    centre   of    all    these    glories,    a   majestic 

'  Fox,  vol.  v.,  p.  428.  Strype,  Memorials  of  Thomas 
Cranmer,  p.  81 ;  Lond.,  1694 


Personage,  so  human  and  yet  so  Divine ;  noi 
the  ten-ible  Judge  which  Rome  had  painted  him ; 
but  the  Brother :  veiy  accessible  to  men,  "  receiv- 
ing ainnei-s  and  eating  with  them."  And  what 
a  burden  was  taken  from  the  conscience  by  the 
annoimcement  that  the  forgiveness  of  the  Cross 
was  altogether  free !  How  difl;erent  was  the 
Gospel  of  the  New  Testament  from  the  Gospel 
of  Rome  !  In  the  latter  all  was  mystery,  in  the 
former  all  was  plain ;  the  one  addressed  men  only 
in  the  language  of  the  schools,  the  other  spoke  to 
them  in  the  tenns  of  every  daj'.  In  the  one  there 
was  a  work  to  be  done,  painful,  laborious ;  and  he 
that  came  short,  though  but  in  one  iota,  exposed 
himself  to  all  the  curses  of  the  law;  in  the  other 
there  was  simply  a  gift  to  be  received,  for  the  work 
had  been  done  for  the  poor  sinner  by  Another,  and 
he  found  himself  at  the  open  gates  of  Paradise.  It 
needed  no  one  but  his  own  heart,  now  unburdened 
of  a  mighty  load,  and  filled  with  a  joy  never  tasted 
before,  to  tell  the  man  that  this  was  not  the  Gospel 
of  the  priest,  but  the  Gospel  of  God  ;  and  that  it  had 
come,  not  from  Rome,  but  from  Heaven. 

Another  advantage  resulting  from  what  Tyndale 
had  done  was  that  the  Scriptures  had  been  brought 
gi-eatly  more  witliin  reach  of  all  classes  than  they 
ever  were  before.  Wiclifle's  Bible  existed  only  in 
manuscript,  and  its  cost  was  so  gi'eat  that  only 
noblemen  or  wealthy  persons  could  buy  it.  Tyn- 
dale's New  Testament  was  not  much  more  than  a 
twentieth  part  the  cost  of  Wicliffe's  version.  A 
hundred  years  before,  the  price  of  Wiclifle's  New 
Testament  was  nearly  three  pounds  sterling  ;  but 
now  the  printed  copies  of  Tyndale's  were  sold  for 
three  shillmgs  and  sixjjence.  If  we  compare  these 
prices  with  the  value  of  money  and  the  wages  of 
labour  at  the  two  eras,  we  shall  find  that  the  cost 
of  the  one  was  nearly  forty  times  gi-eater  than  that 
of  the  other  ;  in  other  words,  the  wages  of  a  whole 
year  would  have  done  little  more  than  buy  a  New 
Testament  of  Wiclifle's,  whereas  the  wages  of  a 
fortnight  would  suflice  for  the  labourer  to  possess 
himself  of  a  copy  of  Tyndale's. 


AEEEST   OF   EEFORMEIIS   AT   OXFORD. 


371 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    BIBLE   AND   THE   CELLAR   AT   OXFORD — ANNE    BOLEYN. 


EuliMiice  of  the  Scriptures— Garret  carries  them  to  Oxford — Pursuit  of  Gan-et— His  Appreheueion— Imprisonments 
at  Oxford— The  Cellar— Clarlc,  Fryth,  ic,  do  Penance— Their  Sufferings— Deatli  of  Clark-Other  Three  Die— 
The  Kest  Released— Cambridge— Dr.  Barnes  Apprehended — A  Penitential  Procession  in  London— Purchase  and 
Burning  of  Tyndale's  Testaments  by  the  Bishop  of  London— Now  Edition— The  Divorce  Stirred— Anne  Boleyn— 
Her  Beauty  and  Virtues— Knight  Sent  to  Kome  on  the  Divorce— A  Captive  Pope— Two  Kings  at  his  Feet. 


WuEN  Gotl  is  to  begin  a  work  of  reformatiou  in 
the  world,  he  fii-st  sends  to  men  the  Word  of  Life. 
The  winds  of  passion — the  intrigues  of  statesmen, 
the  ambitions  of  mouarchs,  the  wars  of  nations — 
next  begin  to  blow  to  clear  the  path  of  the  move- 
ment. So  was  it  in  England.  The  Bible  had 
taken  its  place  at  the  centre  of  the  field  ;  and  now 
other  parties — Cardinal  Wolsey  and  King  Henry 
within  the  country;  the  Pope,  the  Emj)eror,  and  the 
King  of  France  outside  of  it — hastened  to  act  their 
important  though  subordinate  parts  in  that  grand 
transformation  which  the  Bible  was  to  woi-k  on 
England.  It  is  on  this  troubled  stage  that  we  are 
iibout  to  set  foot ;  but  first  let  us  follow  a  little 
farther  the  immediate  fortunes  of  the  newly  trans- 
lated Scriptures,  and  the  effprts  made  to  introduce 
them  into  England. 

The  cardinal  and  the  Bishop  of  London  soon 
learned  that  the  English  New  Testament  had 
entered  London,  and  that  the  Curate  of  All  Hallows 
had  received  the  copies,  and  had  hidden  them  in  his 
house.  Search  was  made  through  all  the  city  for 
Garret.  He  coidd  not  be  found,  and  they  were  now 
told  that  he  had  gone  to  Oxford  "  to  make  sale  of 
his  heretical  books." '  They  immediately  dispatched 
officers  to  search  for  him  in  Oxford,  and  "  burn  all  and 
every  his  aforesaid  books,  and  him  too  if  they  could 
find  him."-  On  the  Tuesday  before  Shrove-tide,  Gar- 
ret was  warned  tliat  the  avengers  of  heresy  were  on 
his  track,  and  that  if  he  remained  in  Oxford  he  was 
sure  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  cardinal,  and  be 
sent  to  the  Tower.  Changing  his  name,  he  set  out 
for  Dorsetsliire,  but  on  the  road  his  conscience 
smota  him  ;  he  stopped,  again  he  went  forward, 
again  he  stopped,  and  finally  he  returned  to  Oxford, 
which  he  reached  late  at  night.  Weary  with  his 
wanderings,  he  threw  himself  upon  his  bed,  where, 
soon  after  midnight,  he  was  apprehended  by 
Wolsey's  agents,  and  given  into  the  safe  keeping  of 
Dr.  Cottisford,  commissary  of  the  university.  A 
second  attempt  at  flight  was  followed  by  arrest  and 


>  Fei.  vol.  T.,  p.  421. 


»  Ibid. 


imprisonment.  Oxford  was  lost,  the  priests  felt, 
unle.ss  the  most  summary  measures  were  instantly 
adopted.  All  the  friends  of  the  Gospel  at  that 
imiversity  were  apprehended,  and  thrown  into 
prison.  About  a  .score  of  doctoi-s  and  students 
were  arrested,  besides  monks  and  canons,  so  widely 
had  the  truth  spread.  Of  the  number  were  Clark, 
one  of  the  first  to  receive  the  truth;  Dalabar,  a 
disciple  of  Clark ;  John  Fryth,  and  eight  others 
of  Wolsey's  College.  Corpus  Christi,  Magdalen, 
and  St.  Mary's  Colleges  also  furnished  then-  con- 
tribution to  those  now  in  bonds  for  the  Gospel's 
sake.  The  fact  that  this  outbreak  of  heresy,  as 
the  cardinal  accounted  it,  had  occurred  mainly  at 
his  own  college,  made  him  only  the  more  resolute 
on  the  adoption  of  measures  to  stop  it.  In  patron- 
ising literature  he  had  been  promoting  heresy,  and 
the  college  which  he  had  hoped  would  be  the  glory 
of  Oxfoi'd,  and  a  bulwark  around  the  orthodoxy  of 
England,  had  become  the  opprobrium  of  the  one 
and  a  menace  to  the  other. 

The  cardinal  had  now  to  pro^'ide  a  dungeon  for 
the  men  whom  he  had  sought  for  with  so  much 
jiains,  through  England  and  the  Continent,  to  place 
in  his  new  chairs.  Their  prison  was  a  damp,  dark 
cellar  below  the  buildings  of  the  college,  smelling 
I'ankly  of  the  putrid  articles  which  were  sometimes 
stored  up  in  it.^  Here  these  young  doctors  and 
scholars  were  left,  breathing  the  fetid  aii',  and 
enduring  great  misery.  On  their  examination,  two 
only  were  dismissed  without  punishment  :  the  rest 
were  condemned  to  do  public  penance  for  theii- 
eiToneous  opinions.  A  great  fire  was  kindled  in 
the  market-place  :  the  prisoners,  than  wliom,  of  all 
the  youth  at  Oxford,  none  had  a  finer  genius,  or 
were  more  accomplished  in  letters,  were  marshalled 
in  procession,  and  with  fagot  on  shoulder  they 
marched  through  the  streets  to  where  the  bonfire 
blazed,  and  finished  their  penitential  perfonnance 


"  "  A  deep  cave  under  the  t'round  of  the  same  college, 
where  their  salt  fisli  was  laid,  so  that  through  tlie  filthy 
Bteu«h  thereof  they  were  all  infected."  (Fox,  vol.  v.,  p.  S.) 


372 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


by  throwing  tlieir  }ieretical  books  into  it.'  After 
this,  they  were  again  sent  liack  to  their  foul 
dungeon. 

Prayere  and  animated  convei-sations  beguiled  the 
fii-st  weeks  of  their  doleful  imprisonment.  But  by- 
and-by  the  chilly  damp  and  the  corrupted  air  did 
their  terrible  work  upon  them.  Their  strength 
ebbed  away,  their  joints  ached,  their  eyes  gi-ew 
dim,  their  features  were  haggard,  theii-  Limbs  shook 
and  trembled,  and  scaa'cely  were  they  able  to  crawl 


He  received  by  faith  the  "  Bread  of  Life,"  and 
having  eaten  his  last  meal  he  died.  Other 
thi'ee  of  these  confessors  were  rapidly  sinking : 
Death  had  already  .set  his  mark  on  their  ghastly 
features.  These  were  Sumner,  Bayley,  and  Good- 
man. The  cardinal  was  earnestly  entreated  to 
release  them  before  death  should  jmt  it  out  of  his 
power  to  show  them  pity.  Wolsey  yielded  to  this 
appeal ;  but  he  had  let  them  out  only  to  die.  The 
rest  remained  in  the  dungeon. 


VIEW    OF    L.VTIMER  S    SIPPOSED    BIRTHPL.^CE    IN    THURCASTON. 


across  the  floor  of  tlieir  noisome  prison.  They 
hardly  recognised  one  another  as,  gi-oping  their 
way  in  the  partial  darkness  and  solitariness,  they 
encountered  each  other.  One  day,  Clark  lay 
stretched  on  the  damp  floor :  his  strength  had 
utterly  failed,  and  he  was  about  to  be  released  by 
the  hand  of  Death.  He  craved  to  have  the  Com- 
munion given  him  before  he  should  breathe  his 
last.  The  request  could  not  be  gi-anted.  Heaving 
a  sigh  of  resignation,  he  quoted  the  words  of  the 
ancient  Father,  "  Believe,  and  thou  hast  eaten."  - 


'  Foi,  vol.  v.,  pp.  426—428. 

'  "  Crede  et  manducdsti."    (Foi,  vol.  v.,  p.  428.) 


The  death  of  these  four  was  the  means  of  opening 
the  doors  of  the  prison  to  the  others.  Even  the 
cardinal,  in  the  midst  of  his  splendoui-s,  and  occu- 
pied though  he  was  at  that  moment  with  the 
aifairs  of  England,  and  other  kingdoms  besides, 
was  toiiohed  by  the  catastrophe  that  had  taken  place 
in  the  dungeons  of  his  college,  and  sent  an  order 
for  the  release  of  the  survivors.  Six  months  had 
they  sustained  life  in  this  dreadful  place,  the  fever 
in  the  blood,  and  the  poison  in  the  air,  consuming 
their  strength  day  by  day  ;  and  when  theii-  friends 
received  them  at  the  door  of  their  living  tomb,  they 
seemed  so  many  spectres.  They  lived  to  serve  the 
cause    into   which   they  had   received   this   early 


RECANTATION   OF   BARNES. 


373 


baptism.  Some  of  them  shone  iu  the  schools, 
others  in  the  pulpit;  and  othere,  as  Fryth  and 
Ferrar,  subsequently  Bishop  of  St.  Da\-id's,  consum- 
mated at  the  stake,  long  years  after,  the  martyrdom 
which  they  had  begmi  in  the  dungeon  at  Oxford. 

The  University  of  Cambridge  was  the  first  to 
receive  the  light,  but  its  sister  of  Oxford  seemed 
to  outstrip  it  by  being  the  first  to  be  glorified  by 
martyrdom.  Cambridge,  however,  was  now  called 
to  drink  of  the  same  cup.     On  the  very  same  day 


to  London  with  his  one  piisoner.  An  indiscreet 
sermon  which  Barnes  had  preached  against  the 
cardinal's  "jewelled  shoes,  poleaxes,  gilt  pillars, 
golden  cushions,  silver  crosses,  and  red  gloves,"  or, 
as  the  cardinal  himself  phrased  it,  "  bloody  gloves," 
was  the  ground  of  his  apprehension.  When  brought 
before  Wolsey  he  justified  himself  "  You  must  be 
burned,"  said  the  cardinal,  and  ordered  him  into 
confinement.  Before  the  tribiuial  of  the  bishops  he 
repeated  next   day  his  defence  of  his  articles,  and 


VIEW    OF    THURCASTON    CHUKCH. 


(February  5th,  1526)  on  which  the  investigation 
hail  been  set  on  foot  at  Oxford,  Wolsey's  chaplain, 
accompanied  by  a  sergeant-at-arms,  arrived  at  Cam- 
bridge to  open  there  a  similar  inquisition.  The  first 
act  of  Wolsey's  agent  was  to  arrest  Barnes,  the  dis- 
tinguished scholar,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  given 
the  use  of  his  pulpit  in  the  A\igustinc  Convent  to 
Latimer.  He  next  began  a  search  in  the  rooms  of 
Bilney,  Latimer,  and  Stafford,  for  New  Testaments, 
which  he  had  learned  from  spies  were  hidden  in  their 
lodgings.  All  the  Testaments  had  been  previously 
removed,  and  the  search  resulted  in  the  discovery  of 
not  a  single  copy.  Without  \n-oot  of  heresy  the 
chaplain  could  arrest  no  heretics,  and  he  returned 
136 


was  sentenced  to  be  burned  alive.  His  worldly 
friends  came  round  him.  "  If  you  die,"  said  they, 
"  truth  will  die  with  you ;  if  you  save  your  life, 
you  will  cause  truth  to  triumph  when  better 
days  come  round."  They  thrust  a  pen  into  his 
hand  :  "  Haste,  save  yourself !  "  they  reiterated. 
"  Burned  alive  " — the  terrible  words  ringing  in  his 
ears,  freezing  his  blood,  and  bewildering  his  brain, 
he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  signed  his  recantation. 
He  fell  now  that  he  might  stand  afterwards. 

Meanwhile  a  gi-eat  discoveiy  had  been  made  at 
London.  The  five  merchants  who  had  carried 
across  from  Germany  the  English  New  Testaments 
of  Tyndale,  had  been  ti-acked,  apprehended,  and 


374 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


were  to  do  \n\W\c  penance  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral 
on  tlio  inovi'ov.  It  was  resolved  to  consummate 
Barnes'  disgrace  by  making  him  take  his  place  in 
the  penitential  procession.  On  a  lofty  throne,  at 
the  northern  gate  of  St.  Paul's,  sat  the  cardinal, 
clothed  all  in  red,  a  goodly  array  of  bishops,  abbots, 
and  priests  gathered  around  him.  The  six  peni- 
tents slowly  passed  before  him,  each  bearing  a 
faggot,  which,  after  encompiissmg  the  fire  three 
times,  they  cast  into  the  flames,  together  with  some 
heretical  books.  This  solemn  act  of  public  humilia- 
tion being  ended,  the  penitents  returned  to  their 
prison,  and  Wolsey,  descending  from  his  throne 
and  mounting  his  mule,  rode  ofl'  imder  a  canopy 
of  state  to  his  palace  at  Westminster. 

It  waa  but  a  small  matter  that  the  disciple  wa.s 
biu-ning  his  fagot,  or  rotting  in  a  cellar,  when  the 
Word  was  travelling  through  all  the  kingdom. 
Night  and  day,  whether  the  persecutor  waked  or 
slept,  the  messenger  of  the  Heavenly  King  pursued 
his  journey,  cairying  the  "  good  tidings "  to  the 
remotest  nooks  of  England.  Depots  of  the  Scrip- 
tures were  established  even  in  some  convents.  The 
chagi'in  and  irritation  of  the  bishops  were  extreme. 
An  archiepiscopal  mandate  was  issued  in  the  end  of 
1526  agaijist  the  Bible,  or  any  book  containing  so 
much  as  one  quotation^  from  it.  But  mandate,  in- 
quisitors, all  were  fniitless;  as  passes  the  cloud 
through  the  sky,  depositing  its  blessed  drops  on  the 
eai-th  below,  and  clothing  hill  and  valley  with 
vei-dure,  so  passed  the  Bible  over  England,  dif- 
fusing light,  and  kindling  a  secret  joy  in  men's 
heai-ts.  At  last  Bishop  Tonstall  bethought  him  of 
the  following  expedient  for  entii-ely  suppressing  the 
book.  He  knew  a  merchant,  Packington  by  name, 
who  traded  with  Antwerp,  and  who  he  thought 
might  be  useful  to  him  in  this  matter.  The  bishop 
being  in  Antwerp  sent  for  Packington,  and  asked 
him  to  bring  to  him  all  the  copies  of  Tpidale's  New 
Testament  that  he  could  find.  Packington  under- 
took to  do  so,  provided  the  bishop  shoidd  pay  the 
price  of  them.  This  the  bishop  cheerfully  agi-eod  to 
do.  Soon  thereafter  Packington  had  an  inter\iew 
with  Tyndale,  and  told  him  that  he  had  found  a 
merchant  for  his  New  Testaments.  "  Who  is  he  /  " 
asked  Tyndale.  "  The  BLshop  of  London,"  i-e])lied 
the  merchant.  "  If  the  bishop  wants  the  New 
Testament,"  said  Tyndale,  "  it  is  to  burn  it." 
"  Doubtless,"  replied  Packington  ;  "  but  the  money 
will  enable  you  to  print  others,  and  moreover,  the 
bishop  ^vill  have  it."  The  price  wi\s  paid  to  Tyn- 
dale,   the  New    Testaments   were   sent  across   to 


London,  and  soon  after  their  arrival  were  publicly 
burned  at  St.  Paid's  Cross.  Tyndale  immediately 
set  to  work  to  prepai'c  a  new  and  more  correct 
edition,  and,  says  the  chronicler,'  '•  they  came  thick 
and  threefold  over  into  England."  The  bishop, 
amazed,  sent  for  Packington  to  inquire  how  it  came 
to  pass  that  the  book  which  he  had  bought  up  and 
suppressed  should  be  more  widely  circulated  than 
ever.  Packington  replied  that  though  the  copies 
had  been  destroyed  the  types  remained,  and  advised 
Tonstall  to  buy  them  also.  The  bishop  smUed,  and 
beginning  to  see  how  the  matter  stood,  dismissed  the 
merchant,  without  giving  him  more  money  to  be 
expended  in  the  production  of  more  New  Testa- 
ments. 

It  was  not  Tyndale's  edition  only  that  was 
crossing  the  sea.  A  Dutch  house,  knowing  the 
desire  for  the  Bible  which  the  public  destruction 
of  it  in  London  had  awakened,  printed  an  edition 
of  5,000  of  Tyndale's  translation,  and  sent 
them  for  dLstribution  in  England.  These  were 
soon  all  sold,  and  were  followed  by  two  other 
editions,  which  found  an  equally  ready  market.^ 
Then  came  the  new  and  more  correct  edition  of 
Tyndale,  which  the  pm-chase  of  the  first  edition  by 
Tonstall  had  enabled  liim  to  prepare.  This  edition 
was  issued  in  a  more  portable  form.  The  clergy 
were  seized  with  a  feeling  of  dismav.  A  deluge  of 
what  they  termed  heresy  had  broken  in  upon  the 
land !  "  It  was  enough  to  enter  London,"  said 
they,  "for  one  to  become  a  heretic."  They  speedily 
found  that  in  endeavouring  to  prevejit  the  cu'cula- 
tion  of  the  Bibles  they  were  attempting  a  work 
beyond  theii-  strength. 

The  foundations  of  the  Refonned  Church  of  Eng- 
land had  been  laid  in  the  diffusion  of  the  Scriptures, 
but  the  ground  had  to  be  cleared  of  those  mighty 
encumbrances  which  obstructed  the  rising  of  the 
edifice,  and  tliis  part  of  the  work  was  done  by  the 
passions  of  the  men  who  now  again  present  them- 
selves on  the  stage.  Twice  had  Charles  V.  promised 
the  tiai'a  to  Wolsey,  and  twice  had  he  broken  his 
promise  by  giving  it  to  another.  A  man  so  pvoxid, 
and  also  so  powerful  as  the  cardinal,  was  not  likely 
to  pardon  the  aflront :  in  fact  his  settled  purpose 
was  to  avenge  himself  on  the  emperor,  although  it 
should  be  by  convulsing  all  Europe.  The  cardinal 
knew  that  doubts  had  begun  to  trouble  the  king's 
conscience  touching  the  lawfulness  of  his  union 
with  Catherine,  that  her  person  had  become  dis- 
agreeable to  liim,  and  that  while  he  intensely 
longed  for  an  heir  to  his  throne,  issue  was  hope- 
less in  the  case  of  his  present  queen.     Wolsey  saw 


•  Sti-ype,  Memorials  of  Cranmer,  p.  81.    'Wilkins,  Con- 
cilia, vol.  iii.,  p.  706.    Fox,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  666,  667. 


-  Fox,  vol.  iv.,  p.  670. 


Soames,  vol.  i.,  p.  510. 


ANNE   BOLEYN, 


375 


ill  these  facts  the  means  of  separating  England 
from  Spain,  and  of  humiliating  the  emperor :  his 
own  fall  and  tlie  fall  of  the  Popedom  in  England 
he  did  not  foresee.  The  cardinal  broke  his  purpose, 
though  guardedly,  to  Longland,  the  king's  confessor.' 
It  was  agreed  that  in  a  matter  of  such  consequence 
and  delicacy  the  cardinal  himself  should  take  the 
initiative.  He  went  first  of  all  alone  to  the  king, 
and  pointed  out  to  him  that  the  salvation  of  liis 
soul,  and  the  succession  to  his  crown,  were  in  peril 
in  this  matter.  Three  days  after  he  appeared  again 
in  the  royal  presence,  accompanied  by  Longland. 
"  Most  mighty  prince,"  said  the  confessor,  "  you 
cannot,  like  Herod,  have  your  brother's  wife.'-'  Sub- 
mit the  matter  to  proper  judges."  The  king  was 
content.  Henry  set  to  studying  Thomas  Aquinas 
on  the  point,  and  found  that  his  favourite  doctor 
liad  decided  against  such  marriages ;  he  next  asked 
tlie  judgment  of  Ids  bishops ;  and  these,  having 
deliberated  on  the  question,  were  unanimously,  with 
the  exception  of  Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  of 
opinion  that  the  kmg's  marriage  was  of  doubtful 
validity.'  At  this  point  a  French  bishop  appears 
upon  the  scene.  Granmont,  Bishop  of  Tarbes,  had 
been  dispatched  to  the  English  court  (February, 
1527),  by  Francis  I.,  on  the  subject  of  the  marriage 
of  tlie  Duke  of  Orleans  with  the  Princess  Mar\', 
the  sole  surviving  child  of  Henry  VIII.  The 
bishop,  on  the  part  of  his  master,  raised  before  the 
English  Council  the  question  of  the  legitimacy  of 
Mary,  on  the  ground  that  she  was  the  issue  of  a 
marriage  forbidden^^/re  divlno.  Tliis,  in  connection 
^^■ith  the  fact  that  the  Emperor  Charles  V .  had 
previously  objected  to  an  alliance  with  the  Princess 
Mary  on  the  same  ground,  gi-eatly  increased  the 
scruples  of  the  king.  The  two  most  powerful 
uionarchs  in  Europe  had,  on  the  matter,  accused  him 
of  living  in  incest.  It  is  probable  that  he  felt  real 
trouble  of  conscience.  Anotlier  influence  now  con- 
sjjired  witli  his  scruples,  and  powerfully  inclined 
him  to  seek  a  divorce  from  Queen  Catherine. 

Anne  Boleyn,  so  renowned  for  the  beauty  of  her 
l)ei'«on,  the  grace  of  her  manners,  and  the  many 
endowments  of  her  intellect,  was  about  tliis  time 
appointed  one  of  the  maids  of  honour  to  Queen 
Catherine.  This  young  lady  was  the  daughter  of 
Sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  a  gentleman  of  good  family  and 
estate,  who,  having  occasion  to  visit  France,  took 

'  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  pp.  37, 38.—"  Thebest-informed writers 
of  the  sixteenth  centui-y,  men  of  the  most  opposite  parties 
—  Pole,  Polydoro  Virgil,  Tyndale,  Metoren,  Pallavicini, 
Sanders,  and  Roper,  More's  son-in-law— all  afree  in  point- 
infe'  to  AVolsL-y  as  the  instigator  of  that  divorce  which  has 
become  so  famous."     (D'Aubigne,  vol.  v.,  Ji.  407.) 

-  More's  Life,  p.  129. 

'  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  p.  38. 


with  Mm  his  daughter,  and  placed  her  at  the  French 
court,  where  she  acquired  all  those  accomplishments 
which  add  such  lustre  to  female  beauty.  Her  last 
years  in  Fi'ance  were  passed  in  the  elegant,  intel- 
lectual, and  virtuous  court  of  Marguerite  of  Valois, 
the  sister  of  Francis  I.  Attached  to  the  person  of 
his  queen,  Henry  VIII.  had  many  opportunities  of 
seeing  Anne  Boleyn.  He  was  not  insensible  to  her 
charms  of  person,  and  not  less  was  he  pleased  with 
the  strength  of  her  imderstaniliug,  the  sweetness  of 
her  temper,  and  the  sprightliness  of  her  conversa- 
tion. That  he  then  entertained  the  idea  of  making 
her  his  queen  we  are  not  prej)ared  to  affirm.  Mean- 
while a  strong  attachment  sprang  up  between  Amie 
and  the  young  Lord  Percy,  the  heir  of  the  House 
of  Northumberland.  Wolsey  divined  tlieii-  secret, 
and  set  himself  to  frustrate  their  hojjes.  Anne 
Boleyn  received  an  order  to  quit  the  court,  and 
Percy  was,  soon  thereafter,  married  to  a  daughter 
of  the  House  of  Talbot.  Anne  again  retired  to 
France,  from  whence,  after  a  short  residence,  she 
returned  definitively  to  England  in  1527,  and  re- 
appeared at  court  as  one  of  the  maids  of  honour. 

Anne,  now  twenty  years  of  age,  was  even  more 
accomplished,  and  not  less  virtuous,  than  before.'' 
The  king  became  enamoured  of  her  beauty,  and  one 
day,  finding  her  alone,  he  declared  himself  her  lover. 
The  young  lady  fell  on  her  knees,  and  in  a  voice 
that  trembled  with  alarm  and  earnestness,  made 
answer,  "  I  deem,  most  noble  King,  that  your  Grace 
speaks  these  words  in  mirth,  to  prove  me ;  if  not,  I 
beseech  your  Highness  to  believe  me  that  I  would 
rather  die  than  comply  \vith  your  wishes."  Hemy 
replied  in  the  language  of  a  gallant,  that  he  would 
live  in  hope.  "  I  understand  not,  mighty  King,  how 
you  should  entertain  any  such  hope,"  spiritedly 
answered  Anne ;  "  j'our  wife  I  cannot  be,  both  in 
respect  of  my  own  unworthiness,  and  also  because 
you  have  a  queen  already.  Your  mistress,  be 
assured,  I  never  will  be."^  From  this  day  forward 
Hemy  was  more  intent  than  ever  on  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  divorce  from  his  queen. 

••  No  one  now  thinks  it  worth  his  while  to  rebut  the 
calumnies  of  Sanders  in  liis  History  of  EngUsh  Schism. 
Perhaps  no  falsifier  ever  more  completely  succeeded  in 
mating  his  slanders  perfectly  harmless  simply  by  making 
them  incredible  than  this  writer.  This  lady  of  un- 
doubted beauty,  talent,  and  virtue,  he  paints  .as  a  monster 
absolutely  hideous  by  the  deformities  of  her  body,  and 
the  yet  greater  deformities  of  her  soul.  "We  quote  only 
the  following  short  passage  from  the  French  translation : 
"  On  la  vit  apres  K  la  cour  (de  France),  ou  elle  se  gouvema 
avec  si  peu  de  pudeiu-,  qu'on  I'appelloit  ordinairement 
la  haquciu-e  d'Angletcrre.  Francois  I.  eut  part  a  ses  bonnes 
gi-aces  ;  on  la  nomma  depuis  la  imile  dn  Roy."  {Hisloire 
(fit  Schisme  d'Angletcrre  ;  Paris,  1678.) 

'  Sloane  MSS.,  2,t95— apu(?  Turner,  Hist,  of  Eng..  vol. 
ii.,  p.  196. 


376 


HISTORY  OF  PEOTESTANTISM. 


In  the  end  of  the  same  year  (1527),  Knight,  one 
of  the  royal  secretaries,  was  dispatched  to  Eome, 
with  a  request  to  the  Pope,  in  the  king's  behalf, 
that  he  would  revoke  the  bull  of  Julius  II.,  and 
declare  Homy's  maiTiago  ■with  Catherine  void. 
Knight  found  Clement  VII.  m  the  stronghold  of 
St.  Angelo,  whither  he  had  fled  from  the  soldiers 
of  Charles  V.,  who  had  just  sacked  the  Eternal 
City.  Clement  could  not  think  of  drawing 
upon  himself  still  farther  the  vengeance  of  the 
emperor,  by  annulling  his  amit's  marriage  with  the 
King  of  England ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
trembled  to  refuse  the  divorce  lest  he  should  oflend 
Hem-y  VIII.,  whose  zeal  in  his  behalf  he  had  re- 
cently rewarded  %vith  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the 
Eaith."  The  Emperor  Charles,  who  had  just  learned 
from 'a  special  messenger  of  Crtherine,  with  sur- 
prise and  indignation,  what  Henry  A''III.  was 
meditating,  found  the  question  of  the  divorce  not 
Jess  embarrassing  than  the  Pope  did.  If,  on  the  one 
hand,  he  should  thwart  the  King  of  England,  he 
would  lose  Henry's  alliance,  which  he  much  needed 
at  this  hour  when  a  league  had  been  formed  to  drive 


him  out  of  Italy ;  and  if,  on  the  other,  he  should 
consent  to  the  divorce,  he  would  sacrifice  his  aunt, 
and  stoop  to  see  his  family  disgraced.  He  decided 
to  maintain  his  family's  honour  at  eveiy  cost.  He 
straightway  dispatched  to  Rome  the  Cordelier  De 
AaigeUs,  an  able  diplomatist,  with  instructions  to 
offer  to  the  Pope  his  release  from  the  Castle  of 
St.  Angelo,  on  condition  that  he  would  promise  to 
refuse  the  English  king's  suit  touching  his  di^'orce. 
The  captive  of  St.  Angelo  to  his  surprise  saw  two 
kings  n.s  suppliants  at  his  feet.  He  felt  that  he  was 
still  Pontiff.  Tlie  kings,  said  he  to  himself,  have 
besieged  and  pillaged  my  capital,  my  cardinals  they 
have  murdered,  and  myself  they  have  incarcerated, 
nevertheless  they  still  need  me.  Which  shall  the 
Pope  oblige,  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  or  Charles  V. 
of  Spain?  He  saw  that  liis  true  policy  was  to 
decide  neither  for  nor  against  either,  but  to  keep 
all  parties  at  his  feet  by  leaving  them  in  embar- 
rassment and  suspense,  and  meanwhile  to  make 
the  question  of  the  divorce  the  means  by  which  lie 
should  deliver  himself  from  his  dungeon,  and  once 
more  mount  his  throne. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    DIVORCE THOMAS    BILNEV,    THE    lIARTVn. 

Tlie  Papacy  Disgraces  itself— Clement  gives  his  Promise  to  Both  Kings— A  "Worthless  Document  sent  to  London— 
The  Pope's  Doublings— The  Cardinal's  Devices— Henry's  Anger— Biluey  sets  out  on  a  Preaching  Tour— Discus- 
sions on  Saint-Worship,  &c. — Bilney  Arrested — Recants — His  Agony — His  Second  Arrest  and  Condemnation — His 
Burning  — The  "Lollards*  Pit  "  — Other  Martyrs  —  Richard  Bay  field  —  John  Tewkesbury  —  James  Bainham— 
Crucifixes  and  Images  Pulled  down— Dissemination  of  the  Scriptures — Fourth  Edition  of  the  New  Testament. 


We  left  Clement  VII.  in  the  dungeons  of  the  Castle 
of  St.  Angelo,  with  two  kings  kneeling  at  his  feet. 
The  Pope,  "  who  cannot  err,"  contrives  to  gratify 
both  monarchs.  He  gives  to  the  one  a  promise  tliat 
he  will  do  as  lie  desires,  and  grant  the  divorce ;  he 
assures  the  other  that  he  will  act  conformably  to  his 
wishe.s,  and  wthhold  it.  It  is  thus  that  the  captive 
Pope  opens  his  prison  doors,  and  goes  back  to  his 
kingdom.  It  was  not  -without  great  delay  and 
much  tortuosity,  dissimulation,  and  suffering  that 
Clement  reached  this  issue,  so  advantageous  at  the 
moment,  but  so  disastrous  in  the  end.  His  many 
shifts  and  make-believes ;  his  repeated  interviews 
with  the  ambassadors  of  Charles  and  Henry;  the 
many  angry  midnight  discussions  in  his  old  palace  at 
Orvieto;  the  mutual  recriminations  and  accusations 
■w*hich  passed  between  the  parties;  the  briefs  and 


bulls  which  wei'e  drafted,  amended,  and  cancelled, 
to  be  drafted  over  again,  and  undergo  the  same 
pi'ocess  of  emendation  and  extinction ;  or  which 
were  sent  off  to  London,  to  be  found,  upon  their 
arrival,  worthless  and  fit  only  to  be  burned — to 
detail  all  this  would  be  foreign  to  our  purpose  ;  we 
can  only  state  briefly  in  what  all  these  wearisome 
delaj-s  and  shameful  doublings  ended.  But  the-se 
most  disgiMceful  scenes  were  not  without  their 
uses.  The  Papacy  was  all  the  while  revealing  its 
innate  meanness,  hoUowness,  h^'jjocrisy,  and  incur- 
al)le  viciousness,  in  the  eyes  of  the  emperor  and  the 
King  of  England,  and  was  prompting  in  even  their 
minds  the  c[uestion  whether  that  S3'stem  had  not  put 
itself  into  a  false  position  by  so  inextricably  mixing 
itself  up  ^^'ith  secular  affairs,  and  assuming  to  itself 
temporal  rule,  seeing  it  was  compelled  to  sustain 


CLEMENT  THE   SEVENTH'S   DOUBLE-DEALING. 


itself  in  this  office  by  cajoleries,  deceptions,  and  lies, 
to  its  own  infinite  debasement,  and  loss  of  spiritual 
power  and  dignity.  The  prestige  of  wliicli  the 
Papacy  then  stripped  itself,  by  its  shameless  tei-- 
giversations,  it  has  never  since  recovered. 

The  envoy  of  the  emperor,  De  AngelLs,  was  the 
first  to  appear  before  the  prisoner  of  St.  Angelo. 
The  result  of  the  negotiation  between  them  was 
that  the  Pope  was  to  be  released  on  the  pi'omise 
that  he  would  do  nothing  in  the  divorce  solicited  by 
the  King  of  England  but  what  was  agreeable  to  the 
emperor.  Knight,  the  English  envoy,  luiable  to 
gain  access  to  Clement  in  his  prison  of  St.  Angelo, 
contrived  to  send  in  to  him  the  paper  containing 
Henry's  request,  and  the  Pope  returned  for  answer 
that  the  dispensation  asked  for  by  the  King  of 
England  would  be  forwarded  to  London.'  "  So 
gracious,"  observes  Burnet,  '■  was  a  Pope  in  cap- 
tivity." The  10th  of  December,  1527,  was  the  day 
fixed  for  the  Pope's  release,  but  feeling  that  he 
would  owe  less  to  the  emperor  by  eflecting  his  own 
escape  than  waiting  till  the  imperial  guards  opened 
the  door,  Clement  disguised  himself  the  evening 
before,  and  made  off  for  Orvieto,  and  took  up  his 
abode  in  one  of  its  old  and  ruinous  tenements.  The 
English  envoys,  Knight  and  Cassali,  followed  him 
thither,  and  obtaining  an  interview  with  him  in  his 
new  quarters,  the  entrance  of  which  was  blocked  up 
\vitli  rubbish,  and  the  walls  of  which  had  their 
nakedness  concealed  by  rows  of  domestics,  they  in- 
sisted on  two  things — fii'st,  the  appointment  of  a 
commission  to  try  the  divorce  in  England ;  and 
secondly,  a  dispensation  empowering  King  Hem-y  to 
)narry  again  as  soon  as  the  divorce  was  pronounced. 
These  two  demands  were  .strongly  pressed  on  the 
perplexed  and  bewildered  Pope.  The  king  offered 
to  the  Po})e  "  assistance,  riches,  armies,  crown,  and 
even  life,"  as  the  reward  of  compliance,  while  the 
jjcnalty  of  refusal  was  to  be  the  separation  of  Eng- 
land from  the  tiara.-  The  poor  Pope  was  placed 
between  the  terrible  Charles,  whose  armies  were 
still  in  Italy,  and  the  powerful  Henry.  After  re- 
peated attempts  to  dupe  the  agents,  both  the  com- 
mission and  the  dispensation  were  given,''  but  with 
piteous  tears  and  enti-eaties  on  the  part  of  the  Pope 
that  they  would  not  act  upon  the  commission  till  he 
was  rid  of  the  Spaniards.  The  French  army,  under 
Leutrec,  was  then  in  Italy,  engaged  in  the  attempt 
to  e.\i)cl  tlic  Spaniards  from  the  peninsida ;  and 
the  Poi)e,  seeing  in  thLs  position  of  affaLi-.s  a  chance 
of  escape  out  of  his  dilemma,  finally  refused  to  per- 

'  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  p.  47. 

=  See  copy  of  original  letter  of  Cardinal  Wolsoy  to  Sir 
Gregory  ra.«?iili,  in  Huinet,  vol.  i.—Records,  iii. 
'■'  Bin-net,  vol.  i.,  p.  -IS. 


mit  the  King  of  England  to  act  on  the  commission 
wliicli  he  had  just  put  into  the  hands  of  his  envoy, 
till  the  French  should  be  under  the  walls  of  Orvieto, 
which  would  furnish  him  with  a  pretext  for  saying 
to  Charles  that  he  had  issued  the  connuission  to  pro- 
nounce the  divorce  under  the  compulsion  of  the 
French.  He  promised,  moreover,  that  as  soon  as 
the  French  arrived  he  would  send  another  copy  of 
the  document,  properly  signed,  to  be  acted  upon  at 
once. 

Meanwhile,  and  before  the  bearer  of  the  first 
documents  had  reached  London,  a  new  demand 
arrived  from  England.  Henry  expressed  a  wiali  to 
have  another  cardinal-legate  joined  with  Wolsey  in 
trying  the  cause.  This  request  was  also  disagree- 
able, and  Clement  attempted  to  evade  it  by  advising 
that  Henry  should  himself  jironouuce  the  divorce, 
for  which,  the  Pope  said,  he  was  as  able  as  any 
doctor  in  all  the  world,  and  that  he  should  marry 
another  wife,  and  he  promised  that  the  Papal  con- 
firmation should  afterwards  be  forthcoming.  This 
course  was  deemed  too  hazardous  to  be  taken,  and 
the  councillors  were  confirmed  in  this  opinion  by 
discovering  that  the  commission  which  the  Pope 
had  sent,  and  which  had  now  arrived  in  England, 
was  worthless — fit  only  to  be  burned.''  The  king 
was  chafed  and  angry.  "  Wait  until  the  impciialists 
have  quitted  Italy!  "he  exclaimed;  "the  Pope  is 
putting  us  off  to  the  Greek  Kalends." 

The  remedies  which  suggested  themselves  to  the 
cardinal  for  a  state  of  things  that  portended  the 
downfall  of  the  Popedom  in  England,  and  his  own 
not  less,  were  of  a  very  extraordinary  kind.  On  the 
21st  of  January,  1528,  France  and  England  declared 
war  against  Spain.  Wolsey  in  this  gi-atified  two 
passions  at  the  same  time  :  he  avenged  himself  on 
the  emperor  for  passing  him  over  in  the  matter  of 
the  Popedom,  and  he  sought  to  opn  Clement's 
way  to  decree  the  divorce,  by  ridding  him  of  the 
terror  of  Charles.  To  war  the  cardinal  proposed 
to  add  the  excommunication  of  the  emperor,  who 
was  to  pay  with  the  loss  of  his  throne  for  refusing 
the  Papal  chaii-  to  Wolsey.  The  bull  for  dethroning 
Charles  is  said  to  have  been  drafted,  but  the  success 
of  the  emperor's  arms  iix  Italy  deterred  the  Pope 
from  fulminating  it.  Finding  the  dethronement  of 
Charles  hopeless,  Wolsey  next  turned  his  tlioughts 
to  tJie  deposition  of  the  Pope.  The  Church  must 
sustain  damage,  he  argued,  from  the  thraldom  in 
which  Clement  is  at  present  kept.  A  vicar,  or 
acting  head,  ought  to  be  elected  to  govern  Chi-is- 
tendom  so  long  as  the  Pope  is  virtually  a 
prisoner  :  the  vicar-to-be  was,   of  couree,  no  other 

••  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  pp.  ■!'.•,  50. 


378 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


than  himself.'     It  was  a  crafty  scheme  for  entering 

upon  the  permanent  occupation  of  the  cliaii-  of  Peter. 

S>ich  were  the  intrigues,  the  disappointments,  the 

perplexities  and  alarms  into  which  this  matter,  tirst 

put  in  motion  by  Wolsey, 

had  plunged  all  parties. 

This   was    bwt   the    first 

overcasting  of  the   skj^ ; 

the  tempest  was  yet  to 

come. 

While  the  kingdoms  of 
the  Papal  world  arc  beset 
by  these  difficulties,  there 
rises,  in  majestic  silence, 
iinother  kingdom,  that 
cannot  be  shaken,  of 
which    the    builders   are 


\)i|ten  oft^e  aRVrttgt)tte/an9u)l)enVfaf£et^ 
6ftt»nef)ail>  l)\i  eyesopeneb  .jfe  bin^but 
•not  -noto/^  bel)or6al)mbui-nott>v«4S^eTC. 
■fbaK  cowc  aflaTTfcof3acob  anbiyfcaccpler 
ofjsraef./TOlj'id)  f^aff  fnipte  )>'  cpoftesef  J^ioi 
ab  aT)6un^0rm>>ne  aftl^ectjiCbem  pfo«.tij. 
21nb  if  bom  f]t)af  be  b'ls  poffef/ton/an^ypop 
pjffion  of  6^giT  fT)afbet()cir  cnitnycs/aTtbSf 
Toe  f/^  aff  600  manfttffv  .1Iti6  out  of  Jacob 
sljaS!  come  l;£.tl)at|T)aff  i)e(lr&y6t()e«intiaut 
oft  be  Ciller. 

F.VC-MMILE    OF    NUMnEUS    XXIV.     10  — 19.        {Ttjnilah,   1531.) 


humble  evangelists,  act- 
ing through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Scriptures. 
Thomas  Bilney,  of  Cambridge,  exchanging  his 
constitutional  timidity  for  apostolic  fervour  and 
courage,  set  out  on  a  preaching  tour  through  the 
eastern  parts  of  England.  "  Behold,"  said  he,  like 
another  preacher  of  the  desert,  addressing  the 
crowds  that  gathered  round  him,  "  Behold  the 
Lamb     of     God,    who 


Cambridge  scholar  and  disciple.  They  wei'e  often 
pulled  from  the  pulpit  by  the  friars.  "  What 
matters  it  to  silence  met"  said  Arthur  on  one  of 
these  occasions.  "  Though  I  should  be  put  to 
death,  there  are  7,000 
better  jireachers  than 
myself  who  will  rise  up 
to  take  my  place."  One 
day  (2Sth  May,  1.527) 
when  Bilney  was  ]ireach- 
ing  in  Christ  Church, 
Ipswich,  he  said,  "  Our 
Saviour  Christ  is  our 
Mediator  between  us  and 
the  Father  :  what  should 
we  need  then  to  seek  to 
any  saint  for  remedy]" 


taketh  away  the  sins  of 
the  world."  "  If  Christ 
takes  away  the  sins  of 
men,"  he  continued, 
"  what  good  will  it  do 
you  to  be  buried  in  the 
cowl  of  St.  Francis  1 
This  'Lamb'  takes 
away  your  sins  now : 
not  after  years  of 
penance,  but  this  mo- 
ment  Good 

people,  put  away  your 
idols  of  gold  and  silver. 
Why  are  Jews  and 
Mohammedans  not  yet 
converted?  We  have 
to  thank  the  Pope  and 
the    priests    for    this, 


ihiftee. 
'  vraxS  paayfe  l^  ©  6oibe/t^at  t^ou^^ 


"  That,"  said  a  certaii\ 
fiiar,  named  John  Brusicrd,  "  was  true  iir  St. 
Paul's  time,  but  not  in  ours  :  Christ  was  then  the 
one  Mediator,  for  no  one  had  j'et  been  canonised, 
and  there  were  no  saints  in  the  calendar."^  At 
another  time  Bilney  was  asked  by  the  same  friar 
to  solve  the  difficulty,  how  the  Pope,  who  lived  in 
his  own  house,  coukl  be  "  the  Antichrist,  sitting 
in  the  temple  of  God 
as  God  ?" 

_^      "  Do  you  know   the 

f^rr  Wtff  paayrrii^  ©'6oibe/t^at  t^ou^^  Table  of 'the  Ten  Com- 

■31  t^ou  toneanstf e  to'ilO  me/jjutt&^tican  efale.yil    mandments  V    a.sked 
^J^gcrts  turueb/fltth  t^ciu  ^aft  comfojte 
■ftW.lBe^ofie  <!5ob  tem^fatuadot^c^toxffBe 
Bofie  l^erfote  an'6  xiot  fcatc.^ox  t6e  foxl>e 
(Soi>  tsttt))  flren«l6  atib  •mY-piayfc  to^etof 
3P  fw^e:  atib  \e  ftcoinz  tny  faxypouTe.TJu&;)'e 
f^att  bxaSx>i  toatet  in  ^fabtiea  cute  of  t^£  'coet 
tee  of  fafnacioi).  2Jnbye  efjaff  px^eii^  l6ai  i)a« 
Ve:geue  Ifiankee  unto  ifietoifce/caffoti  ^ieticu 
me.'mak^  file  bcbes  kootoeti  amonge  l^e  ^es 
tBen:  tememBer  ifiat  fiio  name  is  fiie.  jS,yfte 
tip.^^nge  nnlo  lf)e  foibe/foi  ^t  oat(^  box\& 
epttffenityi/a-nb  \fla\  te  Knoteen  t^o^oVB  oUi 
le  off  lBeV»oaf6c.£r)>cat>5(l^otote  l^ou^n; 
BaBiter  of  Stou/foi  ttTealaroonge  yoaietfic 
^oi^i,  0f3fr<u(.  '     '  ^   ^ 

I'.1C-SIMILE   or   ISAIAH   XII.    [T'jndaU,  IMI.) 


who  liave  preached  to 

them  no  other  Gospel  than  that  of  oflering  wax 
candles  to  stocks  and  stones.  Good  people,  refrain 
from  lighting  candles  to  the  saints,  for  those  in 
heaven  have  no  need  of  them,  and  their  images  on 
eai-th  have  no  eyes  to  see  them."- 

Bilney   was    accompanied   by   Arthur,    another 


Bilnej'.  The  friar  re- 
iilied  that  he  did. 

"  And  do  you  know 
the  constitutions  de- 
vised by  men,  and 
bound  on  men  under 
pain  of  death  f  The 
friar  gave  a  qualified 
confession  of  his  know- 
ledge of  such  constitu- 
tions. 

"  It  is  written,"  said 
Bilney,  "  '  The  temple 
of  the  Lord  is  holy, 
which  is  you.'     There- 


'  See  "The  Cardinal's  Letter  to  the  Ambassadors  about 
his  Promotion  to  the  Popedom,"  in  Burnet,  i.— Records,  xx. 
■  Fox,  voL  iv.,  pp.  621—625. 


fore,  the  conscience  of 
man  is  the  temple  of  tlie  Holy  Ghost.  For  him 
who  contemneth  the  Table  of  the  Commandments 
of  God  there  is  but  a  small  punishment,  whei'eas 
for  him  who  contemneth  the  constitutions  of  the 
Pope  there  is  the  punishment  of  deatli.  ^\^lat  is 
this  but  for  the  High  Priest  of  Rome  to  sit  and 
reign  in  the  temple  of  God  (that  is,  in  man's  con- 
science) as  God  1"' 

3  Fox,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  628,  629.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  630^      ' 


RECANTATION   OF   BILNEY. 


379 


Bilney  and  Arthur  were  arrested,  and  on  the 
27th  of  November,  1527,  were  brouglit  before  the 
Bishops'  Court,  in  the  Chapter-house  of  West- 
minster. Wolsey  took  his  seat  on  the  bench  for  a 
moment  only  to  state  the  alternative — abjuration 
or  death — and  withdrew  to  attend  to  affairs  of 
State.  Tlie  two  prisoners  boldly  confessed  the 
faith  they  had  preached.     The  extraordinary  scene 


The  desue  of  saving  his  life  for  the  sei'%4cc-of 
truth  was  what  caused  him  to  fall.  He  would 
deny  his  Master  now  that  he  might  serve  him  in 
the  future. 

On  Sunday,  the  8th  of  December,  a  jienitential 
procession  was  seen  moving  towards  St.  Paul's 
Cross.  BUney,  his  head  bare,  walked  m  front  of  it, 
carrying  his  fagot  on  his  shoulder,  as  much  as  to 


PORTRAIT   OF    WILLIAM   TYNDALE.      (From  on  old  Etiy: 


the  Bibliothcq\ie  NationaJe.) 


that  followed  between  Tonstall,  the  presiding  judge, 
and  Bilney — the  one  jiressing  forward  to  the  stake, 
the  other  stri'ving  to  hold  him  back — has  been 
gi-aphicnlly  described  by  the  chronicler.'  But  it 
was  neither  the  exhoi-tations  of  the  judge  nor  the 
fear  of  burning  th.at  shook  the  steadfastness  of 
Bilney ;  it  was  the  worldly-\vise  and  sophistical 
reasonings  of  his  friends,  who  crowded  round  hin'i, 
and  plied  him  day  and  night  with  their  entreaties. 

'  Foi.vol.iv.,  pp.  631,632. 


say,  "  I  am  a  heretic,  and  worthy  of  the  fire."  Had 
he  been  actually  going  to  the  tire  his  head  would 
not  have  been  bowed  so  low ;  but,  alas  !  his  wa3 
not  the  only  head  which  was  that  day  boweil  down  in 
England.  A  standard-bearer  had  fainted,  and  many 
a  young  soldier  ashamed  to  look  up  kept  his  eyes 
fixed  on  the  gi-ound.  This  was  the  lii-st  use  served 
by  that  life  which  Bilney  had  redeemed  from  the 
stake  by  his  recantation.* 

■  Fox,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  631,  632. 


380 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


After  his  public  ptuitcnco  lie  was  seut  back  to 
prLson.  When  we  think  of  what  Bilney  once  was, 
and  of  what  he  had  now  become,  we  shall  see  that 
one  of  two  tilings  must  happen  to  the  foUen  disciple. 
Either  such  a  malignant  hatred  of  the  Gospel  will 
take  possession  of  his  mind  as  that  he  shall 
be  insensible  to  his  sin,  and  perhajDS  become  a 
pereecutor  of  his  former  bretlu-en,  or  a  night  of 
horror  and  anguish  will  cover  him.  It  was  the 
latter  that  was  realised.  He  lay,  says  Latimer,  for 
two  years  "in  a  burning  hell  of  despair."'  When 
at  length  he  was  released  from  prison  and  returned 
to  Cambridge,  he  wiis  in  "  .such  anguish  and  agony 
that  he  could  scarce  eat  or  drink."  His  friends 
came  round  him  "  to  comfort  him,  but  no  comfort 
could  he  find."  Afraid  to  leave  him  a  single  hour 
alone,  "  they  were  fain  to  be  with  him  night  and 
day."  When  they  quoted  the  pi-omises  of  the  Word 
of  God  to  him,  "  it  was  as  if  one  had  ran  him 
tlu-ough  the  heart  -ndth  a  sword."  The  Bible  had 
become  a  Mount  Sinai  to  him,  it  was  black  with 
■wrath,  and  flaming  with  condemnation.  But  at 
last  the  eye  that  looked  on  Peter  was  tvirned  on 
Bilney,  and  hope  and  strength  returned  into  his 
soul.  "  He  came  again,"  says  Latimer,  like  one 
rising  from  the  dead.  One  evening  in  1531,  he 
took  leave  of  his  friends  in  Cambridge  at  ten  o'clock 
of  the  night,  saying  that  "he  was  going  up  to 
Jerusalem,  and  should  see  them  no  more."  He  set 
out  overnight,  and  arriving  at  Norfolk,  he  began  to 
preach  privately  in  the  houses  of  those  disciples 
whom  his  fall  had  stumbled,  and  whom  he  felt  it 
to  be  his  duty  first  of  all  to  confirm  in  the  faith 
Having  restored  them,  he  began  to  preach  openly  in 
the  fields  around  the  city.  He  next  proceeded  to 
Norfolk,  where  he  continued  his  public  ministry, 
publishing  the  faith  he  had  abjured,  and  exhorting 
the  disciples  to  be  warned  by  his  fall  not  to  take 
coiuisel  ^vith  worldly-minded  friends.  He  spoke  as 
one  who  had  "  known  the  terrors  of  the  Lord."" 

In  no  long  time,  he  was  apprehended  and  thrown 
into  prison.  Friai's  of  all  colours  came  round  him  ; 
but  Bilney,  leaning  on  Christ  alone,  was  not  to  fall 
a  second  time.  He  was  condemned  to  be  burned 
as  a  heretic.  The  ceremony  of  degi-ading  him  was 
gone  through  with  great  fomiality.  On  the  night 
befoi-e  his  execution,  he  supped  in  prison  with  his 
friends,  conversing  calmly  on  his  approaching  death, 
and  repeatmg  oft,  and  in  joyous  accents,  the  words 
in  Isaiah  xliii.  2,  "  When  thou  walkest  through  the 
fire,  thou  shalt  not  be  burned,"  ic.  =     To  test  his 

'  Fox,  vol.  iv.,  p.  G43. 

-  Latimer's  Sermons— Pox,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  &il,  Ct2. 
^  Bilney's    Bible   is   now  in   the   library   of   Corpus 
Cliristi  College,  Cambridge.     It  lias  numerous  annota- 


powers  of  enduring  the  physical  suBeriiigs  awaiting 
him,  he  put  his  forefinger  into  the  flame  of  the 
candle,  and,  according  to  some  accounts,  kept  it 
there  till  the  first  joint  was  biu'ned. 

Next  morning,  which  was  Saturday,  the  officers 
in  theii'  glaives,  and  holding  their  halberds,  were 
seen  at  the  prison  door,  waiting  the  coming  forth  of 
the  martyr.  Thomas  Bilney  appeared,  accompanied 
by  Dr.  Warner,  Vicar  of  Winterton,  whom  he  had 
selected,  as  one  of  the  oldest  of  his  friends,  to  be 
with  him  in  his  last  hours.  Preceded  by  the 
offioei-s,  and  followed  by  the  crowd  of  spectators, 
they  set  out  for  the  stake,  which  was  planted  outside 
the  city  gate,  in  a  low  and  circular  hollow,  whose 
enra'oning  hUls  enabled  the  spectators  to  seat  them- 
selves as  in  an  amphitheatre,  and  witness  tlie 
execution.  The  spot  has  ever  since  borne  the  name 
of  the  "Lollards'  Pit."  He  was  attii-ed  in  a  lay- 
man's gown,  -svitli  open  sleeves.  All  along  the 
route  he  distributed  liberal  alms  by  the  hands  of  a 
friend.  Being  come  to  the  place  where  he  was  to 
die,  he  descended  into  the  hollow,  the  slopes  of 
which  wex'e  clothed  ^^'ith  spectators.  The  execu- 
tioners had  not  yet  finished  their  preparations,  and 
Bilney  addressed  a  few  words  to  the  crowd.  All 
being  ready,  he  embraced  the  stake,  and  kissed  it. 
Then  kneeling  do«ii,  he  prayed  with  great  com- 
posure, ending  with  the  words  of  the  psalm,  "  Hear 
my  prayer,  O  Lord  ;  give  ear  to  my  supplications." 
He  thrice  repeated,  in  deep  and  solemn  accents,  the 
next  verse,  "  And  enter  not  into  judgment  with 
thy  servant ;  for  in  thy  sight  shall  no  man  li^'ing 
be  justified."  Then  once  more  he  said,  "  My  soul 
tliirsteth  for  thee."  "Ai-e  you  ready  ?"  he  inquired 
of  the  executioners.  "  We  are  ready,"  was  the 
reply.  He  put  ofl'  his  coat  and  doublet ;  and, 
standing  on  the  stejj  in  front  of  the  stake,  the  chain 
was  put  round  his  body.  Dr.  Warner  came  up  to 
him,  and  in  the  few  words  which  his  tears  suffered 
him  to  utter,  he  bade  the  martyr  farewell.  Bilney, 
his  face  lighted  with  a  gentle  smile,  bowed  his  head 
towards  him,  and  expressed  his  thanks,  adding,  "O 
IMaster  Doctor,  Pctsce  yregem  tuiim  ;  pasce  grcyeni 
^in(»i"  (Feed  your  ffock;  feed  your  flock).  Warner 
departed,  "sobbing  and  weeping."  A  crowd  of 
friars,  who  had  given  evidence  against  Bilney  on 
his  trial,  next  pressed  round  the  stake,  entreating 
the  martyr  to  acquit  them  of  his  death  before  the 
people,  lest  they  should  withhold  their  alms  from 
them.  "  Whereupon,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  the 
said  Thomas  Bilney  spake  wth  a  loud  voice  to  the 

tions  in  his  own  liand ;  and  the  verse  quoted  in  the  text, 
from  Isaiah  xliii.,  which  consoled  the  martyi'  in  his  last 
hours,  is  spoci.ally  marked  with  a  i^en  on  the  margin. 
(Ed.  of  For,  Lond.  edition,  1S4G.) 


ENGLISH   MARTYES. 


381 


people,  and  siiid,  '  I  pray  you,  good  people,  be  never 
worse  to  these  men  for  my  sake,  as  though  they 
should  be  the  authors  of  my  death  :  it  was  not 
they.'     And  so  he  ended." 

The  officers  now  made  instant  preparation  for  the 
execution.  They  piled  up  reeds  and  fagots  about 
his  body.  The  torch  was  applied  to  the  reeds  ;  the 
fire  readily  caught,  and,  moimting  aloft  with 
crackling  noise,  the  flames  enveloped  the  martyr, 
and  blackened  the  skin  of  his  face.  Lifting  up  his 
hands,  and  striking  upon  his  breast,  he  cried  at 
times,  "Je.su,"  and  again,  "Credo."  A  great 
tempest  of  wind,  which  had  raged  several  days, 
inflicting  great  damage  on  the  ripened  corn-fields, 
was  blowing  at  the  time.  Its  violence  parted  the 
flames,  and  blowing  them  to  either  side  of  the 
suflerer,  left  full  in  sight  of  the  vast  concourse  the 
blackened  and  ghastly  figure  of  the  mai'tyr.  This 
liappened  thrice.  At  last  the  fire  caught  such 
hold  upon  the  wood  that  it  burned  steadily  ;  and 
now  "  hLs  bodv,  being  withered,  bowed  downiwartl 
upon  the  chain."  One  of  the  officers,  with  his 
lialberd,  struck  out  the  staple  in  the  stake  behind, 
and  the  body  fell  along  upon  the  ashes.  Fresh 
fagots  were  heaped  over  it;  and  being  again 
lighted,  the  whole  was  speedily  consumed. ' 

So  died  the  first  disciple  and  evangelist  in  Eng- 
land in  Reformation  times.  His  knowledge  was 
not  perfect :  some  of  the  errors  of  Rome  remained 
with  him  to  the  last ;  but  this  much  had  he  learned 
from  the  Greek  New  Testament  of  ErasniTis,  that 
there  Ls  but  one  object  of  worship,  namely,  God  ; 
that  there  is  but  one  Saviour,  namely,  Chi'ist ;  and 
that  forgiveness  comes  freely  to  men  through  his 
blood.  Twenty  years  after  the  tragedy  in  tin; 
Lollards'  Pit,  Latimer,  whom  he  had  brought 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  preaching  before 
Edwar<l  VI.,  called  him  "that  blessed  martyr  of 
God,  Thomas  Bilncy." 

The  Scriptures  sowed  the  seed  in  England,  and 
the  blood  of  martyrs  watered  it.  Next  aftfr  Bilney 
came  Richard  Bayfield.  Bayfield  was  a  monk  of 
Bur}',  and  was  converted  chiefly  through  Tyndalo's 
New  Testament.  He  went  beyond  seas,  and  join- 
ing himself  to  Tyndale  and  Eryth,  he  returned  to 
England,  bringing  with  him  many  copies  of  the 
Bible,  which  he  l)egan  to  disseminate.  He  was 
apprehended  in  London,  and  can-ied  first  to  the 
Lollards'  Tower,  and  thence  to  the  Coal-house. 
"  Here  he  was  tied,"  says  the  martyrologist,  "  b}' 
the  neck,  middle,  and  legs,  standing  upright  by 
the  walls,  divers  times,  manacled."-  The  design  of 
this    cnielty,    whicli    the    greatest   criminals    were 


spared,  was  to  comi^el  him  to  disclose  the  names 
of  those  who  had  bought  copies  of  the  Word  of  God 
from  him ;  but  this  he  refused  to  do.  He  was 
brouglit  before  Stokesley,  Bishop  of  London,  and 
accused  of  "  being  beyond  the  sea,  and  of  bringing 
thence  divers  and  many  books,  as  well  of  Martin 
Luther's  own  works,  as  of  others  of  his  damnable 
sect,  and  of  QScolampadius  the  great  heretic,  and  of 
divers  other  heretics,  both  in  Latin  and  English." 
He  was  sentenced  to  the  fire.  Before  execution 
he  was  degraded  in  the  Cathedral-chm-ch  of  St. 
Paul's.  At  the  close  of  the  ceremonies,  the  Bishoj) 
of  London  stnick  him  so  violent  a  blow  on  the 
breast  ^vith  his  crosier,  that  he  fell  backwards,  and 
swooning,  rolled  down  the  steps  of  the  choir.  On 
reviving,  he  thanked  God  that  now  he  had  been 
delivered  from  the  malignant  Church  of  Antichrist, 
alluding  to  the  ceremony  of  "  degradation  "  which 
he  had  just  undergone.  He  was  carried  to  the 
stake  at  Smithfield  in  the  apparel  in  which 
Stokesley  had  arrayed  him.  He  remained  half  an 
hour  alive  on  the  pile,  the  fire  touching  one  of  his 
sides  onl}'.  When  his  left  arm  was  burned,  he 
touched  it  with  the  right,  and  it  dropped  ofl'.  He 
stood  unmoved,  praying  all  the  while.^ 

JMany  others  followed.  Among  these  was  John 
Tewkesbury,  merchant  in  London.  Tjaidale's  New 
Testament  had  delivered  him  from  the  darkness. 
Becoming  an  object  of  suspicion  to  the  priests,  ho 
was  apprehended,  and  taken  to  the  house  of  Sir 
Thomas  More,  now  Lord  Chancellor  of  England. 
He  was  shut  up  a  whole  week  in  the  porter's  lodge ; 
liis  hands,  feet,  and  head  being  placed  in  the  stocks. 
He  was  then  taken  out  and  tied  to  a  tree  in  Sir 
Thomas's  garden,  termed  the  Tree  of  Truth,  and 
\\hipped,  and  small  cords  were  drawn  so  tightly 
round  his  forehead  that  the  blood  started  from  his 
eyes.  Such  were  the  means  which  the  elegant  scholar 
and  accomplished  wit  took  to  make  this  disciple  of 
the  Gospel  reveal  his  associates.  He  was  next  car- 
ried to  the  Tower,  and  stretched  on  the  rack  till  his 
limbs  were  broken.  He  yielded  to  the  extremity 
of  his  sufierings,  and  recanted.  This  was  in  1529. 
The  brave  death  of  his  friend  Bayfield  re^•ived 
his  courage.  The  foot  .soon  came  to  the  knowledge 
of  his  persecutors,  and  being  arrested,  the  Bishop 
of  London  held  an  assize  upon  him  in  the  house  of 
Sir  Thomas  More,  and  having  pa.sscd  sentence  u]ion 
him  as  a  relapsed  heretic,  he  was  carried  to  Smith- 
field  and  burned.'' 

James  Baiuham,  a  gentleman  of  Gloucestershii-e, 
and  member  of  the  Jliddle  Temple,  delighted  in 
the  study  of  the  Sciiptures,  and  began  to  exhibit  in 


'  Fox,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  Goi,  055. 


loid.,  p.  C31. 


3  Fox,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  G37,  6SS. 


IlUl,  pp.  GSD-604. 


382 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


his  life  in  eminent  degree  the  evangelical  virtues. 
He  was  aiTested,  and  carried  to  the  house  of  Sir 
Thomas  jNIore  at  Chelsea.  He  was  passed  through 
the  same  terrible  ordeal  to  which  the  author  of 
Utopia  liad  subjected  Tewkesbury.  He  was  tied  to 
the  Tree  of  Truth,  scourged,  and  then  sent  to  the 
Tower  to  be  racked.  The  chancellor  was  ex- 
ceedingly aioxious  to  discover  who  of  the  gentlemen 
of  the  Temple,  his  acquaintance,  had  embraced  the 
Gospel,  but  no  disclosure  could  these  cruelties  ex- 
tort from  Bainham.  On  his  trial  he  was  drawn  by 
the  arts  of  his  euemies  to  abjure.  He  appeared  a 
few  days  after  at  St.  Paul's  Cross  with  his  fagot ; 
but  recantation  was  followed  by  bitter  repentance. 
He  too  felt  that  the  fires  which  remorse  kindles  in 
the  soul  are  sharper  than  those  which  the  persecutor 
kindles  to  consume  the  body.  The  fallen  disciple, 
receiving  strength  from  on  high,  again  stood  up. 
An-ested  and  brought  to  trial  a  second  time,  he 
was  more  than  a  conqueror  over  all  the  arts  which 
were  again  put  forth  against  his  steadfastness.  On 
May-day,  at  two  o'clock  (1532),  he  appeared  in 
Smithfield.  Going  forwai-d  to  the  stake,  which 
was  guarded  by  horsemen,  he  threw  himself  flat  on 
his  face  and  prayed.  Then  rising  up,  he  embraced 
the  stake,  and  taking  hold  of  the  chain,  he  wound 
it  round  hLs  body,  while  a  serjeant  made  it  fast 
behind. 

Standing  on  the  pitch-barrel,  he  addressed  the 
people,  telling  them  that  "  it  was  lawful  for  every 
man  and  woman  to  have  God's  Book  in  their 
mother  tongue,"  and  warning  them  against  the 
errors  in  which  they  and  their  fathers  had  lived. 
"  Thou  liest,  thou  heretic,"  said  Master  Pane,  town- 
clerk  of  London.  "  Thou  deniest  the  blessed  Sacra- 
ment of  the  altar."  "I  do  not  deny  the  Sacrament 
of  Christ's  body  and  blood,  as  it  was  instituted  by 
Christ,  but  I  deny  your  transubstantiation,  and 
your  idolatry  of  the  bread,  and  that  Christ,  God  and 
man,  should  dwell  ui  a  piece  of  bread ;  but  that  he 
is  in  heaven,  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  God  the 
Father."  "  Thou  heretic  !"  said  Pane — "  Set  fire  to 
him  and  bum  him." 

The  train  of  gunpowder  was  now  ignited.  As  the 
flame  approached  him,  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  and 
hands  to  heaven,  and  prayed  for  the  forgiveness  of 
Pane  and  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  and  continued  at  in- 
tervals in  sup]>lication  till  the  fire  had  reached  his 
head.  "  It  is  to  be  observed,"  says  the  chronicler, 
"  that  as  he  was  at  the  stake,  in  the  midst  of  the 
flaming  fire,  which  fire  had  half  consumed  his 
anns  and  legs,  he  spake  these  words  :  '  O  yo 
Papists  !  behold,  ye  look  for  miracles,  and  liere 
now  ye  may  see  a  miracle  ;  for  in  this  tire  I  feel  no 
more  pain  than  if  I  were  in  a  bed  of  down ;  but  it 


is  to  me  as  a  bed  of  roses.'  These  words  spake  he 
in  the  midst  of  the  flaming  fire,  when  his  legs  and 
arms,  as  I  said,  were  half  consumed."' 

While  these  and  many  other  martyrs  were  dying 
at  the  stake,  indications  were  not  wanting  that  the 
popular  feeling  was  turning  against  the  old  faith  in 
the  destruction  of  its  public  symbols.  Many  of 
the  crucifixes  that  stood  by  the  highway  were 
pulled  down.  The  images  of  saints,  whose  very 
names  are  now  forgotten,  were  destroyed.  The 
images  of  "  Our  Lady"  .sometimes  disappeared  from 
chapels,  and  no  one  knew  where  they  had  gone,  or 
by  whom  they  had  been  carried  ofl'.  The  authoi's 
of  these  acts  were  in  a  few  cases  discovered  and 
hanged,  but  in  the  majority  of  instances  they 
remained  unknown.  But  this  outbreak  of  the 
iconoclast  spirit  in  England  was  as  nothing  com- 
pared to  the  fury  with  wliich  it  showed  itself  in  the 
Low  Countries,  and  the  havoc  it  inflicted  on  the 
cathedrals  and  shrines  of  Belgium,  Swtzerland, 
and  the  south  of  France. 

But  the  one  pre-eminent  Reforming  Power  in 
England  was  that  which  descended  on  the  land 
softly  as  descends  the  dew,  and  advanced  noiselessly 
as  the  light  of  morning  spreads  over  the  earth — 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  A  little  before  the  events  we 
have  just  naiTated,  a  fourth  edition  of  the  New 
Testament,  more  beautiful  than  the  previous  ones, 
had  been  printed  in  Antwerp,  and  was  brought 
into  England.  A  scarcity  of  bread  which  then 
prevailed  in  the  country  caused  the  corn  ships  from 
the  Low  Coimtries  to  be  all  the  more  readily  wel- 
comed, and  the  "Word  of  Life"  was  sent  across 
concealed  in  them.  But  it  happened  that  a  priest 
opening  his  sack  of  corn  found  in  the  sack's  mouth 
the  Book  so  much  dreaded  by  the  clergy,  and  has- 
tened to  give  information  that,  along  with  the  bread 
that  nourisheth  the  body,  that  whicli  destroyeth  the 
soul  was  being  imported  into  England.  Never- 
theless, the  most  part  of  the  copies  escaped,  and, 
diflused  among  the  people,  began  slowly  to  lift  the 
mass  out  of  vassalage,  to  awaken  thouglit,  and  to 
prepare  for  liberty.  The  bishops  would  at  tunes 
bum  a  hundred  or  two  of  copies  at  St.  Paul's  Cross  ; 
but  this  policy,  as  might  have  been  expected,  only  re- 
sulted in  whetting  the  desire  of  the  people  to  possess 
the  sacred  volume.  Anxious  to  discover  who  fur- 
nished tlie  money  for  printing  this  endless  supjily  of 
Bibles,  Sir  Tlionias  jNIore  said  one  day  to  one  George 
Constantine,  who  had  been  apprehended  on  suspicion 
of  heresy,  "Constantine,  I  would  have  you  be  plain 
^vith  me  in  one  thing  that  I  will  ask  thee,  and  I  pro- 
mise thee  that  I  will  show  thee  favour  in  all  other 


'  Fox,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  697—705. 


CAMPEGGIO   ARRIVES   IN   ENGLAND. 


383 


things  of  ^vhich  thou  art  accused.  There  is  be3'oncl 
the  sea  Tyiiclale,  Joye,  and  a  great  many  of  you. 
There  be  some  that  help  and  succour  them  with 
money.  I  pray  thee,  tell  me  who  they  be  !"  "  My 
lord,  I  -will  tell  you  truly,"  said  Constantino,  "  it  is 
the  Bishop  of  London  that  hath  holpen  us,  for  he 


hath  liestowed  upon  us  a  great  deal  of  mouoy  upon 
New  Testaments  to  burn  them,  and  that  hath  been 
and  yet  is  our  only  succour  and  comfort."  "  Now 
by  my  truth,"  said  the  chancellor,  "  I  think  even 
the  same,  for  so  much  I  told  the  bishop  liefore  he 
went  about  it."^ 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE     DIVORCE,      AND     WOLSEY's     PALL. 

Bull  for  Dissolving  the  King's  Marriage— Campeggio's  Arrival— His  Secret  Instructions— Shows  the  Bull  to  Henry — 
The  Commission  Opened— The  King  and.  Queen  Cited— Catherine's  Address  to  Henry— Pleadings— Campeggio 
Adjourns  the  Court— Henry's  Wrath— It  Fii'st  Strikes  Wolsey— His  Many  Enemies— His  Disgrace— The  Cause 
Avoked  to  Komo — Hem-y's  Fulminatious— Inhibits  the  Bull— His  Eesolution  touching  the  Popedom— Wolsey's 
Last  Interview  with  the  King— Campeggio's  Departure— Bills  Filed  in  King's  Bench  against  Wolsey— Deprived 
of  the  Great  Seal— Goes  to  Esher— Indictment  against  him  in  Parliament— Thrown  out— The  Cardinal  Banished 
to  York — His  Life  there— Arrested  for  High  Treason— His  Journey  to  Leicester — His  Death — His  Burial. 


Wolsey  at  last  made  it  clear  to  Clement  VII.  and 
his  cardinals  that  if  the  divorce  were  not  granted 
England  was  lost  to  the  Popedom.  The  divorce 
would  not  have  cost  them  a  thought,  nor  would 
Henry  have  been  put  to  the  trouble  of  asking 
it  twice,  but  for  the  terror  in  which  they  Stood 
of  the  emperor,  whose  armies  encompassed  them. 
But  at  that  moment  the  fortune  of  war  was  going 
against  Charles  V.  ;  his  soldiers  were  retreating 
before  the  French  ;  and  Clement,  persuading  him- 
self that  Charles  was  as  good  as  driven  out  of  Italy, 
said,  "I  shall  oblige  the  King  of  England."  On  the 
8th  of  June,  L'528,  the  Pope  issued  a  commission 
empowei-ing  Campeggio  and  Wolsey  to  declare  the 
marriage  between  Henry  and  Catherine  null  and 
void.  A  few  days  later  he  signed  a  decretal  by 
which  lie  himself  annulled  the  man-iage.'  This 
important  document  was  put  into  the  hands  of 
Campeggio,  who  was  dispatched  to  England  with 
instnictions  to  show  the  bull  to  no  one  save  to 
Henry  and  Wolsey.  Whether  it  should  ever  bo 
made  public  would  depend  upon  the  course  of 
events.  If  the  emperor  were  finally  beaten,  the 
decretal  was  to  be  acted  upon;  if  he  recovered 
his  good  fortune,  it  was  to  be  buraed.  Cam- 
peggio set  out,  and  travelled  by  slow  stages,  for 
he  had  been  instructed  to  avail  himself  of  every 
pretext  for  interposing  delay,  in  the  hope  that  time 
would  bring  a  solution  of  the  matter.      At  last 

'  Herbert,  p.  248.    Strype,  Erd.  Jfeii!.,  vol.  i..  p.  171. 
Burnet,  vol.  i.,  pp.  5-J,  55. 


Campeggio  appeared,  and  his  anival  with  the  bull 
dissolving  the  marriage  gave  unbounded  joy  to  the 
king.  This  ti-oublesome  business  was  at  an  end, 
Henry  thought.  His  conscience  was  at  rest,  and 
liis  way  opened  to  contract  another  marriage.  The 
New  Testament  was  separating  England  from  the 
Papacy,  but  the  decretal  had  come  to  bind  the  kiirg 
and  the  realm  more  firmly  to  Rome  than  ever. 
Nevertheless,  a  Higher  than  man's  ■ndsdom  made 
the  two — Tyndale's  New  Testament  and  Clement's 
decretal — combine  in  the  issue  to  eft'ect  the  same 
result. 

Eight  months  passed  away  before  Campeggio 
opened  his  commission.  Ho  had  been  overtaken 
on  the  road  by  messengers  from  Clement,  who 
brought  him  fresh  instructions.  The  arms  of  the 
emperor  ha^'ing  triumphed,  the  whole  political 
situation  had  been  suddenly  changed,  and  hence 
the  new  orders  sent  after  Campeggio,  which  wei-e 
to  the  effect  that  he  should  do  his  utmost  to 
persuade  Catherine  to  enter  a  nunnery ;  and,  failing 
this,  that  he  should  not  decide  the  cause,  but  send 
it  to  Rome.  Campeggio  began  with  the  queen, 
but  she  refused  to  take  the  veil  ;  he  next  sought 
to  induce  the  king  to  abandon  the  prosecution  of 
the  divorce.  Henrj'  stormed,  and  asked  the 
legate  if  it  was  thus  that  the  Popo  kept  his  word, 
and  repaid  the  services  done  to  the  Popedom. 
To  pacify  and  reassure  the  monarch,  Campeggio 
showed  him  the  bull  annvdling  the  marriage;    but 


-  Fox— Soames,  Hist,  of  Refoi-mation,  vol.  i.,  p.  512. 


TRIAL  OF   QUEEN   CATHERINE. 


385 


no  entreaty  of  tlie  king  could  prevail  on  the  legate 
to  part  with  it,  or  to  permit  Henry  any  benefit 
from  it  save  the  sight  of  it.' 

After  many  delays,  the  Legantine  Commission 
•was  opened  on  the  18th  of  June,  1529,  in  the 
great  hall  of  the  Black  Friai-s,  the  same  building, 
and  possibly  the  same  chamber,  in  which  the 
Convocation  had  a.ssembled  that  condemned  the 
doctrines  of  Wicliffe.  Both  the  king  and  queen 
had  lieen  cited  to  appear.  Catherine,  presenting 
herself  before  the  court,  said,  "I  protest  against  the 
legates  as  incompetent  judges,  and  appeal  to  the 
Pope."-  On  this  the  court  adjourned  to  the  21st 
of  June.  On  that  day  the  two  legates  took  their 
places  Nvith  gi-eat  jjomp  ;  around  them  was  a  nume- 
rous assemVjlage  of  bishops,  abbots,  and  secretaries ; 
on  the  right  hung  a  cloth  of  state,  where  sat  the 
king,  attended  by  his  councillors  and  lords ;  and  on 
the  left  was  the  queen,  surrounded  by  her  ladies. 
The  king  answered  to  the  call  of  the  usher;  but  the 
queen,  on  being  summoned,  rose,  and  making  the 
circuit  of  the  court,  fell  on  her  knees  before  her 
husband,  and  addressed  him  with  much  dignity  and 
emotion.  She  besought  him  by  the  love  which  had 
been  between  them,  by  the  affection  and  fidelity 
she  had  uniformly  sho^vn  him  during  these  twenty 
years  of  their  man-ied  life,  by  the  children  which 
had  been  the  fruit  of  their  union,  and  by  her  own 
friendless  estate  in  a  foreign  land,  to  do  her  justice 
and  right,  and  not  to  call  her  before  a  court  formed 
as  this  was  ;  yet  should  he  refuse  this  favour,  she 
would  be  silent,  and  remit  her  just  cause  to  Ood. 
Her  simple  but  pathetic  words,  spoken  with  a 
foreign  accent,  touched  all  who  lieai'd  them,  not 
even  excepting  the  king  and  the  judges.  Having 
ended,  instead  of  returning  to  her  seat,  she  left  the 
court,  and  never  again  appeared  in  it. 

The  queen  replied  to  a  second  citation  liy  again 
disowning  the  tribunal  and  appealing  to  the  Pope. 
She  was  jironounced  contumacious,  and  the  cause 
was  proceeded  with.  The  pleadings  on  both  sides 
went  on  for  about  a  month.  It  was  believed  by 
every  one  that  sentence  would  be  pronounced  on 
the  23rd  of  Jiily.  The  court,  the  clergy,  the  whole 
nation  waited  with  breathless  impatience  for  the 
result.  On  the  appointed  day  the  judgmentrhall 
was  crowded  ;  the  king  himself  had  stolen  into  a 
gaUery  adjoining  the  hall,  so  that  unobserved  he 
might  witness  the  issue.     Campeggio  slowly  rose  : 


'  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  p.  58  :  "He  could  not  be  brought  to 
part  with  the  decretal  bull  out  of  his  hands,  or  to  leare 
it  for  a  minute,  cither  with  the  king  or  the  cardinal." 
Campeggio  would  not  even  show  it  to  the  Council. 

°  Sanders,  Histoire  du  Schismc  d'AngUterre,  p.  44; 
Paris,  1678. 

137 


the  silence  grew  deeper :  the  moment  wa-s  biw  with 
the  fate  of  the  Papacy  in  England.  "  As  the 
vacation  of  the  Rota  at  Rome,"  said  the  legate, 
"  begins  to-morrow,  I  adjourn  the  court  to  the  1st 
of  October."^ 

These  words  struck  the  audience  with  stupefac- 
tion. The  noise  of  a  violent  blow  on  the  table, 
re-echoing  thi'ough  the  hall,  roused  theni  from  their 
astonishment.  The  Duke  of  Suffolk  accompanied 
the  stroke,  for  he  it  was  who  had  struck  the  blow, 
with  the  words,  "  By  the  Mass !  the  old  saw  is 
verified  to-day:  never  was  there  legate  or  cardinal 
that  brought  good  to  England."^  But  the  man  on 
whose  ears  the  words  of  Campeggio  fell  with  the 
most  stunning  effect  was  the  king.  His  first 
impulse  was  to  give  vent  to  the  indignation  with 
which  they  filled  him.  He  saw  that  he  was  being 
deluded  and  befooled  by  the  Pope ;  that  iu  spite  of 
all  the  services  he  had  rendered  the  Popedom, 
Clement  cared  nothing  for  the  peace  of  his  con- 
science or  the  tranquillity  of  his  kingdom,  and  was 
manifestly  playing  into  the  hands  of  the  emperor. 
Henry's  wrath  grew  hotter  eveiy  moment ;  but, 
restraining  himself,  he  went  back  to  his  palace, 
there  to  ruminate  over  the  embroglio  into  which 
this  unexpected  turn  of  affaii-s  had  brought  him, 
and  if  possible  devise  measures  for  finding  his  way 
out  of  it. 

A  King  John  would  have  sunk  under  the  blow  : 
it  but  roused  the  tyrant  that  slumbered  in  the  breast 
of  Hemy  VIII.  From  that  hour  he  was  changed  ; 
his  pride,  his  truculence,  his  selfish,  morose,  blood- 
thii'sty  despotism  henceforward  overshadowed  the 
gaiety,  and  love  of  letters,  and  fondness  for  pomps 
which  had  previously  characterised  Mm. 

Of  the  two  men  who  had  incurred  his  deeply- 
rooted  displeasure- — Clement  and  Wolsey — the 
latter  was  the  first  to  feel  the  effects  of  his  anger. 
Tlie  cardinal  was  now  fallen  in  the  eyes  of  hLs 
master  ;  and  the  courtiers,  who  were  not  slow  to 
discover  the  fact,  hastened  to  the  king  with  addi- 
tional' proofs  that  Wolsey  had  sacrificed  the  king 
for  the  Pope,  and  England  for  the  Papacy.  Those 
who  before  had  neither  eyes  to  see  his  intrigues 
nor  a  tongue  to  reveal  them,  now  found  both,  and 
accusers  started  up  on  all  sides,  and,  as  will 
happen,  those  sycophants  who  had  bowed  the 
lowest  were  now  the  loudest  in  then-  condemna- 
tions. Hardly  was  there  a  nobleman  at  court 
whom  Wolsey's  haughtiness  had  not  offended,  and 
hardly  was  there  a  citizen  whom  his  immoralities, 


'  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  p.  77. 

*  "  Jura  par  la  sainte  Messe,   que  jamais  Ugat  ne  car- 
dinal n'avoit  bienfait  en  Angieterre."    (Sanders,  p.  62.) 


386 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTIS:\r. 


liis  greed,  and  las  exactions  had  not  disgusted,  and 
■wherever  he  looked  he  saw  only  contemners  and 
enemies.  Abroad  the  prospect  that  met  the  eye  of 
the  cardinal  was  not  a  whit  more  agreeable.  He 
had  kindled  the  torch  of  war  in  Europe  ;  he  had 
used  both  Charles  and  Francis  for  his  o^vn  interests  ; 
they  knew  him  to  be  revengeful  as  well  a.s  selfish 
and  false.  Wherever  his  fome  had  travelled — and 
it  had  gone  to  all  European  lands — there  too  had 
coma  the  report  of  the  qualities  that  distinguished 
him,  and  bj'  which  he  had  climbed  to  liis  unrivalled 
eminence — a  craft  that  was  consummate,  an  avarice 
that  was  insatiable,  and  an  ambition  that  was  bound- 
less. Whichever  way  the  divorce  should  go,  the 
cardinal  was  undone :  if  it  were  refused  he  would 
be  met  by  the  vengeance  of  Henry,  and  if  it  were 
granted  he  would  inevitably  fall  under  the  hostility 
and  hatred  of  Anne  Bolejai  and  her  friends.  Seldom 
has  human  career  had  so  brilliant  a  noon,  and 
seldom  has  such  a  noon  been  followed  by  a  night 
so  black  and  terrible.  But  the  end  was  not  yet : 
a  little  space  was  interposed  between  the  with- 
di-awal  of  the  royal  favour  and  the  final  fall  of 
Wolsey. 

On  the  6th  of  July,  the  Pope  avoked  to  Rome  the 
cause  between  Hemy  of  England  and  Catherine  of 
Aragon.'  On  the  3rd  of  August,  the  king  was 
informed  that  he  had  been  cited  before  the  Pope's 
tribunal,  and  that,  failing  to  appear,  he  was  con- 
demned in  a  fine  of  10,000  ducats.  "This  ordon- 
nance  of  the  Pope,"  says  Sanders,  "  was  not  only 
posted  up  at  Rome,  but  at  Bruges,  at  Tournay,  and 
on  all  the  churches  of  Flanders."-  What  a  humi- 
liation to  the  proud  and  powerful  monarch  of 
England  !  This  citation  crowned  the  insults  given 
him  by  Clement,  and  filled  up  the  cup  of  Henry's 
wrath.  Gardiner,  who  had  just  returned  from 
Rome  with  these  most  \inwelcome  news,  witnessed 
the  storm  that  now  burst  in  the  royal  apartment.' 
The  chafed  and  affronted  Tudor  fulminated  against 
the  Pope  and  all  his  priests.  Yes,  he  would  go  to 
Rome,  but  Rome  should  repent  his  coming.  He 
would  go  at  the  head  of  his  army,  and  see  if  priest 
or  Pope  dare  cite  him  to  his  tribinial,  or  look  him 
in  the  face.*  But  second  thoughts  taught  Henry 
that,  bad  as  the  matter  was,  any  ebullition  of 
temper  would  only  make  it  worse  by  showing  how 
deep  the  affront  had  sunk.  Accordingly,  he 
ordered  Gardiner  to  conceal  this  citation  from  the 
knowledge  of  his  subjects ;  and,  meanwhile,  in  the 


'  Burnet,  Records,  bk.  i.,  p.  81. 

-  Sanders,  p.  G.3. 

=  Herbert,  Life  of  Hemy  VIII.,  p.  287. 

■•  State  Papers,  vii.,  p.  194. 


e.xercise  of  the  powers  vested  in  liiiu  by  the  Act  of 
Praemunire,  he  inhibited  the  bull  and  forbade  it  to 
be  served  upon  him.  The  commission  of  the  two 
legates  wa.s,  however,  at  an  end,  and  the  avocation 
of  the  cause  to  Rome  was  in  reality  an  adjudication 
against  the  king. 

Two  yeare  had  been  lost :  this  was  not  all ;  the 
king  had  not  now  a  single  ally  on  the  Continent. 
Charles  V.  and  Clement  VII.  were  again  fast 
friends,  and  were  to  spend  the  winter  together  in 
Bologna.^  I.solation  abroad,  humiliation  at  home, 
and  bitter  disappointment  in  the  scheme  on  which 
his  heart  was  so  much  set,  were  all  that  he  had 
reaped  from  the  many  fair  promises  of  Clement  and 
the  crafty  handling  of  Wolsey.  Nor  did  the  king 
see  how  ever  he  could  i-ealise  his  hopes  of  a  divorce, 
of  a  second  mamage,  and  of  an  heir  to  his  throne, 
so  long  as  he  left  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  the 
Pope.  He  must  either  abandon  the  idea  of  a 
divorce,  with  all  that  he  had  built  upon  it,  or  he 
must  withdraw  it  from  the  Papal  jurisdiction.  He 
was  resolved  not  to  take  the  first  course — the  second 
only  remained  open  to  him.  He  would  withdraw 
his  cause,  and,  along  with  it,  himself  and  his 
throne,  from  the  Roman  tribunals  and  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Papal  supremacy.  In  no  other  way 
could  he  rescue  the  affair  from  the  dead-lock  into 
which  it  had  fallen.  But  the  matter  was  weighty, 
and  had  to  be  gone  aljout  with  great  deliberation. 
Meanwhile  events  were  accelerating  the  ruin  of 
the  cardinal. 

The  king,  seeking  in  change  of  residence  escape 
from  the  vexations  that  filled  his  mind,  had  gone 
down  to  Grafton  in  Northamptonshire.  Thither 
Campeggio  followed  him,  to  take  leave  of  the  court 
before  setting  out  for  Italy.  Wolsey  accompanied 
his  brother-legate  to  Grafton,  but  was  coldly  re- 
ceived. The  king  drew  him  into  the  embrasure  of 
a  window,  and  began  talking  with  him.  Suddenly 
Henry  pulled  out  a  letter,  and,  handing  it  to 
Wolsey,  said  shai-ply,  "Is  not  this  your  hand?"" 
The  cardinal's  reply  was  not  heard  bj^  the  lords 
that  filled  the  apartment,  and  who  intently  watched 
the  countenances  of  the  two ;  but  the  letter  was 
imderstood  to  be  an  intercepted  one  relatuig  to  the 
treaty  wliich  AVolsey  had  concluded  with  France, 
^\•ithout  the  consent  or  knowledge  of  the  king. 
The  convei'sation  lasted  a  few  minutes  longer,  and 
Wolsey  was  dismissed  to  dinner,  but  not  permitted 
to  sleep  under  the  same  roof  with  the  king.  This 
was  the  last  audience  he  ever  had  of  his  master, 
and  Wolsey  but  too  truly  divined  that  the  star  of 


'  See  ante,  vol.  i.,  p.  573. 
''  Cavendish. 


FALL   OF  WOLSEY. 


387 


his  gi-eatness  had  set.  On  the  moiTOw  the  two 
cardinals  set  forth  on  their  journey,  Wolsey  re- 
turning to  London,  and  Campeggio  directing  his 
steps  towards  his  port  of  debarkation.  At  Dover,' 
his  baggage  was  strictly  searched,  by  the  king's 
orders,  for  important  papers,  especially  the  decretal - 
annulling  his  marriage,  which  Henry  had  been  pei-- 
mitted  to  see,  but  not  to  touch.  The  decretal  was 
not  found,  for  this  very  sufficient  reason,  that  the 
cardinal,  agreeably  to  instructions,  had  burned  it. 
All  other  important  documents  were  already  across 
the  Channel,  the  crafty  Italian  having  taken  the 
precaution  to  send  them  on  by  a  special  messenger. 
Campeggio  was  glad  to  touch  French  soil,  leaving 
hLs  fellow-churchman  to  face  as  he  best  could  the 
bui-sting  of  the  tempest. 

It  now  came.  At  the  next  Michaelmas  term 
(October  9th)  Wolsey  proceeded  to  open,  with  his 
usual  pomp,  his  Court  of  Chancery.  The  gloom  on 
his  face,  as  he  sat  on  the  bench,  cast  its  shadow  on 
the  niembei-s  of  court,  and  seemed  even  to  darken 
the  hall.  This  disj)lay  of  authority  was  the  last 
gleam  in  the  setting  splendours  of  the  great 
cardinal ;  for  the  same  hour  the  Attorney-General, 
Hales,  was  filing  against  him  two  bills  in  the 
King's  Bench,  charging  him  with  having  brought 
bulls  into  England,  in  virtue  of  which  he  had  exer- 
cised an  office  that  encroached  upon  the  royal  pre- 
rogative, and  incuiTed  the  penalties  of  Praemunire. 
Soon  after  this  the  Dukes  of  Suffolk  and  Norfolk 
waited  on  him  from  the  king,  to  demand  deliveiy  of 
the  Great  Seal,  and  to  say  that,  vacating  his  palaces 
of  Whitehall  and  Hampton  Court,  he  must  confine 
himself  to  hLs  house  at  Esher.  "  My  lords,"  said 
the  sti-icken  man,  \vith  something  of  his  old  spirit, 
"  the  Great  Seal  of  England  was  delivered  to  me  by 
the  hands  of  my  sovereign,  and  I  may  not  deliver 
it  at  the  simple  word  of  any  lord."  The  two  noble- 
men returned  next  day  with  a  written  order  from 
the  king,  and  the  seal  was  at  once  given  up." 
Stripped  of  his  great  office,  his  other  pos.sessions, 
though  of  immense  value,  seemed  a  small  matter. 
His  treas\u'es  of  gold  and  silver,  his  rich  robes,  his 
costly  and  curious  furniture — all  he  would  present 
to  the  king,  peradventure  it  would  soften  his  heart 
and  win  back  his  favour,  or  at  least  save  the  giver 
from  the  last  disgi-ace  of  the  block.  He  understood 
Henry's  disposition,  and  knew  that  like  other 
spendthrifts  he  was  fond  of  money.  Summoning 
the  officers  of  his  hou.sehold  before  him,  he  ordered 
them  to  i)lace  tables  in  the  great  hall,  and  lay  o>it 

'  Cavendish  says  Calais;  the  Bishop  of  Bayonne,  D.i 
Bellay,  says  Dover. 
-  Herbert,  p.  288. 
•■•  Uid.,p.  290. 


upon  them  the  various  articles  entnisted  to  their 
care.  His  orders  were  immediately  obeyed  Soon 
the  tables  groaned  under  heaps  of  glittermg  spoil. 
Cloths  of  gold,  with  which  the  walls  of  the  gi-eat 
gallery  were  hung;  Eastern  silks,  satins,  velvets; 
tapestry  adorned,  with  scriptm-al  subjects,  and 
stories  from  the  old  romances ;  furred  robes,  gor- 
geous copes,  and  webs  of  a  valuable  stufl'  named 
baudekin,  wrought  in  the  looms  of  Damascus,  were 
piled  up  in  wonderful  profusion.  In  another  room, 
called  the  Gilt  Chamber,  the  tables  were  covered 
with  gold  plate,  some  articles  being  of  massive 
fabric,  and  set  with  precious  stones ;  in  a  second 
apartment  was  arranged  the  sUver-gilt ;  and  so 
abundant  were  these  articles  of  luxury,  that  whole 
basketfuls  of  gold  and  silver  plate,  which  had 
fallen  out  of  fashion,  were  stowed  away  under  the 
tables.^  An  inventory  having  been  taken,  Sir 
William  Gascoigne  was  commanded  by  the  cardinal 
to  see  all  this  wealth  delivered  to  the  king. 

The  cardinal  now  set  out  for  Esher,  accompanied 
by  his  attached  and  sorrowing  domestics.  On  his 
journey,  a  horseman  was  seen  galloping  towards 
him  across  country.  It  was  Sir  Henry  Non-is,  with 
a  ring  from  the  king,  "  as  a  token  of  his  confidence." 
The  fallen  man  received  it  with  ecstatic  but  abject 
joy.  It  was  plain  there  lingered  yet  an  affection 
for  his  fonner  minister  in  the  heai't  of  the  monarch. 
He  reached  Esher,  and  took  up  his  abode  within 
four  bare  walls.^  What  a  contrast  to  the  splendid 
palaces  he  had  left !  Meanwhile  his  enemies — and 
these  were  legion — pushed  on  proceedings  against 
him.  Parliament  had  been  summoned  the  first 
time  for  seven  years — during  that  period  England 
had  been  governed  by  a  Papal  legate — and  an  im- 
peachment, consisting  of  forty-four  clauses,  founded 
upon  the  Act  of  Praemunire,  was  preferred  against 
Wolsey.  The  indictment  comprehended  all,  from 
the  pure  Latin  in  which  he  had  put  himself  above 
the  king  {Eijo  et  Bex  meus)  to  the  foul  breath  with 
which  he  had  infected  the  royal  presence ;  and  it 
placed  in  bold  relief  his  legantine  function,  with 
the  many  violations  of  law,  monopolising  of  church 
revenues,  gi-ievous  exactions,  and  unauthorLsed 
dealings  with  foreign  Powers  of  which  ho  had  been 
guilty  under   cover  of  it.°     The  indictment  was 


■■  Cavendish,  vol.  i.,  pp.  183,  184.  Herbert,  p.  290.— 
One  of  the  best  inventories  of  Wolsey's  furniture  is  pre- 
served among  the  Harleian  MSS.  in  tlie  British  Museum. 
(See  Ellis,  Letters,  vol.  ii.,  p.  25.) 

'  "  Thus  continued  my  lord  at  Esher  three  or  four 
weeks,  without  either  beds,  sheets,  tablo-cloths,  or  dishes 
to  eat  their  me.at  in  ...  .  but  afterwards  my  lord  bor- 
rowed some  plates  and  dishes  of  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle." 
(Cavendish.) 

'  Herbert,  p.  295. 


38S 


HISTORY   OF   PEOTESTANTISM. 


tlnowii  out  by  the  Commons,  mainly  by  the  zeal 
of  Thomas  Cromwell,  n,n  atiVctionate  servant  of 
Wolsey's,  who  sat  for  the  Citj'  of  London,  and 
whose  chief  object  in  seeking  election  to  Parlia- 
ment was  to  help  his  old  master,  and  also  to  raise 
himself. 

But  the  process  commenced  against  him  in  the 
King's  Bench  was  not  likely  to  end  so  favourably. 
The  cardinal  had  violated  the  Act  of  Prajmunire 
beyond  all  question.  He  had  brought  Papal  bulls 
into  the  country,  and  he  had  exercised  powei-s  in 
virtue  of  them,  which  infringed  the  law  and 
usurped  the  prerogatives  of  the  sovereign.  Ti-ue, 
Wolsey  might  plead  that  the  king,  by  permitting 
the  unchallenged  exercise  of  these  powers  for  so 
many  years,  had  vii-tually,  if  not  formally,  sanc- 
tioned them ;  nevertheless,  from  his  knowledge  of ' 
the  king,  he  deemed  it  more  politic  to  plead  guilty. 
Nor  did  he  miscalculate  in  this.  Henry  accorded 
him  an  ample  pardon,  and  thus  he  escaped  the 
serious  consequences  with  which  the  Act  of  Prae- 
munire menaced  him.' 

At  Esher  the  cardinal  fell  dangerously  ill,  and  the 
king,  hearing  of  his  sickness,  sent  thi-ee  physicians 
to  attend  upon  him.  On  his  recovery,  he  was  per- 
mitted to  remove  to  Richmond ;  but  the  Privy 
Council,  alarmed  at  his  near  approach  to  the  court, 
prevailed  on  the  king  to  banish  him  to  his  diocese 
of  York.  The  hopes  Wolsey  had  begun  to  cherish 
of  the  return  of  the  royal  favour  were  agam  dashed. 
He  set  out  on  his  northward  journey  in  the  early 
spi-ing  of  1.530.  His  train,  according  to  Cavendish, 
consisted  of  160  persons  and  seventy-two  waggons 
loaded  -svith  the  relics  of  his  furniture.  "How 
gi-eat  must  have  been  that  grandeur  which,  by 
comparison,  made  such  wealth  appear  poverty  !"-' 
Taking  up  his  abode  at  Cawood  Castle,  the  resi- 
dence of  the  Archbisliops  of  York,  he  gave  himself 
wth  great  assiduity  to  the  dischai-ge  of  his  ecclesi- 
astical duties.  He  distributed  alms  to  the  jaoor  ; 
he  visited  his  numerous  parish  chin-ches ;  he  incited 
his  clei'gy  to  preach  regularly  to  their  flocks ;  he 
reconciled  diflerences,  said  mass  in  the  village 
churches,  was  affable  and  courteous  to  all,  and  ))y 
the.se  means  he  speedily  won  the  esteem  of  every 
class.  This  he  hoped  was  the  beginning  of  a  second 
upward  career.  Other  arts  he  is  said  to  have  em- 
ployed to  regain  the  eminence  from  which  he  had 
fallen.  He  entered  into  a  sesret  correspondence 
with  the  Pope  ;  and  it  was  believed  at  court  that 
he  was  intriguing  against  his  sovereigii  both  at  home 
and  abroad.      These  suspicions  were  strengthened 


'  StiTpe,  Ecol.  Mem.,  vol.  i.,  p.  182. 

-  Gait,  Life  of  Cardiiuil  Wolsey,  p.  193 ;  Lond.,  18 IG. 


by  the  magnificent  enthronisation  which  he  was 
pi-eparing  for  himself  at  York.  The  day  fixed  for 
the  august  ceremonial  was  near,  when  the  tide  in 
the  cardinal's  fortimes  turned  adversely,  nevermore 
to  change.  Suddenly  the  Earl  of  Northumberland 
— the  same  Percy  whose  affection  for  Anne  Boleyn 
Wolsey  had  thwarted — arrived  at  Cawood  Castle 
with  an  order  to  arrest  him  for  high  treason.  The 
shock  well-nigh  killed  him ;  he  remained  for  some 
time  speechless.  Instead  of  ascending  his  throne 
in  York  Cathedral,  he  had  to  mount  his  mule  and 
begin  his  pilgrimage  to  the  Tower)  thence  to 
pass,  it  might  be,  to  the  block.  On  beginning  his 
journey,  the  peasantry  of  the  neighbourhood  as- 
sembled at  Cawood,  and  with  lighted  torches  and 
hearty  cheers  strove  to  i-aise  his  spirits  ;  but  nothing 
could  again  bring  the  light  of  joy  into  his  face. 
His  earthly  glory  was  ended,  and  all  was  ended 
with  it.  He  halted  on  his  way  at  Sheffield  Park, 
the  residence  of  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury.  One 
morning  during  his  stay  there,  George  Cavendish, 
the  most  faithful  of  all  his  domestics,  came-  running 
into  his  chamber,  crying  out,  "  Good  news,  my 
lord  !  Sir  William  Kingston  is  come  to  conduct  you 
to  the  king."  The  word  "  Kingston"  went  like  an 
arrow  to  his  heart.  "  Kingston !"  he  repeated, 
sighing  deeply.  A  soothsayer  had  warned  him  that 
he  should  have  his  end  at  Kingston.  He  had 
thought  that  the  town  of  that  name  was  meant : 
now  he  saw  that  it  was  the  Tower,  of  which  King.s- 
ton  was  the  Constable,  that  wivs  to  be  fatal  to  him. 
The  arrival  of  Sir  William  was  to  the  poor  man 
the  messenger  of  death.  Blow  was  coming  after 
blow,  and  heart  and  strength  were  rapidly  failing 
him.  It  was  a  fortnight  before  he  was  able  to  set 
out  from  Sheffield  Park.  On  the  way  he  was  once 
and  again  near  falling  from  his  mule  tlu-ough  weak- 
ness. On  the  third  day — Saturday,  the  26th  of 
November — he  reached  Leicester.  The  falling  leaf 
and  the  setting  sun — the  last  he  was  ever  to  see 
— seemed  but  the  emblems  of  his  own  condition. 
By  the  time  he  had  got  to  the  abbey,  where  he 
was  to  lodge,  the  night  had  closed  in,  and  the 
abbot  and  friars  waited  at  the  portal  with  torches 
to  light  his  entrance.  "  Father,"  said  he  to  the 
abbot,  a.s  lie  crossed  the  threshold,  "  I  am  come  to 
lay  my  bones  among  you."  He  took  to  his  bed, 
from  which  he  was  to  rise  not  again.  Melancholy 
vaticinations  and  forebodings  continued  to  haunt 
him.  "  Upon  Monday,  in  the  morning,"  says  Caven- 
dish, his  faithful  attendant,  and  the  chronicler  of 
his  last  hoiirs,  "as  I  stood  by  his  bedside  about 
eight  of  the  clock,  the  Avindows  being  close  shut, 
having  wax  lights  l^urning  upon  the  cupboard,  I 
beheld  him,  as  me  seemed,  drawing  fast  to  his  end. 


DEATH   OF   WOLSEY. 


389 


He,  perceiviug  my  shadow  upon  the  wall  by  hit> 
bedside,  asked  ....  'What  is  it  of  the  clock '(' 
'  Forsooth,  sii','  said  I,  '  it  is  past  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning.'  'Eight  of  the  clock'!'  quoth  he,  'that 
oaiiiiot  be,'  rehearsing  divers  times,  '  Eight  of  the 
clock,  eight  of  the  clock.  Nay,  nay,'  quoth  he  at 
last, '  it  cannot  be  eight  of  the  clock,  for  by  eight  of 
the  clock  ye  shall  lose  your  master.'"'  He  survived 
all  that  day. 

At  si.x;  on  Tuesday  morning,  Kingston,  Lieu- 
tenant of  the  Tower,  entered  his  chamber  to  inquire 
how  he  did  1  "  Sii',"  said  he,  "  I  tarry  but  the 
will  and  pleasure  of  God."  His  intellect  remained 
perfectly  clear.  "  Be  of  good  cheer,"  rejoined 
KLingston.  "  Alas  !  Master  Kingston,"  replied  the 
dying  cardinal,  "  if  I  had  served  God  as  diligently 
as  I  have  sei-ved  the  king.  He  would  not  have 
given  me  over  thus  in  my  grey  hairs.  Howbeit," 
he  added,  "this  is  the  just  reward  I  must  receive 
for  all  my  worldly  diligence  and  pains,  ordy  to 
satisfy  his  vain  pleasure,  not  regarding  my  duty 
to  God."-  Such  was  Wolsey's  judgment  upon  his 
own  life. 

He  had  but  few  minutes  to  live,  and  the  use  he 
made  of  them  was  to  send  a  last  message  to  his 
former  master,  on  a  matter  that  lay  near  his  heart. 
"  Master  Kingston,"  he  said,  "  attend  to  my  last 
request:  tell  the  king  that  I  conjure  him  in  God's 
name  to  destroy  this  new  pernicious  sect  of  Luthe- 


luiis.  .  .  .  The  king  should  know  that  if  he 
tolerates  heresy,  God  will  take  away  his  power." 
Wolsey  is  the  same  man  on  liis  death-bed  as 
when,  sitting  under  the  canopy  of  state,  he  had 
sent  martyrs  to  the  lire.  His  last  breath  is 
expended  in  iamiing  the  torch  of  pei-secution 
in  England.  But  now  the  faltering  tongue  and 
glazing  eye  told  those  around  him  that  the  last 
moment  was  come.  "  Incontinent,"  says  Caven- 
dish, "  the  clock  struck  eight,  and  then  gave  he 
up  the  ghost,"  leaving  the  attendants  awe-struck 
at  the  strange  fulfilment  of  the  words,  "  By  eight 
of  the  clock  ye  shall  lose  your  master."  The 
corpse,  decked  out  in  Pontifical  robes,  with  mitre 
and  cross  and  ring,  was  put  into  a  coffin  of  boards 
and  carried  into  "  Our  Lady  Chapel,"  where  the 
magistrates  of  Leicester  were  permitted  to  view  the 
uncovered  ghastly  face,  and  satisfy  themselves  that 
the  cardinal  was  really  dead.  A  gi-ave  was  hastily 
dug  within  the  precincts  of  the  abbey,  wax  tapers 
were  kept  burning  all  night  round  the  bier,  orisons 
were  didy  simg,  and  next  morning,  before  day- 
break, the  cotfin  containing  the  body  of  the  deceased 
legate  was  carried  out,  amidst  funeral  chants  and 
flaring  torches,  and  deposited  in  the  place  prepared 
for  it.  Dust  to  dust.  The  man  who  had  filled 
England  with  his  glory,  and  Europe  with  his  fame, 
was  left  without  tomb  or  epitaph  to  say,  "  Here 
lies  Wolsey." 


CHAPTER   VIIL 

CRANMER CROMWELL THE    PAPAL    SUPREMACY   ABOLISHED. 

The  King  at  Waltham  Abbey— A  Supper— Fox;  and  Gardiner  Meet  Cranmer — Conversation — New  Li^ht— Ask  the 
Universities,  What  says  the  Bible  ?— The  King  and  Cranmer— Cranmer  Set  to  Work— Thomas  Cromwell— advisci 
the  King  to  Throw  off  Dependence  on  the  Pope— Henry  Likes  the  Advice— resolves  to  Act  upon  it— takes  Crom- 
well into  his  Service — The  Whole  Clergy  held  Guilty  of  Prjemunire — Their  Possessions  and  Benefices  to  be 
Confiscated — Alternative,  Asked  to  Abandon  the  Papal  Headsliip — Keasoninga  between  Convocation  and  the 
King— Convocation  Declares  King  Henry  Supreme  Head  of  the  Chm-cli  of  England. 


The  Great  Ruler  bi-ings  forth  men  as  ho  does  the 
stars,  each  in  his  appointed  time.  Wc  have  just 
seen  the  bitterest,  and  certainly  the  most  powerful 
enemy  of  Protestantism  in  all  England,  quit  the 
stage  ;  two  men,  destined  to  be  eminently  instru- 
mental in  advancing  the  cause  of  the  Reformation, 
are  about  to  step  upon  it. 


'  Cavendish,  vol.  i.,  pp.313,  314. 


-  Ibid.,  pp.  3rJ,  320. 


The  king,  on  his  way  from  Grafton  to  Loudon, 
halted  at  Waltham,  Esse.x;,  to  enjoy  the  chase  in 
the  neighbouring  forest.  The  court  was  too  nu- 
merous to  be  all  accommodated  in  the  abbey,  and 
two  of  the  king's  servants — Gardiner  his  .secretary, 
and  Fox  his  almoner — -were  entertained  in  the  house 
of  a  citizen  of  Waltham,  named  Cressj'.  At  the 
supper-table  they  unexpectedly  met  a  former  ac- 
quaintance, a  Fellow  of  Jesus  College,  Cambridge. 


390 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


His  name  was  Tliomas  Cranmer,  and  the  plague 
having  broken  out  at  Cambridge,  he  had  now  come 
hither  with  his  two  pupils,  sons  of  the  man  at 
■whose  table  the  secretary  and  almoner  found  him. 


Ho'w  perfectly  accidental,  and  how  ontirol,y  without 
'>i<jnificance  seemed  it,  that  these  three  men  should 
th.it  night  sit  at  the  same  supper-table  !  and  yet 
tins  meeting  forms  one  of  the  grand  turning-points 
ni  the  destiny  of  England. 

Thomas  Cranmer  was  born  (1489)  at  Alsacton, 
nc  11  Nottingham,  of  a  family  whose  ancestors  had 
( omc  into  England  with  the  Conqueror. '  He  re- 
cened  his  first  lessons  from  an  old  and  inflexibly 
se\eie  priest,  who  taught  him  little  besides  sub- 
mission to  chastisement.  On  going  to  Cambridge 
his  genius  ojiened,  and  his  powers  of  application 
became  such  that  he  declined  no  labour,  however 
gi-eat,  if  necessary  to  the  right  solution  of  a  ques- 

'  Strype,  Memorials  of  Cranmer,  p.  1 ;  Lond.,  1694.— The 
residence  of  the  Alsactons  and  Cranmers  may  still  be 
traced,  the  site  being  marked  by  enormous  earth-works. 
(Thorston  and  Throaty,  Hist,  of  Nottinghamshire.) 


392 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


tiou.  At  tLis  time  the  fame  of  the  Lutheran 
coiitrovei-sy  reached  Cambridge,  and  Cranmer  set 
himself  to  know  on  wliich  side  was  the  truth.  He 
studied  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  languages,  that  lie 
might  have  access  to  the  fountains  of  knowledge, 
for  he  felt  that  tlas  was  a  controversy  which  must 
be  determined  by  the  Bible,  and  by  it  alone. 
After  three  yeai-s  spent  in  the  study  of  the  Scrip- 
tures,' without  commentaries  or  human  helps  of 
any  kind,  the  darkness  of  scholasticism  which  till 
now  had  hung  around  him  cleared  away,  and  the 
simple  yet  maje.stic  plan  of  salvation  stood  forth  in 
glory  before  his  eyes  on  the  sacred  page.  Forty 
yeai-s  had  he  passed  in  comparative  seclusion,  pre- 
paring, unsuspected  by  himself,  for  the  great  work 
he  was  to  perform  on  the  conspicuous  stage  to 
wliich  he  was  to  pass  from  this  supper-table. 

His  two  friends,  who  knew  liis  eminent  attain- 
ments in  theologjf,  dii'eoted  the  conversation  so  as 
to  draw  from  him  an  opinion  upon  the  question 
then  occupying  all  men's  minds,  the  royal  divorce. 
He  spoke  his  sentiments  frauklj^  not  imagining 
that  his  words  would  be  heard  beyond  the  chamber 
in  which  they  were  uttered.  "  Why  go  to  Rome  V 
he  asked ;  "  wh}'  take  so  long  a  road  when  by  a 
.shorter  you  may  ariive  at  a  more  certain  con- 
clusion?" '-What  is  that  shorter  road?"  asked 
Gardiner  and  Fox.  "  The  Scriptures,"  replied 
Cranmer.  "  If  God  has  made  this  marriage  sinful 
the  Pope  cannot  make  it  la'wful."  "  But  how  shall 
we  know  what  the  Scriptures  say  on  the  point?" 
inquired  his  two  friends.  "Ask  the  universities," 
replied  the  doctor,  "  they  will  return  a  sounder  ver- 
dict than  the  Pope." 

Two  days  afterward."?  the  words  of  Cranmer  were 
reported  to  the  king.  He  eagerly  caught  them  up, 
thinking  he  saw  in  them  a  way  out  of  his  diffi- 
culties. Hem-y  had  previously  consulted  the  two 
English  universities,  but  the  question  he  had  put 
to  them  was  not  the  same  which  Cranmer  projiosed 
should  be  put  to  the  luiiversities  of  Christendom. 
AVIiat  Henry  had  asked  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
was  their  own  opinion  of  his  marriage, — was  it 
lawful  i  But  the  (juestion  which  Cranmer  proposed 
.should  be  put  to  the  univei'sities  of  Europe  was, 
AVhat  does  the  Bible  say  of  such  marriages  ?  does 
it  ajiprove  or  condemn  them  ?  and,  having  got  the 
sense  of  Sciipture  through  the  uuivei'sities,  he  pro- 
posed that  then  the  cause  shoiUd  be  held  as  decided. 
This  was  to  ajipeal  the  case  from  the  Pope  to  God, 
from  the  Church  to  the  Scriptures.  With  tliis  idea 
Henry  at  once  fell  in,  not  knowing  that  it  was  the 
formal  fundamental  principle  of  Protestantism  that 


SilOlX',  Mcmoiiah  of  Cranmtr,  p.  2. 


he  was  about  to  act  upon.  Cranmer  was  imme- 
diately summoned  to  court ;  he  was  as  reluctant  a.s 
most  men  would  have  been  forward  to  obey  the 
order.  He  would  have  preferred  the  calm  of  a 
country  jiarsonage  to  the  splendours  and  perils  of  a 
court.  The  king  was  jileased  with  his  modesty  not 
less  than  with  his  leai'uing  and  good  sense,  and 
commanded  him  to  set  immediately  to  work,  and 
collect  the  opinions  of  the  canonists  and  Papal 
jurists  on  the  question  whether  his  marriage  was  in 
accordance  with,  or  contrary  to,  the  laws  of  God. 
It  was  also  resolved  to  consult  the  universities. 
Clement  VII.  had  cited  the  King  of  England  to  his 
bar  :  Henry  would  summon  the  Pope  to  the  tribu- 
nal of  Scripture. 

While  Cranmfer  is  beginning  his  work,  which  is 
to  give  him  the  primatial  mitre  of  England  in  the 
fii-st  place,  and  the  higher  glory  of  a  stake  in  the 
end,  we  must  mark  the  advent  on  the  stage  of 
public  aflairs  of  one  destined  to  contribute  powerful 
aid  towards  the  emancipation  of  England  from  the 
Popedom.  This  man  was  Thoma.s  Cromwell.  Crom- 
well had  commenced  life  in  the  English  factory  at 
Antwerp  ;  he  afterwards  accompanied  the  German 
army  to  Italy  as  a  military  adventurer,  where  he 
served  under  Bourbon,  and  was  present  at  the  sack 
of  Rome.  He  then  returned  to  his  native  country 
and  began  the  study  of  law.  It  was  in  this  capa- 
city that  he  became  connected  with  Wolsey,  whom 
he  faithfully  served,  and  whose  fall,  as  we  have 
seen,  he  helped  to  break.  He  had  seen  that 
Wolsey's  overthrow  was  largely  owing  to  his  sub- 
serviency to  the  Pope ;  he  would  make  trial  of  the 
contrai-y  road,  and  lift  up  England  and  England's 
king  above  the  haughty  head  that  wore  the  tiara. 
Full  of  this  idea  he  sought  and  obtained  an  inter- 
view vvith  Henry.  With  gi-eat  courage  and  clear- 
ness he  put  before  the  king  the  humiliations  and 
embarrassments  into  which  both  Henry  himself 
iuid  his  kingdom  had  been  brought  by  dependence 
on  the  Pope.  Who  was  the  Pope,  he  asked,  that 
he  should  be  monarch  of  England  1  and  who  were 
the  priests,  that  they  slioidd  be  above  the  law  1 
Why  should  not  the  king  be  master  in  Ids  own 
house  1  why  .should  he  divide  his  power  with  a 
foreign  bishop  1  To  lower  the  throne  of  England 
before  the  Papal  chair,  and  to  permit  English  causes 
to  be  tried  at  Italian  tribunals,  was  only  to  be  half 
a  king,  while  the  people  of  England  were  only  half 
his  subjects.  Why  should  England  impoverish 
herself  by  paying  taxes  to  Rome  ?  England  at  this 
moment  was  little  else  than  a  monster  with  two 
heads.  Why  should  not  the  king  declare  himself 
the  head  of  the  Church  within  his  owii  realm,  and 
put  the  clergy  on  the  same  level  with  the  rest  of 


HENRY   THE   EIGHTH'S   NEW   STATE   POLICY. 


393 


the  king's  subjects  ?  Tliey  swore,  indeed,  allegiance 
to  the  king,  but  they  took  a  second  oath  to  the 
Pope,  which  vh'tually  annulled  the  tirst,  and  made 
them  more  the  Pope's  subjects  than  they  were 
the  king's.  The  king  would  :uld  to  his  dignity, 
and  advance  tlie  prosperity  and  glory  of  his  realm, 
by  putting  an  end  to  this  state  of  things.  Did  he 
not  live  in  an  age  when  Frederick  the  Wise  and 
other  sovereigns  were  throwing  oif  the  Papal  supre- 
macy, and  did  it  become  England  to  crouch  to  a 
power  which  even  the  petty  kingdoms  of  Germany 
were  contemning'?'  The  few  minutes  which  it 
vequii-ed  to  utter  these  courageous  words  had 
wrought  a  gi-eat  revolution  in  the  king's  views. 
Treading  in  the  steals  of  his  royal  ancestors,  he  had 
acquiesced  blindly  in  a  state  of  things  which  had 
been  handed  down  from  i-emote  ages ;  but  the 
moment  these  anomalies  and  monstrous  absurdities 
were  j)ointed  out  to  him  he  saw  at  once  his  true 
position  ;  yet  the  king  might  not  have  so  cleai'h'  seen 
it  but  for  the  preparation  his  mind  had  undergone 
from  the  perplexities  and  emban-assments  into 
which  his  dependence  on  the  Papacy  had  brought 
liim. 

Fixing  a  keen  eye  on  the  speaker,  Henry  asked 
him  whether  he  could  prove  what  he  had  now 
affirmed  1  Cromwell  had  anticipated  the  question, 
and  was  prepared  with  an  answer.  He  pulled 
from  his  pocket  a  copy  of  the  oath  which  every 
bishop  swears  at  his  consecration,  and  read  it  to 
the  king.  This  was  enough.  Henry  saw  that  he 
reigned  but  over  his  lay  subjects,  and  only  partially 
over  them,  while  the  clergy  were  wholly  the  liege- 
men of  a  foreign  prince.  If  the  affair  of  the  divorce 
thwarted  him  iix  his  affections,  this  other  sorely 
touched  his  pride  ;  and,  'Nvith  the  tenacity  and  deter- 
mination characteristic  of  him,  Henry  resolved  to 
bo  rid  of  both  annoyances. 

Thus,  by  the  constraining  force  of  external 
causes,  the  policy  of  England  was  forming  itself 
upon  the  two  grcit  fundamental  principles  of  Pro- 
testantism. Cranmer  had  enunciated  the  religious 
lirincijile  that  the  Bible  is  abo^■e  the  Pope,  and 
now  Cromwell  brings  forward  the  political  one  that 
England  is  wholly  an  independent  State,  and  owes 
no  subjection  to  the  Papacy.  The  opposites  of 
tliese — that  the  Church  is  above  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  Popedom  above  England — were  the  twin 
fountains  of  the  vassalage,  spiritual  and  political, 
in  which  England  was  sunk  in  pre-Reformation 
times.  Tlie  adoption  of  their  opposites  was  Pro- 
testiintism,  and  the  prosecution  of  them  was  tlu; 


'  Apologia  Reriin.  Poli  aJ   Carolum  V. — PoH   Epistolw, 
vol.  i.,  pp.  120,  121. 


Reformation.  This  liy  no  nieans  imjilies  that  the 
Reformation  came  from  Henry  VIII.  The  Re- 
formation came  from  the  two  principles  we  have 
just  stated,  and  which,  handed  down  from  the  times 
of  Wicliffe,  were  levived  by  the  confessors  and 
martyrs  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Henry  laid  hold 
on  these  forces  because  they  were  .the  only  ones 
that  could  enable  him  to  gain  the  personal  and 
djniastic  objects  at  which  he  aimed.  At  the  very 
time  that  he  was  making  war  on  the  Pope's  juris- 
diction, he  was  burning  those  who  had  abandoned 
the  Pope's  religion. 

Whilst  listening  to  Cromwell,  astonishment 
mingled  with  the  delight  of  the  king  :  a  new  future 
seemed  to  be  rising  before  himself  and  his  kingdom, 
and  Cromwell  proceeded  to  point  out  the  steps  by 
which  he  would  realise  the  gi'eat  objects  Avith  which 
he  had  inspired  him.  The  clergy,  he  showed  him, 
were  in  his  power  already.  Cardinal  Wolsey  had 
pleaded  guilty  to  the  infraction  of  the  law  of  Prse- 
munii-e,  but  the  guilt  of  the  cardinal  was  the 
guDt  of  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy,  for  all  of 
them  had  submitted  to  the  legantine  authority. 
All  therefore  had  incurred  the  penalties  of  Prae- 
munire ;  their  persons  and  property  were  in  the 
power  of  the  king,  and  Henry  must  extend  pardon 
to  them  only  on  condition  of  their  vesting  in  him- 
self the  supremacy  of  the  Church  of  England,  now 
lodged  in  the  Pope.  The  king  saw  his  path  clearly, 
and  with  all  the  impetuosity  and  energy  of  his 
character  he  addressed  himself  to  the  prosecution  of 
it.  He  aimed  mainly  at  the  Pope,  but  he  would 
begiir  at  home ;  the  foreign  thraldom  would  fall  all 
the  more  readily  that  the  home  servitude  was  first 
cast  off.  Taking  his  ring  from  his  finger,  and 
giving  it  to  the  bold  and  resolute  man  who  stood 
before  him,  the  king  made  Cromwell  a  Privy  Coun- 
cillor, and  bade  him  consider  himself  his  servant  in 
the  great  and  somewhat  hazardous  projects  which 
had  been  concocted  between  them. 

Vast  changes  rapidly  followed  in  the  State  and 
Church  of  England.  The  battle  was  begim  in 
Parliament.  This  assembly  met  on  No-\'ember  3rd, 
l.Ti9,  and  instantly  began  their  complaints  of  the 
exactions  which  the  clergy  imjiosed  on  the  laity. 
The  priests  demanded  heavy  sums  for  the  jirobate 
of  wills  and  mortuaries  ;  they  acted  as  stewards  to 
bisho))s ;  they  occupied  farms ;  abbots  and  friai-s 
traded  in  cloth  and  wool;  many  lived  in  noble- 
men's houses  instead  of  residing  oir  their  li\'ings, 
and  the  consequence  wa.s  that  "  the  poor  had  no 
refreshing,"  and  the  parLshioners  "  lacked  preach- 
ing and  instruction  in  God's  Word.""     S\ich  were 

-  StiTpe,  Eccl.  Slem.,  vol.  i.,  p.  204. 


S94 


HISTORY   OF   PE0TESTANTIS5I. 


the  complaints  of  the  Commons  against  the  clei-ical 
estate,  at  that  time  the  most  powerful  in  England, 
since  the  nobility  had  been  weakened  by  the  ware, 
and  the  Commons  were  dispersed  and  without 
union.  This  most  unwonted  freedom  with  sacred 
men  and  things  on  the  part  of  the  laity  exceedingly 
displeased  Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester.  The  pre- 
late rebuked  thoni  in  an  angi-y  speech  in  the  Lords, 
saying  "  that  the  Commons  would  nothing  now 
but  down  with  the  Church,"  and  that  all  this 
"came  of  want  of  faith."' 

His  brethren,  however,  deemed  it  wiser  policy 
to  allay  the  storm  that  was  rising  in  Parliament 
against  the  Church,  at  the  cost  of  some  conces- 
sion-s.  On  the  12th  of  November  it  was  decreed 
by  Convocation  that  priests  should  no  longer 
keep  shops  or  taverns,  play  at  dice  or  other  for- 
bidden games,  pass  tlie  night  in  suspected  places, 
be  present  at  disreputable  shows,  go  about  with 
sporting  dogs,  or  with  hawks,  falcons,  or  other 
birds  of  prey  on  theii-  fists.  These  and  other  acts 
of  a  yet  grosser  sort  were  subjected  to  heavy  fines ; 
and  laws  were  also  enacted  against  unnatural 
vices.- 

The  Commons  urged  forward  their  attack.  Their 
next  complaint  was  of  the  laws  and  constitutions  of 
the  clergy.  The  Commons  affirmed  that  their  pro- 
vincial constitutions  made  in  the  present  reign 
encroached  upon  the  royal  prerogative,  and  were 
also  burdensome  to  the  laity.  In  this  matter  the 
Parliament  carried  fully  with  it  the  sympathy  of 
the  king.  He  felt  the  great  presumption  of  the 
clergy  in  making  orders,  of  the  nature  of  laws,  to 
bind  his  subjects,  and  executing  them  without  his 
assent  or  authority.  The  clergy  stood  stoutly  to 
theii-  defence  in  this  matter,  pleading  long  prescrip- 
tion, and  the  right  lodged  in  them  by  God  for  the 
government  of  the  Church.  But,  replied  the  Com- 
mons, this  spiritual  legislation  is  stretched  over  so 
many  temporal  matters,  that  under  the  pretext  of 
ruling  the  Church  you  govern  the  State.  Feeling 
both  the  nation  and  the  throne  against  them,  and 
dreading  impending  mischief,  the  Convocation  of 
the  Province  of  Canterbury  prepared  an  humble 
submission,  and  sent  it  to  the  king,  in  which  they 
promised,  for  the  future,  to  forbear  to  make  ordi- 
nances or  constitutions,  or  to  put  them  in  execution, 
unless  with  the  king's  consent  and  licence." 

The  way  being  so  far  prepared  by  these  lesser 
attacks,  the  great  battle  was  now  commenced.  To 
lop  ofl'  a  few  of  the  branches  of  the  Pontifical  supre- 

'  Herbert,  p.  321. 

-  Wilkins,  Cnncilia,  vol.  iii.,  p.  717  et  seq. 
'  Strype,   Eccl.  Mem.,  vol.   i.,   pp.   20i— 206.— Act   25 
Henry  VIII.,  cap.  19. 


macy  did  not  content  Henry ;  he  would  cut  down 
that  evil  tree  to  the  root ;  he  woidd  lay  the  axe  to 
the  whole  system  of  ecclesiastical  legislation  under 
a  foreign  prince,  and  he  would  himself  become  the 
Head  of  the  Church  of  England  On  the  7th  of 
January,  1.531,  Cromwell,  obeying  Hemy's  orders, 
entered  the  Hall  of  Convocation,  and  quietly  took 
his  seat  among  the  bishops.  Rising,  he  struck  them 
dumb  by  informing  them  that  they  had  all  been 
cast  in  the  penalties  of  Priemimire.  When  and 
how,  they  amazedly  asked,  had  they  violated  that 
statute?  They  were  curtly  informed  that  their 
grave  ofience  had  been  done  in  Cardinal  Wolsey, 
and  that  in  him  too  had  they  acknowledged  their 
guilt.  But,  they  pleaded,  the  king  had  sanctioned 
the  cardinal's  exercise  of  his  legantine  powers. 
This,  the  bishops  were  told,  did  not  in  the  least  help 
them  ;  the  law  was  clear  ;  their  \'iolation  of  it  was 
equally  clear.  The  king  \\'ithin  his  dominions  has 
no  earthly  superior,  such  had  from  ancient  times 
— that  is,  from  the  days  of  Wiclifie  ;  for  it  was  the 
spirit  of  Wicliffe  that  was  about  to  take  hold  of 
the  priests — been  the  law  of  England ;  that  law  the 
cardinal  had  transgi-essed,  and  only  by  obtaining  the 
king's  pardon  had  he  escaped  the  consequences  of 
his  presumption.  But  they  had  not  been  pardoned 
by  the  king ;  they  were  luider  the  penalties  of  Pras- 
munire,  and  their  possessions  and  benefices  were 
confiscated  to  the  crown.  This  view  of  the  matter 
was  maintained  with  an  astuteness  that  convinced 
the  afii'ighted  clergy  that  nothing  they  could  say 
would  make  the  matter  be  viewed  in  a  difl'erent 
light  in  the  highest  quarter.  They  stood,  they  felt, 
on  a  precipice.  The  king  had  thrown  down  the 
gauntlet  to  the  Church.  The  battle  on  which  they 
were  entering  was  a  hard  one,  and  its  issue  doubt- 
ful. To  yield  was  to  disown  the  Pope,  the  fountain 
of  their  being  as  a  Romish  Church,  and  to  resist 
might  be  to  incur  the  wi-ath  of  the  monarch. 

The  king,  through  Cromwell,  next  showed  them 
the  one  and  only  way  of  escape  open  to  them  from 
the  Praemunire  in  the  toils  of  which  they  had  been 
so  unexpectedly  caught.  They  must  acknowledge 
him  to  be  the  Head  of  the  Church  of  England.  To 
smooth  their  way  and  make  this  hard  alternative 
the  easier,  Cromwell  reminded  them  that  the  Con- 
vocation of  Canterbury  had  on  a  recent  occasion 
styled  the  king  Caput  Ecdesice — Head  of  the  Church 
— and  that  they  had  only  to  do  always  what  they 
had  done  once,  and  make  the  title  perpetual.''  But, 
responded  the  bishops,  by  Ecclema  we  did  not 
intend  the  Church  of  England,  but  the  Church 
univer.sal,  spread  over  all   Christendom.     To  this 


<  Strype,  Mccl.  Mem.,  vol  i.,  p.  211. 


HENRY   THE   EIGHTH    HEAD   OP   THE   CHURCH   OF   ENGLAND. 


aOfi 


the  ready  answer  was  tliat  tlie  present  controversy 
■was  touching  the  Church  of  England,  and  it  alone, 
and  the  clergy  of  the  same.'  Bnt,  replied  tlio 
bishops,  Chri-st  is  Head  of  the  Church,  and  he  lias 
divided  his  power  into  temporal  and  spiritual,  giving 
the  first  branch  to  princes  and  the  second  to  priests. 
The  command,  "  Obey  and  be  subject,"  said  the 
king,  does  not  restrict  the  obedience  it  enjoins  to 
temporal  things  only ;  it  is  laid  on  all  men,  lay  ami 
clerical,  who  together  compose  the  Chui'ch.  Pi'oofs 
from  Scripture  were  next  adduced  by  the  clergy  that 
Christ  had  committed  the  administration  of  spiritual 
things  to  priests  only,  as  for  instance  preaching  and 
the  dispensation  of  the  Sacrament."  No  man  denies 
that,  replied  the  king,  but  it  does  not  prove  that 
their  persons  and  deeds  are  not  imder  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  prince.  Princes,  said  the  bishops,  are 
called  J?///  Eeclesue — sons  of  the  Church.  The  Pope 
is  their  father,  and  the  Head  of  the  Church ;  to 
recognise  the  king  as  such  would  be  to  overthrow 
the  Catholic  faith.     The  debate  lasted  three  days. 

The  Bishops  of  Lincoln  and  Exeter  were  deputed 
to  beg  an  interview  with  the  king,  in  order  to 
entreat  him  to  relinquish  his  claim.  They  were 
denied  access  into  the  royal  presence.  The  clei'gy 
showed  no  signs  of  yielding  ;  still  less  did  the  king. 
The  battle  was  between  Hemy  and  Clement ;  for 
to  give  this  title  to  the  king  was  to  dethrone  the 
Pope.  It  was  a  momentous  time  for  England. 
In  no  previous  age  could  such  a  contest  have  been 
waged  by  the  throne ;  it  would  not  even  have  been 
viised;  but  the  times  were  ripe — although  even 
now  the  issue  was  doubtful.  The  primate  Warham, 
prudent,  and  now  very  aged,  rose  and  jiroposed 
that  they  should  style  the  king  "  Head  of  the 
Chnrch"  quantum  per  legem  Chrisli  licet — so  far  as 


the  law  of  Christ  permits.  Henry,  on  iirst  hearin" 
of  it,  stormed  at  the  proposed  modification  of  his 
powei-s ;  but  his  courtiers  satisfied  him  that  the 
clause  would  offer  no  interference  in  practice,  and 
that  meanwhile  it  would  jirevent  an  open  rupture 
with  Rome.  It  was  not  so  easy,  however,  to  bring 
the  other  side  to  accept  this  appai-ent  compromise. 
The  little  clause  would  be  no  effective  bulwark 
against  Henry's  aggression.  His  supremacy  and 
the  Pope's  supremacy  could  not  stand  together,  and 
they  clearly  saw  which  woiild  go  to  the  wall.  Biit 
they  despaired  of  making  better  tei-ms.  The  pri- 
mate rose  in  Convocation,  and  put  the  question, 
"  Do  you  acknowledge  the  king  as  3'our  supreme 
head  so  far  as  the  law  of  Christ  allows  f  Not  a 
member  spoke.  "  Speak  your  minds  freely,"  said 
Warham.  The  silence  was  unbroken.  "  Then  I  shall 
understand  that,  as  you  do  not  oppose,  you  give 
consent."'  The  silence  continvied  ;  and  that  silence 
vvas  accepted  as  a  vote  in  the  affirmative.  Thus  it 
passed  in  the  Convocation  of  the  Province  of  Can- 
terbury that  the  king  was  the  Supreme  Head  of 
the  Church  of  England.  A  few  months  later  the 
same  thing  was  enacted  in  the  Convocation  of  the 
Province  of  York.  On  the  22nd  March,  1532, 
Warham  signed  the  submission  which  was  sent  in 
to  the  king,  styling  him  "  Protector  and  Supreme 
Head  of  the  Church  of  England."  A  subsidy  of 
j£  100,000  from  the  clergy  of  the  Province  of  Canter- 
bury, and  .£18,000  from  those  of  York,  accompanied 
the  document,  and  the  king  was  pleased  to  release 
them  from  the  penalties  of  Praemunire.  This  great 
revolution  brought  deliverance  to  the  State  from 
a  degi-ading  foreign  thraldom  :  that  it  conferred  on 
the  Chnrch  an  equal  measure  of  freedom  we  are  not 
prepared  to  say. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


THE    KINO    DECL.'^RED    nE.\D   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   ENGLAND. 

Abolition  of  Appeals  to  Home— Payment  of  Annata,  ie. — Bishops  to  be  Consecrated  without  a  Licence  from  Eomo — 
Election  to  Vacant  Sees— The  King  doclarod  Head  of  the  Church— Henry  VIII.  Undoes  the  Work  of  Gregory  VII. 
—The  Divorce— The  Appeal  to  the  Universitios— Their  Judgment— Divorce  Condemned  by  the  Eefomiers- Death 
of  Warham — Cranmer  made  Primate — Martyrdom  of  Fryth— The  King  Man-ics  Anne  Boleyn— Her  Coronation — 
Excommunication  of  Henry  VIII.— Birth  of  Elizabeth— Cambridge  and  Oxford  on  the  Pope's  Power  in  England- 
New  Translation  (A  the  Bible— Visitation  of  the  Monasteries— Their  Suppression— Frightful  Disorders. 


The  supremacy  of  the  Pope  formed  the  rampart 
that  protected  the  ecclesiastical  usuiiiations  which 


flourished  so  rankly  in  England,  to  the  oppression 
of  the  people,  and  the  weakening  of  the  royal  pre- 


'  Strype,  Eccl.  Mem.,  vol.  i.,  p.  211. 


'  Collier,  vol.  ii. 


396 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


rogative.  Now  that  a  breach  had  been  made  in 
that  bulwark,  the  abuses  that  had  gi-own  up  behind 
it  were  attacked  and  abolished  one  after  the  other. 
Causes  were  no  longer  carried  to  Rome.'  The 
king,  as  Head  of  the  Church,  had  become  the  foun- 
tain of  both  civil  and  spiritual  justice  to  his  subjects. 
No  one  could  be  cited  before  any  ecclesiastical 
court  out  of  his  own  diocese.  Twenty  years  was 
fixed  as  the  term  during  which  estates  might  be  left 
to  priests  for  praying  souls  out  of  purgatory.  The 
lower  ordei-s  of  priests  were  made  answerable  before 
the  civil  tribunals  for 
murder,  felony,  and 
other  ci'imes  of  which 
they  might  be  accused.^ 
The  payment  of  annats 
and  fii'st-fruits  to  the 
Pope,  by  which  an 
enormous  amount  of 
money  had  been  carried 
out  of  England,  was 
abolished.^  The  reli- 
gious orders  were  for- 
bidden to  receive 
foi'eign  vdsitors,  on  the 
gi-ound  that  these  func- 
tionaries came,  not  to 
reform  the  houses  of 
the  clergy,  but  to  dis- 
cover the  secrets  of  the 
king,  and  to  rob  the 
country  of  its  wealth. 
The  purchase  of 
faculties  from  Rome 
was  declared  unlawful, 
and  no  one  was  per- 
mitted to  go  abroad  to 
any  Synod  or  Council 

wthout  the  royal  permission.  The  law  of  Henry 
IV.  was  repealed,  by  which  heretics  might  be 
burned  on  the  sentence  and  by  the  authority  of  the 
bishop,  and  mthout  a  vrrit  from  the  king.  The 
stake  was  not  yet  abolished  as  the  punishment  of 
heresy,  but  the  power  of  adjudging  to  it  was  re- 
stricted to  a  less  arbitrary  and,  it  might  be,  more 
merciful  tribunal.  As  we  have  stated  in  a  former 
chapter,  the  power  exercised  by  the  clergy  of 
making  canons  was  taken  from  them.  This  pri^d- 
lege  had  been  gi-eatly  abused.  These  canons,  being 
enforced  upon  the  people  by  the  clergy,  had  really 
the  force  of  law;  and  as  they  were  often  infringe- 


'  Act  24  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  12. 

2  Act  23  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  9,  10,  11. 

3  Ibid.,  cap.  20.    Burnet,  vol.  i.,  bk.  ii.,  p.  117. 


FISHER,  niSHOP  OP  KOCHESIEK.      (From  (Iif  Portrait  bij  Holbein.) 


ments  of  the  constitution,  and  expressed  mostly  the 
will  of  the  Pope,  they  were  the  substitution  of  a 
foreign  and  usurped  authority  for  the  legitimate 
rule  of  the  king  and  the  Parliament.  A  commission 
of  thu-ty-two  persons,  sixteen  of  whom  were  eccle- 
sia.stics,  and  the  other  sixteen  laymen,  was  appointed 
by  the  crown  to  examine  the  old  canons  and  consti- 
tutions, and  to  abrogate  those  that  were  contrary 
to  the  statutes  of  the  realm  or  prejudicial  to  the  pre- 
rogative-royal.* A  new  body  of  ecclesiastical  laws 
was  framed,  composed  of  such  of  the  old  canons  as 
being  unexceptionable 
were  retained,  and  the 
new  constitutions 
which  the  commission 
was  empowered  to 
enact.  This  was  a 
favourite  project  of 
Cranmer's,  which  he 
afterwards  renewed  in 
the  reign  of  Edward 
VI. 

It  was  foreseen  that 
this  policy,  which  was 
daily  widening  the 
breach  between  Eng- 
land and  Rome,  might 
probably  in  the  end 
bring  upon  the  nation 
excommunication  and 
interdict.  These  ful- 
minations  had  lost  the 
terrors  that  once  in- 
vested them ;  never- 
theless, theii-  infliction 
might,  even  yet,  occa- 
sion no  little  inconve- 
nience. AiTangements 
were  accordingly  made  to  permit  the  whole  religious 
.services  of  the  coimtry  to  proceed  without  let  or 
hindrance,  even  should  the  Pope  pronounce  sentence 
of  interdict.  It  was  enacted  (March,  1.534)  that  no 
longer  should  the  consecration  of  bishop,  or  the 
administration  of  rite,  or  the  performance  of  any 
religious  act  wait  upon  the  pleasure  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome.  The  English  bishops  were  to  have  power 
to  consecrate  ^vithout  a  licence  from  the  Pope.  It 
was  enacted  that  when  a  bishopric  became  vacant, 
the  king  should  send  to  the  chapter  a  C07ige  d'elire, 
that  is,  leave  to  elect  a  new  bishop,  accompanied  by 
a  letter  indicating  the  person  on  whom  the  choice 
of  the  chapter  was  to  fall.  If  no  election  was  made 
within  twelve  days,  the  king  was  to  nominate  to 

*  Act  25  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  19. 


13ft 


398 


HISTORY   OF  TROTESTANTISM. 


the  sec  by  Ictters-pateut.  After  tlio  bisliop-elect 
had  taken  an  oath  of  fealty  to  the  king,  his  INIajesty, 
by  letters  to  the  archbishop,  might  order  the  con- 
secration ;  and  if  ihe  persons  whose  duty  it  was  to 
elect  and  to  consecrate  delayed  the  performance  of 
these  functions  above  twenty  days,  they  incurred 
the  penalty  of  a  Praemunire.'  It  was  forbidden 
liencefoi-ward  for  archbishop  or  bishop  to  be  nomi- 
nated or  confirmed  in  his  see  by  the  Pope. 

This  legislation  was  completed  by  the  Act  passed 
in  next  session  of  Parliament  (November — Decem- 
ber, 153t).-  Convocation,  as  we  have  seen,  declared 
Henry  Head  of  the  Church.  "  For  corroboration  and 
confirmation  thereof,"  be  it  enacted,  said  the  Parlia- 
ment, "that  the  king,  his  heirs,  ifec,  shall  be  taken, 
accepted,  and  reputed  the  only  Supreme  Head  on 
earth  of  the  Church  of  England,  caWed  Anglicana 
Ecclesia,  and  shall  have  and  enjoy,  annexed  and 
united  to  the  imperial  crown  of  this  realm,  as  well 
the  title  and  style  thereof,  as  all  honours,  dignities, 
immunities,  &c.,  pertaining  to  the  said  dignity  ol 
Supreme  Head  of  the  said  Church."  A  later^  Act 
set  forth  the  large  measure  of  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction lodged  in  the  king.  "  Whereas  his  Majesty," 
said  Parliament,  "is  justly  Supreme  Head,  <fec.,  and 
hath  full  authority  to  correct  and  punish  all  manner 
of  heresies,  schisms,  errors,  vices,  and  to  exercise 
all  other  manner  of  jurisdictions,  commonly  called 
ecclesiastical  jui-isdiction"- — it  is  added,  "That  the 
archbishops  and  bishops  have  no  manner  of  juris- 
diction ecclesiastical  but  by,  under,  and  from  the 
Boyal  Majesty."' 

Thus  did  Hem-y  VIII.  undo  the  work  of 
Gregory  VII.  Hildebrand  had  gone  to  war  that 
he  might  have  the  power  of  appointing  to  all  the 
sees  of  Christendom.  Not  a  mitre  would  he  per- 
mit to  be  worn  unless  he  himself  had  placed  it  on 
the  head  of  its  possessor ;  nor  would  he  give  con- 
secration to  any  one  till  first  he  had  sworn  him  to 
"  defend  the  regalities  of  St.  Peter."  From  his 
chair  at  Rome,  Gi-egory  was  thus  able  to  govern 
Europe,  for  not  a  bishop  was  there  in  all  Christen- 
dom whom  he  had  not  by  this  oath  chained  to  his 
throne,  and  through  the  bishops,  the  kings  and 
their  nations.  It  was  this  terrible  serfdom  which 
Hem-y  VIII.  rose  up  against  and  broke  in  pieces, 
so  far  as  his  own  Kingdom  of  England  was  con- 
cerned. The  appointment  of  English  bishops  he 
wrested  from  the  Pope,  and  took  into  his  own 
hands,  and  the  oath  which  he  administered  to  those 

'  Act  25  Hemy  VIII.,  cap.  20.     Buvnet,  vol,  i.,  bk.  ii., 
p.  148. 
-  Act  2G  Heniy  VIII.,  cap.  1. 
■'  Act  37  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  17. 
■"  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  lak.  il,  p.  157. 


whom  he  placed  in  these  sees  bound,  them  to  fealty, 
not  to  the  chair  of  Peter,  but  to  the  throne  of 
England.  As  against  the  nsiu-ped  foreign  authority 
which  the  King  of  England  now  scornfully  trod 
into  the  dust,  surely  Henry  did  well  in  being 
master  in  his  own  house.  The  dignity  of  his 
crown  and  the  interests  of  his  subjects  alike  de- 
manded it.  It  is  in  this  light  that  we  look  at  the 
act ;  and  taking  it  per  se,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  Henry,  in  thus  secixring  perfect  freedom  for  the 
exercise  of  the  prerogatives  and  jurisdictions  of  his 
kingly  office,  did  a  wise,  a  just,  and  a  proper  thing. 
^Vllile  this  battle  was  waging  in  Parliament,  the 
matter  of  the  divorce  had  been  progressing  towards 
a  final  settlement.  In  the  end  of  1529,  as  we  have 
already  mentioned,  it  was  resolved  to  put  to  the  uni- 
versities of  Christendom  the  question,"  What  says  the 
Bible  on  the  man-iage  of  the  king  with  Catherine, 
his  brother's  widow?"  Hemy  would  let  the  voice  of 
the  universal  Chiu'ch,  rather  than  the  Pope,  decide 
the  question.  The  universities  of  Cambridge  and 
Oxford,  by  majorities,  declared  the  marriage  un- 
lawful, and  approved  the  divorce.  The  Sorbonne 
at  Paris  declared,  by  a  large  majority,  in  favour  of 
the  divorce.  The  four  other  imiversities  of  Fi-ance 
voted  on  the  same  side.  England  and  France  were 
■ndtli  Hemy  VIII.  The  king's  agents,  crossing  the 
Alps,  set  foot  on  the  doubtful  soil  of  Italy.  After 
the  Sorbonne,  the  most  renowned  miiversity  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  world  was  that  of  Bologna.  To  the 
delight  of  Hemy,  Bologna  declared  in  his  favour. 
So  too  did  the  universities  of  Padua  and  Ferrara. 
Italy  was  added  to  the  list  of  countries  favourable 
to  the  King  of  England.  The  envoys  of  Henry 
next  entered  the  territories  of  the  Refonnation, 
Switzerland  and  Germany.  If  Romanism  was 
with  Henry,  much  more  will  Protestantism  be  so. 
To  the  king's  amazement,  it  is  here  that  he  first 
encounters  opposition.^  All  the  reforming  doctors, 
including  Luther,  Calvin,  and  Qllcolampadius,  were 
against  the  divorce.  The  king  has  sinned  in  the 
past  by  contracting  this  maniage,  said  they,  but  he 
will  sin  in  the  future  if  he  shall  dissolve  it.  The 
less  camiot  be  expiated  by  the  gi-eater  .sin :  it  is 
repentance,  not  divorce,  to  which  the  king  ought 
to  have  recourse.  Meanwhile,  Cranmer  had  been 
sent  to  Rome  to  win  over  the  Pope.  A  large  ■ 
number  of  the  Roman  Catholic  nobles  also  -wTote  to 
Clement,  beseeching  him  to  gi-ant  the  wishes  of 
Henry ;  but  the  utmost  length  to  which  the  Pope 
would  go  was  to  permit  the  King  of  England  to 
have  two  wives." 


'  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  bk.  ii. ;  Recm-ds,  p.  88. 

'  "  Pontifex  secrete,  yeluti  rem  quam  inagni  faseret. 


CORONATION  OF  ANNE  BOLEYN. 


399 


In  the  midst  of  these  negotiations,  Warham, 
Ai'chbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Piimate  of  all 
England,  died.  The  king  resolved  to  place  Dr. 
Tlunnas  Cranmer  in  the  vacant  see.  The  royal 
siiumions  found  Cranmer  in  Nurembei-g,  whither  he 
had  been  sent  after  his  return  from  Rome  on  the 
l)usiness  of  the  divorce.  Cranmer,  learning  through 
his  friends  that  this  urgent  recall  was  in  order  to 
his  elevation  to  the  piimacy,  was  in  no  haste  to 
retiu'n.  The  prospect  of  filling  such  a  post  under 
so  imperious  a  monarch  as  Hemy,  and  in  times  big 
with  the  most  portentous  changes,  filled  him  with 
alarm.  But  the  king  had  resolved  that  Cranmer 
should  be  piimate,  and  sent  a  second  and  more 
urgent  message  to  hasten  his  retm-n.  On  his 
appearance  before  the  king,  Cranmer  stated  the 
ditficulties  in  his  path,  namely,  the  double  oath 
wliich  all  bishops  were  accustomed  to  take  at 
consecration — the  one  to  the  Pope,  the  other  to  the 
king.  The  doctor  did  not  see  how  he  could  swear 
fidelity  to  both.  It  was  ultimately  arranged  that 
he  should  take  the  oath  to  the  Pope  under  a  pro- 
test "  that  he  did  not  bind  himself  to  do  anything 
contraiy  to  the  laws  of  God,  the  rights  of  the  King 
of  England,  and  the  laws  of  the  realm,"  and  that 
he  sliould  not  be  hindered  in  executing  such  re- 
formation as  might  be  needed  in  the  Church  of 
England.  This  protest  he  repeated  three  times ' — 
first,  in  the  Chapter-house  of  Westminster ;  next,  on 
the  steps  of  the  high  altar  of  the  cathedral,  in  pre- 
sence of  the  assembled  clergy  and  people ;  thirdly, 
wlien  about  to  put  on  the  pall  and  receive  consecra- 
tion.    After  this  he  took  the  oath  to  the  Pope. 

It  was  love  of  the  Gospel  which  impelled  Cran- 
mer to  advance  :  it  was  the  divorce  that  urged 
onward  Henry  VIII.  The  imperious  monarch 
was  can-ying  on  two  wars  at  the  same  time.  He 
was  striving  to  clear  his  kingdom  of  the  noxious 
gl•o^vth  of  Papal  bulls  and  prerogatives  that  so 
covered  and  deformed  it,  and  he  was  fighting 
to  prevent  the  entrance  of  LutheranLsm.  Hardly 
had  the  mitre  been  placed  on  his  brow  when 
Cranmer  had  to  thnist  himself  between  a  dis- 
ciple and  the  stake.  Leaving  Tyndale  in  the 
Low  Countries,  John  Fiyth  came  across,  and  began 
to  ])reach  from  house  to  house  in  England.  He 
was  tracked  by  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  had  received 
th(!  Great  Seal  when  it  was  taken  from  Wolsey,  and 
throwni  into  the  Tower,  heavily  loaded  witli  irons. 
His  main  crime,  in  the  eyes  of  his  enemies,  was  the 


denial  of  transubstantiation.  The  king  nominated 
six  of  the  temporal  and  spiiitual  peers,  of  whom 
Cranmer  was  one,  to  examine  him.  The  power  of 
the  stake  had  just  been  taken  from  the  bishops,  and 
Fryth  was  destined  to  be  the  fiist  maityr  under  the 
king.  Cranmer,  who  still  believed  in  consubstan- 
tiation,  loved  Fryth,  and  wished  to  save  his  life,  that 
his  gi'eat  ei-udition  and  rare  eloquence  might  profit 
the  realm  in  days  to  come ;  but  all  his  efforts  were 
ineffectual.  Fryth  moimted  the  stake  (4th  July, 
1533),  and  his  heroic  death  did  much  to  advance 
the  progi-ess  of  the  Reformation  in  England. 

About  the  time  that  the  martyr  was  expir- 
ing at  the  stake,  the  Pope  was  excommunicating 
the  King  of  England.  Fortified  with  the  opinion 
of  the  iiniversities,  and  the  all  but  unaninious 
approval  of  the  more  eminent  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  doctors,  Hem-y  mamed  Anne  Boleyn 
on  the  25th  of  January,  1533.^  On  the  10th  of 
May,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  having  re- 
ceived the  royal  licence  to  that  effect,  constituted 
his  court  to  judge  the  cause.  Queen  Catherine  was 
summoned  to  it,  but  her  only  respon.se  to  the  cita- 
tion was,  "  I  am  the  king's  lawful  wife,  I  will  accept 
no  judge  but  the  Pope."  On  the  23rd  of  May,  the 
primate,  attended  by  all  the  archiepiscopal  com-t, 
gave  sentence,  declaring  "  the  marriage  between 
our  sovereign  lord  King  Heniy,  and  the  most  serene 
lady  Catherine,  widow  of  his  brother,  having  been 
contracted  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  null  and 
void."'  On  the  28th  of  May,  the  same  court 
declared  that  Hem-y  and  Anne  had  been  lawfully 
wedded.  The  union,  ratified  by  the  ecclesiastical 
court,  was  on  Whitsunday  sealed  by  the  pomp  of 
a  splendid  coronation.  On  the  previous  day,  Anne 
passed  from  the  Tower  to  Westminster,  through 
streets  gay  with  banners  and  hung  with  cloth  of 
gold,  seated  in  a  beautifully  white  gold-bespangled 
litter,  her  head  encircled  with  a  wreath  of  precious 
stones,  whOe  the  blare  of  tnimpets  and  the  thunder 
of  cannon  mingled  their  roar  with  the  acclamations 
of  the  enthusiastic  citizens.  Next  day,  in  the 
presence  of  the  rank  and  beauty  of  England,  and 
tlie  ambassadors  of  foreign  States,  the  cro'wm  was 
put  upon  her  head  by  the  hand  of  Arclilnshop 
Cranmer. 

Hardly  had  the  acclamations  thiit  hailed  Anne's 
coronation  died  away,  when  the  distant  numnurs 
of  a  coming  tempest  were  heard.  The  aflionted 
emperor,  Charles  V.,  called  on  the  Pope  to  un- 


mihi  proposuit  conditionem  hujusmodi.     Concedi  posse 
vestriB  Majestati  ut  duas  uiores  habeat."     (Original  Des- 
patch of  De  CassaK— Herbert,  p.  330.) 
'  Wilkins,  Concilia,  vol.  iii.,  p.  757. 


'  Such  is  the  date  of  the  marrinRe  given  in  Cranmer's 
letter  of  17th  June,  1533.  Hall,  Holinshed,  and  Bm-net 
give  the  15th  of  November,  1532. 

*  Wilkins,  Concilia,  vol.  iii.,  p.  759. 


400 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


sheath  the  si)ii-it\ial  sword,  and  smite  the  monai-ch 
who .  had  added  the  sin  of  an  adulterous  union  to 
the  crime  of  rebellion  against  the  Papal  chair.  The 
weak  Clement  dared  not  refuse.  The  conclave  met, 
and  after  a  month's  deliberation,  on  the  12th  of 
July,  the  Pope  pronounced  excommunication  iipon 
the  King  of  England,  but  suspended  the  effect  of 
the  sentence  till  the  end  of  September.  He  hoped 
that  the  king's  repentance  would  avert  execution. 
Henry  had  crossed  the  Rubicon.  He  could  not  put 
away  Aime  Boleyn,  he  could  not  take  back  Cathe- 
rine, he  could  not  blot  from  the  statute-book  the 
laws  against  Papal  usurpations  recently  placed 
upon  it,  and  restore  in  former  glory  the  Pontifical 
dominion  in  his  realm,  so  he  appealed  to  a  General 
C'ouncU,  and  posted  up  the  document  on  the  doors 
of  all  the  parish  churches  of  England. 

While  the  days  of  gi'ace  allotted  to  the  king  were 
running  out,  a  princess  was  born  in  the  royal  palace 
of  Greenwich.  The  infant  was  named  Elizabeth. 
The  king  was  disappointed  that  a  son  had  not  been 
born  to  him ;  but  the  nation  rejoiced,  and  Henry 
would  have  more  heartily  shared  his  people's  joy, 
could  he  have  foreseen  the  glory  that  was  to  sur- 
round the  throne  and  name  of  the  child  that  had 
just  seen  the  light. 

On  the  7tli  of  April,  news  reached  England  that 
the  Pope  had  pronounced  the  final  sentence  of 
interdict.  Clement  VII.,  "having  invoked  the 
name  of  Christ,  and  sitting  on  the  throne  of 
justice,"  declared  the  dispensation  of  Julius  II. 
valid,  the  man-iage  with  Anne  Boleyn  null,  the 
king  excommunicate,  his  subjects  released  from 
their  allegiance,  and  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  was 
empowered,  ftiOing  the  submission  of  Henry,  to 
invade  England  and  depose  the  king. 

Nothing  could  have  been  better ;  if  Henry  was 
disposed  to  halt,  this  compelled  him  to  go  on. 
"  Wliat  authority,"  asked  the  king  of  his  doctors 
and  wise  councillors,  "has  the  Pope  to  do  all  this? 
Who  made  a  foreign  priest  lord  of  my  realm,  and 
master  of  my  crown,  so  that  he  may  give  or  take 
them  away  as  it  pleases  him  1  Inquii-e,  and  tell  me." 
In  obedience  to  the  royal  mandate,  they  studied  the 
laws  of  Scripture,  they  searched  the  records  of 
antiquity,  and  the  statutes  of  the  realm,  and  came 
again  to  the  king.  "  The  Pontiff  of  Rome,  sire,  has 
no  authority  at  all  in  England."*  It  was  on  the 
3rd  of  November  of  the  same  year  that  the  crown- 
ing statute  was  passed,  as  we  have  already  narrated, 

*  "  Eomanus  Pontifex  non  habet  a  Deo  in  sacra  scriptura 
concessam  sibi  majorem  auctoritatem  ac  jurisdictionein 
in  hoc  regno  Angliae  quam  quivis  alius  episcopus  ex- 
tornus."  (Decision  of  University  of  Cambridge,  2nd  May, 
153-1..)    A  precisely  similar  answer  came  from  Oxford. 


wliich  declared  the  king  to  be  on  earth  the  Sui)reme 
Head  of  the  Church  of  England. 

As  the  Pontifical  authority  departs,  that  of  the 
Word  of  God  enters  England.  We  have  just  seen 
the  Church  and  realm  emancipated  from  the  do- 
minion of  Rome ;  the  first  act  of  the  liberated 
Church  was  to  enfranchise  the  people.  Cranmer 
moved  in  Convocation  that  an  address  be  presented 
to  the  king  for  an  English  translation  of  the  Bible. 
The  Popish  party,  headed  by  Dr.  Gardiner,  opposed 
the  motion,  on  the  ground  that  the  use  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  vulgar  tongue  promoted  the 
spread  of  heresy.  But  in  spite  of  their  opposition, 
the  proposal  was  adopted  by  Convocation.  The 
king — influenced,  there  is  little  doubt,  by  his  new 
queen,  who  was  friendly  to  the  Reformed  opinions, 
and  had  in  her  possession  a  copy  of  Tyndale's 
interdicted  translation — acceded  to  the  request  of 
Convocation.  The  great  pi-inciple  had  been  con- 
ceded of  the  right  of  the  people  to  possess  the  Bible 
in  their  mother  tongue,  and  the  duty  of  the  Cluirch 
to  give  it  to  them.  Nevertheless,  the  bishops 
refused  to  aid  in  traiLslating  it."  Miles  Coverdale 
was  called  to  the  task,  and  going  to  the  Low 
Countries,  the  whole  Bible  was  rendered  into 
English,  with  the  aid  of  Tyndale,  and  published  in 
London  in  153G,  dedicated  to  Henry  VIII. 

The  next  step  iir  the  path  on  which  the  king 
and  nation  had  entered  was  the  visitation  of  the 
monasteries.  Cromwell  was  authorised  by  the  king 
to  appoint  commissioners  to  visit  the  abbeys, 
monasteries,  nunneries,  and  universities  of  the 
kingdom,  and  to  report  as  to  the  measures  neces- 
sary to  reform  these  establishments.^  Henry  had 
powerful  political  motives  urging  him  to  this  mea- 
sure. He  had  been  excommunicated  :  Charles  V. 
might  invade  his  kingdom ;  and  should  that  happen, 
there  was  not  a  confraternity  of  monks  in  all 
England  who  would  not  take  advantage  of  their 
release  from  allegiance  by  the  Pope,  to  join  the 
standard  of  the  invader.  It  was  only  prudent  to 
disarm  them  before  the  danger  arose,  and  divert 
part  of  the  treasures,  spent  profitlessly  now,  in  for- 
tifying his  kingdom.  Neither  Henry  nor  any  one 
else,  when  the  commission  of  inquiry  was  issued, 
foresaw  the  astounding  (Usclosui-es  that  were  to 
follow,  and  which  left  the  Parliament  no  alternative 
but  to  abolish  what  could  not  be  ciu'ed. 

The  Report  of  the  Commissioners  was  presented 
to  the  Commons  at  tlieu-  meeting  on  the  4th  of 
Februaiy,  1536.     It  is  not  our  intention  to  dwell 


-  See  S^ipplication  of  the  Poor  Commons  to  the  King- 
Strype,  Eccles.  Mem.,  vol.  i.,  bk.  i.,  chap.  53. 
'■>  Strype,  Eccles.  Mem.,  vol.  i.,  p.  329 


SUPPRESSION   OF   MONASTERIES. 


401 


on  the  liorroi'S  that  shocked  the  nation  when  the 
veil  was  lifted.  The  three  foundations,  or  cardinaf 
virtues,  which  these  institutions  had  been  established 
to  exemplify,  were  obedience,  poverty,  and  chastity. 
They  illustrated  their  obedience  by  raising  them- 
selves above  the  laws  of  the  realm ;  their  poverty 
by  filling  their  houses  with  gold  and  silver  and  pre- 
cious raiment ;  and  theu-  chastity  by  practices  which 
we  leave  other  historians  to  describe.  Nowhere  was 
holiness  so  conspicuously  absent  as  in  these  holy 
houses.  "  There  were  found  in  them,"  saj's  one, 
"not  seven,  but  more  than  700,000  deadly  sins. 
Alack !  my  heart  maketh  all  my  members  to 
tremble,  when  I  remember  the  abominations  that 
were  there  tryed  out.  O  Lord  God !  what  canst  thou 
answer  to  the  five  cities,  confoimded  with  celestial 
fire,  when  they  shall  allege  before  thee  the  ini- 
quities of  those  religious,  whom  thou  hast  so  long 
supported  !  ...  In  the  dark  and  sharp  prisons 
there  were  found  dead  so  many  of  theii-  brethren 
that  it  is  a  wonder  :  some  crucified  with  more  tor- 
ments than  ever  weve  lieard  of,  and  some  famished 
to  death  only  for  breaking  theii-  superstitious  silences, 
or  some  like  trifles.  .  .  .  No,  truly,  the  mon- 
•strous  lives  of  monks,  friars,  and  nuns  have  destroyed 
their  monasteries  and  churches,  and  not  we."' 

The  king  and  Parliament  had  started  with  the 
idea  of  reformation  :  they  now  saw  that  abolition 
only  could  meet  the  case.  It  was  resolved  to  sup- 
press all  the  religious  houses  the  income  of  which 
did  not  exceed  £200  a  year,  and  to  confiscate 
their  lands  to  the  king,  to  be  devoted  to  other  and 
lictter  uses.'  The  number  of  smaller  houses  thus 
dissolved  was  376,  and  their  amiual  revenue 
£32,000,  besides  £100,000  in  plate  and  money. 
Four  yeai-s  later  all  the  larger  abbeys  and  priories 
were  either  surrendered  to  the  king  or  suppressed. 
The  preamble  of  the  Act  set  fortli  that  "  the 
churches,  farms,  and  lands  had  been  made  a  spoil 
of,"  and  that  though  now  for  200  years  it  had  been 
sought  to  cure  "  tlxis  xmthrifty,  carnal,  abomin. 
able  living,"  no  amendment  ajjjjeared,  "  but  their 
vicious  living  .shamefully  encreaseth."  Indeed, 
many  of  these  houses  tlid  not  wait  till  sentence  of 
dissolution  had  been  pronounced  upon  them  :  they 
sought  by  a  voluntary  surrender  to  antici])ate  that 
sentence,  and  avert  the  revelation  of  the  dueds  that 
had  been  enacted  in  them.  It  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  twenty-six  mitred  abbots  sat  as  barons  in  the 
Parliament  in  wliich  this  Act  was  passed ;  .ind  the 
number  of  spiritual  peers  was  in  excess  of  the  lay 
members   in   the    Upper   House.^     In   Yorkshire, 

'  Strype,  Eccles.  Mem.,  vol.  i.,  bk.  i.,  chap.  34. 

-  Act  27  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  28. 

'■'  The  Report  of  the  Commission  has  gone  a-inissiiig. 


where  the  monks  had  many  sympathisers,  who 
regarded  the  dissolution  of  their  houses  as  at 
once  an  impiety  and  a  robbery,  this  much-needed 
reformation  provoked  an  insm-rection  which  at  fii'st 
threatened  to  be  formidable,  but  was  eventually 
suppressed  without  much  difficulty. 

Some  few  of  the  monasteries  continued  to  the 
close  to  fulfil  the  ends  of  their  institution.  They 
cultivated  a  little  learning,  they  practised  a  little 
medicine,  and  they  exercised  a  little  charity.  The 
orphan  and  the  outcast  found  asylum  within  their 
walls,  and  the  destitute  and  the  decayed  tradesman 
participated  in  the  alms  which  were  distributed  at 
their  tlireshold.  The  traveller,  when  he  heai'd  the 
vesper  bell,  turned  aside  to  sleep  in  safety  under 
their  roof,  and  again  set  forth  when  the  morniag 
star  appeared.  But  the  majority  of  these  places 
had  scandalously  perverted  then-  ways,  and  were 
simply  nurseries  of  superstition  and  indolence,  and 
of  all  the  evils  that  are  born  of  these  two.  Never- 
theless, the  immediate  consequence  of  theii-  dissolu- 
tion was  a  frightful  confusion  in  England.  Society 
■was  disjointed  by  the  shock.  The  monks  and  nuns 
were  tiu'ned  adrift  without  any  sufficient  provision. 
Those  who  had  been  beggars  before  were  now 
plunged  into  deeper  povei-ty.  Thefts,  murders, 
treasons  abounded,  and  executions  were  multiplied 
in  the  same  proportion.  "  Seventy-two  thousand 
persons  are  said  to  have  perished  by  the  hand  of  the 
executioner  in  the  reign  of  King  Henry."  ^  The 
enonnous  amount  of  wealth  in  the  form  of  lands, 
houses,  and  money,  that  now  changed  hands,  added 
to  the  convulsion.  Cranmer  and  Latimer  pleaded 
that  the  confiscated  property  should  be  devoted  to 
such  piu'poses  as  were  consonant  with  its  original 
sacred  character,  such  as  lectureships  in  theology, 
hospitals  for  the  sick  and  pooi-,  and  institutions  for 
the  cultivation  of  learning  and  the  training  of 
scholars  ;  but  they  pleaded  in  vain.  The  courtiers 
of  the  king  ran  ofl"  ^vith  nearly  the  whole  of  this 
wealth ;  and  the  uses  to  which  they  put  it  pro- 
moted neither  the  welfare  of  their  families,  nor  the 
good  order  of  the  kingdom.  The  conse<iuenccs  of 
tolerating  an  evil  system  fall  heaviest  on  the  gene- 
ration that  jmts  an  end  to  it.  So  was  it  now. ;  but 
by-and-by,  when  order  had  emei-ged  out  of  the 
chaos,  it  was  found  that  the  cause  of  bidustry,  of 
virtue,  and  of  good  government  bad  greatly  bene- 
fited by  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries. 


Its  substance,  however,  may  bo  gathered  from  the  pre- 
amble of  the  Act,  from  which  our  quotations  in  the  text 
are  taken,  and  also  from  tlie  copious  extracts  in  Strype's 
Ecclesiastical  Metnorials,  vol.  I.,  p.  399  et  seq.;  from  the 
Cotton  MSS.,  Cleopatra  E  i,  &c.  &c 
•'  Blunt,  p.  143, 


402 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


CHAPTER   X. 


SCAFFOLDS — DEATH    OF   HENRY   VIII. 


Executions  for  Denying  the  King's  Supremacy— Bishop  Fisher— Sir  Thomas  More— Execution  of  Queen  Anne  Boleyn 
—Henry's  Policy  becomes  more  Popish— The  Act  of  the  Six  ALrticles— Persecution  under  it— The  Martyr  Lambert 
—Act  Permitting  the  Keading  of  the  Bible — A  Bible  in  Every  Church— The  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man— The 
Necessary  Erudition  of  a  Christian  Jtfan— The  Primer— Trial  and  Martyrdom  of  Anne  Askew— Henry  VIII.  Dies. 


We  come  now  within  the  sliadow  of  very  tragic 
events.  Numerous  scaflbld.s  begin  to  deform  this 
part  of  the  hLstory  of  England,  the  guilt  of  which 
must  be  shared  between  Clement  VII.,  who 
threatened  the  kingdom  with  invasion,  and  Henry 
VIII.,  who  rigorously  pressed  the  oath  of  supre- 
macy upon  every  man  of  importance  among  his 
subjects.  The  heads  of  the  religious  houses  were 
summoned  with  the  rest  to  take  the  oath.  These 
persons  had  hitherto  been  exemjit  from  secular 
obedience,  and  they  refused  to  acknowledge  any 
authority  that  put  itself,  as  the  royal  supremacy 
did,  above  the  Pope.  The  Prior  of  Charterhouse 
and  some  of  his  monks  were  tried  and  convicted 
for  refusing  the  oath,  and  on  the  4th  of  May,  1535, 
they  were  executed  as  traitors  at  Tybum.  Certain 
friars  who  had  taken  part  in  the  northern  rebel- 
lion were  hung  in  chains  at  York.  The  Pope 
having  released  all  his  Majesty's  subjects  from 
their  allegiance,  to  refuse  the  oath  of  supi-emacy  was 
regarded  as  a  disowning  of  the  king,  and  jmnished 
as  treason. 

But  amid  the  crowd  of  scaffolds  now  rising  in 
England — some  for  refusing  the  oath  of  siipremacy, 
and  others  for  denying  ti-ansubstantiatiou — there 
are  three  that  specially  attract  our  notice,  and  move 
our  son-ow,  though  not  in  equal  degi-ee.  The  first 
is  that  of  Dr.  John  Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester. 
He  was  a  man  of  seventy-seven,  and  refusing  to 
take  the  oath  of  supremacy,  he  was  committed  to 
the  Tower.  He  had  been  there  a  year  when  the 
Pope,  by  an  unseasonable  honour,  hastened  his  fate. 
Paul  III.  sent  him  a  red  hat,  wliich  when  the  king 
learned,  he  swore  that  if  ho  should  wear  it,  it  would 
be  on  his  shoulders,  for  he  should  leave  him  never  a 
head.  He  was  convicted  of  treason,  and  executed 
on  the  22nd  June,  1535.  This  prelate  had  illus- 
trated his  exalted  station  by  a  lowly  deportment, 
and  he  attested  the  sincerity  of  his  belief  by  his 
dignified  behaviour  on  the  scaflbld.  The  next  was 
a  yet  nobler  \'ictim.  Sir  Thomas  More,  the  flower 
of  English  scholai-s.  His  early  detestation  of  monks 
had  given  place  to  a  yet  gi-eater  detestation  of 
heretics,  and   this   man   of  beautiful   genius   and 


naturally  tender  sensibilities  had  sunk  into  the 
inquisitoi'.  He  had  already  been  stripped  of  the 
seals  as  chancellor,  and  in  the  piivate  station  into 
which  he  had  retii-ed  he  tried  to  avoid  ofience  on 
the  matter  of  the  supremacy.  But  all  his  circum- 
spection could  not  shield  him  from  the  suspicious  of 
his  former  master.  More  was  asked  to  take  the 
oath  of  supremacy,  but  declined,  and  after  languish- 
ing a  year  in  prison,  on  the  6th  of  July,  1535,  he 
was  led  to  Tower  Hill,  and  beheaded. 

And  now  comes  the  noblest  victim  of  all,  she 
whom,  but  thi-ee  short  years  before,  the  king 
took  by  the  hand,  and  leacUng  her  up  the  steps 
of  his  throne,  placed  beside  himself  as  queen.  The 
same  gates  and  the  same  chamber  in  the  Tower 
which  had  sent  forth  the  beautiful  and  virtuous 
Anne  Boleyn  to  be  crowned,  now  open  to  receive 
her  as  a  prisoner.  Among  her  maids  of  honour 
was  one  "  who  had  all  the  charms  both  of  youth 
and  beauty  in  lier  person ;  and  her  humour  was  tem- 
pered between  the  severe  gravity  of  Queen  Cathe- 
rine, and  the  gay  pleasantness  of  Queen  Amie."' 
Jane  Seymour,  for  such  was  her  name,  had  excited 
a  strong  but  guilty  passion  in  the  heai-t  of  Henry. 
He  resolved  to  clear  his  way  to  a  new  maniage  by 
the  axe.  The  upright  Cranmer  was  at  this  time 
banished  the  com-t,  and  there  was  not  another  man 
in  the  nation  who  had  influence  or  courage  to  stop 
the  king  in  his  headlong  course.  All  bent  to  a 
tyi'anny  that  had  now  learned  to  tread  into  the 
dust  whatever  opposed  it,  and  which  deemed  the 
slightest  resistance  a  crime  so  gi'eat  that  no  virtue, 
no  learning,  no  former  sei'S'ice  could  atone  for  it. 
The  king,  feigning  to  believe  that  his  bed  had  been 
dishonom-ed,  threw  his  queen  into  the  Tower.  At 
her  trial  on  the  15th  of  May,  1536,  she  was  left 
entirely  unbefriended,  and  was  denied  even  the  help 
of  counsel.  Her  coiinipt  judges  fomid  her  guilty 
on  evidence  which  was  discredited  then,  and  which 
no  one  believes  now.-     On  the  19th  of  May,  a  little 

1  Herbert,  bk.  iii.,  p.  196. 

-  Her  uncle  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  her  bitterest  enemy, 
pronounced  the  sentence,  on  hearing  which  she  raised 
her  eyes  to  heaven,  and  exclaimed,  "Oh,  Father  and 


REDUCED   FAC-BIMILE    OF    THE   TITLE-I'AGE    OF    THE    CillF.AT    mllLE. 


404 


HISTORY   OF  PKOTESTANTISir. 


Ijofore  noon,  slie  was  bvonght  ou  the  scallbld  anil 
beheaded.  "  Her  body  was  thrown  into  a  common 
chest  of  elm-tree  that  was  made  to  put  arrows  in, 
and  was  buried  in  the  chapel  wthin  the  Tower 
before  twelve  o'clock." '  The  alleged  accomplices 
of  Aime  cpiickly  followed  her  to  the  scaflbld,  and 
though  some  of  them  had  received  a  promise  of 
life  on  condition  of  tendering  criminatory  e^•idence, 
it  was  thought  more  prudent  to  put  all  of  them  to 
death.  Dead  men  can  make  no  recantations. 
Henry  jmssed  a  day  in  mourning,  and  ou  the 
morrow  married  Jane  Seymour. 

We  have  reached  a  tiu-ning-point  in  the  life  and 
measures  of  Henry  Vj.II.  He  had  vindicated  his 
prerogative  by  abolishing  the  Pope's  supremacy, 
and  he  had  partially  repleni.shed  his  exchequer  by 
suppressing  the  monasteries,  and  he  resolved  to 
pause  at  the  line  he  had  now  reached.  He  had 
fallen  into  "a  place  where  two  seas  met:"  the 
Papacy  bufleted  him  on  the  one  side,  Lutheranism 
•  on  the  other;  and  the  more  he  strove  to  stem  the 
current  of  the  old,  the  more  he  favoured  the  ad- 
vancing tide  of  the  new.  He  would  place  himself  in 
equilibrium,  he  would  be  at  rest ;  but  this  he  found 
impossible.  The  Popish  party  regained  theii- 
ascendency.  Cromwell,  who  had  been  Henry's 
adviser  in  the  a.ssault  on  the  supremacy  and  the 
despoiling  of  the  monasteries,  was  sent  (28th  July, 
1.540)  to  die  on  a  scaflbld.-  Gardiner,  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  an  ambitious  and  intriguing  man, 
devoted  to  the  old  i-eligion,  took  the  place  of  the 
fallen  minister  in  the  royal  councils.  The  powerful 
family  of  the  Howards,  with  whom  the  king  was 
about  to  form  an  alliance — Jane  Seymour  and  Aime 
of  Cleves  being  already  both  out  of  the  way — threw 
their  influence  on  the  same  side,  and  the  tyi-anny  of 
the  kuig  became  henceforth  more  truculent,  and  his 
victims  more  numerous.  If  Hem-y  had  quarrelled 
with  the  Pope,  he  would  show  Christendom  that  he 
had  not  apostatised  from  the  Roman  Catholic  faith, 
that  he  cherished  no  inclination  towards  Lutheranism , 
and  that  he  was  not  less  deserving  now  of  the 
proud  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith  "  than  he  had 
been  on  the  day  when  the  conclave  ^oted  it  to  him. 
What  perhaps  helped  to  make  the  kmg  veer  roimd, 
and  appear  to  be  desirous  of  buttressing  the  cause 


Creator !  oh.  Thou  who  art  the  way.  .%ncl  the  truth,  iiud 
the  life !  Thou  knowest  that  I  havo  not  deserved  tliis 
death."     (Meteren,  Hist,  des  Pays  Bas,  p.  21.) 

'  Herbert,  bk.  iii.,  p.  205.— The  judgment  pronounced 
in  coui't  by  Crantucr,  two  days  after  her  execution,  and 
which  was  to  the  effect  that  her  mai-riage  with  the  kinjj 
was  not  valid,  on  the  ground  of  pre-contract,  is  a  melan- 
choly proof  of  the  tyranny  of  the  king  and  the  weakues.s 
of  the  archbishop.    (See  Herbert,  pp.  a03— 213.) 

-  Herbert,  p.  284. 


which  he  had  seemed  so  lately  desirous  only  to 
destroy,  was  the  fiict  that  Paul  III.  had  confirmed 
and  re-fulminated  against  him  the  bull  of  excom- 
miuiicatiou  which  Clement  VII.  had  pronounced, 
and  the  state  of  isolation  in  which  he  found  himself 
on  the  Continent  made  it  prudent  not  further  to 
pro^-oke  the  Popish  Powers  till  the  storm  should  be 
over. 

Accordingly  there  was  now  passed  the  Act  of  the 
Sbc  Articles,  "the  lash  with  the  six  strings,"  as 
it  was  termed.  The  first  enacted  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation ;  the  second  withheld  the  Cup 
from  the  laity;  the  third  prohibited  priests  from 
marrying ;  the  fourth  made  obligatoi-y  the  vow  of 
celibacy ;  the  fifth  upheld  private  masses  for  souls 
in  pxirgatory ;  and  the  sixth  declared  auricular 
confession  expedient  and  necessary.  This  creed, 
framed  by  the  "  Head  of  the  Church "  for  the 
people  of  England,  was  a  very  compendious  one, 
and  was  thoroughly  Roman.  The  penalties  annexed 
were  .sufficiently  severe.  He  who  should  deny  the 
fij'st  article,  transubstantiation  namely,  was  to  be 
burned  at  the  stake,  and  they  who  should  impugn 
the  others  were  to  be  hanged  as  felons  ;  and  lands 
and  goods  were  to  be  forfeited  alike  by  the  man 
who  died  by  the  rope  as  by  him  who  died  by  the 
fire.'  These  articles  were  first  jsrojiosed  in  Con- 
vocation, where  Cranmer  used  all  his  influence  and 
eloquence  to  prevent  theii-  passing.  He  was  out- 
voted by  the  lower  clergy.  When  they  came  before 
Parliament,  again  Cranmer  argued  three  days  to- 
gether against  them,  but  all  in  vain.  The  king 
requested  the  archbishop  to  retire  from  the  House 
before  the  vote  was  taken,  but  Cranmer  chose  rather 
to  disoblige  the  monarch  than  desert  the  cause  of 
truth.  It  was  to  the  ci'edit  of  the  king  that,  in- 
stead of  displeasure,  he  notified  his  approval  of 
the  fidelity  and  constancy  of  Cranmer — the  one 
coiu'ageous  man  in  a  pusillanimous  Parliament. 
It  was  soon  seen  that  this  Act  was  to  draw 
after  it  very  tragic  consequences.  Latimer,  now 
BishoiJ  of  Worcester,  and  Shaxton,  Bishop  of  Sali.s- 
bur}',  were  both  thrown  into  prison,  and  they 
were  soon  followed  by  500  others.  Commissioners 
were  appointed  to  carry  out  the  Act,  and  they 
entered  upon  their  work  with  such  zeal  that  the 
prisons  of  London  were  crowded  with  men  suspected 
of  heresy.  The  Act  was  apiilied  to  offences  that 
seemed  to  lie  beyond  its  scope,  and  which  certainly 
were  not  violations  of  its  letter.  Absence  from 
church,  the  neglect  of  the  use  of  the  rosary,  the 
refusal  to  creep  on  one's  knees  to  the  cross  on  Good 
Frid^  ',  the  eating  of  meat  on  interdicted  days,  and 

s  Act  31  Henry  VIII.,  cap.  14. 


A   BIBLE   IN    EVERY   PARISH   CHURCH. 


405 


similar  acts  were  construed  by  the  commissioners 
as  violations  of  the  articles,  and  were  punislied  ac- 
cordingly. 

It  was  now  that  stakes  began  to  be  multiplied, 
and  that  the  martyrs,  Barnes,  Garret,  and  Jeromt-, 
suffered  in  the  fire.  To  show  his  impartialit}', 
the  king  bui'ned  two  Papists  for  denying  the 
supremacy.  It  was  now  too  that  Henry,  who, 
as  the  historian  Tytler  says,  "  had  already 
written  his  title  of  Supreme  Head  of  the  Cluirch 
in  letters  of  blood,"  found  an  opportunity  of  ex- 
hibiting in  a  public  debate  his  zeal  for  ortliodoxy. 
Lambert,  a  clergyman  in  piiest's  orders,  who 
taught  a  school  in  London,  had  been  accused  before 
the  arcliiepiscopal  court  of  denying  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation,  and  had  appealed  from  the 
primate  to  the  king.  The  court  was  held  in  West- 
minster HalL  The  king  took  his  place  on  the 
judgment-seat  in  robes  of  white  satiu,  liaving  on 
his  right  hand  the  prelates,  the  judges,  and  the 
most  eminent  lawyers,  and  on  his  left  the  temporal 
lords  and  the  great  officers  of  the  court.  Scaffolds 
had  been  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
public,  before  whom  Henry  took  pride  in  showing 
his  skill  in  ecclesiastical  lore.  The  disputation 
between  the  king  and  the  prisoner,  in  which  Cran- 
mer  and  nine  other  prelates  took  part,  lasted  five 
hom's.  The  day  wore  away  in  the  discussion ; 
toiches  were  brought  in.  "  What  say  est  thou  now," 
exclaimed  Henry,  anxious  to  close  the  strange  reii- 
contre,  "  after  these  solid  reasons  brought  forward 
by  these  learned  men :  art  thou  satisfied  ?  wilt  thou 
live  or  die?"  The  prisoner  declared  himself  still 
unconvinced.  He  was  then  condemned,  as  "  an 
obstinate  opponent  of  the  tnith,"  to  the  stake.  He 
was  executed  two  days  afterwards.  "As  touching 
the  terrible  maimer  and  fashion,"  says  Fox,  "  of 
the  bimiing  of  this  blessed  martjT,  here  it  is  to  be 
noted,  of  all  others  that  have  been  burned  an<l 
offered  up  at  Smithfield,  there  was  yet  none  so 
cruelly  and  piteously  handled  as  he."  The  fire  was 
lighted,  and  then  withdrawn,  and  lighted  again,  so 
as  to  consume  him  piecemeal.  His  scorched  and 
half-bumed  body  was  raised  on  the  pikes  of  the 
halberdiers,  and  tossed  from  one  to  the  other  to  all 
the  extent  his  chain  would  allow  ;  the  martyr,  says 
the  martyi'ologist,  "  lifting  up  such  hands  as  he  had, 
and  his  finger-ends  flaming  with  fire,  cried  unto 
the  people  in  these  words,  '  None  but  Christ,  none 
but  Christ !'  and  so  being  let  down  again  from  their 
halberds,  fell  into  the  fire,  and  gave  up  his  life."' 

Cranmer    had    better  success  with   the  king   in 


'  Strype,   MenioriaU   of  Ci'anmer,  pp.   05,  GG  (sco  also 
Appendix). 


another  matter  to  which  we  now  turn.  The  whole 
Bil)le,  as  we  have  already  seen,  had  been  translated 
into  English  by  TjTidale  and  Miles  Coverdale,  with 
the  -N-iew  of  being  spread  through  England.  The 
work  was  completed  in  October,  1.535.  Another 
edition  was  printed  before  the  4th  of  August, 
1537,  for  on  that  day  we  find  Archbishop  Cranmer 
sending  Grafton,  the  printer,  with  his  Bible  to 
Cromwell,  with  a  request  that  he  would  show  it  to 
the  king,  and  obtain,  if  possible,  the  royal  "  licence 
that  the  same  may  be  sold,  and  read  of  every 
person,  without  danger  of  any  Act,  pi'oclamation, 
or  ordinance,  heretofore  gi'anted  to  the  conti-ary."- 
In  1538  a  royal  order  was  issued,  appointing  a 
copy  of  the  Bible  to  be  placed  in  every  parish 
church,  and  raised  upon  a  desk,  so  that  all  might 
come  and  read.  The  Act  set  forth  "  that  the 
king  was  desirous  to  have  his  subjects  attain  to 
the  knowledge  of  God's  Word,  which  coiUd  not  be 
effected  by  means  so  well  as  by  gi-anting  them  the 
free  and  liberal  use  of  the  Bil)le  in  the  English 
tongue."'  "  It  was  wonderfid,"  says  Strype,  "  to 
see  with  what  joy  this  Book  of  God  was  received, 
not  only  among  the  learneiler  sort,  and  those  who 
were  lovers  of  the  Reformation,  l)ut  generally  all 
England  over,  among  all  the  \'ulgar  and  common 
people  ;  and  with  what  greediness  God's  Word  was 
i-ead,  and  what  resort  to  places  where  the  reading 
of  it  was.  Everybody  that  could  Ijought  the  book, 
or  busily  read  it,  or  got  others  to  read  it  to  them, 
if  they  could  not  themselves ;  and  divei's  eldeily 
people  learned  to  read  on  purpose.  Arid  even 
little  boys  flocked  among  the  rest  to  hear  portions 
of  the  Holy  Scrijitures  read."^  The  fii-st  edition 
was  sold  in  two  years,  and  .another  immediately 
brought  out.  How  different  now  from  the  state  of 
things  a  few  j'ears  ago  !  Then,  if  any  one  possessed 
a  copy  of  the  Scriptures  he  was  obliged  to  conceal 
it ;  and  if  he  wished  to  re.ad  it,  he  must  go  out  into 
the  woods  or  the  fields,  where  no  eye  saw  him,  or 
choose  the  midnight  hour;  now,  it  lay  openly  in 
the  peasant's  home,  to  be  read  at  the  noon-day  rest, 
or  at  the  eventide,  -vvitliout  dread  of  informer  or 
peril  of  prison.  "I  rejoice,"  -svTote  Cranmer  to 
Cromwell,  "to  sec  this  day  of  Reformation  now 
risen  in  England,  since  the  light  of  God's  Word 
doth  shine  over  it  without  a  cloud." 

In  the  same  year  other  injunctions  were  issued 
in  the  king's  name,  to  the  effect,  among  other 
directions,  that  once  a  cpiarter  every  curate  should 


-  Biosr.  of  TyDdale— Doctrinal  Treatises,  Parker  See, 
pp.  74— 7G. 
■■'  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  bk.  iii.,p.2"0 
*  Strype,  Mcmoiials  of  Cranmer,  p.  M. 


406 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


preach  a  sermon  specially  dii-ected  against  the 
superstitious  usages  of  the  times.  The  preacher 
was  eujoined  to  warn  Ids  hearers  against  the  folly 
of  going  on  pilgi-image,  of  ofl'eiing  candles  and 
tapers  to  relics,  of  kissing  them,  and  the  like.  If 
the  preacher  had  extolled  these  practices  formerly, 
he  was  now  publicly  to  recant  his  teachiug,  and  to 
confess  that  he  had  been  misled  by  common  opinion 
and  custom,  and  had  had  no  authority  from  the 
Word  of  God.' 

The  publication  of  the  Bible  was  followed  by 
other  books,  also  set  forth  by  authority,  and  of 
a  kind  fitted  to  promote  reformation.  The  first  of 
these  Was  Tlie  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man,  or 
"The  Bishops'  Book,"  as  it  was  termed,  from  having 
been  drawn  up  by  the  prelates.  It  was  issued  with 
the  approval  of  the  king,  and  was  intended  to  be  a 
standard  of  orthodoxy  to  the  nation.  Its  gold  was 
far  indeed  from  being  without  alloy  ;  the  new  and 
the  old,  a  few  evangelical  doctrines  and  a  great 
many  Popish  erroi-s,  being  strangely  blended  and 
boimd  up  together  in  it. 

TJie  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man  was  suc- 
ceeded, after  some  time,  by  The  Necessary  Erudition 
of  a  Christian  Man.  This  was  called  "  The  King's 
Book."  Published  after  the  Six  Ai-ticles,  it  main- 
tained the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  In 
other  respects.  The  Erudition  was  an  improve- 
ment upon  The  Institution.  Revised  by  Cranmer, 
it  omits  all  mention  of  what  the  other  had  recom- 
mended, namely,  the  venei-ation  of  images,  the 
invocation  of  the  saints,  and  masses  for  the  dead, 
and  places  moral  duties  above  ceremonial  obser- 
vances, as,  for  instance,  the  practice  of  charity 
above  abstinence  from  flesh  on  Friday.  It  con- 
tained, moreover,  an  exposition  of  the  Apostle's 
Creed,  the  Seven  Sacraments,  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, the  Pater  Noster,  and  the  Ave  Maria,  to 
which  were  appended  two  articles  on  justification, 
in  which  an  approximation  was  made  to  sounder 
doctrine  on  the  subject  of  the  fall  of  man,  and 
the  corniption  of  nature  thereby  inherited.  The 
redemption  accomplished  by  Christ  was  so  exliibited 
as  to  discourage  the  idea  of  merit." 

The  king  published,  besides,  a  Primer.  It  was 
Intended  for  the  initiation  of  the  young  into  the 
elements  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  consisted  of 
confessions,  prayers,  and  hymns,  with  the  seven 
penitential  psalms,  and  selections  from  the  Passion 
of  our  Lord  as  recorded  in  the  Gospel  of  St  John. 
But  the  Primer  was  not  intended  exclusively  for 
youth  ;  it  was  meant  also  as  a  manual  of  devotion 


Strype,  Eccles.  Mem.,  vol.  i.,  p.  514. 
Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  pp.  95 — 97. 


for  adults,  to  be  iised  both  in  the  closet  and  in 
the  chiu'ch,  to  which  the  people  were  then  in  the 
habit  of  resorting  for  pi-ivate  as  well  as  public 
prayer. 

Henry  VIII.  was  now  drawing  to  his  latter 
end.  His  life,  deformed  by  many  ciimes,  was  to 
be  darkened  by  one  more  tragedy  before  clos- 
ing. Anne  Askew  was  the  second  daughter  of 
Sii-  William  Askew,  of  Kelsey,  in  T Lincolnshire. 
Having  been  converted  to  the  Protestant  faith  by 
reading  the  Scriptures,  she  was  taken  before  "  the 
Quest,"  or  commissioners  appointed  to  work  the 
"  drag-net "  of  the  Six  Ai-ticles,  charged  with  deny- 
ing transubstantiation.  She  was  thrown  into 
prison,  and  lay  there  nearly  a  year.  The  Council, 
with  Gardiner  and  Bonner  at  its  head,  was  then 
plotting  the  destiiiction  of  Queen  Catherine ;  and 
Anne  Askew,  by  command  of  the  king,  was  brought 
before  the  CouncO  and  examined,  in  the  hope  that 
something  might  be  elicited  from  her  to  ineriminate 
the  ladies  of  the  queen's  court.  Her  firmness 
baffled  her  persecutore,  and  she  was  thrown  into 
the  Tower.  In  then-  rage  they  carried  her  to  a 
dungeon,  and  though  she  was  deUcate  and  sickly, 
they  placed  her  on  the  rack,  and  stretched  her 
limbs  till  the  bones  were  almost  broken.  Despite 
the  tortiu'e,  she  uttered  no  gi'oan,  she  disclosed  no 
secret,  and  she  steadfastly  refused  to  renounce  her 
faith.  Chancellor  Wriothesly,  in  his  robes,  was 
standing  by,  and,  stung  to  fury  by  her  silence,  he 
stripped  ofi'  his  gown,  grasped  the  handle  of  the 
rack,  and  swore  that  he  would  make  the  piisoner 
reveal  her  accomplices.  He  worked  the  torture 
with  his  own  hands,  till  his  victim  was  on  the 
point  of  expii-ing.  Anne  swooned  on  being  taken 
off  the  rack.  On  recovering,  she  found  hei-self  on 
the  stony  floor,  with  Wriothesly  by  her  side,  try- 
ing, by  words  of  feigned  kindness,  to  overcome  the 
resolution  which  liis  horrible  barbarities  had  not 
been  able  to  subdue.  She  was  condemned  to  the 
fii'e. 

When  the  day  of  execution  arrived,  she  was 
earned  to  Smithfield  in  a  chair,  for  the  toi-ture  had 
deprived  her  of  the  use  of  her  limbs.  Three  others 
were  to  die  with  her.  She  was  fastened  to  the 
stake  with  a  chain.  The  Lord  Mayor,  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  the  Earl  of  Bedford,  the  Lord  Chancellor 
Wriothesly,  and  other  persons  of  rank  occupied 
a  bench  in  front  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Church,  in 
order  to  witness  the  execution.  A  strong  railing 
served  to  keep  ofi"  the  dense  crowd  of  hardened 
ruffians  and  fanatical  scofiers  that  occupied  the 
area ;  but  here  and  there  were  pei-sons  whose 
looks  testified  their  sympathy  ^^ith  the  sufierers 
and  their  cause,  and  were  refreshing  to  them,  doubt- 


DEATH   AND   CHARACTER   OF   HENRY  YTIT. 


407 


less,  ill  their  hour  of  agony.  Presently  the  Lord 
Mayor  commanded  the  torch  to  be  applied.  At 
the  lighting  of  the  train  the  sky  suddenly 
blackened ;  a  few  draps  of  rain  fell,  and  a  low 
peal  of  thunder  was  heard.  "  They  are  damned," 
said  some  of  the  spectators.  "  God  knows  whether 
1  may  truly  call  it  thunder,"  said  one  who  was 
present ;  "  methought  it  seemed  that  the  angels  in 
heaven  rejoiced  to  receive  their  souls  into  bliss."' 
Their  heroic  death,  which  formed  the  last  of  the 
horrors  of  Henry  VIII. 's  reign,  was  long  remem- 
bered. 

A  few  months  after  these  tragic  events,  the  king 
was  laid  down  on  the  bed  from  which  he  was  to  rise 
no  more.  On  the  27th  of  January,  1547,  it  be- 
came evident  that  his  end  was  drawing  near.  Those 
around  him  inquired  whether  he  wished  to  have 
the  consolations  of  a  clergyman.  "  Yes,"  he  replied, 
"but  hrst  let  me  repose  a  little."  The  king  slept 
an  hour,  and  on  awakening  desired  his  attendants 
to  send  immediately  for  Cranmer.  Before  the  arch- 
bishop could  arrive  Henry  was  speechless ;  but  he 
retained  his  consciousness,  and  listened  to  the  ex- 
hortations of  the  primate.  Cranmer  then  asked  of 
him  a  sign  that  he  rested  on  Christ  alone.  Henry 
jjressed  his  hand  and  expired.  It  was  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  28th  when  the  king  breathed  his 
last.  He  had  lived  fifty-five  yeare  and  seven 
months,  and  had  reigned  thirty-seven  yeai"S,  nine 
months,  and  six  days.- 

It  has  been  the  lot  of  Henry  VIII.  to  be  severely 
blamed  by  both  Protestants  and  Papists.  To  this 
cii-cunistance  it  is  o^\Tiig  that  his  vices  have  been 
put  prominently  in  the  foreground,  and  that  his 
good  qualities  and  gi'eat  services  have  been  thrown 
into  the  shade.  There  are  far  worse  characters  in 
history,  who  have  been  made  to  figure  in  colours 
not  nearly  so  black ;  and  there  are  men  who  have 
received  much  more  ajiplause,  who  have  done  less 
to  merit  it.  We  should  like  to  judge  Henry  VIII. 
by  his  work,  and  by  his  times.  He  contrasts 
favourably  with  his  two  great  contemporaries, 
Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.  He  was  selfish  and 
sensual,  but  he  was  less  so  than  the  French  king ; 
he  was  crael — inexorably  and  relentlessly  cruel — 
but  he  did  not  spill  nearly  so  much  blood  as  th(^ 
emperor.     True,  his  scaffolds  strike  and  startle  our 


'  Strype,  Ecd.  Mem.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  509,  600.  Pox  says 
their  martynlom  took  place  in  June.  Bishop  Bale  says 
it  was  on  the  16th  of  July,  1546.  Southey,  in  his  Book  of 
the  Church  (vol.  ii.,  p.  92),  says  that  the  execution  was 
delayed  till  darkness  closed.  We  are  disposed  to  think 
that  this  is  a  mistake,  arising  from  misunderstanding  an 
cxproasion  of  Fox  about  "the  hour  of  darkness." 

-  Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  p.  139.    Herbert,  p.  030, 


imagination  more  than  do  the  thousands  of  ^■ictims 
whom  Charles  V.  put  to  de-ath,  but  that  is  because 
they  stand  out  in  greater  relief.  The  one  victim 
afl'ects  us  more  than  does  the  crowd ;  and  the  re- 
lationship of  the  sufferer  to  the  royal  murderer 
touches  deeply  our  pity.  It  is  the  wife  or  the 
minister  whom  we  see  Henry  dragging  to  the  scaf- 
fold ;  we  are  therefore  more  shudderingly  alive  to 
his  guilt ;  whereas  those  whom  the  kings  of  France 
and  Spain  delivered  up  to  the  executioner,  and 
whom  they  caused  to  expire  with  barbarities  which 
Henry  VIII.  never  practised,  were  more  remotely 
connected  with  the  authors  of  their  death.  As 
regards  the  two  most  revolting  crimes  of  the 
English  king,  the  execution  of  Anne  Boleyn  and 
Thomas  Cromwell,  the  Popish  faction  must  divide 
with  Henry  the  guilt  of  their  murder.  The  now 
morose  and  suspicious  temper  of  the  monarch  made 
it  easy  for  conspirators  to  lead  him  into  crime. 
The  darkest  periods  of  his  life,  and  in  particular  the 
executions  that  followed  the  enactment  of  the  Six 
Articles,  correspond  with  the  ascendency  at  court 
of  Gardiner  and  his  party,  who  never  ceased  during 
Henry's  reign  to  plot  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Papal  supremacy. 

Henry  VIII.  was  a  great  sovereign — in  some 
respects  the  gi-eatest  of  the  three  sovereigns  who 
then  governed  Christendom.  He  had  the  wisdom 
to  choose  able  ministers,  and  he  brought  a  strong 
understanding  and  a  resolute  ^vill  to  the  execution 
of  grand  designs.  These  have  left  their  mark  on 
the  world  for  good.  Neither  Charles  nor  Francis 
so  deeply  or  so  beneficially  affected  the  current  of 
human  affaii's.  The  policy  of  Charles  V.  mined 
the  gi-eat  country  at  the  head  of  which  he  stood. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  policy  of  Francis  I. : 
it  began  the  decline  of  the  most  civilised  of  the 
European  nations.  The  policy  of  Henry  VIII. — 
inspired,  we  grant,  by  very  mixed  motives,  and 
carried  through  at  the  cost  of  great  crimes  on  his 
part,  and  great  sufferings  on  the  part  of  others — ha.s 
resulted  in  placing  Great  Britain  at  the  head  of  the 
world.  His  policy  comprised  three  great  measures. 
He  restored  the  Bible  to  that  moral  supremacy 
which  is  the  bulwark  of  conscience ;  ho  shook  off 
from  England  the  chains  of  a  foreign  tyranny,  and 
made  her  mistress  of  herself ;  and  he  tore  out  the 
gangrene  of  the  monastic  system,  which  was  eating 
out  the  industry  and  the  allegiance  of  the  nation. 
Tliis  was  rough  work,  but  it  had  to  be  done  before 
England  could  advance  a  ste])  in  the  i)ath  of  Reform. 
It  was  only  a  man  like  Henry  VIII.  who  could  do 
it.  With  a  less  resolute  monarch  on  the  throne, 
the  nation  would  have  been  broken  by  the  shock  of 
these  great  changes  ;    with  a  less  firm  hand  on  tU^ 


408 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISIkl. 


helm,  the  vessel  of  the  State  woiikl  have  foundered 
amid  the  tempests  which  this  policy  awakened  both 
wtliin  and  without  tlie  country. 

The  friendship  that  existed  to  the  close  between 
Henry  VIII,  and  C'ranmer  is  one  of  the  marvels 
of  history.  The  man  who  could  appreciate  the 
upright  and  pious  archbishop,  and  esteem  him 
above  all  his  servants,  and  who  was  affectionately 
regarded  and  faithfully  served  by  the  ai'chbishop  in 
return,  must  have  had  some  sterling  qualities  in  him. 
These  two  men  were  very  unlike,  but  it  was  their 
dissimilarity,  we  are  disposed  to  think,  that  kept 
them  together.  It  was  the  simplicity  and  trans- 
parency of  the  archbishop  that  enabled  the  heart  of 
the  king  fully  to  confide  in  him  ;  and  it  was  the 
strength,  or — shall  we  say  it  ? — the  tyranny  of 
Heniy  that  led  the  somewhat  timid  and  weak 
EefoiTner  to  lean  upon  and  work  along  with  the 
monarch.  Doubtless,  Cranmer's  insight  taught  him 
that  the  first  necessity  of  England  was  a  strong 
throne  ;  and  that,-seeing  both  Church  and  State 
had  been   demoralised   by   the   setting   up  of  the 


Pope's  authority  in  the  country,  neither  order  nor 
liberty  was  possible  in  England  till  that  foreign 
usurpation  was  put  down,  and  the  king  made 
supreme  over  all  persons  and  causes.  This  con- 
sideration, doubtless,  made  him  accept  the  "  Head- 
ship "  of  Henry  as  an  interim  aiTangement,  although 
he  might  not  approve  of  it  as  a  final  settlement. 
Certain  it  is  that  the  co-operation  maintained  be- 
tween the  pure  and  single-minded  primate,  and  the 
headstrong  and  blood-stained  monarch,  I'esulted  in 
great  blessings  to  England. 

When  Hemy  died,  he  left  to  Cranmer  little  but 
a  ruin.  The  foundations  of  a  new  edifice  had  in- 
deed been  laid  in  the  diffusion  of  the  Word  of  God  ; 
but  while  the  substructions  lay  hid  underground, 
the  sm-face  was  strewn  over  by  the  debris  of  that 
old  edifice  which  the  terrible  blows  of  the  king  had 
shivered  in  pieces.  Cranmer  had  to  set  to  woi'k, 
with  such  assistants  as  he  could  gather  round  him, 
and  essay  in  patience  and  toil  the  rearing  of  a  new 
edifice.  It  is  in  this  labour  that  we  are  now  to 
follow  him. 


CHAPTER   XL 


THE    CHURCH    OP    ENGLAND    AS    nEFORMED    BY   CRANMER. 


Edward  VI.— His  Training  and  Character— Somerset  Protector— Wriothesly  Deposed— Edward's  Coronation— The 
Bible — State  of  England— Cranmer  Resumes  the  Work  of  Eeformation— Eoyal  Visitation— Erasmus'  Para- 
phrase—Book of  Homilies— Superstitious  Usages  Forbidden — Communion  in  Both  Kinds- Cranmer's  Catechism 
— Laity  and  Public  Worship — Communion  Service — Book  of  Common  Prayer— Pentecost  of  1549 — Public 
Psalmody  Authorised— Articles  of  Religion— The  Bible  the  Only  Infallible  Authority. 


Edward  VI.  was  in  his  tenth  year  when  the  sceptre 
of  England  was  committed  to  his  hand.  If  his 
years  were  few,  liis  attainments  were  far  beyond 
what  is  usual  at  his  early  age ;  he  already  dis- 
covered a  rare  maturity  of  judgment,  and  a  soul 
ennobled  by  the  love  of  virtue.  His  father  had 
taken  care  to  provide  him  with  able  and  pious  pre- 
ceptors, chief  of  whom  were  Sir  Anthony  Cooke,  a 
friend  of  the  Gospel,  and  Dr.  Richard  Cox,  after- 
wards Bishop  of  Ely ;  and  the  precocity  of  the 
youthful  prince,  and  his  rapid  progi-ess  in  classical 
studies,  rewarded  the  diligence  and  exceeded  the  ex- 
pectations of  his  instructors.  Numerous  letters  in 
Latin  and  French,  wiitten  in  his  ninth  year,  are  still 
extant,  attesting  the  skill  he  had  acquired  in  these 
languages  at  that  tender  age.  Catherine  Pan-,  the 
I  last  and  noblest  of  the  wives  of  Henry  VIII., 
assiduously  aided  the  development  of   his   moral 


character.  Herself  a  lady  of  eminent  virtue  and 
gi-eat  intelligence,  she  was  at  pains  to  instil  into  his 
mind  those  principles  which  should  make  his  life 
pure,  his  reign  prosperous,  and  his  subjects  happy. 
Nor  would  the  watchful  eye  of  Cranmer  be  un- 
observant of  the  heir  to  the  crown,  nor  would  his 
timely  co-opei-ation  and  wise  counsel  be  wanting  in 
the  work  of  fitting  him  for  swaying  the  sceptre  of 
England  at  one  of  its  greatest  crises.  The  ai-cli- 
bishop  is  said  to  have  wept  for  joy  when  he  marked 
the  rapid  and  graceful  intellectual  development, 
and  deep  piety,  of  the  young  prince. 

The  king's  maternal  uncle,  Edward  Seymour, 
Earl  of  Hertford,  afterwards  Duke  of  Somerset, 
was  made  head  of  the  council  of  regency,  under  the 
title  of  Protector  of  the  Realm.  He  was  an  able 
statesman,  and  a  friend  of  the  Reformed  opinions. 
Cranmer,  in  vii'tue  of  his  primacy,  as  well  as  by 


CORONATION   OF   EDWARD   VI. 


409 


appointmrnt  of  the  late  king,  way  a  member  of  the 
C'oiuicil.  Wriothesly,  tlie  chancellor,  a  man  versed 
in  intrigue,  and  so  bigoted  an  adlierent  of  the  old 
faith  that,  as  we  have  seen,  he  sometimes  tortured 
with  his  own  hands  those  under  examination  before 
him,  had  also  a  seat  Lu  that  body.     But  one  of  the 


the  Statute  of  the  Six  Articles  was  abolished,  and 
the  prosecutions  commenced  under  it  were  tenni- 
nated  ;  the  friends  of  the  Gospel  were  released  from 
prison ;  many  learned  and  pious  men  returned  from 
exile,  and  thus  the  ranks  of  tiie  Reformers  were 
recruited,  and  theii-  spirits  reanim  ited.     Nor  was 


COIIONATION    OF    EDWAKD    VI. — PROCESSIOIT   PASSINO    CHEArsIIlE    CKOSS,    1047. 

(From  a  Painting  of  the  Period.) 


irst  acts  of  the  Council  was  to  depose  him  from  office, 
and  deprive  him  of  the  seals.  This  was  no  faint 
indication  that  the  ji^rtj'  ivhich  had  so  long  clogged 
the  wheels  of  the  Reformation  must  now  descend 
from  power.  Other  signs  of  a  like  nature  soon 
followed.  The  coronation  of  the  young  monarch 
took  ]ilace  on  the  28th  of  February,  in  the  Abbey  of 
Westminster.'     There  followed  a  general  pardon  : 

'  Strype,  Mem.  rif  Cranmer,  pp.  142,  143. 

139 


it  less  pleasing  to  mark  the  token  of  respec ;  which 
was  paid  to  the  Scriptures  by  the  youthful  king 
on  receiving  his  crown.  If  his  father  had  brought 
forth  the  Bible  to  cany  his  divorce,  the  son  would 
exalt  it  to  a  yet  higher  i)lace  by  making  it  the  rule 
of  his  government,  and  the  light  of  his  realm. 
Bale  relates  that,  wlieu  Cranmer  had  placed  the 
crown  on  Edward's  head,  and  the  procession  was 
about  to  set  out  from  the  abbey  to  the  palace,  three 
swords    wore    brought    to    be  carried    before   him, 


410 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


emblematical  of  liis  three  kingdoms.  On  this  the 
king  observed,  "There  lacks  yet  one."  On  his 
noblfts  inquiring  what  it  was,  he  answered,  "  The 
Bible,"  adding,  "that  book  is  the  sword  of  the 
spirit,  and  is  to  be  preferred  before  these.  It  ought 
in  all  right  to  govern  us  :  without  it  we  are  nothing, 
and  can  do  nothing.  He  that  rules  -without  it  is 
not  to  be  called  God's  minister,  or  a  king."  The 
Bible  was  brought,  and  carried  reverently  in  the 
procession. 

With  Edward  on  the  throne,  the  English  Josiah, 
as  he  has  been  styled,  with  Protector  Somei'set  in 
the  Cabinet,  with  many  tried  disciples  and  former 
fellow-labourers  returned  from  prison  or  from  be- 
yond seas,  Cranmer  at  last  breathed  freely.  How 
diflferent  the  gi-acious  air  that  filled  the  palace  of 
Edward  from  the  gloomy  and  tyrannical  atmosphere 
around  the  throne  of  Henry  !  Till  now  Cranmer 
knew  not  what  a  day  might  bring  forth ;  it  might 
hurl  him  from  power,  and  send  him  to  a  scafibld. 
But  now  he  could  recommend  measures  of  reform 
without  hesitancy,  and  go  boldlj'  forward  in  the 
prosecution  of  them.  And  yet  the  prospect  was 
still  such  as  might  well  dismay  even  a  bold  man. 
Many  things  had  been  uprooted,  Init  very  little  had 
been  planted  :  England  at  that  hour  was  a  chaos. 
There  had  come  an  outburst  of  lawless  thought  and 
libertine  morals  such  as  is  incident  to  all  periods  of 
transition  and  revolution.  The  Popish  faction,  with 
the  crafty  Gardiner  at  its  head,  though  niling  no 
longer  in  the  councils  of  the  sovereign,  was  yet 
powerful  in  the  Chixrch,  and  was  restlessly  intriguing 
to  obstruct  the  path  of  the  primate,  and  brmg  back 
the  dominion  of  Rome.  Many  of  the  young  nobles 
had  tra^'elled  in  Italy,  and  brought  home  wth  them 
a  Machiavellian  system  of  politics,  and  an  easy  code 
of  morals,  and  they  sought  to  introduce  into  the 
court  of  Edward  the  principles  and  fashions  they 
had  learned  abroad.  The  clergy  were  without 
knowledge,  the  people  were  without  instruction ; 
few  men  in  the  nation  had  clear  and  well-established 
views,  and  every  day  that  passed  without  a  remedy 
only  made  mattei-s  worse.  To  repel  the  Popish 
faction  on  the  one  hand  and  encourage  the  Reform- 
ing party  on  the  other ;  to  combat  ^vith  ignorance, 
to  set  bounds  to  avarice  and  old  and  envenomed 
prejudice ;  to  plan  wisely,  to  wait  patiently,  and  to 
advance  at  only  such  speed  as  circumstances  made 
jjossible ;  to  be  ever  on  the  watch  against  seci-et 
foes,  and  ever  armed  against  their  violence ;  to 
toil  day  after  day  and  hoiu'  after  hour,  to  be 
oftentimes  disappointed  in  the  issue,  and  have  to 
begin  anew  :  here  were  the  faith,  the  patience,  and 
the  courage  of  the  Reformers.  This  was  the  task 
that  now  pi-esented  itself  to  Cranmer,  and  which  he 


must  pursue  through  all  its  difficulties  till  he  had 
established  a  moral  rule  in  England,  and  reared  an 
edifice  in  which  to  place  the  lamp  of  a  Scriptural 
faith.  This  was  the  one  work  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.  England  had  then  rest  from  war: 
the  soimd  of  battle  was  forbidden  to  disturb  the 
silence  in  which  the  temple  rose.^  Let  us  describe 
the  work,  as  stage  by  stage  the  edifice  is  seen  to 
advance  imder  the  hands  of  its  builders. 

The  first  step  was  a  "  Royal  Visitation  for  Re- 
formation of  Religion."  This  Commission  was 
appointed  within  a  month  after  the  coronation 
of  Edward  VI.,  and  was  sent  forth  with  instruc- 
tions to  visit  all  the  dioceses  and  parishes  of  Eng- 
land, and  report  respecting  the  knowledge  and 
morals  of  the  clergy,  and  the  spiritual  condition  of 
theii-  flocks.-  The  Commission  executed  its  task, 
and  its  report  laid  open  to  the  eye  of  Cranmer  the 
real  state  of  the  nation,  and  enabled  him  to  judge 
of  the  remedies  required  for  evils  which  were  the 
gi-o^vth  of  ages.  The  firet  thing  adopted  in  the 
shape  of  a  cui-e  was  the  jilacing  of  a  companion 
vohmie  by  the  side  of  the  Bible  in  all  the  churches. 
The  book  chosen  was  Erasmus'  Paraphrase  on  the 
New  Testament,  in  English."  It  was  placed  there 
by  way  of  interpreter,  and  was  specially  designed  for 
the  instruction  of  the  priests  in  the  sense  of  Scrip 
ture.  It  would  have  been  easy  to  have  found  a 
better  guide,  but  Erasmus  would  be  read  by  many 
who  would  have  turned  away  from  the  commen- 
taries of  Luther. 

There  quickly  followed  a  volume  of  homilies, 
twelve  in  number.  The  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
Gardiner,  the  uncompromising  enemy  of  Cranmer 
and  the  Reformation,  olyected  to  this  as  unneces- 
saiy,  seeing  the  nation  already  possessed  King 
Henry's  EnuUtion  of  a  Christian  Man.*  The 
homilies  were  prepared  nevertheless,  Cranmer  him- 
self writing  three  of  them,  those  on  Salvation, 
Faith,  and  Works.  The  doctrine  taught  in  the 
homily  on  Salvation,  otherwise  termed  Justification, 
was  that  of  Luther,  namely,  that  we  are  justified 
by  faith  -without  works.  Gardiner  and  his  ]iarty 
strongly  objected  to  this,  arguing  that  such  a  justi- 
fication excluded  "  charity,"  and  besides  was  sujiei'- 
fluous,  seeing  we  receive  justification  in  baptism, 
and  if  after  this  we  sin,  we  ai-e  restored  by  penance. 
Cranmer  defended  the  homily  on  the  gi-ound  that 

'  Tliere  is  one  exception  to  the  peace,  viz.,  the  battle 
of  Pinkey,  near  Edinburgh,  fought  in  September,  15-17, 
in  which  tlio  English  defeated  the  Sco-tch,  slaughtering 
10,000,  and  taking  2,000  prisoners. 

-  Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  bk.  ii.,  chap.  2. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  148. 

■*  Burnet,  vol.  in.,  part  iii.,  bk.  4;  Lond.  ed.,  1820. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    REFORMS. 


411 


his  object  was  '■  only  to  set  out  the  freedom  of 
God's  mercy."'  The  hand  of  Latimer,  now  restored 
to  liberty,  and  of  Thomas  Becon,  one  of  Cranmer's 
chaplains,  may  be  traced  in  others  of  the  homilies  : 
the  authoi'S  of  the  rest  are  entirely  unknown,  or 
can  only  be  doubtfully  guessed  at.  The  homilies 
arc  plain  expositions  of  the  gi-eat  doctrines  of  the 
Bible,  which  may  be  read  with  profit  in  any  age, 
and  were  eminently  needed  in  that  one.  They 
were  appointed  to  be  read  from  the  pulpit  in 
every  church.  The  Ithuriel  which  Cranmer  sent 
abroail,  the  touch  of  whose  spear  dissolved  the 
shackles  of  his  countrymen,  was  Light. 

The  royal  visitation,  mentioned  above,  now 
began  to  bear  yet  more  important  fruits.  In  No- 
vember, 1.547,  Parliament  sat,  and  a  Convocation 
being  held  at  the  same  time,  the  ecclesiastical 
refonus  recommended  by  the  royal  visitors  were 
discussed,  embodied  in  orders,  and  promulgated  by 
the  Council.  The  clergy  were  enjoined  to  preach 
four  times  every  year  against  the  usurped  authority 
of  the  Bishop  of  Rome ;  they  were  forbidden  to 
extol  images  and  relics  ;  they  were  not  to  allow 
lights  before  images,  although  still  pennitted  to 
have  two  lighted  candles  on  the  high  altar,  in 
veneration  of  the  body  of  Christ,  wliich  even 
Ci-anmer  still  believed  was  present  in  the  elements. 
The  clergy  were  to  admit  none  to  the  "  Sacrament 
of  the  altar"  who  had  not  first  undergone  an 
examination  on  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and 
the  Ten  Commandments.  A  chapter  of  the  New 
Testament,  in  English,  was  to  be  read  at  matins,  or 
morning  worship,  and  a  chapter  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment at  evensong.  The  portions  of  Scripture  read 
at  mass  were  enjoined  to  be  also  in  English. 
<  'liantry  priests,  or  those  who  sang  masses  at  the 
|)rivate  oratories  in  cathedral  chuichcs  for  the  souls 
<jf  the  founders,  were  to  spend  more  profitably  their 
time  in  teaching  the  young  to  read  and  write.  All 
clergymen  with  an  income  of  £100  a  year — equal 
at  Iciist  to  £1,000  now — were  to  maintain  a  poor 
scholar  at  one  of  the  universities.  Candles  were 
forbidden  to  be  earned  on  Candlemas  Day,  ashes 
■on  Ash  Wednesday,  palms  on  Palm  Sunday.  "  So 
that  this  year"  (1547),  .says  Strype,  "on  Candle- 
mas Day,  the  old  custom  of  bearing  candles  in  the 
church,  and  on  Ash  Wednesday  follo^v^Jlg  giving 
ashes  in  the  church,  was  left  oft"  through  the  whole 
of  the  city  of  London."-  An  order  was  also  L.sued 
by  the  Council  for  the  removal  of  all  images  from 
the  churches — a  change  implying  so  gi-eat  an 
idteration  in  the  worship  of  the  people  as  to  be  a 


reformation  in  itself.^  Another  most  important 
change  was  now  adopted.  After  being  discussed 
in  Convocation,  it  was  enacted  by  Parliament  that 
henceforth  the  communion  should  be  dispensed  in 
both  kinds.  The  same  Parliament  abolished  the  law 
of  clerical  celibacy,  and  permitted  priests  to  marry. 

In  1548  came  Cranmer's  Catechism.  It  was  not 
written  by  the  archbishop,  although  it  bore  his 
name.  Originally  compiled  in  German  for  the  in- 
struction of  the  youth  of  Nm'emberg,  it  was 
translated  into  Latin  by  the  son  of  Justus  Jonas, 
the  friend  of  Luther,  and  brought  to  England  by 
him  when  driven  from  his  native  land  by  the 
Interim  of  Charles  V.  This  catecliism  was  rendered 
into  English  by  the  orders  of  Ci^anmer,  who  deemed 
it  fitted  to  be  useful  in  the  instruction  of  youth. 
This  catechism  may  be  regarded  as  a  reflection  of 
Cranmer's  own  mind,  and  the  mind  of  England  at 
that  hour.  Both  were  but  groping  their  way  out  of 
the  old  darkness.  In  it  the  first  and  second  command- 
ments are  made  to  form  but  one,  thus  obliterating, 
or  at  least  darkening,  the  jjrohibition  of  the  worship- 
ping of  God  by  images.  Of  the  seven  Sacraments 
of  the  Roman  Church,  four  are  discarded  and  three 
retained  :  baptism  is  spoken  of  as  "  the  bath  of 
regeneration,  or  the  instrument  of  the  second  birth." 
The  doctrine  taught  under  the  head  of  the  Eucharist 
is  that  of  the  bodily  presence,  as  we  should  expect 
it  to  be  from  the  German  origin  of  the  book,  and 
the  known  sentiments  of  Cranmer  at  this  stage  of 
his  cai-eer.  He  was  still  a  believer  in  the  dogma 
of  consubstantiation ;  and  only  by  painful  eflbrts 
and  laborious  investigations  did  he  reach  the 
gi-ound  on  which  Zwingle  and  Calvin  stood,  and 
from  which  he  could  never  afterwards  be  dislodged.^ 

There  followed  the  same  yesu-  two  imjjortant 
steps  of  reformation.  Cranmer  conceived  the  gi-eat 
idea  of  calling  the  people  to  take  their  part  in  the 
worship  of  the  sanctuary.  Under  the  Papacy  the 
peojile  had  been  excluded  from  the  public  worship 
of  God  :  fii-st,  by  restricting  its  j)erformance  to  the 
priests  ;  and,  secondly,  by  the  oflering  of  it  in  a  dead 
language.  The  position  of  the  laity  was  that  of 
sjiectators — not  even  of  listeners,  but  sjiectators  of 
grand  but  meaningless  ceremonies.  tJranmer  re- 
solved to  bring  back  these  exiles.  "Ye  are  a 
priesthood,"  he  said,  "  and  must  worship  with  your 
own  hearts  and  voices."  In  j)rosecutiou  of  this 
idea,  he  procured  that  the  mass  should  be  changed 
into  a  communion,  and  that  tlic  ser\  ice  should  be 
in  English  instead  of  Latin.     To  eiiablo  a  pc'o]>lc 


'  Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  bk.  ii.,  chap.  3. 
'  Ibid.,  bit.  ii.,  cli.Tp.  5. 


^  Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  p.  60.    Collier,  vol.  ii.,  p.  241. 

*  Strype,  Mem.  Cranmer,  p.  ICO.     Cranmer's  Caierhisnn, 

p.  182  et  fcn. ;  Oxfonl,  1829. 


412 


HISTOEY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


long  unused  to  woreliip  to  take  pari  in  it  with 
decency  and  with  the  understanding,  he  prepared  a 
Liturgy  in  order  that  all  might  offer  tlieir  adoration 
to  the  Supreme,  and  that  that  adoration  shoidd  be 
expressed  in  the  grandest  and  most  august  forms 
of  speech.  For  the  magnificent  shows  of  Rome, 
Cranmer  substituted  the  sublime  emotions  of  the 
human  soul.  How  great  an  advance  intellectually 
as  well  as  spii'itually  ! 

In  furtherance  of  this  great  end,  two  committees 
were  aj>i)ointed  by  the  king,  one  to  jwepare  a  Com- 
munion Ser\  ice,  and  the  other  a  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  or  Liturgy.  Tlie  committees  met  in  the 
royal  palace  of  Windsor,  and  spent  the  most  of  the 
summer  of  1548  in  deliberations  on  this  important 
matter.  The  notes  prepared  by  Cranmer,  evidently 
with  the  \ie\v  of  being  submitted  to  the  committee 
as  aids  to  inquiry  and  guides  in  discussion,  show  us 
the  gradual  advance  of  Cranmer  and  liLs  fellow  Re- 
formers to  the  conclusions  they  ultimately  reached. 

"  What  or  wherein,"  so  runs  the  first  query, 
"  John  recei\dng  the  Sacrament  of  the  altar  in 
England,  doth  it  profit  and  avail  Thomas  dwelling 
in  Italy,  and  not  knowing  what  John  in  England 
doth?" 

"  Whether  it  [the  mass]  profit  them  that  be  in 
heaven,  and  wherein?" 

"What  thing  is  the  presentation  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ  in  the  mass,  which  you  call 
the  oblation  and  sacrifice  of  Christ?  and  wherein 
btandeth  it  in  act,  gesture,  or  word  ?  and  in  what 
act,  gesture,  or  word?" 

"Whether  in  the  primitive  Church  there  were 
any  priests  tlwt  lived  by  sayLng  of  mass,  matins, 
or  even-song,  or  by  praying  for  souls  only  1" 

"For  what  cause  were  it  not  convenient  or 
expedient  to  have  the  whole  mass  in  the  English 
tongue?" 

"  Whether  it  be  convenient  that  masses  satis- 
factory [expiatory]  should  be  continued,  that  is  to 
say,  priests  hired  to  say  masses  for  soids  departed."' 

The  part  of  the  laboui-s  of  the  commissioners 
chai'ged  with  the  reformation  of  the  pul)lic  worship 
which  was  the  firet  to  be  finished  was  the  Com- 
munion Service.  It  was  published  by  itself  In 
its  compilation  the  ancient  missal  had  been  drawn 
upon  ;  but  the  words  of  consecration  were  omitted  ; 
and  the  import  or  sense  which  the  service  was  now 
made  to  bear  .appeai-s  from  the  words  of  Cranmer 
in  the  discussions  on  the  query  he  had  proposed. 


'  Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  bk.  ii.,chap.  5.  This  writin<f 
of  the  archbishop,  Strype  says,  is  without  date,  but  ob- 
viously composed  with  an  eye  to  the  change  of  the  mass 
into  a  communion. 


"  What  are  the  oblation  and  sacrifice  of  Christ  in 
the  mass?"  "The  oblation  and  sacrifice  of  Christ 
in  the  mass,"  said  Cranmer,  "  are  not  so  called  be- 
cause Christ  is  indeed  there  offered  and  sacrificed 
by  the  priest  and  the  people,  for  that  was  done  but 
once  by  himself  upon  the  cross ;  but  are  so  called  be- 
cause they  are  a  memory  or  representation  of  that 
^ery  true  sacrifice  and  immolation  which  were  before 
made  upon  the  cross."  The  mass  was  now  changed, 
not  into  a  mere  commemoration,  but  into  a  com- 
munion, in  wliich  the  partaker  received  spiritually 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  or,  to  express  more 
plainly  the  Pi'otestant  sense,  in  which  he  par- 
ticipated in  the  benefits  of  Christ's  death.  The 
notoriously  ungodly  were  not  to  be  admitted  to  the 
Sacrament.  A  confession  of  sin  was  to  be  made, 
followed  by  absolution,  and  the  elements  were  then 
to  be  delivered  with  the  words,  "  The  body  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  given  for  thee,  pre- 
serve thy  body  unto  everlasting  life;"  "The  blood 
of  om-  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  shed  for  thee, 
presei-ve  thy  soul  unto  everlasting  life."  When  all 
had  partaken,  the  congregation  was  dismissed  with 
the  Benediction.  This  form  of  the  service  was  iiot 
meant  to  be  final,  for  a  promise  was  given  by  the 
king,  "  further  to  travail  for  the  Reformation,  and 
.setting  forth  such  godly  ordei-s  as  might  be  to  God's 
glory,  and  the  edifying  of  his  subjects,  and  the 
advancement  of  true  religion,"'-  and  meanwhile  all 
preachers  were  forbidden  to  agitate  the  question  of 
the  Eucharist  in  the  pulpit  till  such  time  as  its 
service  shoiild  be  completed.  The  anticipated 
alteration  did  take  place,  and  in  the  corrected  Prayer 
Book  of  Edward  VI.  the  words  given  above  were 
changed  into  the  following  : — "  Take  and  eat  this  in 
remembrance  that  Christ  died  for  thee,  and  feed  on 
him  in  thy  lieart  by  faith  ;"  "  Drink  this  in  remem- 
})rauce  that  Christ's  blood  was  shed  for  thee,  and  be 
thankful."  A  rubric  was  also  added,  through  the 
influence  of  Knox,  to  the  eftect  that  though  the 
posture  of  kneeling  was  retained  at  the  celebration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  no  adoration  of  the  elements 
was  thereby  intended.'' 

The  Communion  Service  was  followed  by  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer.  It  was  compiled  by 
substantially  the  same  men  who  had  drawn  tip  the 
Communion  Sei-vice,  and  the  principal  of  whom 
were  Cranmer,  Ridley,  and  Goodrich.  The  Bre^^ary 
and  the  ancient  Liturgies  were  laid  imder  contri- 
bution in  the  foi-mation  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  The  Bible  is  the  revelation  of  God's  mind 
to   the  Church,  worship  is   the   evolution  of  the 


Strype,  vol.  ii.,  p.  135. 

Collier,  vol.  ii.,  p.  310.    Records,  No.  70. 


THE   THIRTY-NINE   ARTICLES. 


413 


CLiirch's  mind  God-wards  ;  and  on  this  principle 
was  the  Liturgy  of  the  C'liurch  of  Engkud  com- 
piled. The  voice  of  all  preceding  ages  of  the  Church 
■was  heard  in  it :  the  voice  of  the  fii'st  age ;  as 
also  that  of  the  age  of  Augustine  and  of  all  suc- 
ceeding ages,  including  whatever  was  pure  and 
lofty  in  the  Chui'ch  of  the  Middle  Ages ;  all  were 
there,  inasmuch  as  the  greatest  thoughts  and  the 
sublimest  expressions  of  all  the  noblest  minds  and 
gi-andest  eras  of  the  Church  were  repeated  and  re- 
echoed in  it.  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  wsis 
presented  to  Convocation  in  November,  1548,  and 
having  been  approved  of  by  that  body,  was  brought 
into  Parliament,  and  a  law  wius  passed  on  the  21st 
of  January,  1549,  since  known  iis  the  Act  of 
Uniformity,'  which  declared  that  the  bishops  had 
now  concluded  upon  one  uniform  order  of  Divine 
worship,  and  enacted  that  from  the  Feast  of  Whit 
>Simday  next  all  Divine  offices  should  be  performed 
according  to  it.  On  the  passing  of  the  Act  all 
clergymen  were  ordered  to  bring  to  their-  bishop 
"  antiphoners,  missals,  and  all  other  books  of  ser- 
vice, in  order  to  tlieii'  being  defaced  and  abolished, 
that  they  might  be  no  hindrance  to  that  godly  and 
iniiform  order  set  forth."-  On  the  10th  of  June, 
being  Whit  Sunday,  the  Liturgy  was  iii'st  solemnly 
performed  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  and  in  most  of  the 
l)arish  churches  of  England.  "  The  Day  of  Pentecost 
was  titly  chosen,"  says  one,  "  as  that  on  which  a 
National  Clnn-ch  should  first  I'eturn  after  so  many 
centuries  to  the  celebration  of  Divine  service  in 
the  native  tongue,  and  it  is  a  day  to  be  much  ob- 
sei-ved  in  this  Church  of  England  among  all  our 
generations  for  ever."^ 

The  Act  ratifying  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
contained  also  an  authorisation  for  the  suiging  of 
psalms  in  public  woi'ship.  The  absence  of  singing 
was  a  m;u'ked  characteristic  of  the  Papal  worship. 
Tlie  only  aj)proach  to  it  were  chants,  dii-ges,  and 
wads,  in  a  dead  language,  in  which  the  people  its 
a  rule  took  no  part.  Singing  revived  with  Pro- 
testantism ;  as  we  should  exjiect  it  would,  seeing 
all  deep  and  lofty  emotions  seek  to  vent  them- 
selves in  song.  The  Lollards  were  famous  for  their 
singing,  hence  then-  name.  They  wex'e  followed 
in  their  love  of  sacred  song  by  certain  congi-ega- 
tions  of   the   Reformed   Church  of  England,   who 

'  "2nd  and  3rd  Edward  "VI.,  c.  i.  Previously  to  the 
passing  of  the  Act  a  great  variety  of  forms  of  prayer 
and  communion  liad  been  in  use.  Some  used  the  form 
of  Sarum,  some  that  of  York,  others  that  of  Bangor, 
and  others  tliat  of  Lincoln,  while  othei's  used  forms 
entirely  of  their  own  devising."  (Strype,  Eccles.  Mem., 
vol.  ii.,  p.  138.) 

-  Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  p.  194. 

'  Massingherd,  The  Eng.  Reform.,  p.  350;  Lond.,  1817. 


began  the  prsictice  of  their  own  accord ;  but  now 
the  psalms  were  sung  in  vu-tue  of  the  royal  onler 
in  all  churches  and  jirivate  dwellings.  Cei-tiiin  of 
the  psalms  were  turned  into  metre  by  Sternhold, 
a  member  of  the  Privy  Chamber,  and  were  set 
to  music,  and  dedicated  to  Edwai'd  VI.,  who  wa.s 
gi-eatly  delighted  with  them.  Other's  were  vereified 
by  Dr.  Cox,  W.  Whittingham,  and  Robert  Wisdom. 
Ajid  when  the  whole  Book  of  Psalms,  with  other 
hymiis,  were  finished  by  Hopkins  and  certain  other 
exiles  in  Queen  Mary's  leigu,  this  clause  in  the 
Act  gave  authority  for  their  being  u.sed  in  public 
worship.  They  were  sung  at  the  commencement 
and  at  the  close  of  the  morning  service,  and  also 
befoi'e  and  after  sermon.^ 

The  last  part  of  the  work,  which  Cranmer  was 
now  doing  with  so  much  moderation,  wisdom,  and 
courage,  was  the  compilation  of  Articles  of  Religion. 
All  worship  is  founded  ou  knowledge.  That  know- 
ledge or  truth  is  not  the  evolution  of  the  human 
mind,  it  is  a  dii-ect  revelation  from  heaven ;  and 
the  response  awakened  by  it  from  earth  is  woi'ship. 
The  archbishop,  in  arranging  the  worship  of  the 
Chiu'ch  of  England,  had  assumed  the  existence  of 
previously  communicated  truth.  Now  he  goes  to 
its  Divine  fountains,  that  he  might  give  dogmatic 
expression  to  that  to  which  he  had  just  given 
emotional  utterance.  He  puts  into  doctrine  what 
he  had  already  put  into  a  pi'ayer,  or  into  a  song. 
This  was,  perhaps,  the  most  difficult  part  of  his 
task — it  was  certainly  the  most  delicate — and  a 
feeling  of  this  woidd  seem  to  have  nuule  him  defer 
it  till  the  lii-st.  The  facts  relating  to  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  Articles  are  obscure ;  but  putting  <dl 
things  together,  it  would  appear  that  the  Articles 
were  not  debated  and  passed  in  Convocation  ;  but 
that  they  were  drawn  up  by  Cranmer  himself,  and 
presented  to  the  king  in  1552.^  They  were  revised, 
at  the  king's  instance,  by  Grindal,  Knox,  and 
others,  previous  to  being  ratified  by  Parliament, 
and  subscription  to  them  made  obligatory  on  all 
preachers  and  ministers  in  the  realm.''  Having 
received  Cranmer's  last  revise,  they  w(>re  published 
in  1553  by  the  king's  authoiity,  both  in  l^itin  and 
English,  "  to  be  publicly  owned  as  the  sum  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England."'  As  regai-ds 
the  doctrine  of  the  Articles,  all  those  divines  who 
have  been  the  more  thoroughly  versed  in  theology, 
both  in  its  history  and  in  its  substanc(!,  from  Bishop 
Burnet  downwai'ds,  have  acknowledged  that,  in  the 
main,  the  Articles  follow  in  the  path  of  the  great 


••  Strype,  Eccles.  Mem.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  139, 140. 
^  Burnet,  vol.  iii.,  part  iii.,  bk.  4. 
'  Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  pp.  'Si2,  273. 
7  lUd.,  pp.  '272,  301. 


414 


HlSTOilY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


ARCHBISHOP  CRANMER.      (From  a  rorirail  ill  the  BibUolhe'iue  Natiomle.) 


doctor  of  the  Wesf ,  Augustine.  Tlie  archbishop 
ill  flaming  them  had  fondly  hoped  tliat  they  would 
be  a  means  of  "  union  and  quietness  in  religion." 
To  these  forty-two  Articles,  reduced  in  15G2  to 
thirty-nine,  he  gave  only  a  suLordinate  authority. 
After  dethroning  the  Pope  to  put  the  Bible  in  his 
room,  it  would  have  ill  become  the  Reformers  to 
dethrone  the  Bible,  in  order  to  install  a  mere 
human  authority  in  supremacy  over  the  conscience. 
Creeds  are  the  handmaids  only,  not  the  mistress ; 


they  are  the  interpreters  only,  not  the  judge;  the 
authority  they  possess  is  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
accuracy  with  which  the}-  interj/ret  the  Divine 
voice.  Their  authority  can  never  be  plenary, 
because  their  interpretation  can  never  be  more 
than  an  approximation  to  all  truth  as  contained  in 
the  Scriptures.  The  Bible  alone  must  remain 
the  one  infallible  authority  on  earth,  seeing  the 
prerogative  of  imposing  laws  on  the  consciences  of 
men  belongs  only  to  God. 


VIEWS     OV    WESTMINSTER     ABBEY. 

THE    WESTEK.N     TOWElts.  HKSUV    VII.'s    CII.VrEL.  THE    CI.niSTE;:?. 


41 G 


HISTOKY   OF   PEOTEISTANTISM, 


CHAPTER  XII. 

DEATHS    OF    PROTECTOR   SOMERSET   AND    EDWARD   VI. 

Cranmer's  Moderation— Its  Advantages — His  Great  DiflSculties— Proposed  Genei-al  Protestant  Convention — Tlie 
Scheme  Fails— Disturbing  Events  in  the  Reign  of  Edward  VI.— Plot  against  Protector  Somerset— His  Execution 
— Rise  of  the  Disputes  about  Vestments — Bishop  Hooper— Joan  of  Kent — Her  Opinions — Her  Bui-ning — Question 
of  Changing  the  Succession — Cranmer  Opposes  it — He  Yields — Edward  VI.  Dies — Reflections  on  the  Reformation 
under  Edward  VI.— England  Comes  Late  into  the  Field- Her  Appearance  Decides  the  Issue  of  the  Movement. 


We  have  followed  step  by  step  the  work  of  Craiuner. 
It  would  be  easy  to  criticise,  and  to  say  where  a 
deeper  and  broader  foundation  might  have  been 
laid,  and  would  have  been,  doubtless,  by  an  intel- 
lect of  the  order  of  Calvin.  Cranmer,  even  in  the 
opinion  of  Biu-net,  was  cautious  and  moderate  to 
a  faidt ;  but  perhaps  that  moderation  fitted  him  for 
his  place.  He  had  to  work  duiing  many  years 
along  with  one  of  the  most  imperious  monarchs 
that  ever  occupied  a  thi-one.  Had  Hemy,  when 
he  quan-elled  wth  the  Pope,  quan-elled  also  with 
Popery,  the  primate's  task  woidd  have  been  easy ; 
but  Hemy  felt  it  all  the  more  incumbent  upon  him 
to  show  his  loyalty  to  the  faith  of  the  Church,  that 
he  had  rebelled  against  her  head.  There  were  times 
in  Cranmer's  life  when  he  was  the  one  Refonner  at 
a  Roman  Catholic  court  and  in  a  Popish  council ; 
and  had  he  retired  from  Ins  position,  the  work  must 
have  stopped,  so  far  as  man  can  judge.  After  Henry 
went  to  the  gi-ave,  and  the  young  and  reforming 
Edward  succeeded  him  on  the  throne,  the  Popish 
foction  was  still  powerful,  and  Cranmer  had  to 
pilot  the  movement  through  a  host  of  enemies, 
through  numberless  intrigues,  and  through  all  the 
hindrances  arising  from  the  ignoi-ance  and  godless- 
ness  which  the  old  system  had  left  behind  it,  and 
the  storms  of  new  and  strange  opinions  which  its 
overthrow  had  evoked.  That  he  effected  so  much 
is  truly  wonderfid ;  nor  can  England  ever  be  suf- 
ficiently thankful  for  the  work  he  accomplished  for 
her  ;  but  Cranmer  himself  did  not  regard  his  work 
as  finished,  and  had  Edward  VI.  lived,  it  is  pro- 
bable that  many  things  in  the  woi-ship  of  the 
Church,  boiTOwed  from  the  ancient  suj)ei-stition, 
woidd  have  been  removed,  and  that  some  things  in 
her  government  would  have  undergone  a  remodel- 
ling in  accordance  with  what  Cranmer  and  the 
men  associated  with  Mm  in  the  work  of  Refonna- 
tion  believed  to  be  the  primitive  institution.  "  As 
far  as  can  be  judged  from  Cranmer's  proceedings," 
says  Burnet,  "  he  intended  to  put  the  government 
of  the  Church  in  another  method,  different  from  the 


common  way  of  Convocation."'  Foreign  divines, 
and  Calvin  in  particular,  to  whose  judgment  Ci-an- 
mer  much  deferred,  were  exhorting  him  to  prosecute 
the  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England  "  by 
purging  it  of  the  relics  of  Popery,"^  and  not  to 
delay  in  doing  so,  lest  "  after  so  muny  autiunns 
spent  in  procrastinating,  there  should  come  at  last 
the  cold  of  a  perpetual  wmter."  The  .same  gi-eat 
duty  did  Calvin  press  upon  the  Duke  of  Somerset, 
the  Protectoi-,  whose  steadfast  zeal  and  midoubted 
patriotism  he  thankfidly  acknowledges,  and  even 
upon  the  king,  Edward  VI.,  to  whose  sincere  piety 
he  pays  a  noble  tribute. 

Nay,  a  project  was  at  that  hour  in  agitation 
among  the  gi-eat  Protestant  theologians  of  all 
countries,  to  hold  a  general  conference  for  a  free 
exchange  of  their  views  on  all  sulijeots,  and  the 
adojJtion  of  one  system  of  doctrine,  and  one  foiin 
of  government,  or  as  near  an  approximation  to  this 
as  might  be  desii-able  and  possible,  for  all  the  Re- 
formed Chui-ches,  in  order  to  the  more  perfect  con- 
solidation of  the  Reformation,  and  the  more  entii-e 
union  of  Christendom.  The  project  had  the  fidl 
approval  of  Edwai'd  VI.,  who  oflered  his  capital  as 
the  place  in  which  to  hold  this  congress.  Cranmer 
hailed  the  assembling  of  so  many  men  of  influence 
and  power  on  an  errand  like  this.  Not  less  wamily 
had  Melancthon  entered  into  the  idea,  and  cor- 
responded vnth  Cranmer  in  prosecution  of  it.  It 
had  the  high  sanction  of  CJalvin,  than  whom  there 
was  no  one  in  all  Christendom  who  more  earnestly 
longed  to  see  the  breaches  in  the  Reformed  i-anks 
closed,  «•  who  was  less  disposed  to  view  vntii  an 
approving  eye,  or  lend  a  helping  hand  to  schemes 
merely  visionary.  His  letters  to  Cranmer  on  the 
subject  still  remain,  in  which  he  pleads  that,  though 
he  might  well  be  excused  a  pei-sonal  attendance  on 
the  ground  of  his  "  insimificance,"  he  was  ne^-erthe- 


'  Burnet,  vol.  iii.,  part  iii.,  bk.  4. 

-  See  Calvin's  letter  to  Cranmer  of  July,  1552 — Jules 
Bonnet,  vol.  ii.,  p.  341 ;  Edin.,  1857. 


DISPUTE   ABOUT   VESTMENTS. 


417 


less  •willing  to  undergo  any  amount  of  "  toil  and 
trouble,"  if  thereby  he  niiglit  further  the  object. ' 

This  Protestant  convention  never  assembled. 
The  difficulties  in  tlie  way  of  its  meeting  were  then 
immense ;  uor  was  the  prospect  of  arriving  at  the 
desired  concord  so  certain  as  to  encourage  men  to 
great  eflbrts  to  overcome  them.  Moi-eover  tlie 
Council  of  Trent,  which  had  met  a  little  before, 
hearing  with  alarm  tluit  the  Reformers  were  about 
to  combine  under  one  discipline,  took  immediate 
steps  to  keep  them  disunited.  They  sent  forth 
emissaries,  who,  feigning  themselves  zealous  Pro- 
testants, began  to  preach  tlie  more  violent  doctrines 
of  the  Anabaptists.  England  was  threatened  with 
an  outbreak  of  the  same  anti-social  and  fanatical 
spiiit  which  had  brought  so  many  calamities  on 
Germany  and  Switzerland ;  apples  of  discord  were 
scattered  among  the  friends  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
projected  conference  never  assembled." 

The  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  and  with  it  the  era  of 
lleformation  under  Ci'aumer,  was  di-awing  to  a 
close.  The  sky,  which  had  been  so  clear  at  its 
beginning,  began  now  to  be  darkened.  The  troubles 
that  distracted  the  Church  and  the  State  at  this 
tinie  arose  from  various  causes,  of  which  the  prin- 
cipal were  the  execution  of  the  Duke  of  Somerset, 
the  (.lisputes  respecting  vestments,  the  burning  of 
Joan  of  Kent,  and  the  question  of  the  succession 
to  the  crown.  These  occurrences,  which  influenced 
the  coiu'sc  of  future  events,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
detail  at  much  length. 

The  Duke  of  Somerset,  pious,  upright,  and  able, 
had  fiiithfully  served  the  crown  and  the  Reforma- 
tion;  but  his  inflexible  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  the 
Reformed  religion,  and  the  hopelessness  of  a  re- 
storation of  the  old  faith  while  he  stood  by  the  side 
of  the  throne,  stiired  up  his  enemies  to  plot  his 
ovei-throw.  The  conspii'ators  were  able  to  persuade 
the  king  that  his  uncle,  the  'Protector,  had  al)used 
his  oflice,  and  was  an  enemy  to  the  crown.  He 
was  stripped  of  his  oflice,  and  removed  from  court. 
Ho  returned  after  awhile,  but  the  intrigue  was  re- 
newed, and  this  time  with  a  deadlier  intent.  The 
articles  of  indictment  di-awn  up  against  him,  and 
which  Strypo  affirms  were  in  Gardiner's  hand,  who, 
although  then  in  the  Tower,  giiided  the  plot  which 
the  Papists  were  caiTying  on,  charge  tlie  duke  with 
such  things  as  "  the  gi-eat  spoil  of  the  churches  and 
cliapels,  defacing  ancient  tombs  and  monuments, 
and  pulling  down  the  bells  in  paiish  churches,  and 


'  See  his  letter  to  Cranmei-,  April,  1552— Jules  Bonnet, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  331.  See  also  Cranmer's  letters  in  his  works, 
published  by  the  Parker  Society ;  and  the  Zurich  Letters, 
First  Series. 

-  Strypo,  Mem.  of  Cranmrr,  pp.  117,103. 


ordering  only  one  bell  in  a  steeple  as  sufficient  to 
call  the  people  together."^  Warwick,  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  an  ambitious  and  hypocritical 
man,  resolved  on  his  death.  He  accused  Somei-set 
of  a  design  to  raise  a  rebellion  and  assassinate  him- 
self and  the  other  privy  councOloi-s.  He  was 
tried  and  condemned ;  the  king,  now  entirely  in  the 
power  of  Warwick,  signed  his  uncle's  death-warrant 
with  tears  in  hLs  eyes;  and  he  was  executed 
(January,  1552)  amidst  the  lamentations  of  the 
jieople,  by  whom  he  was  gi-eatly  beloved,  and  who 
rushed  on  the  scafibld  to  dip  their  handkerchiefs  in 
his  blood.  Cranmer  remained  his  friend  to  the 
last,  but  could  not  save  him. 

The  next  cloud  that  rose  over  the  Reformed 
Church  of  England  was  the  dispute  resjiectiiig 
vestments.  This  contention  first  arose  amongst  a 
Protestant  congi-egation  of  English  exiles  at  Frank- 
fort, some  of  whom  objected  to  the  use  of  the 
surplice  by  the  minister,  the  Litany,  the  audible 
responses,  and  kneeling  at  the  communion,  and  on 
these  grounds  they  separated  from  their  brethren. 
The  strife  was  imported  into  England,  and  broke 
out  there  with  gi-eat  fierceness  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  but  it  had  its  beginning  at  the  period 
of  which  we  write,  and  dates  from  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.  Hooper,  who  returned  in  July,  1550, 
from  Germany  and  Switzerland,  where  he  had 
contracted  a  love  for  the  simple  forms  followed 
in  these  churches,  was  nomimited  Bishop  of 
Gloucester.  He  refused  to  be  con.secrated  in 
the  vestments  usually  worn  on  these  occasions. 
This  led  to  a  warm  dispute  between  him  and 
Cranmer,  Ridley,  Bucer,  and  Peter  Martyr.  The 
first  issue  was  that  Hooper  wa.s  committed  to  the 
Fleet  by  the  Council ;  and  the  second  was  that  ho 
complied,  and  was  consecrated  after  the  usual  forni.^ 
In  this  way  began  that  strife  which  divided  the 
friends  of  Reformation  in  England  in  after-days, 
and  which  continued  to  rage  even  amid  the  tires  of 
persecution. 

The  next  occurrence  was  one  in  itself  yet  more 
sad.  It  is  remarkable  that  England  should  have 
had  its  Servetus  case  as  well  as  Geneva,  although 
the  former  has  not  attained  the  notoriety  of  the 
latter.  But  if  there  be  any  difference  between 
them,  it  is  in  this,  that  the  earlier,  which  is  the 
English  one,  is  the  less  defensible  of  the  two  execu- 
tions. Joan  Bocher,  or,  as  she  is  commonly  styled, 
Joan  of  Kent,  held,  in  the  words  of  Latimer,  "that 
our  Saviour  was  not  very  man,  nor  had  received 
flesh  of  his  mother  Mary."     Persisting  in  her  error. 


3  Strype,  Mein.  of  Cranmer,  p.  268. 
■"  Ibid.,  pp.  21G,  217. 


418 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


slie  was  judicially  excommiimcated  by  Craumer, 
the  sentence  being  read  by  liini  iii  St.  Mary'.s 
Chapel,  within  the  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Paul's, 
in  April,  15-19  ;  the  king's  commissioners,  of  the 
number  of  whom  was  Hugh  Latimer,  assisting.  She 
was  then  delivered  to  the  secular  arm,  and  sentenced 
to  be  burned  After  her  condemnation  she  was 
kept  a  week  in  the  house  of  the  chancellor,  and 
eveiy  day  \'isited  by  the  archbishop  and  Bishop 
Ridley,  who  reasoned  with  her  in  the  hope  of  saving 
her  from  the  fire.  Refusing  to  change  her  opinion, 
she  was  burned.'  The  relations  of  Craumer  to  Joan 
of  Kent  are  precisely  those  of  Cahin  to  Servetus, 
with  this  exception,  that  Cranmer  had  more  influence 
vfith  the  king  and  the  Privy  Council  than  Calvin 
had  with  the  magistrates  and  Town  Council  of 
Geneva,  and  that  whereas  Calvin  earnestly  inter- 
ceded that  the  sword  might  be  substituted  for  the 
stake  in  the  case  of  Servetus,  we  know  of  no 
interference  on  the  pai-t  of  Cranmer  to  have  the 
punishment  of  Joan  of  Kent  mitigated.  Nor  did 
the  error  of  this  poor  woman  tend  in  the  same 
degree  to  destroy  the  foundations  of  civil  order,  as 
did  the  opinions  so  ze;ilou.sly  propagated  by  Ser- 
vetus. The  doctrine  of  toleration  had  not  made 
gi-eater  progress  at  London  than  at  Geneva.  It 
was  the  ei'ror  of  that  age  that  it  hekl  the  judicial 
law  of  the  Jews,  according  to  which  heresy  was 
punishable  with  death,  to  be  still  binding  upon 
States.  We  find  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  acting  upon 
the  same  belief,  and  led  by  it  into  the  same  de- 
plorable acts,  a  century  after  the  time  when  Calvin 
had  publicly  taught  that  opinions  ought  not  to  be 
punisheil  by  the  sword  unless  promulgated  to  the 
disturbance  of  civil  society. 

The  last  matter  in  which  we  find  the  archbishop 
concerned  under  Edward  VI.  was  the  change  of  the 
succession  to  the  throne  from  the  Princess  Mary, 
the  eldest  daughter  of  Henry  VIII.,  to  Lady  Jane, 
daughter  of  Henry  Grey,  Duke  of  Suffolk.  This 
scheme  took  its  rise  with  the  domineering  Northum- 
berland, who,  having  married  one  of  his  sons  to 
Lady  Jane,  hoped  thus  to  bring  the  crown  into 
his  own  family.  The  argument,  however,  that 
the  duke  urged  on  the  king,  was  that  Mary,  being 
a  bigoted  adherent  of  the  Romish  faith,  would 
overthrow  the  Reformation  in  England  should 
she  succeed  to  the  throne.  The  king,  therefore, 
in  his  will  set  aside  his  sister,  aiul  nominated 
Lady  Jane  Grey  in  her  room.  The  archbishop 
strongly  withstood  the  proposed  alteration,  but, 
persuaded  by  the  king,  who  ceased  not  to  entreat 
him,  he  put  his  name,  the  last  of  all  the  privy  coun- 


'  .Strypo,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  p.  181. 


cillore,  to  the  king's  will.-  This  was  not  forgotten 
l)y  Mary,  iis  we  shall  see,  when  she  came  to  reign. 
The  zeal  of  Edward  for  the  Reformation  continued 
unabated  :  his  piety  was  not  only  unfeigned,  but 
deep ;  but  many  of  the  noblemen  of  his  court  led 
lives  shamefully  immoral  and  vicious,  and  there 
was,  alas !  no  Calvin  to  smite  the  evil-doers  with  the 
lightnings  of  liis  ^vl•ath.  With  the  death  of  Edward 
VI.,  in  his  sixteenth  year  (July  G,  1.55.3),  the  night 
again  closes  around  the  Reformation  in  England. 

It  is  a  mighty  work,  truly,  which  we  have  seen 
accomplished  in  England.  Great  in  itself,  that 
work  appears  yet  more  marvellous  when  we 
consider  in  how  short  a  time  it  was  effected.  It 
was  begun  and  ended  in  six  bi'ief  years.  Wlien 
Henry  VIII.  descended  into  the  tomb  in  1547, 
England  was  little  better  than  a  field  of  ruins  :  the 
colossal  fragments  of  that  ancient  fabric,  which  the 
terrible  blows  of  the  king  had  shivered  in  pieces, 
lay  all  about,  and  before  these  obstructions  could 
be  removed — time-honoured  maxims  exploded,  in- 
veterate prejudices  rooted  up,  the  dense  ignorance 
of  all  classes  dispelled — and  the  building  of  the 
new  edifice  begun,  a  generation,  it  would  have 
been  said,  must  pass  away.  The  fathere  have  been 
brought  out  of  the  house  of  bondage,  it  is  the  sons 
who  will  enter  into  the  land  of  evangelical  liberty. 
England  emancipates  her  throne,  reforms  her 
Church,  restores  the  Lord's  Supper  to  its  primiti^-e 
simplicity  and  significance,  and  enters  into  the 
heritage  of  a  Scriptural  faith,  and  a  Protestant 
liberty,  in  the  couree  of  a  single  generation.  Such 
sudden  and  manifest  interposition  in  the  life  of 
nations,  is  one  of  the  ways  by  which  the  great 
Ruler  attests  his  existence.  He  puts  forth  his 
hand — mighty  intellects  arise,  there  is  a  happy 
conjunction  of  favouring  circumstances,  courage  and 
foresight  are  given,  and  nations  with  a  leap  reach 
the  goal.  So  was  it  in  the  sixteenth  century  with 
the  nations  that  embraced  Pi'otestantism ;  so  was 
it  especially  with  England.  This  countiy  was 
among  the  last  to  enrol  itself  in  the  reforming 
army ;  but  having  started  in  the  race,  it  rushes  to 
the  goal  :  it  crowns  itself  with  the  new  liberties. 

There  was  an  advantage  in  England  coming  late 
into  the  battle.  Not  unfrequently  does  a  genei-al, 
when  great  issues  are  at  stake,  and  the  contest  is 
prolonged  and  arduous,  keep  a  body  of  troops  in 
reserve,  to  appear  on  the  field  at  the  decisive  mo- 
ment, and  strike  the  crowning  blow.  It  was  the 
appearance  of  England  on  the  great  liattlo-field 
of  the  sixteenth  century  that  effectually  turned  the 


-  Sti-ype,   Mem.    of   Cranmer,    pp.    295,   296.      Bui-net, 
vol.  III.,  part  iii.,  pp.  315,  31C. 


ACGESSION   OF   MARY   I. 


419 


title,  and  gave  victory  to  the  movement  of  the  Re- 
formation. The  Huguenots  had  been  l)eaten  down  ; 
Flandei-s  had  sunk  under  Spain ;  strength  had 
depai-ted  from  the  once  powerful  Germany  ;  prisons 
and  scafl'oldshad  tliinned  the  ranks  and  wasted  the 
strength  of  the  Reformed  host  in  other  countries. 
Spain,  under  Philip  II.,  had  summoned  up  all  her 
energies  to  crush,  in  one  mighty  blow.  Protestantism 
for  ever,  when  lo  !  England,  which  had  remained 
off  the  held  and  out  of  action,  as  it  were,  till  then, 


came  forward  in  the  fre.sh  youth,  and  full,  unim- 
paired strength,  which  the  Reform  of  Craumer  had 
given  her,  and  under  Elizabeth  she  arrested  the 
advancing  tide  of  an  armed  Pa])acy,  and  kept  her 
soil  inviolate  to  be  the  head-quarters  of  Pro- 
testantism, and  of  all  those  moral,  political,  and 
literary  forces  which  are  born  of  it  alone,  and  a 
new  point  of  depai-ture  in  ages  to  come,  whence 
the  Reformation  might  go  forth  to  carry  its 
triumphs  round  the  globe. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 


RESTORATION    OF    THE    POPES    AUTHORITY    IN    ENGLAND. 

Execution  of  Lady  Jane  Grey,  &c. — Accession  of  Mary — Her  Character — Conceals  her  projected  Policy — Her  Message 
to  the  Tope— Unhappiness  of  the  Times— Gardiner  and  Bonner— Cardinal  Pole  made  Legate — The  Pope's  Letter 
to  Mai-y— The  Queen  begins  to  Persecute — Cranmer  Committed  to  the  Tower — Protestant  Ministers  Imprisoned 
—Protestant  Bishops  and  Clergy  Depi-ived — Exodus — Coronation  of  the  Queen — Cranmer  Condemned  for  Treason 
—The  Laws  in  favour  of  the  Reformation  Repealed- A  Parliament — The  Queen's  Marriage  with  Philip  of  Spain — 
Disputation  on  the  Mass  at  Oxford — Appearance  of  Latimer,  &c. — Restoration  of  Popish  Laws,  Customs,  &c. — 
Arrival  of  Cardinal  Pole — Terms  of  England's  Reconciliation  to  Rome — The  Legate  solemnly  Absolves  the 
Parliament  and  Convocation— England  Reconciled  to  the  Pope. 


The  pi-oject  of  Northumberland,  devised  professedly 
for  the  protection  of  the  Protestant  religion,  but  in 
reality  for  the  aggi'andisement  of  his  own  family, 
involved  in  calamity  all  who  took  pai-t  in  it.  Lady 
Jane  Ctvey,  after  a  reign  of  ten  days,  was  com- 
mitted to  the  Tower,  thence  to  pass,  after  a  brief 
interval,  to  the  block.  Tlie  duke  expiated  his 
ambition  on  the  scaffold,  returning  in  his  last 
Iiours  to  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
after  many  years  passed  in  the  profession  of 
a  zejvlous  Protestantism.  The  Princess  Maiy 
was  proclaimed  queen  on  the  17th  of  July, 
l.').^;?,  and  her  accession  was  hailed  by  the  gi-eat 
body  of  the  nation  with  satisfaction,  if  not  with 
enthusiasm.  Tliere  was  a  prevalent  conviction  that 
the  crown  was  rightfully  hers  ;  for  although  one 
I'arliament  had  annulled  her  right  of  succession,  as 
well  as  that  of  her  sister  Elizabeth,  on  the  gi'ound 
of  the  unlawfulness  of  the  man-iage  of  Henry  VIII. 
witli  Catherine  of  Aragon,  another  Parliament  had 
i-cstored  it  to  her  ;  and  in  the  last  will  of  her  father 
she  had  been  i-anked  next  after  Edward,  Prince  of 
Wales,  heir  of  the  crown.  The  vast  unpopularity 
of  tlie  Duke  of  Northumberland,  whose  tyi-annical 
cliai-acter  liad  ca\ised  him  to  be  detested,  acted  as  a 
foil  to  the  new  sovereign  ;  and  although  the  people 
w(>re  not  without  feai's  of  a  change  of  policv  in  the 
matter  of  religion,  they  were  far  indeed   from  an- 


ticipating the  vast  revolution  that  was  near,  and 
the  ten-ible  calamities  that  were  to  overspread  the 
kingdom  as  soon  as  Mary  had  seated  herself  on  the 
throne. 

Mai-y  was  in  her  thii-ty-seventh  year  when  she 
began  to  reign.  Her  pei-son  was  homely,  lier  temper 
morose,  her  understanding  narrow,  and  her  dispo- 
sition gloomy  and  suspicious.  She  displayed  the 
Spanish  gravity  of  her  mother,  in  union  vnth  the 
obstinacy  of  her  father,  but  these  evil  qualities 
were  not  relieved  by  the  gi-aces  of  Catherine  and 
the  talents  of  Hem-y.  Her  training,  instead  of 
refining  her  character  and  widening  her  views, 
tended  only  to  .strengthen  the  unhapjiy  conditions 
with  which  nature  liad  endowed  her.  Her  educa- 
tion had  been  conducted  mainly  by  her  mother, 
who  liad  taught  her  little  besides  a  strong  attach- 
ment to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  Tims,  thougli 
living  in  England,  she  had  breathed  from  her  youth 
tlie  air  of  Spain;  and  not  only  was  the  creed  of  that 
country  congenial  to  a  disposition  naturally  melan- 
choly, and  rendered  still  more  .so  by  the  advei-sc 
circumstances  of  her  early  years,  but  lier  pride 
engaged  her  to  uphold  a  religion  for  which  her 
mother  had  lived  a  martyr.  No  sooner  had  she 
mounted  the  throne  than  she  dispatched  a  mes- 
senger to  announce  lier  accession  to  the  Pojio. 
This  was  on  the  matter  to  say,  "  I  am  your  faithful 


420 


HI^TUKY    OF   PKUTE8TANTISM. 


ilaughter,  and  England  has  returned  to  the  Roman 
obedience."  Knowing  how  welcome  these  tidings 
would  be  in  the  Eternal  City,  the  messenger  was 
bid  not  to  loiter  on  the  road,  and  he  used  such 
expedition  that  he  accomplished  in  nine  days  a 
Journey  on  which  an  ordinary  traveller  then  usually 
spent  thrice  that  length  of  time,  and  in  which  Cam- 
peggio,  when  he  came  to  pronounce  the  divorce,  had 
consumed  three  months. 

But  Mary,  knowing  that  the  tidings  which  caused 
joy  in  Rome  would  awaken  just  the  opposite  feel- 
ings in  England,  kept  her  subjects  as  yet  in  the 
dark  touching  the  policy  she  had  determined  on 
pureuing.  The  Reformers  of  Suffolk,  before  espous- 
ing her  cause,  begged  to  know  whether  she  was 
willing  to  permit  the  religious  settlement  under 
Edward  VI.  to  continue.  She  bade  them  put  their 
minds  at  ease ;  that  no  man  would  be  molested 
on  the  ground  of  religion ;  and  that  she  would  be 
perfectly  content  if  allowed  to  practise  in  peace  her 
own  fonn  of  worship.  Wlien  she  entered  London, 
she  sent  for  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  assured  him  that 
she  "  meant  gi-aciously  not  to  compel  or  strain 
other  people's  consciences,  otherwise  than  God 
shall,  as  she  trusted,  put  in  their  hearts  a  persua- 
sion of  the  tiiith."'  These  soft  words  opened  her 
way  to  the  throne.  No  sooner  was  she  seated  upon 
it  than  she  changed  her  speech ;  and  thro\ving  off 
all  disguise,  she  left  no  one  in  doubt  that  her  set- 
tled purpose  was  the  suppression  of  the  Protestant 
faith. 

Without  losing  a  day,  she  proceeded  to  undo  all 
that  had  been  effected  during  the  reigns  of  her 
father  and  brother.  What  Cranmer  had  found  to 
lie  hindrances  in  the  work  of  constructing,  Mary 
fomid  to  be  helps  in  the  business  of  overthrowing 
the  Protestant  edifice.  Vast  numbers  of  the  popu- 
lation were  still  attached  to  the  ancient  beliefs  ; 
there  had  been  no  sufficient  time  for  the  light  to 
penetrate  the  darkness  ;  a  full  half  of  the  clergy, 
although  conforming  outwardly  to  the  Reformed 
worship,  remained  Popish  at  heart.  They  had  been 
monks  and  fi-iars  :  their  work,  as  such,  was  to 
chant  the  Litany  and  to  say  mass  ;  and,  ignorant  of 
all  besides,  they  made  but  sorry  instructoi-s  of  the 
people ;  and  they  would  have  l)een  pensioned  off, 
but  for  the  wretched  avarice  of  the  present  posses- 
sors of  the  abbey  lands,  who  grudged  the  stipends 
tJiey  shoidd  have  to  pay  to  better  men.  Tlie  times 
were  frightfully  disordered — the  grossest  immorali- 
ties were  common,  the  wildest  opinions  were  afloat, 
and  a  spirit  of  scepticism  has  ever  been  found  to 
favour   rather   than   retard   the   return   of  super- 

'  Burnet,  vol.  m.,  bk  v.,  p.  322. 


stltion.  Thus  ]\lary  found  her  work  as  easy 
as  Cranmer  had  found  his  to  be  difficult,  and  she 
pureued  it  with  an  ardour  that  seemed  to  gi-udge 
every  hour  that  passed  and  left  it  incomplete. 

Her  first  care  was  to  gather  i-ound  her  fitting 
instruments  to  aid  her.  Gardiner  and  Bonner 
were  liberated  from  prison.  They  had  been  kept 
in  the  Tower  during  the  former  reign,  not  because 
they  were  inimical  to  Protestantism,  but  beca\tse 
their  intrigues  made  it  dangerous  to  the  public 
peace  to  leave  them  at  large.  These  two  men  were 
not  less  intent  on  the  destruction  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  and  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  glories 
of  the  Popedom  in  England,  than  INIary,  but  their 
greater  patience  and  deejjer  craft  taught  them  to 
moderate  the  dangerous  precipitancy  of  the  queen. 
Gardiner  was  made  Bishop  of  Winchester  and  Lord 
Chancellor  of  England ;  and  Bonner,  Bishop  of 
London,  in  the  room  of  Ridley.  A  third  assistant 
did  Mary  summon  to  her  aid,  a  man  of  lofty 
intellect,  pure  character,  and  great  learning,  in- 
finitely superior  to  the  other  two  with  whom  he 
was  to  be  mated.  Reginald  Pole,  a  scion  of  the 
House  of  York,  had  attained  the  Roman  purple, 
and  was  at  this  hour  living  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Garda,  in  Italy,  the  favourite  retreat  of  the 
poet  Lucullus.  The  queen  requested  the  Pope  to 
send  Cardinal  Pole  to  England,  with  full  powers  to 
receive  the  kingdom  into  the  Roman  pale.  Julius 
III.  at  once  named  Pole  his  legate,  and  dispatched 
him  to  England  on  the  august  errand  of  receiving 
back  the  repentant  nation.-  The  legate  was  the 
bearer  of  a  letter  from  the  Pope  to  the  queen,  in 
which  he  said,  "  That  since  she  carried  the  name  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  he  called  on  her  to  say  the 
Magnijical,  applying  it  to  the  late  providences  of 
God  toward  herself." 

The  impatience  of  Pole  to  complete  the  task 
which  had  been  put  into  his  hands  was  as  gi'eat  as 
that  of  Mary  herself  But  Gardiner  and  Bonner, 
more  catitious  though  not  less  in  earnest,  and  fear- 
ing that  the  great  project  was  being  pushed  on  too 
rapidly,  wrote  to  Charles  V.  to  delay  Pole  on  his 
way  through  the  Low  Countries,  till  they  had 
prepared  the  way  for  his  arrival.  Pole,  much 
against  his  will,  and  not  a  little  to  liis  surprise 
and  chagrin,  was  detained  in  Belgimn.  Meanwhile 
his  coadjutors  in  England  were  taking  such  steps 
as  they  thought  necessary  to  accomplish  the  great 
end  they  had  in  ^-iew. 

All  men  throughout  England,  who  held  any  post 
of  influence  and  were  known  to  be  favourable  to 
the  Reformation,  were  now  displaced.      The  last 


'  B  irnet,  vol.  in.,  I)k.  v.,  pp.  335,  33G. 


JOHN"    ROGERS. 


NICHOLAS    RIDLEY. 
HUGH    LATIMER. 


}OUN   HOOPER. 


140 


422 


HISTOltY   OF   PEOTESTANTISM. 


time  that  Archbishop  Craumer  officiated  jmblicly 
w;us  on  the  Stli  of  August,  wlien  he  road  the 
Protestant  burial  service  at  the  obsequies  of  liis 
hite  master,  Edward  VI.  After  this  he  was  or- 
dered to  contine  himself  to  his  house  at  Lambetli. 
A  report  was  spread  abroad  that  he  had  recanted 
and  said  mass  in  his  cathedraL  This  drew  from 
him  wliat  probably  his  enemies  wished,  a  written 
declaration  of  his  continued  adherence  to  the  Pro- 
testant faith,  and  on  tliis  he  was  summoned  before 
the  Council  and  committed  to  the  Tower.^  The 
archbishop  was  charged  with  treason  in  having 
subscribed  the  deed  of  Edward  VI.  transferring 
the  succession  to  Lady  Jane  Grey,  and  also  with 
lieresy,  as  contained  in  the  paper  given  in  to 
the  Council.  But  his  great  offence,  and  that  which 
his  enemies  could  not  pardon,  was  the  divorce  of 
Heni-y  VIII.,  of  which — forgetful  of  the  proud 
cartlinal  lying  without  ei)itaph  in  the  Abbey  of 
Leicester — they  held  Cranmer  to  be  the  chief 
promoter.  Ridley,  Bishop  of  London,  deprived  of 
his  see,  had  preceded  the  archbishop  to  2)rison, 
as  had  also  Rogers,  for  preaching  the  Protestant 
sermon  at  St.  Paul's.  Latimer,  the  most  eloquent 
preacher  in  all  England;  Hooper  of  Gloucester,  who 
]jreached  three  or  four  times  every  day  to  his 
parishioners;  Coverdale,  Bradford,  Saunders,  and 
others  were  deprived  of  their  liberty  dui-ing  the 
months  of  August  and  September. 

A  commission  was  issued  to  the  new  Bishops  of 
Winchester,  London,  Chichester,  and  Durham — 
■who,  in  addition  to  their  detestation  of  Protes- 
tantism, were  soured  in  their  tempers  by  what  had 
befiillen  them  in  the  past  reign — empowering  them 
to  deprive  the  Protestant  bishops  and  ministers  of 
their  offices,  on  pretence  either  of  treason,  or  of 
heresy,  or  of  marriage.  They  did  their  work  with 
zeal  and  expedition.  All  the  Protestant  bisliops 
were  deprived,  as  also  numbers  of  the  clergy,  and 
in  particular  those  who  were  married.  Some  were 
deprived  who  were  never  cited  before  the  com- 
mission ;  others  were  cited  who  were  locked  up  in 
prison,  and  deprived  because  they  did  not  appear ; 
others  were  e.xtruded  on  promise  of  a  pension  that 
was  never  paid ;  and  others  were  refused  their 
stipend  because  they  were  dismissed  a  day  or  two 
before  the  expii-y  of  the  term  at  which  it  was 
payable — "so  speedy,  so  hasty,  so  without  warning," 
says  one,  "  were  the  deprivations."  "  Yea,  some 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  were  deprived  of  those 
lands  which  the  king  had  given  them,  without  tany- 
ing  for  any  law.  Many  chiu-ches  were  changed, 
many  altars  set  up,  many  masses  said,  many  dirges 


'  Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  pp.  305,  30G. 


sung,  before  the  law  was  lepcaled.  All  was  done 
in  post-haste."- 

The  members  of  the  foreign  Protestant  congre- 
gations established  in  various  parts  of  England  had 
passports  given  them,  with  orders  to  leave  the 
country.  About  1,000  Englishmen,  in  various  dis- 
guises, accompanied  them  in  their  flight.  Cranmer, 
who  had  foreseen  the  bursting  of  tl;e  storm,  coun- 
selled those  whom  he  deemed  in  danger  to  provide 
for  their  safety  by  seeking  a  foreign  asylum.  Many 
acted  on  his  advice,  and  some  800  exiles  were 
distributed  among  the  cities  of  Germany  and 
Switzerland.  Providence,  as  the  historian  Bui'net 
remarks,  made  the  storm  abate  on  the  Continent 
when  it  began  to  rage  in  England,  and  as  England 
had  offered  sanctuaiy  to  the  exiles  of  Germany  in 
then-  day  of  trouble,  so  now  the  persecuted  of 
England  found  refuge  in  Strasburg  and  Antwerp, 
in  Zurich  and  Geneva,  But  the  archbishop  liim- 
self  refused  to  flee,  though  urged  to  do  so  by  his 
friends.  He  had  been  too  deeply  concerned,  he 
said,  in  the  changes  of  i-eligion  under  the  last 
reign  not  to  remain  and  own  them.  As  things 
stood,  this  was  a  voluntary  surrender  of  himself 
on  the  altar.' 

On  the  1st  of  October  the  queen  was  crowned  at 
the  Abbe}-  of  AVestminster.  The  usual  pardon  was 
proclaimed,  but  while  the  ordinary  criminals  were 
set  free,  the  prisoners  in  the  Tower  and  Fleet — that 
is,  the  professors  of  the  Gospel,  mcluding  Grafton 
and  Whitchurch,  the  pi'inters  of  the  Bible — were 
exempt  from  the  deed  of  grace.  A  few  days  there- 
after, the  queen  issued  a  proclamation,  saying  that 
she  meant  to  live  and  die  in  the  religion  of  her 
youth,  and  willed  that  all  her  losing  subjects 
should  embrace  the  same.'  All  who  were  in  favour 
of  the  old  religion  deemed  this  a  sufficient  war- 
rant publicly  to  restore  the  mass,  even  before  the 
law  had  made  it  legal.  Nor  had  they  long  to  wait 
for  a  formal  authorisation.  This  same  month,  a 
Parliament  was  assembled,  the  elections  being  so 
managed  that  only  those  should  sit  in  it  who 
would  subserviently  do  the  work  for  which  they 
had  been  summoned.  The  first  Act  of  this  Par- 
liament was  to  declare  Henry  VIII. 's  marriage 
with  Queen  Catherine  lawful,  and  to  lay  the  blame 
of  the  divorce  at  the  door  of  Craiuner,  oblivious  of 
the  fact  that  Gardiner,  the  chief  inspirer  of  these 
measures,  had  been  active  in  promoting  the  divorce 
before   Craumer's   name  was  even  known  to  the 


-  Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  p.  310.     Buniot,  vol.  in., 
bk.  v.,  pp.  329,  330. 
3  Ibid.,  pp.  313,  31 1.     Burnet,  vol.  iii.,  bk.  iv..  p.  321. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  312. 


DISPUTATION   AT   OXFORD. 


423 


kin".     This    was    followed    in    November    by    the 

indictment  at  Giiildliall  of  the  archbishop  for  Iiigh 

treason.     He  was    found   guilty,   and   condemned. 

The  queen,  whose  life  he  had  saved  in  her  youth, 

pardoned    him     his    treason — a    kindness    which 

snatched  him  from  the  axe,  but  reserved  him  for 

the   fire.     By  another  Act  of  the  Parliament   all 

the  laws  made  respecting  religion  in  the  reign  of 

Edward  VI.  were  repealed.     A  Convocation  was 

at  the  same  time  held ;    but  so  careful  had  been 

the    selection    of  those  who  were   to   compose    it, 

that  only  sLx  had  courage  to  own  themselves  the 

friends   of  the    Reformation   accomplished   in   the 

previous  reign. 

The      opening 

sermon      was 

preached      by 

Bonner's  chap 

lain  from  the 

text,      "  Feed 

the       flock 

Among    othei 

travesties      ot 

Scripture  thit 

diversified  the 

oration       was 

the  application 

to    the   queen 

of   the    words 

of  Deborah,   "Religion   ceased  in  England   until 

Mary  arose — a  virgin  arose  in  England." 

Meanwhile  it  was  whispered  that  another  sei'ious 
step  was  contemplated  by  the  queen.  This  was  a 
man-iage  with  the  emperor's  son,  Philip  of  Spain. 
Tlie  news  startled  the  nation,  for  they  saw  a  foreign 
despotism  coming  along  with  a  foreign  faith.  Even 
the  Parliament  begged  the  queen  "  not  to  mai-ry  a 
stranger,"  and  the  (^ueen,  not  liking  to  be  crossed 
in  her  matrimonial  projects,  deemed  the  request 
impertinent,  and  dismissed  the  members  to  their 
homes.  Gardiner,  however,  hit  on  means  for  facili- 
tating the  match  between  Mary  and  Philip.  Having 
learned  that  a  galleon,  freighted  with  gold  from 
South  Amei-ica,  had  just  arrived  in  Spain,  he  wrote 
to  the  emperor,  saying  that  he  knew  not  how  he 
could  so  well  bestow  a  few  millions  of  this  wealth 
as  In  securing  the  votes  of  influential  men  in 
England  in  favour  of  the  match,  and  thus  rescue 


'  A  copy  of  this  medal  is  in  the  possession  of  C.  P. 
Stewart,  Esq. ,  who  has  kindly  permitted  an  enpi-aving  of 
it  to  be  made  for  tliis  Work.  The  kneeline  figure  on  the 
diverse  represents  Queen  Mary  ;  the  Cardinal  is  Pole ; 
the  Emperor  next  him  is  Charles  V.;  the  Pope  is 
Julius  III.;  then  comes  Philip  11.,  and  next  him  is 
Catherine  of  Aragon. 


a  nation  from  heresy,  and  at  the  same  time  add 
another  to  the  many  kingdoms  already  under  the 
sceptre  of  Spain.  The  counsel  of  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester  was  followed,  and  the  match  went 
prosperously  forward. 

To  give  an  air  of  seriousness  and  deliberation  to 
the  changes  which  were  being  hiu'ried  on  with  so 
much  determination  and  levity,  it  was  thought 
good  to  ha%-e  a  disputation  on  the  mass  at  Oxford. 
The  three  venerable  confessors  now  in  the  Tower 
— C'ranmer,  Ridley,  and  Latimer — were  brought 
out,  and  carried  down  to  Oxford,  there  to  be 
"  baited,"  as  one  has  said,  by  the  members  of  both 

universities, 
for  Cambridge 
also  was  sum- 
moned to  bear 
its  part  in  the 
defence  of 
■'  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the 
altar."  The 
opening  ser- 
vices —  which 
were  of  more 
than  usual 
splendour — 
being  ended, 
the  commis- 
sioners, to  the  number  of  thirty-three,  took  their 
seats  before  the  altar,  and  then  in  a  little  while 
Cranmer  was  brought  in,  guarded  by  bill-men. 
"  He  gave  them,"  says  Strype,  "  great  reverence, 
and  stood  with  his  staff  in  his  hand.  They  ofiered 
him  a  stool  to  sit,  but  he  refused."  Weston,  the 
prolocutor,  said  that  the  commission  had  no  desire 
save  that  of  reclaiming  the  archbishop  from  his 
heresy,  and  handing  him  a  copy  of  the  articles  to 
be  debated,  requested  hLs  opinion  upon  them.  The 
archbishop,  having  read  them,  briefly  characterised 
them  as  opposed  to  the  truth  of  Scripture,  liut 
promised  to  give  his  opinion  in  writing  next  day. 
"  His  behaviour  all  this  while,"  says  Strype,  "  was 
so  grave  and  modest  that  many  blasters  of  Art 
who  were  not  of  his  mind  could  not  forbear  weep- 
ing." The  archbishop  having  been  removed, 
Ridley  was  brought  in.  The  same  articles  having 
been  presented  to  him,  he  cond(>mned  them  as  false, 
but  desired  a  copy  of  them,  tliat  he  might  answer 
them  in  writing.  La,st  of  all,  Latimer  was  brought 
in.  Having  looked  at  the  articles,  he  .said  that  in  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  there  was  a  certain 
jiresence,  but  not  such  a  jn-esence  as  they  aflirmed. 
He  could  not  publicly  dispute,  he  .said,  by  reason 
ot  his  age  and  the  weakness  of  his  memory ;  but 


FAC-SIMILE    OF   THE    MEDAL    sTni  Ck    TO    CELEHHATE    THE    RETL-RX    OF    EXGLAXD 
TO    liO.M.W    CATHOLICISM.' 


•121 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Ll-  would  give  his  opLuion  on  the  questions  in 
writing,  ;ind  begged  a  copy  of  them  for  that  purpose. 
"  I  caimot  here  omit,"  says  Strype,  "  old  Father 
Latimer's  habit  at  liis  first  appearance  before  the 
commissioners,  which  was  also  his  habit  while  he 
remained  a  prisoner  in  Oxford.  He  held  his  hat 
in  liis  hand ;  he  had  a  kei-chief  on  his  head,  and 
upon  it  a  night-cap  or  two,  and  a  gi-eat  cap  such  as 
townsmen  used,  with  two  broad  flaps  to  button 
under  his  chin,  an  old  thread-bare  Bristow  frieze 
gown,  gii'ded  to  liis  body  with  a  penny  leather 
girdle,  at  which  hanged,  by  a  long  string  of  leather, 
his  Testament,  and  his  spectacles  without  case 
hanging  about  his  neck  upon  his  breast."'  Latimer 
was  then  in  his  eighty-fourth  yeai-. 

It  were  useless  to  narrate  the  disputation  that 
followed.  It  was  a  mock  debate,  and  was  intended 
only  as  a  blind  to  the  nation ;  and  we  notice  it  here 
for  this  reason — that  it  shows  us  the  Fathers  of  the 
English  Reformation  bearing  theii-  dying  testimony 
against  the  doctrine  of  the  bodily  presence  of  Christ 
in  the  Eucharist,  a  tenet  around  which  all  the  other 
doctrines  of  Rome  cluster,  and  on  which  so  many 
of  them  are  built. 

The  face  of  England  was  every  day  becoming 
move  Popish.  All  the  Protestant  preachers  had 
been  silenced,  and  a  ci'owd  of  ignorant  priests 
ni.shed  in  to  lill  their  places.  These  men  abstained 
from  marriage  which  God  has  ordained,  but  not 
from  the  nncleanness  which  God  has  forbidden. 
Mass  was  restored  in  every  parish.  Holidays  were 
ordered  to  be  kept.  Auricular  confession,  in 
Bonnex-'s  diocese,  was  made  obligatory  on  all  above 
twelve  years  of  age.  Worship  was  performed  in 
an  unknown  tongue.  The  Popish  symbols  were 
restored  in  the  chiu'ches,  the  streets,  and  the  high- 
ways. The  higher  clergy  dazzled  the  spectators  liy 
magnificent  processions  ;  the  lower  clergy  quarrelled 
with  their  parishioners  for  candles,  eggs  on  Good 
Friday,  dirge-gi-oats,  and  fees  for  saying  mass  for 
.souls  in  piu-gatory.  The  youth  were  compelled  to 
.attend  school,  where  they  were  carefully  instructed 
in  the  Popish  faith. 

'  Strype,  Mem.  of  Cranmci;  pp.  335,  336. 


In  April,  1554,  a  new  Parliament  asseiublcd, 
and  the  Spanish  gold  having  done  its  work,  the 
measures  necessary  for  completing  the  nation's 
subjection  to  the  Pope's  aiithority  were  rapidly 
proceeded  with.  On  the  20th  of  July,  the  queen 
was  married  to  Pliilip,  who  henceforward  became 
her  chief  adviser;  and  thus  the  sword  of  Spam 
was  added  to  the  yoke  of  Rome.  On  the  21st  of 
November,  Cai'dinal  Pole  arrived  in  England,  and 
immetUately  entered  on  his  woi'k  of  reconciling  the 
nation  to  Rome.  He  came  with  powei's  to  give 
absolution  to  all  heretics  who  sought  it  penitently ; 
to  pardon  all  repentant  clergymen  their  irregulari- 
ties ;  to  soften,  by  a  wise  use  of  the  dispensing 
power,  the  yoke  of  ceremonies  and  fasts  to  those 
who  had  now  been  for  some  time  unaccustomed 
to  it;  and  as  regarded  the  abbey  lands,  which  it  had 
been  foreseen  would  be  the  gi-eat  difficulty,  the 
legate  was  instructed  to  airange  this  matter  on 
wonderfully  liberal  tenns.  Where  he  saw  fit,  he 
was  empowered  to  peimit  these  lands  to  be  detained 
by  their  present  holders,  that  "  the  recover}-  of  the 
nation  and  the  salvation  of  souls "  might  not  be 
obstructed  by  worldly  interests. 

These  terms  being  deemed  satisfactory  on  the 
whole  by  the  Parliament,  it  pi-oceeded  to  restore 
in  full  dominancy  the  Papal  power.  An  Act  was 
passed,  repealing  all  the  laws  made  against  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope  in  the  reign  of  Hemy 
VIII. ;  the  j)Ower  of  punishing  heretics  with  death 
was  given  back  to  the  bishops  ;  and  the  work  of 
reconciling  the  realm  to  Rome  was  consummated 
liy  the  legate's  summoning  before  him  the  Parlia- 
ment and  the  two  Houses  of  Convocation,  to 
receive  on  their  bended  knees  his  solemn  absolution 
of  their  heresy  and  schism."  The  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical estates  bowed  themselves  down  at  the  feet 
of  the  Pope's  representative.  Then-  own  infamy 
and  their  country's  disgrace  being  now  complete, 
they  ordered  bonfires  to  be  lighted,  and  a  Te  Dev.vi 
to  be  sung,  in  token  of  their  joy  at  beholding  the 
Pontifical  tiara  rising  in  pi-oud  supremacy  above  the 
crown  of  England. 


-  Sti-ypo,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  p.  3t5. 


THE   MARIAN   PERSECUTION. 


423 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE   BURNINGS   UNDER  MARY. 

English  Protestantism  Purified  in  the  Fire— Glory  from  Suii'ering— Spies — The  First  Victims— Transubstantiation 
the  Burning  Article — Mai-tyrtlom  of  Eogers — Distribution  of  Stakes  over  England — Saunders  Burned  at 
Coventry— Hooper  at  Gloucester — His  Protracted  Sufferings — Burning  of  Taylor  at  Hadleigli — Burning  of 
Ferrar  at  Carmarthen— England  begins  to  be  Roused — Alarm  of  Gardiner—"  Bloody  "  Bonner— Extent  of  the 
Burnings — Martyrdom  of  Ridley  and  Latimer  at  Oxford— A  Candle  Lighted  in  England — Cranmer— His  Recan- 
tation-Revokes his  Recantation— His  Martyrdom— Number  of  Victims  under  Mary— Death  of  the  Queen. 


Mournful  and  melanclioly,  not  without  shame, 
is  England's  recantation  of  her  Protestantism. 
Escaped  from  her  bondage,  and  fairly  on  her 
m^rch  to  liberty,  she  suddenly  faints  on  the  way, 
and  returns  into  her  old  fetters.  The  Pope's 
authority  again  flourishes  in  the  realm,  and  the 
sword  has  been  replaced  in  the  hands  of  the  bishops, 
to  compel  all  to  fall  down  and  do  obeisance  to  the 
Iloraan  divinity.  How  sad  a  relapse,  and  how 
greatly  to  be  deplored  !  and  yet  it  was  the  tyranny 
of  this  cruel  time  that  helped  above  most  things  to 
jiurify  English  Protestantism,  and  to  insure  its 
triumph  in  the  end.  This  fierce  tempest  drove 
.•iway  from  it  a  cloud  of  adherents  who  had 
weakened  it  by  their  flatteries,  and  disgi-aced  it  b}^ 
their  immoral  lives.  Relieved  of  this  crushing 
weight,  the  tree  instantly  shot  up  and  flouiished 
amid  the  tempest's  rage.  The  steadfast  faith  of  a 
single  martyr  brings  more  real  strength  to  a  cause 
like  Protestantism  than  any  number  of  lukewarm 
adherents.  And  what  a  galaxy  of  glorious  names 
did  this  ei'a  gather  round  the  English  Reformation  ! 
If  the  skies  were  darkened,  one  bright  star  came 
forth  after  another,  till  the  night  seemed  fairer 
than  the  day,  and  men  blessed  that  darkness  that 
revealed  so  many  glories  to  them.  Would  the 
names  of  Cranmer,  of  Ridley,  of  Latimer,  and  of 
Hooper  have  been  what  they  ai-e  but  for  then- 
stakes  ?  Would  they  have  stirred  the  hearts  of 
all  the  generations  of  their  countrymen  since,  had 
they  died  in  their  jialaccs  'i  Blot  these  names 
from  the  annals  of  English  Protestantism,  and  how 
prosaic  would  its  history  be  ! 

With  the  year  15.');)  came  the  reign  of  the  stake. 
Instructions  were  sent  from  court  to  the  justices  in 
all  the  counties  of  England,  to  a])point  in  each 
district  a  certain  nvnul)er  of  secret  infonners  to 
watch  the  population,  and  report  such  as  did  not 
go  to  ma,ss,  or  who  failed  otherwise  to  conduct 
themselves  as  became  good  Catholics.  The  dili- 
gence of  tlie  spies  soon  bore  fruit  in  the  crowded 
prisons   of    the   kingdom.      Protestant   preachei-s, 


absentees  from  church,  contemners  of  the  mass, 
were  speedily  ti-acked  out  and  transferred  to  gaol. 
The  triumvirate  which  governed  England — Gai- 
diner,  Bonner,  and  Pole — might  select  from  the 
crowd  what  victims  they  pleased.  Among  the  first 
to  suffer  were  Rogers,  Vicar  of  St.  Sepulchre's ; 
Hooper,  Bishop  of  Gloucester ;  Rowland  T.aylor, 
Vicar  of  Hadleigli  in  Suffolk ;  Saunders,  Vicar 
of  All  Hallows,  Bread  Street ;  and  Bradford,  one 
of  the  Prebendaries  of  St.  Paul's.  They  were 
brought  before  Gardiner  on  the  28th  of  Januaiy, 
1555.  Their  indictment  bore  reference  mainly 
to  transubstantiation  and  the  Pope's  supremacy. 
These  two  articles  had  suddenl}^  become,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  queen  and  her  bishops,  the  sum  of 
Chiistianity,  and  if  one  doubted  either  of  them  he 
was  not  fit  to  live  on  English  soil  The  pretext 
of  treason  was  not  needed  now.  The  men  who 
perished  in  the  fire  under  Mary  were  burned  simply 
because  they  did  not,  and  could  not,  believe  in  the 
corporeal  j)resence  iir  the  Lord's  Supper.  Their 
examination  was  short  :  then-  judges  had  neither 
humanity  nor  ability  to  reason  with  them.  "  Wliat 
sayest  thou?"  was  the  question  put  to  all  of  them. 
"  Is  it  Chi-ist's  flesh  and  blood  that  is  in  the  Sacra- 
ment, or  what?"  And  according  to  the  answer 
so  was  the  sentence  :  if  the  accused  said  "  flesh," 
he  was  acquitted ;  if  he  answered  "  l)read,"  lie 
was  burned.  The  five  theologians  at  the  bar  of 
Gardiner  denied  both  the  mass  and  the  Po])e's  su- 
premacy ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  they  were 
condemned  to  be  burned. 

Rogers,  who  had  been  the  associate  of  Tyndale 
and  Coverdale  in  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures, 
was  suddenly  awakened  on  Monday  morning,  the 
4th  of  February,  and  bidden  to  jirepare  for  the  tire. 
As  he  was  being  led  to  Sniitliticld  he  saw  his  wife 
in  the  crowd,  waiting  for  him,  with  one  infant  at 
the  breast  and  ten  at  her  feet.  By  a  look  only 
could  he  bid  her  farewell.  His  persecutors  thought, 
perhajjs,  to  vanquish  the  father  if  they  had  failed 
to  subdue  the  disciple ;  but  they  found  themselves 


426 


HISTORY    OF   PKOTESTANTISM. 


mistaken.  Leaving  liis  wife  and  cliildren  to  Him 
w'.io  Ls  the  husband  of  the  widow  and  the  fatliev 
of  the  orphan,  lie  went  on  lieroically  to  the  stake. 
The  fagots  were  ready  to  be  liglited,  when  a  par- 
don was  offered  liini  if  lie  would  recant.  "  That 
which  I  have  preached,"  said  Rogers,  "  ^vill  I  seal 
with  my  blood."  "  Thou  art  a  heretic,"  said  the 
sheriff.  "That  shall  be  known  at  the  last  day," 
responded  the  confessor.  The  pardon  was  removed, 
and  in  its  room  the  torch  was  brought.  Soon  the 
flames  rose  around  him.  He  bore  theii-  torment 
with  invincible  courage,  bathing  his  hands  as  it 
were  in  the  fire  while  he  was  burning,  and  then 
raLsing  them  towards  heaven,  and  keeping  tlieni 
in  that  posture  tUl  they  dropped  into  the  fire.  So 
died  John  Rogers,  the  proto-martp-  of  the  Marian 
persecution. 

After  this  beginning  thei'e  was  no  delay  in  the 
terrible  work.  In  order  to  strike  a  wider  terror 
into  the  nation,  it  was  deemed  expedient  to  dis- 
tribute these  stakes  over  all  England.  If  the 
flocks  in  the  provincial  towns  and  rural  parts  saw 
their  pastors  chained  to  posts  and  blazing  in  the 
fii-es,  they  would  be  filled  with  horror  of  their 
heresy — so  the  persecutor  thought.  It  did  not 
occur  to  him  that  the  people  might  be  moved  to 
pity  their  sufferings,  to  admire  their  heroism,  and 
to  detest  the  tyranny  which  had  doomed  them  to 
this  awful  death.  To  witness  these  dreadful  spec- 
tacles was  a  different  thing  from  merely  hearing  of 
them,  and  a  thiill  of  horror  ran  through  the  nation 
— not  at  the  heresy  of  the  martyrs,  but  at  the 
fei'ocious  and  blood-tliirsty  cruelty  of  the  bigots 
who  were  putting  them  to  death.  On  the  8th  of 
February,  Laurence  Saunders  was  sent  down  to 
Coventry — where  his  laboui's  had  been  discharged 
— to  be  burned.  The  stake  was  set  up  outside 
the  town,  in  a  park  already  consecrated  by  the 
sufferings  of  the  Lollards.  He  walked  to  it  bare- 
footed, attu-ed  in  an  old  gown,  and  on  his  way  he 
thi-ew  himself  twice  or  thrice  on  the  gi-ound  and 
prayed.  Being  come  to  the  stake,  he  folded  it  in 
his  ai-ms,  and  kissing  it,  said,  "  Welcome  the  cross 
of  Chi-ist ;  welcome  the  life  everlasting  ! "  "  The 
fire  being  put  to  him,"  says  the  martvrologist, 
"  full  sweetly  he  slept  in  the  Lord." ' 

Hoo])er,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  had  been  the 
companion  of  Rogers  at  the  tribunal,  and  he  ex- 
pected to  have  been  his  companion  at  the  stake  ; 
but  when  Rogers  went  his  way  to  the  fire,  Hooper 
was  remanded  to  his  cell.  On  the  evening  of  that 
day  he  was  told  that  he  was  to  undergo  his  sen- 
tence at  Gloucester.     His  enemies  had  done  him 


'  Fox,  vol.  vi.,  p. 


unwittingly  the  greatest  kindness.  To  die  for 
Christ  anywhere  was  sweet  to  him  ;  but  to  give 
his  blood  in  the  presence  of  those  to  whom  he  had 
preached  Him,  and  whose  faith  he  wouhl  thereby 
confirm,  made  him  leap  for  joy.  Now  would  he 
crown  his  ministry  by  this  the  gi-eatest  of  all  the 
sermons  he  had  ever  preached.  Next  morning, 
attended  by  six  of  the  queen's  guards,  he  began 
his  journey  before  it  was  light.  On  the  third  day 
he  arrived  at  Gloucester,  where  he  was  met  at  the 
gates  by  a  crowd  of  people  bathed  in  tears.  A 
day's  respite  being  allowed  him,  he  passed  it  in 
fasting  and  prayer,  and  in  bidding  adieu  to  friends. 
He  retired  early  to  rest,  slept  soundly  for  some 
time,  and  then  rose  to  prepare  for  death.  At  eight 
o'clock  on  the  9th  of  February  he  was  led  out.  The 
stake  had  been  planted  close  to  the  end  of  the 
cathedral,  in  which  he  had  so  often  preached  to 
the  very  persons  who  were  now  gathered  to  see 
him  die.  It  was  market-day,  and  a  crowd  of  not 
less  than  7,000  had  assembled  to  witness  the  last 
moments  of  the  martyr,  many  climbing  up  into 
the  boughs  of  an  elm  that  overshadowed  the  spot. 
Hooper  did  not  address  the  assemblage,  for  his 
persecutors  had  extorted  a  promise  of  silence  by 
the  barbarous  threat  of  cutting  out  his  tongue, 
should  he  attempt  to  speak  at  the  stake ;  but  his 
meekness,  the  more  than  usual  serenity  of  his 
countenance,  and  the  courage  with  which  he  bore 
his  prolonged  and  awful  sufferings,  bore  nobler 
testimony  to  his  cause  than  any  words  he  coidd 
have  uttered. 

He  kneeled  down,  and  a  few  words  of  his  prayer 
were  heard  by  those  of  the  crowd  who  were  nearest 
to  the  stake  : — "  Lord,  thou  art  a  gracious  God, 
and  a  merciful  Redeemer.  Have  mercy  upon  me, 
most  miserable  and  wretched  offender,  after  the 
midtitude  of  thy  mercies  and  the  gi'eatness  of  thy 
compassion.  Thou  art  ascended  into  heaven :  re- 
ceive me  to  be  partaker  of  thy  joys,  where  thou 
sittest  in  equal  glory  with  the  Father."  The 
prayers  of  Bishop  Hooper  were  ended.  A  box 
was  then  brought  and  laid  at  his  feet.  He  had 
but  to  stoop  and  lift  it  up  and  walk  away  from 
the  stake,  for  it  held  his  pardon.  He  bade  them 
take  it  away.  The  hoop  having  been  put  round 
his  middle,  the  torch  was  now  brought,  amid  the 
sobbings  and  lamentations  of  the  crowd.  But  the 
fagots  were  green,  and  bm-ned  slowly,  and  the  ^vind 
being  boisterous,  the  flame  was  blown  away  from 
him,  and  only  the  lower  parts  of  his  body  were 
burned.  "  For  God's  sake,  good  people,"  said  the 
martyi-,  "  let  me  have  more  fire  ! "  A  few  diy 
fiigots  were  brought ;  still  the  pile  did  not 
landle.     Wijiing  his  eyes  ^vith  his  hands,  he  ejacu- 


i.ATiMKu  kxhoutim;  hidlev  at  the  stake. 


428 


HISTORY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


lated,  "  Jesus,  Sou  of  D.ivid,  liave  mercy  upon  me, 
and  receive  my  soul !  "  A  third  supply  of  fuel  was 
brought,  and  after  some  time  a  stronger  flame 
arose.  He  continued  praying,  "  Lord  Jesus,  re- 
ceive my  spii'it ! "  tUl  his  tongue  was  swollen  and 
liis  lips  had  shrunk  from  the  gums.  He  smote 
upon  his  breast  with  both  his  hands,  and  when  one 
of  his  arms  dropped  ofl",  he  kept  beating  on  his 
breast  with  the  other,  "  the  fat,  water,  and  blood 
oozing  out  at  the  finger-ends."  The  fire  had  now 
gathered  strengtli ;  the  struggle,  which  had  lasted 
aearly  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  was  di-awing  to 
a  close ;  "  his  hand  did  cleave  fast  to  the  ii'on  upon 
his  breast ; "  and  now,  bowing  forwai'ds,  he  yielded 
up  the  ghost.' 

On  the  same  day  on  which  Laurence  Saunders 
was  burned  at  Coventry,  a  similar  tragedy  was 
being  enacted  at  Hadleigh  in  Suffolk.  Dr.  Row- 
land Taylor,  one  of  Ci-anmer's  chaplains,  had  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  that  cure  with  a  zeal,  an 
ability,  and  a  kindliness  of  disposition  which  had 
endeared  him  to  all  his  parishioners.  One  day,  in 
the  summer  of  1554,  he  heard  the  bells  of  his 
church  suddenly  begin  to  ring.  Hastily  entering 
the  edifice,  he  saw  to  his  astonishment  a  man  with 
shaven  crown,  dressed  in  canonicals,  at  the  altar, 
preparing  to  say  mass,  while  a  number  of  armed 
men  stood  round  him  with  drawn  swords  to  defend 
him.  Dr.  Taylor,  on  remonstrating  against  this 
intrusion,  was  forcibly  thrust  out  of  the  church. 
He  was  summoned  before  Gardiner,  who  railed  on 
him,  calling  him  a  knave,  a  traitor,  and  a  heretic, 
and  ended  by  tlu-owing  him  into  prison.  The  old 
laws  against  heresy  not  having  as  yet  been  restoivd, 
Taylor,  with  many  others,  was  kept  in  gaol  until 
matters  should  be  ripe  for  setting  up  the  stake. 
Meanwhile  the  prisoners  were  allowed  free  inter- 
course among  themselves.  Emptied  of  their  nsual 
occupants,  and  filled  with  the  god-fearing  people 
of  England,  "  the  prisons,"  as  Fo.x  states,  "  were 
become  Christian  schools  and  churches;"  so  that 
if  one  wished  to  hear  good,  he  crept  stealthily  to 
the  gi'ated  window  of  the  confessor's  dungeon,  and 
listened  to  his  jiraycrs  and  praises.  At  last,  in 
the  beginning  of  Inii'i,  the  stake  was  I'estored,  and 
now  Taylor  and  his  companions,  as  we  have  already 
said,  were  brought  before  Gardiner.  Sentence  of 
death  was  passed  upon  the  faithful  pastor.  On  the 
way  down  to  Suffolk,  where  that  sentence  was  to 
be  executed,  his  face  was  the  brightest,  and  his  con- 
versation the  most  cheerful,  of  all  in  the  company. 
A  most  touching  jiarting  had  lie  with  his  wife  and 
children  by  the  way ;   but  now  the  bitterness  of 


death  was  past.  When  he  arrived  in  his  parish,  he 
found  a  vast  crowd,  composed  of  the  poor  whom  he 
had  fed,  the  orphans  to  whom  he  had  been  a  father, 
and  the  villagei-s  whom  he  had  instructed  in  the 
Scriptures,  waiting  for  him  on  the  common  where 
he  was  to  die.  "  When  they  saw  his  reverend  and 
ancient  face,  with  a  long  white  beard,  they  bui-st 
out  with  weeping  tears,  and  cried,  '  Jesus  Christ 
strengthen  thee  and  help  thee,  good  Dr.  Tajlor ; 
the  Holy  Ghost  comfort  thee!'"  He  essayed  to 
speak  to  the  people,  but  one  of  the  guard  thrust  a 
tipstaff  into  his  mouth.  Having  undressed  for  the 
fire,  he  mounted  the  pile,  and  kneeled  do^mi  to  pray. 
While  so  engaged,  a  poor  woman  stejipetl  out  from 
the  crowd,  and  kneeling  by  his  side,  prayed  with 
him.  The  horsemen  threatened  to  ride  her  do^^■n, 
but  nothing  could  drive  her  away.  The  mai-tyi", 
standing  unmoved,  with  hands  folded  and  eyes 
raised  to  heaven,  endured  the  fire." 

Ferrar,  Bishoji  of  St.  David's,  had  been  examined 
before  Gardiner  at  the  same  time  with  those  whose 
deaths  we  have  just  recorded,  but  his  condemnation 
was  deferred.  He  was  sent  down  to  Wales,  and  on 
the  26th  of  March  he  was  brought  before  the 
Romish  bishop  who  had  been  appointed  to  his  see, 
and  condemned.  On  the  30th  he  was  burned  on  the 
south  side  of  the  cross  at  the  market-place  of  Car- 
marthen. Fox  records  a  touching  proof  of  the 
steadfastness  with  which  he  suffered.  A  young  man 
came  to  Ferrar  to  express  his  sympathy  with  him 
at  the  painful  death  he  was  about  to  undergo. 
Relying  on  the  extraordinary  support  vouchsafed 
to  those  who  are  called  to  seal  their  testimony  with 
their  blood,  Ferrar  gave  him  this  sign,  that  lie 
would  stand  immoved  amidst  the  flames.  "And 
as  he  said,  so  he  right  well  performed,"  says  Fox  ; 
"  he  never  moved." 

Men  contrasted  the  leniency  with  which  the 
Romanists  had  been  treated  imder  Edward  YI., 
with  the  ferocious  cruelty  of  Mary  towards  tlie 
adherents  of  the  Reformed  faith.  Wlien  Protest- 
antism was  in  the  ascendant,  not  one  Papist  had 
been  put  to  death  for  his  religion.  A  few  priests 
had  been  deprived  of  their  benefices  ;  the  rest  had 
saved  their  livings  by  conforming.  But  now  that 
Popery  had  risen  to  power,  no  one  could  be  a 
Protestant  but  at  the  peril  of  his  life.  The 
highest  and  most  venerated  dignitaries  of  the 
Church,  the  men  of  greatest  learning  and  most 
exemplary  virtue  in  the  nation,  were  dragged  to 
prison  and  burned  at  stakes.  The  nation  at  first 
was  stupefied,  but  now  amazement  was  giving 
place  to  indignation ;    and  Gardinei',  who  had  ex- 


•  Fox,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  65C— 659. 


=  Foi,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  090— G99. 


BURNING   OF   RIDLEY   AND   LATIMER. 


•129 


pected  to  see  all  men  cowering  in  terror,  and  ready 
to  fall  in  with  his  measiu-es,  began  to  be  alarmed 
when  he  saw  a  tempest  of  wrath  springing  up,  and 
about  to  sweep  over  the  land.  Did  he  therefore 
desist  from  his  work  of  burning  men  1  or  did  he 
counsel  his  royal  mistress  to  abandon  a  project 
which  could  be  earned  thi-ougli  only  at  the  cost  of 
the  destruction  of  the  best  of  her  subjects!  By 
no  means.  The  device  to  which  he  had  recourse 
was  to  put  forward  a  colleague,  a  man  yet  more 
brutal  than  himself — Bonner,  sui'named  the  Bloody 
— to  do  the  chief  part  of  the  work,  while  he  fell  a 
little  into  the  background.  Edmund  Bonner  was 
the  natiu'al  son  of  a  richly  beneficed  priest  in 
Cheshii-e,  named  Savage  ;  and  the  son  ought  never 
to  have  borne  another  name  than  that  which  he 
inherited  from  his  father.  Educated  at  Oxford, 
he  was  appointed  archdeacon  at  Leicester  under 
Henry  VIIL,  by  whom  he  was  employed  in  several 
embassies.  In  L539  he  was  advanced  to  be  Bishop 
of  London  by  Cromwell  and  Cramner,  who  be- 
lieved him  to  be,  as  he  pretended,  a  friend  to  the 
Reformation. 

Upon  the  enactment  of  the  law  of  the  Six 
Articles,  he  immediately  "  erected  his  crest  and 
displayed  his  fangs  and  talons."  He  had  the  thirst 
of  a  leech  for  blood.  Fox,  who  is  blamed  for 
"  pei-secuting  pereecutors  with  ugly  pictures " — 
though  certainly  Fox  is  not  to  blame  if  ferocity 
and  sensuality  print  theii-  uncomely  lineaments  on 
their  votaries — describes  him  as  the  possessor  of  a 
great,  overgi-own,  and  bloated  body.  Both  Gardiner 
and  Bonner,  the  two  most  conspicuous  agents  in 
the  a\vful  tragedies  of  the  time,  had  been  sup- 
poi-tera  of  the  royal  supremacy,  which  fomied  a 
chief  count  in  the  indictment  of  the  men  whom 
they  were  now  ruthlessly  destroying. 

The  devoted,  i)air.staking,  and  scrupulously  faith- 
ful Fox  has  recorded  the  names  and  deaths  of  the 
noble  army  of  sufferers  with  a  detail  that  renders 
any  lengthy  nan-ative  superfluous;  and  next  to  the 
service  rendered  to  England  by  the  martyrs  them- 
st'lves,  is  that  which  has  been  rendered  by  their 
martyrologist.  Over  all  England,  from  the  eastern 
counties  to  Wales  on  the  west,  and  from  the  midland 
shires  to  the  shores  of  the  English  Channel,  blazed 
these  baleful  fires.  Both  sexes,  and  all  ages  and 
conditions,  the  boy  of  eight  and  the  man  of  eighty, 
the  halt  and  the  blind,  were  dragged  to  the  stake  and 
bm-ncd,  sometimes  singly,  at  other  times  in  dozens. 
Kngland  till  now  had  p\it  but  small  price  n])ou  the 
lieformation — it  knew  not  from  what  it  had  been 
delivered ;  but  these  tires  gave  it  some  juster  idea 
of  the  value  of  what  Edward  VI.  and  C'ranmer  had 
<lonc  for  it.       Popery  was  now  revealing  itselt — 


writing  its  true  character  in  etenial  ti-aces  on  the 
hearts  of  the  English  people. 

Before  dropping  the  curtain  on  what  is  at  once 
the  most  melancholy  and  the  most  glorious  page 
of  our  histoiy,  there  are  thi'ee  martp-s  before 
whose  stakes  we  must  pause.  We  have  briefly 
noticed  the  disputation  which  Ridley,  Latimer, 
and  Cranmer  were  compelled  to  hold  with  the 
commission  at  Oxford,  in  September,  1554.  The 
commission  pronounced  all  three  obstinate  here- 
tics, and  sentenced  them  to  be  burned.  Herein 
the  commission  was  giiilty  of  the  almost  un- 
exampled atrocity  of  sentencing  men  to  suffer 
under  a  law  which  had  yet  to  be  enacted;  and  till 
the  old  penal  statutes  should  be  restoi'ed,  the  con- 
demned were  remanded  to  prison.'  In  October  of 
the  following  year,  an  order  was  issued  for  the  exe- 
cution of  Ridley  and  Cranmer.  The  night  before 
his  death  Ridley  supped  with  the  family  of  the 
mayor.  At  table  no  shade  of  the  stake  darkened 
his  face  or  saddened  his  talk.  He  invited  the 
hostess  to  his  marriage ;  her  reply  was  a  burst  of 
tears,  for  wliich  he  chid  her  as  if  she  were  un- 
willing to  be  present  on  so  joyous  an  occasion, 
saying  at  the  same  time,  "  My  breakfast  may  be 
sharp,  but  I  am  sure  my  supper  will  be  most 
sweet."  When  he  rose  from  table  his  brother 
offered  to  watch  with  him  all  night.  "  No,  no," 
replied  he,  "  I  shall  go  to  bed  and,  God  willing, 
shall  sleep  as  quietly  to-night  as  ever  I  did  in 
my  life." 

The  place  of  execution  was  a  ditch  by  the  nortli 
wall  of  the  town,  over  against  Baliol  College- 
Ridley  came  first,  dressed  in  his  black  furred  gown 
and  velvet  cap,  walking  between  the  mayor  and  an 
aldeiTuan.  As  he  passed  Bocardo,  where  Cranmer 
\\as  confined,  he  looked  up,  expecting  to  see  the 
archbishop  at  the  window,  and  exchange  final 
adieus  with  him.  Cranmer,  as  Fox  informs  us, 
was  then  engaged  in  debate  with  a  Spanish  friar, 
but  learning  soon  after  that  his  fellow-prisoners 
had  passed  to  the  stake,  the  archbishop  hurried 
to  the  roof  of  his  prison,  whence  he  beheld  their 
martyrdom,  and  on  his  knees  begged  God  to 
strengthen  them  in  their  agony,  and  to  prepare 
him  for  his  own.  On  his  way  to  the  stake, 
Ridley  saw  Latimer  following  him— the  old  man 
making  what  haste  he  coulil.  Ridley  ran  and, 
folding  him  in  his  ai-ms,  kissed  him,  saying,  "  Be 
of  good  heai-t,  brother ;  for  God  will  either  assuage 


'  Strypc,  Mem.  of  Cranmer,  pp.  140,  341. 

-  Now  converted  into  a  street;  the  eiact  spot  is  ho- 
lievcd  to  he  near  the  corner  of  Broad  Street,  where  aslics 
and  burned  sticks  have  been  dug  up. 


430 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


the  fury  of  the  flames,  or  else  strengthen  us  to 
abide  it."  They  kneeled  down  and  prayed,  each 
by  himself,  iifterwards  they  talked  together  a  little 
while,  "  but  what  they  said,"  says  Fox,  "  I  can 
learn  of  no  man."  After  the  sermon  usual  on 
such  occivsions,  they  both  undressed  for  the  fire. 
Latimer,  stripped  by  his  keeper,  stood  in  a  shroud. 
With  his  gamients  he  seemed  to  have  put  ofl'  the 
burden  of  his  many  years.  His  bent  figure  in- 
stantly straightened  ;  withered  age  was  transformed 
into  what  seemed  vigorous  manhood ;  and  standing 
bolt  upright,  he  looked  "  as  comely  a  father  as  one 
might  lightly  behold."' 

•  All  was  now  ready.  An  ii-on  chain  had  been 
put  round  the  martyrs,  and  a  staple  driven  in  to 
make  it  firm.  The  two  were  fastened  to  one  stake. 
A  lighted  fagot  was  brought  and  laid  at  Ridley's 
feet.  Then  Latimer  addressed  his  companion  in 
words  still  fresh — after  three  centui-ies — as  on  the 
day  on  which  they  were  uttered :  "  Be  of  good 
co.MFORT,   Master  Ridley,  and   play  the  man  : 

WE     SHALL    THIS     DAY    LIGHT    SUCH    A    CANDLE,    BY 

<Jod's    grace,    in    England,    as   I   trust    shall 

NEVER    BE    PUT    OUT." 

The  flames  blazed  up  rapidly  and  fiei-cely. 
Latimer  bent  towards  them,  as  if  eager  to  em- 
brace those  ministers,  terrible  only  in  appearance, 
which  were  to  give  him  exit  from  a  world  of 
sorrow  into  the  bliss  eternal.  Stroking  his  face 
with  his  hands,  he  speedUy,  and  with  little  pain, 
departed.  Not  so  Ridley.  His  suflerings  were 
protracted  and  severe.  The  fagots,  piled  high 
and  solidly  around  him,  stifled  the  flames,  and 
his  lower  extremities  were  bumed,  while  the  upper 
part  of  his  body  was  untouched,  and  his  garments 
on  one  side  were  hardly  scorched.  "  I  cannot 
burn,"  he  said;  "let  the  fire  come  to  me."  At 
last  he  was  understood;  the  upper  fagots  were 
.pulled  away;  the  flames  rose;  Ridley  leaned  to- 
wards them ;  and  crying,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive 
my  spirit!"  his  body  turned  over  the  ii-on  chain, 
the  legs  being  already  consumed,  and  he  fell  at 
Latimer's  feet. 

Cranmer  still  lived,  but  he  was  a  too  conspicuous 
jmember  of  the  Protestant  host,  and  had  acted  a  too 
mrominent  part  under  two  nionarchs,  not  to  be 
marked  out  for  the  stake.  But  before  receiving 
the  crown  of  martyi-dom,  that  lofty  head  was  first 
to  be  bowed  low  in  humiliation.  His  enemies  hud 
plotted  to  tlisgi-ace  him  before  leading  him  to 
the  stake,  lest  the  gloi-y  of  such  a  victim  should 
exalt  the  cause  for  which  he  was  about  ko  be 
ofiered  in  sacrifice.     The  archbishop  was,  removetl 


from  the  prison  to  the  house  of  the  Dean  of  Christ 
Church.  Crafty  men  came  about  him ;  they  treated 
him  with  respect,  professed  great  kindness,  were 
desirous  of  prolonging  his  life  for  future  sei'vice, 
hinted  at  a  quiet  retirement  in  the  country.  The 
Pope's  supremacy  was  again  the  law  of  the  land, 
they  said,  and  it  was  no  great  matter  to  promise 
submission  to  the  law  in  this  respect,  and  "  to 
take  the  Pope  for  chief  head  of  this  Church  of 
England,  so  far  as  the  laws  of  God,  and  the  laws 
and  customs  of  this  realm,  ^vill  permit."  He  might 
himself  dictate  the  words  of  this  submission.  Tlte 
man  who  had  stood  erect  amid  the  stonns  of  Henry 
VIII.'s  time,  and  had  oftener  than  once  ignored 
the  wshes  and  threatenings  of  that  wayward 
monarch  and  followed  the  path  of  duty,  fell  by  the 
arts  of  these  seducers.  He  signed  the  submission 
demanded  of  him.  The  queen  and  Cardinal  Pole 
were  overjoyed  at  the  fall  of  the  archbishop.  His 
recantation  would  do  more  than  all  then-  stakes  to 
suppress  the  Reformation  in  England.  None  the 
less  did  they  adhere  steadfastly  to  their  purpose  of 
burning  him,  though  they  carefully  conceale<l  their 
intentions  from  himself  On  the  morning  of  the 
21st  of  March,  1556,  they  led  him  out  of  prison, 
and  preceded  by  the  mayor  and  alderman,  and  a 
Spanish  friar  on  either  side  of  him,  chanting  peni- 
tential psalms,  they  conducted  him  to  St.  Mary's 
Church,  there  to  make  his  recantation  in  public. 
The  archbishop,  having  already  felt  the  fires  that 
consume  the  soul,  dreaded  the  less  those  that 
consume  the  body,  and  suspecting  what  his  enemies 
meditated,  had  made  his  resolve.  He  walked 
onward,  the  noblest  of  all  the  victims,  bis  con- 
ductoi-s  thought,  whom  they  had  yet  immolated. 
The  procession  entered  the  church,  the  friare 
hymning  the  prayer  of  Simeon.  Tliey  placed 
Cranmer  on  a  stage  before  the  pulpit.  There,  in 
the  "  garments  and  ornaments  "  of  an  archbishop, 
"  only  in  mockery  everytliing  was  of  canvas  and 
old  clouts,"  -  sat  the  man  who  had  lately  been 
the  fii-st  subject  of  the  realm,  "an  image  of 
sorrow,  the  dolour  of  his  heart  bursting  out  at 
his  eyes  in  teai-s."  Dr.  Cole  preached  the  usual 
sermon,  and  when  it  was  ended,  he  exhoi-ted 
the  archbishop  to  clear  himself  of  all  suspicion  of 
heresy  by  making  a  public  confession.  "  I  will  do 
it,"  said  Cranmer,  "and  that  with  a  good  wUl.'" 
On  this  he  rose  uj),  and  addressed  the  vast  coii>- 
course,  declaring^  his  abhoiTence  of  the  Romiilb 
doctrines,  and  e^xpressing  his  .stesulfast  adhereiswe 
to  the  Protestant  faith.  "And  now,"  said  htf,  "-I 
come  to  the.  great  thing  thai;    so    much  tronfoletU 

<  Strype,  Mem.  ^Qvaamer,  p.  375. 


MARTYRDOM   OF   CRANMER. 


4.31 


my  conscience,  more  than  anytliLng  that  ever  I 
did  or  said  in  my  whole  life."  He  then  solemnly 
revoked  his  recantation,  adding,  "  Forasmuch  as  my 
hand  offended,  writing  contrary  to  my  heart,  my 
hand  shall  first  be  punished  therefor ;  for  may  I 
come  to  the  lire,  it  shall  be  first  burned." 

Hardly  had  he  uttered  the  words  when  the 
Romanists,  filled  with  fury,  plucked  him  violently 
from  the  scaflbld,  and  hurried  him  off  to  the  stake. 
It  was  already  set  iip  on  the  spot  where  Ridley 
and  Latimer  had  suflered.  He  quickly  put  off  his 
garments,  anil  stood  in  his  shi-oud,  his  feet  bare, 
iiis  head  bald,  his  beard  long  and  thick — for  he  had 
not  sliaved  since  the  death  of  Edward  VI. — a  spec- 
tacle to  move  the  heart  of  friend  and  foe,  "  at  once 
the  martyr  and  the  penitent."  As  soon  as  the  fire 
approached  him,  he  sti-etched  out  his  right  arm, 
and  thrust  his  hand  into  the  flames,  saying, 
"That  imwoi-thy  right  hand  !"  He  kept  it  in  the 
fire,  excepting  that  he  once  wiped  with  it  the  drops 
from  his  brow,  till  it  was  consumed,  repeatedly 
exclaiming,  "That  unworthy  right  hand!"  The 
fierce  flame  now  suiTOunded  him,  but  he  stood  as 
unmoved  as  the  stake  to  which  he  was  bound. 
Raising  his  eyes  to  heaven,  and  breatliing  out  the 
prayer  of  Stephen,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit !" 
he  expired.'  No  marble  tomb  contains  his  ashes, 
no  cathedral  tablet  records  his  vii-tues,  no  epitaph 


preserves  his  memory;  nor  are  such  needed.  As 
Stiype  has  well  said,  "  His  martyrdom  is  his  monu- 
ment." 

Between  the  4th  of  Febiiiary,  l.")55,  when  Royers 
Vicar  of  St.  Sepulchre's,  was  burned  at  Smithfield, 
and  the  lath  of  November,  1558,  when  fi\e  martyrs 
were  burned  in  one  fire  at  Canterbury,  just  two 
days  before  the  death  of  the  queen,  not  fewer  than 
288  persons,  according  to  the  estimate  of  Lord 
Burleigh,  were  burned  alive  at  the  stake.  Be- 
sides these,  numbei-s  perished  by  imprisonment, 
by  torture,  and  by  famine.  Mary  did  all  this  with 
the  full  approval  and  sanction  of  her  conscience. 
Not  a  doubt  had  she  that  in  burning  her  Protestant 
subjects  she  was  doing  God  service.  Her  con- 
science did  indeed  rejjroach  her  before  her  death, 
but  for  what?  Not  for  the  blood  she  had  .shed,  but 
because  she  had  not  done  her  work'more  thoroughly, 
and  in  particular  for  not  having  made  full  restitu- 
tion of  the  abbey  lands  and  other  projJerty  of  the 
Church  which  had  been  appropriated  by  the  crown. 
Her  morose  temper,  and  the  estrangement  of  her 
husband,  were  now  hastening  her  to  the  gi'ave ; 
but  the  nearer  she  drew  to  it,  she  but  the  more 
hastened  to  multiply  her  victims,  and  her  last  days 
were  cheered  by  watching  the  baleful  fires  that  lit 
up  her  realm,  and  made  her  reign  notorious  in 
English  history. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


ELIZABETH RESTORATION    OF    THE    PROTESTANT   CHURCH. 

Joy  at  Mary's  Death— A  Dark  Year- The  Accession  of  Elizabeth— Instant  Ai-rest  of  Persecution— Protestant  Policy 
— DiiEculties— The  Litany  and  Gospels  in  English— Preaching  Forbidden— Cecil  and  Bacon— Parliament— Re- 
storation of  the  Eoyal  .Supremacy— Act  of  Uniformity— Alterations  in  the  Prayer  Book— The  Sacrament- 
Disputation  betwfen  Eomish  and  Protestant  Tlieologians— Excommunication  Delayed— The  Papists  Frequent 
the  Parish  Chui-ches- The  Pulpit— Stone  Pulpit  at  Paul's  Cross— The  Sermons— Visitation  Articles— Additional 
Homilies— Cranmer,  &e..  Dead,  yet  Speaking— Eetum  of  the  Marian  Exiles— -Jewell— New  Bishops— Preachers 
sent  through  the  Kingdom— Progress  of  England— The  Royal  Supremacy. 


QuKEX  ^[arv  Ijreathed  her  last  on  the  morning  of 
tlu;  1 7th  November,  1 558.  On  the  same  day,  a  few 
houi-s  later,  died  Cardinal  Pole,  who  with  Carranza, 
her  Spanish  confessor,  h;id  been  Mary's  chief  coun- 
sellor in  tlu)SO  misdeeds  which  have  given  eternal 
infamy  to  lier  reign.  The  Parliament  was  then  in 
session,  and  Heath,  Archbisho])  of  York,  and  Chan- 
cellor of  England,  notified  to  the  House  the  death 
of  the  Queen.     The  raomljers  stai-ted  to  their  feet, 

'  Fox.     Strype,  Mem.  of  Crannier,  p.  371  et  seq. 


and  shouted  out,  "God  save  Queen  Elizabeth!" 
The  news  of  Mary's  decease  sjjcedily  circulated 
through  London :  in  the  afternoon  every  steeple 
sent  forth  its  ])eal  of  joy  :  in  the  evening  bonfires 
were  liglited,  ami  the  citizens,  setting  tables  in  the 
street,  and  l)rin,giug  forth  bread  and  wine,  "  did 
eat,  drink,  and  rejoice."  Everywhere,  as  the  intel- 
ligence travelled  down  to  the  to\TOs  and  counties  of 
England,  the  bells  were  set  a-ringing,  and  men,  ai^ 
they  met  on  the  liighways,  gnisped  each  other  liy 
the  liand,  and  exchanged  mutual  congratulations. 


432 


HISTOEY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Tlie  nation  awoke  as  from  a  horrible  nightmare  ;  it 
saw  the  troop  of  dismal  spectres  -n-hich  had  filled 
the  darkness  taking  flight,  and  a  future  approach- 
ing in  which  there  would  no  more  be  spies  prowling 
from  house  to  house,  officere  dragging  men  and 
women  to  loathsome  gaols,  executioners  torturing 
them  on  racks,  and  tying  them  with  iron  chains  to 
stakes  and  burning  them  ;  no  more  Latin  Litanies, 
muttered  masses,  and  shaven  priests ;  it  saw  a 
future  in  which  the  Bible  would  be  permitted  to  be 
read,  in  which  the  Gosjiel  would  again  lie  preached 
in  the  mother  tongue  of  old  England,  and  quiet  and 
prosperity  would  again  bless  the  afflicted  land. 

There  is  no  gloomier  year  in  the  history  of 
England  than  the  closing  one  in  the  reign  of  Mary. 
A  concurrence  of  diverse  calamities,  which  mostly 
had  their  root  in  the  furious  bigotry  of  the  queen, 
afflicted  the  country.  Intelligence  was  decaying, 
morals  were  being  coiTupted,  through  the  introduc- 
tion of  Spanish  maxims  and  manners,  commerce 
languished,  for  the  nation's  energy  was  relaxed,  and 
confidence  was  destroyed.  Drought  and  tempests 
had  induced  scarcity,  and  famine  brought  plague  in 
its  rear ;  strange  maladies  attacked  the  pojjulation, 
a  full  half  of  the  inhabitants  fell  sick,  many  to\TOs 
and  villages  were  almost  depopulated,  and  a  sufli- 
cient  number  of  labourers  could  not  be  found  to 
reap  the  harvest.  In  many  places  the  gi'ain, 
instead  of  being  can-ied  to  the  barn-yard,  stood  and 
rotted  in  the  field.  To  domestic  calamities  were 
added  foreign  humiliations.  Calais  was  lost  in  this 
reign,  after  having  been  two  centuries  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  English  crown.  The  kingdom  was 
becoming  a  satrapy  of  Spain,  and  its  prestige  was 
year  by  year  sinking  in  the  eyes  of  foreign  Powers. 
"  It  was  visible,"  says  Burnet,  "  that  the  providence 
of  God  made  a  very  remarkable  difference,  in  all 
respects,  between  this  poor,  short,  and  despised 
reign,  and  the  glory,  the  length,  and  the  prosperity 
of  the  succeeding  reign."' 

^^^len  Elizabeth  ascended  the  thi-one,  the  gloom 
instantly  passed  from  the  realm  of  Great  Britain. 
Tlie  prisons  were  opened,  the  men  whom  Mary 
had  left  to  be  burned  were  released,  the  fires 
which  were  blazing  all  over  England  were  extin- 
guished; and  the  machinery  of  persecution  which 
up  to  that  moment  had  been  vigorou.sly  worked,  in- 
spiring fear  and  terror  in  the  heart  of  every  fiiend 
of  religious  liberty,  was  arrested  and  stood  still. 
Tlie  yoke  of  the  tyrant  and  the  bigot  now  rent 
from  off  the  nation's  neck,  England  rose  from  the 
dii.st,  and  rekindling  the  lamp  of  truth,  started  on 
a  career  of  political  freedom  and  commercial  pros- 

'  Burnet,  vol.  in.,  bk.  v.,  p.  394;  Lond.,  1820. 


perity,  in  which,  with   a  few   exceptional  periods', 
there  has  been  no  pau.se  from  that  day  to  this. 

When  Elizabeth  received  the  intelligence  of  her 
sister's  death  and  her  own  accession  she  repaired 
to  the  Tower,  as  wa.s  the  ancient  custom  of  the 
sovereigns  of  England  before  being  ci'owued.  On 
crossing  its  threshold,  remembering  that  but  a  few 
years  before  she  had  entered  it  as  a  prisoner,  with 
little  hope  of  ever  leaving  it  save  for  the  scaffold, 
she  fell  on  her  knees,  and  gave  thanks  to  God  for 
preser^-ing  her  life  in  the  midst  of  so  many  enemies 
and  intrigues  as  had  surrounded  her  duiing  her 
sister's  life-time.  As  she  passed  through  the  streets 
of  London  on  her  coronation-da}',  a  copy  of  the 
Bible  was  presented  to  her,  which  she  gi-aciously 
received.  The  people,  whom  the  atrocities  of  the 
past  reign  had  taught  to  value  the  Reformation 
more  highly  than  before,  hailed  this  as  a  token  that 
with  the  new  sovereign  was  returning  the  religion 
of  the  Bible. 

Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne  with  the  sincere 
purpose  of  restoring  the  Protestant  religion ;  but 
the  work  was  one  of  immense  difficulty,  and  it  was 
only  in  the  exercise  of  most  consummate  caution 
and  piiidence  that  she  could  hope  to  conduct  it  to 
a  successfid  issue.  On  all  sides  she  was  surrounded 
by  gi-eat  dangers.  The  clergy  of  her  realm  were 
mostly  Papists.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Marian  bishops 
her  title  was  more  than  doubtful,  as  the  daughter 
of  one  whose  claim  to  be  the  ^\Tfe  of  Hemy  VIII. 
they  disputed.  The  learned  divines  and  eloquent 
preachers  who  had  been  the  strength  of  Protests 
antism  in  the  reign  of  her  brother  Edward,  had 
perished  at  the  stake  or  had  been  driven  into  exile. 
Abroad  the  dangei-s  were  not  less  great.  A  Pro- 
testant policy  would  expose  her  to  the  hostility  of 
the  Popish  Powers,  as  she  very  soon  felt.  The 
Duke  of  Feria,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  let  her 
understand  that  his  master  was  the  Catholic  king, 
and  was  not  disposed  to  permit,  if  his  power  could 
prevent,  the  establishment  of  heresy  in  England." 
But  her  chief  cUfficulty  was  with  the  court  of  Rome 
When  her  accession  was  intimated  to  Paul  IV.,  he 
declaimed  "  that  she  could  not  succeed,  being  ille- 
gitimate ;  and  that  the  crown  of  England  being 
a  fief  of  the  Popedom,  she  had  been  guilty  of  gi'eat 
presumption  in  assuming  it  without  his  consent." 

Elizabeth  laboured  under  this  further  disadvan- 
tage, that  if  on  the  one  liand  her  enemies  were 
numerous,  on  the  other  her  friends  were  few. 
There  was  scarcely  to  be  fomid  a  Protestant  of 
tried  statesmanship  and  patriotism  whom  she  could 
summon   to   her  aid.     The  queen  was  alone,  in  a 

-  Burnet,  vol.  iii.,  bk.  vi.,  p.  '96. 


141 


llEWS    IN    THE    TOWER    OF    LONDON. 


4:31 


in«TOUY   OF   rROTESTAXTIS.M. 


sort.  Her  excliequor  was  pooi-ly  rt'pleuishtil ;  she 
li:i(l  110  udcqiuito  force  to  defend  her  thvono  should 
it  lie  .vssiiiled  by  rebellion  within,  or  by  war  abroad. 
Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  all  these  hazards  the  young 
queen  resolved  to  proceed  in  the  restoration  of  the 
Protestant  worship.  That  her  advance  was  slow, 
that  her  acts  were  sometimes  inconsistent,  and 
even  retrogressive,  that  she  excited  the  hopes  and 
alarmed  the  fears  of  both  parties  by  turns,  is  not 
much  to  be  wondered  at  when  the  innumerable 
jicrils  through  which  she  had  to  thread  her  path 
are  taken  into  account. 

The  lirst  alteration  which  she  ventured  upon  was 
to  enjoin  the  Litany  and  the  Epistle  and  Gospel  to 
be  read  in  English,  and  to  forbid  the  elevation  of 
the  Host.  This  was  little,  yet  it  was  a  turning  of 
the  face  away  from  Rome.  Presuming  on  the 
queen's  reforming  disposition,  some  of  the  more 
zealous  began  to  pull  down  the  images  :  Elizabeth 
bade  them  hold  theii"  hand ;  there  were  to  be  no 
more  changes  in  worship  till  the  Parliament  should 
assemble.  It  was  summoned  for  the  27th  of 
Januaiy,  I.T.jO.  Meanwhile  all  preaching  was 
forbidden,  and  all  preacher.s  were  sUenced,  except 
iuich  as  might  obtain  a  special  licence  from  the 
bLshop  or  the  Council.  This  prohibition  ha.s  been 
severely  censured,  and  some  have  seen  in  it  an  as- 
sumption of  power  "  to  open  and  shut  heaven,  so 
that  the  heavenly  rain  of  the  evangelical  doctrine 
should  not  fall  but  according  to  her  word;"'  but  this 
is  to  forget  the  altogether  exceptional  condition  of 
England  at  that  time.  The  pulpits  were  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Papists,  and  the  use  they  would  have 
made  of  them  would  have  been  to  defend  the  doc- 
ti-ine  of  transubstantiation,  and  to  excite  popular 
odium  against  the  queen  and  the  measures  of  her 
Government.  Instead  of  sermons,  which  would 
have  been  only  ajiologies  for  Popery,  or  incite- 
ments to  sedition,  it  was  better  surely  to  restrict 
tlie  preachers  to  the  reading  of  the  homilies,  by 
which  a  certain  amount  of  much-needed  Scriptural 
knowledge  would  be  tlillused  amongst  the  people. 

The  same  cautious  policy  governed  Elizabeth 
in  her  choice  of  councillors.  She  did  not  dismiss 
tlie  men  who  had  served  under  her  sister,  but  she 
neutralised  their  influence  b}'  joining  others  witli 
them,  favourable  to  the  Picformation,  and  the  su- 
]jiTiorily  of  whose  talents  wovdd  secure  their 
ascendency  at  the  council-board.  Especially  she 
called  to  her  side  William  Cecil  and  Nicholas 
Bacon,  two  men  of  s])ecial  aptitude.  The  first 
she  made  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  second  Lord 

'  Professor  Bnico,  Tlie  EcdesiasticnJ  Supremacy  Annexed 
to  the  English  Crown,  p.  3-1 ;  Edin.,  1802. 


Keeper,  in  the  loom  of  ^Vrchbishop  Heatii,  who 
resigned  the  jjost  of  Chancellor.  The  choice  was 
a  happy  one,  and  gave  early  proof  of  that  rare 
insight  which  enabled  Elizabeth  to  select  with 
unerring  judgment,  from  the  statesmen  around 
her,  those  who  were  best  able  to  serve  the 
country,  and  most  worthy  of  her  confidence. 
Cecil  and  Bacon  had  lived  in  times  that  taught 
them  to  be  wary,  and,  it  may  be,  to  dissemble. 
Both  were  sincerely  attached  to  the  Reformed 
f  iith ;  but  both  feared,  equally  with  the  q\ieen, 
the  danger  of  a  too  rapid  advance.  Of  large  com- 
prehension and  keen  foresight,  both  efficiently  and 
faithfully  served  the  mistress  who  had  done  them 
the  honour  of  this  early  choice. 

The  Parliament  met  on  the  day  appointed — the 
27th  of  January,  1559.  The  session  was  com- 
menced ■with  a  luianimous  declaration  that  Queen 
Elizabeth  was  "  the  lawful,  undoubted,  and  true 
heir  to  the  crown."  The  laws  in  favour  of  the 
Protestant  religion  which  had  been  passed  under 
Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.,  but  which  Mary 
had  abolished,  were  re-enacted.  Convocation,  ac- 
cording to  its  usual  practice,  assembled  at  the 
same  time  with  Parliament.  Foreseeing  the  re- 
forming policy  which  the  Commons  were  likely 
to  adopt,  the  members  of  Convocation  lost  no  time 
in  passing  resolutions  declaring  their  belief  in 
transubstantiation,  and  maintaining  the  exclusive 
right  of  the  clergy  to  determine  points  of  faith. 
This  was  on  the  matter  to  tell  Parliament  that 
the  Pope's  authority  in  England,  as  re-estab- 
lished by  Mary,  was  not  to  be  touched,  and  that 
the  ancient  religion  must  dominate  in  England. 
The  Commons,  however,  took  their  own  course. 
The  Parliament  abolished  the  authority  of  the 
Pope.  The  royal  supremacy  was  restored ;  it 
being  enacted  that  all  in  authority,  civil  and 
ecclesiastical,  should  .swear  that  they  acknowledged 
the  queen  to  be  "  the  supreme  governor  in  all 
causes,  as  well  ecclesiastical  as  temporal,  within 
her  dominions ;  that  they  renounced  all  foreign 
power  and  jurisdiction,  and  should  bear  the  queen 
fiiith  and  true  allegiance."'  The  same  Parliament 
passed  (April  28th,  1559)  the  Act  of  Uniformity 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  enjoining  all 
ministers  "  to  say  and  use  the  matins,  even-song, 
celebration  of  the  Lord's  Sup]5er,  itc,  as  authorised 
by  Parliament  in  the  5th  and  6th  year  of  Edward 
VI."  A  few  .alterations  and  additions  were  made 
in  the  Prayer  Book  as  finally  enacted  under 
Elizabeth,  the  most  important  of  which  was  the 
introduction  into  it  of  the  two  modes  of  dispens- 

=  Act  1  Elizabetli,  cap.  1. 


DISPUTATION   IN   WESTMINSTER    ABBEY. 


435 


ill"  the  Sacrament  -wliich  had  been  used  under 
Ethvard  VI.,  the  one  at  the  beginning  and  th.e 
other  at  the  close  of  his  reign.  The  words  to  ))e 
used  at  the  delivery  of  the  elements — as  prescribed 
in  the  first  Prayer  Book  of  Edward — were  these : — 
"  The  Body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  was 
given  for  thee,  preserve  thy  body  and  soul  unto 
everlasting  life."  The  words  prescribed  in  the 
second  Prayer  Book  were  as  follow  : — "  Take  and 
eat  tliis  in  remembrance  that  Christ  died  for  thee, 
and  feed  on  him  in  thy  heart  by  faith  with  thanks- 
giving." The  communicant  might  interpret  the 
first  form,  if  he  chose,  in  the  sense  of  a  corporeal 
presence ;  the  second  excluded  that  idea,  and  con- 
veyed no  meaning  save  that  of  a  spii-itual  presence, 
to  be  apprehended  by  faith.  Both  formulas  were 
henceforth  conjoined  in  the  Communion  Service. 

The  tide  of  Eeformation,  though  flowing  slowly, 
was  yet  proceeding  too  fast  for  the  clergy,  and  they 
strove  to  stem  it — or  rather  to  turn  it  back — by 
irsisting  on  a  reply  to  their  resolutions  appi'oving 
of  transubstantiation,  sent  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  also  presented  to  the  queen.  They  at  last 
.succeeded  in  obtaining  an  answer,  but  one  they 
neither  expected  nor  desired.  A  public  debate  on 
the  points  at  issue  was  ordered  to  be  held  on  the 
last  day  of  March,  in  the  Abbey  of  Westminster. 
Fotu'  bishops,  and  four  other  divines  of  the  Roman 
school,  were  to  dispute  ■with  an  equal  number  of 
theologians  on  the  Protestant  side.  Cole,  Dean 
of  St.  Paul's,  figured  prominently  in  the  debate. 
"  He  delivered  himself,"  says  Jewell,  "with  great 
emotion,  stamping  with  his  feet,  and  putting  him- 
self as  in  convulsion.s."  The  dean  justified  the 
practice  of  perfonning  worship  in  a  dead  hmguage, 
by  affirming  that  the  apostles  divided  their  field  of 
labour  into  two  gi-eat  provinces — the  Eastern  and 
the  Western.  The  Western,  in  which  Latin  only 
was  spoken,  had  ftillen  to  the  lot  of  Peter  and 
Paul ;  the  Eastern,  in  which  Greek  only  was  to 
be  used,  had  been,  assigned  to  the  rest  of  the 
apostles.  But,  inasmuch  as  the  West  had  descended 
to  themselves  through  Peter  and  Paul,  it  became 
them  to  worship  in  the  ancient  and  only  legitimate 
language  of  that  provdnce.  It  was  not  the  least 
nocossaiy,  Cole  argued,  that  the  people  should 
underetand  the  worship  in  wliich  they  joined,  it 
wa-s  even  to  their  advantage  that  they  did  not, 
for  the  mystery  of  an  unkno^^^^  tongue  would 
make  the  worship  venerable  in  their  eyes  and 
gi-eatly  heighten  their  devotion.  Fecknam,  Al>bot 
of  Westmiustei-,  defended  the  cause  of  the  monastic 
orders  by  reference  to  the  sons  of  the  projiliets 
and  the  Nazarites  among  the  Jews,  and  the  yet 
weightier  example  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  who. 


he  maintained,  were  monks.  The  Lord  Keeper, 
who  presided,  had  frequent  occasion  to  reprove  the 
bishops  for  transgressing  the  rules  of  the  debate. 
The  Bishops  of  Winchester  and  Lincoln  angrily 
retorted  by  tlu-eatening  to  excommunicate  the 
queen,  and  were  committed  to  the  Tower.  The 
Popish  cause  lost  by  the  disputation,  and  the  Par- 
liament gathered  courage  to  return  with  bolder  steps 
to  that  order  of  things  which  had  existed  under 
Edward  YU 

Elizabeth,  having  determined  upon  a  Protestant 
policy,  saw  every  day  the  difiiculties  vanishmg  from 
her  path,  and  new  and  unexpected  aids  coming  to 
her  assistance.  The  task  was  not  .so  overwhelm- 
ingly diificult  after  all !  Two  sagacious  statesmen 
had  placed  their  genius  and  their  experience  at  her 
service.  This  was  her  first  encouragement.  Her 
way  had  been  smoothed,  moreover,  by  another  and 
a  very  difierent  ally.  Death  had  been  busy  in  the 
nation  of  late  ;  and,  as  if  proceeding  on  system,  the 
destroyer  had  levelled  his  shafts  against  the  more 
influential  and  zealous  upholders  of  Popery.  While 
the  enemies  of  the  queen  were  thus  being  thinned 
at  home,  abroad  the  aspect  of  the  horizon  was  less 
threatening  than  when  she  ascended  the  thi'one. 
The  death  of  Francis  II.,  and  the  distractions  that 
broke  out  during  the  minority  of  Charles  IX., 
weakened  the  Popish  combination  on  the  Con- 
tinent. Paul  IV.,  loth  to  think  that  England  was 
finally  lost,  and  cherishing  the  hope  of  reclaiming 
Elizabeth  from  her  perverse  course  by  mild 
measures,  forbore  to  pronounce  sentence  of  ex- 
communication— to  which  he  held  her  liable  for 
the  offence  of  intruding  into  a  fief  of  the  Papal 
See  without  his  consent.  His  successor  in  the 
Pontifical  chair,  Pius  IV.,  pursued  the  same 
moderate  course.  This  greatly  ftvcilitated  Eliza- 
beth's government  with  her  Popish  subjects.  Her 
right  to  her  crown  had  not  been  formally  annulled. 
The  Romanists  of  her  realm  had  not  been  dis- 
charged of  their  allegiance,  and  they  continued  to 
frequent  the  parish  churches  and  join  in  the  Pro- 
testant worship.  Thus  for  eleven  year.s  after 
Elizabeth's  accession  the  land  had  rest,  and,  in 
the  words  of  Fuller,  England  "  was  of  one  language 
and  one  speech."  The  delay  in  the  excommuni- 
cation never  yielded  the  fruits  which  the  Pojies 
expected  to  gather  from  it :  England  and  its  queen, 
instead  of  returning  to  the  Roman  obedience,  went 
on  their  wa}',  and  when  at  last  Pius  V.  fulminated 
the  sentence  wliich  had  so  long  hung  above  the 
head  of  the  English  monarch  it  was  little  heeded  ; 
the  sway  of  Eli7.abeth  had  by  this  time  been  in 


1  Bumet,  voL  m.,  bt.  vi.,  pp.  '102--U)5. 


436 


HISTORY   OF   PPvOTESTANTISM. 


some  (logi-ee  consoliilatcil,  ,t.u1  nianv  wlin  f•Ie^•pll 
yeai's  before  luitl  been  Papists,  were  now  convei-ts 
to  the  Protestant  faith. 

Amiil  many  injunctions  anil  ordinances  that 
halted  between  the  two  faiths,  and  which  tended  to 
conserve  the  old  superstition,  several  most  im- 
portant practical  steps  were  taken  to  diffuse  a 
knowledge  of  Protestant  truth  amongst  the  people. 
There  was  a  scarcity  of  both  books  and  preachers, 
and  the  efforts  of  the  queen  and  her  wise  ministers 
were  directed  to  the  object  of  remedying  that  de- 
ficiency. The  preacher  was  even  more  necessary 
than  the  book,  for  in  those  days  few  people  could 
read,  and  the  pulpit  was  the  one  great  vehicle  for  the 
diffusion  of  intelligence.  At  St.  Paul's  Cross  stood 
a  stone  puli)it,  which  was  a  centre  of  attraction 
in  Popish  times,  being  occupied  every  Sunday  by  a 
priest  who  descanted  on  the  virtue  of  relics  and  the 
legends  of  the  saints.  After  the  Pieformation  tliis 
powerful  engine  was  seized  and  worked  in  the 
interests  of  Protestantism.  The  weekly  assemblies 
around  it  continued,  and  increased,  but  now  the 
crowd  gathered  to  listen  to  the  exposition  of  the 
Scriptures,  or  the  exposure  of  Popish  error,  by  some 
of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Protestant  ministers. 
The  court  was  often  present,  and  generally  the 
sermon  was  attended  by  tlie  Lord  Mayor  and 
aldermen.  This  venerable  pulpit  had  served  the 
cause  of  truth  in  the  days  of  Edward  VI. :  it  was 
not  less  useful  in  the  times  of  Elizabeth.  Many  of 
the  sermons  preached  from  it  were  published,  and 
may  be  read  at  this  day  with  scarcely  less  delight 
than  was  experienced  by  those  who  heard  them  ; 
for  it  is  the  prerogative  of  deep  emotion — as  it 
is  of  high  genius — to  express  thought  in  a  form 
so  beautiful  that  it  will  live  for  ever. 

The  next  step  of  Elizabeth,  with  her  statesmen 
and  clergy,  was  to  issue  injunctions  and  visitation 
articles.  These  injunctions  sanctioned  the  demo- 
lition of  images  and  the  removal  of  altars,  and  tlie 
setting  up  of  tables  in  their  room.  Tlie  clergy  were 
required — at  least  four  times  in  the  year — to  de- 
clare that  the  Pope's  .supremacy  was  al)olished,  to 
jireach  against  the  use  of  images  and  i-elics,  against 
beads  in  j)rayer,  and  liglited  candles  at  the  altar  or 
Communion  table,  and  faithfully  to  declare  the  Word 
of  God.  Every  minister  was  enjoined  to  catechise 
on  every  second  Sunday — for  half  an  liour  at  least, 
before  evening  prayer — in  the  Ten  Commandments, 
the  Articles  of  the  Creed,  and  tlie  Lord's  Prayer. 
Curates  were  "to  read  distinctly,"  and  siich  as 
were  bnt  "  mean  readers  "  were  to  penise  "  once  or 
twice  beforehand  the  chapters  and  homilies  to  be 
read  in  jniljlic,  to  the  intent  they  may  read  to  the 
better  understanding  of  the  people."     Low  indeed 


must  both  teachers  and  taught  have  sunk  when 
such  injimctions  were  necessary  !  Elizabeth  and 
hor  Government  found  that  the  ignorance  which 
Popery  creates  is  one  of  its  strongest  defences,  and 
the  greatest  of  all  the  impediments  which  have  to 
be  surmounted  by  those  who  labour  for  the  eman- 
cipation of  nations  fallen  under  the  dominion  of 
Rome. 

It  was  against  that  ignorance  that  Elizabeth  and 
her  councillors  continued  to  direct  their  assaults. 
The  next  step,  accordingly,  was  the  publication  of 
the  Book  of  Homilies.  We  have  already  said  that 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  twelve  homilies  were 
published,  and  appointed  to  be  read  in  those 
cliiirches  in  which  the  ministers  were  disqualified 
to  preach.  The  clergy,  the  majority  of  whom  were 
secretly  friendly  to  the  Romish  creed,  contrived  to 
evade  the  Act  at  the  same  time  that  they  professed 
to  obey  it.  They  indeed  read  the  homily,  but  in  such 
a  way  as  to  frustrate  its  object.  The  minister 
"  wovild,"  says  Latimer,  "  so  hawk  and  chop  it, 
that  it  were  as  good  for  them  to  be  without  it, 
for  any  word  that  could  be  rmderatood."  Edward's 
Book  of  Homilies,  which  contained  only  twelve 
shoi-t  sermons,  was  to  be  followed  by  a  second 
book,  which  had  also  been  jirepared  by  the  same 
men — Cranmer,  Latimer,  and  othera ;  but  before 
it  could  be  published  Edward  died.  But  now  the 
project  was  revived.  Soon  after  Elizabeth  ascended 
the  throne,  the  first  Book  of  Homilies  was  re-pub- 
lished, and  along  with  it  came  the  second  series, 
which  had  lieen  prepared  liut  never  printed.  This 
last  book  contained  twenty  sermons,  and  both  sets 
of  homilies  were  appointed  to  be  read  from  the 
pulpit.  No  more  effectual  plan  could  have  been 
adojited  for  the  diffusion  of  Scriptural  knowledge, 
and  this  measure  was  as  necessary  now  as  in  the 
days  of  Edward.  A  great  retrogression  in  popular 
intelligence  had  taken  place  under  Mary ;  the 
priests  of  Elizabetli's  time  were  as  grossly  ignorant 
as  those  of  Edward's ;  the  majority  were  Papists  at 
heart,  and  if  allowed  to  preach  they  would  have  fed 
their  flocks  witli  faljle  and  Romish  error.  Those 
only  who  were  known  to  possess  a  competent  know- 
ledge of  the  Word  of  God  were  permitted  to  address 
congregations  in  their  own  words;  the  rest  were 
commanded  to  make  use  of  tlie  sermons  which  had 
been  prepared  for  the  instruction  of  the  nation. 
These  homilies  wei-e  golilen  cups,  filled  with  living 
waters,  and  when  the  people  of  England  pressed 
them  to  their  parched  lips,  it  well  became  them  to 
remember  whose  were  the  hands  that  had  replen- 
ished these  vessels  from  the  Divine  fountains. 
The  authors  of  the  homilies — Cranmer,  Ridley, 
Latuner — though  dead,  were  yet  speaking.-    They 


llETUEN   OF   THE    PROTECTANT   EXILES. 


43? 


had  perished  ;it  the  stake,  but  now  they  were 
preaching  by  a  thousand  tongues  to  the  people  of 
England.  Tyrants  liad  done  to  tliem  as  tliey 
listed ;  but,  lisen  from  the  dead,  these  martyrs 
were  marching  before  the  nation  in  its  glorious 
exit  from  its  house  of  bondage. 

The  mere  reading  of  the  Homilies  Sunday  after 
Sunday  was  much,  but  it  was  not  all.  The  qxieen's 
Injunctions  requu-ed  that  a  copy  of  the  Homilies, 
provided  at  the  expense  of  the  parish,  should  be  set 
up  in  all  the  churches,  so  that  the  people  might 
come  and  read  them.  ■  By  their  side,  "  one  book  of 
the  whole  Bible,  of  the  largest  volume  in  English," 
wiis  ordered  to  be  placed  in  every  church,  that 
those  who  could  not  purchase  the  Scriptures  might 
nevertheless  have  access  to  them,  and  be  able  to 
compare  with  them  tlie  doctrine  taught  in  the 
Homilies.  To  the  Bible  and  the  Homilies  were 
added  Erasmus's  Paraphrase  on  the  New  Testament, 
ulso  in  English.  And  when  the  famous  Apoloi/y 
of  Jewell,  one  of  the  noblest  expositions  of  Pro- 
testantism which  that  or  any  age  has  produced,  was 
written,  a  cojiy  of  it  was  ordered  to  be  placed  in  all 
the  cliurclies,  that  all  might  see  the  sum  of  doctrine 
held  by  the  Reformed  Church  of  England.  These 
measures  show  how  sincerely  the  queen  :uid  her 
councillors  were  bent  on  the  emancipation  of  the 
nation  from  the  yoke  of  Rome ;  and  the  instru- 
mentalities they  made  use  of  for  the  ditfusion  oi 
Protestantism  form  a  .sharp  contrast  to  the  means 
employed  under  I\Iary  to  convert  men  to  the 
Roman  wor.ship.  The  Reformers  set  up  the  Bible, 
the  Romanists  planted  the  stake. 

During  tlie  first  year  of  Elizabeth's  reign, 
though  there  lacked  not  thousands  of  clergy  in 
England,  the  laboui-ers  qualified  to  reap  the  fields 
now  white  unto  harvest  were  few  indeed.  But 
their  numbers  were  speedily  recruited  from  a 
q\iarter  where  the  storms  of  persecution  liad  for 
some  time  been  assembling  them.  When  the  great 
army  of  Protestant  preachers  at  Zurich,  at  Genc^•a, 
at  Striisbm-g,  and  at  other  foreign  towns  heard  tliat 
Elizabeth  was  on  the  throne,  they  instantly  jire- 
pared  to  return  iind  aid  in  the  Reformation  of  their 
native  land.  These  men  were  ricli  in  many  gifts 
— some  in  genius,  others  in  learning,  others  were 
nuistci-s  of  popular  eloquence,  and  all  were  men  of 
chastened  spirit,  rijie  Christians  and  scholars,  while 
their  views  had  been  enlarged  by  contact  with 
foreign  Protestants.  Their  arrival  in  England 
gi-eatly  strengthened  the  hands  of  those  who  were 
laliouring  to  reljuild  the  Protestant  edifice.  Among 
these  exiles  was  Jewell,  a  man  of  matchless  learning, 
whicli  liis  jiowerful  intellect  enabled  him  to  wield 
with  ease  and  gi-ace,  and  v.'ho  by  his  incomparalile 


work,  the  Apoloijij,  followed  as  it  was  by  the 
Defence,  did  more  than  any  otlier  man  of  tliat  a-JC 
to  demonstrate  tlie  falsehood  of  the  Popish  sj-steni, 
and  the  imja'cgnable  foundations  in  reason  and 
truth  on  which  the  Protestant  Church  reposed. 
Its  publication  invested  the  Reformed  caiisc  in 
England  with  a  prestige  it  had  lacked  till  then. 
The  arrival  of  these  men  was  signally  opportune. 
The  Marian  bishops,  with  one  exception,  liad 
vacated  their  sees — not,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Pro- 
testants under  Mary,  to  go  to  prison  or  to  mar- 
tjTi'dom,  but  to  retire  on  pensions,  and  live  till  the 
end  of  their  days  in  security  and  affluence.  But 
the  embarrassment  into  which  they  expected  the 
Government  would  be  thrown  by  theii-  resignation 
was  obviated  by  the  appointment  to  the  vacant 
posts  of  men  who,  even  they  were  compelled  to 
acknowledge,  were  theii-  superiors  in  learning,  and 
whom  all  men  felt  to  be  immensely  their  superiors 
in  character.  Of  these  exiles  some  were  made 
bishoj^s,  others  of  them  declined  the  labours  and 
responsibilities  of  such  an  office,  but  all  of  them 
brought  to  the  service  of  the  Reformation  in 
England  an  undivided  heart,  an  ardent  piety,  and 
great  and  varied  learning.  The  queen  selected 
Matthew  Parker,  who  had  been  chaplain  to  her 
mother,  Anne  Boleyn,  to  fill  the  See  of  Canter- 
bury, vacant  since  tlie  death  of  Cardinal  Pole.  He 
was  consecrated  by  three  bishops  who  had  been  for- 
merly in  possession  of  sees,  which  they  had  been 
compelled  to  vacate  during  the  reign  of  Mary — 
Coverdale,  Scorey,  and  Barlowe.  Soon  after  his 
consecration,  the  primate  proceeded  to  fill  nji  the 
other  sees,  appointing  thereto  some  of  the  more 
distinguished  of  the  Reformers  ^\ho  had  returned 
from  exile.  Grindal  was  made  Bishop  of  London, 
Cox  of  Ely,  Sandys  of  Worcester,  and  Jewell  of 
Salisbury.  An  unusual  number  of  mitres  were 
at  this  moment  vacant  through  death  ;  only  four- 
teen men  who  had  held  sees  under  Mary  sur- 
vived, and  all  of  these,  one  excepted,  had,  as  we 
have  already  said,  resigned  ;  although  they  could 
hardly  plead  that  conscience  had  comiielled  them  (o 
this  step,  seeing  all  or  nearly  all  of  them  had 
supported  Henry  VIII.  in  his  assumption  of  the 
royal  sujjremacy,  which  they  now  refused  to 
acknowledge.  Of  the  9,400  i)arochial  clergy  then 
computed  in  England,  only  some  eighty  resigned 
their  livings.  The  retii'ement  of  the  whole  body 
would  have  been  attended  with  inconvenience,  and 
yet  tlieir  slender  qualifications,  and  their  languid 
zeal,  rendered  their  iiresence  in  the  Reformed  Church 
a  weakness  to  the  liody  to  which  they  continued  to 
cling.  It  was  .sought  to  counteract  their  apatliv, 
not  to    s;iy    op[ic>sition,  by    permitting   them  only 


438 


HISTORY  OP  PROTESTANTISM. 


the  humble  task  of  reading  the  homilies,  and  by 
sending  better-fpialitied  men,  so  far  as  they  could 
lie  found,  throughout  England,  on  preaching  tours. 
"  In  the  beginning  of  August,  1559,"  says  Burnet, 
"  preiichers  were  sent  to  many  cliiTei'ent  parts  ; 
many  northern  counties  Vere  assigned  to  Sandys ; 


cesses,  though  not  those  of  the  gi'eatest  brilliancy, 
because  wanting  the  dramatic  incidents  that  gave 
such  glory  to  the  latter  half  of  her  reign.  In  these 
yeai-s  the  great  queen  is  seen  at  her  best.  With 
infinite  tact  and  sagacity,  aided  by  her  sage  ad- 
viser Cecil,  she  is  beheld  threading  her  way  through 


^^-rWy 


QVEEN  ELIZABETH.     (From  the  Portrait  bj  Zucchero,  1575.) 


Jewell  had  a  large  province — he  was  to  make  a 
circuit  of  many  hundred  miles,  through  Berk.shire, 
Gloucestershire,  Somersetshire,  Devonshii-e,  Corn- 
wall,  Dorsetshire,  and  Wiltshire."  ' 

The  first  eleven  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign  were 
those  in  which  the  Protestantism  of  England  took 
root,  and  the  way  was  prepared  for  those  splendid 
results  that  were  to  follow.  These  eleven  years 
were   likewise   those   of  Elizabeth's   greatest   suc- 


Bumet,  vol.  lu.,  bk.  vi.,  p.  406. 


innumerable  labyrinths  and  pitfalls.  When  she 
ascended  the  throne  England  was  a  chaos;  which- 
ever way  she  turned,  she  beheld  only  tremendous 
difliculties ;  but  now  oi'der  has  emerged  from  the 
confusion ;  her  throne  is  powerful,  her  arsenals 
ai'e  stored  with  arms,  her  dockyards  with  ships, 
the  Protestant  faith  is  established  in  her  realm, 
genius  and  learning  flourish  imder  her  sceptre, 
and  the  name  of  England  has  again  become  a 
terror  to  her  foes.  So  long  as  Elizabeth  pursues 
her  reforming  path,  obstacle  after  obstacle  vanishes 


THE   REFORMATION    UNDER   ELIZABETH. 


439 


before  her,  and  herself  and  her  kingdom  wax  ever 
the  stronger. 

But  the  point  at  which  Protestantism  finally 
halted  under  Elizabeth  was  somewhat  below  that 
which  it  had  reached  under  Edward  VI.  For  this 
various  reasons  may  be   assigned.     The  queen,  as 


was  this  her  object  in  the  restoration  into  the 
administration  of  the  Loi'd's  Supper  of  both  forms 
of  words  prescribed  in  the  two  Prayer  Books  of 
Edward.  The  union  of  the  two  forms,  the  one 
appearing  to  favour  the  corporeal  presence,  the 
other  convej'ing  the  spiritual  sense,  obscured  the 


VIEW    OF    THE    WEST    TOUCH    OF    UOCIIESTER    CATHEDRAL. 


Ilcylin  hints,  loved  a  gorgeous  worship  as  well  as 
a  magnificent  state  ceremonial — hence  the  images 
and  lighted  tapers  which  the  queen  retained  in 
her  own  chapel.  But  the  prevailing  motive  with 
Elizabeth  was  doubtless  the  desire  to  disarm  the 
Pope  and  the  Popish  Powers  of  the  Continent  by 
conciliating  the  Pa]iists  of  England,  and  drawing 
them  to  worship  in  the  parish  churches.  This  was 
the  end  she  had  in  view  in  the  changes  which  she 
introduced  into  the  Prayer  Book;  and  especially 


doctrLne  of  the  Eucharist,  and  enabled  the  Papist 
to  say  that  in  receiving  the  Eucharist  he  had  par- 
taken in  the  ancient  Roman  mass.  But  the  great 
defect,  wc  are  disposed  to  tlulik,  in  the  English 
Reformation  was  the  want  of  a  body  of  canons  for 
the  government  of  the  Church  and  the  regulation 
of  spuitual  afl'aiis.  A  code  of  laws,  as  is  well 
known,  was  draw^l  up  by  Cranmer,'  and  was  ready 

■  KeJ'onnaiio  Legum  EcdcsMsticarum. 


uo 


HISTOEY   OF   PE0TESTANTIS:M. 


for  tlie  signature  of  Edward  VI.  wlien  ho  died.  It 
was  revived  under  Elizabeth,  with  a  view  to  its 
legal  enactment;  but  the  queen,  thinking  that  it 
trenched  upon  her  supremacy,  would  not  hear  of 
it.  Thus  left  without  a  disciiiline,  the  Church 
of  England  has,  to  a  large  extent,  been  dependent 
on  the  will  of  the  sovereign  as  regards  its  govern- 
ment. Touching  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
jiower  embodied  in  the  royal  supremacy,  the 
divines  of  the  Church  of  England  have  all  along 
held  different  opinions.  The  first  Reformers  re- 
garded the  hcadshijJ  of  the  sovereign  mainly  in 
the  light  of  a  protest  against  the  usurped  authority 
of  the  Pope,  and  a  declaration  that  the  king  was 
supreme  over  all  classes  of  his  subjects,  and  head  of 
the  nation  as  a  mixed  civil  and  ecclesiastical  cor- 
poration. The  "headshijj"  of  the  Kings  of  England 
did  not  vest  in  them  one  important  branch  of  the 
Papal  headship — that  of  exercising  spiritual  func- 
tions. It  denied  to  them  the  right  to  preach,  to 
ordain,  and  to  dispense  the  Sacraments.  But  not 
less  tnie  is  it  that  it  lodged  in  them  a  spiritual 
jurisdiction,  and  it  is  the  limits  of  that  jurisdiction 
that  have  all  along  been  matter  of  debate.  Some 
have  maintained  it  in  the  widest  sense,  as  being  an 


entire  and  perfect  jurisdiction ;  othei'S  have  argued 
that  this  jurisdiction,  though  lodged  in  a  temporal 
functionary,  is  to  be  exercised  through  a  spiritual 
instrumentality,  and  therefore  is  neither  inconsis- 
tent -with  the  nature  nor  hostile  to  the  liberties  of 
the  Church.  Others  have  seen  in  the  supremacy  of 
the  crown  only  that  fair  share  of  influence  and 
authority  which  the  laity  are  entitled  to  exercise  in 
spiiitiial  things.  The  clergy  frame  ecclesiastical 
enactments  and  Parliament  sanctions  them,  say 
they,  and  this  dual  go\'ernment  is  in  meet  corre- 
spondence with  the  dual  constitution  of  the  Church, 
which  is  composed  partly  of  clerics  and  partly  o£ 
laics.  It  is  ours  here  not  to  judge  between  opinions, 
but  to  narrate  facts,  and  gather  up  the  verdict  of 
histoiy ;  and  in  that  capacity  it  remains  for  us  to 
say  that,  while  history  exliibits  ojiinion  touching 
the  royal  supremacy  as  flowing  in  a  varied  and 
conflicting  ciUTent,  it  shows  us  the  actual  exercise 
of  the  prerogative — whether  as  regards  the  rites 
of  worship,  admission  to  benefices,  or  the  deter- 
mination of  controversies  on  faith — as  proceeding 
in  but  one  direction,  namely,  the  government  of 
the  Chm-ch  by  the  sovereign,  or  a  secular  body 
representing  him.' 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


EXCOMMUNICATION    OF   ELIZ.iBETH,    AND    PLOTS   OF   THE   JESUITS. 

England  the  Head-quarters  of  Protestantism — Its  Subjugation  Eesolved  upon— Excommunication  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
—Jesuits — Assassins — Dispensation  to  Jesuits  to  take  Orders  in  the  Church  of  England— The  Nation  Broken  into 
Two  Parties— Colleges  Erected  for  Training  Seminary  Priests— Campion  and  Parsons — Their  Plan  of  Acting — 
Campion  and  his  Accomplices  Executed — Attempts  on  the  Life  of  Elizabetli—Somerville— Parry— The  Babington 
Conspiracy— Ballard— Savage— Babington— The  Plot  Joined  by  France  and  Spain — Mary  Stuart  Accedes  to  it- 
Object  of  the  Conspiracy— Discovery  of  the  Plot— Execution  of  the  Conspuutors. 


When  Elizabeth  was  at  the  weakest,  the  sudden 
conversion  of  an  ancient  foe  into  a  fii-m  ally 
brought  her  unexpected  help.  So  long  as  Scotland 
was  Poj)isli  it  w:us  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  Elizabeth, 
but  the  establishment  of  its  Reformation  in  15  GO, 
under  Knox,  made  it  one  in  j)olicy  as  in  faith  with 
England.  Up  till  this  period  a  close  alliance  had 
subsisted  between  Scotland  and  France,  and  the 
union  of  these  two  crowns  threatened  the  gravest 
danger  to  Elizabeth.  The  heiress  of  the  Scot- 
tish kingdom,  Mary  Stuart,  was  the  wife  of 
Francis  II.  of  France,  who  ou  ascending  the 
throne  had  openly  assumed  the  title  and  arms  of 
England,  and  made  no  secret  of  his  purpose  to 
invade  that  country  and   place  his  queen,   Mary 


Stuart,  upon  its  thi-one.  In  this  project  he  was 
strongly  encouraged  by  the  Guises,  so  noted  for 
their  ambition  and  so  practised  in  intrigue.  The 
way  to  cany  out  his   design,   as   it  appeared   to 


'  Those  who  wish  to  see  at  full  length  the  different 
opinions  which  have  been  maintained  by  divines  on  the 
royal  supremacy,  may  consult,  among  other  works, 
Strype,  Ecclcs.  Mem.  BilAiothcca  Scriptonun  Ecclcsia  Angli- 
coiKT,  1709;  Becanus  (a  Jesuit),  Dissidium  AngUcanum  dc 
Primatu,  Rcr/is,  1612  ;  Madox,  Vindication  of  the  Church  of 
England;  Professor  Archibald  Bruce,  Dissertation  on  the 
Supremacy  of  Civil  Powers,  &c.,  1802 ;  Dr.  Blakeney,  His- 
farij  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  1870  ;  Dr.  Pusey,  The 
Soyal  Svpremacy  not  an  Arbitrary  Anthoritii,  \SM  ;  Warren, 
The  Queen  or  the  Pope,  1851 :  Ciumingliam,  Discussion  on 
Church  Principles,  chap.  G,  ISCJ. 


EXCO^rJIUXTCATTON    OF   ELIZABETH. 


441 


tlio  Froncli  Icini:;,  was  to  pour  liis  Koldicrs  into  his 
wife's  heroditary  kingdom  of  Scotland,  and  thon 
descend  on  England  from  the  north  and  dethi-one 
Elizabeth.  The  scheme  was  proceeding  with  every 
promise  of  success,  when  the  progress  of  the  Re- 
formation in  Scotland,  and  the  conse(pient  expulsion 
of  the  French  from  that  country,  completely  de- 
ranged all  the  plans  of  the  court  of  France,  and 
converted  that  very  country,  in  which  the  Papists 
trusted  as  the  instrument  of  Elizabeth's  overthrow, 
into  her  firmest  support  and  security.  So  mar- 
vellously was  the  path  of  Elizabeth  smoothed,  and 
her  throne  preserved. 

We  have  briefly  traced  the  measures  Elizabeth 
adopted  for  the  Reformation  of  her  kingdom  on  her 
accession,  and  the  prosperity  and  power  of  England 
at  the  close  of  the  first  decade  of  her  reign.  Not 
a  year  passed,  after  she  unloosed  her  neck  from  the 
yoke  of  Rome,  that  did  not  see  a  marked  advance 
in  England's  greatness.  Wliile  the  Popish  Powers 
around  her  were  consuming  their  strength  in  in- 
ternal conflicts  or  in  foreign  wars,  which  all  had 
their  root  in  their  devotion  to  the  Papal  See, 
England  was  husbanding  her  force  in  unconscious 
anticipation  of  those  great  tempests  that  were  to 
burst  upon  her,  but  which  instead  of  issuing  in  her 
destruction,  only  aSbrded  her  opportunity  of  dis- 
playing before  the  whole  world,  the  spirit  and 
resource  she  had  derived  from  that  Protestantism 
which  brought  her  victoriously  out  of  them. 

It  was  now  becoming  clear  to  the  Popish  Powers, 
and  most  of  all  to  the  reigning  Po])e,  Pius  V.,  tliat 
the  Reformation  was  centring  itself  and  drawing 
to  a  head  in  England ;  that  all  the  Protestant  in- 
fluences that  had  been  engendered  in  the  various 
countries  were  finding  a  focus — a  seat — a  throne 
within  the  four  seas  of  Great  Britain  ;  that  all  the 
several  countries  of  the  Reformation — France, 
Switzerland,  Geneva,  Germany,  the  Netherlands — 
wei'n  sending  each  its  special  contribution  to 
form  in  that  sea-girt  i.sle  a  wider,  a  more  consoli- 
dated, and  a  more  perfect  Protestantism  than 
existed  anywhere  else  in  Christendom  :  in  short, 
they  now  saw  that  British  Protestantism,  binding 
u])  in  one,  as  it  was  doing,  the  political  strength  of 
England  with  the  religious  power  of  Scotland,  was 
the  special  outcome  of  the  whole  Reformation — 
that  Britain  was  in  fact  the  Sacred  Capitol  to 
whicli  European  Protestantism  wa.s  boai-ing  in 
ti'iumjih  its  many  spoils,  and  where  it  was  found- 
ing its  em])ire,  on  a  wider  basis  than  either  Geneva 
or  Wittemberg  afforded  it.  Here  therefore  must 
t-he  great  battle  be  fought  which  was  to  detemiine 
wlicther  the  Refonnation  of  the  sixteenth  century 
was  to  establish  itself,  or  whether  it  was  to  turn 


out  a  failure.  Of  what  avail  was  it  to  suppress 
Protestantism  in  its  first  centres,  to  trample  it  out 
in  Germany,  in  Switzerland,  in  France,  wliile  a  new 
Wittemberg  and  a  new  Geneva  were  rising  in 
Britain,  with  the  sea  for  a  rampart,  and  the  throne 
of  England  for  a  tower  of  defence?  They  must 
crush  lieresy  in  its  head  :  they  nuist  cast  down  that 
haughty  throne  which  had  dared  to  lift  itself  above 
the  chaii-  of  Peter,  and  show  its  occupant,  and  the 
nation  she  reigned  over,  what  terrible  chastisements 
await  those  who  rebel  against  the  Vicar  of  Christ, 
and  Vicegerent  of  the  Eternal  Kuig.  Successful 
here,  they  should  need  to  fight  no  second  battle ; 
Great  Britain  subjugated,  the  revolt  of  the  six- 
teenth century  would  be  at  an  end. 

To  accomplish  that  supreme  object,  the  whole 
spiritual  and  temporal  amis  of  the  Popedom  were 
brought  into  vigorous  action.  The  man  to  strike 
the  first  blow  was  Pius  V.,  and  that  blow  was 
aimed  at  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  two  predecessors 
of  Pius  v.,  though  they  kept  the  sentence  of  ex- 
communication suspended  over  Elizabeth,  had,  as 
we  have  seen,  delayed  to  pronounce  it,  in  the  hope 
of  reclaiming  her  from  her  heresy  ;  but  the  queen's 
persistency  made  it  vain  longer  to  entertain  that 
hope,  and  the  energetic  and  intolerant  ecclesiastic 
who  now  occupied  the  Papal  throne  proceeded  to 
fulminate  the  sentence.  It  was  given  at  the 
Vatican  on  the  3rd  of  May,  1570.  After  large 
assertion  of  the  Pope's  power  over  kings  and 
nations,  the  bull  excommunicates  "  Elizabeth,  the 
pretended  Queen  of  England,  a  slave  of  ■\\'ickedness, 
lending  thereunto  a  helping  hand,  with  whom,  as  in 
a  sanctuary,  the  most  pernicious  of  all  men  have 
found  a  refuge.  This  very  woman  having  seized  on 
the  kingdom,  and  monstrously  usurjiing  the  supreme 
place  of  Head  of  the  Church  in  all  England,  and 
the  chief  authority  and  jurisdiction  thereof,  hath 
again  brought  back  the  said  kingdom  into  miserable 
destruction,  which  was  then  newly  reduced  to  the 
Catholic  faith  and  good  fruits." 

After  lengthened  enumeration  of  the  "  impieties 
and  wicked  actions  "  of  the  "  pretended  Queen  ot 
England,"  the  Pope  continues  :  "  We  do  out  of  the 
fulness  of  our  Apostolic  power  declare  the  aforesaid 
Elizabeth,  being  a  heretic,  and  a  favourer  of 
heretics,  and  her  adherents  in  the  mattei-s  afore- 
said, to  have  incun-ed  the  sentence  of  anatliema, 
and  to  be  cut  off  from  the  unity  of  the  body  of 
Cliiist.  And  moreover  we  do  declare  her  to  be 
deprived  of  her  pretended  title  to  the  kingdom 
aforesaid,  and  of  all  dominion,  dignity,  and  pri^•^- 

lege  whatsoever And  we  do 

command  and  interdict  all  and  every  the  noble- 
men, subjects,   people,   and  others   aforesaid,  that 


442 


HISTOEY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


they  presume  not  to  obey  Imr  or  her  niouitious, 
mandates,  and  laws ;  and  those  who  shall  do  the 
contrary,  we  do  sti-ike  with  the  like  sentence  of 
anathema." ' 

The  signal  having  been  given  from  thfe  Vatican, 
the  war  was  forthwith  commenced.  The  Papal  corps 
were  to  invade  the  land  in  separate  and  successive 
detachments.  Fu-st  came  the  sappers  and  miners, 
for  so  we  may  denominate  the  Jesuits,  who  followed 
in  the  immediate  wake  of  the  bull.  Next  appeared 
the  skii-mishei"s,  the  men  with  poignai-ds,  blessed 
and  sanctified  by  Rome,  to  take  off  the  leading  Pro- 
testants, and  before  and  above  all,  Elizabeth.  The 
heavier  troops,  namely  the  armies  of  the  Popish 
sovereigns,  were  to  arrive  on  the  field  in  the  close 
of  the  day,  and  provided  the  work  were  not  already 
done  by  the  Jesuit  and  the  assassin,  they  were  to 
do  what  remained  of  it,  and  complete  the  victory 
by  the  in-esistible  blow  of  ai-med  force.  Over  the 
great  ruin  of  throne  and  altar,  of  rights  and  liber- 
ties, the  Pajiacy  would  erect  once  more  its  pavilion 
of  darkness. 

In  tnith,  before  the  bull  of  excommunication  had 
been  issued,  the  Jesuits  had  entered  England. 
About  the  year  1567,  Parsons  and  Saunders  were 
found  itinerating  the  kingdom,  with  authority  from 
the  Pope  to  absolve  all  who  were  willing  to  return 
to  the  Roman  communion.  Cummin,  a  Dominican 
friar,  was  detected  in  the  garb  of  a  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  when  examined  by 
Ai'chbishop  Parker,  he  pleaded  that  although  he 
had  not  received  licence  from  any  English  bishop, 
he  had  nevertheless  in  preaching  and  praying  most 
strenuously  declaimed  against  the  Pope  and  the 
C'lnn-cli  of  Rome.  The  source  of  his  zeal  it  was  not 
diffioilt  to  divine.  The  dispute  respecting  vest- 
ments was  by  this  time  waxing  hot,  and  this 
emissary  had  been  sent  from  Rome  to  embitter 
the  strife,  and  divide  the  Protestants  of  England. 
Another  startling  discovery  was  made  at  this  time. 
Thomas  Heath,  brother  of  the  deprived  Archbishop 
of  York,  professed  the  highest  style  of  Puritanism. 
Preaching  one  day  in  the  Cathedral  of  Rochester, 
he  loudly  inveighed  against  the  Litm-gy  as  too 
little  Biblical  in  its  prayers.  On  descending  from 
the  pulpit  after  sermon,  a  letter  was  found  in  it 
which  he  had  dropped  while  preaching.  The  letter, 
which  was  from  an  eminent  Spanish  Jesuit,  re\'ealpd 
the  fact  that  this  zealous  Puritan,  whose  tender 
conscience  had  been  hurt  by  the  Prayer  Book,  was 
simply  a  Jesuit  in  disguise.     Heath's  lodgings  were 


'  Damnatio  et  Excommunicatio  EUzahethce  Rer/ina;  Ang- 
lim,  &.C.  Datum  Romoe,  &c.,  1570,  5  cal.  Maii,  Pontificatus 
Nostri  Anno  5. 


searched,  and  a  licence  was  found  from  the  Pope, 
authorising  him  to  preach  whatever  doctrines  he 
might  judge  best  fitted  to  inflame  the  animosities 
and  widen  the  divisions  of  the  Protestants.  The 
men  who  stole  into  England  under  this  disguise 
found  others,  as  base  as  themselves,  ready  to 
join  their  enterprise,  and  who,  in  fact,  had  retained 
then-  ecclesiastical  livings  in  the  hope  of  over- 
throwing one  day  that  Church  which  ranked  them 
among  her  miuLsters.  So  far  the  campaign  had 
proceeded  in  silence  and  seci'esy ;  the  first  overt 
act  was  that  which  we  have  ali'eady  narrated,  the 
fulmination  of  the  bull  of  1.570. 

This  effectually  broke  the  union  and  peace  wliich 
had  so  largely  prevailed  in  England  during  Eliza- 
beth's reign.  The  lay  Romanists  now  withdrew 
from  the  churches  of  an  excommunicated  worship ; 
they  grew  cold  towards  an  excommunicated  sove- 
reign ;  they  kept  aloof  from  theii-  fellow-subjects, 
now  branded  as  heretics ;  and  the  breach  was 
^videned  by  the  measures  the  Parliament  was  com- 
pelled to  adopt,  to  guard  the  jierson  of  the  queen 
from  the  murderous  attacks  to  which  she  now  began 
to  be  subjected.  Two  statutes  were  immediately 
enacted.  The  fii-st  declared  it  high  treason  "  to 
declare  that  the  queen  is  a  heretic  or  usui-per  of 
the  crown."  -  The  second  made  it  a  like  crime  to 
publish  any  bull  or  absolution,  from  Rome."  It 
was  shown  that  these  edicts  were  not  to  remain  a 
dead  letter,  for  a  copy  of  the  bull  of  excommuni- 
cation having  been  posted  xip  on  the  palace  gates 
of  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  the  person  who  had 
placed  it  there  discovered,  he  was  hanged  as  a 
traitor.  The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  which 
occurred  soon  after  (1572),  sent  a  thrill  of  terror 
through  the  court  and  nation,  as  the  possible  pre- 
cursor of  similar  scenes  in  England.  The  doom  of 
the  Huguenots  taught  Elizabeth  and  the  English 
Protestants  that  pledges  and  promises  of  peace 
were  no  security  whatever  against  sudden  and 
wholesale  destruction. 

A  school  was  next  established  to  rear  semmary 
priests  and  assassins.  The  catechism  and  the  dagger 
were  to  go  hand  in  hand  in  extirpating  English 
Protest.antism.  Father  Allen,  afterwards  ci'eated 
a  cardmal,  took  the  initiative  in  this  matter.  He 
founded  a  college  at  Douay,  in  the  north-east  of 
France,  and  .selecting  a  small  band  of  English 
yoiiths  he  carried  them  thither,  to  be  educated  as 
seminary  priests  and  afterwards  employed  in  the 
pervereion  of  their  native  land.  The  Pope  ap- 
proved so  entirely  of  the  plan  of  Father  Allen, 
that  he  created  a  similar  institution  at  Rome — the 


2  Act  13  Elizabeth,  cap.  1. 


'  Ibid.,  cap.  2. 


JESUIT   PLOTS   AGAINST   ELIZABETH. 


443 


Eu^di^li  Cullfij'e,'  which  he  endowed  with  tlic  pro- 
ceeds of  a  riuli  abbey.  Into  these  colleges  no 
student  was  admitted  till  first  he  had  gi\'en  a 
pledge  that  on  the  completion  of  liLs  studies  he 
would  return  to  England,  and  there  propagate  the 
faith  of  Rome,  and  generally  undertake  whatever 
.sor\'iee  his  superiors  might  deem  necessary  in 
a  country  whose  future  was  the  rising  or  falling  of 
the  Papal  power. 

Before  the  foreign  seminaries  had  liad  sufficient 
time  to  send  forth  qualified  agents,  two  students 
of  Oxford,  Edmund  Campion  and  lloliert  Pai'sons, 
repairing  to  Rome,  there  arranged  with  the  Jesuits 
the  ])lan  for  carrying  out  the  execution  of  the 
Pope's  bull  against  Queen  Elizabeth.  In  1580 
they  returned  and  commenced  operations.  They 
assumed  a  new  name  and  wore  a  diflerent  dress 
each  day.  "  Oiie  day,"  saj's  Fuller,  "  they  wore 
one  garb,  on  another  a  diflerent  one,  while  their 
nature  remained  the  same.  He  who  on  Sunday 
was  a  priest  or  Jesuit,  was  on  Monday  a  merchant, 
ou  Tuesday  a  soldier,  on  Wednesday  a  courtier; 
and  with  the  shears  of  equivocation  he  could  cut 
himself  into  any  sliape  he  pleased.  But  under  all 
tlii'ir  new  shapes  they  retained  their  old  nature."" 
Campion  made  the  south  of  England  his  field  of 
labour.  Parsons  travelled  over  the  north,  awakening 
the  Roman  Catholic  zeal  and  the  sjiirit  of  mutiny. 
They  lodged  iir  the  houses  of  the  Popish  nobles. 
1'heir  arrival  was  veiled  in  the  deepest  secresy , 
they  tanied  but  a  night,  employing  the  evening  in 
]ireparing  the  family  and  domestics  for  mass,  ad- 
ministering it  in  the  morning,  and  then  dej)artmg 
as  stealthily  as  they  had  come.  At  length  Campion 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  Privy  CouncU,  boldly 
avowing  his  enterprise,  which  was  to  revive  in 
Ijigland  "  the  fiiith  that  was  first  planted,  and 
must  be  restored ;"  and  boasting  that  the  Jesuits 
of  all  countries  were  leagued  together  for  this 
<il>ject,  and  would  never  desist  from  the  prosecution 
of  it  so  long  as  there  remained  one  man  to  hang  at 
Tyburn.  Ho  concluded  liy  demanding  a  disputa- 
tion at  which  the  queen  and  membere  of  the  Privy 
Council  shovdd  lie  present.^  A  warrant  was  issued 
for  his  apprehension.  He  was  seized  in  the  dis- 
guise of  a  soldier,  conveyed  to  the  Tower,  and  along 
with  Sherwin,  Kirby,  and  Briant,  his  accomjilices, 
executed  for  high  treason,  which  the  Act  ali-cady 
passed  declared  his  offence  to  be. 

Campion  and  Parsons  were  but  the  pioneers  of  a 
much  more  numerous  body.     Tho  training-schools 


at  Douaj',  at  Rheims,  and  at  Pome  now  began  to 
send  forth  men  who  were  adepts  in  all  the  arts 
which  the  enterptrise  requii-ed.  They  entered  Lon- 
don, they  crept  from  hou.se  to  house,  they  haunted 
the  precincts  of  the  court,  they  found  their  way 
into  the  pi-ovinces.''  In  Salop  alone  were  found 
not  fewer  than  100  recusants.'*  They  said  mass 
in  families,  gave  absolutions,  and  worked  per- 
severingly  to  pervert  the  people  at  once  from  the 
Protestant  faith  and  their  allegiance  to  Elizabeth. 
Every  year  their  numbers  were  recruited  by  fresh 
swanus.  They  held  re-unions,  which  they  styled 
synods,  to  concert  a  common  action ;  they  set  up 
secret  printing-presses,  and  began  to  scatter  over 
the  kingdom,  pamphlets  and  books,  written  with 
plausibility  and  at  times  with  eloquence,  attack- 
ing Protestantism  and  instilling  sedition ;  and 
these  works  had  the  greater  influence,  that  they 
had  come  no  man  knew  wdiither,  save  that  they 
issued  out  of  a  mysterious  darkness. 

The  impatience  of  these  men  to  see  England  a 
'  Popish  country  would  not  permit  them  to  wait  the 
realisation  of  their  hopes  by  the  slow  process  of 
instruction  and  perversion.  Some  of  them  carried 
more  powerful  weapons  for  effecting  their  enterprise 
than  rosaries  and  catechism.s.  They  came  armed 
with  stilettos  and  curious  poisons,  and  they  plunged 
into  plot  after  plot  against  the  queen's  life.  These 
machinations  kept  her  in  continual  apprehension 
and  anxiety,  and  the  nation  in  perpetual  alarm. 
Their  gi'and  project,  they  felt,  was  hojieless  while 
Elizabeth  lived  ;  and  not  being  able  to  wait  till  age 
should  enfeeble  her,  or  death  make  vacant  her 
throne,  they  watched  theu-  opportunity  of  taking 
her  off  with  the  poignard.  The  history  of  England 
subsequent  to  1580  is  a  continuous  record  of  these 
murderous  attempts,  all  springing  out  of,  and  justi- 
fying themselves  by,  the  bull  of  exconnnunication. 
In  1583,  Somerville  attempted  the  queen's  life,  and 
to  escape  the  disgrace  of  a  public  execution,  hanged 
himself  in  prison.  In  1584,  Parry's  treason  was 
discovered,  and  he  was  executed.  Strype  tells  us 
that  he  had  seen  among  the  papers  of  Lord  Burleigh 
the  Italian  letter  of  the  Cardinal  di  Como  to  Parry, 
conveying  the  Pope's  approval  of  his  intention  to 
kill  the  queen  when  liding  out,  accompanied  by  the 
full  pardon  of  all  his  sins."  Next  came  the  treason 
of  Throgmorton,  in  which  Mendoza  the  Spanish 
ambassador  was  found  to  be  imjilicated,  and  was 
sent  out  of  England.  Not  a  year  pa.ssed,  after 
tho  arrival  in  England  of  Campion  and  Parsons, 
wthout  an  insurrection  or  plot   in  some  part  of 


'  Strypo,  Annals,  vol.  iii.,  p.  4 

-  Fiillor,  bk.  ix.,  p.  130. 

^  Strype,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  32,  33. 


I ;  Lond.,  1V28, 


■•  Strypo,  vol.  iii.,  p.  30. 

<'  Ibid.,  p.  210. 


Hid.,  p.  43, 


444 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


the  queen's  dominions.  The  prisons  of  London 
contained  numerous  "  massing  priests,  sowers  of 
sedition,"  charged  ^^^th  disturliuig  the  public  peace, 
and  preaching  disaffection  to  the  queen's  govern- 
ment and  person.' 

In  i  586  came  the  Babiugton  conspiracy,  the  most 
formidable  and  most  widely  ramified  of  all  the 
treasons  hatched  against  the  life  and  throne  of 
Elizabeth.  It  originated  with  John  Ballard,  a 
priest  who  had  been  educated  at  the  seminary  of 
Rheims,  and  who,  revering  the  bull  of  excommuni- 
cation as  the  product  of  infallibility,  held  that 
Elizabeth,  having  been  excommunicated  by  the 
Pope,  ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  enjoy  her 
sceptre  or  her  life  an  hour  longer,  and  that  to 
deprive  her  of  both  was  the  most  acceptable  service 
he  could  do  to  God,  and  the  surest  way  of  earning 
a  cro\vn  in  Paradise.  Ballard  soon  found  numerous 
accomplices,  both  within  and  without  the  kingdom. 
One  of  the  first  to  joui  him  was  John  Savage,  who 
liad  served  in  the  Low  Countries  under  the  Duke 
of  Parma.  Many  gentlemen  of  good  family  in  the  ' 
midland  and  northern  counties  of  England,  zealots 
for  the  ancient  religion,  were  drawn  into  the  plot, 
and  among  these  was  Babiugton,  from  whom  it  takes 
its  name.  The  conspiracy  embraced  persons  of  still 
higher  rank  and  power.  The  concord  prevailing  at 
this  time  among  the  crowned  heads  of  the  Con- 
tinent permitted  their  acting  together  against 
England  and  its  queen,  and  made  the  web  of 
intrigue  and  treason  now  weaving  around  that 
throne,  which  was  the  political  bulwark  of  Protest- 
antism, formidable  indeed.  The  Guises  of  France 
gave  it  eveiy  encouragement ;  Philip  of  Spam 
promised  his  powerful  aid  ;  it  hardly  needed  that 
the  Pope  should  say  how  fully  he  accorded  it  his 
benediction,  and  how  earnest  were  his  pi'ayers  for 
its  success.  This  mighty  confederacy,  comprehend- 
ing conspirators  of  every  rank,  from  Philip  of 
Spain,  the  master  of  half  Europe,  down  to  the 
vagrant  and  fanatical  Ballard,  received  yet  another 
accession.  The  new  member  of  the  plot  was  not 
e.xactly  one  of  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe,  for  the 
crown  had  fallen  from  her  head,  but  she  hoped  by 
em'olling  herself  among  the  conspirators  to  recover 
it,  and  a  greater  along  with  it.  That  i>erson  was 
Mary  Stuart,  who  wa-s  then  living  in  England  as 
the  guest  or  captive  of  Elizabeth.  Babiugton  laid 
the  plans  and  objects  of  himself  and  associates 
befoi-e  Mary,  who  a))proved  highly  of  them,  and 
agi-eed  to  act  the  part  allotted  to  herself.  The 
affair  was  to  commence  with  the  assassin.ation  ot 
Elizabeth  ;  then  the  Romanists  in  England  were  to 

'  Strype,  vol.  iii.,  p.  217. 


be  summoned  to  arms ;  and  while  the  flames  of 
insurrection  should  be  raging  within  the  kingdom, 
a  foreign  army  was  to  land  upon  the  coast,  besiege 
and  sack  the  cities  that  op])Osed  them,  raise  Mary 
Stuart  to  the  throne,  and  establish  the  Popish  re- 
ligion in  England. 

The  penetration,  wisdom,  and  patriotism  of  the 
statesmen  who  stood  ai-ound  Elizabeth's  throne- 
men  who  were  the  special  and  .splendid  gifts  of 
Providence  to  that  critical  time — saved  England 
and  the  world  from  this  bloody  catastrophe.  Wal- 
singham  early  penetrated  the  secret.  By  means  of 
intercejited  letters,  and  the  information  of  spies,  he 
possessed  himself  of  as  minute  and  exact  a  know- 
ledge of  the  whole  plot  as  the  conspirators  them- 
selves had ;  and  he  stood  quietly  by  and  watched 
its  ripenmg,  till  all  was  ready,  and  then  he  stepped 
in  and  crushed  it.  The  crowned  conspirators  abroad 
were  beyond  his  reach,  but  the  arm  of  justice  over- 
took the  miscreants  at  home.  The  Englishmen 
who  had  plotted  to  extinguish  the  religion  and 
liberties  of  their  native  land  in  the  blood  of  civil 
war,  and  the  fury  of  a  foreign  invasion,  were  made 
to  expiate  their  crimes  on  the  scaffold ;  and  as 
regai-ds  the  poor  uirhappy  Queen  of  the  Scots,  the 
ending  of  the  plot  to  her  was  not,  as  she  had  fondly 
hoped,  on  the  throne  of  England,  but  in  front  of 
the  headsman's  block  in  the  sackcloth-hung  hall  in 
Fotheringay  Castle. - 

"  Upon  the  discovery  of  this  dreadful  plot,"  says 
Strype,  "  and  the  taking  up  of  these  rebels  and 
bloody-minded  traitors,  the  City  of  London  made 
extraordinary  rejoicings,  by  public  bonfires,  ringing 
of  bells,  feastings  in  the  streets,  singmg  of  psalms, 
and  such  like  :  showing  their  excess  of  gladness, 
and  am])le  expressions  of  their  love  and  loyalty  to 
their  queen  and  government."' 

An  attempt  was  made  at  the  time,  and  has  since 
been  renewed  at  intervals,  to  represent  the  men 
executed  for  their  share  in  this  and  similar  con- 
spiracies as  mai'tyrs  for  religion.  The  fact  is  that  it 
is  impossible  to  show  that  a  single  individual  was 
put  to  death  under  Elizabeth  sinqjly  because  he 
believed  in  or  professed  the  Popish  faith :  every  one 
of  these  State  executions  was  for  promoting  or 
practising  treason.  If  the  Protestant  Government 
of  Elizabeth  had  ever  thought  of  putting  Papists 
to  death  for  their  creed,  surely  the  first  to  suffer 
would  have  been  Gardmer,  Bonner,  itc,  who  had 


-  Pull  particulars  of  the  plot,  with  the  documents, 
and  confessions  of  the  conspirators,  are  given  by  Strypi', 
Annals,  vol.  in.,  bk.  ii.,  chap.  5.  See  also  Hume,  Froude, 
the  Popish  historian  Lingard,  and  others. 

^  Strype,  vol.  iii.,  p.  417. 


446 


HISTOEY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Lad  so  deep  a  hand  in  the  bloody  tragedies  under 
Mary.  But  even  the  men  who  had  murdered 
Cranmer  and  hundreds  besides  were  never  called  to 


account,  but  lived  in  ease  and  peace  all  theii-  days 
amid  the  relations  and  contemporaries  of  the  men 
they  had  dragged  to  the  stake. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


THE      ARMADA ITS      BUILDING. 

The  Ai-mada— The  Year  1588— Prophecies— State  of  Popish  and  Protestant  Worlds  previous  to  the  Ai-mada— Building 
of  the  Armada — Victualling,  Arming,  &.«.,  of  the  Armada— Number  of  Ships— of  Sailors— Galley-Slaves— Soldiers 
— Guns — Tonnage— Attempts  to  Delude  England — A  Second  Armada  prepared  in  Flanders  under  Parma— Number 
of  his  Army — Deception  on  English  Commissioners— Pi-eparatious  in  England — The  Militia — Tlie  Navy— Distri- 
bution of  the  English  Forces— The  Queen  at  Tilbury— Supreme  Peril  of  England. 


While  Mary  Stuart  Uved  the  hopes  and  projects 
of  the  Catholic  Powere  centred  in  her.  But  Mary 
Stuart  lived  no  longer.  The  axe  of  the  heads- 
man in  Fotheringay  Castle  had  struck  the  centre 
out  of  the  great  Popish  plot :  it  had  not,  how- 
ever, brought  it  to  an  end.  The  decree  enjoiuiag 
the  extii-pation  of  Protestantism  on  all  Chi-istian 
princes  still  stood  recorded  among  the  infallible 
canons  of  Trent,  and  was  still  acknowledged  by  the 
kings  of  the  Popish  world.  The  plot  now  took  a 
new  shape,  and  this  introduces  us  to  the  story  of 
the  Invincible  "Armada." 

The  year  of  the  Ai-mada  (1.588)  had  been  looked 
forward  to  with  dread  long  before  it  came,  seeing 
it  had  been  foretold  that  it  woiUd  be  a  year  of 
prodigies  and  disasters.'  It  was  just  possible,  so 
had  it  been  said,  that  the  world  would  this  year 
end ;  at  the  least,  during  its  fatal  cmTency  thrones 
would  be  shaken,  empires  overturned,  and  dii-e 
calamities  would  afflict  the  unhappy  race  of  men. 
And  now  as  it  drew  near  rumours  of  portents 
deejiened  the  prevailing  alarm.  It  was  reported 
that  it  had  rained  blood  in  Sweden,  that  monstrous 
births  had  occun-cd  in  France,  and  that  still  more 
unnatural  prodigies  had  teiiified  and  warned  the 
inhabitants  of  other  countries. 

But  it  needed  no  portent  in  the  sky,  and  no 
prediction  of  astrologer  or  star-gazer,  to  notify  the 
approach  of  more  than  usual  calamity.  No  one  who 
reflected  on  the  state  of  Europe,  and  the  passions 
and  ambitions  that  were  inspiring  the  policy  of  its 
rulei-s,  coidd  be  blind  to  iini)ending  troubles.  In 
the  Vatican  was  Sixtus  V.,  able,  astute,  crafty,  and 
daring  beyond  the  ordinary  measure  of  Popes.  On 
the  throne  of  Spain  was  Philip  II.,  cold,  selfish, 


'  Camden,  vol.  iii.,  p.  402.    Strada,  vol.  ii.,  p.  530. 


gluttonous  of  power,  and  not  less  gluttonous  of  blood 
— as  dark-minded  a  bigot  as  ever  counted  beads, 
or  crossed  himself  before  a  crucifix.  No  Jesuit 
could  be  more  secret  or  more  double.  His  highest 
ambition  was  that  after-generations  should  be  able 
to  say  that  ia  his  days,  and  by  his  arm,  heresy  had 
been  exterminated.  Prance  was  broken  into  two 
straggling  factions ;  its  thi-one  was  occupied  by  a 
youth  weak,  profligate,  and  contemptible,  Henry  III. 
His  mother,  one  of  the  monstrous  bu-ths  whom  those 
times  produced,  governed  the  kingdom,  while  her 
son  divided  his  time  between  shameful  orgies  and 
abject  penances.  Holland  was  mourning  her  gi-eat 
William,  bereaved  of  life  by  the  dagger  of  an 
assassin,  liii'ed  by  the  gold  of  Spain,  and  armed  by 
the  pardon  of  the  Pope.  The  Jesuits  were  operating 
all  over  Europe,  inflaming  the  minds  of  kings  and 
statesmen  against  the  Reformation,  and  forming 
them  into  anned  combinations  to  put  it  down.  The 
small  but  select  band  of  Protestants  in  Spain  and 
in  Italy,  whose  beautiful  genius  and  deep  piety,  to 
which  was  added  the  prestige  of  high  birth,  had 
seemed  the  pledge  of  the  speedy  Reformation  of 
then-  native  lands,  no  longer  existed.  They  were 
wandeiing  in  exile,  or  had  iierished  at  the  stake. 
Worst  of  all,  concord  was  wanting  to  the  friends  of 
the  Refoi-mation.  The  breach  over  wluch  Calvin 
had  so  often  mourned,  and  which  he  had  attempted 
in  vain  to  heal,  was  widened.  In  England  a  dis- 
pute which  a  deeper  insight  on  the  one  side,  and 
greater  forbearance  on  the  other,  would  have  pi"e- 
vented  from  ever  breaking  out,  was  weakening  the 
Protestant  ranks.  The  wave  of  spuitual  influence 
which  had  rolled  over  Christendom  in  the  first  half 
of  the  century,  bearing  on  its  swelling  crest  scholai-s, 
statesmen,  and  nations,  had  now  these  many  years 
been  on  the  ebb.     Luther,  Calvin,  Knox,  Cranmer, 


EQUIPMENT   OF   THE   AEMADA. 


■i-17 


ami  Coligny  were  all  oflf  the  stage;  aud  tlieii-  suc- 
cessors, though  men  of  faith  aiid  of  ability,  were 
not  of  the  same  lofty  stature  with  those  who  h;ul 
been  before  them — the  giants  who  had  commenced 
the  waj-.  And  what  a  disparity  in  point  of  material 
resources  between  the  nations  who  favoured  and  the 
nations  who  opposed  the  Reformation  !  Should  it 
come  to  a  ti-ial  of  strength  between  the  two,  how 
unlikely  was  it  that  England  with  her  four  millions 
of  people,  and  Holland  with  even  fewer,  would  be 
able  to  keep  their  gi-ound  in  presence  of  the  mighty 
armies  and  rich  exchequers  of  the  Popish  world  ! 
It  was  coming  to  a  trial  of  strength.  The  monarch 
whose  sceptre  was  stretched  over  some  hundi-ed 
millions  of  subjects,  was  coming  against  her  whom 
only  four  millions  called  then-  sovereign.  These 
were  the  portents  that  too  surely  betokened  coming 
calamity.  It  required  no  skill  Ln  astrology  to  read 
them.  One  had  but  to  look,  not  at  the  stars,  but 
on  the  earth,  aud  to  contrast  the  diflerent  cii'cum- 
stances  and  spirit  of  the  contending  parties — the 
friends  of  Romanism  acting  in  concert,  devising 
vast  schemes,  veiling  them  in  dai'kness,  yet  pro- 
secuting them  ynth  unrelaxing  vigour ;  while  the 
friends  of  the  Reformation  were  divided,  irresolute, 
cherishing  illusions  of  peace,  and  making  little  or 
no  preparations  against  the  a\s'ful  tempest  that  was 
rolhng  up  on  all  sides  of  them. 

The  builduig  of  the  Armada  had  l>een  com- 
menced two  years  before  the  execution  of  Mai-y 
Stuart.  The  elevation  of  Mary  to  the  throne  of 
the  excommunicated  Elizabeth  was  to  have  been 
the  immediate  outcome  of  it,  but  the  preparations 
did  not  slacken  from  what  had  occurred  in  Fother- 
ingay  Ca.stle.  Neither  time,  nor  toU,  nor  money 
was  spared  to  fit  out  such  a  fleet  as  the  world  had 
never  before  seen.  The  long  line  of  coast  extending 
from  Cape  Finisterre  to  the  extreme  point  of  Sicily 
was  converted  into  one  vast  building-yard.'  Where- 
ever  there  was  a  harbour  or  river's  mouth,  advantage 
was  taken  of  it  to  construct  a  wai'-galley  or  a  trans- 
port craft.  At  intervals  along  this  line  of  some 
1,500  or  2,000  miles,  might  be  seen  keels  laid  down 
of  a  size  then  deemed  colossal,  and  carpenters  busy 
fastening  thereto  the  bulging  ribs,  and  clothing 
them  with  planks.  The  entire  sea-board  rang 
without  intermi.ssion  with  the  clang  of  hammer, 
the  stroke  of  axo,  and  the  voices  of  myriads  of  men, 
employed  in  building  the  vessels  that  were  to 
bear  the  legionaries  of  Spain,  the  soldiers  of  the 
Inquisition,  over  the  seas  to  the  shores  of  heretical 
England.  Wherever  sliip-builders  were  to  be 
found,  whether  in  the  West  Indies  or  in  America, 

'  Hume,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  42. 


Philip  II.  searched  them  out,  and  had  them  trans- 
ported to  Spain  to  help  forward  his  great  and  holy 
work.  The  inland  forests  were  felled,  and  many  a 
goodly  oak  and  cork-tree  were  dragged  to  the  coast ; 
thousands  of  looms  were  set  to  work  to  weave  cloth 
for  sails;  hundi-eds  of  forges  were  in  full  blaze, 
smelting  the  ore,  wliich  gangs  of  workmen  were  ham- 
mering into  guns,  pikes,  and  all  sorts  of  war  material. 
Quantities  of  powder  and  shot,  and  whatever  might 
be  needed  for  invasion,  as  grappling-irons,  bridges 
for  crossing  rivers,  laddei-s  for  scaling  the  walls  of 
towns,  wagons,  spades,  mattocks,  were  stored  up 
in  abundance.  Bread,  biscuit,  wine,  and  carcases 
of  sheep  and  oxen  were  brought  to  Lisbon,  where 
the  main  portion  of  the  Armada  was  stationed,  and 
stowed  away  in  the  ships."  "  The  Catholic  king," 
says  Meteren,  "  had  finished  such  a  mighty  navy 
as  never  the  like  had  before  that  time  sailed  upon 
the  ocean  sea."  The  ships  were  victualled  for  six 
mouths.  It  was  believed  that  by  the  expiiy  of  that 
period  the  object  of  the  Armada  would  be  accom- 
plished, and  the  sailors  and  soldiers  of  Spain  would 
eat  of  the  corn  of  England. 

The  Armada  numbered  150  vessels,  great  and 
small,  ai'med,  provisioned,  and  equipped  for  the  ser- 
vice that  was  expected  of  it.  On  board  of  it  were 
8,000  sailors ;  2,088  galley-slaves,  for  rowing ; 
20,000  soldiei-s,  besides  many  noblemen  and  gentle- 
men who  served  as  volunteers ;  its  armour  consisted 
of  2,650  pieces  of  ordnance  ;  its  burden  was  00,000 
tons.^  This  was  an  immense  tomiage  at  a  time 
when  the  EngUsh  navy  consisted  of  twenty-eight 
sail,  and  its  aggi'egate  burden  did  not  exceed  the 
tonnage  of  a  single  Transatlantic  steamer  of  our 
own  day. 

The  shijis  were  of  great  capacity  and  amazing 
strength.  Their  strong  ribs  were  lined  with  planks 
four  feet  in  thickness,  thi'ough  which  it  was  thought 
impossible  that  bullet  could  ])ierce.  Cables  smeared 
with  pitch  were  woimd  round  the  masts,  to  enable 
them  to  withstand  the  tire  of  the  enemy.  The 
galleons  were  sixty-four  in  munber.  They  towered 
up  above  the  waves  like  castles  :  they  were  armed 
with  heavy  brass  ordnance.  The  galliasses  were 
also  of  great  size,  and  "contained  within  them," 
Siiys  Meteren,  "  chambei-s,  chapels,  turrets,  puljiits, 
and  other  commodities  of  large  houses."  They 
were  mounted  with  gi-eat  guns  of  brass  and  iioii, 
with  the  due  complement  of  culverins,  halberds, 
and  field-pieces  for  land  service.  Each  galliass  wa.s 
rowed  by   300    galley-slaves,   and   "furnished    aud 

-  Meteren,  bk.  xv.  Hakluyt,  History  of  the  Naviga- 
iions,  Voyages,  ,?•<•.,  of  the  English  Nation,  vol.  i.,  pp.  'ini, 
592 ;  Lond.,  1599. 

'■>  Meteren,  bk.  xv.    Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  593. 


448 


HISTOEY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


beautified  \vitli  trumpets,  streamers,  banners,  and 
■warlike  engines."' 

Duiing  the  time  tliat  tliis  uuprecedentedly  vast 
fleet  w;\s  being  built  in  the  harbours  of  Spain, 
everything  was  done  to  conceal  the  fact  from  the 
knowledge  of  the  English  nation.  It  was  meant 
that  the  bolt  should  fall  ^vitll0ut  warning  and  crush 
it.  In  an  age  when  there  were  hardly  any  postal 
communications,  secresy  was  more  easily  attainable 
than  in  our  day  ;  but  the  preparations  were  on  far 
too  vast  a  scale  to  remain  unkno-mi.  The  next 
attempt  was  to  propiigate  a  delusion  touching  the 
real  destination  of  this  vast  armament.  At  one 
time  it  was  given  out  that  it  was  intended  to  sweep 
from  the  seas  certain  pirates  that  gave  annoyance 
to  Spain,  and  had  captm-ed  some  of  her  ships.  It 
was  next  said  that  Philip  meant  to  chastise  certain 
unknown  enemies  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
All  that  craft  and  dowm-ight  lying  could  do  was 
done,  to  lay  to  sleep  the  suspicions  of  the  people  of 
England.  Even  the  English  agent  at  Madrid,  with 
the  Armada  building  as  it  were  before  his  eyes^, 
was  induced  to  credit  these  fabulous  explanations  ; 
for  we  find  liim  writing  home  that  there  had  re- 
cently been  discovered  richer  mines  in  the  New 
World  than  any  heretofore  known ;  but  that  these 
treasures  were  guarded  by  a  gigantic  race,  wMch 
only  this  enormous  fleet  could  overcome ;  and  this, 
he  felt  confident,  was  the  true  destination  of  the 
Armada.  Even  Walsingham,  one  of  the  most 
sagacious  of  the  queen's  ministere,  exjiressed  his 
belief—just  fifteen  days  before  the  Annada  sailed — 
that  it  never  woidd  invade  England,  and  that 
Philip's  hands  were  too  fidl  at  home  to  leave  him 
leisure  to  conquer  kingdoms  abroad.  Such  being 
the  belief  of  some  of  her  ambassadoi-s  and  states- 
men, it  is  not  sui-prising  that  Elizabeth  should 
have  continued  to  confide  in  the  friendly  inten- 
tions of  the  man  who  was  toiling  night  and  day 
to  prepare  the  means  of  her  destruction,  and  could 
with  difficulty  be  roused  to  put  herself  and  kingdom 
in  a  proper  posture  of  defence  against  the  coming 
blow. 

Nor  was  the  fleet  now  constructing  in  Spain  the 
whole  of  that  mighty  force  which  was  being 
collected  for  the  overthrow  of  England  and  the 
desti-uction  of  Protestantism.  There  was  not  one 
but  two  Armadas.  In  the  Netherlands,  the  pos- 
session of  which  gave  Philip  coasts  and  ports 
opposed  to  England,  there  was  a  scene  of  activity 
and  preparation  as  vast  almost  as  that  upon 
the  sea-board  of  the  Atlantic.  Philip's  governor 
in    Belgium    at    that    time    was    the    Duke    of 

'  Meteren,  bk.  xv.    Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  593. 


Pai'ma,  the  ablest  general  of  his  age,  and  liis 
instructions  were  to  prepare  an  army  and  fleet 
to  co-operate  with  the  Spanish  force  as  soon 
as  the  Armada  should  amve  in  the  English 
Channel.  The  duke,  within  his  well-guarded 
ten-itoiy,  did  not  slacken  his  exertions  night  or  day 
to  execute  these  orders.  He  brought  ship-wrights 
and  pDots  from  Italy,  he  levied  mariners  at  Ham- 
burg, Bremen,  Embdeu,  and  other  places.  In  the 
country  of  Waas,  forests  were  felled  to  furnish 
flat^bottomed  boats  for  transport.  At  Dunkirk  he 
provided  28  war-ships.  At  Nieuport  he  got  ready 
200  smaller  vessels,  and  70  in  the  river  of  Waten. 
He  stored  up  in  the  ships  planks  for  constructing 
bridges  and  rafts  for  fording  the  English  rivers, 
stockades  for  entrenchments,  field-pieces,  saddles  for 
lioi-ses,  baking-ovens— in  shoi-t,  every  requisite  of  an 
invading  force.  He  employed  some  thousands  of 
workmen  in  digging  the  Yper-lee  for  the  transjiort 
of  ships  fi'om  Antwerp  and  Ghent  to  Bruges, 
where  he  had  assembled  100  small  vessels,  which  he 
meant  to  convey  to  the  sea  by  the  Sluys,  or  through 
his  new  canal.  The  whole  of  the  Spanish  Nether- 
lands, from  which  wholesome  industry  had  long 
been  banished,  suddenly  burst  into  a  scene  of 
prodigious  but  baleful  activity. " 

The  duke  assembled  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Nieujjort  a  mighty  host,  of  vai-ious  nationalities. 
There  were  30  regiments  of  Italians,  10  of  Walloons, 
8  of  Scots,  and  8  of  Burgundians.  Near  Dismuyde 
were  mustered  80  i-egiments  of  Dutch,  60  of 
Spaniards,  G  of  Gennans,  and  7  of  English  fugi- 
tives, imder  the  command  of  Sir  William  Stanley. 
There  was  hardly  a  noble  house  in  Spain  that  had 
not  its  representative  mthin  the  camp  of  Parma. 
Quite  a  flock  of  Italian  and  Neapolitan  princes 
and  coiuits  repaired  to  his  banners.  Believing  that 
the  last  hour  of  England  had  come,  they  had 
assembled  to  witness  its  fivll. 

Meanwhile  every  artifice,  deception,  and  folse- 
liood  were  resorted  to,  to  delude  Elizabeth  and  the 
statesmen  who  served  her,  and  to  hide  from  them 
their  danger  till  the  blow  should  descend.  She 
sent  her  commissioners  to  the  Low  Countries,  but 
Parma  protested,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  there 
lived  not  on  earth  one  who  more  vehementlj' 
desii-ed  peace  than  himself.  Did  not  his  prayers 
morning  and  night  ascend  for  its  continuance? 
And  as  regarded  the  wise  and  magnanimous  sove- 
reign of  England,  there  was  not  one  of  her  ser'vants 
that  cherished  a  higher  admiration  of  her  than  he 
did.  While  indulging  day  after  day  in  these  delibe- 
rate lies,  he  was  busy  enlisting  and  arming  soldiers. 


=  Meteren,  bk.  xv.   Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  594. 


3  Ibid. 


THE   ENGLISH   NAVAL   AND   MILITARY   PREPARATIONS. 


449 


<lrilliug  regiments,  and  constructing  flat-bottomed 
boats  and  transports  to  carry  his  forces  across'  the 
German  Ocean,  and  dethrone  and  lead  captive  that 
very  queen  for  whom  he  professed  this  enthusiastic 
regard.  This  huge  hy|30crisy  was  not  unsuccessful. 
Tlie  commissioners  returned,  after  three  months' 
absence,  in  the  belief  that  Parma's  intentions  were 
pacific,  and  they  confirmed  Elizabeth  and  lier  minis- 
tei-s  in  those  di'eams  of  peace,  from  which  they 
were  not  to  be  fully  awakened  till  the  guns  of 
the  Spanish  Armada  were  heard  in  the  English 
Channel. 

In  aid  of  Philip's  earthly  annies,  the  Pope,  when 
all  was  ready,  mustered  Ms  spiritual  artillery. 
Sixtus  V.  fulminated  his  bull  against  Elizabeth,  in 
"which  he  confirmed  the  previous  one  of  Pius  V., 
absolved  her  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  and 
solemnly  conferred  her  kingdom  upon  Philip  II., 
"  to  have  and  to  hold  as  tributary  and  feudatory  of 
the  Papal  Chair."  While  the  Pope  with  the  one 
hand  took  away  the  cro'svn  from  Elizabeth,  he 
conferred  with  the  other  the  red  hat  upon  Father 
Allen.  Italian  honom's  to  English  Papists  are 
usually  contemporaneous  with  insults  to  English 
sovereigns,  and  so  was  it  now  :  Allen  was  at  the 
same  time  made  Ai-chbLshop  of  Canterbury  by  the 
Pope,  and  Papal  Legate.  "This  AUen,"  says  the 
Dutch  historian,  "  being  enraged  against  his  own 
native  country,  caused  the  Pope's  bull  to  be  trans- 
lated into  English,  meaning  upon  the  arrival  of  the 
Spanish  fleet  to  have  it  published  in  England.'" 

Tliere  was  no  longer  disbelief  in  England 
touching  the  destination  of  Philip's  vast  fleet.  In 
a  few  weeks  his  ships  woiikl  be  ofl"  the  coa.st ;  how 
was  the  inva-sion  to  be  met  ?  England  had  only  a 
handful  of  soldiers  and  a  few  ships  to  oppose  to 
the  myriad  host  that  wa.s  coming  against  her.  The 
royal  army  then  was  composed  of  such  regiments 
as  the  nobles,  counties,  and  towns  could  assemble 
when  the  crown  required  their  service.  Appeals 
were  issued  to  the  Lords  Lieutenant  of  the  several 
counties :  the  response  shows  the  spir-it  which 
animated  England.  The  total  foot  and  horse 
furnished  by  Enghmd  were  87,000.  Wales  con- 
tributed 4.5,000  :  making  together  1.32,000.  This 
force  was  exclusive  of  what  was  contributed  by 
London,  which  appeai-s  to  have  been  20,000."  This 
force  was  distributed  into  three   annies :    one  of 


'  Metercn,  bk.  xv.     Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  595. 

-  Tliese  numbers,  with  the  an-angement  of  the  forces, 
are  taken  from  Brace's  lieport,  which  was  compiled  from 
documents  in  the  State  Paper  Office,  prepared  at  the 
command  of  Government,  and  printed  but  not  pub- 
lished. The  author  is  indebted  for  its  use  to  David 
laing,  Ksq.,  LL.D. 


22,000  foot  and  2,000  horse,  for  the  defence  of 
the  capital,  and  which  was  stationed  at  Tilbm-y 
under  the  Earl  of  Leicester.  A  second  army,  con- 
sistmg  of  28,900  men,  was  for  defence  of  the 
queen's  person.  A  third  was  foi-med,  consisting  of 
27,400  heavy  horse  armed  with  lances,  and  1,960 
light  horse  armed  with  tlifierent  weapons,  to  guard 
the  coast.  These  were  stationed  at  such  points  in 
the  south  and  east  as  were  likely  to  be  selected  by 
the  enemy  for  lantling.  Beacons  were  prepared, 
and  instructions  were  issued  respecting  their 
kindling,  so  that  the  soldiers  might  know  on  what 
point  to  converge,  when  the  signal  blazed  forth 
announcing  that  the  enemy  had  touched  English 
soil.^ 

The  fleet  which  the  queen  had  sent  to  sea  to 
oppose  the  Armada  consisted  of  thii-ty-four  ships  of 
small  tonnage,  carrying  G,000  men.  Besides  these, 
the  City  of  London  provided  thirty  .ships.  In  all 
the  port  towns  merchant  vessels  were  converted 
into  war-sliips ;  and  the  resisting  navy  might 
uiunber  150  vessels,  with  a  crew  of  14,000.  This 
force  was  divided  into  two  squadrons — one  under 
Loixl  Howard,  High  Admii-al  of  England,  consisting 
of  seventeen  ships,  which  were  to  cruise  in  the 
Channel  and  there  wait  the  arrival  of  the  Ai-mada. 
The  second  squadron,  under  Lord  Seymour-,  con- 
sisting of  fifteen  ships,  was  stationed  at  Dunkirk, 
to  intercept  Parma,  shoidd  he  attempt  to  cross  with 
his  fleet  fi-om  Flanders.  Sii-  Francis  Drake,  in  his 
ship  the  Revemje,  had  a  following  of  about  thii-ty 
privateers.*  After  the  war  broke  out  the  fleet  was 
farther  increased  by  ships  belonging  to  the  nobility 
and  the  merchants,  hastily  anned  and  sent  to  sea  ; 
though  the  bnmt  of  the  fight,  it  was  foreseen,  must 
fall  on  the  queen's  ships. 

At  this  crisis  Queen  Elizabeth  gave  a  noble 
example  of  patriotism  and  courage  to  her  sub- 
jects. Attired  in  a  military  dress  she  appeared  on 
horseback  in  the  camp  at  Tilbury,  and  spiritedly 
addressed  her  soldiers,  declaring  her  resolution 
rather  to  perish  in  battle  than  survive  the  ruin 
of  the  Protestant  faith,  and  the  slavery  of  her 
people. 

The  force  now  mustered  in  England  looks  much 
more  formidable  when  set  forth  on  paper  than  when 
drawn  up  in  front  of  Philip's  army.  These  100,000 
men  were  simply  militia,  insufficiently  drilleil, 
jioorly  armed,  and  to  be  compared  in  no  point,  save 
their  spii-it,  with  the  soldiers  of  Spain,  who  had 
served  in  every  clime,  and  met  warrioi-s  of  all 
nations   on   the   battle-field.      And   although   the 


3  Bruce,  Report,  pp.  47,  48. 

■•  Ibid.,  pp.  59,  60.    Meteren.    Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  595. 


450 


HISTORY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


English  fleet  couuted  hull  foi-  hull  with  the  Spanish, 
it  was  ill  comparison  but  a  collection  of  pinnaces 
and  boats.  The  queen's  spii'it  was  admirable,  but 
her  thrift  was  carried  to  such  an  extreme  that  she 
giudged  the  shot  for  the  guns,  and  the  rations  for 
the  men  who  were  to  defend  her  throne.  The 
invading  navy  was  the  largest  which  had  ever  been 
seen  on  ocean  since  it  was  first  ploughed  by 
keel.  Tlie  Spanish  half  alone  was  deemed  more 
tliaii  sutiicient  to  conquer  England,  and  how  easy 
would  conquest  become  when  that  Armada  should 
be  joined,  as  it  was  to  be,  by  the  mighty  force 


under  Pai-nia,  the  flower  of  the  Spanish  army !' 
England,  with  her  long  line  of  coa.st,  her  unfortified 
towns,  her  foiu-  millions  of  population,  including 
many  thousand  Papists  ready  to  rise  m  insun-ection 
as  soon  as  the  invader  had  made  good  his  land- 
mg,  was  at  that  hoiu-  in  supreme  peril  ;  and  its 
standing  or  falling  was  the  standing  or  foiling  of 
Protestantism.  Had  Philip  succeeded  in  his  enter- 
prise, and  Spain  taken  the  place  of  England,  as  the 
teacher  and  guide  of  the  nations,  it  is  appalling  to 
think  what  at  tliis  hour  would  have  been  the  con- 
dition of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE    ARMADA   ARRIVES    OFF    ENGLAND. 

The  Armada  Sails — The  Admii-al  Dies— Medina  Sidonia  appointed  to  Command — Storm  off  Cape  Finisterre — Second 
Storm— Four  Galleons  Lost— Armada  Sighted  off  the  Lizard — Beacon-fires— Preparations  in  Plymouth  Harbour 
— ^First  Encounter  between  the  Armada  and  English  Fleet— The  Armada  Sails  up  the  Channel,  Followed  and 
Harassed  by  the  English  Fleet— Its  Losses — Second  Battle — Third  Battle  off  the  Isle  of  Wight — Superiority  of 
the  English  Sliips — Tlie  Ai-mada  Anchors  off  Calais — Parma  and  his  Ai-my  Loolied  for — The  Decisive  Blow  about 
to  be  Struck. 


The  last  gun  and  the  last  sailor  had  been  taken 
on  board,  and  now  the  Aj'mada  was  ready  to  sail. 
The  ships  had  been  collected  in  the  harbour  of 
Lisbon,  where  for  some  time  they  lay  weather- 
bound, but  the  ^vind  shifting,  these  proud  galleons 
spread  their  canvas,  and  began  their  voyage  towards 
England.  Three  days  the  fleet  contmued  to  glide 
down  the  Tagus  to  the  sea,  galleon  following 
galleon,  till  it  seemed  as  if  room  would  scarce  be 
found  on  the  ocean  for  so  vast  an  armament. 
These  three  memorable  days  were  the  28th,  the 
29th,  and  the  30th  of  May,  1588.  The  Pope,  as 
we  have  seen,  had  pronounced  his  curse  on  Eliza- 
beth ;  he  now  gave  his  blessing  to  the  fleet,  and 
with  this  double  pledge  of  success  the  Armada 
began  its  voyage.  It  was  a  brave  sight,  as  with 
sails  spread  to  the  breeze,  and  banners  and 
streamers  gaily  unfurled,  it  held  its  way  along  the 
coast  of  Spain,  the  St.  Peter  doubtless  taking  the 
lead,  for  the  twelve  principal  ships  of  the  Armada, 
bound  on  a  holy  enterpiise,  had  been  baptised  with 
the  names  of  the  twelve  apcstles.  On  board  was 
Don  Mai'tin  Allacon,  Administrator  and  Vicar- 
General  of  the  "  Holy  Oftice  of  the  Inquisition,"  and 
along  with  him  were  200  Bare-footed  Friars  and 
Dominicans.'     The  guns  of  the  Annada  were  to 


'  Metcren,  bk.  iv.     Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  59t.     Bruce. 


begin  the  conquest  of  heretical  England,  and  the 
spiritual  arms  of  the  Fathers  were  to  complete  it. 

Just  as  the  Armada  was  about  to  sail,  the 
Marquis  Santa  Cruz,  who  had  been  appointed  to 
the  chief  command,  died.  He  had  been  thii-ty 
yeai-s  in  Philip's  service,  and  was  beyond  doubt  the 
ablest  sea-captain  of  whom  Spain  could  boast. 
Another  had  to  be  sought  for  to  fill  the  place  of  the 
"  Iron  Marquis,"  and  the  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia 
was  selected  for  the  onerous  post.  The  main  recom- 
mendation of  Medina  Sidonia  was  his  vast  wealth. 
He  was  the  owner  of  large  estates  which  lay  near 
Cadiz,  and  which  had  been  settled  at  the  firet  by  a 
colonj'  from  Sidon."  To  counterbalance  his  inex- 
perience in  naval  aflaii-s,  the  ablest  seamen  whom 
Spain  possessed  were  chosen  as  his  subordinate 
officers.  The  "  Golden  Duke"  was  there  simply  for 
ornament ;  the  real  head  of  the  expedition  was  to 
be  the  Duke  of  Parma,  Philip's  commander  in 
the  Netherlands,  and  the  ablest  of  his  gene- 
rals. The  duke  was  to  cross  from  Flanders  as 
soon  as  the  Armada  should  have  an-ived  ofi"  Calais, 
and,  uniting  his  numerous  army  with  the  vast 
fleet,  he  was  to  descend  like  a  cloud  upon  the  shore 
of  England. 

Report,  p.  G5 ;  see  also  Appendix,  No.  50,  where  the  eiact 
ntimber  of  friars  is  set  down  at  180. 
-  Bruce,  Report,  p.  06,  foot-note. 


452 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Tlie  Armada  had  uow  been  tluee  weeks  at  sea. 
The  huge  hulks  so  dispropoitioned  to  the  tiny 
sails  made  its  progress  windward  wearisomely  slow. 
Its  twenty-one  days  of  navigation  had  not  enabled 
it  to  double  Cape  Finisterre.  It  had  floated  so 
far  upon  a  comparatively  calm  sea,  but  a.s  it 
wius  about  to  open  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  the  sky 
began  to  be  ovei-cast,  black  clouds  came  rolling  up 
from  the  south-west,  and  the  swell  of  the  Atlantic, 
growing  into  mountainous  bQlows,  tumbled  about 
those  towering  structures,  whose  bulk  only  exposed 
them  all  the  more  to  the  bufteting  of  the  great 
waves  and  the  furious  winds.  The  Aj-mada  was 
scattered  by  the  gale ;  but  the  weather  moderating, 
the  .ships  i-eassembled,  and  pursuing  their  coui-se, 
soon  crossed  the  bay,  and  were  ofl'  Ushant.  A 
second  and  severer  storm  here  burst  on  them.  The 
waves,  dasliing  against  the  lofty  tuiTets  at  stem 
and  stern,  sent  a  spout  of  white  water  up  then- 
sides  and  liigh  into  mid-aii-,  while  the  racing 
waves,  coursing  across  the  low  bulwarks  amidships, 
threatened  every  moment  to  engulf  the  galleons. 
One  of  the  greatest  of  them  went  down  with  all  on 
board,  and  other  two  were  di'iven  on  the  shore  of 
France.  In  the  case  of  a  fourth  this  tempest 
brought  liberty  on  its  wings  to  the  galley-slaves 
aboard  of  it,  among  whom  was  David  Gwin,  who 
had  been  taken  captive  by  the  Spaniards,  and  had 
passed  eleven  doleful  years  on  board  their  galleys.^ 

The  stoma  subsitling,  the  Armada  once  more 
gathered  itself  together,  and  setting  sail  entered  the 
Channel,  and  on  the  29th  of  July  was  ofl' the  Lizard.- 
Next  day  England  had  her  first  sight  of  her  long- 
expected  enemy,  coming  over  the  blue  sea,  her  own 
element,  to  conquer  her.  Instantly  the  beacon-fires 
were  kindled,  and  blazing  along  the  coast  and  away 
into  the  inland,  announced  alike  to  dweller  in  city 
and  in  rural  parts  that  the  Spanish  fleet  was  in  the 
Chamiel.  Long  as  the  Armada  had  been  waited 
for,  its  appeai-ance  took  England  by  surprise.  Its 
sailing  from  Lisbon  two  months  before  had  been 
known  in  England ;  but  next  came  tidings  that 
.stomis  had  dispereed  and  dnven  it  liack  ;  and  orders 
had  been  sent  from  the  Admiralty  to  Plymouth  to 
lay  up  the  ships  in  dock,  and  disband  theii-  crews.' 
Happily,  before  these  orders  could  be  executed  the 
Ai-mada  hove  in  sight,  and  all  doubt  about  its 
coming  was  at  an  end.  There  it  was  in  the  Clianncl. 
In  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  the  .30th  of  July,  it 
could  be  descried  from  the  high  gTound  above 
Plymouth  harbour,  advancing  slowly  froni  the 
south-west,  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  the  two  horns 


'  Meteren,  hk.  xv.    Hatluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  59G. 
-  Ibid.  3  Hid. 


of  which  were  seven  miles  apart.  As  one  massive 
hulk  after  another  came  out  of  the  blue  distance, 
and  the  armament  stretched  itself  out  in  porten- 
tous length  on  the  bosom  of  the  deep,  it  was  seen 
that  rumour  had  not  in  the  least  exaggerated  its 
size.  On  board  his  great  galleon,  the  .S'<.  Martin,  in 
his  shot-proof  fortress,  stood  Medina  Sidonia,  cast- 
ing proud  glances  around  him,  now  at  the  mighty 
fleet  under  his  command,  moving  onwards  as  he 
believed  to  certain  victorj',  and  now  on  the  shore 
under  his  lee,  that  land  of  wliich  the  Pope  had  said 
to  Philip,  "  To  thee  mil  I  give  it." 

That  was  a  night  long  to  be  remembered  in  Eng- 
land. As  another  and  yet  another  hUl-top  lighted 
its  fh-es  in  the  darkness,  and  tlie  ever-extending 
line  of  light  flashed  the  news  of  the  Armada's  arrival 
from  the  shores  of  the  Channel  to  the  moors  of 
Northumberland  ;  and  across  the  Tweed,  all  through 
Scotland,  where,  too,  beacon-fii'es  had  been  prepared, 
the  hearts  of  men  were  drawn  together  by  the  sense 
of  a  common  danger  and  a  common  ten-or.  All 
controvei'sies  were  forgotten  in  one  absorbing  in- 
terest ;  and  the  cry  of  the  nation  went  up  to  the 
Throne  above,  that  He  who  covered  his  people  in 
Egypt  on  that  awful  night  when  the  Angel  passed 
tlu'ough  the  land,  would  sjjread  his  vnng  over  Eng- 
land, and  not  suffer  the  Destroyer  to  touch  it. 

Meanwhile  in  the  harboiu-  of  Plymouth  all  was 
bustle  and  excitement.  Howard,  Drake,  and 
Hawkins  were  not  the  men  to  sleep  over  the  en- 
terprise. The  moment  the  news  ari-ived  that  the 
Ai-mada  had  been  sighted  ofi"  the  Lizard,  they  began 
their  preparations,  and  the  whole  following  night 
was  spent  in  getting  the  ships  ready  for  sea.  By 
Saturday  morning  sixty  ships  had  been  towed  out 
of  harbour.  Their  numbers  were  not  more  than  a 
third  of  those  of  the  Armada,  and  their  inferiority 
in  size  was  still  greater ;  but,  manned  by  patriotic 
crews,  they  hoisted  sail,  and  away  they  went  to 
meet  the  enemy.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day  the  two  fleets  came  in  sight  of  each  other.  The 
wind  was  blowing  from  the  south-west,  bringing 
^vith  it  a  drizzling  rain  and  a  chopping  sea.  The 
billows  of  the  Atlantic  came  tumbling  into  the 
Chaimel,  and  the  galleons  of  Spain,  with  their  hea'N-y 
ordnance,  and  their  numerous  squadrons,  rolled 
imeiisily  and  worked  clumsily ;  whereas  the  English 
ships,  of  smaller  size,  and  handled  by  expei-t  sea- 
men, bore  finely  up  before  the  breeze,  took  a  close 
survey  of  the  Spanish  fleet,  and  then  standing  ofl' 
to  windward,  became  invisible  in  the  haze.  The 
Spaniard  was  thus  informed  that  the  English  fleet 
was  in  his  immediate  neighbourhood,  but  the  dark- 
ness did  not  permit  battle  to  be  joined  that  night. 

Sunday  morning,  the  31st  of  July,  broke,  and 


FIRST   DISASTERS   OF   THE   ARMADA. 


453 


this  d;iy  was  to  witness  tliu  first  eucounter  between 
the  gi-eat  navy  of  Spain  and  the  little  fleet  of 
England.  Medina  Sidonia  gave  the  signal  for  an 
engagement ;  but  to  his  surprise  he  foimd  that  the 
power  of  accepting  or  declining  battle  lay  entii'ely 
■\\"ith  his  opponent.  Howard's  ships  were  stationed 
to  windward,  the  sluggish  Spanish  galleons  could 
not  close  with  them ;  whereas  the  English  vessels, 
light,  s^\-ift,  and  skilfully  handled,  would  run  up  to 
the  Armada,  pour  a  broadside  into  it,  and  then 
swiftly  retreat  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Spanish 
guns.  Sailing  right  in  the  eye  of  the  wind,  they 
defied  pursuit.  This  was  a  method  of  fighting  most 
tantalising  to  the  Spaniard  :  but  thus  the  battle, 
or  rather  skimiish,  went  on  all  day :  the  Armada 
moving  slowly  up -channel  befoi-e  the  westerly 
breeze,  and  the  English  fleet  hanging  upon  its  rear, 
and  firing  into  it,  now  a  single  shot,  now  a  whole 
broadside,  and  then  retreating  to  a  safe  distance, 
but  quickly  returning  to  torment  and  cripple  the 
foe,  who  kept  blazing  away,  but  to  no  purpose,  for 
his  shot,  discharged  from  lofty  decks,  passed  over 
the  ships  of  his  antagonist,  and  fell  into  the  sea.  It 
was  in  vain  that  the  Spanish  admii-al  hoisted  the 
flag  of  battle ;  the  wind  and  sea  would  not  permit 
him  to  lie-to ;  and  his  little  nimble  foe  would  not 
come  within  reach,  unless  it  might  be  for  a  moment, 
to  send  a  cannon-ball  thi'ough  the  side  of  some  of 
his  galleons,  or  to  demolish  a  tun-et  or  a  mast,  and 
then  make  ofl",  laughing  to  scorn  the  ungainly 
eflbrts  of  his  bulky  pursuer  to  overtake  him.  As 
yet  there  had  been  no  loss  of  either  ship  or  man  on 
the  pait  of  the  English. 

Not  quite  so  intact  was  the  Armada.  Their  size 
made  the  .ships  a  more  than  usually  good  mark  for 
the  English  gunners,  and  scarcely  had  a  shot  been 
fii'ed  during  the  day  that  had  not  hit.  Besides,  the 
English  fired  fom-  shots  to  one  of  the  Si)aniards. 
The  Armada  sustained  other  damage  besides  that 
which  the  English  guns  inflicted  upon  it.  As  night 
fell  its  ships  huddled  together  to  prevent  dispersion, 
and  the  galleon  of  Pech-o  di  Valdez,  fouling  with 
the  Santa  Catalhm,  was  so  much  damaged  that  it 
fell  behind  and  became  the  booty  of  the  English. 
TliLs  galleon  had  on  board  a  large  amount  of 
treasure,  and  what  was  of  greater  importance  to 
the  captora,  whose  scanty  stock  of  ammunition  was 
ah'eady  becoming  exhausted,  many  tons  of  gun- 
powder. Above  the  loss  of  the  money  and  the 
ammunition  was  that  of  her  commander  to  the 
Spaniards,  for  Pedro  di  Valdez  was  the  only 
naval  oflicer  in  the  fleet  who  was  acf[uainted  with 
the  Channel.' 


'  Metcren ;  Hakluy  t,  vol.  i.,  p.  597. 


Later  in  the  same  evening  a  yet  greater  calamity 
befell  the  Armada.  The  captain  of  the  rear-admii-al's 
galleon,  much  out  of  humour  with  the  day's  adven- 
tures, and  quarrelling  with  all  who  approached 
him,  accused  the  master-gunner  of  careless  firing. 
Afl'ronted,  the  man,  who  was  a  Fleming,  went 
straight  to  the  i)owder  magazine,  tlii-ust  a  burning 
match  into  it,  and  threw  himself  out  at  one  of  the 
poi-t-holes  into  the  sea.  In  a  few  seconds  came 
the  explosion,  flashing  a  terrific  but  momentary 
sjilendour  over  the  ocean.  The  deck  was  upheaved ; 
the  turrets  at  stem  and  stern  rose  into  the  air, 
cariying  with  them  the  paymaster  of  the  fleet 
and  200  soldiers.  The  strong  hulk,  though  torn 
by  the  explosion,  continued  to  float,  and  was 
seized  in  the  morning  by  the  English,  who  found 
in  it  a  gi-eat  amomit  of  treasure,  and  a  su2iply  of 
ammunition  wliich  had  not  ignited."  On  the  veiy 
firat  day  of  conflict  the  Armada  had  lost  two  flag- 
ships, 450  ofticers  and  men,  the  paymaster  of  the 
fleet,  and  100,000  ducats  of  Spanish  gold.  This 
was  no  ausjiicious  commencement  of  an  expedition 
which  Spain  had  exhausted  itself  to  fit  out. 

On  the  following  day  (Monday,  1st  August)  the 
Armada  held  its  way  slowly  up-ohannel,  followed 
by  the  fleet  under  Howard,  who  hovered  upon  its 
rear,  but  did  not  attack  it.  Next  morning 
(Tuesday)  the  Armada  was  ofl'  St.  Alban's  Head ; 
and  here  the  first  really  serious  encounter  took 
place.  As  the  morning  rose,  the  wind  changed 
into  the  east,  which  exactly  reversed  the  position 
of  the  two  fleets,  giving  the  weather-gauge  to  the 
Armada.  Howard  attempted  to  sail  round  it  and 
get  to  windward  of  it,  but  Medina  Sidonia  inter- 
cepted him  by  coming  between  him  and  the  shore, 
and  compelled  him  to  accept  battle  at  close 
quarters.  The  combat  was  long  and  confused.  In 
the  evening  the  Spanish  shi2)S  gathered  themselves 
up,  and  forming  into  a  compact  group,  went  on 
their  way.  It  was  believed  that  they  were  obej-ing 
Philijj's  instructions  to  steer  for  the  point  whei-e  the 
D\ikc  of  Parma  was  to  join  tliem  with  lu's  army, 
and  then  strike  the  decisive  blow.  The  shores  of 
the  English  Channel  were  crowded  with  spectatore ; 
merchant  vessels  were  hastening  from  every  port  of 
the  realm  to  the  spot  where  the  very  existence  of  the 
English  crown  hung  on  the  wager  of  battle.  These 
accessions  added  greatly  to  the  appearance,  but  very 
little  to  the  cflective  force,  of  the  queen's  navy. 
Tlxe  nobles  and  gentiy  also  were  flocking  to  the 
fleet ;  the  representatives  of  the  old  houses,  poui-ing 
thither  in  the  same  stream  with  the  new  men  whose 
genius  and  patriotism  had  placed  them  at  the  head 

'  Meteren;  Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  598. 


ioi 


HISTORY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


of  affairs,  giving  by  tlieii-  jiresonce  juestige  to  the 
cause,  and  conimiinicating  theii'  ovn\  entliusiasm  to 
the  soldiers  and  sailoi-s  in  the  fleet.^ 

On  Wednesday  the  Amiatla  continued  its  course, 
followed  by  Howard  and  his  fleet.  A  few  shots 
were  that  day  exchanged,  but  no  general  action 
took  place.  On  Thursday,  the  4th,  the  Armada 
was  off  the  Isle  of  Wight.  The  wind  had  again 
changed  into  the  east,  giv-ing  to  the  Ai-mada  once 
more  the  weather-gaiige.  Accordingly  it  lay-to,  and 
here  the  sharpest  action  of  all  was  fought.  The 
ships  of  the  two  fleets  engaged,  yard-arm  to  yaid- 
ai-m,  and  broadside  after  broadside  was  exchanged 
at  a  distance  of  about  100  yards.  The  admiral. 
Lord  Howard,  in  his  .ship  the  Ark,  steered  right 
into  the  heart  of  the  Armada,  in  search  of 
Medina  Sidonia,  in  his  ship  the  Si.  Martin, 
making  acquaintance  with  each  galleon  as  he 
passed,  by  pouring  a  broadside  into  it.  Rear- 
Admiral  Oquendo,  perceiving  Howard's  design,  ran 
his  ship  imder  the  bows  of  the  Ark,  and  by  the 
shock  unshipped  her  rudder,  and  rendered  her 
unmanageable.  Six  Spanish  galleons  closed  round 
her,  never  doubting  that  she  was  then-  prize.  In 
a  trice  the  Ark's  own  boats  had  her  in  tow,  and 
passing  out  of  the  hostile  circle  .she  was  off,  to  the 
amazement  of  the  Spaniards.  The  fight  continued 
several  hours  longer.  Ships  of  apostolic  name  found 
theii'  saintly  titles  no  protection  from  the  round 
shot  of  the  English  guns.  The  8t.  Matthew,  the  St. 
Ma/rk,  the  St.  Philip,  the  St.  Luke,  the  St.  John, 
the  St.  Martin,  fought  with  the  Lion,  the  Bull,  the 
Bear,  the  Tiger,  the  Dreculnought,  the  Revenge,  the 
Vic'tori/,  but  they  coiUd  gain  no  ma.stery  over  theii' 
unapostolical  antagonists.  In  the  carnal  business 
of  fighting  the  superiority  seemed  to  lie  with  the 
heretical  combatants.  The  sides  of  the  orthodox 
galleons  were  pierced  and  riddled  ^^^th  the  EngUsh 
shot,  their  masts  cut  or  splintered,  and  their  cord- 
age torn  ;  and  when  evening  fell,  the  enemy,  who 
had  all  through  the  conflict  seen  the  Spanish  shot 
pass  harmlessly  over  him  and  bui-y  itself  in  the  sea, 
stood  away,   his  hulls  beanng  no  sign  of  battle, 

'  Meteren;  Hakluyt,  toI.  i.,  p.  599. 


hai'dly  a  cord  torn,  and  his  crews  a.s  intact  as  his 
ships. 

On  the  following  day  (Friday)  the  procession  up- 
chamiel  w;is  resumed,  at  the  .same  slow  pace  iind 
in  the  .same  order  as  before,  the  mighty  Armada 
leading  the  van,  ;md  the  humble  English  fleet 
following.  On  the  afternoon  of  Saturday  the 
Spaniards  were  ofi'  Calais.  It  was  here,  or  near  to 
this,  that  Metlina  Sidonia  was  to  be  joined  by  the 
Duke  of  Parma,  with  the  fleet  and  army  wliich  he 
hatl  been  preparing  all  the  previous  winter,  and  all 
that  summer,  in  the  harbours  of  Flanders.  The 
duke  had  not  arrived,  but  any  hour  might  bring 
him,  and  Medina  Sidonia  resolved  here  to  cast 
anchor  and  wait  his  approach.  The  Annada  ac- 
cordingly took  up  its  position  in  the  roadstead  of 
Calais,  while  the  English  fleet  cast  anchor  a  league 
ofl'  to  the  west." 

The  horn'  had  now  come  when  it  was  to  be 
determined  whether  England  should  remain  an 
independent  kingdom,  or  become  one  of  Philip's 
numerous  satrapies ;  whether  it  was  to  retain  the 
light  of  the  Protestant  faith,  or  to  fall  back  into  the 
darkness  and  serfdom  of  a  mediaeval  superstition. 
Battles,  or  rather  skirmishes,  there  had  been 
between  the  two  fleets,  but  now  the  moment  had 
come  for  a  death-grapple  between  Spain  and  Eng- 
land. The  Armada  had  arrived  on  the  battle-gi'ound 
comparatively  intact.  It  had  experienced  rough 
hancUing  from  tie  tempests  of  the  Atlantic  ;  Howard 
and  Drake  had  dealt  it  some  heavy  blows  on  its 
way  up  the  Channel ;  several  of  those  galleons 
which  had  glided  so  proucUy  out  of  the  harboui'  of 
Lisbon,  were  now  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean ;  but 
these  losses  were  hardly  felt  by  the  gi-eat  Ai-mada. 
It  waited  but  the  junction  with  the  Duke  of  Parma 
to  be  perhaps  the  mightiest  combination  of  naval 
and  military  power  which  the  world  had  seen.  This 
union  might  happen  the  next  day,  or  the  day  after, 
and  then  the  Armada,  scattering  the  little  fleet 
which  lay  between  it  and  the  shores  to  wliich  it 
was  looking  across,  would  pass  over,  and  Elizabeth's 
throne  would  fall. 

-  Meteren;  Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  COO. 


FAILUEE    OF   PART   OF   PHILIP'S   ENTEEPPISE. 


455 


CHAPTER   XIX. 


DESTRUCTION     OF     THE     ARMADA. 


TIio  Koadstcad  of  Calais— Vast  Preparations  in  Flanders — Tlie  Dutcli  Fleet  Shuts  in  the  Ai-my  of  Parma— The  Duke 
does  not  Come — A  Great  Crisis— Danger  of  England— Fire-ships— Launched  against  the  Armada— Terror— Tlie 
Spaniards  Cut  their  Cables  and  Flee— Great  Battle  off  Gravelines— Defeat  of  the  Spaniards— Shattered  State  of 
the  Galleons— Narrowly  Escape  Burial  in  the  Quicksands — Eetreat  into  the  North  Sea— The  Armada  off  Norway 
— Driven  across  to  Shetland— Carried  round  to  Ireland— Dreadfid  Scenes  on  the  Irish  Coast— Shipwi-eck  and 
Massacre— Anstruther — Interview  between  the  Minister  and  a  Shipwrecked  Spanish  Admiral— Eetui-n  of  a  Few 
Ships  to  Spain— Grief  of  the  Nation— The  Pope  Refuses  to  Pay  his  Million  of  Ducats— The  Effects  of  the  Armada 
—The  Hand  of  God— Medals  Struck  in  Commemoration- Thanksgiving  in  England  and  the  Protestant  States. 


We  left  the  two  fleets  watcliing  each  other  iii  the 
roadstead  of  Calais,  tlie  evening  closing  in  darkly, 
the  scud  of  tempest  drifting  across  the  sky,  and  the 
billows  of  the  Atlantic  forcing  theii'  way  np  the 
Channel,  and  rocking  uneasily  the  huge  galleons  of 
Spain  at  their  anchorage.  The  night  wore  away  : 
the  morning  broke  ;  and  \vith  the  returning  light 
the  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia  is  again  seen  scrati- 
nising  the  eastern  ocean,  and  straining  his  eyes  if 
haply  he  may  descry  the  approach  of  the  Duke  of 
Parma.  This  is  the  appointed  place  of  meeting. 
The  hour  is  come,  but  it  has  not  brought  the  man 
and  the  armament  so  eagerly  desired.  On  his  way 
up  the  Channel,  Medina  Sidonia  had  sent  mes- 
senger after  messenger  to  Pai-ma,  to  urge  him  to  be 
punctual.  He  had  not  concealed  from  him  what  it 
must  have  cost  the  proud  Spaniard  no  little  pain  to 
confess,  that  he  needed  his  help ;  but  he  urged  and 
entreated  in  vain :  there  was  no  sail  in  the  offing. 
Neither  sight  nor  sound  of  Panna's  coming  could 
Medina  Sidonia  obtain. 

All  the  while,  Pai-ma  was  as  desu-ous  to  be  on  the 
scene  of  action  as  Medina  Sidonia  was  to  have  him 
there.  The  duke  had  assembled  a  mighty  force. 
One  of  Ixis  regiments  was  accounted  the  finest 
kno^vn  in  the  history  of  war,  and  had  excited 
great  admii-ation  on  its  march  from  Naples  to  the 
Netherlands,  by  its  engraved  aims  and  gilded  cors- 
lets, as  well  as  its  mai-tial  bearing.  A  numerous 
fleet,  as  we  have  already  said,  of  flat-bottomed 
vessels  was  ready  to  cany  this  powerful  host  across 
to  England.  But  one  tlung  was  wanting,  and 
its  absence  rendered  all  these  vast  preparations 
fruitless.  Parma  needed  an  open  door  from  his 
harboure  to  the  ocean,  and  the  Dutch  took  care 
not  to  leave  him  one.  They  drew  a  line  of  war- 
ships along  the  Netherland  coast,  and  Parma,  with 
Lis  sailors  and  soldiers,  was  imprisoned  in  his  own 
ports.  It  was  strange  that  this  had  not  been  fore- 
seen and  provided  against.     The  oversight  reveals 


the  working  of  a  Hand  powerful  enough  by  its 
slightest  touches  to  defeat  the  wisest  schemes  and 
crush  the  mightiest  combinations  of  man. 

Parma ^vrote  repeatedly  to  both  Philip  and  Medina 
Sidonia  to  say  that  all  was  ready,  that  sailors, 
soldiers,  and  transpoi-ts  were  collected,  but  that 
the  Dutch  had  shut  him  in,  and  months  of  labour 
and  millions  of  ducats  were  lost  for  want  of  the 
means  of  exit ;  that  the  Armada  must  come  across 
the  German  Ocean,  and  with  its  guns  make  for  him 
a  passage  through  the  hostile  fleet,  which,  so  long  as 
it  kept  watch  and  ward  over  him,  rendered  one 
arm  of  the  great  Armada  useless.  Arid  yet  Philip 
either  would  not  or  could  not  understand  tliis 
plain  matter;  and  so,  while  one  half  of  Spain's 
colossal  army  is  being  rocked  in  the  roadstead  of 
Calais,  its  commander  fretting  at  Panna's  delay, 
the  other  half  lies  bound  in  the  canals  and  harbours 
of  Flandei-s,  champing  the  curb  that  keeps  them 
from  sharing  with  their  comrades  the  glory  and  the 
golden  spoils  of  the  conquest  of  England. 

In  the  meantime,  anxious  consultations  were 
being  held  on  board  the  English  fleet.  The  brave 
and  patriotic  men  who  led  it  did  not  conceal  from 
themselves  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  The 
Annada  had  reached  its  appointed  rendezvous  in 
spite  of  all  their  eflbrts,  and  if  joined  by  Parma, 
it  would  be  so  overwhelmingly  powerful  that  they 
did  not  see  what  should  hinder  its  crossing  over 
and  landing  in  England.  They  were  willing  to 
shed  theii-  blood  to  prevent  this,  and  so  too  were 
the  bi-ave  men  b}'  whom  theu'  ships  were  manned ; 
but  there  seemed  to  be  a  .struggle  in  the  mind  of 
the  queen  between  pai-simony  and  patriotism,  and 
that  wretched  penuriousncss  which  kept  the  fleet 
supplied  v\'itli  neither  ammunition  nor  provisions, 
threatened  to  counterbalance  all  the  unrivalled  sea- 
manship, together  with  the  bi-aveiy  and  devotion 
that  were  now  being  put  forth  in  defence  of  the 
British   cro'mi.      The   Loiu-s  of  the  Sunday  were 


■t.")G 


HISTOKY    OF   I'KOTEiSTANTlSM. 


weavmg  away ;  the  crown  of  Eiiglaiul  was  lianging 
in  the  baliuice ;  befoi-e  another  dawni  bad  come, 
Paniia's  fleet,  for  aught  they  could  tell,  might  be 
anchored  alongside  of  Medina  Si<lonia'.s  in  the  road- 
stead of  Calais,  and  the  time  would  be  jiast  for 
striking  such  a  blow  as  would  drive  ofi'  the  Spanish 
ships,  and  put  the  crown  and  realm  of  England 
beyond  danger. 

A  bold  and  somewhat  novel  expedient,  suggested 
by  her  Majesty,  as  both  Camden  and  Meteren 
affirm,'  was  resolved  upon  for  accomplishing  this 
object.  Eight  ships  were  selected  from  the  crowd 
of  volunteer  vessels  that  followed  the  fleet ;  their 
ma.sts  were  smearetl  vnih  pitch,  their  hulls  were 
filled  with  powder  and  all  kinds  of  explosive 
and  combvi.stible  materials ;  and  so  prepared  they 
were  set  atlrift  in  the  dii'ection  of  the  Armada, 
leaving  to  the  Spaniards  no  altei-native  but  to 
cut  their  cables  or  to  be  burned  at  their  anchors. 
Tlie  night  fiivoured  the  execution  of  this  design. 
Hea^'y  masses  of  clouds  hid  the  stare ;  the  mut- 
tering of  distant  thunder  reverbei'ated  in  the 
sky ;  that  deep,  heavy  swell  of  ocean  that  precedes 
the  tempest  was  rocking  the  galleons,  and  render- 
ing their  position  every  moment  more  unpleasant 
— so  close  to  the  shallows  of  Calais  on  the  one 
.side,  with  the  quicksands  of  Flanders  on  theii- 
lee.  While  in  this  feverLsh  state  of  apprehension, 
new  objects  of  teiTor  presented  themselves  to  the 
Spaniards.  It  was  about  an  hoiu"  past  midnight 
when  the  watch  discerned  certain  dark  objects 
emerging  out  of  the  blackness  and  advancing 
towiU'ds  them.  They  had  hardly  given  the  alarm 
when  suddenly  these  dark  shajies  burst  into  flame, 
lighting  up  sea  and  sky  in  gloomy  grandeur. 
These  pillars  of  fire  came  stalking  onwards  over 
the  waters.  The  Spaniards  gazed  for  a  moment 
upon  the  dreadful  apparition,  and,  divining  its 
nature  and  mission,  they  instantly  cut  their  cables, 
and,  with  the  loss  of  some  of  their  galleons  and 
the  damage  of  others  in  the  confusion  and  panic, 
they  bore  away  into  the  German  Ocean,  the  winds 
their  pilot.- 

With  the  first  light  the  English  admiral  weighed 
anchor,  and  set  sail  in  piu-suit  of  the  fleeing 
Spaniard.  At  eight  o'clock  on  Monday  morning, 
Drake  came  up  with  the  Armada  oS"  Gravelines, 
and  giving  it  no  time  to  collect  and  form,  he  began 
the  most  important  of  all  the  battles  which  hatl  yet 
been  fought.  All  the  gi-eat  ships  on  both  sides, 
and  all  the  great  admirals  of  England,  were  in  that 
action ;  the  English  ships  lay -to  close  to  the  gal- 
leons, and  poured  broadside  after   broadside  into 

1  Meteren;  Haklnyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  001.  •  md. 


them.  It  was  a  rain  of  shot  from  morning  to 
night.  The  galleons  falling  back  before  the  tierce 
onset,  and  huddling  together,  the  English  fire  was 
poured  into  the  mass  of  hulls  and  masts,  and 
did  fearful  execution,  converting  the  ships  into 
shambles,  rivulets  of  blood  jiouring  from  their 
scuttles  into  the  sea.  Of  the  Spanish  guns 
many  were  dismounted,  those  that  remained  avail- 
able fired  but  slowly,  while  the  heavy  rolling  of 
the  vessels  threw  the  shot  into  the  air.  Several 
of  the  galleons  were  seen  to  go  down  in  the  action, 
others  put  hors  de  combat  reeled  away  towards 
Ostend.^  When  the  evening  fell  the  fighting  was  still 
going  on.  But  the  breeze  shifting  into  the  north- 
west, and  the  sea  continuing  to  rise,  a  new  calamity 
threatened  the  disabled  and  helple-ss  Armada ;  it 
was  being  forced  upon  the  Flanders  coast,  and 
if  the  English  had  had  strength  and  ammunition 
to  pursue  them,  the  galleons  would  have  that 
night  found  common  burial  in  the  shoals  and  quick- 
sands of  the  Netherlands.  They  narrowly  escaped 
that  fate  at  the  time,  but  only,  after  prolonged  ter- 
rors and  sufierings,  to  be  overtaken  by  it  amid  wilder 
seas,  and  on  more  savage  coasts.  The  power  of  the 
Ai-mada  had  been  broken  ;  most  of  its  vessels  were 
in  a  sinking  condition;  from  4,000  to  5,000  of 
its  soldiers,  shot  down,  had  received  burial  in  the 
ocean ;  and  at  least  as  many  more  lay  wounded 
and  dying  on  board  then-  shattered  galleons.  Of 
the  English  not  more  than  100  had  fallen. 

Thankful  was  the  ten-ified  Medina  Sidonia  when 
night  fell,  and  gave  him  a  few  hours'  respite.  But 
with  morning  his  dangere  and  anxieties  returned. 
He  found  himself  between  two  great  perils.  To  the 
^vindward  of  him  was  the  English  fleet.  Behind 
him  was  that  belt  of  muddy  water  which  fringes  the 
Dutch  coast,  and  which  indicates  to  the  mariner's 
eye  those  fatal  banks  where,  if  he  strikes,  he  is  lost. 
The  helpless  Ai-mada  was  nearing  these  terrible 
shoals  every  moment.  Suddenly  the  wind  sliifted 
into  the  east,  and  the  change  rescued  the  Spanish 
galleons  when  on  the  very  brink  of  destruction. 
The  English  fleet,  having  lost  the  weather-gauge, 
stood  ofl" ;  and  the  Spanish  admiral,  relieved  of  their 
presence,  assembled  his  officere  on  board  his  ship  to 
deliberate  on  the  course  to  be  taken.  Whether 
should  they  return  to  their  anchorage  oft'  Calais,  or 
go  back  to  Sjiain  by  way  of  the  Orkneys  ?  this  was 
the  alternative  on  which  Medina  Sidonia  requested 
his  officers  to  give  their  opinion.  To  return  to  Calais 
involved  a  second  battle  with  the  English,  and  if 
tliis  should  be,  the  officer's  were  of  opinion  that 
there  would  come  no  to-morrow  to  the  Armada; 


Meteren;  Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  602. 


458 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


to  return  to  Spain  in  battered  ships,  without  pilots, 
and  tlu'ough  unknown  and  dangerous  seas,  was 
an  attempt  neai-ly  as  fonnidable ;  nevertheless,  it 
was  the  lesser  of  the  two  evils  to  wliich  theii- 
choice  was  limited,  and  it  was  the  one  adopted.' 
Tempest,  conflagi-ation,  and  battle  had  laid  the 
pride  of  Spain  in  the  dust. 

No  sooner  had  the  change  of  wind  rescued  the 
Spanish  ships  from  the  destruction  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  seemed  to  await  them,  than  it  shifted 
once  more,  and  settling  in  the  south-we.st,  blew 
eveiy  moment  with  gi-eater  force.  The  mostly 
rudderless  ships  could  do  nothing  but  drift  before 
the  rising  storm  into  the  northern  seas.  Drake 
followed  them  for  a  day  or  two ;  he  did  not  fiie  a 
gun,  in  fact  his  ammunition  was  spent,  but  the  sight 
of  his  ships  "was  enough,  the  Spaniards  fled,  and 
did  not  even  stay  to  succour  theii'  leaking  vessels, 
which  went  down  unhelped  amid  the  waves. 

Spreading  sail  to  the  rising  gale,  the  Armada 
bore  away  past  the  Frith  of  Forth.  Drake  had 
been  uneasy  about  Scotland,  fearing  that  tlie 
Spaniards  might  seek  refuge  in  the  Forth  and 
give  trouble  to  the  northern  kingdom  ;  but  when  he 
saw  this  danger  pass,  and  the  Armada  speed  awaj' 
towards  the  shores  of  Norway,  he  resolved  to  re- 
trace his  course  before  famine  should  set  in  among 
his  crews.  No  sooner  did  Drake  turn  back  from 
the  fleeing  foe  than  the  tempest  took  up  the  pur- 
suit, for  that  moment  a  furious  gale  burst  out,  and 
the  last  the  English  saw  of  the  Ai-mada  were  the 
vanishing  forms  of  their  retreating  galleons,  as  they 
entered  the  clouds  of  storm  and  became  hid  in  the 
blackness  of  the  northern  night.  In  these  awful 
solitudes,  which  seemed  abandoned  to  tempests,  the 
Spaniards,  without  pilots  and  without  a  chart, 
were  envii'oned  by  bristling  rocks  and  by  unknown 
shallows,  by  cunents  and  whii-lpools.  They  were 
"driven  from  light  into  darkness;"  they  were 
"  chased  out  of  the  world." 

The  tempest  continuing,  the  Ai'mada  was  every 
hour  being  canied  farther  into  that  unknown  region 
which  the  imagination  of  its  ci-ews  peopled  with 
terrors,  but  not  gi'eater  than  the  reality.  The  fleet 
was  lessening  every  day,  both  in  men  and  ships ; 
the  sailors  died  and  were  thrown  overboard ;  the 
vessels  leaked  and  sank  in  the  waves.  The  sur- 
vivors were  tossed  about  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
winds  and  the  waters  ;  now  they  were  whirled  along 
the  iron-bound  coast  of  Norway,  now  they  were 
dashed  on  the  savage  rocks  of  the  Shetlands,  and 
now  they  found  themselves  in  the  intricate  friths 
and  racing  currents  of  the  Orkneys.      Canied  on 


'  Meteren;  Hakhiyt,  vol.  i-,  p. 


the  temjiest's  wings  round  Cajje  "Wrath,  they  wer& 
next  launched  amid  the  perils  of  the  Hebrides. 
The  rollers  of  the  Atlantic  hoisted  them  up,  dashed 
them  against  the  black  cliSs,  or  flung  them  on  the 
shehing  shore  ;  then.'  crews,  too  worn  with  toil  and 
want  to  swim  ashore,  were  dro\\Tied  in  the  surf,  and 
littered  the  beach  with  their  corpses.  The  ■winds 
drove  the  survivors  of  that  doomed  fleet  farther 
south,  and  now  they  were  careering  along  the  west 
coast  of  Ireland.  The  crowd  of  sail  seen  off  the 
coa.st  caused  alarm  at  the  first,  but  soon  it  was 
known  how  little  cause  there  was  to  fear  an  Armada 
which  was  fleeing  when  no  man  was  pui-suing. 
There  came  a  day's  calm ;  hunger  and  thir.st  were 
raging  on  board  the  ships  ;  then-  store  of  water  was 
entii-ely  sjjeut ;  the  Spaniards  sent  some  boats  on 
shore  to  beg  a  supply.  They  prayed  piteously, 
they  ofiiered  any  amount  of  money,  but  not  a  cU'op 
could  they  have.  The  natives  knew  that  the 
Spaniards  had  lost  the  day,  and  that  should  they 
succour  the  enemies  of  Elizabeth,  the  Government 
would  hold  them  answerable.  Nor  was  this  the 
woi-st;  new  horrors  awaited  them  on  this  fated 
coast.  The  storm  had  returned  in  all  its  former 
violence ;  to  windward  were  the  mighty  crested 
billows  of  the  Atlantic,  against  which  both  them- 
selves and  theii'  vessels  were  without  power  to  con- 
tend ;  to  the  leeward  were  the  bristlmg  clifls  of  the 
Irish  coast,  amid  which  tliey  sought,  but  found  not, 
haven  or  jjlace  of  rest.  The  gale  raged  for  eleven 
days,  and  during  that  time  galleon  after  galleon 
came  on  shore,  scattering  their  drowned  crews  by 
hundreds  upon  the  beach.  An  eye-witness  thus 
describes  the  dreadful  scene  : — "  When  I  was  at 
Sligo,"  wrote  Sii-  Geoflrej'  Fenton,  "  I  numbered  on 
one  strand  of  less  than  five  miles  in  length,  eleven 
hundred  dead  bodies  of  men,  which  the  sea  had 
driven  upon  the  shore.  The  country  people  told 
me  the  like  was  in  other  jilaces,  though  not  to  the 
same  number."-  On  the  same  coast  thei'e  lay.  Sir 
William  Fitzwilliam  was  told,  "  in  the  space  of  a 
few  miles,  as  gi'eat  store  of  the  timber  of  wrecked 
ships,  more  than  would  have  built  five  of  the 
greatest  ships  that  ever  I  saw,  besides  mighty  great 
boats,  cables,  and  other  cordage  answerable  thereto, 
and  some  such  masts  for  bigness  and  length  as  I 
never  saw  any  two  could  make  the  like."^ 

The  sea  was  not  the  only  enemy  these  -wTetched 
men  had  to  dread.  The  natives,  though  of  the 
same  religion  with  the  Spaniards,  were  more  pitiless 


-  Fenton  to  Biirghley,  October  28 :  MSS.  Ireland- 
quoted  by  Froude,  vol.  xii.,  p.  451 ;  Lond.,  1870. 

'  Fitzwilliam  to  the  English  Council,  December  31  : 
MSS.  Ireland — apud  Froude. 


WRECKS   OF   THE   AEMADA. 


459 


than  tlio  waves.  As  the  Spaniards  crawled  through 
tlie  suif  up  the  beach,  the  Irisli  slaughtered  them 
for  the  sake  of  theii-  velvets,  their  gold  brocades, 
and  theii'  rich  chains.  Their  suflerings  were  aggia- 
vated  from  another  cause.  The  Government  had 
•  sent  orders  to  tlie  English  garrisons  in  Ireland  to 
execute  all  who  fell  into  theii'  hands.  This  order, 
which  was  prompted  by  the  fear  that  the  Spaniards 
might  be  joined  by  the  Iiish,  and  that  a  mutiny 
would  ensue,  was  relentlessly  carried  out.  It  was 
calculated  that  in  the  month  of  September  alone, 
8,000  Spaniards  perished  between  the  Giants'  Cause- 
way and  Blosket  Sound  ;'  1,100  were  executed  by 
the  Government  officers,  and  3,000  were  murdered 
by  the  Irish.  The  rest  were  (howned.  The  islets, 
creeks,  and  shores  were  strewed  ^vith  wrecks  and 
corpses,  while  in  the  offing  there  tossed  an  ever- 
diminishing  fleet,  torn  and  battered,  laden  with 
toil-worn,  famished,  maddened,  despauing,  dying 
men.  The  tragedy  witnessed  of  old  on  the  shore  of 
the  Red  Sea  had  repeated  itself,  with  wider  horrors, 
on  the  coast  of  Ireland." 

We  turn  to  another  pai-t  of  this  appalling  pic- 
ture. It  is  more  pleasant  than  that  wliicli  we  have 
been  contemplating.  We  are  on  the  east  coast  of 
Scotland,  in  the  town  of  Anstruther,  where  James 
Melville,  brother  of  the  illustrious  Andrew  Melville, 
was  minister.  One  morning  in  the  beginning  of 
October,  1558,  .so  he  tells  us  in  his  Autobiography, 
he  was  awakened  at  daybreak  by  one  of  the 
bailUes  of  Anstiiither  coming  to  his  bedside,  and 
.saying,  "  I  have  news  to  tell  you,  sir  :  there  is 
anived  in  our  harbour  tliLs  morning  a  ship  full  of 
Spaniards,  but  not  to  give  mercy,  but  to  ask  it." 
The  minister  got  up  and  accompanied  the  baUlie  to 
the  town-hall,  whei-e  the  council  was  about  to 
assemble  to  hear  the  petition  of  the  Spaniards,  who 
meanwhile  had  been  ordered  back  to  their  ships. 
After  the  magistrates,  burghers,  and  minister  had 
deliberated,  the  commander  of  the  ship  was  intro- 
duced, "  a  very  reverend  man,  of  big  stature,  and 
gi-ave  and  stout  countenance,  grey-headed,  and  very 
humble-like,  who,  after  many  and  very  low  cour- 
tesies, bowing  dowTi  \vith  his  face  near  to  the 
ground,  and  touching  my  shoe  with  his  hand," 
liegan  the  .story  of  the  Armada  and  its  mifshaps. 
This  "very  reverend  man,"  who  was  now  doing 
obeisance  before  the  minister  of  Anstruther,  was 
the  admiral  of  twenty  galleons.  He  had  been  cast 
upon  the  "Fan-  Isle"  between  Shetland  and 
Orkney,  and  after  seven  weeks'  endurance  of  cold 


'  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam  to  WaJsingham,  September 
30 :  MSS.  Ireland— ap«d  Froude. 
-  Metoren;  Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  604. 


and  hunger  among  the  natives,  he  had  managed  to 
jirocure  a  .ship  in  which  to  come  south,  and  now 
he  was  asking  "relief  and  comfort"  for  himself 
and  the  captains  and  soldiers  with  him,  "  whose 
condition  was  for  the  present  most  pitiful  and 
miserable  ;"  and  thereupon  he  again  "  bowed  him- 
self even  to  the  gi'ound."  The  issue  was  that  the 
commander  and  officers  were  hospitably  entertained 
at  the  houses  of  the  neighbouring  gentiy,  and  that 
the  soldiers,  who  numbered  260,  "  young  beardless 
men,  weak,  toiled,  and  famished,"^  were  permitted 
to  come  ashore,  and  were  fed  by  the  citizens  till 
they  were  able  to  pursue  their  voyage.  The  name 
of  the  commander  was  Jan  Gomes  di  Medina.^ 

The  few  galleons  that  escaped  the  waves  and  rocks 
crept  back  one  by  one  to  Spain,  telling  by  their 
maimed  and  battered  condition,  before  their  crews 
had  opened  their  lips,  the  .story  of  then-  overthrow. 
That  awful  tragedy  was  too  vast  to  be  disclosed  all 
at  once.  When  at  last  the  terrible  fact  was  fully 
known,  the  nation  was  smitten  down  by  the  blow. 
Philip,  stunned  and  overwhelmed,  shut  liimself  up 
in  his  closet  in  the  Escorial,  and  would  see  no 
one  ;  a  cry  of  lamentation  and  woe  went  up  from 
the  kingdom.  Hardly  was  there  a  noble  family 
in  all  Spain  which  had  not  lost  one  or  more  of  its 
members.  The  young  gi-andees,  the  heirs  of  their 
respective  houses,  who  had  gone  forth  but  a  few 
months  before,  confident  of  returning  victorious, 
were  sleeping  at  the  bottom  of  the  English  seas, 
amid  hulks  and  cannon  and  money-chests.  Of  the 
.30,000  who  had  sailed  in  the  Armada,  scarcely 
10,000  saw  again  their  native  land;  and  these  re- 
turned, in  almost  every  instance,  to  pine  and  die. 
The  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  the  commander-in- 
chief,  was  almost  the  only  one  of  the  nobles  who 
outlived  the  catastrophe ;  but  his  head  was  bowed 
in  shame,  and  envying  the  fate  of  those  who  had 
lierished,  he  buried  himself  in  his  country-seat  from 
the  eyes  of  his  countrymen.  To  add  to  the  griefs 
of  Philip  II.,  he  was  deeply  wounded  from  a 
quarter  whence  he  had  looked  for  sjinpathy  and 
help.  Pope  Sixtus  had  promised  a  contril)ution  of 
a  million  of  crowns  towards  the  expenses  of  the 
Annada,  but  when  he  .saw  to  what  end  it  had  come, 
he  refused  to  pay  a  single  ducat.  In  vain  Pliilip 
urged  that  the  Pope  had  instigated  him  to  the 
attempt,  that  the  expedition  had  been  undertaken 
in  the  sacred  cause  of  the  Church,  and  that  the  loss 
ought  to  be  bome  mutually.     Sixtus  was  deaf ;  he 

'  "!3illie,  trauchlcd,  and  houngcrod. "  We  have  taken 
the  liberty  of  rendering  the  Scottisli  words  into  English, 
though  the  force  is  diminished  thereby. 

^  Autobiography  and  Diary  of  Mr.  James  McUiV,  pp. 
2C0-263;  WoOiow  ed.,  Edin.,  1842. 


460 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


wsus  almost  satmcal.  He  could  not  be  expected,  he 
said,  to  give  a  million  of  money  for  an  Armada 
wMcli  had  accomplished  nothing,  and  was  now  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea.' 

The  Armada  wa.s  the  mightiest  effort  in  the  shape 
of  armed  force  ever  put  forth  by  the  Popish  Powers 
agiunst  Protestantism,  and  it  proved  the  turning- 
point  in  the  great  war  between  Rome  and  the 
Reformation.  Spiiiii  was  never  after  what  it  had 
been  before  the  Armada.  The  failure  of  that 
exjoedition  said  in  effect  to  her,  "  Remove  the 
diadem ;  put  off  the  crown."  Almost  all  the 
military  genius  and  the  naval  skill  at  her  seiwice 
were  lost  in  that  ill-fated  expedition.  The  flower 
of  Philip's  army,  and  the  ablest  of  his  admii-als, 
were  now  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean.  The  financial 
loss  could  not  be  reckoned  at  less  than  six  millions 
of  ducats ;  but  that  was  nothing  compared  with 
the  extinction  of  Spain's  prestige.  The  catastrophe 
strijjped  her  naked.  Her  position  and  that  of  the 
Protestant  Powers  were  to  a  large  extent  reversed. 
England  and  the  Netherlands  rose,  and  Spain  fell. 
There  followed  that  same  year,  1588,  other  heavy 
blows  to  the  PopLsh  interest.  The  two  Guises  were 
assassinated  ;  Catherine  de  Medici  passed  from  the 
scene  of  her  intrigues  and  crimes ;  her  son  Hemy 
III.  followed,  stricken  by  the  dagger  of  Clement ; 
the  path  was  opened  for  Henry  IV.  to  mount  the 
throne,  and  the  Protestant  interests  in  France 
were  gi-eatly  strengthened.  The  wavei-ing  Protest- 
antism of  James  VI.  of  Scotland  was  steadied ; 
the  Netherlands  breathed  freely ;  and,  as  we  shall 
immediately  see,  there  came  so  man'ellous  a  blos- 
soming of  aiTQS  and  arts  in  the  Protestant  world  as 
caiised  the  glories  of  the  Spanish  Empire  to  be 
forgotten. 

The  tragedy  of  the  Armada  was  a  great  sermon 
preached  to  the  Popish  and  Protestant  nations. 
The  text  of  that  sermon  was  that  England  had  been 
saved  by  a  Divine  Hand.  All  acknowledged  the 
skill  and  darmg  of  the  English  admu-als,  and  the 
patriotism  and  bravery  of  the  English  sailors  and 
soldiers,  but  all  at  the  same  time  confessed  that 
these  alone  could  not  have  saved  the  throne  of 
Elizabeth.  The  Almighty  Arm  had  been  stretched 
out,  and  a  work  so  stupendous  had  been  wrought,  as 

'  The  Pope  was  satirised  in  his  turn.  When  the  news 
of  the  Armada's  faUure  arrived  in  Rome,  there  was  posted 
up  a  pasquil,  in  which  Sixtus  was  made  to  offer,  out  of 
the  plenitude  of  liis  power,  a  tliousand  years'  indxilgence 
to  any  one  who  would  give  him  information  respecting 
the  whereabouts  of  the  Spanish  fleet :  whether  it  had 
been  taken  up  into  heaven,  or  had  descended  into  hell ; 
whether  it  was  hanging  in  mid  air,  or  was  still  tossing 
«n  the  ocean.  {Cott.  Libr.,  Titus,  B.  2.  Strype,  Annals, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  522.) 


to  be  worthy  of  a  place  by  the  side  of  the  wonders  oi 
old  time.  There  were  a  consecutiveness  and  a  pro- 
gression in  the  acts,  a  unity  in  the  drama,  and  a 
sublimity  in  the  terrible  but  righteous  catastrophe 
in-  which  it  issued,  that  told  the  least  reflective  that 
the  Armada's  overthrow  was  not  fortuitous,  but  the 
result  of  arrangement  and  plan.  Even  the  Spaniards 
themselves  confessed  that  the  Di-vine  Hand  was  upon 
them ;  that  One  looked  forth  at  times  from  the 
storm-cloud  that  pursued  them,  and  troubled  them. 
Chiisteudom  at  large  was  solemnised  :  the  ordinary 
course  of  events  had  been  interrupted  ;  the  heavens 
had  been  bowed,  and  the  Great  Judge  had  descended 
upon  the  scene.  While  dismay  reigned  within  the 
Popish  kingdoms,  the  Protestant  States  joined  in  a 
chorus  of  thanksgiving.  In  England  by  the  com- 
mand of  her  Majesty,  and  in  the  United  Provinces 
by  order  of  the  States-General,  a  day  of  festival  wa.s 
appointed,  whereon  all  were  commanded  to  repair 
to  churcli,  and  "  render  thanks  unto  God."  "  The 
aforesaid  solemnity,"  says  the  Dutch  historian, 
"was  observed  on  the  29th  of  November,  which 
day  was  wholly  spent  in  fasting,  prayei-,  and  giving 
of  thanks."-  On  that  day  Queen  Elizabeth,  royally 
attired,  and  followed  by  the  estates  and  dignitaries 
of  the  realm,  visited  London,  and  rode  through  the 
streets  of  the  City  to  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul's, 
in  a  triumphal  chariot  drawn  by  four  white  horses. 
The  houses  were  hung  with  blue  cloth  ;  the  citizens 
in  their  holiday  dress  lined  the  streets,  ranged  in 
companies,  and  displaying  the  ensigns  and  .symbols 
of  their  vaiious  guilds  and  crafts.  Eleven  bamiers 
and  flags  which  had  been  taken  from  the  Sjianiards 
hung  ilisplayed  in  front  of  St.  Paul's.  The  queen 
with  her  clergy  and  nobles,  having  oflered  public 
thanks  in  the  church,  thereafter  retired  to  Paid's 
Cross,  where  a  sermon  was  preached  from  the  same 
stone  pulpit  from  which  Ridley's  and  Latimer's 
voices  had  often  been  heard ;  and  after  the  sermon 
the  queen  rose  and  addressed  her  assembled  sul5- 
jects,  exhorting  them  to  miite  with  her  in  extolling 
that  merciful  Power  which  had  scattereil  her  foes, 
and  shielded  from  overthrow  her  throne  and  realm. 
But  the  deliverance  was  a  common  one  to  the 
Protestant  kingdoms.  All  shared  in  it  with 
England,  and  each  in  turn  took  up  this  song  of 
triumph.  Zealand,  in  perpetual  memoiy  of  the 
event,  caused  new  coin  of  silver  and  brass  to  be 
struck,  stamped  on  the  one  side  with  the  arms  of 
Zealand,  and  the  words,  "  Glory  to  God  alone," 
and  on  the  other  with  a  representation  of  certain 
great  ships,  and  the  words,  "The  Spanish  Fleet." 
In   the   circumference   round    the   ships   was   the 


-  Strype  says  the  24th  November. 


SUPPLICATION   OF   THE   PURITANS. 


461 


motto,  "It  came,  went,  and  was.  Anno  1588."' 
Hollanil,  too,  struck  a  commemorative  medal  of 
the  Armada'.s  destruction ;  and  Theodore  Beza,  at 
Geneva,  celebrated  the  event  in  Latin  vorse. 

It  seemed  as  if  tlie  days  of  Miriam,  with  theii- 
judgments  and  songs  of  triumpli,  liad  returned,  and 
that  the  Hebrew  prophetess  had  lent  her  timbrel  to 
England,  that  she  might  sing  upon  it  the  destnic- 
tion  of  a  mightier  host  than  that  of  Egypt,  and 
the  overtlirow  of  a  greater  tyrant  than  he  who  lay 
drowned  in  the  Red  Sea.  England  began  tlie  song, 
as  was  meet,  for  around  her  isle  liad  the  Aimada 


been  led,  a  spectacle  of  doom  ;  but  soon,  from  beyond 
the  German  Ocean,  from  the  foot  of  the  Alps,  from 
the  shores  of  Scotland,  other  voices  were  heard 
swelling  the  anthem,  and  saying,  "  Sing  ye  to  the 
Lord,  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously  :  the  horse 
and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea.  The 
enemy  said,  I  will  pursue,  I  will  ovei-take,  I  will 
di^-ide  the  spoil ;  my  lust  shall  be  satisfied  upon 
them;  I  will  draw  my  sword,  my  hand  shall  de- 
stroy them.  Thou  didst  blow  with  thy  wind,  the 
sea  covered  them  :  they  sank  as  lead  in  the  mighty 
waters." 


CHAPTER    XX. 


GREATNESS  OF  PROTESTANT  ENGLAND. 

The  Reformation  not  Completed  under  Edward  VI.— Fails  to  Advance  under  Elizabeth— Religious  Destitution  of 
England— Supplication  for  Planting  it  with  Ministers,  &c. — Dispute  respecting  Vestments,  &c.— The  Puritans — 
Their  Numbers— Their  Aims— Elizabeth  Persecutes  them— Elizabeth's  Character— Two  Types  of  Protestantism 
Combine  to  form  One  Perfect  Protestantism— Outburst  of  Mind— Glory  of  England— Science— Literature— Arts- 
Bacon— Sliakspere— Milton,  &c. 


As  with  the  kings  who  gathered  together  against  a 
famous  city  of  old  time,  so  with  tlie  Ai-mada,  "  it 
came,  it  saw,  it  fled."  The  throne  of  Elizabeth  was 
saved  ;  the  mass  was  not  to  be  re-established  in 
England,  and  the  Reformation  was  not  to  be  over- 
thrown in  Europe.  The  tempest  had  done  its 
work,  and  now  the  Protestant  kingdoms  break  out 
into  singing,  and  celebrate  in-  triumphal  notes  the 
deliverance  which  an  Almighty  Aj-m  had  ^vi-ought 
for  them. 

We  now  turn  to  the  state  of  the  Protestant  faith 
witliin  tlie  kingdom.  In  vain  lias  England  been 
saved  from  tht;  sword  of  Spain,  if  the  plant  of  the 
Reformation  be  not  taking  root  and  flourishing  in 
it.  The  accession  of  Elizabeth  to  the  throne  had 
once  more  opened  the  Bible  to  Eiighmd  after  the 
pcreecutor  liad  shut  it,  but  the  [lermeation  of  the 
nation  with  its  light  was  somewhat  slow.  Instead 
of  carrymg  forward  the  work  of  Reformation  wliicli 
Edward  VI.  had  left  so  incomplete,  Elizabeth  was 
eontent  to  stop  short  of  the  point  which  her  brother 
had  reachetl.  The  work  languished.  For  this, 
various  causes  may  be  assigned.  Elizabeth  was 
a|)athetic,  and  at  times  even  hostUe.  The  throne 
w.as  too  powerful  and  too  despotic  to  permit  tlie 
spiritual  principle  full  scope  to  develop.  Besides, 
tlie  organisation  for  the  instruction  of  the  nation 


'  Meteren ;  Hakluyt,  vol.  i.,  p.  ( 


was  defective,  and  matters  were  not  improved  by 
the  languid  way  in  which  such  organisation  as  did 
exist  was  worked.  We  find  a  "  Supplication " 
given  in  to  the  Parliament  of  1585,  praying  it  to 
take  steps  for  the  planting  of  England  with  an 
educated  and  faithful  ministry ;  and  the  statement 
of  facts  with  which  the  Supplication  was  accom- 
panied, and  on  which  it  was  based,  presents  a  sad 
picture  of  the  religious  destitution  of  the  kingdom. 
Some  of  these  facts  are  explained,  and  others  <le- 
fended,  by  the  bishops  in  their  answer  to  the 
Supplication,  but  they  are  not  denied.  The 
petitioners  aflirm  that  the  majority  of  the  clergy 
hokling  livings  in  the  Church  of  England  were 
incompetent  for  the  performance  of  their  sacred 
duties;  that  their  want  of  knowledge  unfitted 
them  to  pi-each  so  as  to  edify  the  jieople ;  that 
they  contented  themselves  with  reading  from  a 
"  printed  book  ; "  and  that  their  reading  was  so 
indistinct,  that  it  was  impossible  any  one  should 
in-ofit  by  what  was  read.  Non-residence  was  com- 
mon;  phu-alities  were  frequent;  tlie  bishops  were 
little  careful  to  license  only  qualified  men ;  secular 
callings  were  in  numerous  ca.ses  conjoined  with  the 
.sacred  oflice  ;  in  many  towns  and  parishes  there 
wa-s  no  stated  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  and  thousands 
of  the  population  were  left  untaught.  "  Yea,"  say 
they,  "  by  trial  it  will  be  fomid  that  there  are  in 
England  whole  tliousands  of  parishes  destitute  of 


462 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


this  necessary  helji  to  salvation,  that  is,  of  diligent 
preacliing  and  teaching."  The  destitute  pai'islies 
of  Eughind  must  have 
amovmted  to  the  for- 
midable number  of  from 
9,000  to  12,000,  for  the 
bishops  in  theii-  reply 
say  that  they  were  able 
to  provide  pastors, 
through  the  uuivei'sities, 
for  not  more  than  a  third 
of  the  18,000  parishes  of 
England.  It  follows  that 
some  12,000  parishes 
were  without  pastors,  or 
enjoyed  only  the  services 
of  men  who  had  nv 
univereity  training.  The 
remedies  proposed  by 
the  petitioners  were 
mainly  these :  that  a 
code  of  laws,  ch-awn 
from  the  Scriptures, 
should  be   compiled  for 

the  govermuent  of  the  Church  ;  that  a  visitation  of 
all  the  cities  and  large  towns  of  the  kingdom 
should  take  place,  and  the  condition  of  the  nation 
be  accurately  reported  on  ;  and  that  zealous  and 
faithful  men  should  not 
be  extruded  from  the 
ministry  simply  because 
they  objected  to  vest- 
ments and  ceremonies.' 
The  substance  of  the 
Supplication  would  seem 
to  have  been  embodied 
in  sixteen  articles,  and 
sent  up  from  the  Par- 
liament to  the  House  of 
Lords,  requesting  "  re- 
formation or  alteration 
of  the  customs  and 
practices  of  the  Church 
established."  It  was 
answered  by  the  two 
archbishops  and  Cow])er, 
Bishop  of  Winchester, 
but  nothing  more  came 
of  it.= 

The     Supplication 
originated  with  the   Puritans,  being   drawn  up,  it 
is  believed,  by  Mr.  Thomas  Sampson,  a  man  of 


>  Strype,  Annals,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  222-227. 
'  Ibid.,Yo\.  iii.;  Appendix,  xiiix. 


JOUV  JETNELL       {From  the  Poidait  in  SUype's  Me  ) 


EDMVXD  CKINDAL.      (Fvoiii  ihc  Porfr 


.some  eminence  among  them.  We  have  seen  the 
first  outbreak  of  that  famous  but  unhappy  strife  at 
Frankfort-on-the-Maiue. 
The  battle  begun  on  that 
diminutive  stage  was 
continued  on  the  wider 
theatre  of  England  after 
the  accession  of  Eliza- 
beth. The  Marian  exiles 
had  contracted  a  love 
for  the  simple  polity  and 
worship  that  existed  in 
the  Reformed  Churches 
of  Switzerland,  Geneva, 
and  some  parts  of 
Crei-many,  and  on  theii' 
return  to  England  they 
sought  to  establish  the 
same  order  in  their 
native  land.  Aiming 
at  this  greater  purity 
and  simplicity,  they  were 
styled  Puritans.  In  the 
famous  Convocation  of 
the  Lower  House,  in  1652,  the  Pui-itan  party  were 
the  majority  of  those  present,  but  they  were  out- 
voted by  proxies  on  the  other  side.  In  that 
assembly  they  contended  for  the  abrogation  of 
vestments,  copes,  sur- 
plices, and  organs  in 
Divine  worehip;  against 
lay  baptism,  and  the 
sign  of  the  cross  in 
baptism.  As  to  kneeling 
at  the  Lord's  Suppei', 
they  urged  that  it  might 
be  left  indifferent  to  the 
determination  of  the 
ordinary.  The  opposing 
theologians  took  their 
.stand  on  Edward  VI. 's 
Liturgy,  contending  that 
it  should  not  be  altered, 
and  fortifying  their  posi- 
tion from  the  venerated 
names  of  Cranmer, 
Pidley,  and  others,  by 
whom  it  had  been 
framed,  and  who  had 
sealed  iheii-  profession 
at  the  stake.  Some  of  the  greatest  names  in  the 
Church  of  England  of  that  day  were  friendly  to 
the  reform  pleaded  for  by  the  Puritans.  Among 
others,  Griiidal,  Horn,  Sandys,  Jewell,  Parkhui-st, 
and   Bentliam   shared   these   sentiments.     On  the 


SIn/K'f  i'/i'.) 


PURITANS   IN   THE   CHURCH   OF   ENGLAND. 


4G3 


JOHN   I0\      (F  n  II  KePoida  (  111 


return  of  these  scliolai-s  and  theologians  to  Enghmd, 
they  were  oflered  bishoprics,  Init  at  first  declined 
them,  finding  the  queen 
inflexible  on  the  ques- 
tion of  ceremonies.  But 
after  consulting  togetlier 
and  finding  that  these 
ceremonies  were  not  in 
themselves  sinful,  and 
that  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  remained  incor- 
rupt, and  that  their 
brethren  abroad  comi- 
selled  them  to  accept, 
lest  the  posts  offered 
them  shoidd  be  filled  by 
men  hostile  to  the  tmth,' 
they  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  was  theii' 
duty  to  accept  consecra- 
tion. But  there  were 
others,  not  less  distin- 
guished for  piety  and 
learning,  who  could  not 
concur  in  this  com-se,  and  ■^^'llo  were  shut  out  from 
the  high  oflices  for  which  their  gifts  so  eminently 
qualified  them.  Among  these  were  Miles  Cover- 
dale,  John  Fox  the  martyrologist,  Laurence 
Humphrey,  Chi-istopher 
Goodman,  William 
Whittingham,  and 
Thomas  Sampson.  These 
things  are  not  doctrines, 
it  was  argued  by  those 
who  contended  for  cere- 
monies and  vestments ; 
they  are  but  foi-ms,  they 
are  matters  of  indiffer- 
ence. If  they  be  indif- 
ferent and  not  vital,  it 
was  replied,  why  force 
them  upon  us  to  the 
wounding  of  our  con- 
sciences, and  at  the  risk 
of  rending  the  Church 
of  God  ?  The  charge  of 
fanaticism  was  directed 
against  the  one  side  : 
that  of  intolerance  was 
retorted  upon  the  other. 

The  aim  of  the  Puritans,  beyond  doubt,  was  to  perfect 
the  Refoimation  which  Cranmer  had  left  incomplete. 


IMl) 


JOHN    A\IMF1 


'  See  Letter  of  P.  Martyr  to  T.  Sampson— Zurich  Letters. 
ini  Series,  p.  84;  Parker  ed.,  1846. 


The  more  eminent  of  Elizabeth's  ministera  of 
State  were  substantially  with  the  Puritan  party. 
Lord  Burghley,  Sir 
Francis  Walsingham, 
the  Earl  of  Bedford,  Su- 
Francis  Knbllyes,  were 
friendly  to  a  yet  greater 
leforui  in  the  Church  of 
England,  and  disap- 
proved of  the  rigour 
with  which  the  Puritans 
were  treated.  The  main 
difficulty  lay  with  the 
queen.  One  of  her 
leading  aims  was  the 
reconcilement  of  English 
Papists,  and  hence  her 
dread  of  a  complete  dis 
severance  of  the  Church 
of  England  from  that  of 
Rome.  She  loved  splen- 
dour in  worehip  as  well 
as  in  State  affaii-s,  and 
inheriting  the  impe- 
riousness  of  her  father,  she  deemed  it  intolerable 
that  she  should  be  thwarted  in  matters  of  rites  and 
vestments.  She  hated  the  Puritans,  she  confiscated 
their  goods,  she  threw  them  into  prison,  and  in 
some  instances  she  shed 
then-  blood  :  Pemy  had 
said  that  the  queen, 
having  mounted  the 
throne  by  the  help  of 
the  Gospel,  would  not 
permit  the  Gospel  to 
extend  beyond  the  point 
of  her  sceptre.  He  was 
condemned  -for  felony, 
and  hanged.  Meanwhile 
the  Reformation  of  the 
Church  of  England  stood 
still. 

The  destruction  of  the 
Armada  solemnised  the 
nation.  It  sounded  like 
a  great  voice  bidding 
them  suspend  their 
quarrels,  and  unite  to-* 
gether  in  the  work  of 
Reformation,  lest  all 
parties  should  beeonic  the  prey  of  a  common 
foe.  The  yeai-s  that  followed  were  yeare  of 
gi-eat  prosperity  and  glory  to  England,  Init  the 
queen's  views  <lid  not  enlarge,  licr  policy  did 
not    meliorate,   nor  did    her    imperiousness    abate. 


WO 


404 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Tlie  pi-iuciple  of  stability  and  development,  that 
now  began  to  give  such  proofs  of  its  mightiness 
and  to  draw  the  eyes  of  the  world  upon  England, 
was  not  planted  in  Elizabeth;  it  was  rooted  some- 
wliere  else.  8he  valued  the  Reformation  less  for 
emancipating  the  conscience  than  for  emancipating 
her  crowni.  She  laid  most  store  upon  it  for  ren- 
dering her  kingdom  independent  abroad,  not  for 
purif3'Lng  it  at  home.  As  a  sovereign  she  had  some 
good  points,  but  not  a  few  weak  ones.  She  was 
vacillating,  shuffling,  at  times  deceitful ;  full  of 
caprices  and  humours,  and  without  strength  of  mind 
to  pursue  for  any  long  time  a  high  and  courageous 
policy.  When  threatened  or  insulted  she  could 
assume  an  attitude  and  display  a  spirit  that  became 
a  great  sovereign,  but  she  soon  fell  back  again  into 
her  low,  shifty  polic)^  She  possessed  one  great 
quality  especially,  namely,  that  of  discerning  who 
would  prove  able  and  upright  servants.  She 
always  called  strong  men  to  her  side,  and  though 
she  delighted  in  ornamental  men  as  courtiers,  she 
would  permit  no  hand  but  a  skilful  and  powerful 
one  to  be  laid  on  the  helm  of  the  State. 

Elizabeth  has  been  called  great ;  but  as  her 
character  and  history  come  to  be  better  understood, 
it  is  seen  that  her  greatness  was  not  her  own,  but 
that  of  the  age  in  which  she  lived.  She  formed 
the  centi-e  of  gi-eat  events  and  of  great  men,  and 
she  could  not  escape  being  a  partaker  in  the  great- 
ness of  others,  and  being  elevated  into  a  statiu'e 
that  was  not  properly  her  own.  The  Reformation 
set  England  on  high  ;  and  Elizabeth,  as  the  first 
person  in  the  State  of  England,  was  lifted  up  along 
with  it. 

We  have  now  reached  those  twenty  years  (1.588 
— 1G08)  which  may  be  regarded  as  constituting  the 
era  of  the  Protestant  efflorescence  in  England.  At 
this  jjoiut  two  great  Protestant  streams  unite,  and 
Iienceforth  iiow  together  in  the  one  mighty  flood  of 
British  Protestantism.  England  and  Scotland  now 
combine  to  make  one  powerful  Protestantism.  It 
was  not  given  to  England  alone,  nor  to  Scotland 
alone,  to  achieve  so  great  a  work  as  that  of  con- 
solidating and  crowning  the  Reformation,  and  of 
presenting  a  Protestantism  complete  on  both  its 
political  and  religious  sides  to  the  nations  of  the 
earth  for  their  adoption ;  this  work  was  shared 
between  the  two  countries.  England  brought  a  full 
political  development,  Scotland  an  equally  full  re- 
ligious develojjment ;  and  these  two  form  one  entire 
and  perfect  Protestantism,  which  throws  its  shield 
alike  over  the  conscience  and  the  pei'son,  over  the 
spiritual  and  the  temjioral  rights  of  man.. 

Of  all  the  various  forces  that  act  on  society.  Pro- 
testantism, which  is  Religion,  is  by  far  the  most 


powerful.  "  Chi-ist  brings  us  out  of  bondage  into 
liberty,"  said  Calvin,  "  by  means  of  the  Gospel." 
These  words  contain  the  sum  of  all  sound  political 
philosojjhy.  Protestantism  first  of  all  emancipates 
the  conscience  ;  and  from  this  fortress  within  the 
man  it  cames  its  conquests  all  over  the  world  that 
lies  without  him.  Protestantism  ha<l  now  been 
the  fidl  space  of  a  generation  in  England,  and  the 
men  who  had  been  born  and  trained  under  it,  gave 
proof  of  possessing  faculties  and  cherishing  as- 
pii-ations  unknown  to  their  fathers.  They  were  a 
new  race,  in  short.  Elizabeth  pressed  upon  the 
Reformation  mth  the  whole  weight  of  the  royal 
supremacy,  and  the  added  force  of  her  despotic 
maxims ;  but  that  could  not  break  the  spring  of 
the  mighty  power  against  which  she  leaned,  nor 
prevent  it  lifting  up  her  people  into  freedom. 
Protestantism  had  brought  the  individual  English- 
man to  the  Bible ;  it  taught  him  that  it  was  at 
once  his  duty  and  his  right  to  examine  it,  to  judge 
for  himself  as  to  what  it  contained,  and  to  act  upon 
liLS  independent  judgment ;  and  the  moment  he  did 
so  he  felt  that  he  was  a  new  man.  He  had  passed 
from  bondage  into  freedom,  as  respects  that  master- 
faculty  that  gives  motion  and  A-igour  to  all  the  rest, 
namely,  conscience.  As  the  immediate  consequence, 
the  himian  mind,  which  had  slept  through  the 
Middle  Ages,  awoke  in  a  strength  and  gi-andeur 
of  faculty,  a  richness  and  beauty  of  development, 
which  it  had  exhibited  in  no  former  age.  England 
Tinderwent  a  sudden  and  marvellous  transformation. 
In  returning  to  the  right  road  a,s  respects  religion, 
England  found  that  she  had  retm-ned  to  the  right 
road  as  respects  government,  as  respects  science, 
and  letters — in  short,  that  she  had  tliscovered  the 
one  true  path  to  national  greatness.  The  same 
method — the  Inductive — which  had  put  her  in  pos- 
session of  a  Scriptural  faith,  would,  she  saw,  as 
certainly  conduct  her  to  freedom  in  the  State. 
Turning  from  the  priest,  England  went  to  the 
Bible,  the  gi-eat  storehouse  of  revealed  truth,  and 
she  found  there  all  that  was  to  be  believed,  and 
all  that  was  to  be  done.  She  adopted  the  same 
method  in  her  inquii-y  after  what  was  true  and 
wood  in  civil  government.  She  looked  at  the 
principles  of  justice  and  order  on  which  Immau 
society  has  been  constituted  by  its  Author,  and 
fr.aming  these  into  law,  she  found  that  she  had 
arrived  at  the  right  science  of  political  govermnent. 
Instead  of  the  teaching  of  the  priest,  England,  in 
adopting  the  Reformation,  substituted  the  writing 
of  God  in  the  Bible  as  the  basis  of  the  Church. 
So  in  the  State ;  instead  of  the  arbitrary  will  of  one 
man,  England  substituted  as  the  basis  of  govern- 
ment the  eternal  writing  of  God,  in  the  coustitu- 


GLOEY   OF   PROTESTANT   ENGLAND. 


463 


tiou  wliicli  he  lias  given  to  society.  It  was  the 
same  method  with  auother  application  ;  and  the 
consequence  was  that  the  political  constitution  of 
England,  which  had  remained  at  the  same  point 
for  two  centimes,  now  began  to  make  progi-ess,  and 
the  despotic  rods  of  the  Tudors  to  be  transformed 
into  the  constitutional  sceptres  of  the  princes  of  the 
House  of  Orange. 

The  same  method  was  piu-sued  in  philosophy  and 
science,  and  -vvith  the  same  result.  "If,"  said 
Bacon,  laying  hold  of  the  gi-eat  principle  of  the 
Eefonners,  "  if  we  would  have  a  really  true  and 
useful  science,  we  must  go  forth  into  the  world  of 
Nature,  observe  her  facts,  and  study  her  laws." 
Tlie  key  by  which  the  Reformation  opened  the 
path  to  the  one  true  religion,  was  that  wliich  Bacon 
employed  to  open  the  path  to  true  science. 
And  what  a  harvest  of  knowledge  has  since  been 
reaped  !  The  heavens  stood  unveiled ;  every  star 
unfolded  the  law  by  which  it  is  hiuig  in  the  vault 
above ;  every  flower,  and  crystal,  and  piece  of 
matter,  animate  and  inanimate,  organic  and  in- 
organic, disclosed  its  secret  pi-operties,  afiinities,  and 
uses.  Then  arose  the  sciences  of  astronomy,  of 
chemistry,  and  others,  which  are  the  foundation  of 
our  arts,  our  mechanics,  our  navigation,  our  manu- 
factures, and  our  agriculture.  In  a  word,  out  of 
the  principle  first  proclaimed  in  modern  times  by 
the  Reformation,  has  come  the  whole  colossal 
fabric  of  our  industrial  skill,  oiu-  mechanical  power, 
our  agricultural  riches,  and  our  commercial  wealth. 
In  fine,  from  the  great  fundamental  principle  of 
Protestantism,  wliich  is  the  substitution  of  a  Divine 
for  a  human  authority,  came  our  literature.  Thought, 
so  far  a.s  tliLnking  to  any  good  pui-pose  was  concerned, 
had  slept  for  long  centuries,  and  would  have  awaked 
no  moi*,  had  it  not  been  touched  by  the  Ithuriel 
spear  of  Protestantism.  It  was  long  smce  one 
really  great  or  useful  work,  or  one  really  new  idea, 
had  been  given  to  the  world.  A  feeble  dawn  had 
preceded  the  Reformation,  the  fall  of  the  Eastern 
Emjjire  having  compelled  a  few  scholars,  with  their 
treasures  of  Greek  lore,  to  seek  asylum  in  the  West. 
But  that  dawn  might  never  have  been,  but  for  the 
<lesire  which  WiclifTe  had  originated  to  possess  the 
Scriptiu'es  in  the  original  tongues.  It  Ls  also  to  be 
bonie  in  mind  that  the  gi'cat  intellects  that  arose 
in  Italy  in  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  and  beginning  of 
the  si.xtcenth  century,  though  living  in  the  com- 
munion of  the  Roman  Church,  and  devoting,  in  the 
instance  of  some  of  them,  then-  genius  to  her  ser- 
vice, had  in  heart  left  her  theology,  and  found  their 
■way  to  the  Cross.  Dante,  Petrarch,  Michael  An- 
gelo,  Torquato  Tasso,  Ariosto,  and  others  owed  the 
emancipation  of  theii"  genius  to  their  belief  in  the 


Evangelical  faith.     The    great    poet,   painter,   and 

sculptor,  Michael  Angclo,  who  reared  the  dome  of 

St.  Peter's  and  painted  the  Sistine,  thus  sings  : — 

"  Ah !  what  does  sculpture,  what  does  painting  prove. 

When  we  have  seen  the  Cross,  and  fixed  our  eye 

On  Ilim  whose  arms  of  love  were  there  outspread? "' 

It  is  the  same  Evangelical  faith — the  bondage  of 
the  will  by*  sin,  and  salvation  of  God — which 
Ariosto  embodies  in  the  following  lines  : — 

"  How  shall  mj-  cold  and  lifeless  prayer  ascend. 
Father  of  mercies,  to  thy  scat  on  high, 
If,  while  my  Kps  for  tliy  deliverance  cry, 
My  heart  against  that  hberty  contend ': 

*  #  *  * 

To  spare  offenders,  being  penitent, 
Is  even  ours  ;  to  di'ag  them  fi-om  the  pit, 
Themselves  resisting,  Lord,  is  thiuc  alone." - 

In  all  the  countries  of  the  Reformation  a  gi-eat 
intellectual  awaking  was  the  immediate  consequence 
of  the  introduction  of  Protestantism.  Geneva  and 
Zurich  became  centres  of  literary  light  and  industrial 
activity ;  the  Huguenots  were  the  first  soldiers, 
writers,  merchants,  and  artisans  of  France.  Holland 
became  as  renowned  for  letters  and  arts  in  the  years 
that  succeeded  its  great  struggle,  as  it  had  been  for 
ai-ms  when  contending  against  Spain.  But  it  was 
in  England  that  the  great  intellectual  outburst 
attendant  on  the  Reformation  culminated.  There 
mind  opened  out  into  an  amplitude  of  faculty,  a 
largeness  of  judgment,  a  strength  and  subtlety  of 
reason,  and  a  richness,  boldness,  and  brilliancy  of 
imagination,  of  which  the  world  had  seen  no  similar 
example,  and  wliich  paled  even  the  brighte.st  era  of 
classic  times.  By  one  quality  were  all  the  great 
thinkers  and  writers  who  illuminated  the  horizon 
of  England  in  the  Elizabethan  age  marked,  namely, 
great  creative  power  ;  and  that  eminently  is  the 
jiroduct  of  Protestantism.  To  it  we  owe  our  great 
thinkers  and  winters.  Had  not  the  Refomiation 
gone  before.  Bacon  would  never  have  opened  the 
path  to  true  science ;  Shakspere's  mighty  voice 
would  have  been  dumb  for  ever ;  Milton  would 
never  have  written  his  epic  ;  nor  would  John 
Bunyan  have  told  us  his  dream  ;  Newton  would 
never  have  discovered  the  law  of  gravitation  ;  Bar- 
row would  never  have  reasoned ;  nor  would  Taylor, 
Baxter,  Howe,  and  many  more  ever  have  dis- 
coui-sed;  not  one  of  these  deathless  names  would  have 
been  known  to  us,  nor  would  England  or  the  world 
ever  have  possessed  one  of  theii-  iunnortal  works. 


'  Glassford,  Lyrical  Compositions  from  the  Italian  Poets, 
p.  55;  Edin.,  1846.  The  original  is  still  more  pointed— 
"  Che  apcrsc  in  croce  a  premier  noi  le  braccia  "  (The 
arms  which  were  stretched  out  upon  the  cross  to  lay 
hold  of  us).    M.  Augelo  and  Ariosto  were  born  in  1471. 

-  Ihid.,  p.  51. 


46G 


HISTOEY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


iBook  Ctutntp-fourtft. 


PEOTESTANTISil    IN    SCOTLAND. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  DARKNESS  AND  THE  DAYBREAK. 

English  and  Scottish  Eeformations  Compared— Early  Picture  of  Scotland— Preparation— The  Soots  become  a  Nation 
— Its  Independence  Secured— Bannockburn — Suppression  of  the  Culdees — Establishment  of  the  Church  of 
Eome — Its  Great  Strength — Acts  against  Lollards  and  Heretics  in  the  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Centuries — 
Martyrdom  of  John  Eesby — Bible  Readers — Paul  Crawar  Burned— The  Lollards  of  Kyle— Hector  Boece — Luther's 
Tracts  Enter  Scotland — Tlie  Bible  Introduced— It  becomes  the  Nation's  One  Instructor— Permission  to  Eead  it. 


England,  in  reforming  itself,  worked  mainly  from 
the  political  centre,  Scotland  worked  mainly  from 
the  religious  one.  The  ruling  idea  in  the  former 
country  was  the  emancipation  of  the  throne  from 
the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  ;  the  railing  idea  in  the 
latter  was  the  emancipation  of  the  conscience  from 
the  Popish  faith.  The  more  prominent  outcome  of 
the  Reformation  in  England  was  a  free  State  ;  the 
more  immediate  product  of  the  Reformation  in 
Scotland  was  a  free  Church.  But  soon  the  two 
countries  and  the  two  Reformations  coalesced : 
common  affinities  and  common  aims  disengaged 
them  from  old  allies,  and  drew  them  to  each  other's 
side ;  and  Christendom  beheld  a  Protestantism 
strong  alike  in  its  political  and  in  its  spiritual  arm, 
able  to  combat  the  double  usurpation  of  Rome,  and 
to  roll  it  back,  in  course  of  time,  from  the  countries 
where  its  dominion  had  been  long  established,  and 
over  its  ruins  to  go  forward  to  the  fulfilment  of  the 
great  task  which  was  the  one  gi'and  aim  of  the 
Reformation,  namely,  the  evangelising  and  civilising 
of  the  earth,  and  the  planting  of  pure  churches  and 
free  governments. 

From  an  early  date  Scotland  had  been  in  course 
of  preparation  for  the  pai't  it  was  to  act  in  the 
gi-eat  movement  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  would 
beforehand  have  been  tho\ight  improbable  that  any 
very  distinguished  share  awaited  it  in  this  gi-eat 
revolution  of  hvmian  affaii's.  A  small  country,  it 
was  pai-ted  by  barbarism  as  well  as  by  distance 
from  the  rest  of  the  world.  Its  rock-bound  coast 
was  pei-petually  beaten  by  a  stormy  sea ;  its  gi'eat 
mountains  were  drenched  in  rains  and  shrouded 
in  mist ;  its  plains,  abandoned  to  swamps,  had  not 
been  conquered  by  the  plough,  nor  yielded  aught 
for  the  sickle.  The  mariner  shunned  its  shore,  for 
there  no  harbour  opened  to  receive  his  vessel,  and 
no  trader  waited  to  buy  liis  wares.  This  laud  was 
the  dwelling  of  savage  tribes,   who  practised  the 


horrid  rites  and  worshipped,  under  other  names,  the 
deities  to  which  the  ancient  Assp-ians  had  bowed 
down. 

Scotland  first  tasted  of  a  little  civilisation  from 
the  Roman  sword.  In  the  wake  of  the  Roman 
Power  came  the  missionaries  of  the  Cross,  and  the 
Gospel  found  disciples  where  Csesar  had  been 
able  to  achieve  no  triumphs.  Next  came  Columba, 
who  kindled  his  evangelical  lamp  on  the  rocks  of 
lona,  at  the  very  time  that  Mohammedanism  was 
darkening  the  East,  and  Rome  was  stretching  her 
shadow  farther  eveiy  year  over  the  "West.  In  the 
ninth  century  came  the  first  gi'eat  step  in  Scotland's 
preparation  for  the  part  that  awaited  it  seven 
centm-ies  later.  In  the  year  838,  the  Picts  and  the 
Scots  were  united  under  one  cro^^^^.  Down  to  this 
year  they  had  been  simjjly  two  ro^^ng  and  warring 
clans ;  their  union  made  them  one  people,  and  con- 
stituted them  into  a  nation.  In  the  erection  of  the 
Scots  into  a  distinct  nationality  we  see  a  foothold 
laid  for  Scotland's  having  a  distinct  national  Re- 
formation :  an  essential  point,  as  we  shall  afterwards 
see,  in  order  to  the  pi-oduction  of  a  j>erfect  and 
catholic  Prote.stantism. 

Tlie  second  step  in  Scotland's  preparation  for  its 
predestined  task  was  the  establishment  of  its  in- 
dependence as  a  nation.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to 
maintain  the  political  independence  of  so  small  a 
kingdom,  surrounded  by  powerful  neighboiu's  who 
were  continually  strirarg  to  efiect  its  subjugation 
and  absoiiition  into  their  own  wealthier  and  larger 
dominions.  To  aid  in  this  gi-eat  struggle,  on  which 
were  suspended  far  higher  issues  than  were  dreamed 
of  by  those  who  fought  and  bled  in  it,  there  arose 
from  time  to  time  "  mighty  men  of  valour." 
Wallace  and  Bruce  were  the  pioneers  of  Knox. 
The  stniggle  for  Scotland's  political  independence 
in  the  fourteenth  centmy  was  a  necessary  prelimi- 
nary to  its  struggle  for  its  religious  Refonnation  in 


SCOTLAND   UNDER  THE   POPE. 


407 


tlio  sL\tceutL.  If  tlie  battle  of  tlie  warrior,  "  with 
its  confused  noise,  and  garments  rolled  in  blood," 
had  not  first  been  won,  we  do  not  see  how  a  stage 
coidd  have  been  found  for  the  gi-eater  battle  that 
was  to  come  after.  The  grand  patriotism  of 
Wallace,  and  the  strong  arm  of  Bruce,  held  the 
door  open  for  Knox ;  and  Edward  of  England 
learned,  when  he  saw  his  maded  cavalry  and  terrible 
bowmen  falling  back  before  the  Scottish  battle-axes 
and  broadswords,  that  though  he  should  redden  all 
Scotliuid  with  the  noblest  blood  of  both  kingdoms, 
he  never  should  succeed  in  robbing  the  little 
coiintiy  of  its  nationality  and  .sovereignty. 

It  is  now  the  twelfth  century ;  lona  still  exists, 
but  its  light  has  waxed  dim.  Under  King 
David  the  Culdee  establishments  are  being  sup- 
pressed, to  make  way  for  Popish  monasteries ;  the 
presbyters  of  Zona  are  driven  out,  and  the  lordly 
2)relates  of  the  Pope  take  theii'  place ;  the  edifices 
and  heritages  of  the  C'uldees  pass  over  wholesale  to 
the  Church  of  Rome,  and  a  body  of  ecclesiastics  of 
idl  orders,  from  the  mitred  abbot  down  to  the 
begging  friar,  ai-e  brought  from  foreign  countiies  to 
occupy  Scotland,  now  divided  into  twelve  dioceses, 
with  a  full  complement  of  abbeys,  monasteries,  and 
nunneries.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  this  astablish- 
meut  of  Popery  in  the  twelfth  century  is  not  the 
result  of  the  conversion  of  the  people,  or  of  their 
native  teachei-s  :  we  see  it  brought  in  over  the  necks 
of  both,  simply  at  the  will  and  bj'  the  decree  of  the 
monai'ch.  So  little  was  Scottish  Popery  of  native 
growth,  that  the  men  as  well  as  the  system  had  to 
be  imported  from  abroad. 

If  in  no  country  of  Europe  was  the  dominant 
reign  of  Popeiy  so  short  as  in  Scotland,  extending 
only  from  the  twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  centm-y,  in 
no  country  was  the  Church  of  Ptomo  so  powerful 
when  compared  with  the  size  of  the  kingdom  and 
the  number  of  the  jiopulation.  The  influences 
which  in  countries  like  France  set  limits  to  the 
power  of  the  Church  did  not  exist  in  Scotland.  On 
her  lofty  height  she  was  without  a  rival,  and  looked 
down  upon  all  ranks  and  institutions — upon  the 
throne,  wliich  was  weak;  upon  the  nobles,  who 
were  parted  into  ftictions ;  ujion  the  people,  who 
were  sunk  in  ignorance.  Bishops  and  abbots  filled 
all  the  gi-eat  posts  at  court,  and  discharged  all  the 
highest  offices  in  the  State.  They  were  chancellors, 
secretaries  of  State,  justiciai-ics,  aml)assadoi-s  ;  tliey 
led  jirmics,  fought  battles,  and  tried  and  executed 
criminals.  Tliey  were  the  owners  of  lordships, 
hunting-grounds,  fisheiies,  houses  ;  and  while  a  full 
half  of  the  kingdom  was  theii-s,  they  heavily  taxed 
the  other  half,  as  they  did  also  all  iwsscssions, 
occupations,  and  trades.      Thus  with  the  passing 


yeai's  cathedrals  and  abbeys  continued  to  midtiply 
and  wax  in  splendour ;  while  acres,  tenements,  and 
tithuigs,  in  an  ever-flowing  stream,  were  pourijig 
fresh  riches  into  the  Church's  treasiuy.  In  the 
midst  of  the  prostration  and  ruui  of  all  interests 
and  classes,  the  Church  stood  up  in  overgrown 
arrogance,  wealth,  and  power. 

But  even  in  the  midst  of  the  darkness  there  were 
glimmerings  of  light,  which  gave  token  that  a 
better  day  would  yet  da^wn.  From  the  Papal  chair 
itself  we  hear  a  fear  expressed  that  this  countrj% 
which  Rome  held  with  so  firm  a  gi'asp,  would  yet 
escape  from  her' dominion.  In  his  bull  for  anoint- 
ing King  Robert  the  Bruce,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  John  XXII.  complains  that 
Scotland  was  still  defiled  by  the  presence  of  heretics. 
From  about  this  time  the  traces  of  what  Rome 
styles  heresy  became  frequent  in  Scotland.  The 
first  who  suflered  for  the  Reformed  iaith,  so  far  as 
can  be  ascei'tained,  was  James  Resby,  an  English- 
man, and  a  disciple  of  John  Wicliflfe.  He  taught 
that  "  the  Pope  was  not  Christ's  Vicar,  and  that 
he  Wius  not  Pope  if  he  was  a  man  of  wicked  life." 
This  was  pronounced  heresy,  and  for  that  heresy  he 
had  to  do  expiation  in  the  fire  at  Perth.'  He  was 
burned  in  1406  or  1407,  some  nine  years  before  the 
martyrdom  of  Huss.  In  1416  the  University  of 
St.  Andrews,  then  newly  founded,  ordained  that  all 
who  commenced  IMaster  of  Arts  should  take  an 
oath  to  defend  the  Church  against  the  insults  of  the 
Lollards,"  a  proof  surely  that  the  sect  was  suffi- 
ciently numerous  to  I'ender  Churchmen  uneasy.  A 
yet  stronger  proof  of  this  was  the  appointment  of 
a  Hei'etical  Inquisitor  for  Scotland.  The  office  was 
bestowed  upon  Laurence  Lindores,  Abbot  of  Scone." 
Prior  Winton  in  liis  Metrkcd  Chronicle  (1420) 
celebrates  the  zeal  of  Albany,  Governor  of  Scot- 
land, against  Lollards  and  heretics.''  Murdoch 
Nisbet,  of  Hardhill,  had  a  manuscript  copy  of  the 
New  Testament  (of  Wiclifte's  translation  doubt- 
less), which  he  concealed  in  a  vault,  and  read  to  his 
fixmily  and  acquaintance  by  night.''  Gordon  of 
Earlston,  another  early  favourer  of  the  disciples  of 
Wiclifi'e,  had  in  his  possession  a  copy  of  the  New 
Testament,  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  which  he  read  at 
meetings  held  in  a  wood  near  to  Earlston  House." 
The  Parliament  of  James  I.,  held  at  Perth  (1424), 


'  See  an  extract  from  the  original  account  of  Eesby,  by 
Bower,  the  continuator  of  Fordun,  in  The  JforSs  of  John 
Knox,  collected  and  edited  by  David  Laing,  Esq;,  LL.D. ; 
vol.  I.,  Appendix  ii. ;  Edin.,  1846. 

■-  M'-Crie,  Ufe  of  Melville,  vol.  i.,  p.  415;  Ediu.,  ISIO. 

'■'  Iiaing,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  497. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  495 

■■•  M'Crie,  Life  of  Melville,  vol.  i.,  p.  414. 

"  Wodrow,  vol.  ii.,  p.  07. 


468 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


fiiueted  that  all  bishoi)S  sihoukl  make  inquiry  by 
Inquisition  for  heretics,  and  punish  them  according 
to  the  laws  of  "  holy  Kirk,"  and  if  need  were  they 
should  call  in  the  secular  power  to  the  aid  of 
"holy  Kirk."  ' 

111  1431  we  liud  a  second  stake  set  up  in  Scot- 
land. Paul  Crawar,  a  native  of  Bohemia,  and  a 
disciple  of  John  Huss,  preaching  at  St.  Andrews, 
taught  that  the  mass  was  a  worship  of  superstition. 
This  was  no  suitable  doctrine  in  a  ])lace  wliere  a 


Reformers.  Tlie  Lollards  of  Scotland  could  be  none 
other  than  the  descendants  of  the  Culdee  mission- 
aries, and  such  of  the  disciples  of  Wicliffe  as  had 
taken  refuge  in  Scotland.''  On  the  testimony  of 
both  friend  and  foe,  there  were  few  counties  in  the 
Lowlands  of  Scotland  where  these  Lollards  were 
not  to  be  found.  They  were  numerous  in  Fife; 
they  were  still  more  numerous  in  the  districts  of 
Cunningham  and  Kyle;  hence  theii-  name,  the 
Lollards   of  Kvle.     In   the   rei,?n  of  James   IV. 


VUiW    UF   THE    Rl'IXS    OF    THE    J>E.SDS    OR   GATEWAY    OF    A    MONASTEKY,    ST.    ANDREWS 


oiagnificent  cathedral,  and  a  gorgeous  hierarchy, 
ivere  maintained  in  the  service  of  the  mass,  and 
should  it  fall  they  too  would  fall.  To  avert  so  great 
a  catastrophe,  Crawar  w;is  dragged  to  the  stake  and 
burned,  with  a  ball  of  brass  in  his  mouth  to  jjrevent 
him  from  addressing  the  people  in  his  last  moments." 
The  Lollards  of  England  were  the  connecting 
link  between  their  great  master,  WiclifTe,  and  the 
English  Reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Scot- 
land too  had  its  Lollards,  who  connected  the 
Patriarch  and   school   of  lona    with    the   Scottish 


'  Acta  Pari.  ScotiEe,  ii.  7. 

'  Laing,  Knox,  voL  i.,  p.  497.     Dr.  Laing  gives  original 
notices  respecting  Crawar  from  Fox,  Bower,  and  Boece. 


(1494)  some  thirty  Lollards  were  summoned  before 
the  archiepi.scopal  tribunal  of  Glasgow  on  a  charge 
of  heresy.  They  were  almost  all  gentlemen  of 
landed  property  in  the  districts  already  named,  and 
the  tenets  which  they  were  charged  with  denying 
included  the  mass,  purgatory,  the  worshipping  of 
images,  the  prajnng  to  saints,  the  Pope's  vicarship, 
his  power  to  pardon  sin — in  short,  all  the  peculiar 
docti-ines  of  Romanism.  Tlieu-  defence  appears  to 
have  been  so  spirited  that  the  king,  before  whom 
they  argued  their  cause,  shielded   them  from  the 


'  "  We  can  trace  the  existence  of  the  Lollai-ds  in  Ayr- 
shire from  the  times  of  Wicliffe  to  the  days  of  George 
Wishart."    (Mr  Crie,  Life  of  Melville,  vol.  i.,  p.  8.) 


THE  BIBLE  IN  SCOTLAND. 


4G9 


doom  that  the  archbishop,  Blackadder,  would  un- 
doubtedly have  pronounced  upon  them.' 

These  incidental  glimpses  show  us  a  Scriptural 
Protestantism  already  in  Scotland,  but  it  lacks 
that  spii'it  of  zeal  and  diffusion  into  which  the 
sixteenth  century  awoke  it.  When  that  century 
came  new  agencies  began  to  operate.  In  152G, 
Hector  Boece,  Principal  of  King's  College,  Aber- 
deen, and  the  fellow-student  and  correspondent  of 
Erasmus,  published  his  History  of  Scotland.     In 


the  Lower  Germany.  In  this  way  the  east  coast 
of  Scotland,  and  the  shores  of  the  Frith  of  Forth, 
were  sown  \vdth  the  seeds  of  Lutheranism.-  By 
this  time  Tyndale  had  ti-anslated  the  New  Testa- 
ment into  English,  and  he  had  markets  for  its  sale 
in  the  towns  \4sited  by  the  Scottish  traders,  who 
bought  numerous  copies  and  carried  them  across 
to  their  countrymen.  When  the  New  Testament 
entered,  a  ray  from  heaven  had  penetrated  the  night 
that  brooded  over  the  country.     Its  Reformation 


VIEW    OF   LINLITHGOW    I'ALACE. 


that  work  he  draws  a  dark  picture  of  the  manners 
of  the  clergy ;  of  their  greed  in  monopolising  all 
otlices,  equalled  only  by  their  neglect  of  their 
duties  ;  of  their  promotion  of  unworthy  persons,  to 
the  ruin  of  lettei-s ;  and  of  the  scandals  with  which 
the  public  feeling  was  continually  outraged,  and 
religion  affronted;  and  he  raises  a  loud  cry  for 
immediate  Reformation  if  the  Church  of  his  native 
land  was  to  be  saved.  About  the  same  time  the 
books  and  tracts  of  Luther  began  to  enter  the  sea- 
ports of  Montrose,  Dundee,  Perth,  St.  Andrews, 
and  Leith.  These  were  brought  across  by  the 
skippei-s  who  made  aimual  voyages  to  Flanders  and 


144 


'  Laiae,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  6-12. 


had  begun.  The  Bible  was  the  only  Reformer 
then  possible  in  Scotland.  Had  a  Luther  or  a 
Knox  arisen  at  that  time,  he  would  have  been 
consigned  before  many  days  to  a  dungeon  or  a 
stake.  The  Bible  was  the  only  missionary  that 
could  enter  with  safety,  and  operate  with  effect. 
With  silent  foot  it  began  to  traver.se  the  land ;  it 
came  to  the  castle-gates  of  the  primate,  yet  he  heard 
not  its  steps  ;  it  preached  in  cities,  but  its  voice  fell 
not  on  the  ear  of  bishop ;  it  passed  along  the  high- 
ways and  by-ways  unobserved  by  the  spy.  To  the 
Churchman's  eye  all  seemed  calm — calm  and 
motionless  as  during  the  four  dark  centuries  which 

'   -  Lorimer,  Scottish  Reformation,  chap.  1 ;  Lend.,  1860. 


470 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


liad  goiip  before ;  but  in  the  stillness  of  the  mid- 
night hour  men  welcomed  this  new  Instructor, 
and  opened  their  hearts  to  its  comforting  and 
beneticent  teaching.  The  Bible  was  emphatically 
the  nation's  one  great  teacher ;  it  was  stamping 
its  own  inetiaceable  character  npon  the  Scottish 
Reformation ;  and  the  place  the  Bible  thus  early 
made  for  itself  in  the  people's  afl'ections,  and  the 


authority  it  acquired  over  their  judgments,  it  was 
destined  never  to  lose.  Tlie  movement  thus 
initiated  was  helped  forward  by  every  event  that 
happened,  till  at  last  in  1 543  its  first  great  landing- 
place  was  reached,  when  every  man,  woman,  ami 
child  in  Scotland  was  secured  liy  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment in  the  riglit  to  read  the  Word  of  God  in  their 
own  tongue. 


CHAPTER    II. 


SCOTLAND  S    FIRST    PREACHER   AND    MARTYR,    PATRICK    HAMILTON. 


A  Martyr  Needed— Patrick  Hamilton— His  Lineage— His  Studies  at  Paris  and  Marburg— Ho  Returns  to  Scotland 
—Evangelises  around  Linlithgow— is  Inveigled  to  St.  Andrews— St.  Andrews  in  the  Sixteenth  Century— Discus- 
sions with  Doctors  and  Canons— Alesiiis-Prior  Campbell— Summoned  'beforo  the  Archbishop — His  Brother 
Attempts  his  Rescue— Hamilton  before  Beaton — Articles  of  Accusation — Referred  to  a,  Commission— Hamilton's 
Evening  Party — What  they  Talk  about— His  Apprehension— His  Trial — His  Judges— Prior  Campbell  his  Accuser 
— His  Condemnation — He  is  Led  to  the  Stake— Attacks  of  Prior  Campbell — Campbell's  Peai-ful  Death — Hamilton's 
Protracted  Sufferings— His  Last  Words— The  Impression  produced  by  his  Martyrdom. 


The  fii'st  step  in  the  preparation  of  Scotland  for 
the  task  that  awaited  it  was  to  fonn  its  tribes  into 
a  nation.  This  was  accomplished  in  the  union  of 
the  Pictish  and  Scottish  crowns.  The  second  step) 
was  the  establishment  of  its  nationality  on  a  strong 
basis.  The  arms  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  effected 
this  ;  and  now  Scotland,  planted  on  the  twin  pillars 
of  Nationality  and  Independence,  awaited  the  open- 
ing of  a  higher  drama  than  any  enacted  by  armies 
or  accomplished  on  liattle-fields.  A  mightier  contest 
than  Bannockburn  was  now  to  be  waged  on  its 
soil.  In  the  great  war  for  the  recovery  in  ampler 
measure,  and  on  surer  tenure,  of  the  glorious  heritage 
of  truth  which  the  world  once  possessed,  but  which 
it  had  lost  amid  the  superstitions  of  the  Dark  Ages, 
there  had  already  been  two  great  centres,  Wittem- 
bei'g  and  Geneva.  The  battle  was  retreatiiig  from 
them,  and  the  Protestant  host  was  about  to  make 
its  stand  at  a  thii-d  centre,  namely  Scotland,  and 
there  .sustain  its  final  defeat,  or  achieve  its  crowning 
victory. 

The  Reformation  of  Scotland  dates  from  the 
entrance  of  the  first  Bible  into  the  country,  about 
the  year  1525.  It  was  doing  its  work,  but  over 
and  above  there  was  needed  the  living  voice  of  the 
preacher,  and  the  fiery  stake  of  the  confessor,  to 
arouse  the  nation  from  the  dead  sleep  in  wliich  it 
was  sunk.  But  wlio  of  Scotland's  sons  shall  open 
the  roll  of  martjTdom  1  A  youth  of  i-oyal  lineage, 
:ind  pi'incely  in  mind  as  in  birth,  was  chosen  for 


this  high  but  arduous  honour.  Patrick  Hamilton 
was  born  in  1504.  He  was  the  second  son  of  Sir 
Patrick  Hamilton,  of  Kincavel,  and  the  great- 
grandson,  both  by  the  father's  and  the  mother's 
.side,  of  James  II.'  He  received  liis  education  at 
the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  and  about  1517  was 
appointed  titular  Abbot  of  Feme,  in  Ross-shire, 
though  it  does  not  appear  that  he  ever  took  priest's 
orders.  In  the  following  year  he  went  abroad,  .and 
would  seem  to  have  studied  some  time  in  Paris, 
where  it  is  probable  he  came  to  the  fii-st  know- 
ledge of  the  truth  ;  and  thence  he  went  to  pui-sne 
his  studies  at  the  College  of  Marburg,  then  newly 
opened  by  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse.  At  Marburg 
the  young  Scotsman  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  a 
very  remarkable  man,  whose  ■\uews  on  some  points 
of  Di\'ine  truth  exceeded  in  clearness  even  those 
of  Luther;  we  refer  to  Francis  Lambert,  the  ex- 
monk  of  A\-ignon,  whom  Landgrave  Philip  had 
invited  to  Hesse  to  assist  in  the  Reformation  of  his 
dominions. 

The  depth  of  Hamilton's  knowledge,  and  the 
beauty  of  his  character,  won  the  esteem  of  Lambert, 
and  we  find  the  e.x-Franciscan  saying  to  Philip, 
"  This  young  man  of  the  illustrious  family  of  the 
Hamiltons  ...  is  come  from  the  end  of  the 
world,  from  Scotland,  to  your  academy,  in  order  to 

'  See  his  exact  relationship  to  the  Scottish  king  traced 
by  Dr.  David  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  501, 


PATRICK   HAMILTON'S   PREACHING. 


471 


be  fiilly  established  in  God's  truth.  I  have  hardly 
over  met  a  man  who  expresses  himself  with  so  much 
spu-ituality  and  truth  on  the  Word  of  the  Lord."' 

Hamilton's  prepai-ation  for  his  work,  destined  to 
be  brief  but  brilliant,  was  now  completed,  and  he 
began  to  yearn  with  an  intense  desire  to  return  to 
his  native  land,  and  publish  the  Gospel  of  a  fi'ee 
salvation.  He  coidd  not  hide  from  himself  the 
danger  which  attended  the  step  he  was  meditating. 
The  priests  were  at  this  hour  all-powerful  in  Scot- 
land. A  few  yeai-s  previously  (l.'Jl.S),  James  IV. 
and  the  flower  of  the  Scottish  nobility  had  fallen  on 
the  field  of  Flodden.  James  V.  was  a  child  :  his 
mother,  Margaret  Tudor,  was  nominally  regent ; 
but  the  clergy,  headed  by  the  proud,  profligate,  and 
unscrupulous  James  Beaton,  Archbishop  of  St. 
Andrews,  had  grasped  the  government  of  the  king- 
dom. It  was  not  to  be  thought  that  tlie.se  men 
would  permit  a  doctrine  to  be  taught  at  their  very 
doors,  which  they  well  knew  woiild  bring  theu'  glory 
and  pleasures  to  an  end,  if  they  had  the  power  of 
preventing  it.  The  means  of  suppre.ssing  all 
preaching  of  the  truth  were  not  wanting,  certainly, 
to  these  tj'rannical  Churchmen.  But  this  did  not 
weigh  with  the  young  Hamilton.  Intent  upon 
dispelling  the  darkness  that  covered  Scotland,  he 
returned  to  his  native  land  (1.527),  and  took  up 
his  abode  at  the  family  mansion  of  KLncavel,  near 
Linlithgow. 

With  the  sword  of  Beaton  hanging  over  his 
head,  he  began  to  preach  the  doctiines  of  the  Re- 
formed faith.  The  first  converts  of  the  young 
evangelist  were  the  inmates  of  the  mansion-house 
of  Kincavel.  After  lois  kinsfolk,  his  neighbours 
became  the  next  objects  of  his  care.  He  visited  at 
the  houses  of  the  gentry,  where  his  liirth,  the  grace 
of  his  manners,  and  the  fame  of  his  learning  made 
him  at  all  times  welcome,  and  he  talked  with  them 
about  the  things  that  belonged  to  their  pence. 
Going  out  into  the  fields,  he  would  join  himself  to 
groups  of  labourei-s  a.s  they  rested  at  noon,  and 
exhort  them,  while  labouring  for  the  "meat  that 
perisheth,"  not  to  be  unmindful  of  that  which 
"endures  imto  eternal  life."  Opeiiing  the  Sacred 
Volume,  he  would  explain  to  his  i-ustic  congrega- 
tion the  "  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  "  which  was 
now  come  nigh  unto  them,  and  bid  them  strive  to 
enter  into  it.  Ha\-ing  scattered  the  seed  in  the 
villages  around  Linlitligow,  ho  resf)lved  to  carry 
the  Gospel  into  its  Churcli  of  St.  Michael.  The 
ancient  jialace  of  Linlithgow,  "  the  Versailles  of 
Scotland,",  an  it  has  been  tei-med,  wa.s  then  the  seat 


'  Dedication  of  Exfgescos  Praneisci  Lamberti,  ic,  quoted 
in  Laing,  A'lioa',  vol.  i.,  Appendix  iii. 


of  the  court,  and  the  Gospel  was  now  brought 
within  the  hearing  of  the  priests  of  St.  Michael's, 
and  of  the  members  of  the  royal  family  who  repaired 
to  it.  Hamilton,  standing  up  amid  the  altars  and 
images,  preached  to  the  polished  audience  that 
filled  the  edifice,  with  that  simplicity  and  chastity 
of  speech  which  were  best  fitted  to  win  his  way  with 
those  now  listening  to  him.  It  is  not,  would  he 
say,  the  cowl  of  St.  Francis,  nor  the  frock  of  St. 
Dominic,  that  saves  us ;  it  is  the  righteousness  of 
Christ.  It  is  not  the  ."Aorn  head  that  makes  a  holy 
man,  it  is  the  renewed  heart.  It  is  not  the  clu-ism 
of  the  Church,  it  is  the  anointing  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  that  replenishes  the  soul  with  gi-ace.  Wliat 
doth  the  Lord  requii-e  of  thee,  O  man  ]  to  count  so 
many  beads  a  day  1  to  repeat  so  many  paternosters  * 
to  fast  so  many  days  in  the  year,  or  go  so  many 
miles  on  pLlgi-image  ?  That  is  what  the  Pope  re- 
quires of  thee  ;  but  what  God  requires  of  thee  is  to 
do  justly,  and  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly.  Pure 
religion,  and  undefiled,  is  not  to  kiss  a  crucifix,  or 
to  burn  candles  liefore  Our  Lady  ;  pure  religion  is 
to  visit  the  fatherless  and  the  widow  in  their 
affliction,  and  to  keep  one's  self  unspotted  from  the 
world.  "  Knowest  thou,"  he  would  ask,  "  what 
this  saying  means,  '  ChrLst  died  for  theei'  Verily 
that  thou  shonldest  have  died  pei'jDetually,  and 
Christ,  to  deliver  thee  from  death,  died  for  thee, 
and  changed  thy  perpetual  death  into  his  own 
death  ;  for  thou  madest  the  fault,  and  he  suffered 
the  pain."- 

Among  Hamilton's  hearers  in  St.  Michael's  there 
was  a  cei'tain  maiden  of  noble  birth,  whose  heart 
the  Gospel  had  touched.  Her  virtues  won  the 
heart  of  the  young  evangelist,  and  he  made  her  his 
wife.  His  marriage  was  celebrated  but  a  few 
weeks  before  his  martyrdom.^ 

A  little  way  inland  from  the  opjiosite  shores  of 
the  Forth,  backed  by  the  pictui'esque  chain  of  the 
blue  Ochils,  was  the  to^^ii  of  Dunfermline,  with  its 
archiepiscopal  palace,  the  towere  of  which  might 
almost  be  descried  from  the  spot  where  Hamilton 
was  daily  evangelising.  Archbishop  Beaton  was 
at  this  mo7nent  residing  there,  and  news  of  the 
young  evangelist's  doings  were  wafted  across  to  that 
watchful  enemy  of  the  Gospel.  Beaton  saw  at  a 
glance  the  difficulty  of  the  casi^.  A  heretic  of  low 
degi-ee  would  have  been  summarily  disposed  of; 
but  here  was  a  Lutheran  with  royal  blood  in  his 
vein.s,  and  all  the  Hamiltons  at  his  back,  throwing 


'  Fox,  Acts  and  Mon.,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  570,  571. 

^  We  owe  our  knowledge  of  this  fact  to  Professor 
Lorimer.  See  his  PaMck  J/aimlton,  &c.,  an  historical, 
sketch. 


472 


TTTSTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


(Iowa  the  gage  of  battlo  to  the  hierarchy.  What 
wa.s  to  be  (lone  !  Tlie  cruel  and  crafty  Beaton  hit 
on  a  device  tliat  but  too  well  succeeded.  Concealing 
his  dark  design,  the  primate  sent  a  pressing  mes- 
sage to  Patrick,  soliciting  an  interview  with  him  on 
points  of  Church  Reformation.  Hamilton  divined 
at  once  what  the  message  portended,  but  in  spite 
of  the  death  that  almost  ceiiaiiily  awaited  him,  and 
the  tears  of  his  friends,  who  sought  to  stay  him,  he 
set  out  for  St.  Andrews.  He  seemed  to  "feel  that 
he  could  serve  his  country  better  by  dying  than 
by  living  and  labouring. 

This  city  was  then  the  ecclesiastical  and  literary 
metropolis  of  Scotland.  As  the  seat  of  the  archi- 
episcopal  court,  numerous  suitors  and  rich  fees 
were  drawn  to  it.  Ecclesiastics  of  all  ranks  and 
students  fi-om  every  part  of  the  kingdom  were  to 
be  seen  upon  its  streets.  Its  cathech-al  was  among 
the  largest  in  Christendom.  It  had  numerous 
colleges,  monasteries,  and  a  jiriory,  not  as  now, 
gi-ey  with  age  and  sinking  in  ruin,  but  in  the  fh-st 
bloom  of  their  architecture.  As  the  traveller 
approached  it,  whether  over  the  long  upland  swell 
of  Fife  on  the  west,  or  the  waters  of  the  German 
Ocean  on  the  east,  the  lofty  summit  of  St.  Regulus 
met  his  eye,  and  told  iiim  that  he  was  nearing  the 
chief  seat  of  authority  and  wealth  in  Scotland. 

On  awiving  at  St.  Andrews,  Hamilton  found  the 
archbishop  all  smiles  ;  a  most  gracious  reception, 
in  fact,  was  accorded  hini  by  the  man  who  was 
resolved  that  he  should  never  go  hence.  He  was 
permitted  to  choose  his  own  lodgings ;  to  go  in  and 
out ;  to  avow  liis  opinions  ;  to  discuss  questions  of 
rite,  and  dogma,  and  administration  with  both 
doctors  and  .students;  and  when  he  heard  the 
echoes  of  his  own  sentiments  commg  back  to  him 
from  amid  the  halls  and  ehaii's  of  the  "  Scottish 
Vatican,"  he  began  to  persuade  himself  that  the  day 
of  Scotland's  deliverance  was  nearer  than  he  had 
dared  to  hope,  and  even  now  rifts  were  apjiearing  in 
the  canopy  of  blackness  over  his  native  land.  An  in- 
cident haj>pened  that  specially  gladdened  him.  There 
was  at  that  time,  among  the  Canons  of  St.  Andrews, 
a  j'oung  man  of  quick  parts  and  candid  mind,  but 
enthiiiUed  by  the  scholasticism  of  the  age,  and 
all  on  the  side  of  Rome.  His  name  was  Alane,  or 
Alesius — a  native  of  Edinburgh.  This  young  canon 
bnmed  to  cross  swords  with  the  heretic  whose 
presence  had  caused  no  little  stir  in  the  univei-sity 
and  monasteries  of  the  ancient  city  of  St.  Andrew. 
He  obtained  his  wish,  for  Hamilton  was  ready  to 
receive  all,  whether  they  came  to  uiquire  or  to  dis- 
pute. The  Sword  of  the  Spirit,  at  almost  the  first 
stroke,  pierced  the  scholastic  annour  in  which 
Alesius  had  encased  himself,  and  he  dropped  his 


sword  to  the  man  whom  he  had  been  so  confident 
of  vanquishing. 

There  came  yet  another,  also  eager  to  do  battle 
for  the  Church — Alexander  Cam])bell,  Prior  of  the 
DominicaiLS — a  man  of  excellent  learning  and  good 
disposition.  The  archbishop,  feeling  the  risks  of 
))ringing  such  a  man  as  Hamilton  to  the  .stake, 
ordered  Prior  Campbell  to  wait  on  him,  and  spare 
no  means  of  bringing  back  the  noble  heretic  to 
the  faith  of  the  Church.  The  matter  promised 
at  first  to  have  just  the  opposite  ending.  After 
a  few  interviews,  the  prior  confessed  the  truth 
of  the  doctrines  which  Hamilton  taught.  The  con- 
version of  Alesius  seemed  to  have  repeated  itself. 
But,  alas  !  no;  Camjibell  had  received  the  truth  in 
the  intellect  only,  not  in  the  heart.  Beaton  sent 
for  Campbell,  and  sternly  demanded  of  him  what 
progress  he  was  making  in  the  conversion  of  the 
heretic.  The  prior  saw  that  on  the  brow  of  the 
archbishop  which  told  him  th.at  he  must  make  his 
choice  between  the  favour  of  the  hierarchy  and  the 
Gospel.  His  coui-age  fiiiled  him ;  the  disciple  be- 
came the  accuser. 

Patrick  Hamilton  had  now  been  a  month  at  St. 
Andrews,  arguing  all  the  time  with  doctors, 
priests,  students,  and  townspeople.  From  whatever 
cause  this  delay  proceeded,  whether  from  a  feeling 
on  the  part  of  Beaton  and  the  hierarchy  that  their 
power  was  too  firmly  rooted  to  be  shaken,  or  from 
a  fear  to  strike  one  so  exalted,  it  helped  to  the  eai'ly 
triumph  of  the  Reformed  opinions  in  Scotland. 
During  that  month  Hamilton  was  able  to  scatter 
on  this  central  ]>art  of  the  field  a  gi-eat  amount 
of  the  "  incorruptible  seed  of  the  Word,"  which, 
watered  as  it  was  soon  thereafter  to  be  with  the 
blood  of  him  who  sowed  it,  sjjrang  up  and  broxight 
forth  much  fruit.  But  the  matter  would  admit  of 
no  longer  delay,  and  Patrick  was  summoned  to  the 
archiepiscopal  palace,  to  answer  to  a  charge  of 
heresy. 

Before  accompanying  Hamilton  to  the  triliunal 
of  Beaton,  let  us  mention  the  an-angements  of  his 
persecutors  for  jiutting  him  to  death.  Their  fir,st 
care  was  to  send  away  the  king.  James  V.  was 
then  a  youth  of  seventeen,  and  it  was  just  possible 
that  he  might  not  stand  quietly  by  and  see  them 
ruthlessly  murder  one  who  drew  his  descent  from 
the  royal  house.  Accordingly  the  young  king  was 
told  that  his  soul's  health  required  that  he  should 
make  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Duthac,  in 
Ross-shire,  whither  his  father  had  often  gone  to  dis- 
l)urdon  his  conscience.'     It  was  winter,,  and    the 


•  His  journey  has  been  doubted.    Knox,  Spottiswood, 
and  others  mention  it.    Besides,  a  letter  of  Angiis  to 


ACCUSATION   OF   HAMILTON. 


473 


journey  would  necessarily  be  tedious ;  but  tliu 
liur|iosc  of  the  priests  would  be  all  the  better 
served  thereby.  Ajiother  precaution  taken  by  the 
archbishop  was  to  cause  the  movements  of  Sir 
James  Hamilton,  Patrick's  brother,  to  be  watched, 
lest  he  should  attempt  a  rescue.  When  the  tiduigs 
reached  Kincavel  that  Patrick  had  been  arrested, 
consternation  prevaOed  at  the  manor-house  ;  Sir 
James,  promptly  assembling  a  body  of  men-at- 
arms,  set  out  at  their  head  for  St.  Andrews.  The 
trooj)  marched  along  the  southern  shore  of  the 
Forth,  but  on  arriving  at  Queensferry,  where 
they  intended.!  to  cross,  they  found  a  storm  raging 
in  the  Frith.  The  waves,  raised  into  tumult  in 
the  narrow  sea  by  the  westerly  gale,  would  permit 
no  passage;  and  Sir  James,  the  precious  hours 
gliding  away,  could  only  stand  gazing  helplessly 
on  the  tempest,  which  showed  no  signs  of  abating. 
jMcanwhOe,  being  descried  from  the  opposite 
shore,  a  troop  of  horse  was  at  once  ordered  out 
to  dispute  their  march  to  St.  Andrews.  Another 
attempt  to  rescue  Patrick  from  the  hands  of  his 
jjersecutors  was  also  unsuccessful.  Duncan,  Laird 
of  Ardrie,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  St.  Andrews, 
.armed  and  mounted  about  a  score  of  his  tenants 
and  servants,  intending  to  enter  the  city  by 
night  and  carry  off  his  friend,  whose  Protestant 
sentiments  he  shared ;  but  his  small  painty  was 
suiTOunded,  and  himself  apprehended,  by  a  troop 
of  horsemen.'  Hamilton  was  left  in  the  power  of 
Beaton. 

The  fii-st  rays  of  the  morning  sun  were  kindling 
the  waters  of  the  bay,  and  gikUng  the  hill-tops  of 
Angus  on  the  other  side  of  theTay,  when  Hamilton 
was  seen  traversing  the  streets  on  his  way  to  the 
archiepiscopal  palace,  in  obedience  to  Beaton's  sum- 
mons. He  had  hoj)ed  to  have  an  interview  with  the 
.archbishop  before  the  other  judges  had  assembled ; 
but,  eai-ly  as  the  hour  was,  the  court  was  already 
met,  and  Hamilton  was  summoned  before  it  and  his 
accusation  read.  It  consisted  of  thii-teen  articles, 
alleged  to  be  heretical,  of  which  the  fifth  and  sbcth 
may  be  taken  as  samples.  These  ran : — "  Tliat  a 
man  is  not  justified  by  works,  but  by  faith  alone," 
and  "that  good  works  do  not  make  a  good  man, 
but  that  a  good  man  makes  good  works."-  There 
followed  a  discussion  on  each  of  the  articles,  and 
liually  the  whole  were  refen-ed  to  a  committee  of 


Wolsey,  of  date  the  30th  March,  1528,  says  that  the  king 
was  at  that  time  in  the  north  country,  in  the  eitrcmo 
l)art3  of  his  dominions. 

'  MfCi-ie,  Life  of  Melville,  vol.  i.,  note  D. 

-'  The  articles  of  Hamilton's  indictment,  quoted  from 
thi!  Roasters,  arc  jjiveu  in  full  by  Fox,  vol.  iv..  pp.  !joV, 
500.    CaUerwooU,  vol.  i.,  p.  TO.    yixilliswootl,  p.  03. 


the  judges  chosen  by  Beaton,  who  were  to  report 
their  judgment  upon  them  in  a  few  days.  Pend- 
ing their-  decision,  Hamilton  was  permitted  his 
liberty  as  heretofore ;  the  object  of  his  enemies 
being  to  veil  what  was  coming  till  it  should  bo 
so  near  that  rescue  would  be  impossible. 

In  a  few  days  the  commissioners  intimated  that 
they  had  arrived  at  a  decision  on  the  articles.  This 
opened  the  way  for  the  last  act  of  the  tragedy. 
Beaton  issued  his  orders  for  the  apprehension  of 
Patrick,  and  at  the  same  time  summoned  his  court 
for  the  next  day.  Fearing  a  tumult  should  he 
conduct  Hamilton  to  prison  in  open  day,  the  officer 
waited  tdl  night-fall  before  executing  the  mandate 
of  the  archbishop.  A  little  party  of  friends  had 
that  evening  assembled  at  Patrick's  lodgings.  Their 
converse  was  prolonged  till  late  in  the  evening,  for 
they  felt  loth  to  separate.  The  topics  that  engaged 
their  thoughts  and  formed  the  matter  of  theii'  talk, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  conjecture.  Misgivings  and 
anxieties  they  coidd  not  but  feel  when  they  thought 
of  the  sentence  to  be  pronounced  in  the  cathedral 
to-morrow.  But  with  these  gloomy  presentiments 
there  would  mingle  cheering  hopes  inspired  by  the 
prosperous  state  of  the  Reformation  at  that  hour 
on  the  Continent  of  Eui'ope.  When  from  their 
own  land,  still  covered  with  darkness,  they  turned 
then-  eyes  abroad,  they  saw  only  the  most  splendid 
triumphs.  In  Germany  a  phalanx  of  illustrious 
doctors,  of  chivalrous  princes,  and  of  free  cities 
had  gathered  round  the  Protestant  standard.  In 
S^\itzerland  the  new  day  was  spreading  from  ciuitou 
to  canton  with  an  effulgence  sweeter  far  than  ever 
was  day-break  on  the  snows  of  its  mountains. 
Farel  was  thundering  in  the  cities  of  the  Jura, 
and  day  by  day  advancing  his  jiosts  nearer  to 
Geneva.  At  the  poHshed  court  of  Francis  I.,  and 
in  the  halls  of  the  Sorbonne,  Luther's  doctrine  had 
found  eloquent  expositors  and  devoted  disciples, 
making  the  hope  not  too  bold  that  the  ancient, 
civilised,  and  powerful  nation  of  France  would  in 
a  short  time  be  won  to  the  Gospel.  Sui-mounting 
the  lofty  barrier  of  snows  and  glaciers  within  which 
Italy  I'eposes,  the  light  was  eircidating  round  the 
shores  of  Como,  gilding  the  palaces  of  Fenara  and 
Florence,  and  appi-oaching  the  very  gates  of  Rome 
itself.  A  mill  the  darkness  of  the  Seven  HUls, 
whispers  were  begiiuuug  to  be  heard,  "The  morning 
cometh." 

Turning  to  the  other  extremity  of  Europe,  the 
prospect  was  not  less  gladdening.  In  Denmark  the 
mass  had  fallen,  and  the  vernacular  Scriptures 
were  being  circulated  through  the  nation.  In 
Sweden  a  Protestant  king  filled  the  throne,  and 
a  Protestant  clergy  ministered  to  the  people.     In 


474 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


Norway  the  Protestant  ftvitli  had  taken  root,  and 
was  flourishing  amid  its  fiords  and  pine-covered 
mountains.  Nay,  to  the  shores  of  Icehuul  had  tliat 
blessed  day-spring  travelled.  It  could  not  be  that 
the  day  should  break  on  every  land  between  Italy's 


might  bring,  this  was  what  the  future  would  bring ; 
and  the  joy  these  prospects  inspu-ed  could  be  read 
in  the  biightenlng  eyes  and  on  the  beaming  faces 
of  the  little  company  in  this  chamber,  and  most  of 
all  on  those  of  the  voiithful  and  noble  form  in  the 


"  snowy  ridge  "  and  Iceland's  frozen  shore,  and  the      centre  of  the  circle. 


VIEW    OF    ST.    SALVATOK  S    CHUKCII,    ST.    ANDKEWf 


night  continue  to  cover  Scotland.  It  could  not  be 
that  the  sunrise  should  kindle  into  glory  the  Swiss 
mountains,  the  German  plains,  and  the  Norwegian 
pine-forests,  and  no  da%vn  light  up  the  straths  of 
Caledonia.  No!  the  hour  would  strike:  the  nation 
would  shake  off  its  chains,  and  a  still  brighter  lamp 
than  that  which  Columba  had  kindled  at  lona 
would  shed  its  radiance  on  hill  and  valley,  on  ham- 
let and   city   of    Scotland.      AVhate^■er   to-morrow 


But  hark  !  the  silence  of  the  night  is  broken  by 
a  noise  as  of  hostile  steps  at  the  door.  The  com- 
pany, startled,  gaze  into  one  another's  faces,  and  are 
silent.  Heavy  foot-steps  are  now  heai'd  ascending 
the  staii- ;  the  next  moment  there  is  a  knocking  at 
the  chamber  door.  With  calm  voice  Hamilton  bids 
them  open  the  door ;  nay,  he  himself  steps  forward 
and  opens  it.  The  archbishop's  officer  enters  the 
apartment.      "Whom    do    you     want?"     inquires 


476 


HISTOEY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


Pah"ick.  "  I  want  Hamilton,"  replies  the  mun. 
"  I  am  Hamilton,"  says  the  othei',  giving  lumself  up, 
requesting  only  tliat  his  frientls  might  be  allowed 
to  depai't  luihanued. 

A  party  of  soldiers  waited  at  the  door  to  receive 
tlie  prisoner.  On  his  descejiding,  they  closed  round 
liim,  and  led  him  through  the  silent  streets  of  the 
slumbering  city  to  the  castle.  Notliing  was  heard 
save  the  low  moaidng  of  the  night-wind,  and  the 
sullen  dash  of  the  wave  as  it  broke  against  the 
rocky  foundations  of  the  sea-tower,  to  the  dungeons 
of  which  Hamilton  was  consigned  for  the^  night. 

It  is  the  morning  of  the  last  day  of  February, 
1528.  Far  out  in  the  bay  the  light  creeps  up  from 
the  Gei-man  Ocean  :  the  low  hills  that  run  along  on 
the  south  of  the  city,  come  out  in  the  dawn,  and 
next  are  seen  the  sands  of  the  Tay,  with  the  blue 
summits  of  Angus  beyond,  wliile  the  mightier  masses 
of  the  Grampians  stand  up  in  the  northern  sky.  Now 
the  sun  rises  ;  and  tower  and  steeple  and,  proudest  of 
all,  Scotland's  metropolitan  cathedral  begin  to  glow 
in  the  light  of  the  new-risen  luminary.  A  terrible 
tragedy  is  that  sun  to  witness  before  he  shall  set. 
The  archbishop  is  up  betimes,  and  so  too  are  priest 
and  monk.  The  streets  are  akeady  aU  a-stii'.  A 
stream  of  bishops,  nobles,  canons,  prie.sts,  and 
citizeus  is  rolling  in  at  the  gates  of  the  cathedi'al. 
How  proudly  it  lifts  its  towers  to  the  sky  !  There 
is  not  another  such  editice  in  all  Scotland ;  few  of 
such  dimensions  in  all  Christendom.  And  now  we 
see  the  archbishop,  mth  his  long  train  of  lords, 
abbots,  and  doctors,  sweep  in  and  take  his  .seat  on 
his  archiepiscopal  throne.  Around  huu  on  the 
tribunal  are  the  Bishops  of  Glasgow,  Dunkeld, 
Brechin,  and  Dunblane.  The  Prior  of  St.  Andrews, 
Patrick  Hepburn ;  the  Abbot  of  Arbroath,  David 
Beaton ;  as  also  the  Abbots  of  Dunfermluie,  Cam- 
buskenneth,  and  Lindores ;  the  Prior  of  Pittenweem ; 
the  Dean  and  Sub-Dean  of  Glasgow ;  Eamsaj', 
Dean  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Andrews ;  Spans,  Dean 
of  Divinity  in  the  University  ;  and  among  the  rest 
sits  Prior  Alexander  Campbell,  the  man  who  had 
acknowledged  to  Hamilton  in  private  that  his  doc- 
tiine  wa3  true,  but  who,  stifling  his  convictions, 
now  appeal's  on  th(J  tribunal  as  accuser  and  judge. 

The  tramp  of  horses  outside  announced  the 
ai-rival  of  the  prisoner.  Hamilton  was  brought  in, 
led  through  the  throng  of  canons,  friars,  students, 
and  townspeople,  and  made  to  mount  a  small  pulpit 
erected  opposite  the  tribunal.  Prior  Campbell  rose 
and  read  the  articles  of  accusation,  and  when  he  had 
ended  began  to  argue  with  Hamilton.  Tlie  prior's 
stock  of  aopliisms  was  quickly  exhausted.  He 
turned  to  the  bench  of  judges  for  fresh  instructions. 
He  was  bidden  close   the   debato  by  deuouncuig 


tlie  prisoner  as  a  heretic.  Tiiruiug  to  Hamilton, 
the  prior  exclaimed,  "  Heretic,  thou  saidst  it  was 
lawful  to  all  men  to  read  the  Word  of  God,  and 
especially  the  New  Testament."  "  I  wot  not,"  re- 
plied Hamilton,  "  if  I  said  so ;  but  I  say  now,  it  is 
reason  and  lawful  to  all  men  to  read  the  Word  of 
God,  and  that  they  are  able  to  undeistand  the 
same ;  and  in  particular  the  latter  ^vill  and  testa- 
ment of  Jesus  Christ."  "  Heretic,"  again  urged 
the  Dominican,  "  thou  sayest  it  is  but  lost  labour  to 
call  on  the  saints,  and  iir  particular  on  the  blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  as  mediatoi's  to  God  for  us."  "  I  say 
with  Paul,"  answered  the  confessor,  '•  there  is  no 
mediator  between  God  and  us  but  Christ  Jesus  his 
Son,  and  whatsoever  they  be  who  c^ill  or  pray  to 
any  saint  departed,  they  spoil  Christ  Jesus  of  his 
office."  "  Heretic,"  ;igain  exclaimed  Piior  Camji- 
bell,  "  thou  sayest  it  is  all  in  vain  to  sing  soul- 
masses,  psalms,  and  dirges  for  the  relaxation  of 
souls  departed,  who  are  continued  in  the  ])ains  of 
pm-gatory."  "  Brother,"  said  the  Peformer,  "  I  have 
never  read  in  the  Scripture  of  God  of  such  a  place 
as  purgatory,  nor  yet  believe  I  tliere  is  anything 
that  can  purge  the  souls  of  men  but  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ."  Lifting  \ip  his  voice  once  more 
Campbell  shouted  out,  as  if  to  di'own  the  cry  in  his 
own  conscience,  "  Heretic,  detestable,  execrable, 
impious  heretic!"  "Nay,  brother,"  said  Hamilton, 
directing  a  look  of  compassion  towards  the  wretched 
man,  "  thou  dost  not  in  thy  heart  think  me  heretic 
— thou  knowest  in  thy  conscience  that  I  am  no 
heretic." 

Not  a  voice  was  there  on  that  bench  but  in  con- 
demnation of  the  prisoner.  "  Away  with  him  ! 
away  with  him  to  the  stake  !"  said  they  all.  The 
archbishop  rose,  and  solemnly  pronounced  sentence 
(111  Hamilton  as  a  heretic,  delivering  liim  over  to 
the  secular  arm — that  is,  to  his  own  soldiers  and 
executioners — to  be  punished. 

This  sentence,  Beaton  believed,  was  to  stamp  out 
heresy,  give  a  perpetuity  of  dominion  and  glory  to 
the  Papacy  in  Scotland,  and  hallow  the  proud  fane 
in  which  it  was  pronounced,  as  the  high  sanctuary 
of  the  nation's  worship  for  long  centuries.  How 
would  it  have  amazed  the  proud  prelate,  and  the 
haughty  and  cniel  men  around  him,  had  they  been 
told  that  this  sairpassingly  grand  pile  should  in  a 
few  years  cease  to  be — that  altar,  and  stone  image, 
and  archiepiscopal  throne,  and  tall  massy  column, 
and  lofty  roof,  and  painted  oriel,  before  this  genera- 
tion had  passed  away,  smitten  by  a  sudden  stroke, 
should  fall  in  ruin,  and  nothing  of  all  the  glory  on 
which  their  eyes  now  rested  remain,  save  a  few 
naked  walls  and  shattered  towers,  with  the  hoarse 
roar  of  tlie  ocean  sounding  on  the  shingly  beach 


PATRICK  HAMILTON  AT  THE  STAKE. 


477 


beneath,  iind  the  loud  scream  of  the  sea-biid,  as  it 
flew  past,  echoing  through  their  ruins  ! 

Escorted  by  a  numerous  armed  band,  Hamilton 
was  led  back  to  the  castle,  ami  men  were  sent  to 
])repare  the  stake  in  front  of  St.  Salvator's  College.' 
The  interval  was  passed  by  the  martyi-  in  taking 
his  last  meal  and  conversing  calmly  with  hisfriemls. 
When  the  horn'  of  noon  struck,  ho  rose  up  and  bade 
the  governor  be  admitted.  He  set  out  for  the 
])lace  where  he  was  to  die,  carrying  his  New  Testa- 
ment in  his  hand,  a  few  friends  by  his  side,  and  his 
t'nithful  servant  following.  He  walked  in  the  midst 
of  his  guards,  his  step  tirni,  his  countenance  serene. 

When  he  came  in  sight  of  the  pile  he  halted, 
and  uncovering  his  head,  and  raising  his  eyes  to 
heaven,  he  contuiued  a  few  minutes  in  prayer.  At 
tJie  stake  he  gave  liis  New  Testament  to  a  friend 
:is  his  last  gift.  Tlien  calling  his  servant  to  him, 
he  took  off  his  cap  and  gown  and  gave  them  to 
liiiji,  saying,  "  Tliese  will  not  profit  in  the  fii-e ; 
tliey  will  profit  thee.  After  this,  of  me  thou  canst 
recei\'o  no  commotlity  except  the  example  of  my 
deatli,  which  I  jiray  tliee  bear  in  mind.  For  albeit 
it  be  liitter  to  the  flesh,  and  fearful  before  man,  yet 
is  it  the  entrance  to  eternal  life,  which  none  shall 
possess  that  denies  Christ  Jesus  before  this  \\-icked 
generation." 

He  now  ascended  the  pUe.  The  executioners 
drew  an  iron  band  round  his  body,  and  fastened 
him  to  the  stake.  They  piled  up  the  fiigots,  and 
put  a  bag  of  gunpowder  amongst  them  to  make 
them  ignite.  "  In  the  name  of  Jesus,"  said  the 
martyr,  "  I  give  up  my  body  to  the  fire,  and  commit 
my  soul  into  the  hands  of  the  Father." 

The  torch  was  now  brought.  The  gunpowder 
wa.s  exploded ;  it  shot  a  fagot  in  the  martp-'s  face, 
but  did  not  kindle  the  wood.  More  powder  was 
Ijrought  and  exploded,  but  without  kindling  the 
l)ilo.  A  third  supply  was  procured ;  still  the 
fagots  would  not  burn  :  the}'  were  green.  Turn- 
ing to  the  deathsnian,  Hamilton  said,  "  Have  you 
no  dry  wood?"  Some  jiersons  ran  to  fetch  some 
fi-om  the  castle  ;  the  sufferer  all  the  while  standing 
at  the  stake,  woimded  in  the  face,  and  partially 
scorched,  yet  "  giving  no  signs  of  impatience  or 
anger."  So  testifies  Alesius,  who  says,  "  I  was 
myself  present,  a  spectator  of  that  tragedy.  "  = 

Hovering  near  that  pile,  drawn  thither  it  would 
seem  by  some  dreadful  fascination,  was  Prior 
( 'ampbell.  While  the  fi'esh  supplies  of  powder  and 
wood  were   being  brought,  and   the   executioners 

>  Now  the  united  CoUeRO  of  St.  Salvator's  and  St. 
Leonard's.  The  Martyrs'  Free  Chm-ch  marks  the  site  of 
tlio  martyrdom. 

•'  Alesius,  Liber  Psalm, 


were  anew  heaping  up  the  fagots,  Campbell,  with 
frenzied  voice,  was  calling  on  the  martyr  to  recant. 
"  Heretic,"  he  shouted,  "  be  converted ;  call  upon 
Our  Latly;  onlj'  say,  iS'ah-e  Regina."  "If  thou 
belie  vest  in  the  truth  of  what  thou  sayest,"  replied 
the  confessor,  "  bear  witness  to  it  by  putting  the 
ti])  of  thy  finger  only  into  the  fire  in  which  my 
whole  body  is  burning."^  The  Dominican  biu-st  oul 
afresh  into  accusations  and  insults.  "  Depart  from 
me,  thou  messenger  of  Satan,"  said  the  martyr,  "  and 
leave  me  in  peace."  The  wretched  man  was  un- 
able either  to  go  away  or  cease  reviling.  "  Submit 
to  the  Pope,"  he  cried,  "there  is  no  salvation  but 
in  union  to  him."  "  Thou  wicked  man,"  said 
Hamilton,  "thou  knowest  the  contrary,  for  thou 
toldest  me  so  thyself.  I  appeal  thee  before  thu 
tribimal-seat  of  Jesus  Clu'ist."  At  the  hearing  of 
these  words  the  friar  rushed  to  liLs  monastery  :  in 
a  few  days  his  reason  gave  way,  and  he  died  raving- 
mad,  at  the  day  named  in  the  citation  of  the 
mni't^T.'' 

Patrick  Hamilton  was  led  to  the  stake  at  noon  : 
the  afternoon  was  wearing,  in  fact  it  was  now  past 
sunset.  These  six  hours  had  he  stood  on  the  pile, 
his  face  bruised,  his  limbs  scorched ;  but  now  the 
end  was  near,  for  his  whole  body  |was  burning  in 
the  fire,  the  iron  band  round  his  middle  was  red- 
hot,  and  the  niax-tyr  was  almost  burned  in  two. 
One  approached  him  and  said,  "  If  thou  still 
boldest  true  the  doctrine  for  which  thou  diest,  make 
us  a  sign."  Two  of  the  fingers  of  his  right  hand 
were  already  burned,  and  had  dropped  off.  Stretcli- 
iug  out  his  arm,  he  held  out  the  remaining  three 
lingers  till  they  too  had  fallen  into  the  fire.  The 
last  words  he  was  heard  to  utter  were,  "  How  long, 
O  Lord,  shall  darkness  overwhelm  this  realm  I  how 
long  wilt  thou  suffer  this  tyramiy  of  men  ?  Lord 
.Tesus,  receive  my  spirit." 

We  have  given  promriience  to  this  gi-eat  martyr, 
because  his  death  was  one  of  the  most  powerful 
of  the  instrumentalities  that  worked  for  the  emanci- 
pation of  his  native  land.  It  was  around  his  stake 
that  the  first  decided  dawn  of  Scotland's  Reformation 
took  place.  His  noble  birth,  the  fame  of  his  learn- 
ing, his  spotless  character,  his  gi'aeious  manners, 
his  protracted  suft'erings,  borne  ■svitli  such  majestic 
meekness,  and  the  awful  death  of  the  man  who  had 
I)een  his  accuser  before  the  tribunal,  and  his  tor- 
mentor at   the   stake,  conrbined    to  give   unusual 


■'  Alesius,  L9>er  Psalm. 

■*  So  Fox  narrates,  on  the  testimony  of  men  who  nad 
been  present  at  the  bnrninu,  imd  wlio  wore  alive  in 
Scotland  when  tlie  matei-ials  of  liis  history  were  collected. 
See  Laing,  A'do.r,  vol.  I.,  Appendix  iii. ;  also  AlesiuF,  Liber 
Pialm. ;  and  Buchanan,  lib.  xiv.,  ann.  (1527)  1528. 


478 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


grandeur,  not  unminglod  with  tei-ror,  to  his  martyi-- 
dom,  and  made  it  touch  a  chord  in  the  nation's 
heart,  that  never  ceased  to  vibrate  till  "  the  rage  of 
the  great  red  dragon"  was  vanquished,  and  "  the 


black  and  settled  night  of  ignorance  and  auti-Cliris- 
tian  tjrannj "  having  been  expelled,  "the  odour  of 
the  retui-ning  Gospel "  began  to  bathe  the  land 
with  "the  fragrancy  of  heaven."' 


CHAPTER   HI. 


WISIL\RT    IS    BURNED,    AND    KNOX    COMES    FORWARD. 

Growing  Discredit  of  the  Hierarchy — Martyrs— Henry  Forrest — David  Straiton  and  Norman  Gourlay — Their  Trial 
and  Burning— Thomas  Forrest,  Vicar  of  DoUai- — Burning  of  Five  Martyrs — Jerome  Rnssel  and  Alexander  Kennedy 
— Cardinal  David  Beaton — Exiles — Number  of  Sufferers— Plot  to  Cut  off  all  the  Nobles  favourable  to  the  New 
Opinions — Defeat  at  the  Solway,  and  Discovery  of  the  Plot — Ministry  and  Martyrdom  of  George  Wishart— Birth 
and  Education  of  Knox. 


Between  tlie  death  of  Hamilton  and  the  appear- 
ance of  Knox  there  intervenes  a  jieriod  of  a 
chequered  character ;  nevertheless,  we  can  trace 
all  throughout  it  a  steady  onward  march  of  Scot- 
land towards  emancij)ation.  Hamilton  had  been 
bumed  ;  Alesius  and  others  liad  fled  iu  terror  ;  and 
the  priests,  deeming  themselves  undisputed  masters, 
demeaned  tliemselves  more  liaughtily  than  ever. 
But  their  pride  hastened  theii-  downfall.  The  nobles 
combined  to  set  limits  to  an  an-ogance  which  was 
unbearable;  the  greed  and  profligacy  of  the  hiei'- 
archy  discredited  it  in  the  eyes  of  the  common 
people  ;  the  plays  of  Sir  David  Lindsay,  and  the 
satires  of  the  illustrious  George  Buchanan,  heljied 
to  swell  tlie  popular  indignation ;  but  the  main 
forces  in  Scotland,  as  in  every  other  country,  whicli 
weakened  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  eventually 
overthrew  it,  were  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures 
and  tlie  deaths  of  the  mart^Ts. 

The  burning  of  Patrick  Hamilton  began  im- 
mediately to  bear  fruit.  From  his  ashes  arose 
one  to  continue  his  testimony,  and  to  repeat  his 
martyrdom.  Henry  FoiTest  was  a  Benedictine  in 
the  monastery  of  Linlitligow,  and  hatl  come  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth  by  the  teaching  and  examjjie 
of  Hamilton.  It  was  told  the  Archbishop  of  St. 
Andrews  that  Forrest  had  said  that  Hamilton 
"was  a  martyr,  and  no  heretic,"  and  that  lie  li.ad  a 
New  Testament  in  his  possession,  most  [)robably 
Tyndale's,  wliich  was  intelligible  to  the  Scots  of  the 
Lowlands.  "  He  is  as  bad  as  Master  Patrick,"  said 
Beaton  ;  "  we  must  burn  him."  A  "  men-y  gentle- 
man," James  Lindsay,  who  was  standing  beside  the 
archbishop  when  Forrest  was  condemned,  \entur('fl 
to  hint,  "  My  lord,  if  ye  will  bum  any  man,  let  him 
l>e  burned    in  how   [hollow]  cellars,  for   the   reek 


[smoke]  of  Patrick  Hamilton  has  infected  as  many 
as  it  did  blow  upon."  The  rage  of  Beaton  blinded 
him  to  the  wisdom  of  the  advice.  Selecting  the 
highest  ground  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
St.  Andrews,  he  ordered  the  stake  of  Forrest  to  l)e 
planted  there  (1.532),  that  the  light  of  liLs  pile, 
flashing  across  the  Tay,  might  warn  the  men  of 
Angus  and  Forfarshii'e  to  shun  liis  heresy.- 

The  next  two  martjTs  were  Da\'id  Straiton  and 
Norman  Gourlay.  Da\dd  Straiton,  a  Forfarshii-e 
gentleman,  whose  ancestors  had  dwelt  on  their 
lands  of  Lauriston  since  the  sixth  century,  was  a 
great  lover  of  field  sports,  and  was  giving  himself 
no  concern  whatever  about  matters  of  religion.  He 
happened  to  quarrel  with  Patrick  Hepburn,  Prior 
of  St.  Andrews,  about  his  ecclesiastical  dues.  His 
lands  adjoined  the  sea,  and,  daring  and  venturous, 
he  loved  to  launch  out  into  the  deep,  and  always 
returned  with  his  boat  laden  with  fish.  Prior  Hep- 
burn, wlio  was  as  gi-eat  a  fisher  as  himself,  though 
in  other  waters  and  for  other  spoil,  demanded  his 
tithe.  Straiton  threw  every  tenth  fish  into  the  sea, 
and  gniftiy  told  the  prior  to  seek  his  tithe  wliere  he 
had  found  the  stock.  Hepburn  summoned  the 
laird  to  answer  to  a  charge  of  heresy.  Here.sy  ! 
Straiton  did  not  even  know  what  the  word  meant. 
He  began  to  inquire  what  that  thing  called  heresy 
might  be  of  which  he  was  accused.  Unable  liimself 
to  read,  he  made  his  nephew  open  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  read  it  to  him.  He  felt  his  .sin ;  "he  was 
changed,"  says  Knox,  "  as  if  by  miracle,"  and 
began  that  course  of  life  wliich  soon  drew  upon 
him  the  eyes  of  the  hierarchy.     Norman  Goui-lay, 

'  Milton,  Prose  Worlcs  :  Of  Reformation  in  England. 
-  Knox,   History.      Calderwood,    History.      Fox,   Acts 
and  Hon.    Lorimer,  Scottish  Reformation, 


MARTYRS  AND   EXILES. 


479 


the  other  person  who  now  fell  under  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  priesthood,  had  been  a  student  at 
•St.  Ancb-(!ws,  and  was  in  priest's  orders.  The  trial 
of  the  two  took  place  in  Holyi'ood  House,  in  ])re- 
seueo  of  King  James  V.,  "clothed  all  in  red  ;"  and 
James  Hay,  Bishop  of  Ross,  acting  as  commissioner 
for  Archbishop  Beaton.  Tiiey  wei'e  condemned, 
and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  they  were 
taken  to  the  Rood  of  (freenside,  and  there  burned. 
This  was  a  high  gi-onnd  between  Edinburgh  and 
Leith,  and  the  (execution  took  plact;  there  "  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Fife,  seeing  the  tire,  might  be  stricken 
wth  terror."  To  the  martyrs  themselves  the  fire 
had  no  terroi',  because  to  them  death  had  no  sting.' 

Fwur  years  elapsed  after  the  death  of  Straiton 
and  Gourlay  till  another  pUe  was  raised  in  Scotland. 
In  1.538,  five  pci'sons  were  burned.  Dean  Thomas 
Forrest,  one  of  the  five  martyrs,  had  been  a  canon 
regular  in  the  Augustini;in  monastery  of  St.  Cohne 
Inch,  in  the  Frith  of  Foi-th,  and  had  been  brought 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  tiiith  by  perusing  a  volume 
of  Augustine,  which  was  lying  unused  and  neglected 
ill  the  monastery.  Lest  he  should  infect  his 
brethren  he  was  transferred  to  the  rural  paiisli 
of  Dollar,  at  the  foot  of  the  picturesque  Ochils. 
Here  he  spent  some  busy  years  j»reacliLng  and 
catechLsing,  till  at  last  the  eyes  of  the  Archbishop 
of  St.  Andrews  were  di'a\vn  to  him.  There  had 
been  a  recent  change  in  that  see — the  uncle,  James 
Beaton,  being  now  dead,  the  more  cruel  and 
bloodthii'sty  nephew,  David  Beaton,  had  succeeded 
him.  It  was  before  this  tyrant  that  the  diligent 
and  loving  Vicar  of  Dollar  was  now  summoned. 
He  and  the  four  companions  who  were  tried  along 
with  him  were  condemned  to  the  stake,  and  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  .same  day  were  burned  on  the 
Castle-hill  of  Edinburgh.  Placed  on  this  elevated 
site,  these  five  blazing  piles  ])i-oclaimed  to  the  men 
of  Fife,  and  the  dwellers  in  the  Lotliians,  how  great 
was  the  rage  of  the  jn'iests,  Init  how  much  greater 
tlie  hei'oism  of  the  niartvrs  whieh  overcame  it." 

If  the  darkness  threatened  to  close  in  again,  the 
hierarchy  always  took  care  to  disperse  it  by  kin- 
dling another  pile.  Only  a  year  elajjsed  aftei-  the 
burning  of  the  five  martyi-s  on  the  Castle-hill  of 
Edinburgh,  when  otlier  two  confessors  were  called 
to  .<!ufler  the  fire.  Jerome  Russel,  a  Black  Friar, 
and  Alexander  Kennedy,  a  gentleman  of  AjTshire, 
were  i)ut  on  their  trial  before  the  Archbishoji  of 
(Ma.sgow   and    condemned    for    heresy,    and   were 

'  Laing.  Knox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  58—60,  and  foot-notes.  CaJ- 
tlorwood,  History,  vol.  i.,  p.  106.  MvCrie,  TJfe  of  Knox, 
vol.  i.,  pp.  35G— 369,  notes. 

-  Knox,  History.  Foi,  Acts  and  Hon.  Scots  Worthies; 
Glasgow  ed. ,  1876. 


bm-ned  next  day.  At  the  stake,  Russel,  the  mora 
courageous  of  the  two,  taking  his  youthful  fellow- 
sufferer  by  the  hand,  bade  him  not  fear.  "  Death," 
he  said,  "  cannot  destroy  us,  seeing  our  Lord  and 
-Master  has  already  destroyed  it." 

The  blood  the  hierarchy  was  sjnlling  was  very 
fi'uitful.  For  every  confessor  that  perished,  a  little 
company  of  disciples  arose  to  till  his  place.  The 
martyr-piles,  lit  on  elevated  sites  and  flashing  their 
gloomy  splendour  over  city  and  shire,  set  the  in- 
habitants a-talking ;  the  story  of  the  martjTS  was 
rehearsed  at  many  a  fire-side,  and  then-  meekness 
contrasted  with  the  cruelty  and  arrogance  of  their 
persecutors ;  the  Bible  was  sought  after,  and  the 
consequence  was  that  the  confessors  of  the  trath 
rapidly  increased.  The  first  disciples  in  Scotland 
wcro  men  of  rank  and  learning;  but  these  burnings 
carried  the  cause  down  among  the  humbler  classes. 
The  fuiy  of  the  clergy,  now  presided  over  by  the 
truculent  David  Beaton,  daily  waxed  greater,  and 
nximbers,  to  escape  the  stake,  fled  to  foreign  coun- 
tries. Some  of  these  were  men  illustrious  for 
their  genius  and  their  scholarsliip,  of  whom  were 
Gawin  Logie,  Principal  of  St.  Leonard's  College, 
the  renowned  George  Buchanan,  and  BlrAlpine, 
or  Maccabreus,  to  whom  the  King  of  Denmark 
gave  a  chair  in  his  Univei-sitj'-  of  Copenhagen.  The 
disciples  in  humble  life,  iniable  to  flee,  had  to  brave 
the  terrors  of  the  stake  and  cord.  The  gi-eater  part 
of  their  names  have  passed  into  oblivion,  and  only 
a  few  have  been  preserved.'  In  154.3,  Cardinal 
Beaton  made  a  tour  thi-ough  his  diocese,  illustrating 
his  pride  by  an  ostentatious  display  of  the  symbols 
of  his  rank,  and  his  ciiielty  l)y  hanging,  burning, 
and  in  some  cases  dro\vning  heretics,  in  the  towns 
where  it  pleased  him  to  set  up  his  tribunal.  The 
profligate  James  V.  had  fallen  under  the  power  of 
the  hierarchy,  and  this  emboldened  the  cardinal  to 
venture  upon  a  measure  which  he  doubted  not 
would  be  the  death-blow  of  heresy  in  Scotland,  and 
would  secure  to  the  hierarchy  a  long  and  tranquil 
reign  over  the  country.  He  meditated  cutting 
off  by  violence  all  the  nobles  who  were  known  to 
favour  the  Reformed  opinions.  The  list  compiled 
I)y  Beaton  contained  above  100  names,  and 
among  those  marked  out  for  slaughter  were  Lord 
Hamilton,  the  first  peer  in  the  realm,  the  Earls  of 
Cassillis  and  Glencaii-n,  and  the  Earl  MarischaU — 
a  proof  of  the  hold  which  the  Protestant  doctrine 
had  now  taken  in  Scotland.  Before  the  bloody 
l)lot  could  be  executed  the  Scottish  ai-my  sustained 
a  terrible  defeat  at  the  Solway,  and  the  lung  soon 


■'  See  a  list  of  sufferers  in  M'Crie,  Life  of  ICnox,  vol.  i., 
pp.  350—369,  notes  ;  Edin.,  1831. 


480 


HISTOKY  OF   PKOTESTANTISM. 


thei'eaftci-  flying  of  a  bi-okeu  heai-t,  tlie  list  of  the 
proscribed  was  fownd  upon  his  pei-son  after  death. 
The  nation  saw  with  horror  how  narrow  its  escape 
had  been  from  a  catasti'ophe  which,  beginning  with 
the  nobility,  would  have  qiiickly  extended  to  all 
the  favourers  of  the  Protestant  opinions.'  The  dLs- 
covery  helped  not  a  little  to  pave  the  way  for  the 
dowidall  of  a  hierarchy  which  was  capable  of  con- 
cocting so  diabolical  a  plot. 

Instead  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Scotland,  it 
was  the  king  himself  whom  the  priests  had  brought 
to  destruction;  for,  hoping  to  prevent  the  Reformed 
opinions  entering  Scotland  from  England,  the  priests 
had  instigated  James  V.  to  offer  to  Henry  VIII.  the 
affront  which  led  to  the  disaster  of  Solway-moss, 
followed  so  quickly  by  the  death-bed  scene  in  the 
royal  palace  of  Falkland.  The  throne  now  vacant, 
it  became  necessary  to  appoint  a  regent  to  govern 
the  kingdom  during  the  minority  of  the  Princess 
Mary,  who  was  just  eight  days  old  when  her 
father  died,  on  the  16th  of  December,  1542.  The 
man  whose  name  was  first  on  the  list  of  nobles 
marked  for  slaughter,  was  chosen  to  the  regency, 
although  Cardinal  Beaton  sought  to  bar  his  way 
to  it  by  producing  a  forged  will  of  the  late  king 
appointing  himself  to  the  post."  The  fact  that 
Arran  was  a  professed  Reformer  contributed  quite 
as  much  to  his  elevation  as  the  circumstance 
of  his  being  premier  peer.  Kii-kaldy  of  Grange, 
Learmonth  of  Balcomj',  Balnaves  of  Halhill,  Sii- 
David  Lindsay  of  the  Mount,  and  other  known 
friends  of  the  Refonned  opinions  became  his  ad- 
visers. He  selected  as  his  chaplains  Thomas 
Guilliam  and  John  Rough,  and  opening  to  them 
the  Chiu'ch  of  Holyrood,  they  there  preached  "  doc- 
trine so  wholesome,"  and  so  zealously  reproved 
"impiety  and  superstition,"  that  the  Grey  Friars, 
says  Knox,  "rowped  as  they  had  been  ravens,"  crying- 
out,  "  '  Heresy  !  heresy  !  Guilliam  and  Rough  will 
carry  the  governor  to  the  devil  ! '  "^  But  the  most 
important  of  all  the  measiires  of  the  regent  was  the 
passing  of  the  Act  of  Parliament,  1.5th  of  March, 
1543,  which  made  it  la-wful  for  every  subject  in  the 
realm  to  read  the  Bible  in  his  mother  tongue. 
Hitherto   the  Word  of   God   had  lain  under  the 


'  Sadler,  Papers,  vol.  i.,  p.  94.  Memoirs  of  Sir  James 
Melvil,  pp.  3,  4 ;  Edinburgh,  1735.  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  i., 
pp.  80—84,  and  notes.  Sir  Ralph  Sadler,  in  a  letter  to 
Henry  VIII.,  27th  March,  1543,  detailing  a  conversation 
he  had  with  Governor  Hamilton,  says  that  "  the  scroll 
contained  eighteen  score  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  all 
well-minded  to  God's  Word." 

-  Keith  has  sought  to  discredit  this  allegation,  but  the 
great  preponderance  of  testimony  is  against  him.  (See 
Laing,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  91,  foot-note.) 

^  Knoi,  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  96,  67;  Laing's  edition. 


ban  of  the  hierarchy ;  that  obstniction  now  re- 
moved, "  then  might  have  been  seen,"  says  Knox, 
"  the  Bible  Ipng  upon  almost  every  gentleman's 
table.  The  New  Testament  was  borne  about  in 
many  men's  hands."  And  though,  as  Knox  tells 
us,  some  simulated  a  zeal  for  the  Bible  to  make 
court  to  the  governor,  "  yet  thereby  did  the  know- 
ledge of  God  wondrously  increase,  and  God  gave 
his  Holy  Spirit  to  simple  men  in  great  abundance. 
Then  were  set  forth  works  in  our  own  tongue, 
besides  those  that  came  from  England,  that  did 
disclose  the  pride,  the  craft,  the  tyranny  and  abuses 
of  that  Roman  Antichrist."* 

It  was  only  four  months  after  Scotland  had  re- 
ceived the  gift  of  a  free  Bible,  that  another  boon 
was  given  it  in  the  person  of  an  eloquent  preacher. 
We  refer  to  George  Wishart,  who  followed  Patrick 
Hamilton  at  an  interval  of  seventeen  years. 
Wishart,  born  in  1512,  was  the  son  of  Sir  James 
Wishart  of  Pitarrow,  an  ancient  and  honourable 
family  of  the  Meams.  An  excellent  Grecian,  he 
was  the  fii-st  who  taught  that  noblest  of  the  tongues 
of  the  ancient  world  in  the  grammar  schools  of 
Scotland.  Erskine  of  Dun  had  founded  an  academy 
at  Montrose,  and  here  the  young  AVishart  taught 
Greek,  it  being  then  not  uncommon  for  the  scions 
of  aristocratic  and  even  noble  families  to  give  in- 
stnictions  in  the  learned  languages.  Wishart, 
becoming  "  suspect "  of  heresy,  retired  first  to 
England,  then  to  Switzerland,  where  he  passed  a 
year  in  the  society  of  Bullinger  and  the  study  of 
the  Helvetic  Confession.  Returning  to  England, 
he  took  up  his  abode  for  a  short  time  at  Cam- 
bridge. Let  us  look  at  the  man  as  the  graphic  pen 
of  one  of  his  disciples  has  painted  him.  "  He  was 
a  man,"  says  Tylney — writing  long  after  the  noble 
figure  that  enshrined  so  many  sweet  vii'tues,  and 
so  much  excellent  learning  and  burning  eloquence, 
had  been  reduced  to  ashes — "  he  was  a  man  of  tall 
stature,  polled-headed,  and  on  the  same  a  I'ound 
French  cap  of  the  best.  Judged  of  melancholy 
complexion  by  his  physiognomy,  black-haired,  long- 
bearded,  comely  of  personage,  well-spoken  after  his 
country  of  Scotland,  courteous,  lowly,  lovely,  glad 
to  teach,  desirous  to  learn,  and  was  well-travelled  ; 
having  on  him  for  his  habit  or  clothing  never  but 
a  mantle,  frieze  gown  to  the  shoes,  a  black  Milan 
fustian  doublet,  and  plain  black  ho.sen,  coarse  new 
canvass  for  liis  shirts,  and  white  falling  bands  and 
cuffs  at  the  hands."  ^ 

Wishart   returned    to  Scotland  in  the  July  of 


••  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  100. 

'  Fox,  quoted  by  Professor  Lorimer,  Scottish  Reforma- 
tion, p.  99. 


WISHART   PREACHING   AT   DUNDEE. 


481 


1543.  Arran's  zeal  for  the  Reformation  had  by 
this  time  spent  itself;  and  the  astut«  and  reso- 
lute Beaton  was  dominant  in  the  nation.  It  was 
in  the  midst  of  perils  that  Wishart  began  his 
ministry.  "  The  beginning  of  his  doctrine  "  was 
''^   Montrose,   at    that    time   the   most   Lutheran 


of  the  greatest  pulpit  orator  that  had  arisen  in 
Scotland  for  centuries,  when  they  were  surprised 
by  a  visit  from  the  governor  and  the  cardinal,  who 
brought  with  them  a  train  of  field  artillery.  Be- 
lieving the  town  to  be  full  of  Lutherans,  they  had 
come  prepared  to  besiege  it.     The  citizens  retired. 


OEOROE   WISHART. 

(From  a  Print  hi  t?ie  possessicni  of  David  Laing,  Esq.,  LL.D.] 


town  perhaps  in  Scotland.  He  next  visited  Dundee, 
where  his  eloquence  drew  around  him  great  crowds. 
Following  the  example  of  Z^vingle  at  Zurich,  and 
of  Calvin  at  Geneva,  instead  of  discoursing  on 
desultory  topics,  he  opened  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  and  proceeded  to  expound  it  chapter  by 
chapter  to  his  audience.  The  Gospel  thus  rose 
before  them  as  a  grand  unity.  Beginning  with  the 
"  one  man  "  by  whom  sin  entered,  they  passed  on 
to  the  "  one  Man  "  by  whom  had  come  the  "  free 
gift."  Tlie  citizens  were  hanging  upon  the  lips 
146 


taking  with  them,  it  is  probable,  their  preacher, 
leaving  the  gates  of  the  city  open  for  the  entrance 
of  the  Churchman  and  his  unspii-itual  accompani- 
ments. ^Vhen  the  danger  had  passed  Wishart  and 
his  flock  retm-ned,  and,  resuming  his  exposition 
at  the  point  where  the  cardinal's  visit  had  com- 
pelled him  to  break  olF,  he  continued  his  labours 
in  Dundee  for  some  months.  Arran  had  sunk 
into  the  mere  tool  of  the  cardinal,  and  it  was 
not  to  be  expected  that  the  latter,  now  all-power- 
ful in  Scotland,   would  permit  the  erection  of  a 


482 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


Lutlieran  stronghold  almost  at  his  very  door.  He 
tlu-eatened  to  repeat  his  visit  to  Dundee  if  the 
preacher  were  not  silenced,  and  Wishart,  kno\ving 
that  Beaton  woidd  keep  his  word,  and  seeing  some 
of  the  citizens  beginning  to  tremble  at  the  prospect, 
deemed  it  prudent  to  obey  the  charge  delivered  to 
him  in  the  queen's  name,  while  in  the  act  of  jireach- 
ing,  to  "  depart,  and  trouble  the  town  no  more." 

The  evangelist  went  on  his  way  to  Ayr  and  Kjde. 
That  was  soU  impregnated  mth  seed  sown  in  it  by 
the  hands  of  the  Lollards.  The  church  doors  were 
locked  against  the  preacher,  but  it  was  a  needless 
precaution.  No  church  could  have  contained  the 
congregations  that  flocked  to  hear  him.  Wishart 
went  to  the  market  crosses,  to  the  fields,  and  making 
of  a  "dry  dyke"'  a  pulpit,  he  preached  to  the  eager 
and  awed  thousands  seated  round  him  on  the  grass 
or  on  the  heather.  His  words  took  efi'ect  on  not  a 
few  who  had  been  previously  notoi-ious  for  their 
wickedness ;  and  the  sincerity  of  their  conversion 
was  attested,  not  merely  by  the  tears  that  rolled 
down  their  faces  at  the  moment,  but  by  the  purity 
and  consistency  of  their  whole  after-life.  How 
greatly  do  those  err  who  believe  the  Reformation 
to  have  been  but  a  battle  of  dogmas  ! 

The  Reformation  was  the  cry  of  the  human  con- 
.science  for  pardon.  That  great  movement  took  its 
rise,  not  in  the  conviction  of  the  superstitions, 
exactions,  and  scandals  of  the  Roman  hierarch}% 
but  in  the  conviction  of  each  individual  of  his  own 
sin.  That  conviction  was  wrought  in  liim  by  the 
Holy  Spu-it,  then  abundantly  poured  down  iTpon 
the  nations ;  and  the  Gospel  which  showed  the  way 
of  forgiveness  delivered  men  from  bondage,  and 
imparting  a  new  life  to  them,  brought  them  into 
a  world  of  liberty.  This  was  the  true  Reformation. 
We  would  call  it  a  revival  were  it  not  that  the  term 
is  too  weak :  it  was  a  creation ;  it  peopled  Christen- 
dom with  new  men,  in  the  fir.st  place,  and  ill  the 
second  it  covered  it  with  new  Churches  and  States. 

Hardly  had  Wishart  depai-ted  from  Dundee  when 
the  plague  entered  it.  This  was  a  visitant  whose 
shafts  were  more  deadly  than  even  the  cardinal's 
artUlery.  The  lazar-houses  that  stood  at  the  "East 
Port,"  round  the  shrine  of  St.  Roepie,  the  protector 
from  pestilence,  were  crowded  with  the  sick  and  the 
dying.  Wishart  hastened  back  the  moment  he 
heard  the  news,  and  mounting  on  the  top  of  the 
Cowgate — the  healthy  inside  the  gate,  the  plague- 
stricken  outside — he  preached  to  the  two  congi-e- 
gations,  choosing  as  his  text  the  words  of  the  lOTtli 
Psalm,  "  He  sent  his  Word  and  healed  them."  A 
new  life   began   to   be   felt   in  the  stricken  city ; 


measures  were  organised,  by  the  advice  of  Wishart, 
for  the  distribution  of  food  and  medicLae  among  the 
sick,-  and  the  plague  began  to  abate.  One  day  his 
labours  were  on  the  point  of  being  brought  to  an 
abrupt  termination.  A  i)riest,  hired  by  the  cardinal 
to  assassinate  him,  waited  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs 
for  the  moment  when  he  should  descend.  A  cloak 
thrown  over  him  concealed  the  naked  dagger  which 
ho  held  in  his  hand ;  but  the  keen  eye  of  Wishart 
read  the  murderous  design  in  the  man's  face.  Going 
lip  to  him  and  putting  his  hand  upon  his  arm,  he 
said,  "Friend,  what  would  ye?"  at  the  same  time 
disarming  him.  The  crowd  outside  iiished  in,  and 
would  have  dispatched  the  would-be  assassin,  but 
Wishart  threw  himself  between  the  indignant 
citizens  and  the  man,  and  thus,  in  the  words  of 
Knox,  "saved  the  life  of  him  who  sought  his." 

On  leaving  Dundee  in  the  end  of  1545,  Wishart 
repaii-ed  to  Edinburgh,  and  thence  passed  into  East 
Lothian,  preacliing  iir  its  towns  and  ^allages.  He 
had  a  deep  jiresentiment  that  his  end  was  near,  and 
that  he  would  fall  a  sacrifice  to  the  'wi-ath  of  Beaton. 
Apprehended  at  Ormiston  on  the  night  of  the  1  Gth 
of  January,  1546,  he  was  carried  to  St.  Andrews, 
thrown  into  the  Sea-tower,  and  brought  to  trial  on 
the  28tli  of  February,  and  condemned  to  the  flames. 
Early  next  morning  the  preparations  were  begun 
for  his  execution,  which  was  to  take  place  at  noon. 
The  scaffold  was  erected  a  little  way  in  front  of  the 
cardinal's  palace,  in  the  dungeons  of  which  Wishart 
lay.  The  guns  of  the  castle,  the  gunners  by  their  side, 
were  shotted  and  turned  on  the  scaflfold  ;  an  iron 
stake,  chains,  and  gunpowder  were  provided  for  the 
martyr ;  and  the  windows  and  wall-tops  were  lined 
with  cushions,  and  draped  with  green  hangings,  for 
the  luxurious  repose  of  the  cardinal  and  bishops 
while  witnessing  the  spectacle.  At  noon  Wishart 
was  led  forth  in  the  midst  of  soldiers,  liis  hands 
tied  behind  his  back,  a  rope  round  his  neck,  and  an 
iron  chain  round  his  middle.  His  last  meal  in  the 
hall  of  the  castle  before  being  led  out  he  had  con- 
verted into  the  "  Last  Supper,"  which  he  partook 
with  his  friends.  "Consider  and  behold  my  visage," 
said  he,  "  ye  shall  not  see  me  change  my  colour. 
The  grim  fire  I  fear  not.  I  know  surely  that 
my  soul  shall  sup  with  my  Saviour  this  night." 
Having  taken  his  place  at  the  stake,  the  jjowder- 
bags  were  first  exploded,  scorching  him  severely ; 
the  rope  round  his  neck  was  then  drawn  tightly 
to  strangle  him,  and  last  of  all  his  body  was  burned 
to  ashes.  "^ 

"  It  was  Wishart,"  says  Dr.  Lorimer,  "  who 
first  moulded  the  Reformed  theology  of  Scotland 


'  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  128. 


-  Laing,  Enox,  vol.  i.,  p.  130. 


Ibid.,  pp.  169-171. 


KNOX   AT   THE   FEET   OF   AUGUSTINE. 


483 


upon  the  Helvetic,  as  distinguished  from  the  Saxon 
type ;  and  it  was  he  who  first  taught  the  Chui-ch  of 
Scotland  to  reduce  her  ordinances  and  Sacraments 
with  rigorous  fidelity  to  the  standard  of  Christ's 
Institutions."' 

It  is  at  the  stake  of  Wishai-t  that  we  first  catch 
sight  as  it  were  of  Knox,  for  the  parting  between  the 
two,  so  affectingly  recorded  by  Knox  himself,  took 
place  not  many  days  before  the  death  of  tlie  martyr. 
Jolm  Knox,  descended  from  the  Knoxes  of  Ranferly, 
was  born  in  Gifibrd-gate,  Haddington,-  in  150.5. 
From  the  school  of  liis  native  town  he  passed  (1522) 
to  the  University  of  Glasgow,  and  was  entered  under 
the  celebrated  Jolm  Major,  then  Principal  Regent 
or  Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Divinity.  After 
leaving  college  he  passes  out  of  \'iew  for  ten  or  a 
dozen  years.  About  thi.?  time  he  would  seem  to 
have  taken  priest's  orders,  and  to  have  been  for 
upwards  of  ten  years  connected  with  one  of  the 
religious  establishments  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Hatldington.  He  had  been  enamoured  of  the 
scliolastic  philosophy,  the  science  that  sharpened 
the  intellect,  but  left  the  conscience  unmoved  and 
tlie  sold  unfed ;  but  now  loathing  its  diy  crusts,  and 
turning  away  from  its  great  doctors,  he  seats  him- 
self at  the  feet  of  the  great  Father  of  the  West. 
He  read  and  studied  the  writings  of  Augustine. 
Rich  in  evangelical  truth  and  impregnate  with  the 
tire  of  Di^dne  love,  Augustine's  pages  must  have 
had  much  to  do  with  the  moiilding  of  Knox's  mind, 
and  the  imprinting  upon  it  of  that  clear,  broad,  and 
heroic  stamp  which  it  woi'e  all  his  life  long. 

Augustine  and  Jerome  led  Knox  to  the  feet  of 
a  Greater.     The  future  Reformer  now  opens  the 


Sacred  Oracles,  and  he  who  had  once  wandered  in 
the  dry  and  thii-sty  wilderness  of  scholasticism 
finds  himself  at  the  fountain  and  well-head  of 
Divine  knowledge.  The  wonder  he  felt  when  the 
doctrines  of  the  schools  vanished  around  him  like 
mist,  and  the  eternal  verities  of  the  Gospel  stood 
out  before  him  in  the  clear  light  of  the  Bible,  we 
are  not  told.  Did  the  day  which  broke  on  Luther 
and  Calvin  amid  lightnings  and  great  thunderings 
da^vn  peacefully  on  Knox  1  We  do  not  think  so. 
Doubtless  the  Scottish  Reformer,  before  escaping 
from  the  yoke  of  Rome,  had  to  undergo  struggles 
of  sold  akin  to  those  of  his  two  great  predecessoi-s  ; 
but  they  have  been  left  luu'ecorded.  We  of  tliLs 
age  are,  in  tliis  respect,  free-born ;  the  men  of  the 
sixteenth  century  had  to  buy  their  liberty,  and  ours 
at  the  same  time,  ^vith  a  great  sum. 

From  the  doctors  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  the 
Fathers  of  the  fii-st  ages,  from  the  Fathers  to  the 
Word  of  God,  Knox  was  being  led,  by  a  way  he 
knew  not,  to  the  great  task  that  awaited  him. 
His  initial  course  of  preparation,  begun  by  Augus- 
tine, was  perfected  doubtless  by  the  private 
instructions  and  public  sermons  of  Wishart,  which 
Knox  was  privileged  to  enjoy  diu-ing  the  weeks 
that  immediately  preceded  the  martjVs  death. 
That  death  would  seal  to  Knox  all  that  had  fallen 
from  the  lips  of  Wishart,  and  would  bring  him  to 
the  final  resolve  to  abandon  the  Roman  communion 
and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Reformers.  But  both 
the  man  and  the  country  had  yet  to  pass  through 
many  sore  conflicts  before  either  was  ready  for  that 
achievement  which  crowned  the  labours  of  the  one 
and  completed  the  Reformation  of  the  other. 


CHAPTER   IV. 


KNOX  S    CALL   TO    THE    MINLSTRV    AND    FIRST   SERMON. 


Cardinal  Beaton  Assassinated— Castle  of  St.  Andrews  Held  by  the  Conspirators— Knox  Enters  it— Called  to  the 
Ministry- ffis  First  Sermon— Key-note  of  the  Reformation  Struck— Knox  in  the  French  Galleys— The  Check 
Useful  to  Scotland— Useful  to  Knox— What  he  Learned  Abroad— Visits  Scotland  in  1555— The  Nobles  With- 
draw from  Mass— A  " Congregation "— Elders— The  First  "Band"  Subscribed— Walter  Mill  Burned  at  St. 
AndrewB- The  Last  Martyr  of  the  Eeformation  in  Scotland. 


On  Saturday  morning,  the  29th  of  May,  the  Castle 
of  St.  Andrews  was  suiinised  by  Noi-man  Leslie  and 

'  The  Scottish  Rfformaiion,  p.  1.54. 

'  An  entry  in  the  archives  of  the  H6tel  de  Ville  of 
Geneva,  first  brouglit  to  light  by  Dr.  David  Laing,  places 
it  l)eyond  a  doubt  that  Knox's  birth-place  was  not  the 


his  accomplices,  and  Cardinal  Beaton  slain.  This 
was  a  violence  which  the  Reformation  did  not  need, 
and  from  which  it  did  not    profit.     The   cardinal 


village  of  Gifford,  as  Dr.  M^Crie  had  been  led  to  suppose, 
but  the  Gifford-gate,  Haddington.  (See  Laing,  Knox, 
vol.  vi.,  preface;  ed.  IS&l.) 


484 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTTSIvr. 


was  romovecl,  but  the  quccn-dowager,  Mary  of 
Guise,  a  woman  of  consummate  craft,  and  devoted 
only  to  France  and  Rome,  remained.  The  weak- 
minded  Ai'ran  Lad  now  consummated  his  apostacy, 
and  was  using  Iiis  power  as  regent  only  at  the  bid- 
ding of  the  priests.  Moreover,  the  see  which  the 
dagger  of  Leslie  had  made  vacant  was  tilled  by  a 
man  in  many  respects  as  bad  as  the  bloodthirsty 
and  truculent  priest  who  had  preceded  him.  John 
Hamilton,  brother  of  the  regent,  did  not  equal 
Beaton  in  vigour  of  mind,  but  he  equalled  him  iii 
profligacy  of  manners,  and  in  the  unrelenting  and 
furious  zeal  with  which  he  piu-sued  all  who  favoured 
the  Gospel.     Thus  the  persecution  did  not  slacken. 

The  cardinal's  corpse  flung  upon  a  dung-hill,  the 
conspirators  kept  possession  of  his  castle.  It  had 
been  recently  and  strongly  repaired,  and  was  well 
mounted  with  guns ;  and  although  the  regent  be- 
sieged it  for  months,  he  had  to  retire,  leaving  its 
occupants  in  peace.  Its  holders  were  soon  joined 
by  theii-  friends,  favourers  of  the  Reformation, 
though  with  a  purer  zeal,  including  among  others 
Kirkaldy  of  Grange,  Mehille  of  Raith,  and  Leslie 
of  Rothes.  It  had  now  become  an  asylum  for  the 
persecuted,  and  at  Easter,  1547,  it  opened  its  gates 
to  receive  John  Knox.  Knox  had  now  reached  the 
mature  age  of  forty-two,  and  here  it  was  that  he 
entered  on  that  public  career  which  he  was  to 
pursue  without  pause,  through  labour  and  son'ow, 
through  exile  and  peril,  till  the  grave  should  bring 
him  repose. 

That  career  opened  afiectingly  and  beautifully. 
The  company  in  the  castle  had  now  grown  to  up- 
wards of  150,  and  "perceiving  the  manner"  of 
Knox's  teaching,  they  "began  earnestly  to  travail 
with  him  that  he  would  take  the  preaching  place 
upon  him,"  and  when  he  hesitated  they  solemnly 
adjured  him,  as  Beza  had  done  Calvin,  "  not  to 
refuse  this  holy  vocation."  The  flood  of  tears, 
which  was  the  only  response  that  Knox  was  able 
to  make,  the  seclusion  in  which  he  shut  himself  up 
for  days,  and  the  traces  of  sore  mental  conflict 
which  his  countenance  bore  when  at  last  he 
emerged  from  his  chamber,  paint  with  a  ^dvid- 
ness  no  words  can  reach  the  sensibility  and  the 
conscientiousness,  the  modesty  and  the  strength  of 
liis  character.  It  is  a  great  oflice,  it  is  the  greatest 
of  all  offices,  he  feels,  to  which  he  is  called;  and 
if  he  trembles  in  taking  it  upon  him,  it  is  not  alone 
from  a  sense  of  unfitness,  but  from  a  knowledge  of 
the  thoroughness  of  his  devotion,  and  that  the  oflice 
once  undertaken,  its  responsibilities  and  claims 
must  and  will,  at  whatever  cost,  be  discharged. 

Knox  preached  in  the  castle,  and  at  times  also 
in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Andrews.      In  Lis  first 


sermon  in  the  latter  place  he  struck  the  key-note 
of  the  Reformation  in  his  native  laud.  The  Chui-ck 
of  Rome,  said  he,  is  the  Antichrist  of  Scripture, 
No  movement  can  rise  higher  than  its  fundamental 
principle,  and  no  doctrine  less  broad  than  tliis 
which  Knox  now  proclaimed  could  have  sustained 
the  weight  of  such  a  Reformation  as  Scotland  needed. 
"  Othei's  sned  [lopped]  the  branches  of  the  Papis- 
trie,"  said  some  of  his  hearers,  "  but  he  strikes  at 
the  root  to  destroy  the  whole."'  Hamilton  and 
Wishart  Lad  stopped  short  of  this.  They  had 
condemned  abuses,  and  pointed  out  the  doctrinal 
eiTors  in  which  these  abuses  had  theii-  source,  and 
they  had  called  for  a  purging  out  of  scandalous 
persons — in  short,  a  reform  of  the  existing  Church. 
Knox  came  with  the  axe  in  his  hand  to  cut  do-\vu 
the  I'otten  ti'ee.  He  saw  at  once  the  point  from 
which  lie  must  set  out  if  he  would  arrive  at  the  right 
goal.  Any  principle  short  of  this  would  but  give 
him  an  improved  Papacy,  not  a  Scriptural  Church 
— a  temporary  abatement  to  be  followed  by  a  fresh 
outburst  of  abuses,  and  the  last  end  of  the  Papacy 
in  Scotland  would  be  woi'se  than  the  first.  Greater 
than  Hamilton,  greater  than  "Wishart,  Knox  took 
rank  with  the  fii-st  minds  of  the  Reformation,  in 
the  depth  and  comprehensiveness  of  the  principles 
from  which  he  worked.  The  deliverer  of  Scotland 
stood  before  his  comitrymen. 

But  no  sooner  had  he  been  revealed  to  the  eyes 
of  those  who  waited  for  deliverance  than  he  was 
withdrawal.  The  fii-st  gun  in  the  campaign  had 
been  fired ;  the  storming  of  the  Pajiacy  would  go 
vigorously  forward  imder  the  intrepid  cLampion 
wLo  Lad  come  to  lead.  But  so  it  was  not  to  be ; 
the  struggle  was  to  be  a  proti-acted  one.  On  the 
4th  of  June,  1547,  the  French  war-ships  appeai-ed 
in  the  ofling.  In  a  few  hours  the  castle,  with  its 
miscellaneous  occupants,  was  enclosed  on  the  side 
towards  the  sea,  while  the  forces  of  Arran  besieged 
it  by  land.  It  fell,  and  all  in  it,  including  Knox, 
were  put  on  board  the  FrencL  galleys  and,  in  vio- 
lation of  the  terms  of  capitulation,  borne  away 
into  foreign  slaveiy.  The  last  French  ship  had 
disappeared  Ijclow  the  horizon,  and  ■n-ith  it  had 
vanished  the  last  ho]ie  of  Scotland's  Reformation. 
The  priests  loudly  triumphed,  and  the  friends  of 
the  Go.sjiel  Lung  their  heads. 

The  work  now  stood  still,  but  only  to  the  eye — it 
was  all  the  while  advancing  underground.  In  this 
check  lay  hid  a  blessing  to  Scotland,  for  it  was 
well  that  its  people  shoiild  have  time  to  meditate 
upon  the  initial  principle  of  the  Reformation  which 
Knox  had  put  before  them.     That  principle  was 

1  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  192. 


JOHN  KNOX  IN  EXILE. 


485 


the  seed  of  a  new  Church  and  a  new  State,  but  it 
must  have  time  to  unfold  itself.  The  people  of 
Scotland  had  to  be  taught  that  Eeformation  could 
not  be  fiu-thered  by  the  dagger;  the  stakes  of 
Hamilton  and  Wishart  had  advanced  the  cause, 
but  the  sword  of  Norman  Leslie  had  thrown  it 
back  ;  they  had  to  be  taught,  too,  that  to  reform 
the  Papacy  was  to  perpetuate  it,  and  that  they 
must  return  to  the  principle  of  Knox  if  they  wore 
over  to  see  a  Scriptural  Church  rising  in.  their 
land. 

To  Kno.K  himself  this  check  was  not  less  neces- 
sary. His  preparation  for  the  great  task  before 
him  was  as  yet  far-  from  complete.  He  wanted 
neither  zeal  nor  knowledge,  but  his  faculties  had 
to  be  widened  by  observation,  and  his  character 
strengthened  by  suffering.  His  sojourn  abroad 
shook  him  free  of  those  merely  insular  and  home 
views,  which  cling  to  one  who  has  never  been 
be3'ond  seas,  especially  in  an  age  when  the  channels 
of  intercourse  and  iirformation  between  Scotland 
and  the  rest  of  Christendom  were  few  and  con- 
tracted. In  the  French  galleys,  and  scarcely  less 
in  the  city  of  Frankfort,  he  saw  deeper  than  he 
had  ever  done  before  into  the  human  heai-t.  It 
was  there  he  learned  that  self-control,  that  patience 
of  laboiir,  that  meek  endurance  of  wrong,  that 
calm  and  therefore  steady  and  i-esolute  resistance 
to  vexatious  and  unrighteous  opposition,  and  that 
self-possession  in  difficulty  and  danger  that  so 
gi'eatly  distinguished  him  ever  after,  and  which 
were  needful  and  indeed  essential  in  one  who  was 
called,  in  planting  religion  in  his  native  land,  to 
confront  the  hostility  of  a  Popish  court,  to  moderate 
the  turbulence  of  factious  barons,  and  to  inform 
the  ignorance  and  control  the  zeal  of  a  people  who 
till  that  time  had  been  strangers  to  the  blessings  of 
religion  and  liberty.  It  was  not  for  nothing  that 
the  hand  which  gave  to  Scotland  its  liberty,  should 
itself  for  nearly  the  space  of  two  years  have  worn 
fetters. 

It  was  another  advantage  of  his  exile  that  from 
a  foreign  stand-point  Kno.x  could  have  a  better  view 
of  the  drama  now  in  progress  in  his  native  land, 
and  could  form  a  juster  estimate  of  its  connection 
with  the  rest  of  Christendom,  and  the  immense 
i.ssue.s  that  hung  upon  the  Refonnation  of  Scotland 
as  regarded  the  Reformation  of  other  countries. 
Here  he  saw  deeper  into  the  cunningly  contrived 
plots  and  the  wide-spread  combinations  then  form- 
ing among  the  Popish  princes  of  the  .age — a  race  of 
rulers  who  will  remain  renowned  through  all  time 
for  their  unparalleled  cnielty  and  their  unfathom- 
able treacheiy.  Tliese  lessons  Knox  learned  abroad, 
and  they  were  worth  all  the  years  of  exile  and 


wandering  aiid  all  the  hope  deferred  which  they 
cost  him ;  and  of  how  much  advantage  they  were  to 
him  we  shall  by-and-by  see,  when  we  come  to  nar- 
rate his  supreme  efforts  for  his  native  land. 

Nor  could  it  be  other  than  advantageous  to  come 
into  contact  with  the  chiefs  of  the  movement,  and 
especially  with  him  who  towered  above  them  all. 
To  see  Calvin,  to  stand  beside  the  source  of  that 
mighty  energy  that  pervaded  the  whole  field  of 
action  to  its  farthest  extremities,  must  have  been 
elevating  and  inspii'uig.  Knox's  views  toucliing 
both  the  docti-ine  and  the  polity  of  the  Church 
wei-e  formed  before  he  visited  Calvin,  and  were  not 
altered  in  consequence  of  that  visit ;  but  doubtless 
his  converse  with  the  great  Reformer  helped  to 
deepen  and  enlarge  all  his  views,  and  to  keep  alive 
the  fire  that  burned  within  him,  first  kindled  into 
a  flame  during  those  days  of  anguish  which  he 
passed  shut  iip  in  his  chamber  in  the  Castle  of 
St.  Andrews.  In  all  his  wanderings  it  was  Scot- 
land, bound  in  the  chains  of  Rome,  riveted  by 
French  steel,  that  occupied  his  thoughts;  and 
intently  did  he  watch  every  movement  in  it,  some- 
times from  Geneva,  sometimes  from  Dieppe,  and  at 
other  times  from  the  nearer  point  of  England ;  nor 
did  he  ever  miss  an  opportunity  of  letting  his 
bui-ning  words  be  heard  by  his  countrymen,  till  at 
length,  in  1555,  eight  years  from  the  time  he  had 
been  carried  away  with  the  French  fetters  on  his 
arm,  he  was  able  again  to  visit  his  native  land. 

Knox's  present  sojourn  in  Scotland  was  short,  but 
it  tended  powerfully  to  consolidate  and  ad^'ance  the 
movement.  His  presence  imparted  new  life  to  its 
adherents;  and  his  counsels  led  them  to  certain 
practical  measures,  by  which  each  strengthened  the 
other,  and  all  were  united  in  a  common  action. 
Several  of  the  leading  nobles  were  now  gathered 
round  the  Protestant  banner.  Among  these  were 
Archibald,  Lord  Lome,  afterwards  Earl  of  Argyle ; 
John,  Lord  Erskine,  afterwards  Earl  of  Mar;  Lord 
James  Stuart,  afterwards  Earl  of  Murray;  the 
Earl  Marischall ;  the  Earl  of  Glencairn ;  John 
Erskine  of  Dun ;  William  Maitland  of  Lcthington, 
and  others.'  Up  to  this  time  these  men  had  at- 
tended mass,  and  were  not  outwardly  sepai-ato 
from  the  communion  of  the  Roman  Church  ;  but,  at 
the  earnest  ad^dco  of  the  Reformer,  they  resolved 
not  to  participate  in  that  rite  in  future,  and  to 
withdraw  themselves  from  the  Roman  worship  and 
pale;  and  they  signalised  their  secession  by  re- 
ceiving the  Sacrament  in  its  Protestant  form  at  the 
hands  of  Knox.=     We  see  in  this  the  laying  of  the 

>  MrCrie.  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  177. 
■  Ibid.,  p.  17.5. 


486 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


tirst  i'ouiuliitious  of  tlic  Reformed  Chiu-cli  of  Scot- 
land. In  the  days  of  Hamilton  and  Wishart  the 
Reformation  in  Scotland  was  simply  a  doctrine ; 
now  it  was  a  congregation.  This  was  all  that  the 
times  permitted  the  Reformer  to  do  for  the  cause  of 
the  Gospel  in  Scotland  ;  and,  feeling  that  his  con- 
tinued presence  in  the  country  would  but  draw 
upon  the  intant  community  a  storm  of  persecution, 
Knox  retired  to  Geneva,  where  his  English  flock 
anxiously   waited   his   coming.     But   on   this   his 


such  times,  as  circumstances  permitted,  for  theii' 
mutual  edification.  The  most  pious  of  theii-  number 
was  appointed  to  read  the  Scriptures,  to  exhort,  and 
to  ofier  up  prayer.  They  were  of  all  classes — nobles, 
barons,  burgesses,  and  peasants.  They  felt  the 
necessity  of  order  in  their  meetings,  and  of  purity 
in  their  lives ;  and  mth  this  view  they  chose  elders 
to  watch  over  theii-  morals,  promising  subjection  to 
them.  Thus  gi'adually,  stage  by  stage,  did  they 
approach  the  outward  organisation  of  a  Church,  and 


I'lEW    01'    THE    RUINS    Or    THE    CASTLE,    ST.    ANDREWS.       (CARDINAl's   PALACE.) 


second  de]iarture  from  Scotland,  he  was  cheered  by 
the  thought  that  the  movement  had  advanced  a 
stage.  The  little  seed  he  had  deposited  in  its  soil 
eight  years  before  had  been  growing  all  the  while 
he  was  absent,  and  now  when  a  second  time  he 
goes  forth  into  exile,  he  leaves  behind  him  a  living 
organisation — a  company  of  men  making  [irofession 
of  the  truth. 

From  this  time  the  progress  of  the  Reformation 
in  Scotland  was  rapid.  In  the  midland  counties, 
comprehending  Forfar,  Fife,  the  Lothians,  and  A>t, 
there  were  few  places  in  which  there  were  not  now 
professoi-s  of  the  Reformed  faith.  They  had  as  yet 
no  preachers,  but  they  met  in  such  places,  and  at 


it  is  interesting  to  mark  that  in  the  Reformed  Church 
of  Scotland  elders  came  before  ministers.  The  be- 
ginning of  these  small  congregations,  pi-esided  over 
by  eldei'S,  was  in  Edinbui'gh.  The  first  town  to  be 
jjrovided  ^vith  a  pastor,  and  favoured  with  the  dis- 
pensation of  the  Sacraments,  was  Dundee,  the  scene 
of  Wishart's  labouis,  of  which  the  fruits  were  the 
zeal  and  piety  that  at  this  early  stage  of  the  Refor- 
mation distinguished  its  citizens.'  Dundee  came  to 
be  called  the  Geneva  of  Scotland  ;  it  was  the  earliest 
and  loveliest  flower  of  that  spring-time. 

The  next  step  of  the  "  lords  of  the  Congregation" 

'  Lain--,  Aiio.v,  i.  300.     M'Cric,  Life  of  Knox,  i.  227,  22S. 


488 


flISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


was  the  framing  of  a  "  band  "  or  covenant,  in  wliich 
they  promised  before  "  the  Majesty  of  God  and  his 
Congregation  "  to  employ  their  "  whole  power,  sub- 
stance, and  very  lives  "  iu  establishing  the  Gospel  in 
Scotland,  in  defending  its  ministers,  and  biulding  up 
its  "  Congregation."  The  earliest  of  these  "  bands" 
is  dated  the  3rd  December,  1557;'  and  the  sub- 
scribers are  the  Earls  of  Argyle,  Glencairn,  Morton, 
Lord  Lome,  and  Erskinc  of  Dun.  Strengthened  by 
this  "  oath  to  God  "  and  pledge  to  one  another,  they 
went  forth  to  the  battle.  The  year  that  followed 
(1558)  witnessed  a  forward  movement  on  the  pai-t 
of  the  Protestant  host.  The  lords  of  the  Congi-e- 
gation  could  not  forbid  mass,  or  change  the  pubUc 
worship  of  the  nation ;  uor  did  they  seek  to  do 
so ;  but  each  nobleman  within  his  own  jurisdiction 
caused  the  English  "  Book  of  Common  Prayer," 
together  with  the  lessons  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  to  be  read  every  Sunday  and  festival-day 
in  the  parish  chui'ch  by  the  curate,  or  if  he  were 
unable  or  un\\'illing,  by  the  person  best  qualified  in 
the  parish.  The  Reformed  teachers  were  also  invited 
to  preach  and  interpret  Scripture  in  private  houses, 
or  in  the  castles  of  the  reforming  nobles,  till  such 
time  as  the  Government  would  allow  them  to  exer- 
cise their  functions  in  public-  The  latter  measures 
in  particular  alarmed  the  hierarchy. 

It  began  to  be  apparent  that  destruction  impended 
over  the  hierarchy  unless  speedy  measures  were 
taken  to  avert  it.  But  the  priests  unhappily  knew  of 
only  one  weapon,  and  though  their  cause  had  reaped 
small  advantage  from  it  in  the  past,  they  were  still 
detei-mined  to  make  use  of  it.  They  once  more 
lighted  the  flames  of  mai-tyi'dom.  Walter  Mill, 
parish  priest  of  Lunan,  near  Montrose,  had  been 
adjudged  a  heretic  in  the  time  of  Cardinal  Beaton, 
but  effecting  his  escape,  he  preached  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  sometimes  in  private  and 
sometimes  in  public.  He  was  tracked  by  the  spies 
of  Beaton's  successor,  Archbishop  Hamilton,  and 
brought  to  trial  in  St.  Andrews.  He  ajipeared 
before  the  com-t  with  tottering  step  and  bending 
figure,  so  that  all  who  saw  him  despaired  of  his 
being  able  to  answer  the  (piostions  about  to  be  put 
to  him.     But  when,  on  lieiug  helped  up  into  the 


'  Lain?,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  273,  274;  ed.  1846.  Dr.  MfCrie 
mentions  a  similar  "  band  "  in  1556,  but  tlie  earliest  extant 
is  that  referred  to  in  the  text.  An  original  copy  of  it, 
with  the  autographs  of  the  subscribers,  was  discovered 
in  1860  by  the  Eev.  James  Young  in  the  charter-chest  of 
Cuninghame  of  Balgownie.  The  author  has  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  comparing  it  with  Knox's  copy :  the  two  exactly 
agree,  as  do  also  the  names  of  the  subscribers. 

-  Mf  Crie,  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  228,  229. 


pulpit,  he  began  to  speak,  "  his  voice,"  says  Knox, 
'•  had  such  courage  and  stoutness  that  the  church 
rang  again."  "Wilt  thou  not  recant  thy  errors'!" 
asked  the  tribunal  after  he  had  been  subjected  to  a 
long  questioning.  "  Ye  shall  know,"  said  he,  look- 
ing into  the  faces  of  his  enemies,  "that  I  will  not 
recant  the  truth,  for  I  am  corn  and  not  chaff.  I 
will  not  be  blo\vn  away  with  the  wind,  nor  burst 
with  the  flail,  but  I  wUl  abide  both." 

He  stood  before  his  judges  ^vith  the  burden  of 
eighty-two  years  upon  him,  but  this  could  procure 
him  no  jiity,  nor  could  his  enemies  wait  till  he 
should  di-op  into  the  grave  on  the  brink  of  which 
he  stood.  He  was  condemned  to  the  flames.  A 
rope  was  wanted  to  bind  the  old  man  to  the  stake, 
but  so  great  was  the  horror  of  his  burning  among 
the  townsmen  that  not  a  merchant  in  all  St.  An- 
drews would  sell  one,  and  the  archbishop  was 
obliged  to  furnish  a  cord  from  his  own  palace. 
When  ordered  by  Oliphant,  an  ofiicer  of  the  arch- 
bishop, to  mount  the  pile,  "  No,"  replied  the  martyi", 
"  I  wUl  not  unless  you  put  your  hand  to  me,  for  I 
am  forbidden  to  be  accessory  to  my  own  death." 
Whereupon  Oliphant  pushed  him  forward,  and  MUl 
ascended  with  a  joyful  countenance,  repeating  the 
words  of  the  Psalm,  "  I  will  go  to  the  altar  of 
God."  As  he  stood  at  the  stake.  Mill  addressed 
the  people  in  these  words  :  "  As  for  me,  I  am  four- 
score and  two  years  old,  and  cannot  live  long  by 
coui-se  of  nature ;  but  a  hundred  better  shall  rise 
out  of  the  ashes  of  my  bones.  I  trust  in  God  that 
I  shall  be  the  last  that  shall  sufi"er  death  in  Scot- 
land for  this  cause."'  He  expii-ed  on  the  28th  of 
August,  1558. 

These  few  last  words,  dropped  from  a  tongue  fast  _ 
becoming  unable  to  fulfil  its  ofiice,  pealed  forth  from 
amid  the  flames  with  the  thrilling  power  of  a 
trumpet.  They  may  be  said  to  have  rung  the 
death-knell  of  Popery  in  Scotland.  The  citizens  of 
St.  Andrews  raised  a  pile  of  stones  over  the  spot 
where  the  martyr  had  been  burned.  The  priests 
caused  them  to  lie  carried  ofi"  night  by  night,  but 
the  ominous  heap  rose  again  duly  in  the  morning. 
It  would  not  vanish,  nor  would  the  cry  from  it  be 
silenced.''  The  nation  was  roused,  and  Scotland 
waited  only  the  advent  of  one  of  its  exiled  sons, 
who  was  day  by  day  drawing  nearer  it,  to  start  up 
as  one  man  and  rend  from  its  neck  the  cruel  yoke 
which  had  so  long  weighed  it  down  in  serfdom  and 
superstition. 

^  Lindsay  of  Pitscottie,  Hisi.,  p.  200.    M^  Crie,  Life  of 
Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  2.S2. 
^  Calderwood,  Hiat,  vol.  i.,  pp.  242,  243. 


MAEY  OF  GUISE  AND  HEE  POLICY, 


489 


CHAPTER  V. 


KNOXS    FINAL   RETURN   TO   SCOTLAND. 


e  Priests  Eenew  tlie  Persecution— The  Queen  Eegent  openly  Sides  with  them — Demands  of  the  Protestant  Lords 
— Rejected — Preacldng  Forbidden — The  Preachers  Summoned  before  the  Queen— A  Great  Juncture — Arrival  of 
John  Knox— Consternation  of  the  Hierarchy- The  Reformer  of  Scotland— Knox  Outlawed— Resolves  to  Appear 
with  the  Preachers  before  the  Queen — The  Queen's  Perfidy- Knox's  Sermon  at  Perth— Destruction  of  tlie  Grey 
Friars'  and  Black  Friai's'  Monasteries,  ic. — The  Queen  Regent  Marches  against  Perth — Commencement  of  the 
Civil  War. 


It  was  now  tliii-ty  years  since  the  stake  of  Patrick 
Hamilton  had  lighted  Scotland  into  the  path  of 
Reformation.  The  progress  of  the  country  had 
been  slow,  but  now  the  goal  wa.s  being  ueai'ed,  and 
events  were  thickening.  The  two  great  parties 
into  which  Scotland  was  divided  stood  frowning  at 
each  other  :  the  crime  of  burning  Mill  on  the  one 
side,  and  "  the  oath  to  the  Majesty  of  Heaven"  on 
the  other,  rendered  conciliation  hopeless,  and  nothing 
remained  but  to  bring  the  controversy  between  the 
two  to  a  final  issue. 

The  stake  of  Mill  was  meant  to  be  the  fii'st  of  a 
series  of  martyrdoms  by  which  the  Reformers  were 
to  be  exterminated.  Many  causes  contributed  to 
the  ado])tion  of  a  bolder  policy  on  the  part  of  the 
hierarchy.  They  could  not  hide  from  themselves 
that  the  Reformation  was  advancing  with  rapid 
strides.  The  people  were  deserting  the  mass ;  little 
companies  of  Protestants  were  forming  in  all  the 
leailing  towns,  the  Soriptvu-es  were  being  interpreted, 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  dispensed  according  to  the 
primitive  order ;  many  of  the  nobles  were  sheltering 
Protestant  ]jrcachers  in  their  castles.  It  was  clear 
that  Scotland  was  going  the  same  road  as  Wittem- 
berg  and  Geneva  had  gone  ;  and  it  was  equally  clear 
that  the  champions  of  the  Papacy  must  strike  at 
once  and  with  decision,  or  surrender  the  battle. 

But  what  specially  emboldened  the  hierarchy 
at  this  hour  was  the  fact  that  the  queen  regent  had 
openly  come  over  to  their  side.  A  daughter  of  the 
House  of  Lorraine,  she  had  always  been  with  them 
at  heart,  but  her  ambition  l)oing  to  secure  the  crown- 
matrimonial  of  Scotland  for  her  son-in-law,  Francis 
II.,  she  liad  jioiscd  herself,  with  almost  the  skill  of 
a  Catherine  de  ISIodici,  between  the  bishops  and  tlie 
lords  of  tlie  Congi-ogation.  She  needed  the  sup- 
port of  both  to  carry  her  political  objects.  In 
October,  \^}i)8,  the  Parliament  met;  and  the  queen 
regent,  with  the  a.ssistance  of  the  Protestants,  ob- 
tained from  "  the  Estates  "  all  that  she  wished.  It 
being  no  longer  necessary  to  wear  the  mask,  the 
queen  now  openly  sided  with  her  natural  part)-, 


the  men  of  tue  sword  and  the  stake.  Hence  the 
courage  which  emboldened  the  priests  to  re-kindle 
the  fires  of  persecution ;  and  hence,  too,  the  vigour 
that  now  animated  the  Reformers.  Disenchanted 
from  a  spell  that  had  kept  them  dubiously  poised 
between  the  mass  and  the  Gospel,  they  now  saw 
where  they  stood,  and,  shutting  their  ears  to  Mai-y's 
soft  words,  they  resolved  to  follow  the  policy  alike 
demanded  by  their  duty  and  their  safety. 

They  assembled  at  Edinburgh,  and  agreed  upon 
certain  demands,  which  they  were  to  present  by 
commissioners  to  the  convention  of  the  nobility  and 
the  council  of  the  clergy.  The  reforms  asked  for 
were  three — that  it  should  be  lawful  to  preach  and  to 
dispense  the  Sacraments  in  the  vulgar  tongue ;  that 
bishops  should  be  admitted  into  then-  sees  only 
with  the  consent  of  the  barons  of  the  diocese,  and 
priests  with  the  consent  of  the  parishioners ;  and 
that  immoral  and  incapable  pei-sous  should  be  re- 
moved from  the  jiastoral  office.  These  demands 
were  rejected,  the  council  having  just  concluded  a 
secret  treaty  with  the  queen  for  the  forcible  sup- 
pression of  the  Reformation.^  No  sooner  had  the 
Protestant  nobles  left  Edinburgh  than  the  regent 
issued  a  proclamation  prohibiting  all  persons  from 
jireaching  or  dispensing  the  Sacraments  without 
authority  from  the  bishops. 

The  Reformed  preachers  disobeyed  the  procla- 
mation. The  queen,  on  learning  this,  summoned 
them  to  appear  before  her  at  Stirling,  on  the  10th 
of  May,  and  answe*-  to  a  charge  of  heresy  and 
rebellion.  There  were  only  four  preachei-s  in 
Scotland,  namely,  Paul  Methvon,  John  Christison, 
William  Harlow,  and  John  Willock.  The  Earl  of 
Glencaini  and  Sir  Hugh  Campbell,  Sheriff  of  Ayr, 
waited  on  the  queen  to  remonstr.ate  against  this 
arbitrary  proceeding.  She  haughtily  replied  that 
"  in  spite  of  them  all   theii-  preachei-s  should   bo 


'  M''Crie,  lAfe  of  Knox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  251,  252.  See  their 
"  Protestation,"  given  in  to  Parliament,  in  Laing,  Knox, 
voh  i.,  pp.  309-314. 


490 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


banished  from  Scotland."  "What  then,"  they 
asked,  "  became  of  her  oft-repeated  promises  to 
protect  their  preachers  ] "  JIary,  not  in  the  least 
disconcerted,  replied  that  "  it  became  not  subjects 
to  burden  theii'  princes  with  promises  further  than 
they  pleased  to  keep  them."  "  If  so,"  replied 
Glencairn,  "  we  on  our  side  are  free  of  our 
allegiance."  The  queen's  tone  now  fell,  and  she 
promised  to  think  seriously  over  the  further  pro- 
secution of  the  affair.  At  that  moment,  news 
arrived  that  France  and  Spain  had  concluded  a 
peace,  and  formed  a  league  for  the  sujjpression  of 
the  Reformation  by  force  of  arms.  Scotland  would 
not  be  overlooked  in  the  orthodox  crusade,  and  the 
regent  already  saw  in  the  contemplated  measures 
the  occupation  of  that  country  by  French  soldiers. 
She  issued  pei'emptory  orders  for  putting  the  four 
Protestant  ministers  upon  their  trial.  It  was  a 
strange  and  startling  juncture.  The  blindness  of 
the  hierarchy  in  rejecting  the  very  moderate  reform 
which  the  Protestants  asked,  the  obstinacy  of  the 
queen  in  putting  the  preachers  upon  their  trial, 
and  the  league  of  the  foreign  potentates,  which 
threatened  to  make  Scotland  a  mere  dependency  of 
France,  all  met  at  tliis  moment,  and  constituted  a 
crisis  of  a  truly  momentous  character,  but  which 
above  most  things  helped  on  that  very  consumma- 
tion towards  which  Scotland  had  been  struggling 
for  upwards  of  thirty  years. 

There  wanted  yet  one  tiling  to  complete  this 
strange  conjunctm-e  of  events.  That  one  thing 
was  added,  and  the  combination,  so  formidable  and 
menacing  till  that  moment,  was  changed  into  one 
of  good  promise  and  happy  augury  to  Protest- 
antism. Wliile  the  queen  and  the  bishops  were 
concerting  their  measures  in  Edinburgh,  and  a  few 
days  were  to  see  the  four  preachers  consigned  to 
the  same  fate  which  had  overtaken  Mill ;  while 
the  Kings  of  Spain  and  France  were  combining 
theii-  armies,  and  meditating  a  gi-eat  blow  on  the 
Continent,  a  certain  ship  had  left  the  harbour  of 
Dieppe,  and  was  voyaging  northward  with  a  fair 
wind,  bound  for  the  Scottish  shore,  and  on  board 
that  ship  there  was  a  Scotsman,  in  himself  a  gi'eater 
power  than  an  army  of  10,000  men.  This  ship 
caitied  John  Knox,  who,  wthout  human  pre- 
arrangement,  was  an-iving  in  the  very  midst  of  his 
countrjf's  cnsis. 

Knox  landed  at  Leith  on  the  2nd  of  May,  1.5.')9. 
The  provincial  council  was  still  sitting  in  the  Monas- 
tery of  the  Grey  Fiiars  when,  on  the  morning  of  the 
3rd  of  May,  a  messenger  entering  in  haste  amiounced 
that  Jolm  Knox  had  arrived  from  France,  and  had 
slept  last  night  in  Edinburgh.  The  news  fell  like  a 
thunder-bolt  upon  the  members  of  council.     They 


sat  for  some  time  speechless,  looking  into  one 
another's  faces,  and  at  last  they  broke  up  in  con- 
fusion. Before  Knox  had  uttered  a  single  word, 
or  even  shown  himself  in  public,  his  very  name  had 
scattered  them.  A  messenger  immediately  set  off 
with  the  unwelcome  news  to  the  queen,  who  was  at 
that  time  in  Glasgow ;  and  in  a  few  days  a  royal 
proclamation  declared  Knox  a  rebel  and  an  outlaw.' 
If  the  proclamation  accomplished  nothing  else,  it 
made  the  fact  of  the  Reformer's  presence  known  to 
all  Scotland. 

The  nation  had  now  found  what  it  needed,  a  man 
able  to  lead  it  in  the  great  war  on  which  it  was 
entering.  His  devotion  and  zeal,  now  fully  ma- 
tured in  the  school  of  suffering ;  his  sincerity  and 
uprightness ;  his  magnanimity  and  courage ;  his 
skOl  in  theological  debate,  and  his  political  insight, 
in  wliich  he  excelled  all  living  Scotsmen ;  the 
confidence  and  hope  with  which  he  was  able 
to  inspire  his  fellow-countrymen  ;  and  the  terror 
in  which  the  hierarchy  stood  of  his  very  name, 
all  marked  him  out  as  the  chosen  iiLstrument  for 
his  country's  deliverance.  He  knew  well  how 
critical  the  hour  was,  and  how  arduous  his  task 
would  be.  Religion  and  liberty  were  within  his 
country's  gi'asp,  and  still  it  might  miss  them.  The 
chances  of  failui-e  and  of  success  seemed  evenly 
poised ;  half  the  nobles  were  on  the  side  of  Rome  ; 
all  the  Highlands,  we  may  say,  were  Popish  ;  there 
were  the  mdifference,  the  gross  ignorance,  the  old 
murky  superstition  of  the  rural  parts ;  these  were 
the  forces  bearing  down  the  scale,  and  making  the 
balance  incline  to  defeat.  On  the  other  side,  a  full 
half  of  the  barons  were  on  the  side  of  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  but  it  was  only  a  few  of  them  who  could 
be  thoroughly  depended  upon ;  the  rest  were  luke- 
waiTU  or  wavering,  and  not  without  an  eye  to  the 
spoils  that  would  be  gathered  from  the  upbreak 
of  a  hierarchy  owning  half  the  wealth  of  the  king- 
dom. The  most  disinterested,  and  also  the  most 
steadfast,  supporters  of  the  Reformation  lay  among 
the  merchants  and  traders  of  the  great  towns — the 
men  who  loved  the  Gospel  for  its  own  sake,  and 
who  would  stand  by  it  at  all  hazards.  So  evenly 
poised  was  the  balance ;  a  little  thing  might  make 
it  incline  to  the  one  side  or  to  the  other ;  and  what 
tremendous  is.sues  hung  upon  the  turning  of  it ! 

Not  an  hour  did  Knox  lose  in  beginning  his 
work.  The  four  preachers,  as  we  have  already 
.said,  had  been  summoned  to  answer  before  the 
queen  at  Stirling.  "  The  hierarchy,"  said  the  lords 
of  the  Congregation,  "  hope  to  draw  our  pastors 
into  their  net,  and  sacrifice  them  as  they  did  Walter 

'  M'lCrie,  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  256. 


IMAGE-BREAKING  AT  PERTH. 


491 


Mill.  We  will  go  witli  tliem,  and  defend  them." 
"  And  I  too,"  .said  Knox,  not  daunted  by  the  out- 
lawry which  had  been  passed  upon  him,  "  shall 
accompany  my  brethren,  and  take  pai't  in  what 
may  await  them  before  the  queen."  But  when  the 
queen  learned  that  Knox  was  on  his  way  to  present 
liimself  before  her,  she  deserted  the  Diet  against 
the  preachers,  and  forbade  them  to  appear;  but 
■with  the  characteristic  perfidy  of  a  Guise,  when  the 
day  fixed  in  the  citation  came,  she  ordered  the  sum- 
mons to  be  called,  and  the  preachers  to  be  outlawed 
for  not  appearing.^ 

When  the  news  reached  Perth  that  the  men 
who  had  been  forbidden  to  apjiear  before  the  queen, 
were  outlawed  for  not  appearing,  indignation  was 
added  to  the  surprise  of  the  nobles  and  the  towns- 
people. It  chanced  that  on  the  same  day  Knox 
preached  against  the  mass  and  image-worship.  The 
semion  was  ended,  and  the  congi-egation  had  very 
quietly  dispersed,  when  a  priest,  "  to  sho\y  his 
malapert  presumption,"  says  Knox,  "would  open 
ane  glorious  tabernacle  that  stood  upon  the  high 
altar,"  and  began  to  say  mass.  A  boy  standing 
near  called  out,  "Idolatry  !"  The  priest  repaid  him 
with  a  blow  :  the  youth  retaliated  by  throwing 
a  stone,  which,  missing  the  priest,  hit  one  of  the 
images  on  the  altar,  and  shivered  it  in  pieces.  It 
was  the  sacking  of  Antwerp  Cathedral  over  again, 
but  ou  a  smaller  scale.  The  loiterers  in  the  church 
caught  the  excitement;  they  fell  upon  the  images, 
and  the  crash  of  one  stone  idol  after  another  re- 
echoed thi'ough  the  edifice ;  the  crucifixes,  altars, 
and  church  ornaments  shared  the  same  fate.  The 
noi.se  brought  a  stream  of  idlers  from  the  street  into 
the  building,  eager  to  take  part  in  the  demolition. 
Mortified  at  finding  the  work  finished  before  theii' 
arrival,  they  bent  their  steps  to  the  monasteries." 
Oue  tempest  took  the  direction  of  the  Grey  Friars 
on  the  south  of  the  town,  another  rolled  away  to- 
wards the  Black  Friars  in  the  opposite  quarter,  and 
soon  both  monasteries  were  in  ruins,  then-  inmates 
being  allowed  to  depart  vfith.  as  much  of  their 
treasure  as  they  were  able  to  carry.  Not  yet  had 
the  storm  expended  itself;  it  burst  next  over  the 
abbey  of  the  Charter  House.  This  was  a  sumptuous 
edifice,  \vith  pleasant  gardens  shaded  by  trees.  But 
neither  its  splendour,  nor  the  fact  that  it  had  been 
founded  by  the  first  James,  could  prociu-e  its  exemp- 


'  LainpT,  Jtnox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  318,  319. 

-  This  site  is  now  the  burial-place  of  the  city. 


tion  frona  the  fury  of  the  iconoclasts.  It  perished 
utterly.  This  tempest  burst  out  at  the  dinner 
hour,  when  the  lords,  the  burghers,  and  the  Re- 
formers were  in  their  houses,  and  only  idlers  were 
abroad.  Knox  and  the  magistrates,  as  soon  as  they 
were  informed  of  what  was  going  on,  hastened  to 
the  scene  of  destruction,  but  their  utmost  eflbrts 
could  not  stop  it.  They  could  only  stand  and  look 
on  while  stone  cloister,  painted  oriel,  wooden  saint, 
and  fruit-tree,  now  clothed  in  the  rich  blossoms  of 
early  summer,  fell  beneath  the  sturdy  blows  of  the 
"rascal  multitude."  The  monasteries  contained 
stores  of  all  good  things,  which  were  divided 
amongst  the  poor;  "no  honest  man,"  says  Knox, 
"  was  enriched  thereby  the  value  of  a  groat."* 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  in  Perth,  as  in  the 
other  towns  of  Scotland,  it  was  upon  the  monas- 
teries that  the  iconoclastic  vengeance  fell ;  the 
cathedrals  and  churches  were  spared.  The  monas- 
teiies  were  in  particularly  evil  repute  among  the 
population  as  nests  of  idleness,  gluttony,  and  sin. 
Dark  tales  of  foul  and  criminal  deeds  transacted 
wthin  their  walls  were  continually  in  circulation, 
and  the  hoarded  resentment  of  long  years  now 
burst  out,  and  swept  them  away.  The  spai-k 
that  kindled  the  conflagration  was  not  Knox's 
sermon,  for  few  if  any  of  those  rioters  had  heard 
it :  Knox's  hearers  were  in  their  own  houses  when 
the  afiair  began.  The  more  immediate  i^rovoca- 
tive  was  the  wanton  perfidy  of  the  queen,  which 
more  disgraced  her  than  this  violence  did  the 
mob ;  and  the  remoter  cause  was  the  rejection  of 
that  moderate  measure  of  Reformation  which  the 
lords  of  the  Congregation  had  asked  for,  protesting 
at  the  same  time  that  they  would  not  be  respon- 
sible for  the  irregularities  and  violences  that  might 
follow  the  rejection  of  theii-  suit. 

Knox  deplored  the  occurrence.  Not  that  he 
mourned  over  idol  slain,  and  nest  of  lazy  monk 
and  moping  nun  rooted  out,  but  he  foresaw  that 
the  violence  of  the  mob  would  be  made  the  crime 
of  the  Reformers.  And  so  it  happened;  it  gave 
the  queen  the  very  pretext  she  had  waited  for. 
The  citizens  of  Perth,  with  the  lords  of  the  Con- 
gi'egation  at  then-  head,  had,  in  her  eye,  liseu  in 
rebellion  against  her  government.  Collecting  an 
army  from  the  neighbouring  counties,  she  set  out 
to  chastise  the  rebels,  and  lay  waste  the  city  of 
Perth  with  fu-e  and  sword. 

3  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  317—324. 


492 


HISTORY  OF  PEOTESTANTISM. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    REFORMATION    IN    SCOTLAND. 

Peace  between  the  Queen  and  the  Keformers — Consultation — The  Lords  of  the  Congregation  Eesolre  to  Set  up  the 
Protestant  Worship — Knox  Preaches  at  St.  Andrews — His  Sermon — St.  Andrews  Beformed — Glasgow,  Edin- 
burgh, &o.,  Follow— Question  of  the  Demolition  of  the  Images  and  Monasteries— The  Queen  and  her  Army  at 
Leith — The  Lords  Evacuate  Edinburgh — Knox  Sets  out  on  a  Preaching  Tour — His  Great  Exertions— Scotland 
Roused — Negotiations  with  England — England  Aids  Scotland — EstahUshment  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland. 


When  the  queen  regent  arrived  before  Perth  at 
the  head  of  8,000  men,  she  found  the  Reformers  so 
well  prepared  to  receive  her  that,  instead  of  offer- 
ing them  battle  as  she  had  intended,  she  agreeably 
surprised  them  with  overtm-es  of  peace.  Although 
fully  resolved  to  repel  by  arms  an  assault  which 
they  deemed  none  the  less  illegal  and  murderous 
that  it  was  led  by  the  queen,  the  lords  of  the 
Congregation  joyfully  accepted  the  olive-branch 
now  held  out  to  them.  "  Cursed  be  he,"  said  they, 
"  that  seeks  effusion  of  blood,  war,  or  dissension. 
Give  us  liberty  of  conscience,  and  the  free  profession 
of  the  '  Evangel,' '  and  none  in  all  the  realm  will  be 
more  loyal  subjects  than  we."  Negotiations  were 
opened  between  the  regent  and  the  Reformers, 
which  terminated  amicably,  and  the  strife  ceased 
for  the  moment.  The  lords  of  the  Congregation 
ilisbanded  theii-  army  of  about  5,000,  and  the 
queen  took  peaceable  possession  of  the  city  of  Perth, 
where  her  followers  began  to  make  preparations  for 
mass,  and  the  altars  having  been  overturned,  theu' 
place  was  supplied  by  tables  from  the  taverns, 
which,  remarks  Knox,  "  were  holy  enough  for  that 
use." 

The  Reformers  now  met,  and  took  a  sm-vey  of 
theii-  position,  in  order  to  determine  on  the  course 
to  be  adopted.  They  had  lost  thirty  years  waiting 
the  tardy  approach  of  the  reforms  which  the  queen 
had  promised  them.  Meanwliile  the  genius,  the 
learning,  the  zeal  which  would  have  powerfully 
.  aided  in  emancipating  the  country  from  the  sin 
and  oppression  under  which  it  groaned,  were 
perishing  at  the  stake.  Duped  by  the  queen,  they 
had  stood  quietly  by  and  witnessed  these  irreparable 
sacrifices.  The  reform  promised  them  was  as  far 
off"  as  ever.  Abbot,  bishop,  and  cowled  monk  were 
lifting  up  the  head  higher  than  before.  A  French 
army  had  been  brought  into  the  country,  and  the  in- 
dependence and  liberties  of  Scotland  were  menaced.- 
This  was  all  the  Reformers  had  reaped  by  giving 

'  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  342. 

2  Memoirs  of  Sir  James  Melvil,  p.  49  ;  Edin.,  1735. 


ear  to  the  delusive  words  of  Mary  of  Guise.  While 
other  countries  had  established  their  Reformation 
Scotland  lingered  on  the  threshold,  and  now  it 
found  itself  in  danger  of  losing  not  only  its 
Reformation,  but  its  very  nationality.  The  lords 
of  the  Congi-egation,  therefore,  resolved  to  set  up 
the  Reformed  worship  at  once  in  all  those  places 
to  which  their  authority  extended,  and  where  a 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  favourable  to  the 
design.' 

A  commencement  was  to  be  made  in  the  eccle- 
siastical metropolis  of  Scotland.  The  Earl  of 
Argyle  and  Lord  James  Stuart,  Prior  of  St. 
Andrews,  arranged  with  Knox  to  meet  in  that 
city  on  an  early  day  in  June,  and  inaugurate  there 
the  Protestant  worship.  The  archbishop,  apprised 
of  Knox's  coming,  hastened  in  from  Falkland  with 
100  spears,  and  sent  a  message  to  him  on  Saturday 
night,  that  if  he  dared  to  appear  in  the  pulpit  of 
the  cathedral  to-morrow,  he  would  cause  his  soldiers 
to  shoot  him  dead.  The  lords,  having  consulted, 
agreed  that  Knox  should  forego  the  idea  of  preaching. 
The  resolution  seemed  a  pnident  one.  The  disposi- 
tions of  the  townspeople  were  unknown ;  the  lords 
had  but  few  retainers  with  them ;  the  queen,  with 
her  French  army,  was  not  more  than  fifteen  miles 
oft';  and  to  preach  might  be  to  give  the  signal  for 
bloodshed.  Knox,  who  felt  that  to  abandon  a  great 
design  when  the  moment  for  putting  it  in  execution 
had  arrived,  and  retire  before  an  angry  threat,  was 
to  incur  the  loss  of  prestige,  and  invite  gi-eater 
attacks  in  future,  refused  for  one  moment  to 
entertain  the  idea  of  not  preaching.  He  said  that 
when  lying  out  in  the  Bay  of  St.  Andrews  in 
fonner  years,  chained  to  the  deck  of  a  French 
galley,  his  eye  had  lighted  on  the  roof  of  the 
cathedral,  which  the  sun's  rays  at  that  moment 
illuminated,  and  he  said  in  the  hearing  of  some 
still  alive,  that  he  felt  assured  that  he  should  yet 
preach  there  before  closing  his  career ;  and  now 
when  God,  contrary  to  the  expectations  of  all  men, 


3  MfCrie,  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  264,  265. 


KNOX    PREACHING  AT   ST.    ANDREWS. 


493 


had  broaglit  him  back  to  tliis  city,  he  besought 
them  not  to  hiucler  what  was  not  only  his  cherished 
wish,  but  the  deep-rooted  conviction  of  his  heart. 
He  desii-ed  neither  th<!  hand  nor  weapon  of  man  to 
defend  him;  He  whose  glory  he  sought  woidd  bo 
his  shield.  "  I  only  crave  audience,"  said  he, 
"  which,  if  it  be  denied  here  unto  me  at  this  time, 
I  must  .seek  where  I  may  have  it."' 

The  intrepidity  of  Knox  saved  the  R<'forination 
from  the  brand  of  timidity 
which  the  counsel  of  the  lords, 
had  it  been  followed,  would 
have  brought  upon  it.  It  was 
a  display  of  courage  at  the 
right  time,  and  was  rewarded 
with  a  career  of  success.  On 
the  morrow  Knox  preached  to 
perhaps  the  most  influential 
audience  that  the  Scotland  of 
tliat  day  could  furnish ;  nobles, 
priests,  and  townspeople  crowd- 
ing to  hear  him.  Every  part 
of  the  vast  edifice  was  filled, 
and  not  a  finger  was  lifted, 
nor  a  word  uttered,  to  stop 
him.  He  preached  on  the 
cleansing  of  the  Temple  of  old, 
picturing  the  crowd  of  buyers 
and  sellers  who  were  busy 
trafficking  in  that  holy  place, 
when  One  entered,  whose  awful 
glance,  i-ather  than  the  scourge 
of  cords  which  he  carried, 
smote  with  terror  the  unholy 
ci-ew,  and  di'ove  them  forth 
a  panic-stricken  crowd.  The 
preacher  then  called  up  before 
his  hearere  a  yet  gi-eater  crowd  '^'"'''  ^  '  i  ■ '  n.  i  "^ 
of  traffickers,  occupied  m  a  yet 

nnholier  merchandise,  therewith  defiling,  with  im- 
measurably greater  pollutions  and  abominations, 
the  New  Testament  temple.  As  he  described 
the  corruptions  which  had  been  introduced  into 
the  Church  under  the  Papacy — the  gi'eat  crowd 
of  simonists,  pardon-mongers,  sellers  of  relics  and 
charms,  exorcists,  and  traffickers  in  the  bodies  and 
souls  of  men,  with  the  sin  and  shame  and  ruin  that 
followed — his  eye  began  to  bum,  his  words  grew 
graphic  and  trenchant,  the  tones  of  hLs  righteous 
yet  ten-ible  reproof  iiing  out  louder  and  fiercer,  and 
rolled  over  the  heads  of  the  thousands  gathered 
around  him,  till  not  a  heart  but  quailed  under  the 
solemn  denunciations.     It  seemed  as  if  pa.st  ages 


'  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  347—340. 

146 


were  commg  up  for  trial ;  as  if  mitred  abbots 
and  bishops  were  lea^■ing  their  marble  tombs  to 
stand  at  the  judgment-seat ;  as  if  the  voices  of 
Hamilton,  and  Wishart,  and  Mill — nay,  as  if  the 
voice  of  a  yet  Greater  were  making  itself  audible  by 
the  lips  of  the  preacher.  The  audience  saw  as  they 
had  never  done  before  the  superstitions  which  had 
been  practised  as  religion,  and  felt  the  duty  to  com- 
ply \\itli  the  call  which  the  Reformer  urged  on  all, 
according  to  the  station  and 
opportunity  of  each,  to  assist 
in  removing  these  abomina- 
tions out  of  the  Church  of  God 
before  the  fire  of  the  Di^^.ne 
wrath  should  descend  and  con- 
sume what  man  refused  to  put 
away.  When  he  had  ended, 
and  sat  down,  it  may  be  said 
that  Scotland  was  reformed. 

Knox,  though  he  did  not 
possess  the  all-grasping,  all- 
subduing  intellect  of  Calvin, 
nor  the  many-toned  eloquence 
of  Luther,  which  could  so 
easily  rise  from  the  humorous 
and  playful  to  the  pathetic  and 
the  sublime,  yet,  in  concen- 
trated fiery  energy,  and  in  the 
capacity  to  kindle  his  hearers 
into  indignation,  and  rouse 
them  to  action,  excelled  both 
these  Reformers.  This  one 
sermon  in  the  parish  church 
of  St.  Andrews,  followed  as 
it  was  by  a  sermon  in  the 
same  place  on  the  thi-ee  con- 
secutive days,  cast  the  die,  and 
determined  that  the  Reforma- 
tion of  Scotland  should  go 
forward.  The  magistrates  and  townspeople  as- 
sembled, and  came  to  a  unanimous  resolution  to 
set  up  the  Reformed  worship  in  the  city.  The 
church  was  stripped  of  its  images  and  pictui'es,^ 
and  the  monasteries  were  pulled  down.  The 
example  of  St.  Andrews  was  quickly  followed 
by  many  other  places  of  the  kingdom.  The  Pro- 
testant worship  was  set  up  at  Crail,  at  Cupar,  at 
Lindores,  at  Linlithgow,  at  Scone,  at  Edinbiu-gh 
and  Glasgow.^  This  was  followed  by  the  purgation 
of  the  churches,  and  the  demolition  of  the  monas- 
teries. Tlie  fabrics  pulled  down  were  mostly  those 
in  the  service  of  the  monks,  for  it  was  the  cowled 


-  Laing,  Knox,  i.  350.    Mi'Crio,  Life  of  Knox,  i.  2G7. 
=  MrCrie,  p.  208. 


H  CHUliCH. 


494 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


portion  of  the  Romisli  clergy  whom  the  people  held 
in  special  detestation,  knowing  that  they  often  did 
the  dishonourable  work  of  spies  at  the  same  time 
that  they  scoured  the  country  in  (juest  of  alms.  A 
loud  wail  was  i-aised  by  the  priests  over  the  destruc- 
tion of  so  much  beautiful  architecture,  and  the 
echoes  of  that  lamentation  have  come  down  to  our 
day.  But  in  all  righteoiisly  indignant  mobs  there  is 
excess,  and  however  much  it  may  be  regretted  that 
their  zeal  outran  theii-  discretion,  their  motives 
were  good,  and  the  result  they  helped  achieve  was 
enduring  peace,  progress,  and  prosperity. 

The  peace  between  the  queen  regent  and  the 
Reformers,  agreed  upon  at  Perth,  was  but  short- 
lived. The  queen,  hearing  of  the  demoKtion  of 
images  and  monasteries  at  St.  Andrews,  marched 
with  her  French  soldiei-s  to  Cupar-Moor,  and  put 
herself  in  order  of  battle.  The  tumult  of  a  mob 
she  held  to  be  the  rebellion  of  a  nation,  and  threat- 
ened to  chastise  it  as  such.  But  when  the  lords  of 
the  Congi-egation  advanced  to  meet  her,  she  fled  at 
theii-  approach,  and  going  round  by  Stirlmg,  took 
refuge  in  Edinburgh.  On  being  followed  by  the 
forces  of  the  "  Congregation,"  she  quitted  the 
capital,  and  marched  to  Dunbar.  After  a  few 
weeks,  learning  that  the  soldiers  of  the  Reformers 
had  mostly  returned  to  their  homes,  she  set  out 
mth  her  foreign  ai'my  for  Leith,  and  took  possession 
of  it.  The  lords  of  the  Congregation  now  found 
themselves  between  two  fires  :  the  queen  threatened 
them  on  the  one  side,  and  the  gans  of  the  castle 
menaced  them  on  the  other,  and  their  new  levies 
ha\'ing  left  them,  they  were  forced  to  conclude  a 
treaty  by  which  they  agi-eed  to  evacuate  Edinburgh. 
The  stipidation  secured  for  the  citizens  the  right  of 
worshipping  after  the  Protestant  form,  and  Willock 
was  left  with  them  as  their  minister.  Knox,  who 
had  preached  in  St.  Giles's  Cathedral,  and  in  the 
abbey  church,  had  been  chosen  as  pa.stor  by  the 
inhabitants,  but  he  was  too  obnoxious  to  Mary  of 
Guise,  to  be  left  in  her  power,  and  at  the  earnest 
request  of  the  lords  of  the  Congregation  he  accom- 
panied them  when  they  left  the  cajiital.  On  re- 
tiring from  Edinburgh  the  Reformer  set  out  on  a 
preaching-tour,  which  embraced  all  the  towns  of 
note,  and  almost  all  the  shires  on  the  south  of  the 
Grampian  chain. 

From  the  time  of  his  famous  sermon  in  8t. 
Andrews,  Knox  had  been  the  soul  of  the  rao^■e- 
ment.  The  year  that  followed  was  one  of  incessant 
and  herculean  labour.  His  days  were  spent  in 
preaching,  Ids  nights  in  -svi-iting  letters.  He  roused 
the  country,  and  he  kept  it  awake.  His  voice  like 
a  great  trumpet  rang  through  the  land,  firing  the 
lukewarm  into  ■■leal,  and  inspii'iting  the  timid  into 


courage.  When  tlie  friends  of  the  Reformation 
quan-elled,  he  reconciled  and  imited  them.  When 
they  sank  into  despondency  he  rallied  their  spirits. 
He  himself  never  desponded.  Chci-ishing  a  firm 
faith  that  his  country's  Reformation  would  be 
consummated,  he  neither  sank  under  labour,  nor 
fell  back  before  danger,  nor  paused  in  the  efforts  he 
found  it  necessary  every  moment  to  put  forth.  Ht^ 
knew  how  precious  the  hours  were,  and  that  if  the 
golden  opportunity  were  lost  it  would  never  return. 
He  appealed  to  the  patriotism  of  the  nobles  and 
citizens.  Pie  told  them  what  an  ignominious 
vassalage  the  Pope  and  the  Continental  Powers  had 
prepared  for  them  and  their  sons,  namely,  that  of 
hewers  of  wood  and  cbawers  of  water  to  France. 
He  especially  explained  to  them  the  nature  of  the 
Gospel,  the  pardon,  the  purity,  the  peace  it  brings 
to  individuals,  the  stable  renown  it  confers  on 
kingdoms ;  he  forecast  to  them  the  immense  issues 
that  hung  ujiou  the  struggle.  On  the  one  side  stood 
religion,  lilce  an  angel  of  light,  beckoning  Scotland 
onwax-ds ;  on  the  other  stood  the  dark  form  of  Poper_y, 
pulling  the  country  back  into  slavery.  The  crown 
was  before  it,  the  gidf  behind  it.  Knox  purposed 
that  Scotland  should  win  and  wear  the  crown. 

The  Reformer  was  declared  an  outlaw,  and  a 
price  set  upon  his  head ;  but  the  only  notice  we 
find  him  deigning  to  take  of  this  atrocity  of  the 
regent  and  her  advisers,  was  in  a  letter  to  his 
brother-in-law,  in  which  with  no  nervous  trepida- 
tion whatever,  but  good-humouredly,  he  remarks 
that  he  "had  need  of  a  good  horse."'  Not  one 
time  less  did  Knox  jareach,  although  he  knew 
that  some  fanatic,  impelled  by  malignant  hate,  or 
the  greed  of  gain,  might  any  hour  deprive  him  of 
life.  The  rapidity  of  his  movements,  the  fire  he 
kindled  wherever  he  came,  the  light  .that  burst  out 
all  over  the  land — north,  south,  east,  and  west — con- 
founded the  hierai'chy ;  unused  to  preach,  unskilled 
in  debate,  and  too  corrupt  to  think  of  reforming 
themselves,  they  could  only  meet  the  attack  of 
Knox  with  loud  wailings  or  impotent  threatening.s. 

A  second  line  of  action  was  forced  upon  Knox, 
and  one  that  not  oidy  turned  the  day  in  favour  of 
the  Reformation  of  Scotland,  but  ultimately  proved 
a  protection  to  the  liberties  and  religion  of  Eng- 
land. It  was  here  that  the  knowledge  he  had 
acquired  abroad  came  to  his  helj),  and  enabled  him 
to  originate  a  measure  that  saved  two  kingdoms. 
Just  the  year  before — that  is,  in  1558 — Spain  and 
France,  as  we  liave  previously  mentioned,  had  united 
their  ai-ms  to  effect  the  complete  and  eternal  extir- 
pation of  Protestantism.      The  plan  of  the  great 


M^Crie,  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  i.,  p.  294,  foot-note. 


PROTESTANTISM   ESTABLISHED   IN   SCOTLAND. 


495 


campaign — a  profounder  secret  then  than  now — 
had  been  penetrated  by  Calvin  and  Knox,  who  were 
not  only  the  greatest  Reformers,  but  the  gi-eatest 
statesmen  of  the  age,  and  had  a  deeper  insight  into 
the  politics  of  Europe  than  any  other  men  then 
living.  The  plan  of  that  campaign  was  to  occupy 
Scotland  with  French  troops,  reduce  it  to  entire 
dejjendency  on  the  French  crown,  and  from  Scot- 
land march  a  French  army  into  England.  While 
France  was  assailing  England  on  the  north,  Spain 
would  invade  it  on  the  south,  put  down  the  Govern- 
ment of  Elizabeth,  raise  Mary  Stuart  to  her  throne, 
and  restore  the  Romish  religion  in  both  kingdom.s. 
Knox  opened  a  correspondence  with  the  great 
statesmen  of  Elizabeth,  in  which  he  explained  to 
them  the  designs  of  the  Papal  Powers,  their  pur- 
pose to  occupy  Scotland  with  foreign  troops,  and 
having  trampled  out  its  religion  and  liberties,  to 
strike  at  England  through  the  side  of  Scotland.  He 
showed  them  that  the  plan  was  being  actually  carried 
out ;  that  Mary  of  Guise  was  daily  bringing  French 
soldiers  into  Scotland  ;  that  the  r.aw  levies  of  the 
Reformers  would  ultimately  be  worsted  by  the  dis- 
ciplined troops  of  France,  and  that  no  more  patriotic 
and  enlightened  policy  could  England  pursue  than 
to  send  help  to  dx-ive  the  French  soldiers  out  of  tlie 
northern  country ;  for  assuredly,  if  Scotland  was  put 
down,  England  could  not  stand,  encompassed  as  she 
then  would  be  by  hostile  armies.  Happily  these 
counsels  were  successful.  The  statesmen  of  Elizabeth, 
con'S'inced  that  this  was  no  Scottish  quarrel,  but  that 
the  liberty  of  England  hung  upon  it  also,  and  tluit 
in  no  more  eflectual  way  could  they  rear  a  rampart 
around  theii-  own  Reformation  than  by  supporting 
that  of  Scotland,  sent  military  aid  to  the  lords  of 
the  Congi-egation,  and  the  residt  was  that  the  French 
evacuated  Scotland,  and  the  Scots  became  once  more 
masters  of  their  own  country.  Almost  immediately 
thereafter,  Mary  of  Guise,  the  regent  of  the  kingdom, 
wa.s  removed  by  death,  and  the  government  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Reformei-s.  The  way  was 
now  fully  open  for  the  establishment  of  the  Refor- 
mation. It  is  hardly  possible  to  over-estimate  the 
imi)ortance  of  the  service  which  Knox  rendered.  It 
not  only  led  to  the  establishment  of  Protestantism 
in  Scotland,  and  the  perpetuation  of  it  in  England  ; 
but,  in  view  of  the  critical  condition  in  which 
Europe  then  was,  it  may  indeed  with  justice  be  said 
that  it  saved  the  Refonnation  of  Christendom.' 


The  fifteen  months  which  Knox  had  spent  in 
Scotland  had  brought  the  movement  to  its  cul- 
minating point.  The  nation  was  ready  to  throw 
oft"  the  Popish  yoke  ;  and  when  the  Estates  of  the 
Realm  met  on  the  8th  of  August,  15G0,  they  simply 
gave  expression  to  the  nation's  choice  when  they 
authoritatively  decreed  the  suppression  of  the 
Romish  hierarchy  and  the  adoption  of  the  Pro- 
testant faith.  A  short  summary  of  Christian 
doctrine  had  been  drawn  up  by  Knox  and  his 
colleagues ;-  and  being  read,  article  by  article, 
in  the  Parliament,  it  was  on  the  17th  of  August 
adopted  by  the  Estates.^  It  is  commonly  kno'wai 
as  the  First  Scots  Confession.*  Only  thi'ee  tem- 
poral lords  voted  in  the  negative,  saying  "  that 
they  would  believe  as  their  fathers  believed."  The 
bishops,  who  had  seats  as  temporal  loi'ds,  were 
silent. 

On  the  24th  of  August,  Parliament  abolished 
the  Pope's  jurisdiction ;  forbade,  mider  certain 
penalties,^  the  celebration  of  mass ;  and  rescinded 
the  laws  in  favour  of  the  Romish  Church,  and 
against  the  Protestant  faith." 

Thus  speedily  was  the  work  consummated  at 
last.  There  are  supreme  moments  in  the  life  of 
nations,  when  theii-  destiny  is  determined  for  ages. 
Such  was  the  moment  that  had  now  come  to 
Scotland.  On  the  17th  of  August,  1560,  the  Scot^ 
land  of  the  Middle  Ages  passed  away,  and  a  New 
Scotland  had  bii-th — a  Scotland  destmed  to  be  a 
sanctuary  of  religion,  a  temple  of  liberty,  and  a 
fountain  of  justice,  letters,  and  art.  Intently  had 
the  issue  been  watched  by  the  Churches  abroad, 
and  when  they  learned  that  Scotland  had  placed 
itself  on  the  side  of  Protestant  truth,  these  elder 
daughters  of  the  Reformation  welcomed,  with  songs 
of  joy,  that  country  wliich  had  come,  the  last  of  the 
nations,  to  share  with  them  their  glorious  inherit- 
ance of  liberty. 


'  See  account  of  Knox's  negotiations  with  the  English 


Government  in  M?Crie'8  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  i.,  pp.  283— 
294  See  also  Knox's  letters  to  Cecil,  Sadler,  and  Queen 
Elizabeth,  in  Br.  David  Laing's  edition  of  Kiiox's  Worls. 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  15 — 56,  and  foot-notes:  and  Calderwood's 
History  of  the  Kirlc  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  490 — 497, 
Wodrow  ed.  1842. 

-  Laing,  Know,  vol.  ii.,  p.  92. 

•■>  Act.  Pari.  Scot.  vol.  ii.,  p.  534. 

''  See  copy  of  Confession  in  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  ii.,  pp. 
95—120;  Calderwood,  History,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  17-35. 

5  Death  was  decreed  for  the  third  offcnor,  but  the 
penalty  was  in  no  instance  inflicted.  No  Papist  ever 
suffered  death  for  his  religion  in  Scotland. 

5  Act.  Pari.  Scot.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  534. 


496 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE    "  KIRK  " — ARRIVAL   OF    MARY   STUART. 


A  Second  Battle— Knoi's  Idea  of  tlie  Church— Spiritual  Independence  Essential— Differs  from  Popish  Indepen- 
dence— Calvin  demanded  a  Pure  Communion-table  ;  KnoXj  a  Free  Assembly — Organisation  of  Scottish  "  Kirk  " 
— Ministers,  Doctors,  Elders,  and  Deacons — Kirk  Session— Presbytery,  Synod,  and  Assembly — Knox's  Educational 
Plan— How  Defeated — Mary  Stuart— Her  Accomplishments — Her  Beauty— Her  Life  in  France— Her  Widow- 
hood—Invited to  Return  to  Scotland — Sails  from  France— Arrives  at  Leith— Enters  Holyrood. 


Knox  had  now  the  sublime  satLsfaction  of  think- 
ing tliat  his  country  was  emancipated  from  the 
superstition  and  thraldom  of  Popery,  and  Ulummed 
in  no  small  degi-ee  with  the  light  of  the  "Evangel." 
But  not  yet  had  he  rest ;  no  sooner  had  he  ended 
one  battle  than  he  had  to  begin  another  j  and  the 
second  battle  was  in  some  respects  more  arduous 
than  the  first.  He  had  called  the  Reformation  into 
being,  .and  now  he  had  to  fight  to  preserve  it. 
But  before  following  him  in  this  gi-eat  .stiiiggle,  let 
us  consider  those  organisations  of  an  ecclesiastical 
and  educational  kind  which  he  was  called  to 
initiate,  and  which  alone  coidd  enable  the  Reforma- 
tion to  spread  itself  over  the  whole  land,  and  ti-ansmit 
itself  to  after-ages. 

Knox's  idea  of  a  Church  was,  in  brief,  a  tlivinely 
originated,  a  divinely  enfranchised,  and  a  divinely 
governed  society.  Its  members  were  all  those  who 
made  profession  of  the  Gospel ;  its  law  was  the  Bible, 
and  its  King  was  Christ.  The  conclusion  from 
these  principles  Knox  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  and 
can-y  out,  that  the  Church  was  to  be  governed 
solely  by  her  own  law,  administered  by  her  own 
officers,  whose  decisions  and  acts  in  all  things  fall- 
ing within  the  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  sphere 
were  to  be  final.  This  freedom  he  held  to  be  al- 
together essential  to  the  soundness  of  the  Church's 
creed,  the  purity  of  her  members,  and  that  vigour 
and  healthfulness  of  operation  without  which  .she 
could  not  subserve  those  high  ends  which  she  had 
been  ordained  to  fulfil  to  society.  This  indepen- 
dence he  was  careful  to  confine  to  the  spiritual 
sphere ;  in  all  other  matters  the  ministers  and 
members  of  the  Church  were  to  be  subject  to  the 
civil  law  of  their  countiy.  He  thus  distinguished 
it  from  the  independence  of  the  Romish  Cliurch, 
which  claimed  for  its  clergy  exemption  from  tlio 
civil  tribunals,  and  exalted  its  jurisdiction  above 
the  power  of  the  crown.  The  beginning  of  this 
theory  was  with  Wicliffe ;  Calvin  developed  it ; 
but  in  a  little  city  like  Geneva,  whore  the  same 
persons  nearly  composed  both  the  Church  and  the 
State,  it  was  neither  very  easy  nor  very  necessary 


to  draw  the  line  between  the  two  jiirisdictions.  The 
power  of  admitting  or  excluding  members  from  the 
Communion-table  was  all  that  Calvin  had  de- 
manded ;  and  he  had  a  hard  battle  to  fight 
before  he  could  obtain  it ;  but  having  won  it,  it 
gave  a  century  of  glory  to  the  Church  of  Geneva. 
Knox  in  Scotland  had  more  room  for  the  de- 
velopment of  all  that  is  implied  in  the  idea 
of  a  Church  with  her  own  law,  her  own  govern- 
ment, and  her  own  monarch.  An  independent 
government  in  things  spiritual,  but  rigidly  re- 
.stricted  to  things  spiiitual,  was  the  root-idea  of 
Knox's  Chiu'ch  organisation.  Kirox  hinged  this 
independence  on  another  point  than  that  on  which 
Calvin  rested  it.  Cahin  said,  "  Take  from  ns  the 
purity  of  the  Commmiion-table,  and  you  take  from 
us  the  '  Evangel.'  "  Knox  said,  "  Take  from  us  the 
freedom  of  Assemblies,  and  you  take  from  us  the 
'  Evangel.'  "  It  was,  however,  the  same  battle  on 
another  field  :  the  contest  in  both  cases  had  for  its 
object  the  freedom  of  the  Church  to  administer  her 
own  laws,  without  which  she  could  exist  for  no 
useful  end. 

A  few  sentences  will  enable  us  to  sketch  the 
Church  organisation  which  Knox  set  up.  Parliament 
had  declared  Protestantism  to  be  the  faith  of  the  na- 
tion: Knox  would  make  it  so  in  fiict.  The  orders  of 
ecclesiastical  men  instituted  by  him  were  four  : — 1st, 
Ministers,  who  preached  to  a  congi-egation ;  2nd, 
Doctors,  who  expounded  Scripture  to  the  youth  in 
the  seminaries  and  universities  ;  3rd,  Elders,  who 
were  associated  with  the  minister  in  ruling,  though 
not  in  teaching,  the  congregation ;  and,  -Ith,  Dea- 
cons, who  managed  the  finance,  and  had  the  care 
of  the  poor.  In  every  parish  was  placed  a  minis- 
ter ;  but  as  the  paucity  of  ministers  left  many 
places  without  pastsral  instruction  meanwhile, 
pious  persons  were  emploj'ed  to  read  the  Scriptures 
and  the  common  praycre ;  and  if  such  gave  proof 
of  competency,  they  were  permitted  to  supplement 
their  readiirg  of  the  Scriptures  with  a  few  plain 
exhortations.  Five  Superintendents  completed  the 
ecclesiastical   staff,  and   then-  duty  was  to  travel 


KNOX'S  ECCLESIASTICAL  AND  EDUCATIONAL  SCHEMES. 


497 


tlii-ougli  tlieii-  several  districts,  with  the  view  of 
phiuting  Churclics,  and  inspecting  the  conduct  of 
ministers,  readere,  and  exhorters.' 

The  government  of  the  Church,  Knox  regarded 
;is  hardly  second  to  her  instruction,  believing  that 
the  latter  could  not  preserve  its  jjurity  unless  the 
otiier  Wius  maintained  in  its  vigour.  Fu'st  came 
the  Kii'k  Session,  composed  of  the  minister  and 
cldei"s,  who  managed  the  affaii's  of  the  congi-egation; 
next  came  the  Presbytery,  formed  by  the  delegation 
of  a  minister  and  elder  from  every  congregation 
within  the  .shire  ;  above  it  was  the  Synod,  consti- 
tuted by  a  minister  and  elder  from  each  congrega- 
tion within  the  province,  and  having,  like  the  court 
below  it,  power  to  decide  on  all  causes  arising  within 
its  bounds.  La.st  of  all  came  the  General  Assembly, 
which  was  constituted  of  a  certain  number  of  dele- 
gates from  every  Presbytery.  This  scheme  gave  to 
every  member  of  the  Church,  dnectly  or  indu'ectly, 
a  voice  in  lier  government ;  it  was  a  truly  popu- 
lar rule,  but  acting  only  through  constitutional 
chamiels,  and  determining  all  cases  by  the  laws  of 
Scripture.  In  the  lowest  court  the  laity  greatly 
outnumbered  the  ministers ;  in  all  the  others  the 
two  were  equal.  This  gradation  of  Church  power, 
whicli  liad  its  b.ises  in  the  Kirk  Sessions  distri- 
buted all  over  the  land,  found  its  unity  iii  the 
General  Assembly;  and  the  concentrated  ^visdom 
and  experience  of  the  whole  Church  were  thus 
available  for  the  decision  of  the  weightiest  causes. 

The  Reformer  no  more  overlooked  the  genei'al 
tuition  of  the  people  than  he  did  then-  indoctrina- 
tion in  the  faith.  He  sketched  a  scheme  of  educa- 
tion more  complete  and  thorough  than  any  age  or 
country  had  ever  yet  been  privileged  to  enjoj'. 
He  proposed  that  a  school  should  be  planted  in 
eveiy  parish,  that  a  college  should  be  erected  in 
every  notable  towm,  and  a  university  established 
in  the  three  chief  cities  of  Scotland.-  He  de- 
laianded  that  the  nobility  and  gentiy  should  send 
their  sons  to  these  seminaries  at  theii"  owti 
expense,  and  that  provision  should  be  made  for 
the  free  education  of  the  entire  youth  of  the 
humbler  classes,  so  that  not  a  cliUd  in  all  Scot- 
l.ind  but  should  be  thoroughly  instnictod,  and 
the  path  to  all  departments  of  knowledge  and  the 
highest  offices  of  the  State  opened  to  every  one  who 
had  inclination  or  talent  for  the  ])ursuit.  Such  Wius 
the  scheme  proposed  by  Knox  in  the  First  Book 

'  Pastors  were  elected  by  the  congresration,  examined 
by  the  Presbytery,  and  admitted  into  office  in  presence 
of  the  people.  Superintendents  were  admitted  in  the 
Bamo  way  as  other  officers,  and  were  subject  to  the  Gene- 
ral Assembly. 

-  Seo  First  Book  of  DueipUti£,  chap.  7. 


of  Discipline.  In  order  to  carry  it  out,  the  Re- 
former proposed  that  the  funds  set  free  by  the  fall 
of  the  Romish  Church,  after  due  provision  for  the 
dismissed  incumbents,  should  be  divided  into  three 
parts,  and  that  one-thii-d  should  go  to  the  support 
of  the  Protestant  Church,  another  to  the  endow- 
ment of  the  schools  and  colleges,  and  the  remaining 
portion  to  the  support  of  the  deserving  poor. 
Could  these  funds  have  been  devoted  to  worthier 
objects?  Was  there  any  class  in  the  country  who 
had  a  prior  or  a  stronger  claim  upon  them  !  How 
then  came  it  that  a  tliiixl  only  of  the  revenues  of 
the  fallen  establishment  was  given  to  these  objects, 
and  that  the  munificent  scheme  of  Knox  was  never 
carried  out,  and  to  this  day  remains  unrealised? 
The  answer  of  history  to  this  question  is  that  the 
nobles  rapaciously  seized  upon  these  lands  and 
heritages,  and  refused  to  disgorge  theii-  plunder. 
The  disappointment  must  have  been  unspeakably 
bitter  to  the  great  patriot  who  devised  the  plan : 
but  while  disgusted  at  the  greed  which  had  ren- 
dered it  frustrate,  he  places  his  scheme  sorrowfully 
on  record,  as  if  to  challenge  futme  ages  to  produce 
anjiihing  more  perfect. 

Had  the  grand  and  patriotic  device  of  Knox  been 
fully  carried  out,  Scotland  would  have  rivalled,  it 
may  be  eclijised,  the  other  kingdoms  of  Europe,  in 
the  number  of  its  educational  institutions,  and  in  the 
learning  of  its  sons.  As  it  was,  an  instantaneous 
impulse  was  given  to  all  its  energies,  intellectual 
and  industrial.  Learning  and  art  began  to  flourish, 
where  for  four  centmies  previously  nothing  had 
jirospered  save  hierarchic  pride  and  feudal  tyranny. 
And  if  Scotland  has  attained  no  mean  rank  among 
the  nations  despite  the  partial  and  crippled  adoption 
of  the  Reformer's  plan,  how  much  more  brilliant 
would  have  been  its  place,  and  how  much  longer 
the  roll  of  illustrious  names  wliioh  it  would  have 
given  to  letters  and  science,  to  the  senate,  the 
aiTU}',  and  the  State,  had  the  large-hearted  plan  of 
Knox  been  in  operation  during  the  three  following 
centui'ies  ? 

The  Refonner  was  yet  smarting  from  the  ava- 
riciousness  of  those  who  preferred  the  filling  of 
then-  purses  and  the  aggi-andising  of  their  families 
to  the  welfare  and  grandeur  of  their  countiy, 
when  another  powerful  adversary  stood  up  in  his 
jjath.  This  new  opponent  sought  to  strip  him  of 
all  the  fruits  of  his  labour,  by  plucking  up  by  the 
very  roots  the  ecclesiastical  and  educational  institu- 
tions he  had  just  planted  in  Scotland.  On  the  19th 
of  August,  l.OGl,  Mary  Stuart  arrived  at  HoljTood 
from  France.  There  are  few  names  in  Scottish 
histoi-y  that  so  powerfully  fascinate  to  this  day  a.s 
that  of  Mary  Stuart.     She  could  have  been   no 


498 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


common  woman  to  have  taken  so  firm  a  hold  upon 
the  imaginations  of  her  countrymen,  and  retained 
it  so  long.  Great  qualities  she  must  have  possessed, 
and  did  no  doubt  possess.  Her  genius  was  quick 
and  penetrating ;  she  was  an  adept  in  all  field 
exei'cises,  more  particularly  those  of  riding  and 
hunting ;  she  was  no  less  skilled  in  the  accomplish- 
ments of  her  age.  She  was  mistress  of  several 
languages,  and  was  wont,  when  she  lived  in  France, 
to  share  -with  her  husband,  Francis  II.,  the  cares  of 


last  into  bloody  crimes.  The  sufiierings  of  Mary 
Stuart  have  passed  into  a  proverb.  Born  to  a 
throne,  yet  dying  as  a  felon  :  excelling  all  the 
women  of  her  time  in  the  gi-ace  of  her  pei-son  and 
the  accomj)lishments  of  her  mind,  and  yet  surpass- 
ing them  in  calamity  and  woe  as  far  as  she  did  in 
beauty  and  talent !  Unhappy  in  her  life — evei-y 
attempt  to  retrieve  her  fallen  fortunes  but  sank  her 
the  deeper  in  guUt ;  and  equally  unhappy  in  death, 
for  W'henever  the  world  is  on  the  point  of  forgetting 


11  1   VL      II  ISBIRGH 


State,  and  to  mingle  in  the  deliberations  of  the 
Cabinet.  In  person  she  was  tall  and  gi-aceful :  the 
tradition  of  her  beauty,  and  of  the  fascination  of 
her  manners,  has  come  down  to  our  days.  Had 
Mary  Stuart  known,  to  choose  the  better  part,  had 
she  taken  the  side  of  her  countiy's  religion  and 
liberty,  she  might,  with  her  many  valuable  and 
brilliant  qualities,  her  wit,  her  penetration,  her 
courage,  her  capacity  for  afiaivs,  her  power  of 
awakening  affection  and  winning  homage,  have 
been  one  of  the  happiest  of  women,  and  one  of  the 
best  of  sovereigns.  But  these  great  faculties,  per- 
vei-ted  by  a  sinister  influence,  led  her  first  of  all 
into  hurtful  follies,  next  into  mean  deceptions  and 
debasing  pleasm'es,  then  into  dark  intrigues,  and  at 


a  life  from  the  odiousness  of  which  tlierc  is  no 
escape  but  in  oblivion,  there  comes  forward,  \vith 
a  certainty  almost  fated, — the  Nemesis,  one  might 
say,  of  Mary  Stuart — an  apologist  to  rehearse  the 
sad  story  over  again,  and  to  fix  the  memoiy  of  her 
Climes  more  indelibly  than  ever  in  the  minds  of 
men. 

It  is  at  the  tragic  death-bed  of  her  father,  James 
v.,  in  the  palace  of  Falkland,  that  we  first  hear 
the  name  of  Maiy  Stuart.  A  funereal  shadow  rests 
above  her  natal  hour.  She  was  born  on  the  8th  of 
December,  1542,  in  the  ancient  palace  of  Linlith- 
gow. The  infant  had  seen  the  light  but  a  few  days 
when,  her  father  dying,  she  succeeded  to  the  crown. 
Wliile  only  a  girl  of  six  years  of  age,  Mary  Stuart 


500 


HISTORY  OF  PR0TESTANTIS3iI. 


was  sent  to  France,  accomj)anieil  by  four  yomig 
ladies  of  family,  all  of  her  own  age,  and  all  bear- 
ing the  same  name  with  their  royal  mistress, 
and  known  in  history  as  the  "  Queen's  Maries." 
Habituated  to  the  gallantry  and  splendour  of  the 
Prcnch  court,  her  love  of  gaiety  was  fostered  into 
a  passion ;  and  her  vanity  and  self-will  were 
strengthened  by  tlie  homage  constantly  paid  to  her 
personal  charms.  Under  the  teaching  of  her  uncles, 
the  Duke  of  Guise  and  the  ■Cardinal  of  Lonauie, 
she  contracted  a  blind  attachment  to  the  religion  of 
Rome,  and  an  equally  blind  detestation  of  the  faith 
of  her  future  subjects.  So  had  passed  the  youth  of 
Mary  Stuai-t.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  conceive  a 
course  of  ti'aining  that  could  have  more  unfitted 
her  to  oceujiy  the  throne  of  a  Protestant  nation, 
and  that  nation  the  Scots. 

Fortune  seemed  to  take  a  delight  in  tantalising 
her.  A  mishap  in  the  tournament  field  suddenly 
raised  her  to  the  throne  of  France.  She  had  hartUy 
time  to  contemplate  the  Ijoundless  prospect  of 
happiness  which  appeared  to  be  opening  to  her  on 
the  thi-one  of  a  powerful,  polished,  and  luxurious 
nation,  when  she  was  called  to  descend  from  it  by 
the  death  of  her  husband.  It  was  now  that  the 
invitation  reached  her  to  retui-n  to  her  native 
countiy  and  assume  its  government.  No  longer 
Queen  of  France,  Mary  Stuart  turned  her  face 
towards  the  northern  land  which  had  given  her 
birth.  She  set  sail  from  Calais  on  the  15th  of 
August,  1561.  The  iuiguish  that  wrung  her  heai-t 
in  that  hour  it  is  easy  to  conceive,  and  impossible 
not  to  sympathise  with.  She  was  leaving  a  land 
^^•here  the  manners  of  the  people  were  congenial  to 
li(!r  tastes,  where  the  religion  was  dear  to  her  heart, 
and  where  the  years  as  they  glided  past  brought 
her  only  new  pleasnres  and  brighter  splendours. 
Maiy  took  her  stand  on  the  deck  of  the  vessel  that 
was  bearing  her  slowly  away,  and  fixed  her  eyes  on 
the  receding  shores  of  France.  The  smi  sank  in  the 
ocean  ;  tlie  shades  of  evening  descended ;  but  the 
queen  made  her  couch  be  placed  on  the  vessel's 
deck.  The  morning  dawned  :  Mary  was  still  there, 
gazing  in  the  direction  of  the  shore,  which  w.is 
still  in  .sight.  But  now  a  breeze  springing  up, 
she  was  <piickly  borne  awaj'  into  the  North  Sea. 
"Farewtll,"  said  she,  as  the  land  sank  finally  be- 


neath the  wave,  "  farewell,  hapjiy  France !  I  shall 
nevermore  see  thee." ' 

The  queen  arrived  at  Leith  on  the  19th  of 
August.  The  citizens,  who  had  not  reckoned  on  the 
voyage  being  completed  in  four  days,  were  not  pre- 
pared to  receive  her,  and  they  had  to  extemporise  a 
cavalcade  of  ponies  to  convey  their  queen  to  the 
palace  of  Holyrood.  This  simplicity  could  be  no  ' 
agreeable  surprise  to  the  young  sovereign.  Nature 
seemed  as  much  out  of  unison  \\'ith  the  event  as 
man.  It  had  di-essed  itself  in  sombre  shadows 
when  jNIary  was  about  to  step  upon  the  ancient 
Scottish  shoi-e.  A  dull  vapour  floated  over-head." 
The  shores,  islands,  and  bold  rocky  prominences 
that  give  such  grandeur  to  the  Frith  of  Forth  were 
wholly  hidden ;  a  gi'ey  mist  covered  Arthui*  Seat, 
and  shed  a  cold  cheerless  light  upon  the  city  which 
lay  stretched  out  at  its  feet.  Edinburgh,  which  in 
romantic  beauty  throvt^s  even  the  Pai-is  of  om-  day 
into  the  shade,  was  then  by  no  means  imposing,  and 
needed  all  the  help  wliich  a  bright  sun  could  give 
it  ;  and  the  region  around  it,  which  in  oiu-  times 
much  excels  in  riches  and  careful  cultivation  the 
coimtry  around  the  French  capital,  must  then  to 
an  eye  accustomed  to  the  various  fruitage  of  France 
have  looked  neglected  and  wild  ;  for  the  principle 
from  which  were  to  spring  all  the  maiTels  which 
now  adoni  this  same  spot  had  not  yet  had  time  to 
display  its  pla.stic  energy.  Nevertljeless,  despite 
this  conjunction  of  xmtoward  circumstances,  which 
made  Mary's  arrival  so  unlike  the  first  entrance  of 
a  sovereign  into  the  capital  of  her  dominions,  the 
demonstrations  of  the  jieople  were  loyal  and  hearty, 
and  the  youthful  queen  looked  reaUy  pleased,  as 
surrounded  by  her  Scottish  nobles  and  her  French 
attendants,  and  dressed  in  widow's  weeds,  she 
passed  in  under  those  gi'ey  towers,  which  were 
destined  to  wear  from  this  day  the  halo  of  a  tragic 
interest  in  aU  coming  time. 

1  Brautoine,  p.  483. 

-  Knox  says:  "In the  memory  of  man,  that  flny  of  the 
year,  was  never  seen  a  more  dolorous  face  of  the  heaven 
than  was  at  her  avi'ival.  The  sun  was  not  seen  to  shine 
two  days  before  nor  two  days  after."  Brantome  also 
mentions  the  thick  fog  (grand  brouillard)  which  prevailed, 
so  that  they  could  not  see  from  one  end  of  the  vessel  to 
the  other.  (Laing,  A'nov,  vol.  ii.,pp.269,  270;  CalderwooU, 
History,  vol.  il,  pp.  1'12,  lt.'3.) 


.-MARY  STUAKT  AND  THE   PROTESTANT  NOBLES. 


501 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


KNOXS    INTERVIEW   WITH   QLEEN   MARY. 

Mary's  Secret  Purposo— Her  Blandislaments— The  Protestant  Nobles  begin  to  Yield— Mass  in  the  Chapel  of  Holyrood 
— Commotion — Knox's  Sermon  against  Idolatry — The  Mass  more  to  be  Feared  than  10,000  Armed  Men — Eeason- 
ableness  of  the  Alarm— Knox  .Summoned  to  the  Palace  of  Holyrood— Accused  by  the  Queen  of  Teaching  Sedition 
— His  Defence— Debate  between  Knox  and  Mary— God,  not  the  Prince,  Lord  of  the  Conscience — The  Bible,  not  the 
Priest,  the  Judge  in  Matters  of  Faith,  &c. — Importance  of  the  Interview. 


The  nobles  had  welcomed  witli  a  chivalrous 
enthusiasm  the  daughter  of  their  ancient  kings ; 
and  tlie  people,  touched  by  her  beauty  and  her 
widowhood,  had  begun  to  regax'd  her  with  mingled 
feelings  of  compassion  and  admiration.  All  was 
going  well,  and  would  doubtless  have  continued  so 
to  do,  but  for  a  dark  pui-jiose  which  Mary  Stuart 
can-ied  in  her  breast.  She  had  become  the  pivot 
around  which  revolved  that  plot  to  which  those 
monstrous  times  had  given  birth,  for  the  extermi- 
nation of  the  Protestant  faith  in  all  the  coiuitries 
of  the  Refomiation.  If  that  conspiracy  shouhl 
succeed,  it  would  open  the  Scottish  queen's  way  to 
a  faii-er  realm  and  a  mightier  throne  than  the  king- 
dom she  had  just  arrived  to  take  jjossession  of  The 
fii'st  step  in  the  projected  (h-ama  was  the  foi'cible 
suppi'ession  of  the  Protestant  faith  in  Scotland,  and 
the  restoration  in  it  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  This 
was  the  dark  pm-pose  which  Mary  had  carried  across 
the  seas,  and  brought  with  her  to  Holyrood.' 

But  meanwhile,  as  tutored  by  her  uncles  the 
Guises,  who  accompanied  her,  she  dissembled  and 
temporised.  Smiles  and  caresses  were  her  fii-st 
weapons:  the  nobles  were  to  be  gained  over  by 
couit  blandishments  and  favoiu-s ;  the  mmisters 
were  to  be  assailed  by  hypocritical  promises ;  and 
the  people  were  to  be  lured  by  those  fawning  ai-ts 
of  which  there  lived  no  gi-eatcr  adept  than  Mary 
Stuart.  The  "  holy  water  of  the  court  "  soon  began 
to  tell  upon  the  Protestant  leaders.  Even  the 
lords  of  the  Congregation  were  not  proof  against 
the  fascination  which  the  young  queen  seemed  to 
exert  upon  every  one  who  entci-ed  her  presence.  If 
her  thinly-veiled  Romish  proclivities  had  at  lirst 
alarmed  or  oflended  them,  they  had  been  no  long 
time  in  the  queen's  presence  till  their  anger  cooled, 
tlieir  feai-s  were  laid  aside,  and  their  Protestant  zeal 
in  some  measure  evaporated.  Every  man,  one  man 
excepted,  who  entered  this  charmed  circle  was 
sti-aightway  transformed.  Knox  in  his  History  has 
qiuiintly   described   the  change  that  passed  upon 


the  nobility  under  tliis  almost  magical  influence. 
"  Eveiy  man  as  he  came  uj)  to  court,"  says  he, 
'■  accused  them  that  were  before  him ;  but,  after 
they  had  I'emained  a  certain  space,  they  came  out 
as  quiet  as  the  former.  On  percei^-ing  this,  Camp- 
bell of  Kinyeancleugh,  a  man  of  some  humour  and 
zealous  in  the  cause,  said  to  Lord  Ocliiltree,  whom 
he  met  on  his  way  to  court,  '  My  lord,  now  ye  are 
come  la.st  of  all,  and  I  perceive  that  the  fire  edge  is 
not  yet  ofi"  you,  but  I  fear  that  .after  the  holy  water 
of  the  com-t  be  spiinkled  upon  you,  ye  shall  become 
as  temperate  as  the  rest.  I  think  there  be  some 
enchantment  by  ^yluch  men  are  be\^-itched.'  "  - 

On  the  first  Sunday  after  her  arrival,  Mary 
adventured  on  an  act,  by  the  advice  of  her  xnicles, 
which  was  designed  to  feel  the  pulse  of  her  Pro- 
testant subjects  f  at  all  events,  it  umuistakably 
notified  to  them  what  her  futui'e  course  was  to 
be  :  mass  was  said  in  her  chapel  of  Holyrood.  Since 
the  establishment  of  the  Reformation,  mass  had  not 
been  publicly  celebrated  in  Scotland,  antl  in  fact 
was  prohibited  by  Act  of  Parliament.  When  the 
citizens  learned  that  preparations  were  making  foi- 
its  celebration  in  the  Chapel  Royal,  they  were  thrown 
into  excitement  and  alarm,  and  but  for  the  inter- 
position of  Knox  would  have  forcibly  jirevented  it. 
Lord  James  Stuart,  Prior  of  St.  Andrews,  and  the 
brother  of  Mary,  stood  sentinel  at  the  door  oi  the 
chapel,  all  the  time  the  service  was  going  on  ;  the 
man  who  canied  iii  the  candle  trembled  all  over  ; 
and  the  priest  who  jierformed  the  rite  was,  at  its 
conclusion,  conducted  to  his  chamber  bj-  two  Pro- 
testant lords.  Tlie  queen's  relatives  and  attendants 
threatened  that  they  would  instantly  return  to 
France,  for  they  could  not  live  in  a  land  where 
mass  could  not  be  said,  without  which  they  could 
not  have  the  pardon  of  their  sins.  "  Would,"  says 
Knox,  "  that  they,  together  with  the  mass,  had 
taken  good  night  of  this  i-e«lm  for  ever."  ' 

On  the  following  Sunday,  Knox,  although  he  had 


'  Caldcrwood,  UUlory,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  130, 131. 


-  Lainjf,  Knox,  vol.  iL,  p.  275. 

'  M''Orie,  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  ii.,  p.  21. 

<  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  270,  271. 


602 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


restrained  the  nioi*  zealous  of  the  Protestants  who 
souij;lit  by  force  to  suppress  the  celebration,  sounded 
a  note  of  waruinj^  from  the  pulpit  of  St.  Giles's.  He 
preached  on  the  sin  of  idolatry,  "  showing  what 
terriljle  plajjues  God  had  taken  upon  realms  and 
nations  for  the  same  ;"  and  added,  "  One  mass  is 
more  fearful  to  mc  than  if  10,000  armed  enemies 
were  landed  in  any  part  of  the  realm,  of  purpose  to 
suppress  the  whole  religion."'  We  are  apt  at  this 
day  to  think  that  the  alarm  expre.ssed  was  greater 
than  its  cause  warranted.  So  thought  the  queen's 
guards  at  the  time,  who  said  openly  in  the  church 
that  "  such  fear  was  no  point  of  their  faith."  But, 
we  may  ask,  had  mass  no  more  significance  in  the 
Scotland  of  the  sixteenth  centiu-y  than  it  wovdd 
have  in  the  Scotland  of  the  nineteenth  1  Mary  had 
not  yet  ratified  the  Act  of  Parliament  establishing 
the  Protestant  faith,  and  alienating  the  national 
revenues  from  the  Romish  Church.  Her  refusal 
implied  that  what  the  Estates  had  done  in  changing 
the  national  faith  was  illegal,  and  that  the  Refor- 
mation was  rebellion.  What  construction  then 
could  her  subjects  put  upon  this  mass,  but  that  it 
was  the  first  step  towards  the  overthrow  of  the 
Protestant  Church,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
Romish  ritual  and  hierarchy  ?  Nor  did  they  do 
theii'  sovereign  injustice  in  so  construing  it.  To 
compel  her  subjects  to  abjure  their  Protestantism, 
and  to  embrace  again  the  creed  they  had  renounced, 
by  soft  methods  if  possible,  and  if  not  by  the  stake 
and  the  cord,  was  Mary's  settled  purpo.se.  In  Italy,  in 
Spain,  in  France,  and  in  the  Netherlands,  pOes  were 
at  that  moment  blazing  in  support  of  the  mass.  The 
same  baleful  fires  were  but  newly  extinguished  in 
England  and  in  Scotland  ;  and  were  they  to  be 
lighted  before  they  had  well  ceased  to  burn,  or  the 
ashes  of  the  noble  men  who  had  perished  in  them 
had  gl■o^vn  cold  ?  Had  not  all  their  past  experience 
told  them  that  the  stake  followed  the  mass  as  in- 
variaVjly  as  the  shadow  followed  the  substance;  that 
the  written  law  of  the  Popish  system,  and  its  in- 
eradicable instincts,  made  it  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places  a  persecutor !  The  Scots  would  have  sho\\ni 
themselves  incapable  of  reading  the  past,  and  fore- 
casting the  future,  had  they  failed  in  these  circum- 
stances to  take  alarm.  It  was  the  alarm  not  of 
timidity,  but  of  wisdom ;  not  of  bigotry,  but  of 
patriotism. 

It  is  probable  that  the  substance  of  the  Re- 
former's sermon  was  reported  to  the  queen,  for  in  a 
few  days  after  its  delivery  she  sent  a  message  to 
Knox,  commanding  his  attendance  at  the  palace. 
This  intei-view  has  gathered  round  it  great  historic 

'  Laing,  Knox,  vol.  ii. ,  p.  27G. 


gi'andeur,  mainly  from  the  sentiments  avowed  by 
Knox  before  his  sovereign,  which  made  it  one  of 
the  turning-points  in  the  history  of  the  man  and  of 
the  country,  and  partly  also  from  the  charge  which 
the  flatterers  of  despotic  princes  have  founded 
upon  it,  that  Knox  was  on  that  occasion  lacking  in 
courtesy  to  Mary  as  a  woman,  and  in  loyalty  to  her 
as  his  sovereign  ;  as  if  it  were  a  ciime  to  defend,  in 
words  of  truth  and  soberness,  the  religion  and 
liberties  of  a  country  in  the  presence  of  one  bent  on 
ruining  both.  The  queen  opened  the  conference,  at 
which  only  her  brother.  Lord  James  Stuart,  and 
two  ladies  in  waiting  were  present,  with  a  reference 
to  the  Reformer's  book  on  the  "  Regiment  of 
Women,"  and  the  "necromancy"  by  which  he 
accomplished  his  ends;  but  depai-ting  from  the 
grave  charge  of  magic,  she  came  to  what  was 
uppermost  in  her  mind,  and  what  was  the  head  and 
front  of  Knox's  ofiending. 

"  You  have  taught  the  people,"  remarked  the 
queen,  "  to  receive  another  religion  than  that  which 
then-  princes  allow ;  but  God  commands  subjects  to 
obey  their  prince;"  erc/o,  "you  have  taught  the 
people  to  disobey  both  God  and  their  prince."  Mary 
doubtless  thought  this  syllogism  unanswerable,  till 
Knox,  with  a  little  plain  sense,  brushed  it  away 
completely. 

"  Madam,"  replied  the  Reformer,  "  as  right  re- 
ligion received  neither  its  origin  nor  its  authority 
from  prmces,  but  from  the  eternal  God  alone,  so 
are  not  subjects  bound  to  frame  theii-  religion  ac- 
cording to  the  tastes  of  their  pi-inces.  For  oft  it  is 
that  princes,  of  all  others,  are  the  most  ignorant  of 
God's  true  religion.  If  all  the  seed  of  Abraham 
had  been  of  the  religion  of  Pharaoh,  whose  subjects 
they  long  were,  I  jiray  you,  madam,  what  religion 
would  there  have  been  in  the  world  1  And  if  all  in 
the  days  of  the  apostles  had  been  of  the  religion  of 
the  Roman  emperors,  I  pray  you,  madam,  what 
religion  would  there  have  been  now  upon  the  earth '( 
.  .  .  .  And  so,  madam,  you  may  perceive  that 
subjects  are  not  bound  to  the  religion  of  their 
princes,  although  they  are  commanded  to  give  them 
reverence." 

"  Yea,"  replied  the  queen,  "  but  none  of  these 
men  raised  the  sword  against  their  princes." 

"  Yet,  madam,"  i-ejoined  Knox,  "  they  resisted, 
for  they  who  obey  not  the  commandment  given 
them,  do  in  .some  sort  i-esist." 

"But,"  argued  the  queen,  "  they  resisted  notwitli 
the  sword." 

"God,  madam,"  answered  the  Refoi-mer,  "had 
not  given  them  the  power  and  the  means." 

"  Tliink  ye,"  said  the  queen,  "  that  subjects 
having  the  power  may  resist  their  princes?" 


KKOX'S  INTERVIEW  WITH   QUEEN  MARY 


503 


"If  princes  exceed  tlicir  boimcls,  madam,  and  do 
that  which  they  ought  not,  they  may  doubtless  be 
resisted  even  by  power.  For  neither  is  greater 
Iionouj-  nor  gi-eater  obedience  to  be  given  to  kings 
and  princes,  than  God  luis  commanded  to  be  given 
to  father  and  mother.  But,  madam,  the  father 
may  be  struck  with  a  frenzy,  in  wliich  he  would  slay 
his  own  children.  Now,  madam,  if  the  children 
arise,  join  together,  apprcliend  him,  take  the  swoid 
from  liim,  bind  liLs  hands,  and  keep  him  in  prison 
till  the  frenzy  be  over,  think  ye,  madam,  that  the 
oliildren  do  any  ^vl■ong  ?  Even  so  is  it,  madam, 
vnth.  princes  who  would  murder  the  children  of 
God  who  are  subject  imto  them.  Their  blind  zeal 
is  nothing  but  a  mad  frenzy ;  and,  therefoi'e,  to 
take  the  sword  from  them,  to  bind  their  hands,  and 
to  cast  them  into  prison  till  they  be  brought  to  a 
sober  mind,  is  no  disobedience  against  princes,  but 
a  ju.st  obedience,  because  it  agreeth  vidth  the  will 
of  God." 

We  must  carry  ourselves  three  centiu'ies  back, 
and  think  of  the  .slavish  doctrines  then  prevalent 
all  over  Christendom — that  it  was  taught  as  in- 
fallibly true  in  theological  canons  and  juridical 
codes,  and  echoed  back  from  university  chaii's,  that 
kings  reigned  by  Divine  right,  and  that  the  un- 
derstandings and  consciences  of  their  subjects  were 
in  their  keeping ;  and  we  must  think  too  of  the 
high-handed  way  in  which  these  demoi'alising  and 
en.slaving  doctrines  were  being  carried  out  in  Europe 
— that  in  every  Popish  country  a  scaffold  or  a  stake 
was  the  certain  fate  of  every  man  who  dared  to 
maintain  the  right  of  one's  thinking  for  oneself — 
we  must  transjjort  ourselves  into  the  midst  of 
these  times,  we  say,  before  we  can  fully  estimate 
the  coiu-age  of  Knox  in  avowing  these  sentiments 
in  the  presence  of  Mary  Stuart.  These  plain 
bold  words,  so  different  from  the  glozing  terms  in 
which  she  had  been  accu.stomed  to  be  addressed 
iu  France,  fell  upon  her  ear  like  a  thunder-peal. 
She  was  stunned  and  amazed,  and  for  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  stood  speechless.  If  her  passion  found 
not  vent  in  words,  it  showed  itself  in  the  pallor 
of  her  face.  "  Her  coimtenance  altered."  The 
past  age  of  feudalism  and  the  coming  age  of  liberty 
stood  confronting  each  other  imder  the  roof  of 
Holyrood.  We  wait  with  intense  anxiety  during 
that  quarter  of  an  hour's  silence,  to  see  what  the 
next  move  in  this  great  battle  shall  be,  and  whether 
it  is  to  be  maintained  or  abandoned  by  Knox.  Vast 
issues  hang  ujinn  the  words  by  which  the  silence 
is  to  be  broken  !  If  Knox  yield,  not  only  will 
Scotland  fall  witli  him,  but  Christendom  also ;  for 
it  is  Philip  of  Spain,  and  Pius  IV.  of  Rome,  who 
:ire  coiifionting  him  in  the  jierson  of  Maiy  Stuart. 


At  last  Lord  James  Stuart,  feeling  the  silence 
insupportable,  or  fearing  that  his  sister  had  been 
seized  with  sudden  illness,  began  to  entreat  her 
and  to  ask,  "What  has  oflendod  you,  raadiun?" 
But  she  made  him  no  answer.  The  tempest  of  her 
pride  and  self-will  at  length  spent  itself  Her  com- 
posiu'e  i-etiu-ned,  and  she  resumed  the  argument. 

'■Well  then,"  said  she,  "I  clearly  perceive  that 
niy  subjects  shall  obey  you,  and  not  me ;  and  shall 
ilo  what  they  list,  and  not  what  I  command  ;  and  so 
must  I  be  subject  to  them,  and  not  they  to  me." 

"  God  forbid,"  promptly  rejoined  the  Reformer, 
"  that  ever  I  take  upon  me  to  command  any  to  obey 
me,  or  to  set  subjects  at  liberty  to  do  whatever 
])leases  them."  Is  then  Knox  to  concede  the  "right 
Divine?"  Yes;  but  he  lodges  it  where  alone  it  is 
safe ;  not  in  any  throne  on  earth.  "  My  travail," 
add.s  he,  "  is  that  both  subjects  and  princes  may 
obey  God.  And  think  not,  madam,  that  wrong  is 
done  yon  when  you  are  required  to  be  subject  unto 
God  ;  for  he  it  is  who  subjects  peoples  imto  princes, 
and  causes  obedience  to  be  given  unto  them.  He 
craves  of  kings  that  they  be  as  it  were  foster-fathers 
to  his  Church,  and  commands  queens  to  be  nurses 
to  his  people." 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  queen ;  "  but  ye  are  not  the 
Kirk  that  I  ■wdll  nourish.  I  will  defend  the  Kirk 
of  Rome,  for  it  is,  I  think,  the  true  Kii-k  of  God." 

"  Your  will,  madam,"  said  Knox,  "is  no  reason; 
neither  doth  it  make  that  Roman  harlot  to  be  the 
true  and  immaculate  spouse  of  Jesus  Christ.  I 
ofl'er  myself,  madam,  to  prove  that  the  Church  of 
the  Jews  which  crucified  Christ  Jesus  was  not  so 
far  degenei-ate  from  the  ordinances  and  statutes 
given  it  of  God,  as  the  Church  of  Rome  is  declined, 
and  more  than  500  years  hath  declined,  from  the 
purity  of  that  religion  which  the  apostles  taught 
and  planted." 

"  My  conscience,"  said  Mary,  "  is  not  so." 

"Conscience,  madam,"  saitl  Knox,  "requu'es 
knowledge,  and  I  fear  that  right  knowledge  ye  have 
none." 

"  But,"  said  she,  "  I  have  both  heard  and  read." 

"  Have  you,"  inquired  Knox,  "  heard  any  teach 
liutsuch  as  the  Pope  and  cardinals  have  allowed  ? 
You  may  be  a.ssured  that  such  will  speak  nothing 
to  oflend  theii-  own  estate." 

"  You  interpret  the  Scrii)ture  in  one  way.  and 
they  intei-jiret  it  in  another,"  said  Mary:  "whom 
shall  I  believe,  and  who  shall  be  judge?" 

"  You  .shall  believe  God,  who  plainly  speaketh  iu 
his  Word,"  wiis  the  Reformer's  answer,  "and  fai-ther 
than  the  Word  teaches  yo\i,  ye  shall  believe  neither 
the  one  nor  tlie  other.  The  Word  of  God  is  plain 
in  itself,  and  if  in  any  one  place  there  be  obscurity, 


504 


HISTORY   OF   PEOTESTANTISM. 


I'OBTBAIT   OP   MARl    STIART,    QLEEN    OT   SCOTS. 


the  Holy  Ghost,  who  never  is  contrary  to  liimself, 
explains  the  same  more  clearly  in  other  places, 
so  that  there  can  remain  no  doubt  but  unto  such 
as  are  obstinately  ignorant."  He  illustrated  his 
reply  by  a  brief  exposition  of  the  passage  on  which 
the  Romanists  found  their  doctrine  of  the  mass; 


when  the  queen  said  that,  though  she  was  unable 
to  answer  him,  if  those  were  present  whom  she  had 
heard,  they  would  give  him  an  answer.  "  Madam," 
replied  the  Reformer,  "would  to  God  that  the 
learnedest  Papist  in  Europe,  and  he  that  you  would 
best  believe,  were  present  with  your  Grace,  to  sustain 


KNOX'S   INTERVIEW   WITH   QUEEN   MARY. 


505 


tlie  ai-gument,  ami  that  you  would  patiently  liear 
the  matter  debated  to  an  end  ;  for  then  I  doubt 
not,  madam,  you  would  know  the  vanity  of  the 
Papistical  religion,  and  how  little  foundation  it  has 
ill  the  Word  of  God." 

"Well,"  said  she,  "you  may  perchance  get  that 
sooner  than  you  believe." 

"  A.ssuredly,"  said  Knox,  "  if  I  ever  get  it  in  my 
life  I  get  it  sooner  than  I  believe ;  for  the  ignorant 
Pajiist  cannot  patiently  reason,  and  the  learned  and 


Luther  before  Charles  V.  at  Worms,  Calvin 
before  the  Libertines  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Pierre, 
and  Knox  before  Queen  Mary  in  the  Palace  of 
HoljTOod,  are  the  three  most  dramatic  points  in  the 
Reformation,  and  the  three  grandest  passages  in 
modern  history.  The  victory  in  each  of  these  three 
cases  was  won  by  one  man,  and  was  due  solely  to 
his  faith.  Luther,  Calvin,  Knox  at  these  unspeak- 
ably critical  moments  stood  alone ;  their  friends 
could  not  or  dared  not  show  themselves ;  they  were 


UULbE,    HIGH    STllEET,    EDINblKCiH. 


crafty  Papist  will  not  come  in  your  presence,  madam, 
to  have  the  grounds  of  his  belief  searched  out,  for 
thoy  know  that  they  cannot  sustain  the  argument 
unless  fire  and  sword  and  their  own  laws  be  judges. 
When  yo\i  shall  let  me  see  the  contrary,  I  shall 
gi-ant  myself  to  have  been  deceived  in  that  point." 

The  ilinner-hour  was  announced,  and  the  argu- 
ment ended.  "  I  pray  God,  madam,"  said  Knox  in 
parting,  "  th.at  ye  may  be  as  blessed  within  the 
commonwealth  of  Scotland,  as  ever  was  Deborah 
in  the  commonwealth  of  Israel."' 

'  Knox,  Hiatory  (Laing's  edition),  vol.  U.,  pp.  277—286. 


upheld  only  by  the  truth  and  greatness  of  their  cause, 
and  the  aid  of  Him  whose  it  was.  A  concession,  a 
compromise,  in  either  case  would  have  mined  all ; 
and  Worais,  St.  Pierre,  and  Holyrood  would  have 
figured  in  histoiy  as  the  scenes  of  irretrievable  dis- 
aster, over  which  nations  would  have  had  cause  to 
weep.  They  are  instead  names  of  glorious  victory  ; 
Marathon,  Morat,  and  Bannockburn  shine  not  with 
so  pure  a  splendour,  nor  will  they  stir  the  liearts 
of  men  so  long.  The  triumph  of  Luther  at  Worms 
secured  the  commencement  of  the  Reformation, 
that  of  Calvin  in  St.  Pien-e  its  consummation, 
and  that  of  Knox  in  Holyi-ood  its  preservation. 


147 


50G 


niSTOEY  OF  rrvOTEtiTANTISM. 


CHArTER  IX. 


TRIAL   OP   KSOX    FOR  TKE.VSOX. 

Distribution  of  Ecclesiastical  Eevenues— Inadequate  Provision  for  the  Protestant  Ministry— Krst  Booli  of  Discipline 

—Mary  Refuses  to  Ratify  the  Ecclesiastical  Settlement  of  1560— Faithlessness  of  the  Nobles— Grief  of  Knox— His 
Sermon — Rebuke  of  the  Protestant  Nobles — Summoned  to  the  Palace — Interview  with  the  Queen— Knox's  Hard- 
ness— Mass  at  the  Palace — Threatened  Prosecution  of  Protestants — Kuox"s  Circular— Put  upon  his  Trial  for 
Treason— Maitland  of  Lethington— Debate  between  Maitland  and  Knox — Knox's  Defence  on  his  Trial — His 
Acquittal— Joy  of  the  Citizens— Consequences  of  his  Acquittal— Knox's  Political  Sentiments— His  Services  to  the 
Liberties  of  Gi'eat  Britain. 


Tx  the  room  of  a  sacerdotal  liierarcliy  there  had 
been  planted  in  Scotland  a  body  of  teacliing  pastors. 
Tlie  change  had  been  accomplished  witli  the  sanction 
of  Parliament,  but  no  pro^asion  wiis  made  foi'  the 
temporal  support  of  the  new  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishment. This  was  a  point  on  which  Knox  was 
not  iimiattirally  anxious,  but  on  which  he  was 
doomed  to  experience  a  bitter  disappointment.  The 
Eomisli  Cliurch  in  Scotland  had  jiossessed  a  bound- 
less affluence  of  houses,  valualjles,  and  lands.  Her 
abbacies  dotted  the  country,  mountain  and  mea- 
dow, forest  and  corn-field,  were  hers ;  and  all  this 
■wealth  had  been  set  free  by  the  suppression  of  the 
priesthood,  and  ought  to  have  been  transferred,  so 
ftir  as  it  was  needed,  to  the  Protestant  Church. 
But  the  nobles  rushed  in  and  appropriated  nearly 
the  whole  of  tliis  vast  spoil.  Knox  lifted  up  his 
voice  to  denounce  a  transaction  which  was  alike 
damaging  to  the  highest  interests  of  the  country,  and 
the  characters  of  those  concerned  in  it :  but  he  failed 
to  warn  off  the  covetous  hands  that  were  clutching 
this  rich  booty ;  and  the  only  arrangement  he  suc- 
ceeded in  effecting  was,  that  the  revenues  of  the 
Popish  Church  should  be  divided  into  three  parts, 
and  that  two  of  these  should  be  given  to  the 
former  incumbents,  to  revert  at  then-  death  to  the 
nobility,  and  that  the  thii'd  part  should  be  divided 
between  the  court  and  the  Protestant  ministers. 
The  latter  had  till  now  been  entirely  dependent 
npon  the  benevolence  of  their  hearers,  or  the 
hospitality  of  the  noblemen  in  whose  houses  some 
of  them  continued  to  reside.  When  Knox  beheld 
the  revenues  which  would  have  sufficed  to  plant 
Scotland  with  churches,  colleges,  and  schools,  and 
suitiibly  provide  for  the  poor,  thus  swallowed  up,  he 
could  not  refrain  from  expressing  his  mortification 
and  disgust.  "  Well,"  exclaimed  ho,  "  if  the  end 
of  this  order  be  hap])y,  my  judgment  fails  me.  I 
see  two  parts  freely  given  to  the  devil,  and  the 
third  must  be  divided  between  God  and  the  devil. 
Who  would  have  thought  that  when  Josepli  ruled 
in  Egypt   his  brethren   would    lia\-e    tra^•elled   for 


victuals,  and  would  have  returned  with  empty 
sacks  to  their  families !"  It  was  concern  for  his 
brethren's  interest  that  drew  from  the  Reformer 
this  stern  denunciation,  for  his  own  stipend,  ap- 
jjointed  by  the  magistrates  of  Ediubui'gh,  was  an 
adequate  one. 

The  same  cause  occasioned  to  Knox  his  second 
gi'eat  disappointment.  He  had  received  from  the 
Privy  CounoU  a  commission,  along  with  Winram, 
Sijottiswood,  Douglas,  and  Row,  to  draft  a  plan  of 
ecclesi;i.stical  government.  Comprehensive  in  out- 
line and  perfect  in  detiul,  incalculable,  we  have 
already  seen,  would  have  been  the  moral  and  literary 
benefits  this  jilan  would  have  conferred  upon  Scot- 
land had  it  been  fully  carried  out.  But  the  nobles 
liked  neither  the  moral  rules  it  prescribed,  nor  the 
pecuniary  bui'dens  it  imposetl,  and  Knox  failed  to 
procure  for  it  the  ratification  of  the  Privy  Council. 
Many  of  the  membei-s  of  Council,  however,  sub- 
scribed it,  and  being  approved  by  the  first  General 
Assembly,  which  met  on  the  20th  of  December, 
1.560,'  it  has,  imder  the  name  of  the  "First  Book 
of  Discipi'me,"  always  held  the  rank  of  a  standard 
in  the  Protestant  Church  of  Scotlaud.- 

A  tliii-d  and  still  more  grievous  disajipointment 
.awaited  the  Reformer.  The  Parliament  of  1560, 
which  had  abolished  the  Pajxil  jurisdiction,  and 
accepted  Protestiuitism  as  the  national  religion,  had 
been  held  when  the  cjueen  was  absent  from  the 
kingdom,  and  the  royal  assent  had  never  been  given 
to  its  enactments.  Not  only  did  Mary,  lurder 
various  pretexts,  refuse  to  ratify  its  deeds  while 
she  resided  in  Fi-ance,  but  even  after  her  return  to 
Scotland  she  still  withheld  her  ratification,  and 
rej)eatedly  declared  the  Parliament  of  1560  to  be 
illegal.  If  so,  the  Protestant  establishment  it  liad  set 


'  It  consisted  of  forty  members,  only  six  of  whom  were 
ministers.  It  met  in  the  Magdalene  Cliapel,  Cowgate. 
This  cliapel  stUl  exists,  and  is  the  property  of  the 
Protestant  Institute  of  Scotland. 

-  Dunlop,  Collect,  of  Confessions,  vol.  ii.,  p.  430  M':  Ctie, 
Life  of  Knox,  vol.  ii-,  pp.  4,  5. 


KNOX'S   SERMON^   IN   ST.    GILES'S. 


507 


itp  wa.s  also  illegal,  and  no  man  could  doubt  that  it 
was  tlie  queen's  intention,  so  soon  as  she  was  able, 
to  overthrow  it  and  restore  the  Komish  hierarchy. 
This  was  a  state  of  matters  which  Knox  deemed 
intolerable ;  but  the  Protestant  lords,  demoralised 
by  the  spoils  of  the  fallen  establishment  and  the 
blandishments  of  the  court,  took  it  very  easily. 
The  Parliament — the  first  since  Mary's  arrival — 
was  about  to  meet ;  and  Knox  fondly  hoped  that 
now  the  royal  ratification  would  be  given  to  the 
Protestant  settlement  of  the  country.  He  pressed 
the  matter  upon  the  nobles  as  one  of  vital  impor- 
tance. He  pointed  out  to  them  that  till  such  assent 
was  given  they  had  no  law  on  their  side ;  that  they 
held  their  religion  at  the  mere  pleasure  of  their 
sovereign,  that  they  might  any  day  be  commandeil 
to  go  to  mass,  and  that  it  was  indispensable  that 
these  uncertainties  and  fears  should  be  set  at  rest. 
The  nobles,  however,  found  the  matter  displeasing 
to  the  queen,  and  agreed  not  to  press  it.  Knox 
learned  their  resolve  with  consternation.  He  could 
not  have  believed,  unless  he  had  seen  it,  that  the 
men  who  had  summoned  him  from  Geneva,  and 
carried  their  cause  to  the  battle-field,  and  who  had 
entered  into  a  solemn  bond,  pledging  themselves  to 
God  and  to  one  another,  to  sacrifice  goods  and  life 
in  the  cause  if  need  were,  could  have  so  woefully 
declined  in  zeal  and  courage,  and  could  so  prefer 
the  good-will  of  their  sovereign  and  their  own  selfish  . 
interests  to  the  defence  of  their  religion,  and  the 
welfare  of  their  country.  This  exhibition  of  fiiith- 
lessness  and  servility  wellnigh  broke  his  heart,  and 
would  have  made  him  abandon  the  cause  in  despair 
but  for  his  faith  in  God.  The  Parliament  had  not 
yet  ended,  and  in  the  pulpit  of  St.  Giles's,  Knox 
poured  out  the  sorrows  that  almost  overwhelmed 
him  in  a  strain  of  lofty  and  indignant,  yet  mournful 
eloquence.  He  reminded  the  nobles  who,  with 
some  thousand  of  tlie  citizens,  were  gathered  before 
him,  of  tlie  slavery  of  body,  and  the  yet  viler  slavery 
of  .soul,  in  wliich  they  had  been  sunk  ;  and  now,  when 
the  merciful  hand  of  God  had  delivered  them,  where 
was  their  gratitude  ^  And  then  addressing  liimself 
in  particular  to  the  nobility,  he  continued,  "  In 
your  most  extreme  dangers  I  have  been  \vith  you  ; 
St.  Jolinston,  Cupar-Moor,  tlie  Craigs  of  Edinburgh  " 
(names  that  recalled  past  perils  and  terroi-s)  "  are 
yet  fresh  in  my  heart ;  yea,  that  dark  and  dolorous 
night  wherein  all  ye,  my  lords,  with  shame  and  fear 
left  this  town,  is  yet  in  my  mind,  and  God  forl)i(l 
that  e^-er  I  forget  it.  What  was,  I  say,  my  exhortation 
to  you,  and  what  has  fallen  in  vain  of  all  that  ever 
God  promised  unto  you  liy  my  mouth,  ye  yoiirselves 
are  yet  alive  to  testify.  There  is  not  one  of  you, 
against  whom  was  death  and  destruction  threatened, 


perished  ;  and  how  many  of  your  enemies  has  God 
plagued  before  your  eyes  !  Shall  this  be  the  thank- 
fulness that  ye  shall  render  unto  your  God?  To 
betray  his  cause  when  you  have  it  in  your  hands 
to  establish  it  as  you  please  ?  .  .  .  Their  religion 
had  the  authority  of  God,  and  was  independent  of 
human  laws,  but  it  was  also  accepted  within  this 
realm  in  public  Parliament,  and  that  Parliament  he 
would  maintain  was  as  free  and  lawful  as  any  that 
had  ever  assembled  in  the  kingdom  of  Scotland." 
He  alluded,  in  fine,  to  the  reports  of  the  queen's 
marriage,  and  bidding  his  audience  mark  hLs  words, 
he  warned  the  nobility  what  the  consequences 
would  be  should  they  ever  consent  to  their  sovereign 
marrpng  a  Papist.' 

Knox  himself  tells  us  in  his  History  that  this 
plainness  of  speech  gave  offence  to  both  Papists  and 
Protestants.  He  had  not  exjjected,  nor  indeed  in- 
tended, that  his  sermon  should  please  the  latter  any 
more  than  the  former.  Men  who  were  sinking 
their  patriotism  in  cupidity,  and  their  loyalty  in 
sycophancy,  would  not  be  flattered  by  being  told 
to  their  face  that  they  were  ruining  their  countiy. 
Another  result  followed,  which  had  doubtless  also 
been  foreseen  by  the  preacher.  There  were  those  in 
his  audience  who  hurried  ofl"  to  the  palace  as  soon 
as  the  sermon  was  ended,  and  reported  his  words 
to  the  queen,  saying  that  he  had  preached  against 
her  marriage.  Hardly  had  he  finished  his  dinner 
when  a  messenger  arrived  from  Holy  rood,  ordering 
his  attendance  at  the  palace.  His  attached  friend. 
Lord  Ochiltree,  and  some  others,  accompanied 
him,  but  only  Erskine  of  Dun  was  permitted  to  go 
with  him  into  the  royal  cabinet.  The  moment  he 
entered,  Mary  burst  into  a  passion,  exclaiming  that 
never  had  pi-ince  been  vexed  by  subject  as  she  had 
been  by  him;  "  I  vow  to  God,"  said  she,  "  I  shall 
once  be  revenged."  "  And  with  these  words, 
hardly  could  her  page  bring  napkins  enough  to  hold 
her  tears."  Knox  was  beginning  to  state  the 
paramount  claims  that  governed  him  in  the  pulpit, 
when  the  queen  demanded,  "  But  what  have  you  to 
do  with  my  mamage  1 "  He  was  going  on  to  vin- 
dicate his  allusion  to  that  topic  in  the  pulpit  on  tho 
gi'ound  of  its  bearing  on  the  welfare  of  the  country, 
when  she  again  broke  in,  "  Wliat  have  you  to  do 
with  my  marriage  ?  or  what  are  you  in  this 
commonwealth  1 "  Posterity  has  answered  that 
question,  in  temis  that  would  have  been  less  pleasing 
to  Mary  than  was  Knox's  own  reply.  "  A  subject 
1  lorn  ^\'ithin  the  .same,  madam,"  he  at  once  .said  with 
a  fine  blending  of  courtesy  and  dignity  :  "  a  subject 
born  within   the   same,  madam,  and  albeit   I   be 

>  Knox,  History  (Laing's  edition),  vol.  ii.,  pp.  381—386. 


COS 


Hl!=5T0rA^   OF   TKOTESTANTISM. 


iR-ithcv  earl,  lord,  uorbaroii  in  it,  yet  ImsGoilmiulo 
3iie  (how  iiliject  that  ever  I  lie  in  your  eyes)  a 
)iroHtal)le  luciiiljpr  within  the  same ;  yes,  madam,  to 
me  rt  appertains  no  less  to  forewarn  of  such  tilings 
as  may  hurt  it,  if  I  foresee  them,  than  it  doth  to  any 
of  the  nobility,  for  both  my  vocation  and  my  con- 
,  science  requii'e  plainness  of  me ;  and,  therefore, 
madam,  to  yourself  I  say,  that  which  I  spake  in 
l)ublic  place  : — Whensoever  the  nobility  of  this 
realm  shall  consent  that  ye  be  obetlient  to  an  un- 
faithful husband,  they  do  as  much  as  in  them  lieth 
to  renounce  Christ,  to  banish  his  truth  from  them, 
to  betray  the  freedom  of  this  realm,  and  perchance 
shall  in  the  end  do  small  comfort  to  yoiu'self." 
Mary's  reply  to  these  words  was  a  burst  of  tears.' 
Erskine  of  Dun  stepped  forward  to  soothe  her,  but 
with  no  great  success.  Knox  stood  silent  till  the 
queen  had  composed  herself,  and  then  said  he  was 
constrained,  though  nn\\'illingly,  to  sustain  her  tears, 
rather  than  hurt  his  conscience  and  betray  the 
commonwealth  by  his  silence.  This  defence  but  the 
more  incensed  the  queen ;  she  ordered  him  to  leave 
her  presence  and  await  in  the  ante-cliamber  the  sig- 
nification of  her  pleasure.  Tliere  he  was  surrounded 
by  numbers  of  liis  acquaintances  and  associates,  but 
he  stood  "  as  one  whom  men  had  never  seen." 
Lord  Ochiltree  alone  of  all  that  dastardly  crowd 
found  courage  to  recognise  him.  Turning  from  the 
male,  but  not  manly,  courtiers,  Knox  addressed 
himself  to  the  queen's  ladies.  "  0  fair  ladies,"  said 
he,  in  a  vein  of  raillery  which  the  queen's  frown  had 
not  been  able  to  extinguish,  "how  pleasing  were 
this  life  of  yours,  if  it  should  ever  abide,  and  then,  in 
the  end,  we  nriglit  pass  to  heaven  with  all  this  gay 
gear  !  but  fie  upon  that  knave  Death  that  will  come 
whether  we  will  or  no."  Erskine  now  came  to  him 
to  say  that  the  queen  permitted  him  to  go  home 
for  the  day.  Mary  was  bent  on  a  prosecution  of  the 
Reformer,  but  her  councillors  refused  to  concur,  and 
so,  as  Knox  says,  "  this  storm  blew  over  in  appear- 
ance, but  not  in  heart." - 

Sternly,  uncompromisingly,  Knox  pursues  his 
course !  Not  an  uncourteous,  undignified,  trea- 
sonable word  does  he  ntter ;  yet  what  iron  in- 
flexibility !  He  sacrifices  friends,  he  incui-s  the 
mortal  hatred  of  his  sovereign,  he  restrains  the 
yearnings  of  his  own  heart ;  the  sacrifice  is  pain- 
ful— painful  to  himself  and  to  all  about  him,  but 
it  is  the  saving  of  his  country.  What  hardness  ! 
exclaim  many.  We  grant  it ;  Knox  is  hard  as  the 
rock,  stubborn  as  the  nether  mill-stone ;  but  when 

'  "  There  are  some  of  that  sex,"  says  Randolph,  writint; 
to  Cecil,  and  narrating  a  similar  cxliibition,  "who  can 
weep  for  ancer  as  well  as  jji'ief." 

-  Knox,  Histonj  (Laing's  edition),  vol.  ii.,  pp.  3SG— 389. 


men  seek  to  erect  a  beacon  that  may  save  the  mari- 
ner from  the  reef  on  wldcli  the  tumultuous  billows 
are  about  to  pitch  liLs  vessel  headlong,  it  is  tho 
rock,  not  the  sand-heaj-),  that  they  select  as  a  founda- 
tion. 

At  last,  as  the  queen  thought,  tho  Reformer  had 
put  himself  in  her  power.  Had  it  been  as  Maiy 
believed,  no  long  time  would  have  elapsed  till  his 
head  had  fallen  on  the  scaffold,  and  with  it,  in  all 
human  reckoning,  woidd  have  fiillen  the  Protestant 
Church  of  his  native  land.  Diu'ing  the  queen's 
absence  at  Stirling,  the  same  summer,  mass  was 
celebrated  at  Holyrood  by  her  domestics  with 
greater  pomp  than  usnal,  and  numbers  of  the 
citizens  resorted  to  it.  Some  zealous  Protestants  of 
Edinburgh  forced  theii'  way  into  the  chapel,  princi- 
pally to  see  who  of  their  fellow-citizens  were  present, 
and  finding  the  priest  attired  for  celebration,  they 
asked  him  why  he  durst  do  these  things  in  the  qiieen's 
absence.  The  cliajjlain  and  the  French  domestics, 
taking  fright,  raised  a  cry  which  made  Comptroller 
Pitarrow  hasten  to  their  aid,  who  found  no  tumult, 
however,  save  what  he  brought  with  him.  Informa- 
tion having  been  sent  to  the  queen,  she  caused  two 
of  the  Protestants  to  be  indicted  for  "  forethought 
felony,  hamesucken,  and  invasion  of  the  palace." 
Fearing  that  it  might  go  hard  with  the  accused, 
the  ministers  ui-ged  Knox,  agi-eeably  to  a  com- 
nussion  he  had  received  from  the  Church,  to  address 
a  circular  to  the  leading  Protestants  of  the  country, 
i-equesting  tlieir  presence  on  the  day  of  trial.  A 
copy  of  this  letter  having  been  sent  to  the  queen, 
she  submitted  it  to  the  Privy  Council ;  and  the 
Council,  to  her  gi-eat  delight,  pronounced  it  treason- 
able. 

In  December,  1.tG3,  an  extraordinary  meeting  of 
Council  was  called,  and  Knox  w^as  put  upon  his 
trial.  Mary  took  her  seat  at  the  head  of  the  table 
with  an  aflectation  of  great  dignity,  which  she 
Titterly  spoiled  by  giving  way  to  a  fit  of  loud 
laughter,  so  great  was  her  joy  at  seeing  Knox 
standing  uncovered  at  the  foot  of  the  table. 
"  That  man,"  .said  she,  "  made  me  weep,  and  .shed 
never  a  tear  himself ;  I  will  now  see  if  I  can  make 
him  weep."  Secretary  Maitland  of  Lethington 
conducted  the  prosecution,  and  seemed  almost  as 
eager  as  Mary  herself  to  obtaui  a  conviction  against 
the  Reformer.  Maitland  was  a  formidable  oppo- 
}icut,  being  one  of  the  most  accomplished  dialec- 
ticians of  the  age.  He  had  been  a  zealous  Protestant, 
but  caring  little  at  heart  for  any  religion,  he  had 
now  cooled,  and  was  trying  to  form  a  middle  party, 
between  the  court  and  the  Church.  Nothing  has 
a  greater  tendency  to  weaken  the  insight  than  the 
want  of  definite  views  and  strong  convictions,  and 


KNOX  TEIED   FOR  TREASON. 


509 


So  the  secretary  was  labouring  with  all  his  might 
to  realise  his  narrow  and  impracticable  scheme,  to 
the  success  of  which,  as  he  deemed,  one  thing  only 
was  wanting,  namely,  that  Knox  should  be  got  rid  of. 
The  offence  for  which  the  Reformer  was  now  made 
answerable  was,  "convening  the  lieges"  Ijy  his 
circular  ;  but  the  sting  of  his  letter  lay  in  the  sen- 
tence which  affirmed  that  the  threatened  prosecution 
"  was  doubtless  to  make  preparation  upon  a  few, 
that  a  door  may  bo  opened  to  execute  cruelty  ujion 
a  gi'cater  number."  Knox  had  oflended  mortally, 
for  he  had  penetrated  the  designs  of  the  court,  and 
liroclaimed  them  to  the  nation. 

The  proceedings  were  commenced  by  the  reading 
of  the  circular  for  which  Knox  had  been  indicted. 
"  Heard  you  ever,  my  lords,"  said  Mary,  looking 
round  the  Council,  "  a  more  spiteful  and  treasonable 
letter  ? "  This  was  followed  uj)  by  Maitland,  who, 
turning  to  Knox,  said,  "  Do  you  not  repent  that 
such  a  letter  has  passed  your  pen  1 "  The  Reformer 
avoided  the  trap,  and  made  answer,  "  My  lord 
secretary,  before  I  repent  I  must  be  shown  my 
offence."  "Offence!"  exclaimed  Maitland,  in  a 
tone  of  sui-prise ;  "  if  there  were  no  more  but  the 
convocation  of  the  queen's  lieges,  the  offence  cannot 
be  denied."  The  Reformer  took  his  stand  on  the 
plain  common-sense  of  the  matter,  that  to  convene 
the  citizens  for  devotion,  or  for  deliberation,  was 
one  thing,  and  to  convene  them  with  arms  was 
another ;  and  Maitland  laboured  to  confound  the 
two,  and  attach  a  treasonable  pui-pose  to  the  con- 
vocation in  question.  "  What  is  this  ] "  interposed 
the  queen,  who  was  getting  impatient ;  "  metliinks 
you  tiifle  with  him.  Who  gave  him  authority  to 
make  convocation  of  my  lieges  1  Is  not  that 
treason  r'  "  No,  madam,"  replied  Lord  Ruthven, 
whose  Protestant  spii-it  was  roused — "  no,  madam, 
for  he  makes  convocation  of  the  people  to  hear 
prayers  and  seiTaon  almost  daily,  and  whatever 
your  Grace  or  others  will  think  thereof,  we  think  it 
no  trea.son." 

After  a  long  and  sharp  debate  between  the 
Reformer  and  the  secretar}',  the  "  cnielty  upon  a 
greater  multitude,"  for  which  the  summons  sen'cd  on 
the  two  Protestants  would,  it  was  affirmed,  prepare 
the  way,  came  next  under  discussion.  The  queen 
insisted  that  she  was  the  party  against  whom  this 
allegation  was  directed  ;  Knox  contended  that  its 
ni)plication  was  general,  and  that  it  was  wan-anted 
by  the  notorious  i)ersccutions  of  the  Papacy  to 
exterminate  Protestants.  He  was  enlarging  on 
this  topic,  when  the  chancellor  interrupted  him. 
"  A'ou  forget  yourself,"  said  he ;  "  you  are  not 
now  in  the  puljjit."  "  I  am  in  the  place,"  replied 
the   Reformer,    "where   I   am  demanded  of  con- 


science to  speak  the  trath,  and  therefore  the  truth  I 
speak,  impugn  it  whoso  list."  At  last  Knox  was 
■svithdrawn,  and  the  queen  having  rotu-ed,  in  order 
that  the  judgment  of  the  Council  might  be  given, 
the  lords  unanimously  voted  that  John  Knox  had 
been  giiilty  of  no  violation  of  the  laws.  Secretary 
Maitland  stormed,  and  the  courtiers  stood  aghast. 
The  queen  was  brought  back,  and  took  her  place 
at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  the  votes  were  called 
over  again  in  her  presence.  "  What ! "  said  the 
members,  "  shall  the  Laird  of  Lethington  make  us 
condemn  an  innocent  man  1 "  The  Council  pro- 
nounced a  second  unanimous  acquittal.  They  then 
rose  and  departed.  The  issue  had  been  waited  for 
with  intense  anxiety  by  the  Protestant  citizens  of 
Edmburgh,  and  during  the  sitting  of  Council  a 
dense  crowd  filled  the  court  of  the  palace,  and 
occupied  the  stall's  up  to  the  veiy  door  of  the 
council-chamber.  That  night  no  instruments  of 
music  were  brought  before  the  queen  ;  the  darkened 
and  silent  halls  of  Holyrood  proclaimed  the  gi'ief 
and  anger  of  Mary  Stuart.  But  if  the  palace 
mourned,  the  city  rejoiced.' 

We  have  missed  the  true  character  of  this  scene  if 
we  have  failed  to  see,  not  Mary  Stuart  and  Knox, 
but  Rome  and  the  Reformation  struggling  together 
in  this  chamber.  Wliere  would  Scotland  have  been 
to-day  if  the  vote  of  the  Privy  Council  that  night 
had  consigned  Knox  to  the  Castle,  thence  to  pass,  in 
a  few  days,  or  in  a  few  weeks,  to  a  scaffold  in  the 
Grass  Market?  The  execution  of  the  Reformer 
would  have  been  immediately  followed  by  the  sup- 
pression of  the  ecclesiastical  and  educational  insti- 
tutions which  he  had  set  up,  and  Scotland  plunged 
again  into  Popery  would  have  been,  at  this  day,  a 
second  Ireland,  'with  a  soil  less  fertUe,  and  a  popu- 
lation even  more  pauperised.  Nay,  the  disastrous 
consequences  of  the  Reformer's  imprisonment  or 
death  would  have  extended  far  beyond  his  native 
land.  Had  Scotland  been  a  Popish  country  at  the 
time  of  the  Annada,  in  all  human  probability  the 
throne  of  Elizabeth  would  have  been  overturned. 
Nay,  with  Scotland  Popish,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  the  tluone  of  Elizabeth  would  have  stood 
till  then.  If  Mary  Stuart  had  succeeded  iii  re- 
storing the  Paj)acy  in  Scotland,  the  coiuitry  would, 
as  an  almost  inevitable  consequence,  have  fallen 
under  the  power  of  France,  and  would  have  become 
the  door  by  which  the  Popish  Powers  would  have 
entered  England  to  sujipress  its  Relbrmation,  and 
jilace  the  Queen  of  the  Scots  upon  its  throne.  Had 
Knox  that  night  descended  the  stairs  of  the  royal 


'  Knox,  History  (Lainp's  edition),  vol.  ii.,  pp.  G93— 41'2, 
M^'Crie.  Lij'c  of  Knox,  vol.  ii-,  p.  295. 


510 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


cabinet  of  Holyi'ood  with  a  sentence  of  condemna- 
tion upon  him,  his  countrymen  would  have  had 
more  cause  to  mourn  than  himself,  and  England 
too  would,  in  no  long  time,  have  learned  the  extent 
of  the  calamity  which  had  befallen  the  great  cause 
with  which  she  had  identilied  herself,  when  she 
saw  the  fell  of  the  northern  kingdom  followed  by 
the  destruction  of  her 
own  Protestant  religion 
and  liberties. 

Even  yet  we  hear  at 
times  echoes  of  the 
charge  preferred  against 
Knox  at  the  counod- 
table  of  the  queen. 
Tried  by  the  political 
creed  of  Mary  Stuart, 
it  must  be  confessed 
that  his  sentiments 
were  disloyal.  Mary 
held  by  the  principle, 
to  sovereigns  a  con- 
venient one,  of  "the 
right  divine  of  kings  to 
govern  wrong;"  Knox, 
on  the  contrary,  held 
that  "  all  power  is 
founded  on  a  compact 
expressed  or  under- 
stood between  the 
nilers  and  the  ruled, 
and  that  no  one  has 
either  divine  or  human 
right  to  govern,  save 
in  accordance  \vith  the 
will  of  the  people  and 
the  law  of  God."  This 
is  the  amount  of  all 
that  Knox  advanced 
under  that  head  in  his 
various  interviews  with 
Queen  Mary.  His 
opinions   may  have 

sounded  strange  to  one  reared  in  a  despotic  court ; 
and  when  the  Reformer  enunciated  them  with 
such  emphasis  in  the  Palace  of  Holyrood,  they 
were  before  theii'  time ;  but  the  world  has  since 
seen  cause  to  ratify  them,  and  States  of  no  mean 
name  have  acted  upon  them.  Holland  embodied 
them  in  its  famous  declaration  of  independence 
twenty  years  afterwards ;  they  leceived  a  signal 
triumph  when  the  British  nation  adopted  them 
at  the  Revolution  of  1688;  and  they  form,  at 
this  day,  the  basis  of  that  glorious  constitution 
under  which  it  is  our  happiness  to  live.     Branded 


*^^ -^.     •  .'Ji 


as  treason  when  fii-st  uttered  beneath  the  royal  roof 
of  Holyrood,  not  a  day  now  passes  without  our 
reading  these  same  sentiments  in  a  hunthed  journals. 
We  hear  them  proclaimed  in  senates,  we  see  them 
acted  on  in  cabinets,  and  re-echoed  from  the  throne 
itself.  Let  us  not  forget  that  the  first  openly  to 
avow  them  on  Scottish  soil  was  John  Knox. 

Let  it  be  remembered 
too,  that  there  was  then 
no  free  press,  no  free 
platfonu,  no  one  organ 
of  public  sentiment  but 
the  pulpit ;  and  had 
Knox  been  silent,  the 
cause  of  liberty  would 
have  been  irretrievably 
betrayed  and  lost.  He 
had  penetrated  the  de- 
sign of  Mary,  inflexibly 
formed,  and  craftily 
yet  steadily  pursued,  of 
overturning  the  Refor- 
mation of  her  native 
land.  Knox  was  the 
one  obstacle  in  Mary's 
path  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  that  design. 
When  nobles  and  bur- 
gesses were  bowing 
down  he  stood  erect, 
unshaken  in  his  firm 
resolve,  that  come  what 
might,  and  forsake  it 
who  would,  he  would 
stand  by  the  cause  of 
his  country's  Reforma- 
tion. He 
saw  in  the 
back-ground 
of  Mary's 
throne  the 
dark  pha- 
lanx of  the 
Popish  despots  who  were  banded  together  to  crush 
the  Reformation  of  Christendom  by  making  a 
beginning  of  theii-  work  in  Scotland,  and  he  stood 
forward  to  denounce  and,  if  possible,  prevent  the 
perpetration  of  that  gigantic  ci'ime.  In  that 
chamber  of  Holyrood,  and  in  the  pulpit  of  St. 
Giles's,  he  fought  the  noblest  battle  ever  waged 
upon  Scottish  soil,  and  defeated  a  more  formidable 
foe  than  Wallace  encountered  at  Stirling,  or  Bruce 
vantpiished  at  Bannockburn.  He  broke  the  firm- 
knit  league  of  Papal  conspirators,  plucked  from 
their-   very   teeth    the    little    country   of   Scotland, 


j^Ztf^  -e^° 


rORTKAIT    AND    AVTOGKAI'H    01'    JOHN    KNOX 
(Fac-siiiulc /rom  Bcza's,  "  Icoiifs.") 


THE  SCOTTISH  REFORMATION   IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


511 


whicli  tliey  had  made  their  prey,  and,  rescuing  it 
from  the  vile  uses  to  which  tliey  had  destined  it, 
made  it  one  of  the  lights  of  the  woi-ld,  and,  along 


with  England,  a  mother  of  fi'ee  nations.  Through 
all  the  ages  of  the  future,  the  foremost  place  among 
Scotsmen  must  belong  to  Knox.' 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE   LAST   DAYS   OF   QUEEN    MARY   AND   JOHN    KNOX. 

Prosperous  Events— Ratification  of  the  Protestant  Establishment  by  Parliament— Culmination  of  Scottish  Eefor- 
mation— Knox  Wishes  to  Retire— New  Storms— Knox  Retires  to  St.  Andi-ews- Knox  in  the  Pulpit— Tulchan  Bishops 
—Knox's  Opposition  to  the  Scheme— The  St.  Bartholomew  Massacre— Knox's  Prediction— His  Last  Appearance 
in  the  Pulpit— Final  End  of  Mary's  Crimes— Darnley—Rizzio—Kirk-of-Field— Marriage  with  Bothwell— 
Carberry  Hill— Lochleven  Castle— Battle  of  Langside— FUght  to  England— Execution— Mary  the  Last  Survivor 
of  her  Partners  in  Crime— Last  Illness  of  Knox— His  Death— His  Character. 


The  dangerous  crisis  was  now  past,  and  a  tide  of 
])rosperous  events  began  to  set  in,  in  favour  of  the 
Scottish  Reformation.  The  rising  of  the  Earl  of 
Huntly,  in  the  north — who,  knowing  the  court  to 
be  secretly  favoui'able,  had  unfurled  the  standard 
tor  Rome— was  suppressed.  The  alienation  which 
hMd  parted  Knox  and  Lord  James  Stuart,  now  Earl 
of  Murray,  for  two  years  was  healed  ;  the  Protestant 
spii-it  in  the  provinces  was  strengthened  by  the 
preaching  tours  undertaken  by  the  Reformer  ;  the 
joalou.sios  between  the  court  and  the  Church,  though 
not  I'cniovcd,  were  abated  ;  the  abdication  of  the 
queen,  whicli  grew  out  of  the  deplorable  occurrences 
that  followed  her  marriage  with  Darnley,  and  to 
which  our  attention  must  briefly  be  given,  seeing 
they  were  amongst  the  most  powerful  of  the  causes 
which  turned  the  balance  between  Protestantism 
and  Romanism,  not  in  Scotland  only,  but  over 
Europe ;  and,  as  a  consequence  of  her  abdication,  the 
apjiointment,  as  regent  of  the  kingdom,  of  the  Earl 
of  Murray,  the  intimate  friend  of  Knox,  and  the 
great  outstanding  patriot  and  Reformer  among  the 
Scottish  nobles — all  tended  in  one  direction,  to  the 
establishment,  namely,  of  the  Scottish  Reformation. 
Accordingly,  in  15G7,  the  infant  James  being  king, 
and  Murray  regent,  the  Parliament  which  met  on  the 
15  th  of  December  ratified  all  the  Acts  that  had  been 
passed  in  1560,  abolishing  the  Papal  jurisdiction, 
and  accepting  the  Protestant  faith  as  the  religion  of 
tlic  nation.  Valid  legal  secmities  were  thus  for 
the  tiret  time  reared  around  the  Protestant  Church 
of  Scothmd.  It  was  further  enacted,  "That  no 
luince  should  aftei-wards  be  admitted  to  the  exercise 
of  authority  in  the  kingdom,  without  taking  an  oatli 
to  maintain  the  Protestant  religion  ;  and  that  none 
but  Protestants  should  be  admitted  to  any  oftice, 
■with  the  exception  of  those  that  were  Leretlitary, 


or  held  for  Hfe.  The  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
exercised  by  the  Assemblies  of  the  Church,  was 
formally  ratified,  and  commissioners  appointed  to 
define  more  exactly  the  causes  which  came  within 
the  sphere  of  theii'  judgment."  ' 

The  Scottish  Reformation  had  now  reached  its 
culmination  in  that  century,  and  from  this  point 
Knox  could  look  back  over  the  battles  he  had 
waged,  and  the  toUs  he  had  borne,  and  contemplate 
with  tliankfulness  their  issue  in  the  overthrow  of 
the  Papal  tyranny,  and  the  establishment  of  a 
Scriptural  faith  in  Scotland.  He  had,  too,  received 
legal  guarantees  from  the  State  that  the  abolished 
jurisdiction  would  not  be  restored,  and  that  the 
Protestant  Church  woidd  have  liberty  and  protection 
given  it  in  the  exercise  of  its  worship  and  the 
administration  of  its  discipline.  The  two  yeare  that 
followed,  1568  and  1569,  were  perhaps  the  happiest 
in  the  Reformer's  life,  and  the  most  prosperous  in 
the  history  of  his  country  during  that  centurv. 
Under  the  energetic  and  patriotic  administi-ation  of 
the  "Good  Regent"  Scotland  enjoyed  quiet.  The 
Reformed  Church  was  enlarging  her  borders  ;  all 
was  going  well ;  and  that  yearning  for  rest  which 
often  visits  the  breasts  of  those  wlio  have  been  long 
tossed  by  tempests,  began  to  be  felt  Ijy  Knox.  He 
remembered  the  quiet  years  at  Geneva,  the  loving 


'  One  who  is  noitlier  a  Scotsman  nor  a  Presbyterian 
says  justly  as  generously :  "  The  time  has  come  when 
English  history  may  do  justice  to  one  but  for  whom  the 
Reformation  would  have  been  overthrown  among  our- 
selves ;  for  the  spirit  which  Knox  created  saved  Scotland, 
and  it  Scotland  had  been  Catholic  again,  neither  the 
wisdom  of  Elizabeth's  ministers,  nor  the  teaching  of  her 
bishops,  nor  her  own  chicaneries,  wouM  have  presoi-ved 
England  from  revolution."  (Froude,  IlUlory  of  Mnjland, 
vol.  X.,  pp.  19:!,  194:  Lond.,  1870.) 

'-  M'.  Crie,  Life  of  Kiiox,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  158,  159. 


5i: 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISSL 


Hock  to  whom  he  liacl  there  iiiiiiistercd  the  Word 
of  Life,  autl  he  expressed  a  wish  to  return  thither 
and  spend  the  evening  of  his  life,  and  lay  his 
wearied  body,  it  might  lie,  by  the  side  of  greater 
dust  in  the  Plain-palais. 

But  it  was  not  to  be  so.  Other  storms  were  to 
roll  over  him  and  over  his  beloved  Chiu'ch  before  he 
sliould  descend  into  his  gi-ave.  The  assassination 
of  tlie  Regent  ]Murray,  in  January,  1570,  was  the 
forerunner  of  these  evils.  The  tidings  of  his  death 
occasioned  to  Knox  the  most  poignant  anguish,  but 
gi'eat  as  was  his  own  loss,  he  regarded  it  as  nothing 
in  comparison  with  the  calamity  which  had  befallen 
the  country  in  the  murder  of  this  great  patriot  and 
able  administrator.  Under  the  Earl  of  Lennox, 
who  succeeded  Miu-ray  as  regent,  the  former  con- 
fusions returned,  and  they  continued  under  Mar, 
by  whom  Lennox  was  succeeded.  The  nobles  were 
divided  into  two  factions,  one  in  favoiu"  of  Mary, 
while  the  other  supjiorted  the  cause  of  the  young 
king.  In  the  midst  of  these  contentions  the  life  of 
the  Refoi-mer  came  to  be  in  so  great  danger  that  it 
was  thought  advisable  that  he  should  remove  from 
Edinburgh,  and  take  up  his  residence  for  some  time 
at  St.  Andrews.  Here  he  often  preached,  and 
though  so  feeble  that  he  had  to  be  lifted  up  into 
the  pulpit,  before  the  sermon  had  ended  his  earnest- 
ness and  vehemence  were  such  that,  in  the  words  of 
an  eye-witness,  "  He  was  like  to  ding  tite  pidpii  in 
hlculs^  aiulflie  out  of  it." 

Weary  of  the  world,  and  longing  to  dejiart,  he 
had  nevertheless  to  wage  battle  to  the  very  close  of 
his  life.  His  last  years  were  occupied  iia  oiiposing 
the  introduction  into  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
an  order  of  bishops  known  only  to  Scotland,  and 
termed  Tidchanr  Several  rich  benefices  had  be- 
come vacant  by  the  death  of  the  incumbents,  and 
other  causes;  and  the  nobles,  coveting  these  rich 
livings,  entered  into  simoniacal  bargains  with  the 
least  worthy  of  the  ministers,  to  the  effect  that  they 
should  fill  the  post,  but  that  the  patron  should 
receive  the  richest  portion  of  the  income  :  hence  the 
term  Tulchan  bishops.  Knox  strongly  objected  to 
the  institution  of  the  new  order  of  ecclesiastics — 
first,  because  he  held  it  a  robbery  of  the  Church's 
patrimony;  and  secondly,  because  it  was  an  invasion 
<iu  the  Presbyterian  equality  which  had  been  settled 
in  the  Scottish  Kirk.  His  ojjposition  delayed  the 
completion  of  this  disgi'aceful  arrangement,  which 
was  not  ■carried  through  till  the  year  in  which  ho 
died.     In  August,  1572,  he  returned  to  Edinburgh, 

'  i.e.,  break  the  pulpit  in  pieces.  (.James  Melville, 
A'ltohiography.) 

"  A  tulchan  is  a  calf's  sldn  stuffed  with  straw,  set  up 
to  make  the  cow  give  her  uiilk  freely. 


and  soon  thereafter  received  the  news  of  the 
St.  Bartholomew  Massacre.  We  need  not  say  how 
deeply  he  was  affected  by  a  crime  that  drowned 
France  in  Protestant  blood,  including  that  of  many 
of  Ids  own  personal  friends.  Kindling  into  prophet- 
like fire,  he  foretold  from  the  jiulpit  of  St.  Giles's  a 
futiu'e  of  revolutions  as  awaiting  the  royal  house 
and  throne  of  Fi'ance ;  and  his  words,  verily,  have 
not  fallen  to  the  gi-ound. 

'  His  last  appearance  in  public  was  on  the  9tli  of 
November,  1572,  when  he  preached  in  the  Tolbooth 
Church  on  occasion  of  the  installation  of  JNIr.  Lawson 
as  his  colleague  and  successor.  At  the  close  of  the 
service,  as  if  he  felt  that  no  more  should  flock  see 
their  pastor,  or  pastor  address  his  flock,  he  protested, 
in  the  presence  of  Him  to  whom  he  expected  soon 
to  give  an  account,  that  he  had  walked  among  them 
with  a  good  conscience,  preaching  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  all  sincerity,  and  he  exhorted  and 
charged  them  to  adhere  steadfastly  to  the  faith 
which  they  had  professed.  The  services  at  an  end, 
he  descended  the  pulpit^staLrs,  with  exhausted  yet 
cheerful  look,  and  walked  slowly  down  the  High 
Street  leaning  on  the  arm  of  his  servant,  Richard  Ban- 
natyne ;  his  congregation  lining  the  way,  reverently 
anxious  to  have  their  last  look  of  their  beloved 
pastor.  He  entered  his  house  never  again  to  jiass 
over  its  threshold.^  It  was  meet  he  should  now 
depart,  for  the  shadows  were  falling  thickly,  not 
around  himself  only,  but  around  Christendom. 

Wliile  the  events  we  have  so  rapidly  narrated 
were  in  progress,  Mary  Stuart,  the  other  gi-eat  tigiu'e 
of  the  time,  was  pursuing  her  career,  and  it  is 
necessary  that  we  should  follow — not  in  their  detail, 
for  that  is  not  necessary  for  our  object,  but  in  their 
outline  and  issue — a  series  of  events  of  which  she 
was  the  centre,  and  which  were  acting  with  marked 
and  lasting  effect  on  both  Romanism  and  Pro- 
testantism. We  have  repeatedly  referred  to  the 
league  of  the  three  Papal  Powers — France,  Spain, 
and  Rome — to  quench  the  new  light  which  was  then 
dawning  on  the  nations,  and  bring  back  the  night 
on  the  face  of  all  the  earth.  We  have  also  said 
that  of  this  plot  Mary  Stuart  had  become  the 
centre,  seeing  the  part  assigned  her  was  essential 
to  its  success.  It  is  surely  a  most  instructive  fact, 
that  the  seiies  of  frightfid  crimes  into  which  this 
princess  plunged  was  one  of  the  main  instrumen- 
talities that  Providence  emploj^ed  to  bring  this 
plot  to  nought.  From  the  day  that  Mary  Stuart 
put  her  hand  to  this  bond  of  blood,  the  tide  in  her 
fortunes  turned,  and  all  things  went  against  her. 
First  came  her  sudden  and  ill-starred  affection  for 

^  M'.Crie,  Life  of  Knox,  vol.  ii.,  rP-  21",  218. 


CAKEEK   OF   JFAllY   (JUEEN    OF   8C0TS. 


513 


Lord  Darnley,  tlie  son  of  the  Eurl  of  Leiiuox  ;  then 
followed  her  mairiage  with  him,  accomplished 
through  treachery,  and  followed  by  ci\'il  war.  Tlie 
passion  which  Mary  felt  for  Darnley,  a  weak,  vain, 
and  frivolous  youth,  and  addicted  to  low  company, 
soon  gave  place  to  disgust.  Treated  with  neglect  by 
her  Imsband,  !Mary  was  thrown  upon  others,  and 
tlicn  came  her  worse  than  unseemly  intimacy  with 
the  low-born  and  low-bred  Italian,  Dimd  llizzio. 
This  awakened  a  fierce  and  revengeful  jealousy  in 
the  breast  of  Darnley,  which  led  to  the  midnight 
assassination  in  the  palace.  A  band  of  vizored 
barons,  with  naked  swords,  suddenly  appeared  in 
tlie  supper-chamber  of  the 
queen,  and  seizing  her 
favouiite,  and  loosening 
his  grasp  on  the  dress  of 
his  mistress,  wliich  he 
liad  clutched  in  despair, 
they  dragged  him  out,  and 
dispatched  him  in  the  ante- 
clianiber,  his  screams  ring- 
ing in  tlie  ears  of  tlie 
(pieen,  who  wa.s  held  back 
by  force  from  rescuing 
him.  Then  came  the 
settled  purpose  of  revenge 
in  tlie  heart  of  Mary  Stuart 
against  her  husband,  for 
liis  sliare  in  the  murder  of 
llizzio.  This  pui-pose,  con- 
cealed for  a  time  under 
an  affectation  of  tenderer 
love,  the  more  eft'ectually 
to  lure  tlie  vain  and  con- 
fiding Lord  Daniley  into  the  snare  she  had  set  for 
liim,  was  steadily  and  coolly  pui'sued,  till  at  last  it 
was  consummated  in  the  horrible  tragedy  of  the 
"  Kirk-of-Field."  The  huid  blaze  which  lighted  the 
sky  of  Edinburgh  that  night,  and  the  shock  that 
roused  its  sleeping  citizens  from  their  beds,  bring 
ujion  tlie  stage  new  actors,  and  pave  the  way  for 
outrages  that  startle  the  imagination  and  stupefy 
the  moral  sense.  Darnley  has  disappeared,  and  now 
an  infamous  and  bloody  man  starts  up  by  the  side 
of  Mary  Stuart.  Thei'c  comes  next,  her  strange 
jiassion  for  Bothwoll,  a  man  without  a  single  spark 
of  chivaliy  or  lionour  in  him — coarse-minded,  domi- 
neering, with  an  c\-il  renown  hanging  about  him 
for  deeds  of  violence  and  blood,  and  whoso  gross 
features  and  badly-moulded  limljs  did  not  furnish 
Maiy  witli  the  poor  apology  of  manly  beauty  for 
the  almost  insane  passion  for  liim  to  which  she 
abandoned  hereelf.  Then,  before  the  blood  of  her 
husband  was  drj-,  and  the  i-uins  of  the  Kii-k-of- 


JOHN  x^ox 


(From  the  Portrait  m  Br:a's  "  Icoucs."    See  ante,  p.  510.) 


Field  had  ceased  to  smoke,  came  her  marrLago  with 
Eothwell,  whom  the  nation  held  to  be  the  chief 
perpetrator  of  the  cruel  murder  of  her  former 
liusband.  To  take  in  marriage  that  hand  whicli 
had  spilt  lier  husband's  blood  was  to  confess  in  act 
wliat  even  she  dared  not  confess  in  words.  From 
this  moment  her  fatuous  cai-eer  becomes  more 
reckless,  and  she  rushes  onward  with  awful 
speed  towards  the  goal.  Aghast  at  such  a  career, 
and  humiliated  by  being  ruled  over  by  such  a 
sovereign,  her  subjects  broke  out  in  insurrection. 
The  queen  flew  to  arms ;  she  was  defeated  on  the 
field  of  Carbeny  Hill ;  brought  as  a  captive  to 
Edinburgh  ;  thence  sent 
to  Lochleven  Castle,  where 
she  endured  a  lonely 
impiisonment  of  some 
months.  Escaping  thence, 
she  fled  on  horseback  all 
night  long,  and  at  morn- 
ing presented  herself  at  the 
castle-gates  of  the  Hamil- 
tons.  Here  she  rallied 
round  her  the  supportei-s 
whom  her  defeat  had 
scattered,  and  for  the  last 
time  tried  the  fortune  of 
arms  against  her  subjects 
on  the  field  of  Langside, 
near  Glasgow.  The  battle 
went  against  her,  and  she 
fled  a  second  time,  riding 
night  and  day  across 
country  towards  the  Bor- 
der, where,  fording  the 
Solway,  she  bade  adieu  to  Scottish  soil,  nevermore 
to  return.  She  had  left  her  country  behind,  not 
her  evil  genius,  nor  her  iLl-fortune;  these,  as  a 
terrible  Nemesis,  accompany  her  into  England. 
There,  continuing  to  be  the  principal  card  in  the 
game  the  Popish  Powers  were  playing,  she  was 
drawn  to  conspire  against  the  life  and  throne  of 
Elizabeth.  It  was  now  that  doom  overtook  her. 
On  a  dull  winter  morning,  on  the  8th  of  February, 
she  who  hail  dazzled  all  eyes  by  her  beauty,  all 
imaginations  by  her  liveliness  and  gaiety,  and  who 
had  won  so  many  hearts  by  her  f:vscinating  iiddrcss 
—the  daughter  of  a  king,  the  wife  of  a  king,  and 
the  mother  of  a  king,  and  wlio  herself  had  sat  ou 
two  thrones— laid  lier  head,  now  discrowned,  grey 
with  sorrows,  and  stained  with  crimes,  ujjon  the 
1  iloek.  At  the  very  time  that  the  Armada  was  being 
built  in  the  dockyards  of  Siiain,  and  an  immense 
host  was  being  collected  in  tlie  Netherlands,  with 
the  view  of  making  vacant  Elizabeth's  throne,  and 


514 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


elevating  Mary  Stuart  to  it,  the  head  of  the  latter 
piincess  fell  on  the  scaflbld. 

It  Ls  noteworthy  that  Queen  Mary  sur%-ived  all 
who  had  been  actors  along  with  her  in  the  scenes  of 
crime  and  blood  in  whicli  she  had  so  freely  mingled. 
Before  she  herself  mounted  the  scaffold,  she  had 
seen  all  who  had  sided  with  Iier  in  Scotland  against 
Knox  and  the  Reformation,  die  on  the  gallows  or  in 
the  field.  Before  her  last  hour  came  the  glory  of 
the  House  of  Hamilton  had  been  tarnished,  and  the 
member  of  that  house  who  fired  the  .shot  that 
deprived  Scotland  of  her  "  Good  Regent "  had  to 
seek  asylimi  in  France.  Kirkaldy  of  Grange,  who 
espoused  Mary's  quarrel  at  the  last  hour,  and  held 
the  Castle  of  Edinburgli  in  her  behalf,  was  hanged 
at  the  Market  Cross ;  and  Maitland  of  Lethington, 
who  had  lent  the  aid  of  his  powerful  talents  to  the 
queen  to  bring  Knox  to  the  block,  died,  it  is  sup- 
posed, by  his  own  hand,  after  living  to  witness  the 
utter  wreck  of  all  Mary's  interests  in  Scotland. 
Bothwell,  who  had  stained  his  life  and  conscience 
with  so  many  horrid  deeds  to  serve  her,  rotted  for 
years  in  a  foreign  dungeon,  and  at  last  expired 
there.  The  same  fatality  attended  all  in  other  lands 
who  took  part  with  her  or  embarked  in  her  schemes. 
Her  co-conspirators  in  England  came  to  violent  end.s. 
The  Earls  of  Westmoreland  and  Northnmberland 
were  executed.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  premier 
peer,  was  beheaded  in  the  Tower.  All  concerned  in 
the  Babington  plot  were  swept  off  by  the  axe.  In 
France  it  was  the  same.  Her  uncles  had  died 
violent  and  bloody  deaths ;  Charles  IX.  expired, 
blood  flo^^ong  from  every  opening  in  his  body ; 
Catherine  de  Medici,  after  all  her  crimes,  trod 
tlie  same  road  ;  and  last  of  all  Maiy  herself  went 
to  her  great  audit.  As  she  stands  this  dark 
morning  before  the  block  in  Fotheringay  Castle, 
it  could  hardly  fail  to  put  a  double  sting  into 
death  to  reflect  that  she  had  seen  the  ruin  of  all 
her  friends,  and  the  utter  overthrow  of  all  her 
projects,  while  the  Refomiation  against  which  she 
had  so  sorely  combatted  was  every  year  striking  its 
roots  deeper  in  her  native  land. 

From  this  lilood-stained  block,  with  the  headless 
corpse  of  a  queen  beside  it,  we  turn  to  another 
death-scene,  tragic  too — not  with  hoiTors,  as  the 
other,  but  with  triumph.  We  stand  in  a  humble 
chamber  at  the  foot  of  the  High  Street  of  Edin- 
burgh. Here,  on  this  bed,  is  laid  that  head  over 
which  so  many  storms  had  burst,  to  find  at  l.ast  the 
rest  which,  wearied  with  toil  and  an.xiety,  it  had  so 
earnestly  sought.  Noblemen,  ministere,  burgesses 
pour  in  to  see  how  Knox  will  die.  As  he  had 
lived  so  he  dies,  full  of  courage.  From  his  djdng 
bed    he    exhorted,    warned,   admonished    all    who 


approached  him  as  he  had  done  from  the  pulpit. 
His  brethren  in  the  ministry  he  adjured  to  "  abide 
by  the  eternal  tnith  of  the  Gospel."  Noblemen  and 
statesmen  he  coimselled  to  uphold  the  "Evangel" 
and  not  forsake  the  Church  of  their  native  land,  if 
they  would  have  God  not  to  strip  them  of  their 
riches  and  honoius.  He  made  Calvin's  sei-mons  on 
the  Ephesians  be  read  to  him,  as  if  his  spii-it  soiight 
to  commu.ne  once  more  on  earth  with  that  mightier 
spirit.  But  the  Scriptures  were  the  manna  on 
which  he  mostly  lived  :  "  Turn,"  said  he  to  his  wife, 
"  to  that  passage  where  I  first  cast  anchor,  the 
seventeenth  of  the  Gospel  of  John."  In  the  midst 
of  these  solemn  scenes,  a  gleam  of  liLs  wonted 
geniality  breaks  in.  Two  intimate  friends  come  to 
see  him,  and  he  makes  a  cask  of  French  wine  which 
was  in  his  cellar  be  pierced  for  their  entertainment, 
and  hospitably  urges  them  to  partake,  saying  that 
"  he  will  not  tarry  till  it  be  all  dnink."  He  was 
overheard  breathing  oiit  short  utterances  in  prayer : 
"  Give  peace  to  this  afflicted  commonwealth  ;  raise 
up  faithful  pastors."  On  the  day  before  his  death, 
being  Sunday,  after  lying  some  time  quiet,  he 
.STiddenly  broke  out,  "I  have  fought  against  spiritual 
wickedness  in  heavenly  things,"  referring  to  the 
troubled  state  of  the  Church,  "  and  have  prevailed  ; 
I  have  been  in  heaven  and  taken  possession,  I  have 
tasted  of  the  heavenly  joys."  At  eleven  o'clock  in 
the  evening  of  the  2-lth  of  November,  he  heaved  a 
deep  sigh,  and  ejaculated,  "  Now  it  is  come."  His 
friends  desired  of  him  a  sign  that  he  died  in  peace, 
whereupon,  says  the  chronicler  of  his  last  horn's, 
"  As  if  he  had  received  new  strength  in  death,  he 
lifted  one  of  liis  hands  towards  heaven,  and  sighing 
twice,  departed  ^vith  the  calmness  of  one  fallen  into 
sleep." ' 

The  two  master-qualities  of  Knox  were  faith  and 
courage.  The  fundamental  quality  was  his  faith, 
courage  was  the  noble  fruit  that  sprang  from  it. 
The  words  of  Regent  Morton,  spoken  over  his  dust, 
have  become  provei'bial,  "  There  lies  one  who  never 
feai-ed  the  face  of  man."  John  Knox  never  feared 
man  because  he  never  mistrusted  God.  His  faith 
taught  him,  first  of  all,  a  fearless  submission  of  his 
understanding  to  the  Word  of  God.  To  this  jiro- 
found  submission  to  the  Bible  we  can  trace  all  the 
noble  and  rare  qualities  which  he  displayed  in  his 
life.  To  this  was  owing  the  simplicity,  the  clearness 
and  the  vdgour  of  all  his  views,  his  uniform  con- 
sistency, and  that  remarkable  foresight  which  to 
his  countrymen  appeared  to  .approach  alnio.st  to 
prophecy.     Looking  along  the  lines  of  the  Divine 


'  Smetoniiffs/ionsio,  p.  12.3.   M''Crie.  Li/Vo/'K'wo.r,  vol.  ii.. 
pp.  224,  232. 


KNOX'S  MASTER-QUALITIES. 


515 


govorameiit,  as  revealed  iii  the  Scriptui-es,  he  could 
foretell  wliat  would  ine\'itably  be  tlie  issue  of  a 
certain  coiu-se  of  conduct  or  a  certain  train  of 
events.  It  might  come  sooner  or  it  might  come 
later,  but  he  no  more  doubted  that  it  would 
come  than  he  doubted  the  uuifoi-mity  and  equity 
of  God's  rule  over  men.  To  tliis  too,  namely,  his 
submission  to  the  Bible,  was  owing  at  once  the 
solidity  and  the  breadth  of  hLs  Reform.  Instead 
of  trammelling  ]iim.sGlf  by  forms  he  threw  himself 
fearlessly  and  broadly  upon  great  principles.  He 
.spread  his  Reformation  over  the  whole  of  society, 
going  down  till  he  had  reached  its  deepest  spiings, 
and  travelling  outwards  till  he  had  regenerated  his 
country  in  all  departments  of  its  action,  and  in  all 
the  spheres  of  its  well-being.  He  was  an  advocate 
of  constitutional  govenunent,  and  a  friend,  as  we 
liave  seen,  of  the  highest  and  wdest  intellectual 
culture.  It  is  no  proof  of  narrowness,  surely,  but 
of  insight  and  breadth,  that  he  discerned  the  ti-ue 
foimdation  on  which  to  build  in  order  that  his 
Reformation  might  endure  and  extend  itself.     He 


placed  it  upon  the  Bible.  His  wide  and  patriotic 
views  on  public  liberty  and  education,  which  he  Jield 
and  inculcated,  we  gratefully  acknowledge  ;  but  the 
great  service  which  he  rendered  to  Scotland  was 
the  religious  one — he  gave  it  liberty  by  giving  it  the 
"  Evangel."  It  would  have  but  little  a-\-ailed  Scots- 
men in  the  nineteenth  century  if  Knox  had  wrought 
uji  their  fithers  to  a  little  political  enthusiasm,  but 
had  failed  to  lead  them  to  the  Bible,  that  great 
awakenei-  of  the  human  soul,  and  bulwark  of  the 
rights  of  conscience.  If  this  had  been  all,  the  Scots, 
after  a  few  abortive  attempts,  like  those  of  mis- 
guided France,  to  reconcile  political  freedom  with 
spiritual  servitude,  would  assuredly  have  fallen 
back  under  the  old  yoke,  and  would  have  been 
lying  .at  this  day  in  the  gulf  of  "  Papistrie." 
Discarding  this  narrow  visionary  jiroject,  Knox 
gi-asped  the  one  eternal  principle  of  liberty,  the 
government  of  the  human  conscience  by  the  Bible, 
and  planting  his  Reformation  upon  this  great 
foundation-stone,  he  endowed  it  with  the  attribute 
of  durability. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


ANDREW   MELVILLE — THE   TULCIIAN   BI.SHOPS. 

The  Tulehan  Bishops— Evils  that  grow  out  of  this  Arrangement— Supported  by  the  Government— A  Battle  in 
Prospect— A  Champion  Wanting— Andrew  Melvillo — His  Parentage— Education — Studies  Abroad — Goes  to  Geneva 
— Appointed  Professor  of  Humanity  in  its  Academy— Returns  to  Scotland  in  1574— State  of  Scotland  at  his 
Arrival— War  against  the  Tulehan  Bishops— The  General  Assembly  Abolishes  the  Order— Second  Book  of 
Discipline— Perfected  PoUty  of  the  Presbyterian  Kirk— The  Spmtual  Independence— Geneva  and  Scotland— A 
Great  Struggle. 


The  same  year  (l.'iTS)  wliicli  saw  Knox  descend 
into  the  grave  beheld  the  rise  of  a  system  in  Scot- 
land, which  was  styled  episcopacy,  and  yet  was  not 
episcopacy,  for  it  possessed  no  authority  and  exer- 
cised no  ovei-sight.  We  have  already  indicated  the 
motives  which  led  to  this  invasion  upon  the 
Presbyterian  equality  which  had  till  now  prevailed 
in  the  Scottish  Chiu-ch,  and  the  significant  name 
boi-ne  by  the  men  who  filled  the  offices  created 
under  this  arrangement.  They  were  styled  Tulehan 
bishops,  being  only  the  image  or  likeness  of  a 
bishop,  set  up  as  a  convenient  vehicle  through 
wliich  the  fniits  of  the  benefices  might  flow,  not 
into  the  treasury  of  the  C'hvuch,  their  rightful 
tlesti  nation,  but  into  the  pockets  of  patrons  and 
landlords.  We  have  seen  that  Knox  resisted  this 
scheme,  ius  stained  with  the  double  guilt  of  simony 
.and  robbery.     He  held  it,  moreover,  to  be  a  viola- 


tion of  one  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  Presby- 
terian polity,  so  far  as  the  new  bishops  might 
possess  any  real  superiority  of  power  or  rank.  This 
they  hardly  did  as  yet,  for  the  real  power  of  the 
Church  lay  in  her  coiu-ts,  and  the  Tulehan  bishops 
were  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Spiods  and 
Assemblies  equally  wth  their  brethren  ;  but  the 
change  was  deemed  ominous  by  all  the  more  faithful 
ministers,  as  the  commencement  of  a  policy  which 
seemed  certain  in  the  end  to  lay  prostrate  the 
Presbyterianism  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and 
with  it  the  Reformed  religion  and  the  liberties  of 
the  country. 

Meanwhile,  numerous  other  evils  grew  out  of 
this  arrangement.  Tlie  men  who  consented  to 
be  obtruded  into  these  equivocal  posts  were  mosUy 
unqualified,  some  by  their  youth,  olhei-s  by  their 
old    age ;    some   by    inferior    talents,   others    by 


THE  DEATH-WARRAyT  OF  MARY  QUEEN  OP  SCOTS.     {After  tTic  Pairdmg  iy  Wchte.) 


ANDREW   MELVILLE. 


5i; 


their  blemished  character.  They  were  de.spised 
by  the  people  iis  the  tools  of  the  coui-t  and  the 
aristocracy.  Hardly  an  Assembly  met  but  it  had 
to  listen  to  comitlaiiits  against  them  for  neglect 
of  duty,  or  irregularity  of  life,  or  tyrannical  ad- 
ministration. The  ministers,  who  felt  that  these 
abuses  were  debasing  the  purity  and  weakening 
the  influence  of  the  Church,  sought  means  to  correct 
them.  But  the  Government  took  the  side  of  the 
Tulchan  dignitaries.     The  regent,  IMorton,  declared 


and  ardently  attached  to  the  piinciples  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Chiu-ch ;  but  there  was  no  one  who 
possessed  Knox's  sagacity  to  devise,  or  his  in- 
trepidity to  apply,  the  measures  which  the  crisis 
demanded.  They  felt  that  the  Tulchan  episcopacy 
which  had  lifted  up  its  head  in  the  midst  of  them 
must  be  vigorously  resisted  if  Presbyterianism  was 
to  live,  but  a  champion  was  wanting  to  lead  in  the 
battle. 

At   last    one    not   unworthy    to    succeed    Knox 


VIEW    OF    THE    KflNS    OF    liLACKFRI.\US     CHAPEL,     ST.    ANDREWS. 


the  speeches  against  the  new  bishops  to  be  seditious, 
threatened  to  deprive  the  Cluiroh  of  the  liberty  of 
her  Assemblies,  and  advanced  a  claim  to  the  same 
supremacy  over  ecclesiastical  affiiirs  which  had  been 
declared  an  inherent  prerogative  in  the  crown  of 
England.'  Into  this  complicated  and  confused  state 
ha^l  matters  now  come  in  Scotland. 

Tlie  man  who  had  so  largely  contributed  by  his 
unwearied  laboui-s  to  i-ear  the  Scottish  ecclesia-stical 
establishment,  and  who  had  watched  over  it  with 
such  \mslumboring  \'igilanco,  was  now  in  his  grave. 
Of  those  who  remained,  many  were  excellent  men, 


'  Buih  of  Univ.  Kirk,  p.  58. 
vol.  i.,  p.  154. 

148 


M'^.Crio,    Life  of  Melville, 


came  forward  to  fill  the  p.ace  where  that  great 
leader  had  stood.  This  man  was  Andrew  Melville, 
who  in  1574  returned  from  Geneva  to  Scotliuid. 
He  was  of  the  Melvilles  of  Baldovy,  in  the  Mearns, 
and  having  been  left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  four 
years,  was  received  into  the  family  of  his  elder 
brother,  who,  discovei-ing  his  genius  and  taste  for 
learning,  resolved  to  give  him  the  best  education 
the  country  afforded.  He  acquired  Latin  La  the 
gi-ammar-school  of  Montrose,  and  Greek  from 
Pierre  de  Miu-silliers,  a  native  of  France,  who 
taught  in  those  parts;  and  when  the  young  Melville 
entered  the  Univereity  of  St.  Andrews  he  read  the 
original  text  of  Aristotle,  while  his  professors, 
unacquainted  with  the  tongue  of  their  oracle,  com- 


nis 


HISTORY   OF   ?r>OTESTAXTIS>[. 


iiioiiteil  uiiou  liis  works  from  a  Liitiii  tnuislation. ' 
From  St.  Aiiilrews,  Melville  went  to  prosecute  liis 
studies  at  that  ancient  seat  of  learning,  tlic  Uni- 
versity of  Paris.  The  Sorbonne  was  then  lisin;,' 
into  lii,>,'lior  renown  and  attracting  greater  crowds 
of  students  than  ever,  Francis  I.,  at  the  advice  of 
tlie  great  scholar  Bud.eus,  having  just  added  to  it 
tin-ee  new  chairs  for  Latin,  Crreek,  and  Hel)rew. 
These  vndocked  the  gates  of  tlie  ancient  world,  and 
admitted  the  student  to  the  philosophy  of  the 
G-reek  .<iages  and  the  diviner  knowledge  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets.  The  Jesuits  were  at  that  time 
intriguing  to  obtain  admission  into  the  University 
of  Paris,  and  to  insinuate  themselves  into  the  edu- 
cation of  youth,  and  the  insight  Melville  obtained 
abroad  into  the  character  and  designs  of  these 
zealots  was  useful  to  him  in  after-lLfe,  stimulating 
him  as  it  tlid  to  put  the  colleges  of  his  native  land 
on  such  a  footmg  that  the  youth  of  ScotLand  might 
have  no  need  to  seek  instruction  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. Fi'om  Paris,  Meholle  repaired  to  Poictiers, 
where,  diu-ing  a  residence  of  three  years,  he 
discharged  the  duties  of  regent  in  the  College 
of  St.  Marceon,  tUl  he  was  compelled  to  quit  it 
by  the  troubles  of  the  ci'vil  war.  Leaving  Poictiei's, 
he  journeyed  on  foot  to  Geneva,  his  Hebrew  Bible 
sliing  at  his  belt,"  and  in  a  few  days  after  his 
arrival  he  was  elected  to  fill  the  chair  of 
Humanity,  then  vacant,  in  the  famous  academy 
which  Calvin  had  founded  ten  years  before,  and 
which,  as  regards  the  fame  of  its  ma.stei's  and  the 
number  of  its  scholars,  now  rivalled  the  ancient 
iiniversities  of  Europe.^  This  appointment  brought 
him  into  daily  intercourse  with  the  scholars,  minis- 
ters, and  senators  of  Geneva,  and  if  the  Scotsman 
delighted  in  their  lu'banity  and  learning,  they  no 
less  admii-ed  his  candour,  "vivacity,  and  manifold 
acquii'ements.  The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
took  place  dining  Melville's  residence  in  Geneva, 
and  that  terrible  event,  by  crowding  Geneva  with 
refugees,  vastly  enlarged  his  acquaintance  wth  the 
Protestants  of  the  Continent.  There  were  at  one 
time  as  many  as  120  French  mmisters  in  that 
hospitable  city,  and  among  other  learned  strangers 
was  Joseph  Scaliger,  the  greatest  scholar  of  his 
age,  with  whom  MelvUle  I'enewed  an  acquaintance 
which  had  been  begim  two  years  before.  The 
hon-ors  of  this  massacre,  of  which  he  had  had  so 
near  a  ■vdew,  deepened  the  detestation  he  felt  for 
tyranny,  and  helped  to  nerve  him  in  the  efforts  he 
made  in  subsequent  years  for  the  liberties  of  his 


•  James  Melville,    Autobiography   and   IHary,    p.  39; 
Wodrow  ed.,  1842. 
-  Bid.,  p.  41. 
3  Ibid.,  p.  41. 


native  land.  Surro\inded  with  congenial  friends  and 
occupied  in  inqiortant  laboiu's,  that  land  he  had 
all  but  forgotten,  till  it  was  recalled  to  his  heart 
liy  a  visit  from  two  of  his  coiiutiymen,  who,  .striick 
with  his  great  capabilities,  urged  him  to  return 
to  Scotland.  Ha^dng  obtained  with  ditliculty  per- 
mission from  the  Senate  and  Church  of  Geneva  to 
return,  he  .set  out  on  his  way  homeward,  with  a 
letter  from  Beza,  in  which  that  illustrious  man  said 
that  "  the  Chui'ch  of  Geneva  could  not  give  a 
sti'onger  token  of  affection  to  her  sister  of  Scotland 
than  by  despoUiug  herself  of  his  sei-vices  that  the 
Chm-ch  of  Scotland  might  therewith  be  enriched."^ 
Passing  through  Paris  on  the  very  day  that  Charles 
IX.  died  in  the  Louvre,  he  amved  in  Eduibiugh 
in  July,  1574,  after  an  absence  of  ten  yeai-s  from 
his  native  country.  "  He  brought  with  him,"  says 
James  Melville,  "  an  inexhaustible  treasiuy  of 
learning,  a  vast  knowledge  both  of  things  human 
and  cUvine,  and,  what  was  better  stUl,  an  upright 
and  fervent  zeal  for  true  religion,  and  a  firm 
resolution  to  devote  all  his  gifts,  with  unwearied 
painfulness,  to  the  service  of  his  Kirk  and  country 
without  recompense  or  gain."-' 

On  his  arrival  in  Scotland  he  found  the  battle 
against  the  Tulchan  episcopate,  so  incongruously 
joined  on  to  the  Presbyterian  Church,  halting  for 
one  to  lead.  Imjiressed  with  the  simple  order 
which  Calvin  had  established  in  Geneva,  and  as- 
cribing in  large  degree  to  that  cause  the  glory  to 
which  that  Church  had  attained,  and  the  purity  with 
which  religion  flourished  in  it,  and  belie^'ing  with 
Jerome  that,  agreeably  to  the  interchangeable  use 
of  the  words  '•  bishop  "  and  "  presbjrter"  in  the  New 
Testament,  all  ministers  of  the  Gospel  wei'e  at 
first  equal,  Melville  resolved  not  to  rest  till  he  had 
lopped  off  the  unseemly  addition  which  avaricious 
nobles  and  a  tyrannical  Government  had  made  to 
the  Church  of  his  nati^'e  land,  and  restored  it  to  the 
simplicity  of  its  first  order.  He  began  the  battle  in 
the  General  Assembly  of  1.57.5  ;  he  continued  it  in 
following  Assemblies,  and  yntli  such  success  that  the 
General  Assembly  of  1580  came  to  a  unanimou.s 
resolution,  declaring  "  the  office  of  a  bishop,  as  then 
used  and  commonly  imderstood,  to  be  destitute  of 
wan-ant  from  the  Word  of  God,  and  a  human  inven- 
tion, tending  to  the  great  injury  of  the  Church,  and 
ordained  the  bishops  to  demit  their  pretended  ofhce 
.limpliciti'r,  and  to  receive  admission  as  ordinary 
])astors  (/«  novo,  under  pain  of  excommunication."'' 
Not  a  holder  of  a  Tulchan  mitre  but  bowed  to  tlie 
decision  of  the  Assembly. 


••  James  Melville,  Autohiography,  p.  42. 

■'■'  Jri>td.,p.  44. 

'  MrCrie,  Life  of  Melville,  vol.  i.,  p.  102 


THE   SECOND  BOOK   OF   DISCIPLINE. 


619 


While,  on  the  one  hand,  this  new  episcopacy  was 
being  cast  down,  the  Church  was  labouring,  on  the 
other,  to  build  up  and  perfect  her  scheme  of  Pres- 
byterian polity.  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
prosecute  tliis  important  matter,  and  in  the  course  of 
a  series  of  sittings  it  brought  its  work  to  completion, 
and  its  phin  was  sanctioned  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly which  met  in  the  Magdalene  Chapel  of  Edin- 
burgli,  in  1578,  under  the  presidency  of  Ancli'ew 
Melville.  "  From  tliis  time,"  says  Dr.  M^Crio, 
"the  Book  of  Policy,  as  it  was  then  styled,  or 
Second  Book  of  Discipline,  although  not  ratified 
by  the  Privy  Council  or  Parliament,  was  regarded 
by  the  Church  as  exhibiting  her  authorised  form  of 
government,  and  the  subsequent  Assemblies  took 
steps  for  caiT)Tng  its  an-angements  into  eflect,  by 
erecting  presbyteries  throughout  the  kingdom,  and 
committing  to  them  the  oversight  of  all  ecclesias- 
tical affixirs  within  theii'  bounds,  to  the  exclusion  of 
bisliops,  superintendents,  and  visitors."' 

It  may  be  well  to  pause  and  contemplate  the 
Scottish  ecclesiastical  polity  as  now  perfected.  Never 
before  had  the  limits  of  the  civil  and  the  ecclesias- 
tical powers  been  drawn  with  so  bold  a  hand  as  in 
this  Second  Book  of  Discipline.  In  none  of  the 
Confessions  of  the  Reformation  had  the  Chm-ch  been 
.so  clearly  set  forth  as  a  distinct  and,  in  spii-itual 
matters,  independent  society  as  it  was  in  this  one. 
The  Second  Book  of  Discipline  declared  that 
"Clu-Lst  had  appointed  a  government  in  his  Church, 
distinct  from  civil  government,  which  is  to  be 
executed  in  Ins  name  by  such  office-bearere  as  he 
has  avithorised,  and  not  by  civil  magistrates  or 
under  tlieir  direction."  This  marks  a  notable 
advance  in  the  Protestant  theoiy  of  Church  power, 
wliich  differs  from  the  Popish  theory,  inasmuch  as 
it  is  co-ordinate  with,  not  superior  to,  the  civnl 
jwwer,  its  claims  to  supremacy  being  strictly 
limited  to  things  spiiitual,  and  subject  to  the  State 
in  things  temporal.  Luther  had  grasped  the  idea 
of  the  essential  distinction  between  the  two  powers, 
but  he  shrank  from  the  difficidty  of  embodying  his 
views  in  a  Church  organisation.  Calvin,  after  a  great 
battle,  had  succeeded  in  vesting  tlie  Chm-ch  of 
Geneva  with  a  certain  measure  of  spiritual  indepen- 
dence ;  but  the  State  there  was  a  theocracy  with 
two  branches — the  spiritual  administration  of  the 


'  Builc  of  Univ.  Kirk,  pp.  73,  74.    Mf  Crie,  Ufe  of  Mel- 
ville, vol.  i.,  p.  1C5. 


consistory,  and  the  moral  administration  of  the 
senate — and  hence  the  impossibility  of  instituting 
definite  boundaries  between  the  two.  But  in 
Scotland  there  was  more  than  a  city ;  there  were  a 
kingdom,  a  Parliament,  a  monarch ;  and  this  not 
only  permitted,  but  necessitated,  a  fuller  develop- 
ment of  the  autonomy  of  the  Church  than  was  pos- 
sible in  Geneva.  Hence  the  Scottish  arrangement 
more  nearly  resembles  that  which  olitaincd  in  France 
than  that  which  was  set  up  in  Geneva ;  besides, 
Mary  Stuart  was  Romish,  and  Knox  could  not  give 
to  a  Popish  sovereign  the  power  which  Calvin  had 
given  to  the  Protestant  senate  of  Geneva.  Still  the 
First  Book  of  Discipline  was  incomplete  as  regards 
its  arrangements.  It  was  compiled  to  meet  an  emer- 
gency, and  many  of  its  jarovisions  were  necessarily 
temporary.  But  the  Second  Book  of  Discipline 
contained  a  scheme  of  Church  polity,  developed  from 
the  root-idea  of  the  supernatural  origin  of  the 
Church,  and  which  alike  in  its  general  scope  and 
its  particular  details  was  framed  with  the  view  of 
providing  at  once  for  the  maintenance  of  the  order, 
and  the  conservation  of  the  liberty  of  the  Chiu'ch. 
The  Parliament  did  not  ratify  the  Second  Book  of 
Discipline  till  1592 ;  but  that  was  a  secondary 
matter  with  its  compilers,  for  in  their  view  the 
gi-anting  of  such  ratification  could  not  add  to,  and 
the  withholding  of  it  could  not  take  from,  the  in- 
herent authority  of  the  scheme  of  government,  which 
had  its  biniUng  jjower  from  the  Scriptures  or  had  no 
binding  power  whatever.  Of  what  avail,  then,  was 
the  ratification  of  ParKament  t  Simply  this,  that 
the  State  thereby  pledged  itself  not  to  interfere 
■with  or  overthi'ow  this  discipline;  and,  further,  it 
might  be  held  as  the  symbol  of  the  nation's  ac- 
ceptance of  and  submission  to  this  discipline  as  a 
Scrijrtural  one,  which,  however,  the  Church  neither 
wished  nor  sought  to  enforce  by  civil  penalties. 

It  was  out  of  this  completed  settlement  of  the 
Presbyterian  polity  that  that  great  struggle  arose 
which  ultimately  involved  both  England  and  Scot- 
land in  civU  war,  and  which,  ivfter  an  immense 
efi'usion  of  blood,  in  the  southern  kingdom  on  the 
battle-field,  and  in  the  northern  on  the  scaffolds  of 
its  martyrs,  issued  in  the  Revolution  of  1688,  which 
placed  the  Protestant  House  of  Orange  on  the 
throne  of  Great  Britain,  and  secured,  under  the 
sanction  of  an  oath,  that  the  constitution  and 
sovereigns  of  the  realm  should  in  all  time  coming 
bo  Protestant. 


520 


HISTOEY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


BATTLES   FOR    PRESBYTERIANISM   AND    LIBERTY, 

James  TI. — His  Evil  Counsellors— Love  of  Arbitrary  Power  and  Hatred  of  Presbyterianism— State  of  Scotland — 
The  Kirk  its  One  Free  Institution— The  Presbyterian  Ministers  the  Only  Defenders  of  the  Nation's  Liberties— 
The  National  Covenant— Tulchan  Bishops— Piobert  Montgomery— His  Excommunication— MelviUe  before  the 
King— Raid  of  Euthven— The  Black  Acts— Influence  of  the  Spanish  Armada  on  Scotland — Act  of  1592  Ratifying 
Presbyterian  Church  Government— Return  of  Popish  Lords— Interview  between  MelviUe  and  James  VI.  at 
Falkland— Broken  Promises— Prelacy  set  up— Importance  of  the  Battle— James  VI.  Ascends  the  Throne  of 
England. 

France ;  to  fill  James's  mind  with  exalted  notions 
of  his  own  prerogative ;  to  inspii-e  him  \vith  a 
detestation  of  Presbyterian  Protestantism,  the 
greatest  foe  of  absohite  power ;  and  to  lead  him 
l)ack  to  Rome,  tlie  great  uphohler  of  the  Divine 
right  of  kings.  Accordingly  Esme  Stuart  did  not 
come  alone.  He  was  in  due  time  followed  by 
Jesuits  and  .seminary  pi-iests,  and  the  secret  in- 
fluence of  tliese  men  soon  made  itself  manifest  in 
the  open  defection  of  some  who  had  hitherto  pro- 
fessed tlie  Protestant  faith.  In  short,  this  was  an 
off-shoot  of  that  great  plot  which  was  in  1587  to 
be  smitten  on  the  scaffold  in  Fotheringay  Castle, 
and  to  receive  a  yet  heavier  blow  from  the  tem- 
pest that  strewed  the  bottom  of  the  North  Sea 
with  the  hulks  of  tlie  "  Invincible  Ai'mada,"  and 
lined  the  western  shores  of  Ireland  with  the  coiijses 
of  Spanish  warriors. 

The  Presbyterian  ministers  took  the  alarm. 
This  flocking  of  foul  bu'ds  to  the  court,  and  this 
crowding  of  "men  in  masks"  into  the  kingdom,  fore- 
boded no  good  to  that  Protestant  establishment 
which  was  the  main  bulwark  of  the  country's 
liberties.  The  alarm  was  deepened  by  intercepted 
letters  from  Rome  gi-anting  a  dispensation  to 
Roman  Catholics  to  profess  the  Protestant  faitli 
for  a  time,  provided  they  cherished  in  their  hearts 
a  loyalty  to  Rome,  and  let  slip  no  opportunity 
their  di-sguise  might  offer  them  of  advancing  her 
interests.'  A  crisis  was  evidently  approaching, 
and  if  the  Scottish  people  were  to  liold  possession 
of  that  impoi-tant  domain  of  liberty  which  tliey  had 
conquered  they  must  fight  for  it.  Constitutional 
government  had  not  indeed  been  set  up  as  yet  in 
f\ill  form  in  Scotland ;  but  Buchanan,  Knox,  and 
now  Melville  were  tlie  advocates  of  its  principles ; 
thus  tlie  germs  of  that  form  of  government  had  been 
planted  in  tlie  country,  and  its  working  initiated  by 


I\  1578,  James  VI.,  now  twelve  years  of  age,  took 
tlie  reins  of  government  into  his  own  hand.  His 
preceptor,  the  illustrious  Buchanan,  had  laboured 
to  inspire  him  witli  a  taste  for  learning — the  capa- 
city he  could  not  give  him — and  to  qualify  him  for 
his  future  duties  as  a  sovereign  by  instructing  him 
in  the  prmciples  of  civU  and  religious  liberty. 
But  unhappUy  the  young  king,  at  an  early  period 
of  his  reign,  fell  under  the  influence  of  two  worth- 
less and  profligate  courtiers,  who  strove  but  too 
successfully  to  make  hmi  forget  all  that  Buchanan 
had  taught  him.  These  were  Esme  Stuart,  a 
cousin  of  his  father,  who  now  arrived  from 
France,  and  was  afterwards  created  Earl  of 
Lennox ;  and  Captain  James  Stuart,  a  son  of 
Lord  Ochiltree,  a  man  of  profligate  manners, 
whose  unprincipled  ambition  was  rewarded  with 
the  title  and  estates  of  the  unfortunate  Earl  of 
Arran.  The  .sum  of  what  these  men  taught  James 
was  that  there  was  neither  power  nor  glory  in  a 
throne  unless  the  monai'ch  were  absolute,  and  that 
as  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  his 
native  countiy  was  the  gi-eat  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  his  governing  according  to  his  own  arbitrary 
will,  it  behoved  him  above  all  tilings  to  sweep 
away  the  jurisdiction  of  Pre.sbyterianism.  An 
independent  Kirk  and  an  absolute  throne  could 
not  co-exist  in  the  same  realm.  These  maxims 
accorded  but  too  well  with  the  traditions  of  his 
house  and  his  own  prepossessions  not  to  be  eagerly 
imbibed  by  tlie  king.  He  proved  an  apt  scholar, 
and  the  e\'il  transformation  wrought  upon  him  bj' 
the  counsellors  to  whom  he  had  surrendered  liim- 
self  was  completed  by  his  initiation  into  scenes  of 
youthful  debauchery. 

The  Popish  politicians  on  the  Continent  foresaw, 
of  course,  that  James  VI.  would  mount  the  throne 
of  England ;  and  there  is  reason  to  think  that  the 
mission  of  the  polished  and  insinuating  but  un- 
principled Esme  Stuart  liad  reference  to  that 
expectation.  The  Duke  of  Guise  sent  liini  to 
restore    the    broken    link    between   Scotland   and 


'  MrCrie,  Life  of  Melville,  vol.  i.,  p.  262.  See  also  note 
AA,  ed.  1819.  Spottiswood,  p.  308.  Strypc,  Annals, 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  630,  631. 


THE  SWEARING  OP  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 


521 


the  erection  of  the  Presbyterian  Cliureli  Couits  ; 
limits  had  been  put  ujjon  the  arbitrary  will  of  the 
monarch  by  the  exclusion  of  the  royal  [lower  from 
tlie  most  imjiortant  of  all  departments  of  human 
liberty  and  rights  ;  and  the  great  body  of  the  people 
were  inflamed  with  the  resolution  of  maintaining 
these  great  acquisitions,  now  menaced  by  both  the 
secret  and  the  open  emissaries  of  the  Guises  and 
Home.  But  there  were  none  to  rally  the  people  to 
the  defence  of  the  public  liberties  but  the  ministers. 
The  Parliament  in  Scotland  was  the  tool  of  the 
court ;  the  com-ts  of  justice  had  theii'  decisions 
dictated  by  letters  from  the  king ;  there  was  yet 
no  free  press ;  there  was  no  organ  through  which 
the  public  sentiment  could  find  expression,  or  shape 
itself  into  action,  but  the  Kii-k.  It  alone  possessed 
anj-thiug  like  liberty,  or  had  courage  to  opjjose  tlie 
iii'bitrary  measures  of  the  Government.  The  Kirk 
tlierefore  must  come  to  the  front,  and  give  ex])ression 
to  the  national  voice,  if  that  voice  was  to  be  heard  at 
all ;  and  the  Kirk  must  put  its  machinery  in  action 
to  defend  at  once  its  own  independence  and  the 
independence  of  the  nation,  both  of  wlricli  were 
threatened  by  the  same  blow.  Accordingly,  on  this 
occasion,  as  so  often  aftei-wards,  the  leaders  of  the 
ojiposition  were  ecclesiastical  men,  and  th*:  measures 
they  adopted  were  on  their  outer  sides  ecclesiastical 
also.  The  cii-cumstances  of  the  country  made  this 
a  necessity.  But  whatever  the  foinns  and  names 
employed  in  the  conflict,  the  question  at  issue 
was,  shall  the  king  govern  by  his  own  arbitrary 
irresponsible  will,  or  .shall  the  power  of  the 
throne  be  limited  by  the  chartered  rights  of  the 
people  1 

This  led  to  the  swearing  of  the  National  Cove- 
nant. It  is  only  ignorance  of  the  gi-eat  conflict  of 
the  sixteenth  centm-y  that  would  represent  this  as  a 
mere  Scottish  peculiarity.  We  have  already  met 
with  repeated  instances,  in  the  course  of  our  liistory, 
in  which  this  expedient  for  cementing  union  .and 
strengthening  confidence  amongst  the  fi-iends  of 
Protestantism  was  had  recourse  to.  The  L>itheran 
jiriuces  rc])eatedly  subscribed  not  unsimilar  bonds. 
Tiie  Waldenses  assembled  beneath  the  rocks  of 
Bol)bio,  and  with  uplifted  hands  swore  to  rckindk; 
their  "ancient  lamp"  or  die  in  the  attempt  The 
citizens  of  Geneva,  twice  over,  met  in  their  gi-eat 
Church  of  St  Peter,  and  swore  to  the  Eternal  to 
resist  the  duke,  and  maintain  their  evangelical 
confession.  The  capitals  of  other  cantons  also 
hallowed  their  stniggle  for  the  Gospel  by  an  oath. 
The  Hungarian  Protestants  followed  this  example. 
In  l.")Gl  the  nobles,  citizens,  .and  troops  in  Erlau 
bound  themselves  by  oath  not  to  foi-sake  the  tnitli. 
and  circulated  their  Covenant  in  the  neighbouring 


jjarishes,  where  also  it  was  subscribed.'  The 
Covenant  from  which  the  Protestants  of  Scotland 
sought  to  draw  strength  and  confidence  has  attracted 
more  notice  than  any  of  the  aljove  instances,  from  this 
cii-cumstance,  that  the  Covenanters  were  not  a  party 
but  a  nation,  and  the  Covenant  of  Scotland,  like  its 
Eefonnation,  was  national.  The  Covenanters  swore 
in  brief  to  resist  Popery,  and  to  maintain  Pro- 
testantism and  constitutional  monarchy.  They 
first  of  all  explicitly  abjured  the  Eomish  tenets, 
they  promised  to  adhere  to  and  defend  the  doctrine 
and  the  government  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
Scotland,  and  finally  they  engaged  under  the  same 
oath  to  defend  the  person  and  authority  of  the  king, 
"  with  our  goods,  bodies,  and  lives,  in  the  defence  of 
Christ's  Evangel,  liberties  of  our  country,  ministra- 
tion of  justice,  and  pvmishment  of  iniquity,  against 
all  enemies  mthin  this  realm  and  without."  It  was 
subscribed  (1.581)  by  the  king  and  his  household 
and  by  all  ranks  in  the  country.  The  arrangement 
with  Rome  made  the  subscription  of  the  co>u-tiers 
almost  a  matter  of  course  ;  even  Esme  Stuart,  now 
Earl  of  Lennox,  seeing  how  the  tide  was  flowing, 
professed  to  be  a  convert  to  the  Protestant  faith. - 

The  national  enthusiasm  in  behalf  of  the  Reformed 
Church  was  gi-eatly  strengthened  by  this  solemn 
transaction,  but  the  intrigues  against  it  at  court 
went  on  all  the  same.  The  battle  was  begun  by  the 
appointment  of  a  Tvlchnii,  bishop  for  Glasgow. 
The  pei-son  prefeiTed  to  this  (juestionable  dignity 
was  Robert  Montgomery,  minister  of  Stirling,  who, 
said  the  people,  "  had  the  title,  but  my  Lord  of  Len- 
nox (Esme  Stuart)  had  the  milk."  The  General 
Assembly  of  1582  were  proceeding  to  suspend  the 
new-made  bishop  from  the  exercise  of  his  oflice, 
when  a  messenger-at-arms  entered,  and  charged  the 
moderator  and  members,  "  under  pam  of  rebellion 
and  putting  them  to  the  horn,"  to  stop  procedure. 
The  Assembly,  so  fiir  from  complying,  pronounced 
the  heavier  sentence  of  exeommmiication  on  Mont- 
gomery ;  and  the  sentence  was  publicly  intimated 
in  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow,  in  spite  of  Esme  Stuart, 
wiio,  fmious  with  r.age,  threatened  to  jioignard  the 
preacher.  It  shows  how  .strongly  the  popular  feel- 
ing was  in  favour  of  the  Assembly,  and  against  the 
court,  that  when  Montgomery  came  soon  after  to 
liay  a  visit  to  his  patron  Lennox,  the  inhabitants  of 
Edinburgh  rose  in  a  l)ody,  demanding  that  the 
town  should  not  be  jjolluted  with  his  presence,  and 
literally  chased  him  out  of  it.     Nor  was  he,  with  all 

'  This  document  is  preserved  in  Presburff.  in  the  library 
of  Georgo  Adonys.  (Hist.  Prot.  Church  in  Hungary,  p.  7S; 
Lond.,  18.54.) 

-  Buik  of  Unir.  Kirk,  pp.  9C-99.  M'Crie,  Life  "/af--!- 
ville,  vol.  i,  p.  262. 


522 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


his  speed,  able  to  escape  a  few  "bufiets  in  the  neck  " 
as  he  hastily  made  his  exit  at  the  wicketrgate  of  the 
Potter  Row. 

The  matter  did  not  end  with  the  ignominious 
expulsion  of  Montgomery  from  the  capital.  The 
next  General  Asscmljly  adopted  a  simited  re- 
monstrance  to    the  king,    setting    forth    that    the 


came  forward,  one  after  another,  and  appended  their 
signatures.  Even  the  insolent  Arran  was  abashed  ; 
and  Melville  and  his  brethren  were  peaceably 
dismissed.  Protection  from  noljlc  or-  from  other 
ijuarter  the  ministers  had  none ;  their  courage  was 
their  only  shield.' 

There  followed  some  chequered  years;  the  nobles, 


OEOEGE    EUCIIANAX. 

(From  nil  authentic  PoHrait  in  the  iiossession  of  V,  Lainfj,  Esq.,  LL.D.) 


authority  of  the  Church  had  been  invaded,  her 
sentences  disamiulled,  and  her  ministers  obstructed 
in  the  discharge  of  their  duty,  and  begging  redress 
of  these  giievances.  Andrew  Melville  with  others 
■was  appointed  to  present  the  paper  to  the  king 
in  council ;  having  obtained  audience,  the  com- 
missioners read  the  remonstrance.  The  reading 
finished,  An-an  looked  round  with  a  ^^^•athful 
countenance,  and  demanded,  "  Who  dares  sul)scribe 
these  trea.sonable  articles  t "  "  We  dare, "  re- 
plied Melville,  and,  advancing  to  the  table,  he  took 
the  pen  and  subscribed.     The  other  commissioners 


roused  liy  the  courageous  bearing  of  the  ministers, 
made  an  attempt  to  free  themselves  and  the  countiy 
from  the  ignominious  tyranny  of  the  unworthy 
ftivourites,  who  were  trampling  upon  their  liberties. 
But  then-  attempt,  kno^vTl  as  the  "Raid  of  Ruthvcn," 
was  ill-advised,  and  very  unlike  the  calm  and  con- 
stitutional ojiposition  of  the  ministei-s.  Tlie  nobles 
took  possession  of  the  king's  person,  and  compelled 
the  Frenchmen  to  leave  the  country.     The  year's 


'  James  Melville,  Autobiography,  pp.  129,  133. 
Life  of  Melville,  vol.  i.,  p.  273. 


MfCrie. 


THE   KIRK   AND   THE   NATIONAL   LIBERTIES. 


fi53 


peace  which  this  violence  procured  for  the  Cliurch  was 
ilcarly  purchased,  for  the  tide  of  opjiression  imme- 
diately returned  with  all  the  greater  force.  Andrew 
Melville  had  to  retii-e  into  England,  and  that  in- 
trepid champion  oft'  the  scene,  the  Parliament  (1584) 


the  only  organ  of  public  sentiment,  and  the  only 
bulwark  of  the  nation's  liberties.  The  General 
Assembly  could  not  meet  unless  the  king  willed, 
and  thus  he  held  in  his  liands  the  whole  power  of 
the  Church.    This  was  in  violation  of  repeated  Acts 


OUY   PAWKES  8   CELLAK. 


overturned  the  independence  of  the  Church.  It 
enacted  that  no  ecclesiastical  Assembly  should  meet 
without  the  king's  leave  ;  that  no  one  should  de- 
cline the  judgment  of  the  king  and  Privy  Council 
on  any  matter  whatever,  under  perU  of  treason,  and 
that  all  ministei-s  shoidd  acknowledge  the  bishops 
as  their  ecclesis.atical  superiors.  These  decrees  were 
termed  the  Black  Acts.  Their  effect  was  to  lay  at 
the  feet  of  the  king  that  whole  machinery  of  eccle- 
siastical courts  which,  as  matters  then  stood,  was 


of  Parliament,  which  had  vested  the  Church  with  the 
power  of  convoking  and  dissolving  her  Assemblies, 
wthout  which  her  liberties  were  an  illusion. 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Scotland  was  lying  in 
what  seemed  ruin,  when  it  was  lifted  up  by  an 
event  that  at  fii-st  threatened  destruction  to  it  and 
to  the  whole  Protestantism  of  Britain.  It  was  at 
this  time  that  the  storm-cloud  of  the  Ai-mada 
gathered,  burst,  and  passed  away,  but  not  without 
rousing  the  spirit  of  liberty  in  Scotland.     The  Scots 


S24 


HISTORY  OF  PEOtESTANTlSM. 


resolved  to  set  theii*  house  m  order,  lest  a  second 
Ai'mada  should  approach  their  shores,  intercepted 
letters  having  made  them  aware  that  Huntly  and 
the  Popish  lords  of  the  north  were  lu-ging  Philip  II. 
of  Spain  to  make  another  attempt,  and  promising 
to  second  his  eflbrts  with  soldiers  who  would  not 
only  place  Scotland  at  his  feet,  but  would  aid  him 
to  subjugate  England.^  Even  James  VI.  paused 
in  the  road  he  was  travelling  towards  that  oldest 
and  staunchest  friend  of  despotic  princes,  the  Church 
of  Rome,  seeing  his  kingdom  about  to  depart  from 
liim.  His  ardour  had  been  cooled,  too,  by  the 
man}'  difficulties  he  had  encountered  Ln  his  attempts 
to  impose  upon  his  subjects  a  hierarchy  to  which 
they  were  repugnant ;  and  either  through  that 
fickleness  and  inconstancj'  which  were  a  part  of  his 
nature,  or  through  that  incurable  craft  which 
characterised  him  as  it  had  done  all  his  race,  he 
became  for  the  time  a  zealous  Presbyterian.  Nay, 
he  "  praised  God  that  he  was  bom  in  such  a  place 
as  to  be  king  in  such  a  Ku-k,  the  purest  Kirk  in 
the  world.  I,  forsooth,"  he  concluded,  "  as  long 
as  I  brook  my  life  and  crown  shall  maintain  the 
same  against  all  deadly."^  Andrew  Melville  had 
returned  from  London  after  a  year's  absence,  and 
his  first  care  was  to  resuscitate  the  Protestant  liber- 
ties which  lay  buried  imder  the  late  Parliamentary 
enactments.  Nor  were  his  labours  in  vain.  In 
1592,  Parliament  restored  the  Presbyterian  Church 
as  it  had  formerly  existed,  I'atifying  its  government 
by  Kirk-sessions,  Presbytex'ies,  Provincial  Synods, 
and  National  Assemblies.  This  Act  has  ever  been 
held  to  be  the  grand  charter  of  Presbyterianism  in 
Scotland."  It  was  hailed  with  joy,  not  as  adding 
a  particle  of  inherent  authority  to  the  system  it 
recognised — the  basis  of  that  authority  the  Church 
had  already  laid  do^vn  in  her  Books  of  Discipline — 
but  because  it  gave  the  Church  a  legal  pledge  that 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Romish  Church  would  not  be 
restored,  and  by  consequence,  that  of  the  Reformed 
Church  not  overthrown.''  This  Act  gave  the  Church 
of  Scotland  a  legal  groimd  on  which  to  fight  her 
future  battles. 

But  James  VI.  wa.s  incapable  of  being  long  of 
one  mind,  or  persevering  steadily  in  one  coiuse. 
In  1596  the  Popish  lords,  who  had  left  the  country 
on  the  .suppression  of  their  rebellion,  returned  to 
Scotland.  Notwithstanding  that  they  had  risen 
in  arms  against  the  king,  and  had  continued 
theii-  plots  while  they  lived   abroad,   Jame.s    was 

'  See  copy  of  letters,  with  the  cipher  in  which  they  were 
written,  and  its  key,  in  Calderwood,  Hist.,  vol.  v.,  p.  7  et  sc./. 
-'  Calderwood,  Hist.,  vol.  v.,  p.  lOG. 
^  Act  James  VT.,  1592. 
*  Calderwood,  Hist.,  vol.  v.,  pp.  liiO— IGfi. 


willing  to  receive  and  reinstate  these  conspirators. 
His  Council  were  of  the  same  mind  with  himself. 
Not  so  the  country  and  the  Chui'ch,  which  saw  new 
conspiracies  and  wars  in  jjrospect,  should  these 
inveterate  plotters  be  taken  back.  Without  loss  of 
time,  a  deputation  of  ministers,  appointed  at  a 
convention  held  at  Cupar,  proceeded  to  Falkland  to 
remonstrate  with  the  king  on  the  ])roposud  recall  of 
those  who  had  shown  themselves  tl>e  enemies  of  his 
throne  and  the  disturbers  of  his  realm.  The 
ministers  were  admitted  into  the  palace.  It  had 
been  agi'eed  that  James  Melville,  the  nephew  of 
Andrew,  for  whom  the  king  entertained  great 
respect,  being  a  man  of  courteous  address,  should 
be  theii'  spokesman.  He  had  only  uttered  a  few 
words  when  the  king  violently  interrupted  him, 
denouncing  him  and  Ids  associates  as  seditious 
stirrers  up  of  the  people.  The  nephew  would 
soon  have  succumbed  to  the  tempest  of  the  royal 
anger  if  the  uncle  had  not  stepped  forward.  James 
VI.  and  AniU-ew  Melville  stood  once  more  face  to 
face.  For  a  few  seconds  there  was  a  conflict  be- 
tween the  kingly  authority  of  the  sovereign  and  the 
moral  majesty  of  the  patriot.  But  soon  the  king 
yielded  himself  to  Meholle.  Taking  James  by  the 
sleeve,  and  calling  him  "  God's  sillie  vassal,"  he 
proceeded,  says  M^Crie,  "to  address  him  in  the 
following  strain,  perhaps  the  most  singular,  in  point 
of  freedom,  that  ever  saluted  royal  ears,  or  that 
ever  proceeded  from  the  mouth  of  loyal  subject, 
who  would  have  spilt  his  blood  in  defence  of  the 
person  and  honour  of  his  piince : — '  Sir,'  said 
Melville,  'we  will  always  humbly  reverence  your 
Majesty  in  public,  but  since  we  have  this  occasion 
to  be  with  your  Majesty  in  private,  and  since  you 
are  brought  into  extreme  danger  both  of  your  life 
and  crown,  and  along  with  you  the  coiuitry  and 
the  Church  of  God  are  like  to  go  to  wreck,  for  not 
telling  you  the  truth  and  gi^dngyou  faithful  counsel, 
we  must  discharge  oiir  duty  or  else  be  traitors,  both 
to  Christ  and  you.  Therefore,  sii',  as  divers  times 
before  I  have  told  you,  so  now  again  T  must  tell 
you,  there  are  two  kings  and  two  kingdoms  in 
Scotland  :  there  is  Christ  Jesus  the  King  of  the 
Church,  whose  subject  King  James  the  Sixth  is,  and 
of  whose  kingdom  he  is  not  a  king,  nor  a  lord,  nor 
a  head,  btit  a  nu^mber.  .  .  .  We  will  yield  to 
you  your  place,  and  give  you  all  due  obedience  ;  but 
again  I  say,  you  are  not  tlie  head  of  the  Church ; 
you  cannot  give  us  that  eternal  life  whicli  even  in 
this  world  we  seek  for,  and  you  cannot  deprive  lis 
of  it.  Permit  us  then  freely  to  meet  in  the  name 
of  Christ,  and  to  attend  to  the  interests  of  that 
Church  of  whioJi  you  are  the  chief  member.  Sir, 
when   you  were  in   your  swudilliug-clotlu's,  Christ 


ANDREW  MELVILLE  AND  JxlMES  VL 


025 


Jesus  iX'igiu'd  iVtrly  in  this  land,  in  spite  of  all  liis 
enemies ;  his  olKcei'S  and  ministers  convened  for 
the  ruling  and  the  welfare  of  his  Church,  which 
was  ever  for  your  welfare,  defence,  and  preserva- 
tion, wlien  these  same  enemies  were  seeking  your 
destruction  and  cutting  off.  Aud  now,  when 
there  is  more  than  extreme  necessity  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  that  duty,  ^vilI  you  hinder  and  dishearten 
Christ's  servants,  and  your  most  faithful  subjects, 
quarrelling  them  for  theii'  convening,  when  you 
sliould  rather  commend  and  countenance  them  as 
the  godly  kings  and  emperors  did^'"'  The  storm, 
which  had  risen  with  so  great  and  sudden  a  violence 
at  the  mild  words  of  the  nephew,  went  down  be- 
foi'e  the  energy  and  honesty  of  the  uncle,  and  the 
deputation  was  dismissed  with  assurances  that  no 
favour  should  be  shown  the  Popish  lords,  and  no 
march  stolen  upon  the  liberties  of  the  Church. 

But  hardly  were  the  ministers  gone  when  steps 
were  taken  for  restoring  the  insurgent  nobles,  and 
undermining  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  The 
policy  adojited  for  accomplishing  this  was  singularly 
subtle,  and  reveals  the  hand  of  the  Jesuits,  of 
whom  there  were  then  numbers  in  the  coimtry. 
First  of  all,  the  king  preferred  the  apparently  imio- 
eent  request  that  a  certain  number  of  ministers 
shoidd  Ije  appointed  as  assessors,  with  whom  he 
might  advise  in  "  all  affixirs  concerning  the  weal  of 
the  Church."  Fourteen  ministers  were  appointed  : 
"  the  very  needle,"  says  James  Melville,  "  which 
drew  in  the  episcopal  thread."  The  second  step  was 
to  declare  by  Act  of  Parliament  that  Prelacy  was 
the  third  Estate  of  the  Realm,  and  that  those  mini- 
stei-s  whom  the  king  chose  to  raise  to  that  dignity 
should  be  entitled  to  sit  or  vote  in  Parliament. 
The  third  step  was  to  enact  that  the  Church  should 
be  represented  in  Parliament,  aud  that  the  fourteen 
assessors  already  chosen  should  form  that  repre- 
sentation. The  matter  having  reached  this  hopeful 
stage,  the  king  adventured  on  the  foui-th  and  last 
step,  which  was  to  nominate  David  Lindsay,  Peter 
Blackbin-n,  and  George  Gladstanes  to  the  vacant 
bislio])rics  of  Ross,  Aberdeen,  and  Caithness.  The 
iiew-mado  bishops  took  their  seats  in  the  next 
Parliament.  Tlie  art  and  finpssp,  of  the  king  and 
his  counsellors  had  triunqihed  ;  but  his  victory  was 
not  yet  complete,  for  the  Genei-al  Assembly  still 
continued  to  manage,  although  with  diminished 
authority  and  freedom,  the  affairs  of  the  Church. 


'  MfCrie,  Life  of  Melville,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  62—65. 


The  war  we  have  been  contemplating  was  waged 
witliin  a  small  area,  but  its  issue  was  world-wide. 
The  ecclesiastical  names  and  forms  that  appear  on 
its  surface  may  make  this  struggle  repulsive  in  the 
eyes  of  some.  Waged  in  the  Palace  of  Falkland, 
and  on  the  floor  of  the  General  Assemblj-,  these 
contests  are  apt  to  be  set  down  as  having  no 
higher  origin  than  clerical  ambition,  and  no  wider 
object  than  ecclesia.stical  supremacy.  But  this,  in 
the  present  instance  at  least,  would  be  a  most 
superficial  and  erroneous  judgment.  We  see  in 
these  conflicts  infant  Liberty  struggling  -with  the 
old  hydra  of  Despotism.  The  independence  and 
freedom  of  Scotland  were  here  as  really  in  question 
as  on  the  fields  waged  by  Wallace  and  Bruce,  and 
the  men  who  fought  in  the  contests  which  have  been 
passing  before  us  braved  death  as  really  as  those  do 
who  meet  mailed  antagonists  on  the  battle-field. 
Nay,  more,  Scotland  and  its  Kirk  had  at  this  time 
become  the  key-stone  in  the  arch  of  European 
liberty  ;  and  the  unceasing  efforts  of  the  Pope,  the 
King  of  Spain,  and  the  Guises  were  directed  to 
the  displacing  of  that  key-stone,  that  the  arch  which 
it  upheld  might  be  destroyed.  They  were  sending 
their  agents  into  the  country,  they  were  fomenting 
rebellions,  they  were  flattering  the  weak  conceit 
of  wisdom  and  of  arbitrary  power  in  James :  not 
that  they  cared  for  the  conquest  of  Scotland  in 
itself  so  much  as  they  coveted  a  door  by  which 
to  enter  England,  and  suppress  its  Reformation, 
which  they  regarded  as-  the  one  thing  wanting  to 
complete  the  success  of  their  schemes  for  the  total 
extermination  of  Protestantism.  With  servile 
Parliaments  and  a  spiritless  nobility,  the  public 
liberties  as  well  as  the  Protestantism  of  Scotland 
would  have  perished  but  for  the  vigilance  and  in- 
trepidity of  the  Presbyterian  ministers,  and,  above 
all,  the  incorniptible,  the  dauntless  and  unflinch- 
ing courage  and  patriotism  of  Andrew  INIelville. 
These  men  may  have  been  rough  in  speech;  tliey 
may  have  permitted  tlieii-  temper  to  be  ruffled,  and 
their  indignation  to  be  set  on  tii'e,  in  exposing  craft 
and  -withstanding  tyranny ;  but  that  man's  under- 
standing must  be  as  narrow  as  his  heart  is  cold, 
who  woidd  think  for  a  moment  of  weighing  such 
things  in  the  balance  against  the  priceless  lilessing 
of  a  nation's  liberties. 

The  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  1603,  called 
James  VI.  to  London,  and  the  centre  of  the  conflict, 
which  widens  as  the  j-ears  advance,  changes  with 
the  monarch  to  England. 


626 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


JAMES   VI.    IN    ENGLAND — THE  GUNPOWDER   PLOT. 

Steps  to  Hinder  a  Protestant  Successor  to  Elizabeth — Bulls  of  Clement  VIII. — Application  to  Philip  II. — English 
Jesuits  thrown  on  theii-  own  Resources — The  Gunpowder  Plot  Proposed — Catesby — Percy — Preparations  to  Blow 
up  the  Parliament — Pacific  Professions  of  Romanists  the  while — Proofs  that  the  Plot  was  Known  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Authorities— The  Spanish  Match — Disgraceful  Treaty — Growing  Troubles. 


When  it  became  known  at  Rome  that  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth  was  drawing  to  a  close,  steps  were  imme- 
diately taken  to  prevent  any  one  mounting  her 
throne  save  a  prince  whose  attachment  to  Roman 
Catholicism  could  not  be  doubted,  and  on  whom 
sure  hopes  could  be  built  that  he  would  restore  the 
Papacy  in  England.  The  doubtful  Protestantism  of 
the  Scottish  king  had,  as  we  have  already  .said,  been 
somewhat  strengthened  by  the  destruction  of  the 
Spanish  Armada.  It  was  further  steadied  by  the 
representations  made  to  him  by  Elizabeth  and  her 
wise  ministers,  to  the  effect  that  he  could  not  hope 
to  succeed  to  the  throne  of  England  unless  he  should 
put  his  attachment  to  the  Protestant  interests  be- 
yond suspicion ;  and  that  the  nobility  and  gentry 
of  England  had  too  much  honour  and  spii-it  ever 
again  to  bow  the  neck  to  the  tyranny  of  the  Church 
of  Rome.  These  representations  and  warnings 
weighed  with  the  monarch,  the  summit  of  whose 
wishes  was  to  ascend  the  throne  of  the  southern 
kingdom,  and  who  was  ready  to  protest  or  even 
swear  to  maintain  any  set  of  maxims,  political  or 
religious,  which  the  necessity  of  the  hoar  made 
advisable,  seeing  that  his  principles  of  kingcraft 
peitnitted  the  ado]ition  of  a  new  policy  whenever 
a  new  emergency  arose  or  a  stronger  temptation 
crossed  his  ])ath.  Accordingly  we  find  James,  in 
the  instructions  sent  to  Hamilton,  his  agent  in 
England  in  1600,  bidiliiig  him  "assure  all  honest 
men,  on  the  princely  word  of  a  Christian  king,  that 
as  I  have  ever  without  swerving  maintained  the 
same  religion  within  my  kingdom,  so,  as  soon  as  it 
shall  please  God  lawfully  to  possess  me  of  the  crown 
of  that  kingdom,  I  shall  not  only  maintain  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Gospel  there,  but  withal  not  suffer 
any  other  religion  to  be  professed  within  the  bounds 
of  that  kingdom."  This  strong  assurance,  doubt- 
less, quieted  the  fears  of  the  English  statesmen,  but 
in  the  same  degree  it  awakened  the  fears  of  the 
Roman  Catholics. 

They  began  to  despair  of  the  King  of  the  Scots — 
prematurely,  we  think ;  but  they  were  naturally 
more  impatient  than  James,  seeing  the  restoration 
of  their  Chui'ch  was  with  them  the  first  object, 


whereas  with  James  it  was  only  the  second,  and 
the  English  crown  was  the  first.  The  conspii-ators 
in  England,  whose  hopes  had  been  much  dashed  by 
the  strong  declaration  of  the  Scottish  king,  apjJied 
to  Pope  Clement  VIII.  to  put  a  bar  in  the  way  of 
his  mounting  the  throne.  Clement  was  not  hard 
to  be  persuaded  in  the  matter.  He  sent  over  to 
Garnet,  Provincial  of  the  Jesuits  in  England,  two 
bulls  of  Ms  apostolical  authority — one  addressed  to 
the  Romish  clergy,  the  other  to  the  nobility  and 
laity,  and  both  of  the  same  tenor.  The  bulls 
enjoined  those  to  whom  they  were  directed,  in  virtue 
of  their  obedience,  at  whatever  time  "that  miser- 
able woman,"'  for  so  he  called  Elizabeth,  shoidd 
depart  this  life,  to  permit  no  one  to  ascend  her 
throne,  how  near  soever  in  blood,  imless  he  swore, 
according  to  the  example  of  the  former  monarclis 
of  England,  not  only  to  tolerate  the  Roman  Catholic 
faith,  but  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  uphold  and 
advance  it.  Armed  with  this  authoritative  docu- 
ment, the  Romish  faction  in  the  kingdom  waited 
till  Elizabeth  should  breathe  her  last. 

On  the  death  of  the  queen,  in  March,  1G03,  they 
instantly  dispatched  a  messenger  to  announce  the 
fact  to  Winter,  their  agent  at  the  Coiu't  of  Spain. 
They  charged  him  to  represent  to  his  most  Catholic 
Majesty  that  his  co-religionists  in  England  were 
likely  to  be  as  gi-ievously  oppressed  luider  the  new 
king  as  they  had  been  under  the  late  sovereign, 
that  in  this  emergency  they  turned  then-  eyes  to 
one  whose  zeal  was  as  imdoubted  as  his  arm  was 
powerful,  and  they  prayed  him  to  interpose  in  their 
behalf  The  disaster  of  the  Armada  was  too  fresh 
in  Philip's  memory,  the  void  it  had  made  in  his 
treasury,  and  which  was  not  yet  replenished,  was 
too  great,  and  the  eflects  of  the  ten-ible  blow  on 
the  national  sjjirit  were  too  depressing,  to  permit 
his  responding  to  this  appeal  of  the  English 
Catholics  by  arms.  Besides,  he  had  opened  nego- 
tiations for  peace  with  the  new  king,  and  these 
must  be  ended  one  way  or  the  other  before  he  could 
take  any  step  to  prevent  James  mounting  the  throne, 

'  "  Miseram  illam  f  ceminam." 


THE   GUNrnWDER   PLOT. 


527 


or  In  dispossess  liiin  of  it  iifter  he  had  ascended 
it.  Thus,  the  English  Jesuits  were  left  with  the 
two  bulls  of  Clement  VIII.,  and  the  good  wslies 
of  Philip  II.,  as  their  only  weapons  for  carrying 
out  their  great  enterjirisc  of  restoring  their  Church 
to  its  former  supremacy  in  England.  They  did  not 
<lespair,  however.  Thrown  on  their  own  resources, 
they  considered  the  means  by  which  they  might 
gi\e  triumph  to  their  cause. 

The  Order  of  Jesus  is  never  more  formidable  than 
when  it  appears  to  be  least  so.  It  is  when  the 
Jesuits  are  stripped  of  all  external  means  of  doing 
harm  that  they  devise  the  vastest  schemes,  and 
execute  them  with  the  mo.st  daring  courage.  Ex- 
tremity but  compels  them  to  retreat  yet  deeper  into 
the  dai-kness,  and  arm  themselves  with  those  terrible 
)io\vers  wherein  their  gi-eat  strength  lies,  and  the 
lull  unsparing  ajiplication  of  which  they  reserve 
fur  the  conflicts  of  mightiest  moment.  The  Jesuits 
in  Engliuid  now  Ijegan  to  meditate  a  great  blow. 
They  had  delivered  an  astounding  .stroke  at  sea  but 
A  few  yeai's  before ;  they  would  signalise  the  pre- 
.sent  emergency  by  a  nearly  as  astounding  stroke  on 
land.  They  would  prepare  an  Armada  in  the  heart 
of  the  kingdom,  which  would  inflict  on  England  a 
ruin  sudden,  strange,  and  terrible,  like  that  which 
Philiji's  fleet  would  have  inflicted  had  not  the 
"  winds  become  Lutheran,"  as  Medina  Sidonia  said 
^vith  an  oath,  and  in  their  sectarian  fury  sent  his 
ships  to  the  bottom. 

In  September,  1G0.3,  it  would  seem  that  the  first 
meeting  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the  party  was  held 
to  talk  over  the  course  the  new  king  was  pursuing, 
and  the  measures  to  lie  adopted.  Catesby,  a  gentle- 
man of  an  ancient  family,  began  by  recouiiting  the 
grievances  under  which  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
England  gi'oaned.  His  words  kindling  the  anger  of 
Percy,  a  descendant  of  the  House  of  Northumberland , 
he  observed  that  nothing  was  left  them  but  to  kill  the 
king.  "That,"  said  Catesby,  "is  to  run  a  great  risk, 
nnd  .accomplish  little,"  and  he  proceeded  to  unfold  to 
Percy  a  much  grander  design,  which  could  be  exe- 
cuted with  greater  safety,  and  would  be  followed  ly 
far  greater  consequences.  "You  have,"  he  continued, 
"  taken  off  the  king  ;  but  his  children  remain,  who 
will  succeed  to  his  throne.  Suppose  you  destroy  the 
whole  royal  family,  there  will  still  remain  the  no- 
bility, the  gentry,  the  Parliament.  All  these  we  must 
sweep  away  with  one  stroke ;  and  when  our  enemies 
have  sunk  in  a  common  ruin,  then  may  we  i-estore 
the  Church  of  Rome  in  England."  In  short,  he  pro- 
])Osed  to  l)low  up  the  Houses  of  Parliament  with 
gunpowder,  when  the  king  and  the  Estates  of  the 
Itenlm  should  be  there  assembled. 

The  manner  in  which  this  plot  was  proceeded 


with  is  too  well  known,  and  the  detail.s  are  too 
accessible  in  the  ordmary  histories,  to  require  that 
we  should  here  dwell  upon  them.  The  contemplated 
destruction  was  on  so  great  a  scale  that  some  of  the 
conspirators,  when  it  was  first  explained  to  them, 
shrunk  from  the  perpetration  of  a  wickedness  so 
awful.  To  satisfy  the  more  scrupulous  of  the  party 
they  resolved  to  consult  their  spiritual  advisers. 
"  Is  it  lawful,"  they  asked  of  Garnet,  Tesmond,  and 
Gerard,  "  to  do  this  thing?"  These  Fathers  assureit 
them  that  they  might  go  on  with  a  good  conscience 
and  do  the  deed,  seeing  that  those  on  whom  the 
destruction  would  fall  were  heretics  and  excom- 
municated persons.  '■  But,"  it  was  replied,  "  some 
Catholics  will  perish  with  the  Protestants :  is  it 
lawful  to  destroy  the  righteous  with  the  wicked'?" 
It  was  answered,  "  Yes,  for  it  is  expedient  that 
the  few  should  die  for  the  good  of  the  many." 

The  ])oint  of  conscience  having  lieen  resolved,  and 
the  way  made  clear,  the  next  step  was  an  oath  of 
secrecy,  to  inspire  them  with  mutual  confidence  :  the 
conspirators  .swore  to  one  another  by  the  Blessed 
Trinity  and  by  the  Sacrament  not  to  disclose  the 
matter,  directly  or  indirectly,  and  never  to  desist 
from  the  execution  of  it,  unless  released  by  mutual 
consent.  To  add  to  the  solemnity  of  the  oath,  they 
retired  into  an  inner  chamber,  where  they  heard 
mass,  and  received  the  Sacrament  from  Gerard. 
They  had  sanctified  themselves  as  the  executioners 
of  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  upon  an  apostate 
nation. 

They  .set  to  work ;  they  ran  a  mine  under  the 
Houses  of  Parliament ;  and  now  they  learned  by 
accident  that  with  less  ado  they  might  compass 
theii-  end.  The  vault  under  the  House  of  Lords, 
commonly  used  as  a  coal-cellar,  was  to  be  let.  They 
hired  it,  placed  in  it  thirty-six  barrels  of  gun- 
powder, and  strewing  plenteously  over  them  billets, 
fagots,  stones,  and  ii'on  bars,  threw  open  the  doors 
that  all  might  see  how  harmless  were  the  materials 
with  which  the  vault  was  .stored.  The  plot  had 
been  brewing  for  a  year  and  a  half ;  it  had  been 
entrusted  to  some  twenty  persons,  and  not  a  whisper 
had  been  uttered  by  way  of  divulging  the  terrible 
secret. 

The  billets,  fiigots,  and  iron  bars  that  concealed 
the  gunpowder  in  the  vault  were  not  the  only 
means  by  which  it  was  sought  to  hide  from  the 
people  all  knowledge  of  the  terrible  catastrophe 
which  was  in  preparation.  "  The  Lay  Catholic 
Petition"  was  at  this  time  published,  in  whicli  they 
supplicated  the  king  for  toleration,  protesting  their 
fidelity  and  unfeigned  love  for  his  Majesty,  and 
ofiering  to  be  bound  life  for  life  with  good  sureties 
for  theii'  loyal  behaviour.  Wlien  the  jilot  approached 


528 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


execution,  Father  Garnet  began  to  talk  much  of 
bulls  and  mandates  from  the  Pope  to  charge  all 
the  priests  and  their  flocks  in  England  to  carry 
themselves  with  profound  peace  and  quiet.  Garnet 
sent  Fawkes  to  Rome  with  a  letter  to  Clement, 
supplicating  that  "  commandment  might  come  from 
his  Holiness,  or  else  from  Aq^^a^'iva,  the  General  of 
the  Jesuits,  for  staying  of  all  commotions  of  the 
Catholics  in  England."  So  anxious  were  they  not 
to  hurt  a  Protestant,  or  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
kingdom,  or  shake  his  Majesty's  throne.  The 
sky  is  clearing,  said  the  Protestants,  deceived  by 


iniquity  was  not  the  afl'air  of  a  few  desperate  men 
in  England  only,  but  that  the  authorities  of  the 
Popish  world  knew  of  it,  sanctioned  it,  and  lent  it 
all  the  help  they  dared.  Del  Rio,  in  a  treatise 
printed  in  IGOO,  puts  a  supposititious  case  in  the 
confessional :  "  as  if,"  says  Dr.  Kemiet,  "  he  had 
already  looked  into  the  mine  and  cellai-s,  and  had 
surveyed  the  barrels  of  powder  in  tliem,  and  had 
heard  the  whole  confession  of  Fawkes  and  Catesby."' 
The  answer  to  the  supposed  case,  which  is  that  of 
the  Gunpowder  Plot,  the  names  of  the  actors  left 
out,  forbade  the  divulging  of  such  secrets,  on  the 


Christopher  j^^^ 
Robert-     ^^'^/^L    Wrlghty  Thomas     Guldo 
Winter,    j^    L  AiS/,  -  -^  Percy        Fai^kss 


GUY   1-AWKES  AND  THE  CHIEF  CONSPIllATOKS.      (From  a  coiitcmporar!/  Print.) 


these  arts ;  the  winter  of  Catholic  discontent  is 
past,  and  all  the  clouds  that  lowered  upon  the  land 
in  the  days  of  Elizabeth  are  buried  in  the  "  deep 
sea  "  of  mutual  conciliation.  They  knew  not  that 
the  men  from  whom  those  loud  protestations  of 
loyalty  and  brotherly  concord  came  were  all  the 
while  storing  gunpowder  in  the  vault  underneath 
the  House  of  Lords,  laying  the  train,  and  counting 
the  hours  when  they  should  fire  it,  and  shake  down 
the  pillars  of  the  State,  and  dissolve  the  whole 
frame  of  the  realm.  The  way  in  which  this  hideous 
crime  was  prevented,  and  England  saved — namely, 
by  a  letter  addressed  to  Lord  Monteagle  by  one  of 
the  consj)irators,  whose  heart  would  seem  to  have 
fixiled  him  at  the  last  moment,  leading  to  a  search 
below  the  House  of  Lords,  followed  by  the  discoveiy 
of  the  aatoimding  plot — we  need  not  relate. 

There  is  evidence  for  believing  that  the  projected 


gi-ound  that  the  seal  of  the  confessional  must 
not  be  violated.  Tliis  treatise,  published  at  so 
short  a  distance  from  England  as  Louvain,  and 
so  near  the  time  when  the  train  was  being  laid, 
shows,  as  Bishop  Burnet  remarks,  that  the  plot 
was  then  in  their  minds.  In  Sully's  Memoirs 
there  is  oftener  than  once  a  reference  to  a  "  sudden 
blow  "  which  was  intended  in  England  about  this 
time  ;  and  King  James  was  warned  by  a  letter 
from  the  court  of  Hemy  IV.  to  beware  of  the 
fiite  of  Henry  III.  ;  and  in  the  oration  pronounced 
at  Rome  in  praise  of  Ra\'aillac,  the  assassin  of 
Henry  IV.,  it  was  .said  that  he  (Henry  IV.)  was 
not  only  an  enemy  to  the  Catholic  religion  in  his 
heart,  but  that  he  had  obsti-ucted  the  glorious 
enterprise  of  those  who  would  have  restored  it  in 

'  Dr.  Kcnnet,  Sermon,  Nov.  5,  1715. 


EOMAN   CATHOLICS   AND   THE   GUNPOWDER   PLOT. 


629 


England,  and  had  caused  them  to  be  crowned  with 
martyrdom.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  to  what  this  can 
refer  if  it  be  not  to  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  and  the 
execution  of  the  conspirators  by  which  it  was  fol- 
lowed. The  proof  of  knowledge  beforehand  on  the 
part  of  the  Popish  authox'ities  seemed  to  be  com- 
pleted by  the  action  of  Pope  Paul  V.,  who  appointed 
a  jubilee  for  the  year  1G05 — the  year  when  the  plot 
w.a.s  to  be  executed — for  the  purpose  of  "  praying 
for  help  in  emergent  necessities,"  and  among  the 


saw  his  portrait  among  the  martp-s  in  the  hall  c 
the  Jesuit  College  at  Rome,  and  by  his  side  an 
angel  who  shows  him  the  open  gates  of  heaven.' 

That  the  Romanists  should  thus  plot  against  the 
religion  and  liberties  of  England  was  only  what 
might  be  expected,  but  James  himself  became  a 
plotter  towards  the  same  end.  Instead  of  being 
warned  off  from  so  dangerous  neighbours,  he  began 
industriously  to  court  alliances  with  the  Popish 
Powers.   In  these  proceedings  he  laid  the  foundation 


VIEW    OF    IIOI.YIIOOI)    l'AL.\CE. 


reasons  assigned  by  the  Pontiff  for  fixing  on  the  year 
160.5,  was  that  it  was  to  witness  "the  rooting  out 
of  all  the  impious  errors  of  the  heretics.'"  Copely 
says  that  "  he  could  never  meet  with  any  one 
Jesuit  who  blamed  it."  ^  Two  of  the  Jesuit  con- 
spiratoi-s  who  made  their  escape  to  Rome  wero 
rewarded ;  one  being  made  penitentiary  to  the 
Pope,  and  the  other  a  confessor  in  St.  Peter's. 
Garnet,  who  was  executed  as  a  traitor,  is  styled  by 
Bellarmiii  a  martyr ;  and  Misson  tells  us  that  he 


'  "Impios  heretioorum  errores  undique  evellere." 
(Bennet,  Memorial  of  the  Rcfornuttion,  p.  130.) 

-  Copely,  AVas.  o/ Conversion,  p.  23.  Bui-net,  Sermon,  5tU 
Nov.,  1710. 

149 


of  all  the  miseries  which  afterwards  overtook  his 
house  and  his  kingdom.  His  first  stop  was  to  send 
the  Earl  of  Bristol  to  Spain,  to  negotiate  a  marriage 
with  the  Infanta  for  his  sou  Prince  Charles.  He 
aftcrward.s  dispatched  Buckingham  with  the  prince 
himself  on  the  same  errand  to  the  Spanish  Court — 
a  proceeding  that  surprised  everybody,  and  which 
no  one  but  the  "English  Solomon"  could  have  been 
capable  of.  It  gave  fresh  life  to  Romanism  in 
England,  greatly  emboldened  the  Popish  recusants, 
and  was  the  subject  (lG21)ofa  remonstrance  of  the 

'  Misson,  Travels  in  Italy,  vol.  ii.,  part  1,  p.  173.  Misson 
adds,  in  a  marginal  note,  "  Some  travellers  have  told  mo 
latuly  that  tliia  picture  has  been  taken  away." 


530 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTIS:\r. 


Commons  to  the  king.  The  same  man  who  had 
endeavoured  to  stamp  out  the  infant  constitutional 
liberties  of  Scotland  began  to  plot  the  overthrow  of 
the  more  ancient  franchises,  privileges,  and  juris- 
dictions of  England. 

While  the  prince  was  in  Spain  all  arts  were 
employed  to  bring  him  within  the  pale  of  the 
Roman  Clnu'cli.  An  interchiuige  of  letters  took 
place  between  him  and  the  Pope,  in  which  the 
Pontiff  expresses  liis  hope  that  "  the  Prince  of  the 
Apostles  would  be  put  in  possession  of  his  [the 
prince's]  most  noble  island,  and  that  he  and  lus 
royal  father  might  be  styled  the  deliverers  and 
restorers  of  the  ancient  paternal  religion  of  Great 
Britain."  The  prince  i-eplies  by  expressing  his 
ardent  wishes  "  for  an  alliance  with  one  that  hath 
the  same  apprehension  of  the  true  religion  with 
myself."'  A  Papal  dispensation  was  granted;  the 
marriage  was  agreed  upon ;  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
were  that  no  laws  enacted  against  Roman  Catholics 
should  ever  after  be  put  in  execution,  that  no  new 
laws  should  ever  hereafter  be  made  against  them, 
and  that  the  prince  should  endeavour  to  the  utmost 
of  Lis  power  to  procm-e  the  ratification  by  Par- 
liament of  these  ai'ticles;  and  that,  further,  the 
Parliament  "  should  approve  and  ratify  all  and 
singular  articles  in  favour  of  Roman  Catholics 
capitulated  by  the  most  renowned  kings."  The 
mairiage  came  to  notliing ;  nevertheless,  the  con- 
sequences of  the  treaty  were  most  disastrous  to 
both  the  king  and  England.      It  filled    the  land 


with  Popish  priests  and  Jesuits ;  it  brought  over 
the  titular  Bishop  of  Chalcedon  to  exercise  epis- 
copal jurisdiction ;  it  lost  King  James  the  love  of 
his  subjects ;  it  exposed  him  to  the  contempt  of  his 
enemies ;  and  in  addition  it  cost  him  the  loss  of 
his  honour  and  the  .sacritice  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 
Extending  beyond  the  bounds  of  England,  the  evil 
effects  of  this  treaty  were  felt  in  foreign  countries. 
For  the  sake  of  his  alliance  with  the  House  of 
Austria,  James  sacrificed  the  interests  of  hLs  son- 
in-law  :  he  lost  the  Palatinate,  and  became  the 
immediate  cause,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  pre\dous  part 
of  this  history,  of  the  overthrow  of  Protestantism 
in  Bohemia. 

James  VI.  did  not  grow  wiser  as  he  advanced 
in  years.  Troubles  continued  to  embitter  his  life, 
evils  to  encompass  his  throne,  contempt  to  wait 
upon  his  person,  and  calamity  and  distraction  to 
darken  his  realm.  These  manifold  miseries  grew 
out  of  his  rooted  aversion  to  the  religion  of  his 
native  land,  and  an  incurable  leaning  towards 
Romanism  wliich  led  him  to  truckle  to  the  Popish 
Powers,  whose  tool  and  dupe  he  became,  and  to 
cherish  a  reverence  for  the  Church  of  Rome,  wliich 
courted  him  only  that  she  might  rob  him  of  his 
kingdom.  And  the  same  man  who  made  himself 
so  small  and  contemptible  to  all  the  world  abroad 
was,  by  his  invasion  of  the  laws,  his  love  of 
arbitrary  power,  and  his  unconstitutional  acts,  the 
tyi-ant  of  his  Parliament  and  the  oppressor  of  his 
people  at  home. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 


DEATH    OF   JAMES    VI.,    AND    SPIRITUAL   AWAKENING    IN   SCOTLAND. 

The  Nations  Dead— Protestantism  made  them  Live— Examples— Scotland— James  VI.  Pursues  his  Scheme  on  the 
Throne  of  England— His  Arts— Compliance  of  the  Ministers— The  Prelates— High  Commission  Court— Visit  of 
James  to  Scotland— The  Five  Articles  of  Perth-"  Black  Saturday  "—James's  Triumph  a  Defeat— His  Death— 
A  gi-eat  Spiritiual  Awakening  in  Scotland— Moral  Ti'ansformations- David  Dickson  and  the  Awakening  at 
Stewarton— Market-day  at  Irvine— John  Livingstone  and  the  Kii'k  of  Shotts— The  Scottish  Vine  Visited  and 
Strengthened. 


The  fii-st  part  of  the  mighty  task  which  awaited 
Protestantism    in    the   sixteenth   century  was   to 


'  The  King  of  Scotland's  Neqotiaiions  at  Rome  for  Assis- 
tance against  the  Commonwealth  of  England.  Published  to 
satisfy  as  many  as  arc  not  willing  to  he  deceived.  By 
Authority.  Lond.,  printed  by  William  Dugard,  1650.  In 
this  pamphlet  the  letters  are  given  in  full  in  French  and 
English.  They  are  also  published  in  Bushworth's  Col- 
lections. 


breathe  life  into  the  nations.  It  found  Christen- 
dom a  vast  sepulchre  in  which  its  several  peoples 
were  laid  out  in  the  sleep  of  death,  and  it  said  to 
them,  "  Live."  Arms,  arts,  political  constitutions, 
cannot  quicken  the  ashes  of  nations,  and  call  them 
from  their  tomb  :  the  mighty  voice  of  the  Scriptures 
alone  can  do  this.  Conscience  is  i/ie  life,  and  the 
Bible  awoke  the  conscience. 

The  second  part  of  the  great   task  of  Protes- 


PRELACY   SET   UP   IN   SCOTLAND. 


531 


tantism  was  to  make  the  nations  free.  It  fii-st 
gave  them  life,  it  next  gave  them  freedom.  We  have 
seen  this  order  attempted  to  be  reversed  in  some 
modem  instances,  but  the  result  lias  shown  how 
impossible  it  is  to  give  liberty  to  the  dead.  The 
amplest  measure  of  political  freedom  cannot  profit 
nations  when  the  conscience  continues  to  slumber. 
It  is  like  clothing  a  dead  knight  iii  the  ainnoui"  of 
a  living  warrior.  He  reposes  proudly  in  helmet 
and  coat  of  mail,  but  the  pulse  throbs  not  in 
the  limbs  which  these  cover.  Of  all  the  nations 
of  Christendom  there  was  not  one  in  so  torpid  a 
state  as  Scotland.  When  the  sixteenth  century 
dawned,  it  was  twice  dead :  it  was  dead  in  a 
dominant  Romanism,  and  it  was  dead  in  an  equally 
dominant  feudalism ;  and  for  this  reason  perhaps 
it  was  selected  as  the  best  example  in  the  eu- 
tii'e  circle  of  the  European  nations  to  exldbit  the 
power  of  the  \'italising  principle.  The  slow,  silent, 
and  deep  permeation  of  the  nation  by  the  Bible 
dissolved  the  fetters  of  this  double  slavery,  and 
conscience  was  emancipated.  An  emancipated 
conscience,  by  the  first  law  of  nature — self-pre- 
servation— immediately  set  to  work  to  trace  the 
boundary  lines  aroimd  that  domain  in  which  she 
felt  that  she  must  be  sole  and  exclusive  mistress. 
Thus  arose  tlie  spii-itual  jurisdiction — in  other 
words,  the  Church.  Scotland  had  thus  come  into 
possession  of  one  of  her  liberties,  the  religious.  A 
citadel  of  freedom  had  been  reared  in  the  heart  of 
the  nation,  and  from  that  imier  fortress  religious 
liberty  went  forth  to  conquer  the  suri'ounding 
territory  for  its  yoke-fellow,  civil  liberty ;  and  that 
kingdom  wliich  had  so  lately  been  the  most  enslaved 
of  all  the  European  States  was  now  the  freest  in 
Christendom. 

Thus  in  Scotland  the  Church  is  older  than  the 
modern  State.  It  was  the  Church  that  called  the 
modern,  that  is,  the  free  State,  into  existence.  It 
watched  over  it  in  its  cradle ;  it  foiight  for  it  in  its 
youth  ;  and  it  cro^vned  its  manhood  witli  a  perfect 
liberty.  It  w.as  not  the  State  in  Scotland  that  gave 
freedom  to  the  Church  :  it  was  the  Church  that 
gave  freedom  to  the  State.  There  is  no  other 
philosophy  of  liberty  than  this ;  and  nations  that 
have  yet  tlieir  liberty  to  establish  might  find  it 
useful  to  study  this  model. 

Tlio  demise  of  Elizabeth  called  James  away 
before  lie  had  completed  his  scheme  of  reai-ing  the 
fabric  of  arbitrary  power  on  the  ruins  of  the  one 
independent  and  liberal  institution  which  Scotland 
possessed.  But  he  prosecuted  on  the  throne  of 
England  the  gi-and  object  of  his  ambition.  We 
cannot  go  into  a  detail  of  the  chicaneries  by  which 
he  ovci-reached  some,  the  threats  wth  which  he 


ten-ified  others,  and  the  \-iolence  with  which  he 
assaUed  those  whom  his  craft  could  not  deceive, 
nor  his  power  bend.  ]\Ielville  was  summoned  to 
London,  thrown  into  the  Tower,  and  when,  after 
an  imprisonment  of  four  years,  he  was  liberated,  it 
was  not  to  return  to  his  native  land,  but  to  retiro 
to  France,  where  he  ended  his  days.  The  fiiithful 
ministers  were  silenced,  imprisoned,  or  banished. 
Those  who  lent  themselves  to  the  measures  of  the 
court  shrunk  from  no  perfidy  to  deceive  the  people, 
in  order  to  secure  the  honours  which  they  so 
eagerly  coveted.  Gladstanes  and  others  pursued 
the  downward  road,  renewing  the  while  their  sub- 
scription to  the  National  Covenant,  "  promising 
and  swearing  by  the  gi-eat  name  of  the  Lord 
our  God  that  we  shall  continue  in  the  obedience 
of  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  this  Kirk,  and 
.shall  defend  the  same  according  to  our  vocation 
and  power  all  the  days  of  our  lives,  imder  the 
pains  contained  in  the  law,  and  danger  both  of 
body  and  soul  in  the  day  of  God's  fearful  judg- 
ment." At  length,  in  a  packed  assembly  which 
met  in  Glasgow  in  1610,  James  succeeded  in  carry- 
ing his  measure — prelacy  was  set  up.  The  bishops 
acted  as  perpetual  moderators,  and  had  dioceses 
assigned  them,  within  which  they  performed  tli& 
ordinary  functions  of  bishops.  Alongside  of  them 
the  Presbyterian  courts  continued  to  meet :  not 
indeed  the  General  Assembly — this  court  was  su.s- 
pended — but  Kii'k  sessions,  presbyteries,  and  synods 
were  held,  and  transacted  the  business  of  the 
Chui'ch  in  something  like  the  old  fashion.  This 
was  a  state  of  matters  pleasing  to  neither  jiarty, 
and  least  of  all  to  the  court,  and  accordingly  the 
tribunal  of  High  Commission  was  set  up  to  give 
more  power  to  the  king's  bishops ;  but  it  failed  to 
procure  for  the  men  in  whose  interests  it  existed 
more  obedience  from  the  mini.sters,  or  more  respect 
from  the  people ;  and  the  sentiment  of  the  country 
was  still  too  strong  to  permit  it  putting  forth  all 
those  despotic  and  unconstitutional  powers  wth 
which  it  was  armed.  Making  a  'virtue  of  necessity, 
the  new  dignitaries,  it  must  be  confessed,  wore  their 
honours  with  commendable  humility  ;  and  this  state 
of  matters,  wliich  conjoined  in  the  same  Chiu'ch 
lawn  robes  and  Geneva  cloaks,  mitred  ajiostles  and 
plain  presbyters,  continued  until  1618,  when  yet 
another  stage  of  tliis  affixii'  was  reached. 

Seated  on  the  throne  of  England,  the  courtly 
divines  and  the  famed  statesmen  of  the  southern 
kingdom  bowmg  before  him,  and  offering  continual 
incense  to  his  "  wisdom,"  liis  "  scholarehip,"  and 
his  "theological  erudition,"  though  inwardly  they 
must  liavo  felt  no  little  dLsgust  at  that  curious 
mixtui'e  of  pertness,  pedantry,  and  profanity  that 


532 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM, 


made  up  James  VI. — wth  so  much  to  please  liim, 
we  say,  one  would  have  thought  that  the  monarch 
would  have  left  in  peace  the  little  kingdom  from 
which  he  had  come,  and  permitted  its  sturdy  plain- 
spoken  theologians  to  go  their  o'WTi  way.  So  far 
from  tliLs,  he  was  more  intent  than  ever  on  consum- 
mating the  transformation  of  the  northern  Church. 
He  purposed  a  visit  to  his  native  land,'  having,  as 
he  expressed  it  -viith  characteristic  coarseness,  "  a 
natural  and  salmon-like  affection  to  see  the  place  of 
Lis  breeding,"  and  he  ordered  the  Scottish  bishops  to 
have  the  kingdom  put  in  due  ecclesiastical  order 
before  his  anival.  These  obedient  men  did  the 
best  in  their  power.  The  ancient  chapel  of  Holy- 
rood  was  adorned  with  statues  of  the  twelve 
apostles,  finely  gilded.  An  altar  was  set  up  in  it, 
on  which  lay  two  closed  Bibles,  and  on  either  side 
of  them  an  \iulighted  candle  and  an  empty  basin. 
The  citizens  of  Edinburgh  had  no  difficulty  in  per- 
ceiving the  "  substance "  of  which  these  tilings 
were  the  "  shadow."  Every  parish  church  was 
expected  to  aiTange  itself  on  the  model  of  the 
Royal  Chapel.  These  innovations  were  followed 
next  year  (1618)  by  the  Five  Articles  of  Perth,  so 
called  from  having  been  agreed  upon  at  a  meeting 
of  the  clergy  in  that  city.  These  articles  were : 
1st,  Kneeling  at  the  Communion;  2nd,  Tlie  obser- 
vance  of  certain   holidays ;    3rd,    Episcopal    con- 


'  "King  James,  tliis  time,  was  returning  northward 
to  visit  poor  old  Scotland  aprain,  to  get  his  Pretended- 
Bisliops  set  into  activity,  if  he  could.  It  is  well  known 
that  he  co.uld  not,  to  any  satisfactory  extent,  neither  now 
nor  afterwards  :  his  Pretended-Bisliops,  whom  by  cun- 
ning means  he  did  get  instituted,  had  the  name  of 
Bishops,  but  next  to  none  of  the  authority,  of  the  re- 
spect, or,  alas,  even  of  the  cash,  suitable  to  the  reality  of 
that  ofSce.  They  were  by  the  Scotch  People  derisively 
called  Tidchan  Bishops. — Did  the  reader  ever  s^e,  or 
fancy  in  his  mind,  a  Tulchan  ?  A  Tulohan  is,  or  rather 
was,  for  the  thing  is  long  since  obsolete,  a  Calf-skin 
stuffed  into  the  rude  similitude  of  a  Calf, — similar 
enough  to  deceive  the  imperfect  perceptive  organs  of  a 
Cow.  At  milking-time  the  Tulchan,  with  head  duly 
bent,  was  set  as  if  to  suck  ;  the  fond  cow  looking  round 
fancied  that  her  calf  was  busy,  and  that  all  was  right, 
and  so  gave  her  milk  freely,  which  the  cunning  maid  was 
straining  in  white  abundance  into  her  pail  all  the  whUe ! 
The  Scotch  milkmaids  in  those  days  cried,  'Where  is  the 
Tulchan ;  is  the  Tulchan  ready  ? '  So  of  the  Bishops. 
Scotch  Lairds  were  eager  enough  to  '  milk '  the  Church 
Lands  and  Tithes,  to  get  the  rents  out  of  them  freely, 
which  was  not  always  easy.  They  were  glad  to  constnict 
a  Fonn  of  Bishops  to  please  the  King  and  Church,  and 
make  the  milk  come  without  disturbances.  The  reader 
now  knows  what  a  Tulchan  Bishop  was.  A  piece  of 
mechanism  constructed  not  without  difficulty,  in  Par- 
liament and  King's  Council,  among  the  Scots ;  and  torn 
asunder  afterwards  with  di-eadful  clamour,  and  scattered 
to  the  four  winds,  so  soon  as  the  Cow  became  awake  to 
it ! "  (Carlyle,  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,  vol.  i.,  p.  30  j 
People's  Ed.,  1871.) 


firmation ;  4th,  Pri\ate  baptism ;  Rth,  Private 
communion. 

A  beacon-light  may  be  white  or  it  may  be 
red,  the  colour  in  itself  is  a  matter  of  not  the 
smallest  consequence ;  but  if  the  one  colour  should 
draw  the  mariner  upon  the  rock,  and  the  other 
warn  him  past  it,  it  is  surely  important  that  he 
shoidd  know  the  significance  of  each,  and  guide 
himself  accordingly.  The  colour  is  no  longer  a 
trifling  aflaii- ;  on  the  contrary,  the  one  is  life,  the 
other  is  death.  It  is  so  with  rites  and  symbols. 
They  may  be  in  themselves  of  not  the  least 
importance ;  their  good  or  evil  lies  wholly  iu 
whether  they  guide  the  man  who  practises  them  to 
safety  or  to  ruin.  Tlie  symbols  set  up  in  the  Chapel 
Royal  of  Holyrood,  and  the  five  ordinances  of  Perth, 
were  of  this  description.  The  Scots  looked  upon 
them  as  sign-posts  which  seduced  the  traveller's 
feet,  not  into  the  path  of  safety,  but  into  the  road 
of  destruction ;  they  regarded  them  as  false  lights 
hung  out  to  lure  the  vessel  of  their  commonwealth 
upon  the  rocks  of  Popery  and  of  arbitrary  govern- 
ment. They  refused  to  sail  by  the.se  lights.  Their 
determination  was  strengthened  by  the  omens,  as 
they  accounted  them,  which  accompanied  their  enact- 
ment by  Parliament  in  July,  1G21.  On  the  day  on 
which  they  were  to  be  sanctioned,  a  heavy  cloud  had 
hung  above  Edinburgh  since  morning ;  that  cloud 
waxed  ever  the  darker  as  the  hour  approached  when 
the  articles  were  to  be  ratified,  till  at  last  it  filled 
the  Parliament  Hall  with  the  gloom  of  almost 
night.  The  moment  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  the 
commissioner,  rose  and  touched  the  Act  mth  the 
royal  sceptre,  the  cloud  burst  in  a  terrific  storm 
right  over  the  Parliament  House.  Three  lurid 
gleams,  darting  in  at  the  large  window,  flashed  their 
vivid  fires  in  the  commissioner's  face.  Then  came 
terrible  peals  of  thunder,  which  were  succeeded  by 
torrents  of  rain  and  hail,  that  inundated  the  streets, 
and  made  it  difficult  for  the  members  to  reach  their 
homes.  The  day  was  long  remembered  in  Scotland 
by  the  name  of  "  Black  Saturday.  "- 

The  king,  and  those  ministers  who  from  cowardice 
or  selfishness  had  furthered  Ids  measures,  had  now 
triumphed ;    but   that    triumph    was    discomfiture. 


-  "Just  as  the  sceptre  was  laying  to  the  cursed  Act," 
says  Eow,  "the  loudest  thunder-clap  that  ever  Scotland 
heard  was  just  over  the  P.irliament  House,  whilk  made 
them  all  quake  for  fear,  looking  for  nothing  less  than 
that  the  house  should  have  been  thrown  down  by 
thimderbolts."  (Hist.,  ann.  1G21.)  This  storm  was  the 
more  noticeable  that  a  similar  one  had  burst  over  Perth 
in  1618,  when  the  Five  Articles  were  first  concluded  in  the 
Assembly.  "  Some  scoffers,"  says  Calderwood,  said  that 
"  as  the  law  was  given  by  fire  from  Mount  Sinai,  so  did 
these  fires  confirm  their  laws."    {Hist.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  505.) 


SPIRITUAL  AWAKENING   IN   SCOTLAND. 


533 


In  the  really  Protestant  parts  of  Scotland — for  the 
Scotland  of  that  day  had  its  cities  and  shires  in 
■which  flourished  a  pure  and  vigorous  Protestantism, 
while  there  were  remote  and  niral  parts  where, 
thanks  to  that  rapacity  which  had  created  a 
wealthy  nobility  and  an  impoverished  clergy,  the 
old  ignorance  and  superstition  still  lingered — 
the  really  Protestant  people  of  Scotland,  we  say, 
were  as  inflexibly  bent  as  ever  on  repudiating  a 
form  of  Church  government  wliich  they  knew  was 
meant  to  pave  the  way  for  tyranny  in  the  State, 
and  a  ritualistic  worship,  which  they  held  to  be  of 
the  nature  of  idolatry ;  and  of  all  his  labour  in  the 
matter  the  king  reaped  notliing  save  disappoint- 
ment, vexation,  and  trouble,  which  accompanied 
him  till  he  sank  into  his  grave  in  16:25.  Never 
woidd  Scottish  monarch  have  reigned  so  happily 
as  James  VI.  would  have  done,  had  he  possessed 
but  a  tithe  of  that  wisdom  to  which  he  laid  claim. 
The  Keformation  had  given  him  an  independent 
clergy  and  an  intelligent  middle  class,  which  he  so 
much  needed  to  balance  the  tui'bulence  and  power 
of  his  barons ;  but  James  fell  into  the  egregious 
blunder  of  believing  the  religion  of  his  subjects  to  be 
the  weakness,  in.stead  of  the  strength,  of  his  throne, 
and  so  he  laboured  to  destroy  it.  He  blasted  his 
reputation  for  kingly  honour,  laid  up  a  store  of  mis- 
fortunes and  sorrows  for  his  son,  and  alienated 
from  his  house  a  nation  which  had  ever  borne  a 
chivalrous  loyalty  to  his  ancestors,  despite  their 
many  and  gi-eat  faults. 

The  year  of  the  king's  death  was  rendered 
memorable  by  the  rise  of  a  remarkable  influence 
of  a  spiritual  kind  in  Scotland,  which  continued 
for  years  to  act  upon  its  population.  Tliis  invisible 
but  mighty  agent  moved  to  and  fro,  appearing  now 
in  this  district  and  now  in  that,  but  no  man  could 
discover  the  law  that  regulated  its  course,  or  foretell 
the  spot  where  it  would  next  make  its  presence 
known.  It  turned  as  it  listed,  even  as  do  the  winds, 
and  was  quite  as  much  above  man's  control,  who 
could  neither  say  to  it,  "  Come,"  nor  bid  it  depart. 
Wherever  it  passed,  its  track  was  marked,  as  is 
that  of  the  rain-cloud  across  the  burned-uj)  wilder- 
ne.ss,  by  a  shiniiig  line  of  moral  and  spiritual 
verdure.  Preachers  had  found  no  new  Gospel, 
nor  liad  they  become  suddenly  clothed  -svith  a  new 
eloquence ;  yet  their  words  had  a  power  they  had 
formerly  lacked  ;  they  went  deeper  into  the  hearts 
of  their  hearers,  who  were  impressed  by  them  in  a 
way  they  had  never  been  before.  Truths  they  liad 
heard  a  himdred  times  over,  of  which  they  had  gi-own 
weary,  acquired  a  freshness,  a  novelty,  and  a  power 
that  made  them  feel  as  if  they  heard  them  now  for 
the  flret  time.    They  felt  inexpressilile  delight  in  that 


^^■hich  aforetime  had  caused  them  no  joy,  and  trem- 
bled under  what  till  that  moment  had  awakened  no 
fear.  Notorious  profligates,  men  who  had  braved 
the  brand  of  public  opinion,  or  defied  the  penalties  of 
the  law,  were  under  this  influence  bowed  down,  and 
melted  into  penitential  tears.  Thieves,  drunkard.s, 
loose  livers,  and  profane  swearers  suddenly  awoke 
to  a  sense  of  the  sin  and  shame  of  the  courses  they 
had  been  leading,  condemned  themselves  as  the 
chief  of  transgi-essors,  trembled  under  the  appre- 
hension of  a  judgment  to  come,  and  uttered  loud 
cries  for  forgiveness.  Some  who  had  lived  years  of 
miserable  and  helpless  bondage  to  evil  habits  and 
flagrant  vices,  as  if  inspired  by  a  sudden  and  su]ier- 
natural  force,  rent  their  fetters,  and  rose  at  once  to 
liurity  and  virtue.  Some  of  these  converts  fell  back 
into  their  old  courses,  but  in  the  case  of  the  majority 
the  change  was  lasting  ;  and  thousands  who,  but 
for  this  sudden  transformation,  would  have  been 
lost  to  themselves  and  to  society,  were  redeemed  to 
virtue,  and  lived  lives  which  were  not  less  profit- 
able than  beautiful.  Tliis  influence  was  as  calm  as 
it  was  strong  ;  those  on  whom  it  fell  did  not  vent 
their  feelings  in  enthusiastic  expressions ;  the 
change  was  accomjjanied  by  a  modesty  and  delicacy 
which  for  the  time  forbade  disclosure ;  it  was  the 
judgment,  not  the  passions,  that  was  moved  ;  it  was 
the  conscience,  not  the  imagination,  that  was  called 
into  action ;  and  as  the  stricken  doer  retires  from 
the  herd  into  some  shady  part  of  the  forest,  so  these 
jiersons  went  apart,  there  to  weep  till  the  arrow 
had  been  plucked  out,  and  a  healing  balm  poured 
into  the  wound. 

Even  the  men  of  the  world  were  impressed  with 
these  tokens  of  the  working  of  a  supernatural 
influence.  They  could  not  resist  the  impression, 
even  when  they  refused  to  avow  it,  that  a  Visitant 
whose  dwelling  was  not  ^vith  men  had  come 
down  to  the  earth,  and  was  moving  about  in  the 
midst  of  them.  The  moral  character  of  whole 
towns,  villages,  and  parishes  was  being  suddenly 
changed  ;  now  it  was  on  a  solitary  individual,  and 
now  on  hundreds  at  once,  that  this  ray.sterious 
influence  made  its  power  manifest ;  plain  it  was 
that  in  some  region  or  other  of  the  imiverse  an 
Influence  was  resident,  which  had  only  to  be  un- 
locked, and  to  go  forth  among  the  dwell  iiigs  of 
men,  and  human  wickedness  and  oppression  would 
dissolve  and  disappear  as  the  winter's  ice  melts  at 
the  approach  of  spring,  and  joy  and  singmg  would 
break  forth  as  do  blossoms  and  verdure  when  the 
summer's  sun  calls  them  from  their  chambers  in 
tlie  earth. 

One  thing  we  must  not  pass  over  in  connection 
with  this  movement :  in  at  least  its  two  chief  centres 


534 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


it  was  distinctly  traceable  to  those  ministers  who 
had  suffered  persecution  for  their  faithfulness  under 
James  VI.  The  locality  where  this  revival  first 
appeared  was  in  Ayrshire,  the  particular  spot  being 
the  well-watered  valley  of  Stewarton,  along  which 
it  spi'cad  from  house  to  house  for  many  miles. 
But  it  began  not  with  the  minister  of  the  ])arish, 
an  excellent  man,  but  with  Mr.  Dickson,  who  was 
minister  of  the  neighbouring  parish  of  Irvine. 
Mr.  Dickson  had  zealously  opposed  the  passing  of 
the  Ai'ticles  of  Perth  ;  this  drew  upon  him  the 
disi)loasiu-e  of  the  prelates  and  the  king ;  he  was 
banished  to  the  north  of  Scotland,  and  lived  there 
some  yeare,  in  no  congenial  society.  On  his  return 
to  his  pai'ish,  a  remarkable  power  accompanied  his 
sermons ;  he  never  preached  without  effecting  the 
conversion  of  one  or,  it  might  be,  of  scores.  The 
market-day  in  the  town  of  Irvine,  where  he  was 
mmister,  was  Monday ;  he  began  a  weekly  lecture 
on  that  day,  that  the  country  people  might  have  an 
ojjportunity  of  hearing  the  Gospel.  At  the  hour 
of  sermon  the  market  was  forsaken,  and  the  church 
was  crowded ;  hundreds  whom  the  morning  had 
seen  solely  occupied  with  the  merchandise  of  earth, 
before  evening  had  become  possessors  of  the  heavenly 
treasure,  and  returned  home  to  tell  their  families 
and  neighbours  what  riches  they  had  found,  and 
invite  them  to  repair  to  the  same  market,  where 
they  might  buy  wares  of  exceeding  price  "  without 
money."  Thus  the  movement  extended  from  day 
to  day.' 

The  other  centre  of  this  spiritual  awakening  was 
a  hundred  miles,  or  thereabout,  away  from  Stewarton. 
It  was  Shotts,  a  liigh-lying  spot,  midway  between 
the  two  cities  of  Glasgow  ixnd  Edinburgh.  Here, 
too,  the  movement  took  its  rise  with  those  who 
had  been  subjected  to  persecution  for  opposing  the 
measures  of  the  court.  A  very  common-place 
occui'rence  originated  that  train  of  events  which  re- 
sulted in  consequences  so  truly  beneficial  for  Shotts 
and  its  neighbourhood.  The  Marchioness  of  Hamil  ■ 
ton  and  some  ladies  of  rank  happening  to  travel 
that  road,  then-  carriage  broke  down  near  the  manse 
of  the  parish.  The  minister,  Mr.  Home,  invited  them 
to  rest  in  his  house  till  it  should  be  repaired,  when 
they  could  proceed  on  their  journey.  This  gave  them 
an  opportunity  of  observing  the  dilapidated  state  of 
the  manse,  and  in  return  for  the  hospitality  they  had 
experienced  within  its  walls,  they  arranged  for  the 
building,  at  their  own  expense,  of  a  new  manse  for 
the  miuister.  Ho  waited  on  the  Marchioness  of 
Hamilton  to  express  his  thanks,  and  to  ask  if  there 


was  anything  he  could  do  by  which  he  might  tes- 
tify his  gratitude.  The  marchioness  iuskcd  ouly  that 
she  might  be  permitted  to  name  the  ministers  who 
should  assist  him  at  the  approachuig  celebration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper.  Leave  was  joyfully  given,  and 
the  marchioness  named  some  of  the  more  eminent  of 
the  ministers  who  had  been  suftcrers,  and  for  whoso 
character  and  cause  she  herself  cherished  a  deep 
sympathy.  TJie  first  w;us  the  Veneraljle  Robert 
Bruce,  of  Kinnaird,  a  man  of  aristocratic  liirth, 
majestic  figure,  and  noble  and  fervid  elotpieuce ; 
the  second  was  Mi-.  David  Dickson,  of  whom  we  have 
ah'eady  spoken  ;  and  the  third  was  a  young  man, 
whose  name,  then  unknown,  was  destined  to  be 
famous  in  the  ecclesiastical  annals  of  his  country 
— Mr.  John  Livingstone.  The  rumour  spread  that 
these  men  were  to  preach  at  the  Kirk  of  Shotts  on 
occasion  of  the  Communion,  and  when  the  day  came 
thousands  flocked  from  the  surroiuiding  comitry  to 
hear  them.  So  great  was  the  impression  pi'oiluced 
on  Sunday  that  the  strangers  who  had  assembled, 
instead  of  I'eturning  to  their  homes,  formed  them- 
selves into  little  companies  and  passed  the  night  on 
the  spot  in  singing  psalms  and  offering  prayers. 
When  morning  broke  and  the  nndtitude  were  still 
there,  lingeiing  around  the  cluu'ch  where  yesterday 
they  had  been  fed  on  heavenly  bread,  and  seeming, 
by  their  imwillingness  to  depart,  to  seek  yet  again 
to  cat  of  that  bread,  the  ministers  agreed  that  one 
of  their  number  should  preach  to  them.  It  had  not 
before  been  customary  to  have  a  sermon  on  the 
Monday  after  the  Communion.  The  minister  to 
whom  it  fell  to  preach  was  taken  suddenly  ill ;  and 
the  youngest  minister  present,  Mr.  John  Livingstone, 
was  appointed  to  take  his  place.  Fain  woidd  he 
have  declined  the  task ;  the  thought  of  his  youth, 
his  unjireparedness,  for  he  had  spent  the  night  in 
prayer  and  converse  with  some  friends,  the  sight 
of  the  great  multitude  which  had  assembled  in 
the  churchyard,  for  no  edifice  could  contain  them, 
and  the  desires  and  expectations  which  he  knew 
the  people  entertained,  made  him  tremble  as  he 
stood  up  to  address  the  assembly.  He  discoursed 
for  an  hour  and  a  half  on  the  taking  away  of  the 
"  heart  of  stone,"  and  the  giving  of  a  "  heart  of 
flesh,"  and  then  he  purposed  to  make  an  end ; 
but  that  moment  there  came  such  a  rush  of  ideas 
into  his  mind,  and  he  felt  so  gi-eat  a  melting  of  the 
heart,  that  for  a  whole  hour  longer  he  ran  on  in 
a  strain  of  fervent  and  solemn  exhortation.- 

Five  hundred  persons  attributed  their  conversion 
to  that  sermon,  the  vast  majority  of  whom,  on  the 
testimony   of   contemjaorary    witnesses,    continued 


'  Wodrow,  Life  of  Dickson.     Gillies,  His*.  Collections, 
bk.  iii.,  chap.  2,  pp.  182,  183;  Kelso,  1845. 


'  Life  of  John  Livingstone,  i.  138, 139;  Wodrow  Society. 


536 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISIL 


steadfastly  to  theii-  lives'  end  iii  the  profession  of  the 
truth ;  and  seed  was  scattered  throughout  Clydes- 
dale which  bore  much  good  fruit  in  after-years.' 
In  memory  of  this  event  a  thanksgiving  ser^^ce  has 
ever  since  been  obser\-ed  in  Scotland  on  the  Monday 
after  a  Communion  Sunday. 

Thus  the  Scottish  Vine,  smitten  by  the  tyranny 
of  the  monarch  who  had  now  gone  to  the  grave, 
was  visited  and  re\i\ed   by  a  secret  dew.     From 


the  high  places  of  the  State  came  edicts  to  blight 
it ;  from  the  chambers  of  the  sky  came  a  "  plenteous 
rain  "  to  water  it.  It  struck  its  roots  deeper,  and 
spread  its  branches  yet  more  widely  over  a  land 
wliich  it  did  not  as  yet  wholly  cover.  Other  and 
fiercer  tempests  were  soon  to  pass  over  that  goodly 
tree,  and  this  strengthening  from  above  wiis  given 
beforehand,  that  when  the  gi'eat  winds  .should  blow, 
the  tree,  though  shaken,  might  not  be  overturned 


CHAPTER  XV. 


CHARLES    I.    AND   ARCHBISHOP   LAUD. — RELIGIOUS   INNOVATIONS. 

Easilicon  Doron—A  Defence  of  Arbitrary  Government— Character  of  Charles  I.— His  Trench  Marriage— He  Dissolves 
lus  Parliament— Imposes  Taxes  by  his  Prerogative— A  Popish  Hierarchy  in  England— Tonnage  and  Poundage- 
Ship-money— Archbishop  Laud — His  Character — His  Consecration  of  St.  Catherine  Cree  Church— His  Innovatione 
—The  Protestant  Press  Gagged— Bishop  Williams— The  Puritans  Exiled,  &c. — Preaching  Kestricted— The  Book 
of  Sports — Alarm  and  Gloom. 


Along  with  his  crown,  James  VI.  bequeathed  one 
other  gift  to  his  sou,  Charles  I.  As  in  the  ancient 
story,  this  last  was  the  fatal  addition  which  turned 
all  the  other  parts  of  the  brilliant  inheritance  to  evil. 
We  refer  to  the  Basilicon  Doron.  This  work  was 
composed  by  its  royal  author  to  supply  the  prince 
with  a  model  on  which  to  mould  his  character,  and 
a  set  of  maxims  by  which  to  govern  when  he  came 
to  the  throne. 

The  two  leading  doctrines  of  the  BasUicon  Doron 
are,  1st,  the  Divine  right  of  kings;  and,  2nd, 
the  anarchical  and  destructive  nature  of  Presby- 
terianism.  The  consequences  that  flow  from  these 
two  fundamental  propositions  are  deduced  and 
stated  with  a  fearless  logic.  "  Monarchy,"  says 
James,  "  is  the  true  pattern  of  the  Divinity ; 
kings  sit  upon  God's  throne  on  the  earth  ;  their 
subjects  are  not  permitted  to  make  any  resistance 
but  by  flight,  as  we  may  see  by  the  example  of 
brute  beasts  and  imreasonable  creatures."  In 
support  of  his  doctrine  he  cites  the  case  of  Elias, 
who  under  "  the  tyranny  of  Ahab  made  no  rebel- 
lion, but  fled  into  the  wilderness  ; "  and  of  Samuel, 
who,  when  showing  the  Israelites  that  their  future 
king  would  spoil  and  oppress  them,  and  load  them 
with  all  manner  of  burdens,  gave  them  neverthe- 
less no  right  to  rebel,  or  even  to  murmur.  In 
short,  the  work  is  an  elaborate  defence  of  arbitraiy 
government,  and  its  correlative,  passive  obedience." 

'  Sdtd  Biographies,  vol.  i.,  p.  348;  Wodrow  Society. 
-  The  True  Law  of  Free  Monarchies ;  or,  the  Reciprock  and 


Under  the  head  of  Presbyterianism,  the  king's 
doctrine  is  equally  explicit.  It  is  a  form  of  Church 
government,  he  assures  the  prince,  utterly  repug- 
nant to  monarchy,  and  destructive  of  the  good 
order  of  States,  and  only  to  be  rooted  up.  "  Parity  T' 
he  exclaims,  "  the  mother  of  confusion,  and  enemy 
to  unity."  "  Take  heed  therefore,  my  son,  to  such 
Puritans,  very  pests  in  the  Church  and  common- 
weal, whom  no  deserts  can  oblige,  neither  oaths  or 
promises  bind ;  breathing  nothing  but  sedition  and 
calumnies,  aspiring  without  measure,  railing  with- 
out reason,  and  making  their  own  imaginations, 
without  any  warrant  of  the  Woi-d,  the  square  of 
their  conscience.  I  protest  before  the  great  God, 
and  since  I  am  here  as  upon  my  testament  it  is  no 
place  for  me  to  lie  in,  that  ye  shall  never  find  with 
any  Highland  or  Border  thieves  gi-eater  ingratitude, 
and  more  lies  and  vile  perjuries,  than  with  these 
fanatic  spirits  ;  and  sufi"er  not  tlie  principals  of  them 
to  brook  your  laud,  if  ye  like  to  sit  at  rest,  except 
you  would  keep  them  for  trying  your  patience,  as 
Socrates  did  an  evil  wife."'  Such  were  the  ethical 
and  politiail  creeds  with  which  James  VI.  descended 
into  the  gi-ave,  and  Charles  I.  mounted  the  throne. 

These  maxims  were  more  dangerous  things  in  the 

Mutual  Duty  betwixt  «  Free  King  and  his  Natural  Subjects. 
(No  paging.)  Edinburgh  :  printed  by  Robert  Waldegrave, 
printer  to  the  King's  Majesty,  1603. 

=*  haa-i\iK'bi'  Aapov,  or.  His  Majesty's  Instructions  to  his 
dearest  Son,  Henry  the  Prince,  pp.  41,  42.  Edinburgh: 
printed  by  Eobert  Waldegrave,  printer  to  the  King's 
Majesty,  1G03. 


LAWLESSNESS  AND  TYRANNY  OF  CHAELES  L 


537 


case  of  the  son  than  in  that  of  the  father.  Charles  I. 
had  a  stronger  nature,  and  whatever  was  gi-afted 
upon  it  shot  up  more  vigorously.  His  convictions 
went  deeper,  and  were  more  stubbornly  carried  out. 
He  had  not  around  him  the  lets  and  poises  that 
curbed  James.  There  was  no  Andrew  MelvUle 
among  the  prelates  of  the  court  of  Charles  I.  When 
baffled,  he  would  cover  his  retreat  under  a  dissimu- 
lation so  natural  and  perfect  that  it  looked  like 
truth,  and  again  he  would  return  to  his  former 
design.  His  private  character  was  purer  and  more 
respectable  than  that  of  his  father,  and  his  deport- 
ment more  dignified,  but  his  notions  of  his  own 
prerogative  were  as  exalted  as  his  father's  liad  been. 
In  this  respect,  the  Basilicon  Doroii  was  his  Bible. 
Kings  were  gods.  All  Parliaments,  laws,  charters, 
privileges,  and  rights  had  their  being  from  the 
prince,  and  might  at  his  good  pleasure  be  put  out 
of  existence;  and  to  deny  this  doctrine,  or  with- 
stand its  practical  application,  was  the  highest  crime 
of  which  a  subject  could  be  guilty.  There  was  but 
one  man  in  all  the  three  kingdoms  who  could  plead 
right  or  conscience — namely,  himself.  Charles  had 
not  Presbyterianism  to  fight  against  in  England,  as 
his  father  had  in  Scotland,  but  he  had  another  oppo- 
nent to  combat,  even  that  liberty  which  lay  at  the 
core  of  Presbyterianism,  and  he  pursued  his  conflict 
with  it  through  a  succession  of  tyrannies,  doublings, 
blunders,  and  battle-fields,  imtil  he  arrived  at  the 
scaffold. 

Wo  can  touch  upon  the  incidents  of  his  reign 
only  so  far  as  tliey  bear  upon  that  Protestantism 
which  was  marching  on  through  the  plots  of  Jesuits, 
the  armies  of  kings,  the  calamities  of  nations,  and 
the  scaffolds  of  martyi's,  to  seat  itself  upon  a  throne 
already  groat,  and  to  become  yet  greater.  The  first 
error  of  Charles  was  his  French  marriage.  This 
match  was  concluded  on  much  the  same  conditions 
which  his  father  had  consented  to  when  the  Spanish 
marriage  was  in  prospect.  It  allied  Charles  with  a 
daughter  of  France  and  Rome  ;  it  admitted  him,  in 
a  sense,  within  the  circle  of  Popish  sovereigns ;  it 
introduced  a  dominating  Popish  element  into  his 
co\incils,  and  into  the  education  of  his  children. 
"The  king's  marriage  ^vith  Popery  and  France," 
says  Dr.  Kennet,  "was  a  moi'e  inauspicious  on\en 
than  the  great  plague  that  signalised  the  first  year 
of  Iiis  reign."  His  second  eiTor  followed  fast  upon 
the  fii'st :  it  was  the  dissolution  of  his  Parliament 
because  it  insisted  upon  a  redress  of  grievances 
before  it  would  vote  him  a  supply  of  money.  This 
spread  discontent  through  the  nation,  and  made 
Charles  be  distrusted  by  all  his  future  Parliaments. 
His  second  Parliament  was  equally  summarily  dis- 
missed, and  for  the  same  reason  ;  it  would  vote  no 


money  till  first  it  had  obtained  redress  of  gi-ievances. 
Advancing  from  one  great  en'or  to  a  yet  gi-eater, 
Charles  proceeded  to  impose  taxes  without  the 
consent  of  Parliament.  He  exacted  loans  of  such 
citizens  as  were  wealthy,  or  were  believed  to  be  so, 
and  many  who  opposed  these  unconstitutional  im- 
posts were  thrown  into  prison.  "  The  loi-d  may 
tax  his  villain  high  or  low,"  said  Sir  Edward  Coke, 
"  but  it  is  against  the  franchises  of  the  land  for 
freemen  to  be  taxed  but  by  theu-  consent  in  Parlia- 
ment." 

The  nation  next  came  to  see  that  its  religion  was 
in  as  great  danger  as  its  liberty.  In  a  third  Parlia- 
ment summoned  at  this  time,  the  indignant  feelings 
of  the  members  found  vent.  In  a  conference 
between  the  Lords  and  Commons,  Coke  called  the 
attention  of  the  members  to  a  Popish  hierarchy 
which  had  been  established  in  competition  with  the 
national  Church.  "  They  have,"  says  he,  "  a  bishop 
consecrated  by  the  Pope.  This  bi.shop  hath  his 
subaltern  oflicers  of  all  kinds ;  as  vicars-general, 
arch-deans,  rural-deans,  (fee.  Neither  are  these 
titular  officers,  but  they  all- execute  their  jurisdic- 
tions, and  make  then'  ordinary  visitations  through 
the  kingdom,  keep  courts,  and  determine  ecclesias- 
tical causes ;  and,  which  is  an  argument  of  more 
consequence,  they  keep  ordinary  intelligence  by 
their  agents  in  Rome,  and  hold  correspondence  ^vith 
the  nuncios  and  cardinals,  both  in  Brussels  and  in 
France.  Neither  are  the  seculars  alone  grown  to 
this  height,  but  the  regulars  are  more  active  and 
dangerous,  and  have  taken  deep  root.  They  have 
already  planted  their  colleges  and  societies  of 
both  sexes.  They  have  settled  revenues,  houses, 
libraries,  vestments,  and  all  other  necessary  pro- 
visions to  travel  or  stay  at  home.  They  intend  to 
hold  a  concurrent  assembly  mth  tliis  Parliament." 
This  Parliament,  like  its  predecessors,  was  speedily 
dissolved,  and  a  hint  was  dropped  that,  seeing  Par- 
liaments understood  so  ill  the  cardinal  virtue  of 
obedience,  no  more  assemblies  of  that  kind  would 
be  held. 

Tyranny  loves  simplicity  in  the  instrumentalities 
with  which  it  works :  such  are  swift  and  sure. 
Taking  leave  of  his  Parliaments,  Charles  governed 
by  the  prerogative  alone.  Ho  could  now  tax  his 
subjects  whenever,  and  to  whatever  extent,  it  suited 
him.  "  Many  unjust  and  scandalous  projects,  all 
very  grievous,"  says  Clarendon,  "  were  set  on  foot, 
the  reproach  of  which  came  to  the  king,  the  profit 
to  other  men."'  Tonnage  and  poundage  were 
imposed  upon  merchandise  ;  new  and  heavy  duties 
fettered  trade  ;  obsolete  laws  were  revived — among 

1  Kisionj  of  the  Rebellion,  bk.  i.,  p.  G7. 


538 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


othei-s,  that  by  which  every  man  with  £40  of  yearly 
rent  was  obliged  to  come  and  receive  the  ordii- 
of  knighthood ;  and  one  other  device,  specially 
vexatious,  was  hit  npon,  that  of  enlarging  tlio 
royal  forests  bej'ond  theii-  ancient  bounds,  and 
fining  the  neighbouring  land-owners  on  pretence 
that  they  had  encroached  npon  the  royal  domains, 
although  theu'  families  had  been  in  quiet  possession 
for  hundreds  of  years. 

But  the  most  odious  and  oppressive  of  these  im- 
posts was  the  project  of  "ship-money."  This  tax 
was  laid  upon  the  port  towns  and  the  adjoining 
counties,  which  were  required  to  fui'nish  one  or 
more  fully  equipped  war-ships  for  his  Majesty's  use. 
The  City  of  London  was  required  to  funaish  twenty 
ships,  with  sails,  stores,  ammunition,  and  guns, 
which,  however,  the  citizens  might  commute  into 
money ;  and  seeing  that  what  the  king  wanted  was 
not  so  much  ships  to  go  to  sea,  as  gold  Caroli  to  fill 
his  empty  exchequer,  the  tax  was  more  acceptable 
in  the  latter  foi'm  than  in  the  former.  One 
injustice  must  be  supported  by  another,  and  very 
commonly  a  greater.  The  Star  Chamber  and  the 
High  Commission  Com-t  followed,  to  enforce  these 
exactions  and  protect  the  agents  employed  in  them, 
whose  wc.k  made  them  odious.  These  coiu-ts  were 
a  sort  of  Inquisition,  into  which  the  most  loyal  of 
+kc  hation  were  dragged  to  be  fleeced  and  tortured. 
Those  who  sat  in  them,  to  use  the  words  applied  by 
Thucydides  to  the  Athenians,  "  held  for  honom-able 
that  which  pleased,  and  for  just  that  which  profited." 
The  authority  of  religion  was  called  in  to  sanction 
this  civil  tyramiy.  Sibthorpe  and  Mainwarmg 
preached  sermons  at  Whitehall,  in  which  they  ad- 
vanced the  doctrine  that  the  king  is  not  bound  to 
observe  the  laws  of  the  realm,  and  that  his  royal 
command  makes  loans  and  taxes,  without  consent 
of  Parliament,  obligatory  npon  the  subject's  con- 
science upon  pain  of  eternal  damnation.' 

The  history  of  all  nations  justifies  the  remark 
that  civil  tyranny  cannot  maintain  itself  alongside 
religious  liberty,  and  whenever  it  finds  itself  in  the 
proximity  of  freedom  of  conscience,  it  must  cither 
extinguish  that  right,  or  suffer  itself  to  be  extin- 
guished by  it.  So  was  it  now.  There  presided  at 
this  time  over  the  diocese  of  London  a  man  of  very 
remarkable  character,  destined  to  precipitate  the 
crisis  to  which  the  king  and  nation  were  advancing. 
This  was  Laud,  Bishop  of  London.  Of  austere 
manners,  industrious  habits,  and  violent  zeal,  anil 
esteeming  forms  of  so  much  the  more  value  by  how 
much   they  were  iu  themselves  insignificant,  this 


1  Eushworth,  vol.  i..  p.  422.     Hume,  Sist.,  chap.  50. 
Bennet,  Memorial,  y>.  Ihi. 


ecclesiastic  acquh'ed  a  complete  ascendency  in  the 
councils  of  Charles.  "  If  the  king  was  greater  on 
the  thi-one  than  Laud,"  remarks  Bennet,  "yet 
according  to  the  word  of  Laud  were  the  people 
ruled."  The  extravagance  of  his  folly  at  the 
consecration  (January  16,  1630-31)  of  St.  Cathe- 
rine Cree  Church,  in  Leadenhall  Street,  London, 
is  thoroughly  characteristic  of  the  man.  "  At  the 
bishop's  approach,"  says  Rushworth,  "  to  the  west 
door  of  the  church,  some  that  were  prepai-ed  for  it 
cried  with  a  loud  voice,  '  Open,  open,  ye  everlasting 
doors,  that  the  king  of  glory  may  come  in.'  And 
presently  the  doors  were  opened,  and  the  bishop, 
with  three  doctors,  and  many  other  principal  men, 
went  in,  and  immediately  falling  down  upon  his 
knees,  with  his  eyes  lifted  up,  and  his  arms  spread 
abroad,  littered  these  words :  '  This  place  is  holy,  tins 
gi-ound  is  holy:  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost,  I  pronounce  it  holy.'  Then  he 
took  up  some  of  the  dust  and  thi-ew  it  up  into 
the  air  several  times  in  his  going  up  towards  the 
chm'ch.  When  they  approached  near  to  the  rail 
and  Communion-table,  the  bishop  bowed  towards 
it  several  times,  and  returning  they  went  roimd 
the  chm-ch  in  procession,  saying  the  Hundredth 
Psalm,  after  that  the  Nineteenth  Psalm,  and  then 
said  a  form  of  prayer,  '  The  Loi'd  Jesus  Christ,' 
(fee. ;  and  concluding,  '  We  consecrate  this  church, 
and  separate  it  to  Thee  as  holy  gi-oimd,  not  to  be 
profaned  any  more  to  common  use.'  After  this, 
the  bishop,  being  near  the  Communion-table,  and 
taking  a  wi-itten  book  in  his  hand,  pronounced  curses 
upon  those  that  should  afterwaixls  jwofane  that  holy 
place  by  musters  of  soldiers,  or  keejiing  profane 
law-courts,  or  carrying  burdens  thi'ough  it ;  and  at 
the  end  of  every  ciu'se  he  bowed  towai-d  the  east, 
and  said,  'Let  aU  the  people  say.  Amen.'  Wlien  the 
curses  were  ended,  he  pronounced  a  number  of 
blessings  upon  all  those  that  had  any  hand  in 
framing  and  building  of  that  sacred  church,  and 
those  that  had  given,  or  should  hereafter  give,  cha- 
lices, plate,  ornaments,  or  utensils  ;  and  at  the  end 
of  every  blessing  he  bowed  towards  the  east,  saymg, 
'  Let  all  the  people  say,  Amen,'  After  this  followed 
the  sermon,  which  being  ended,  the  bishop  conse- 
crated and  administered  the  Sacrament  in  manner 
following.  As  he  approached  the  Communion-table 
lie  made  several  lowly  bowings,  and  coming  up  to 
the  side  of  the  table  where  the  bread  and  wine  were 
covered,  he  bowed  seven  times.  And  then,  after  the 
reading  of  many  prayers,  he  came  near  the  bread,  and 
gently  lifted  up  the  corner  of  the  napkin  whereui  the 
bread  was  laid  ;  and  when  he  beheld  the  bread,  he  laid 
it  down  again,  flew  back  a  step  or  t\vro,  bowed  three 
several  times  towards  it ;  then  he  drew  near  again, 


LAUD'S   SUPERSTITIONS   AND   PERSECUTIONS. 


53D 


and  opened  tlie  napkin,  and  bowed  as  before.  Then 
he  laid  his  hand  on  the  cup,  which  was  full  of 
wine,  with  a  cover  upon  it,  wliich  he  let  go  again, 
went  back,  and  bowed  thrice  towai-ds  it.  Then  ho 
came  near  again,  and  liftuag  up  the  cover  of  the 
cup,  looked  into  it,  and  seeing  the  wine,  he  let  fall 
the  cover  again,  retired  back,  and  bowed  as  before  ; 
then  he  received  the  Sacrament,  and  gave  it  to  some 
principal  men ;  after  which,  many  prayers  being 
said,  the  solemnity  of  the  consecration  ended."' 

Laud  bent  his  whole  energies  to  mould  the 
religion  and  worship  of  England  according  to  the 
■N'iews  he  entertained  of  what  religion  and  worehip 
ought  to  be,  and  these  were  significantly  set  forth 
in  the  scone  we  have  just  described.  The  bishop 
aimed,  in  short,  at  rescuing  Christianity  from  the 
Gothicism  of  the  Reformation,  and  bringing  back 
the  ancient  splendours  which  had  encompassed 
worship  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  temples.  When 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  he  proceeded  to  refonn 
his  diocese,  but  not  after  the  manner  of  Cranmer. 
He  erected  a  raU  around  the  Communion-table, 
and  issued  peremj)tory  orders  that  the  prebends 
and  chapter,  as  they  came  in  and  out  of  the  choir, 
"  should  worship  towards  the  altar."  He  provided 
candlesticks,  tapers,  and  copes  for  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Sacrament.  He  set  up  a  large  crucifix 
above  "  the  high  altar,"  and  filled  the  window  of 
the  chapel  with  a  picture  representing  God  the 
Father,  with  a  glory  round  his  head. 

Such  of  the  clergy  as  refused  to  fall  into  his 
humour,  and  imitate  his  fancies,  he  pi-osecuted  as 
guilty  of  schism,  and  rebels  against  ecclesiastical 
government.  Those  who  spoke  against  images 
iinil  crucifixes  were  made  answerable  in  the  Star 
Chamber,  as  persons  ill-aflocted  towards  the  dis- 
cijiline  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  were  fined, 
suspended,  and  imprisoned.  He  made  use  of  forms 
of  prayer  taken  from  the  Mass-book  and  Roman 
Pontifical ;  "  as  if  he  wished,"  says  one,  "  to  try 
how  much  of  a  Papist  might  be  brought  in  without 
Popeiy."  There  were  some  who  said  that  the  arch- 
bishop was  at  no  gi-eat  pains  to  make  any  wide 
dLstinction  between  the  two;  and  if  distinction 
there  was,  it  was  so  very  small  that  they  were 
unable  to  see  it  at  Rome;  for,  as  Laud  himself 
tells  us  in  his  Diary,  the  Pope  twice  over  made  him 
the  ofl'er  of  a  red  hat. 

It  added  to  the  confusion  in  men's  minds  to  find 
that,  while  the  Protestants  wore  severely  handled 
in  the  Star  Chamber  and  High  Commission  Court, 
Papists  were  treated  with  the  utmost  tenderness. 
While  the  former  wei-e  being  fined  and  imprisoned, 

»  Rnshworth,  toI.  ji.,  pp.  76,  77.    Welwo«d,  p.  275. 


favours  and  caresses  were  showered  on  the  latter. 
It  was  forbidden  to  write  against  Popery.  The 
Protestant  press  was  gagged.  Fox's  Book  of 
Martyrs  could  not  appear;  the  noble  defences  of 
Jewell  and  Willct  were  refused  licence ;  Mr.  GUla- 
brand,  professor  of  mathematics  in  Gresham  College, 
was  prosecuted  for  inserting  in  hLs  Almanach  the 
names  of  tlie  Protestant  martyrs  out  of  Fox,  instead 
of  those  of  the  Roman  calendai- ;  while  the  arch- 
bishop's chaplain  licensed  a  book  in  which  the  first 
Reformers,  who  had  died  at  the  stake,  were  stig- 
matised as  traitors  and  rebels. 

Dr.  Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  had  been  the 
warmest  and  most  powerful  of  Laud's  patrons ;  but 
all  his  past  services  were  forgotten  when  Williams 
wrote  a  book  against  the  archbishop's  innovations. 
The  solid  learning  and  sound  logic  of  the  book  were 
ofi'ence  greater  than  could  be  condoned  by  all  the 
favours  conferred  on  Laud  in  former  years ;  the 
good  bishop  had  to  pay  a  fine  of  £10,000  to  the 
king,  was  suspended  by  the  Court  of  High  Com- 
mission from  all  his  dignities,  oflices,  and  functions, 
and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  during  the  king's 
pleasure.  The  Puritans  were  compelled  to  trans- 
port themselves  beyond  seas,  and  seek  in  America 
the  toleration  denied  them  in  England.  The  Dutch 
and  French  Protestant  congregations,  which  had 
flourished  in  the  nation  since  the  days  of  Edward 
VI.,  had  their  liberties  all  but  entii'ely  swept  away. 
Such  of  their  members,  within  the  diocese  of  Canter- 
bury, as  had  been  born  abroad,  were  permitted  to 
retain  their  own  form  of  worship,  but  all  of  them 
who  had  been  born  in  England  were  commandeil 
to  repair  to  their  owm  parish  chiu'ches,  and  pre- 
paration was  made  for  the  ultimate  extinction  of 
their  communities  by  the  injunction  to  biing  up 
their  children  in  the  use  of  the  English  Liturgy, 
which  for  that  end  was  now  translated  into  French 
and  Dutch. 

The  scafi'old  was  not  yet  set  up,  but  short  of  this 
every  severity  was  employed  which  might  compel 
the  nation  to  worship  according  to  the  form  pre- 
scribed by  the  king  and  the  archbishop.  Prynne, 
a  member  of  the  bar  ;  Bastwick,  a  physician  ;  and 
Burton,  a  divine,  were  sentenced  in  the  Star 
Chamber  to  stand  in  the  pillory,  to  lose  their  ears 
at  Palace  Yard,  Westminster,  to  pay  a  fine  of 
.£.500  each  to  the  king,  and  to  be  imprLsoned  during 
life.  The  physician  had  ^vTitten  a  book  which  was 
thought  to  reflect  upon  the  hierarchy  of  the  Church; 
the  clergyman  had  attacked  the  innovations  in  a 
seinnon  which  he  preaclied  on  the  5th  of  November ; 
and  the  lawyer,  who  was  held  the  arch-ofl'ender, 
had  sharply  rejirobated  stage-plays,  to  which  the 
queen  was  said  to  l)e  greatly  addicted. 


540 


HISTORY  OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


One  sermon  each  Sunday  was  lield  to  be  sufficient 
for  the  instruction  of  the  people ;  and  afternoon 
and  evening  preaching  was  stringently  forbidden. 
That  the  parishioners  might  till  up  the  vacant 
time,  and  forget  as  speedily  as  possible  what  they 
had  heard  in  church,  the  "  Book  of  Sports "  put 
forth  hy  King  James  was  re-enacted,  and  every 
Simday  turned  into  a  wake.  James  had  enjoined 
that  "  his  good  people  be  not  let  from  any  lawful 
recreation,  such  as  dancing,  archery,  leaping,  vault- 
ing, itc,  though  none  must  have  this  indulgence  that 
abstain  from  coming  to  chui'ch."  And  Charles  "  out 
of  the  like  pious  care  for  the  service  of  God,"  it  was 
said,  "  and  for  suppressing  of  any  humours  that 
oppose  truth,  doth  ratify  and  publish  this  his 
blessed  father's  declaration."  All  ministers  were 
enjoined  to  read  tliis  edict  from  the  pulpit  during 
the  time  of  Divine  sei-vice,  and  several  were  visited 
with  suspension  for  i-efusing  obedieiice. 

Alarm  and  discontent,  with  a  smouldering  spirit 
of  insurrection,  the  consequences    of  this   policy, 


pervaded  all  England.  Tlie  more  the  position  of 
the  country  was  considered,  the  greater  the  peril 
was  seen  to  be.  Slavish  principles  were  being 
disseminated  in  the  nation ;  the  ancient  laws  of 
England  were  being  subverted  by  the  edicts  of 
arbitrary  power;  privileges  and  rights  conveyed 
by  charter,  and  hallowed  by  long  custom,  were  being 
buried  under  unconstitutional  exactions  ;  the  spirit 
of  the  people  was  broken  by  cruel  and  shameful 
pimishments ;  superstitious  rites  were  displacing 
the  pure  and  Scriptural  forms  which  the  Reforma- 
tion had  introduced ;  and  a  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
tyranny  was  rearing  its  head  in  the  land.  Nor 
was  the  darkness  of  the  outlook  relieved  by  the 
prospect  of  any  one,  sufficiently  powerful,  rising 
up  to  rally  the  nation  around  him,  and  rescue  it 
from  the  abyss  into  which  it  appeared  to  be 
descending.  It  was  at  this  moment  that  an  occur- 
rence took  place  in  Scotland  which  tm-ned  the  tide 
in  affairs,  and  brought  deliverance  to  both  king- 
doms.    This  recalls  us  to  the  northern  country. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 


THE   NATIONAL   COVENANT   AND   ASSEMBLY   OF    1638. 

Preparations  in  Scotland  for  introducing  Prelacy — The  King's  Commission  to  Archbishop  Laud — The  Book  of 
Canons  sent  down  to  Scotland — The  New  Liturgy— Indignation  in  Scotland— The  First  Reading  of  the 
Liturgy — Tumult — The  Dean  Assailed  in  the  Pulpit— He  Flees — The  Bishop  Mobbed— Charles's  Eesolve  to 
Force  the  Canons  and  Liturgy  upon  the  Soots — Their  Eesistance — The  Four  Tables— The  National  Covenant 
Framed — Its  Provisions— Sworn  in  the  Greyfriars'  Church — Solemnity  of  the  Scene— Alarm  of  the  Bishops 
and  the  Court — The  General  Assembly  at  Glasgow,  1C38— The  Assembly  Overthrows  Prelacy. 


We  have  noted  the 
several  steps  by  which 
James  VI.  advanced 
his  cherished  project  of 
planting  prelacy  in 
Scotland.  First  came 
an  order  of  Tulchan 
bishops.  These  men 
were  without  jurisdic- 
tion, and,  we  may  add, 
without  stipend ;  their 
main  use  being  to 
convey  the  Church's  pa- 
trimony to  their  p.atrons. 
In  IGIO  the  Tulchan 
bishop  disappeared,  and 
the  bishop  ordinary  took 
his  place.  Under  cover 
of  n,  pretended  Assembly 
which  met  that  year  in 


AUCUBiaHOF  LAVD.     (From  the  Portrait  by  Vaniyck.) 


Glasgow,  diocesans  with 
jurisdiction  were  intro- 
duced into  the  Church 
of  Scotland ;  and  a 
Coiu-t  of  High  Commis- 
sion was  set  up  for 
ordering  causes  ecclesi- 
astical. In  1G18  some 
conclusions  agi-eeable  to 
the  English  C'hiirch  were 
jiassed  at  Perth.  In 
1G17  an  Act  was  passed 
in  Parliament  to  this 
(licet,  "That  whatever 
his  Majesty  should  de- 
termine in  the  external 
government  of  the 
Church,  with  the  advice 
of  the  archbishop, 
bishops,  and  a  competent 


542 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


number  of  the  miiustry,  should  haVe  the  strength 
of  a  law."  James  VI.  liad  made  a  begmnuig, 
Charles  I.  witli  the  help  of  liis  primate  piu-posed 
to  make  an  end.  It  is  necessary,  in  order  to  a 
true  insight  into  the  struggle  that  followed,  to  bear 
in  mind  what  we  have  already  explained,  that  with 
their  form  of  Church  government  were  bound  uj) 
the  civil  right.s  of  the  Soots,  .since,  owing  to  the 
recent  redemjjtion  of  tlie  nation  from  feudalism,  tlie 
conservator  of  its  libcrtie-s  was  not  the  Parliament 
as  in  England,  but  the  Kirk. 

The  Scottish  bishops,  in  a  letter  to  Laiid,  expressed 
a  wish  for  a  nearer  conformity  with  the  Chm'ch  of 
England,  adding  for  the  primate's  satisfaction  that 
their  countrymen  shared  -with  them  in  this  wish. 
If  they  really  believed  what  they  now  affirmed, 
they  were  gi'ievously  mistaken.  The  flower  of  their 
ministers  banished,  and  their  places  filled  by  men 
who  possessed  neither  learning  nor  piety,  tlie 
Scottish  people  cherished  mourafully  the  memory 
of  former  times,  and  only  the  more  disliked,  the 
longer  they  knew  it,  the  prelacy  which  was  being 
thrust  upon  them.  But  the  wishes  of  the  peoiile, 
one  way  or  other,  counted  for  little  with  the  king. 
His  Grace  of  Canterbury  was  bidden  tiy  his  hand 
at  framing  canons  for  the  government  of  the 
Scottish  Church,  and  a  Liturgy  for  her  worshij). 
Tlie  primate,  notliing  loth,  addressed  himself  to  the 
congenial  task.  The  Book  of  Canons  was  the  first- 
fruits  of  his  labours.  Its  key-note  was  the  un- 
limited power  and  supremacy  of  the  king.  It  laid  tlie 
axe  at  tlie  root  of  liberty,  both  in  Cliurch  and  State. 
Next  came  the  Liturgy,  of  which  every  minister 
was  enjoined  to  provide  himself  \nth  four  copies 
for  the  use  of  his  church  on  pain  of  dejirivation. 
When  the  Liturgy  was  examined  it  was  found  to 
be  alarmingly  near  to  the  Pojiish  breviary,  and  in 
some  points,  j)articularly  the  Communion  Service, 
it  borrowed  the  very  words  of  the  Mass  Book.' 
The  23rd  of  July,  1637,  was  tixed  on  for  beginning 
the  use  of  the  new  Service  Book. 

As  the  day  Jipproached  it  began  to  be  seen  that 
it  would  not  pass  without  a  tempest.  This  sum- 
mons to  fall  down  and  worship  ;us  the  king  should 
direct,  roused  into  indignation  the  sons  of  the 
men  who  had  listened  to  Knox,  and  who  saw  the 
.system  being  ag:un  set  up  which  their  fathers, 
under  tlie  leading  of  their  great  Pieformer,  had  cast 
down.  Some  of  tlie  bisliops  were  alanned  at  tliese 
manifestations,  well  knowing  the  .spirit  of  tlieir 
countrymen,  and  counselled  the  king,  with  a  tempest 


'  The  Boohe  of  Common  Prayer,  and  Administration  of 
the  Sacrnnifnts,  and  other  parts  of  Divine  Service,  for  the 
use  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.    Edia.,  1C37. 


in  the  air,  not  to  tliink  of  rearing  his  new  edifice, 
but  to  wait  the  return  of  calmer  times.  The  head- 
strong monarch,  urged  on  by  his  self-willed  primate, 
would  not  listen  to  this  prudent  advice.  The 
Liturgy  must  l)e  enforced. 

The  day  arrived.  On  the  morning  of  Sunday, 
the  23rd  July,  about  eight  of  the  clock,  the  reader 
ap])eared  in  the  de.sk  of  St.  CUes's  and  went  over  the 
usual  prayers,  and  having  ended,  said,  witli  tears 
in  his  eye.s,  "  Adieu,  good  people,  for  I  think  thLs 
is  the  last  time  I  shall  ever  read  prayers  in  this 
church."  The  friends  of  the  new  service  heard  in 
this  last  reading  the  requiem  of  the  Protestant 
worship.  At  the  stated  hour,  the  Dean  of  Edin- 
burgh, clad  in  canoiucals,  appeared  to  begin  the 
new  service.  A  va.st  crowd  had  assembled,  both 
within  and  without  the  church,  and  as  the  dean. 
Liturgy  in  hand,  elbowed  his  way,  and  mounted  the 
stairs  to  the  desk,  the  scene  was  more  animated 
than  edifying.  He  had  hardly  begun  to  read  wlien 
a  frightful  clamour  of  voices  rose  round  him.  His 
tones  were  drowned  and  liis  composure  shaken. 
Presently  he  was  .startled  by  the  ivhizz  of  a  missile 
passing  dangerously  near  his  ear,  launched,  as 
tradition  says,  by  Janet  Geddes,  who  kept  a  stall 
in  the  Higli  Street,  and  who,  finding  notliing  more 
convenient,  flung  her  stool  at  the  dean,  with  the 
objurgation,  "  Villain,  dost  thou  say  mass  at  my 
lugV  The  dean  sluit  the  obnoxious  book,  IiastDy 
threw  ofl'  the  siu-plice,  which  had  lielped  to  draw 
tlie  tempest  upon  him,  and  fled  with  all  speed. 
The  Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  who  was  present,  think- 
ing, perhaps,  that  the  greater  dignity  of  his  office 
would  procure  him  more  reverence  from  the  crowd, 
ascended  the  pulpit,  and  exei-ted  himself  to  pacify 
the  tumult,  and  continue  the  service.  His  appear- 
ance was  the  signal  for  a  renewal  of  the  tempest, 
which  gi-ew  fiercer  than  ever.  He  was  saluted  with 
cries  of  "  A  Pope — a  Pope, — Antichrist !  PuU  him 
down !  "  He  managed  to  escape  from  the  pulpit  to 
his  coacli,  tlie  magistrates  escorting  him  home  to 
defend  him  from  the  fury  of  the  crowd,  which  wan 
composed  mostly  of  tlie  baser  sort. 

If  the  liatred  which  the  Scottish  people  enter- 
tained of  the  Litiu-gy  had  found  vent  only  in 
iinjiremeditated  tumults,  the  king  would  liave 
triumphed  in  the  end ;  but  along  with  this  effer- 
vescence on  the  surface  there  was  a  strong  and 
steady  current  flowing  underneath  ;  and  the  intel- 
ligent determination  whicli  pervaded  all  ranks 
shaped  itself  into  well-considered  measures.  The 
Privy  CouncU  of  Scotland,  pausing  before  the  firm 
attitude  assumed  by  the  nation,  sent  a  represen- 
tation to  the  king  of  the  true  state  of  feeling  in 
Scotland.     The  reply  of  Charles  was  more  insolent 


THE  SWEARING  OF  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 


543 


than  ever :  the  new  Liturgy  must  be  brought  into 
use ;  and  another  proclamation  was  issued  to  that 
effect,  branding  with  ti-eason  all  who  opposed  it. 
This  was  all  that  was  needed  thoroughly  to  rouse 
the  spii'it  of  the  Scots,  which  had  slumbered  these 
thii'ty  years,  and  to  band  them  together  in  the  most 
resolute  resistance  to  a  tyranny  that  seemed  bent  on 
the  utter  destniction  of  their  liberties.  Noblemen, 
gentlemen,  and  burgesses  flocked  from  all  the  cities 
aaid  sliires  of  the  Lowlands  to  Edinbm-gh,  to  concert 
united  action.  Foiu'  committees,  termed  "  Tables," 
were  formed — one  for  the  nobility,  one  for  the 
barons,  a  thiixl  for  the  boroughs,  and  a  foui'th  for 
the  Church.  These  submitted  proposals  to  a 
General  Table,  wldch  consisted  of  commissioners 
from  the  other  four,  and  decided  finally  on  the 
measures  to  be  adopted.  The  issue  of  then-  de- 
liberations was  a  unanimous  resolution  to  renew 
the  National  Covenant  of  Scotland.  This  expedient 
had  been  adopted  at  two  former  crises,  and  on  both 
occasions  it  had  gi-eatly  helped  to  promote  union 
and  confidence  among  the  friends  of  liberty,  and  to 
disconcert  its  enemies ;  and  the  like  effects  were 
expected  to  follow  it  at  this  not  less  momentous 
crisis.  The  Covenant  was  re-cast,  adapted  to  the 
present  juncture,  and  subscribed  with  gi-eat  solem- 
nity in  the  Greyfriars'  Chiu'ch  at  Edinburgh,  on 
the  1st  of  March,  1638. 

The  "  underscribed "  noblemen,  barons,  gentle- 
men, burgesses,  ministers,  and  commons  promised 
and  swore,  "  all  the  days  of  our  life  constantly  to 
adhere  unto  and  to  defend  the  true  religion  ; "  and 
"to  labour  by  all  means  lawful  to  recover  the 
purity  and  liberty  of  the  Gospel  as  it  was  estab- 
lished and  professed  "  before  the  introduction  of  the 
late  innovations;  "and  that  we  shall  defend  the 
same,  and  resist  all  these  contraiy  erroi's  and  cor- 
ruptions, according  to  our  vocation,  and  to  the 
utmost  of  that  power  which  God  hath  put  into 
our  hands,  all  the  days  of  our  life."  The  Covenant 
further  pledged  its  swearers  to  support  "  the  king's 
majesty,"  and  one  another,  "  in  the  defence  and 
presei'v'ation  of  the  aforesaid  true  religion,  liberties, 
and  laws  of  the  kingdom." 

It  will  not  be  denied  that  nations  are  liound  to 
defend  their  religion  and  liberties ;  and  surely,  if 
they  see  cause,  they  may  add  to  the  force  of  this 
duty  tlie  higher  sanctions  of  vows  and  oaths.  In 
doing  so  they  invest  the  cause  of  patriotism  with 
the  sacredness  of  religion.  This  was  what  the  Scots 
did  on  this  occasion,  which  is  one  of  the  gi-eat  events 
of  their  history.  From  the  Grampian  chain,  whicli 
shut  out  the  Popish  north,  to  the  Tweed,  whicli 
pai-ts  on  the  south  their  country  from  England,  the 
nation  assembled  in  the  metropolis,  one  sentiment 


animating  the  whole  mighty  multitude,  and  moving 
them  all  towards  one  object,  and  that  object  the 
highest  and  holiest  conceivable.  For,  gi-eat  and 
sacred  as  liberty  is,  liberty  in  this  case  was  but  the 
means  to  an  end  still  loftier  and  more  sacred,  namely 
the  pure  service  of  the  Eternal  King.  This  added 
unspeakable  solemnity  to  the  ti'ansaction.  God 
was  not  merely  a  witness,  as  in  other  oaths.  He 
was  a  party.  On  the  one  side  was  the  Scottish 
nation ;  on  the  other  was  the  Sovereign  of  heaven 
and  earth :  the  mortal  entered  into  a  covenant 
with  the  Eternal :  the  finite  allied  itself  with  the 
Infinite.  So  did  the  Scots  regard  it.  They  stood 
on  the  steps  of  the  Divine  throne  as  they  lifted 
up  then-  hands  to  swear  to  "  the  Lord,  the  ever- 
lasting God."  A  scene  like  this  stamps,  as  with 
photogi'aphic  stroke,  the  impress  of  its  gi'andeur 
upon  a  nation's  character,  and  the  memory  of  it 
abides  as  a  creative  influence  in  after-generations. 

Let  us  view  the  scene  a  little  more  nearly.  The 
hour  was  yet  early  when  a  stream  of  persons  began 
to  flow  towards  the  Church  of  the  Grey  Friars.  No 
one  fabric  could  contain  a  nation,  and  the  multitude 
overflowed  and  covered  the  churchyai'd.  All  ranks 
and  ages  were  commingled  in  that  assembly — the 
noble  and  the  peasant,  the  patriarch  and  the  strip- 
ling. One  fire  burned  in  all  hearts,  and  the  glow 
of  one  enthusiasm  lighted  up  all  faces.  The  pro- 
ceedings of  the  day  were  opened  wth  a  confession 
of  national  sins.  Then  followed  a  sermon.  The 
Covenant  was  then  read  by  Sir  Archibald  Johnston, 
afterwards  Lord  Wavriston.  He  it  was  who  had 
drafted  the  bond,  and  few  then  li\'ing  could  have 
taught  Scotland  so  fittingly  the  words  in  which  to 
bind  hereelf  to  the  ser\ice  of  the  God  of  heaven. 
There  was  breathless  silence  in  the  gi'eat  assembly 
while  the  Covenant,  so  reverent  in  spirit,  and  so 
compendious  and  appropriate  in  phraseology,  was 
being  read.  Next  the  Eiui  of  Loudon,  considered 
the  most  eloquent  man  of  his  age,  rose,  and  with 
sweet  and  persuasive  voice  exhorted  the  jjeople  to 
steadfastness  in  the  oath.  Alexander  Henderson, 
who  not  unworthily  tilled  the  place  which  Andrew 
Melville  had  held  among  the  ministers,  led  the  de- 
votions of  the  assembly.  With  .solemn  awe  and  rapt 
emotion  did  he  address  "  the  high  and  lofty  One  " 
with  whom  the  Scottish  nation  essayed  to  enter 
into  covenant,  "  the  vessels  of  clay  ^^'ith  the 
Almighty  Potter."  The  prayer  ended,  there  was 
again  a  pause.  The  profound  stillness  lasted  for  a 
minute  or  two,  when  the  Earl  of  Sutherland  was 
.seen  to  rise  and  .step  forward  to  the  table.  Lifting 
up  his  right  hand,  he  swore  the  oath  ;  and  taking 
the  pen,  the  first  of  all  the  Scottish  nation,  he  affixed 
his  name  to  the  Covenant.     Noble  followed  noble, 


641 


HISTOllY  OF  PEOTESTANTISM, 


Bweai-iiig  with  uplifted  haiul,  and  subscribing.  The 
barons,  the  niinistei-s,  the  burgesses,  thousands  of 
every  age  and  rank  subscribed  and  swore.  The  vast 
sheet  was  filled  with  names  on  both  sides,  and 
subscribers  at  last  could  find  room  for  only  theii- 
initials.  The  solemn  enthusiasm  that  filled  the 
assembled  thousands  found  varied  expression :  some 
wept  aloud,  others  shouted  as  on  a  field  of  battle, 
and  others  opened  their  veins  and  subscribed  mth 
tlieir  blood. 

This  transaction,  which  took  place  in  the  Grey- 
friars'  Churchyard  at  Edinburgh,  on  the  1st  of 
;Marcb,  1G38,  was  the  opening  scene  of  a  struggle 
that  drew  into  its  vortex  both  kingdoms,  that 
lasted  fifty  years,  and  that  did  not  end  till  the 
Stuarts  had  been  ckiven  from  the  throne,  and 
William  of  Orange  raised  to  it.  It  was  this  that 
closed  all  the  gi-eat  conflicts  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. By  the  stable  political  position  to  wliieh  it 
elevated  Protestantism,  and  the  manifold  influences 
of  development  and  propagation  with  which  it  sur- 
rounded it,  this  conflict  may  be  said  to  have 
crowned  as  well  as  closed  all  the  straggles  that  went 
before  it. 

"To  this  much-vilified  bond,"  says  a  historic 
wi-iter,  "  every  true  Scotsman  ought  to  look  back 
with  as  much  reverence  as  Englishmen  do  to  Magna 
CJiarta!'  ^  "It  is  known  by  all  who  are  acquainted 
with  this  country,"  say  the  nobilitj^,  ifec,  in  their 
Eemonstrance,  "that  almost  the  whole  kingdom 
standeth  to  the  defence  of  this  cause,  and  that 
the  chiefest  of  the  nobles,  barons,  and  burgesses 
[the  subscribers]  are  honoured  in  the  plac&s 
where  they  live  for  religion,  wisdom,  power,  and 
wealth,  answerable  to  the  condition  of  this  kuig- 
dom."  "  The  opposing  party  were  few  in  numbers, 
they  were  weak  in  all  the  elements  of  influence 
and  jiower,  and  the  only  thing  that  gave  them 
the  least  importance  was  then-  having  the  king  on 
their  side.  The  prelates  were  thundei'struck  by 
the  bold  measure  of  the  Covenanters.  When 
Spottiswood,  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  heard 
that  the  National  Covenant  had  been  sworn,  he 
exclaimed  in  despair,  "  Now  all  that  we  have  been 
<loing  these  thirty  years  byepast  is  at  once  tlirown 
ilown."  Nor  was  the  court  less  startled  when  the 
news  reached  it.  Chaiies  saw  all  his  visions  of 
arbitrary  power  vanishing.  "  So  long  as  this 
Covenant  is  in  force,"  said  the  king  to  Hamilton, 
"  I  have  no  more  power  in  Scotland  than  a  Duke 
of  Venice."^     Promises,  concessions,  threats,  were 

'  Aikman,  Kisi.  of  Scotland,  vol.  iii.,  p.  453 ;  Glas.,  1848. 
=  Remonstrance  of  the  NoUlity,  Barons,  S(c.,  February  27, 
1639,  p.  14. 
*  Burnet,  Memoin  of  the  Diike  of  Hamilton,  p.  CO. 


tried  by  turns  to  break  the  phalanx  of  Scottish 
patriots  which  had  been  formed  in  the  Greyfriars' 
Churchyard,  but  it  refused  to  dissolve.*  Their 
Co\enant  bound  them  to  be  loyal  to  the  king, 
but  only  while  he  governed  accoriling  to  law. 
Charles  placed  himself  above  the  law,  and  was  at 
that  moment  making  jireparations  to  carry  out  by 
force  of  arms  the  extravagaiit  notions  he  entertained 
of  Ms  jirerogative.  To  this  tyi-anny  the  Scots  were 
resolved  not  to  yield.  "  We  know  no  other  bands 
betv.-een  a  king  and  his  subjects,"  said  the  Earl  of 
Loudon  to  the  royal  commissioner,  "  but  those  of 
religion  and  the  laws.  If  these  are  broken,  men's 
lives  are  not  dear  to  them."  It  was  not  long 
till  the  echoes  of  these  bold  words  came  back  in 
thunder  from  all  parts  of  Scotland. 

The  king  at  last  found  himself  obliged  to  convoke 
a  free  General  Assembly,  which  was  summoned  to 
meet  at  Glasgow  on  the  21st  of  November,  1C38. 
It  Avas  the  fii'st  fi'ee  Assembly  which  had  met  for 
forty  yeais ;  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  was  sent 
down  as  commissioner.  He  came  with  secret 
instructions  which,  had  he  been  able  to  carry 
them  out,  would  have  made  the  meetirj  of  the 
Assembly  of  no  avail  as  regarded  the  vindication 
of  the  national  liberties.  Hamilton  was  in- 
structed to  take  care  of  the  bishops  and  see  that 
then-  dignities  and  powers  were  not  curtailed, 
and  generally  so  to  manage  as  that  the  Assembly 
should  do  only  what  might  be  agreeable  to  the  king, 
and  if  it  should  show  itself  otherwise  minded  it 
was  to  be  dissolved.  The  battle  between  the  king 
and  the  Assembly  turned  mainly  on  the  question  of 
the  bishops.  Had  the  Assembly  power  to  depose 
from  ottice  an  order  of  men  disallowed  by  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  imposed  on  it  by  an  extrinsic 
authority  1  It  decided  that  it  had.  That  was  to 
sweep  away  the  king's  claim  to  ecclesiastical 
supremacy,  and  along  with  it  the  agents  by  whom 
he  hoped  to  establish  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
supremacy  iir  Scotland.  Hamilton  strenuously  re- 
sisted this  decision.  He  was  met  by  the  firmness, 
tact,  and  eloquence  of  the  moderator,  Alexander 
Henderson.  The  commissioner  promised,  protested, 
and  at  last  shed  tear.s.  All  was  in  vain ;  the  As- 
sembly, unmoved,  proceeded  to  depose  the  bishops. 

•*  Prince  Bismarok,  in  a  letter  now  before  xis,  of  date 
February  21, 1875,  addressed  to  Messrs.  Fair  and  Smith, 
Edinburfe'li.  who  had  sent  his  Excellency  a  copy  of  the 
National  Covenant,  says  :  "  From  my  earliest  reading  of 
history,  I  well  remember  that  one  of  those  events  that 
more  particularly  affected  my  feelings  used  to  be  the 
Covenant— the  spectacle  of  a  loyal  people  uniting  with 
tlieir  king  in  a  solemn  bond  to  resist  the  same  ambitions 
of  foreign  priesthood  wo  have  to  fight  at  the  i>rcsent 
day." 


THE   GENERAL  ASSEMBLY   OF    1G38. 


545 


To  u\Ti't  tlip  IjIow,  so  fiitrtl  to  the  king's  projects, 
ilaiuiltoii  rose,  and  in  tlie  king's  name,  as  head  of 
the  Cliurch,  dissolved  the  Assembly,  and  discharged 
its  fnrther  proceedings. 

Tlie  ciisis  was  a  great  one ;  for  the  question  at 
issue  was  not  merely  whether  Scotland  should  have 
free  Assemblies,  but  whether  it  should  have  free 
Parliaments,  free  laws,  and  frei;  subjects,  or  whethei- 
all  these  should  give  way  and  the  king's  sole  and 
ai'bitrary  prerogative  should  come  iu  their  room. 
The  king's  act  dissolving  the  Assembly  was  illegal ; 
for  neither  the  constitution  nor  the  law  of  Scotland 
gave  him  supremacy  in  ecclesiastictil  aflairs  ;  and 
liad  the  Assemlsly  broken  up,  the  king's  claim  woidd 
have  been  acknowledged,  and  the  liberties  of  the 
country  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  tyrant. 

The  commissioner  took  his  leave ;  but  hardly  had 
his  retreating  figure  vanished  at  the  door  of  the 
Assembly,  when  the  officer  entered  with  lights,  and 
a  protest,  which  had  been  prepared  beforehand,  was 
read,  in  which  the  Assembly  declared  that  "  sitting 
in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  Lord  Jesus 


Christ,  the  only  Head  and  IMoxAucn  of  his 
Church,  it  could  not  dissolve."  The  members  went 
on  with  their  business  as  if  nothing  had  occun-ed. 
They  proceeded  to  try  the  bishops,  fourteen  in 
number,  who  were  chai-ged  with  not  a  few  moral 
as  well  as  ecclesiastical  delinquencies.  The  two 
archbishops  and  six  bishops  were  excommunicated 
— four  deposed  and  two  suspended.  Thus  the  fabric 
of  prelacy,  which  had  been  thirty  years  a-building, 
was  overturned,  and  the  Church  of  Scotland  re- 
stored to  the  purity  and  vigour  of  hei'  early  days. 

AVlien  its  thorough  and  memorable  work  was 
finished,  the  Assembly  was  dismissed  by  the  mode- 
rator with  these  remarkable  words:  "  We  have  now 
cast  down  the  walls  of  Jericho ;  let  him  that 
rebuildeth  them  beware  of  the  curse  of  Hiel  the 
Bcthelite  ! " 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Scotland  uprose  in  new 
power ;  the  schemes  of  tj'rants  who  had  hoped  to 
plant  arbitrary  power  ujion  its  ruins  were  baffled ; 
and  the  nation  hailed  its  recovered  liberties  with  a 
shout  of  joy. 


CHAPTER  XVIL 


CIVIL   WAR — .SOLEMN    LEAGUE WESTMINSTER    ASSEMBLY. 

War  with  the  Scots— Charles  sends  a  Fleet  and  Army— The  Scots  March  to  the  Border— Treaty  of  Peace— "Violated 
by  tlie  King— Second  "War  with  the  Scots— Charles  Defeated— Makes  Peace— Church  of  Scotland  has  Rest— The 
Long  Parliament— Grievances— Concessions  of  Charles- Irish  Massacre— Suspected  Complicity  of  the  King- 
Execution  of  StraiTord  and  Laud— Civil  "War  in  England— Scotland  .Joins  England— Solemn  League— Summary  of 
its  Principles— Sworn  to  by  the  ParUament  of  England— The  "Westminster  Assembly— Its  General  Appearance 
—Its  Individual  Members— Frames  a  Form  of  Church  Government  and  Confession  of  Faith— Influence  of  these 
Documents. 


The  Scots  had  initiated  their  rebellion  by  swear- 
ing the  National  Covenant,  and  they  crowned  it 
by  continuing  to  sit  in  Assembly  after  the  royal 
commissioner  had  ordered  them  to  dissolve.  In 
tlic  oiiinion  of  Charles  I.  nothing  remained  to 
liini  but  the  hist  resort  of  kings — the  sword.  In 
April,  1640,  the  kuig  summoned  a  Parliament  to 
vote  him  supplies  for  a  war  with  the  Scots.  But 
the  Loi-ds  and  Connnons,  having  but  little  heart 
for  a  war  of  Laud's  kindling,  and  knowing  more- 
over that  to  suppress  the  rights  of  Scotland  was  to 
throw  down  one  of  the  main  ramparts  around  their 
own  lilierties,  refused  the  money  which  the  king 
asked  for.  Charles  had  i-ecourse  to  his  iirerogative, 
and  called  upon  the  bishops  to  furnish  the  help 
which  the  laity  withheld.      Less  lukewarm  than 


the  Parliament,  the  clergy  raised  considerable  sums 
in  the  various  dioceses.  The  queen  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  wci-e  far  from 
heing  indiffi'rent  spectators  of  the  quarrel  between 
the  king  and  his  northern  subjects.  They  willingly 
contributed  to  the  war,  and  as  the  result  of  the 
joint  subsidy  Charles  raised  an  army,  and  marched 
to'tlic  Scottish  Border;  he  ordered  a  fleet  to  blockade 
the  Frith  of  Forth,  and  he  sent  the  Marquis  ot 
Hamilton  ^vith  a  body  of  troops  to  co-operate  ^\ith 
Huntl}',  who  had  unfurled  the  standard  on  the 
king's  side  in  the  North. 

The  Scots  were  not  taken  unawares  I)y  the  king'.s 
advance.  They  knew  that  he  w;is  preparing  to 
invade  them.  They  had  sworn  their  Covenant,  and 
tkey  were  as  ready  to  shed  their  blood  in  fultilment 


646 


HISTORY  OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


of  their  oath  as  they  had  been  to  subscribe  their 
names.  Thirty  thousand  able-bodied  yeomen  offered 
themselves  for  the  service  of  their  country.  They 
were  marshalled  and  drilled  by  General  Leslie,  a 
veteran  soldier,  who  had  acquired  skill  and  won 
renown  in  the  wars  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  Hardly 
had  their  preparations  been  comjileted  when  the 
bonfire,  which  was  to  announce  the  arrival  of  the 
invading  force,  summoned  them  to  battle.  Charles's 
fleet  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  Forth  ;  but  the 
Scots  mustered  in  such  numbers  on  the  shore  that 
not  a  man  could  land.  The  main  body  of  the 
army,  under  Leslie,  in  their  uniforms  of  olive  or 
grey  plaiden,  with  a  knot  of  blue  ribbons  in  their 
bonnets,  had  meanwhile  marched  to  the  Border. 
Their  progress  was  a  victorious  one,  for  it  was  the 
flower  of  the  Scots  that  were  in  arms,  whereas  the 
English  soldiei's  had  little  heart  for  fighting.  Nego- 
tiations were  opened  between  the  king  and  the 
Scots  at  Dunse  Law,  a  pyramidal  hill  that  rises 
near  the  town  of  that  name,  on  the  north  of  the 
Tweed.  A  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded,  and, 
though  its  terms  were  neither  clear  nor  ample,  the 
Scots  in  the  excess  of  their  loyalty  accepted  it. 
Tiicy  fought  for  neither  lands  nor  laurels,  but  for 
the  peaceable  practice  of  their  religion  and  the  quiet 
enjoyment  of  their  civil  rights,  under  the  sceptre  of 
their  native  pi'ince.  "  Had  our  throne  been  void," 
says  an  eye-witness,  "and  our  voices  sought  for  the 
tilling  of  Fergus'  chair,  we  woidd  have  died  ere  any 
one  had  sitten  down  on  that  fatal  marble  but 
Charles  alone."' 

This  devoted  loyalty  on  the  one  side  was  repaid 
with  persistent  perfidy  on  tJie  other.  Next  year 
(1640)  Charles  anew  denounced  the  Scots  as  rebels, 
and  prepared  to  invade  them.  Not  waiting  this 
time  till  the  king's  army  should  be  on  the  Border, 
the  Scots  at  once  unfurled  the  blue  banner  of  the 
Covenant,  entered  England,  encountered  the  king's 
forces  at  Newburn  on  the  Tyne,  and  discomfited 
them,  almost  without  sti-iking  a  blow.  The  A-ictors 
took  possession  of  the  towns  of  Newcastle  and  Dur- 
ham, and  levied  contributions  from  the  whole  of 
Northumberland.  Meanwhile  the  king  lay  at  York ; 
his  army  was  dispirited,  his  nobles  were  lukewarm; 
he  was  daily  receiving  letters  from  London,  urging 
liim  to  make  peace  with  the  Scots,  and  he  was  per- 
suaded at  last  to  attempt  extricating  himself  from 
the  labyrinth  into  which  liis  rashness  and  treachery 
had  brought  him,  by  opening  negotiations  with  the 
Scots  at  Rij)on.  The  treaty  was  afterwards  trans- 
fen-ed  to  London.  Thus  had  the  king  brought  the 
fire  into  Eli'dand. 


'  Baillie,  Letters,  vol.  i.,  p.  215. 


The  Church  of  Scotland  had  rest  for  twenty  years 
(1640—1660.)  The  Scots  had  repelled  the  edicts 
and  the  soldiers  of  an  arbitrary  monarch,  for  though 
chivalrously  loyal  to  their  kings,  they  would  give 
them  no  obedience  but  such  as  it  was  meet  for 
freemen  to  render;  and  Scotland  being  again 
mistress  of  herself,  her  General  Assemblies  con- 
tinued to  meet,  her  Presbyterian  Church  govern- 
ment was  administered,  her  flocks  were  supplied 
with  faithful  and  diligent  pastors,  some  of  whom 
were  distinguished  by  learning  and  genius,  and 
vital  Christianity  flourished.  The  only  drawback 
to  the  pi'osperity  of  the  country  was  the  raids  of 
Montrose,  who,  professing  a  zeal  for  the  king's 
interests,  stained  indelibly  his  own  character  for 
humanity  and  honour,  by  ravaging  many  parts  of  his 
native  land  vnth  fire  and  sword.  All  the  whUe  there 
raged  a  great  storm  in  England,  and  the  northern 
country  was  too  near  the  scene  of  strife  not  to  feel 
the  swell  of  the  tempest.  Nor  could  Scotland  re- 
gard her  own  rights  as  secure  so  long  as  those  of 
England  were  in  question.  It  was  her  own  quaiTel 
mainly  which  had  been  tiuusferred  into  the  sister 
kingdom,  and  she  felt  called  upon  to  contribute 
what  help  she  could,  by  mediation  or  by  arms,  to 
bring  the  controversy  between  the  king  and  the 
Parliament  to  a  right  issue.  The  poise  of  the 
conflict  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Scots  ;  for,  balanced 
iis  parties  then  were  in  England,  whichever  side 
the  Scots  should  espouse  would  be  almost  certain 
of  victory.  Could  they  hesitate  to  say  whether 
Poijery  or  Pi'otestantisni  should  be  established  in 
England,  when  by  the  triumph  of  the  latter  a 
bulwark  would  be  raised  against  the  advancing 
tide  of  desjiotisni  which  was  then  threatening  all 
Europe  ?  A  strange  concurrence  of  events  had 
thrown  the  decision  of  that  question  into  the  hands 
of  the  Scots ;  how  they  decided  it,  we  shall  see 
immediately. 

In  November,  1640,  a  Parliament  met  at  West- 
minster. It  is  known  in  history  as  the  Long 
Parliament.  The  grievances  under  which  the 
nation  groaned  were  boldly  discussed  in  it.  The 
laws  were  infringed  ;  religion  was  being  changed, 
and  evil  counsellors  surrounded  the  throne  ;  such 
were  the  complaints  loudly  urged  in  this  assembly. 
Wisdom,  eloquence,  patriotism,  were  not  lacking  to 
that  Parliament ;  it  included  the  great  names  of 
Hyde  and  Falkland,  and  Digby,  and  others  ;  but 
all  this  could  not  prevent  a  rupture  between  the 
king  and  the  people,  which  widened  every  day  till 
at  last  the  breach  was  irreparable.  The  king's  two 
favourites,  Strafford  and  Laud,  were  impeached  and 
brought  to  the  block.  The  Star  Chamber  and  High 
Commission    Court  were  abolished.     Ship-money, 


548 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


and  other  illegiil  imposts,  the  growth  of  recent 
yeare  of  despotism,  were  swept  away ;  and  the  siiiiit 
of  reform  seemed  even  to  IvAve  readied  the  throne, 
/ind  made  a  convert  of  the  king.  In  his  speech  on 
the  2.5th  of  Januarjr,  1641,  the  king  said,  "  I  ^\ilI 
willingly  and  cheerfully  concur  with  you  for  the 
reformation  of  all  abuses,  Vjoth  in  Church  and  com- 
iiionwoaltli,  for  my  intention  is  to  reduce  all  tilings 
to  the  best  and  purest  times,  as  they  were  in  the 
days  of  Queen  Elizabeth."  Tiic  olive-branch  was 
held  out  to  even  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland. 
Char'les  paid  a  visit  at  this  time  to  his  ancient 
kingdom,  for  the  end,  as  he  .issured  liis  Parliament 
of  Scotland,  "of  quieting  the  distractions  of  his 
kingdom  ;  "  for,  said-  he,  "  I  can  do  nothing  with 
more  cheerfulness  than  to  give  my  people  a  general 
satisfaction."  And,  by  way  of  seconding  these 
promises  with  deeds,  lie  ratifieil  the  National 
Covenant  which  liad  been  sworn  in  1638,  and  made 
it  law.  The  black  clouds  of  war  seemed  to  be 
rolling  away  ;  the  Arinds  of  faction  were  going  down 
in  both  countries  ;  the  biting  breath  of  tjTanny  had 
become  sweet,  and  the  monarch  who  had  proved 
false  a  score  of  times  was  now  almost  trusted  by 
his  I'ejoicing  sulijects. 

The  two  kingdoms  were  now,  as  a  speaker  in  the 
Engli.sh  Parliament  expressed  it,  "on  the  vertical 
point."  The  scales  of  national  destiny  hung  evenly 
poised  between  remedy  and  niin.  It  was  at  this 
moment  that  terrible  tidings  an-ived  from  Ireland, 
by  which  these. fair  prospects  were  all  at  once 
overcast.  We  i-efer  to  the  Irish  Massacre.  This 
butchery  was  only  less  horrible  than  that  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  if  indeed  it  did  not  equal  it.  Tlie 
slaughter  of  the  Protestants  by  the  Roman  Catholics 
commenced  on  the  23rd  of  October,  1041,  and 
continued  for  several  months  ;  forty  thousand,  on 
the  lowest  estimate,  were  murdered ;  many  \vi'iters 
say  from  two  liundred  to  throe  hundred  thousand. 
The  northern  parts  of  Ireland  were  nearly  de- 
populated ;  and  the  slaughter  was  accompanied  by 
all  those  disgusting  and  harrowing  cruelties  which 
marked  similar  butcheries  in  the  AValdensian 
valleys.  The  persons  concerned  in  this  atrocity 
pleaded  the  king's  authority,  and  produced-  Charles's 
commission  with  his  broad  seal  attached  to  it. 
There  is  but  too  much  ground  for  the  dark  susinciou 
that  the  king  was  privy  to  this  fearful  massacre;' 
but  what  it  concerns  us  to  note  here  is  that  this 
massacre,  occurring  at  this  juncture,  powerfully  and 


'  The  foots  on  this  head  given  in  Bennet's  Meyiiorial, 
pp.  194,  195 ;  Calaniy's  Life  of  Baxter,  p.  143 ;  and  Reid's 
History  of  Presb.  Churrh  in  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  30.1,  leave 
little  douljt  that  the  king  and  the  Irisli  Eoman  Catholics 
understood  one  another. 


fatally  inliuenced  the  future  course  of  affairs,  re- 
vived the  former  suspicions  of  the  king's  sincerity, 
kindled  into  a  fiercer  flame  the  passions  that  had 
seemed  expiring,  and  Jiurried  the  king  and  the 
nation  onwards  at  accelerated  speed  to  a  terrible 
catastrophe. 

Charles,  on  liis  return  to  England,  was  imme- 
diately presented  with  the  famous  Pelitiun  and 
Rr monstrance  of  tlie  iState  of  (he  Nuiion.  This  was 
no  agi-eeable  welcome  home.  Dark  rumours  began 
to  cii'culate  that  the  court  was  tampering  with  the 
ai-my  in  the  North,  with  a  view  to  bringing  it  to 
London  to  suppress  the  Parliament.  The  House 
provided  a  guard  for  its  safety.  These  the  king 
dismissed,  and  appointed  his  own  train-bands  in 
then-  room.  The  members  felt  that  they  were  not 
legislators,  but  prisoners.  The  king  next  denounced 
five  of  the  leading  members  of  Parliament  as 
ti-aitors,  and  went  in  jierson  to  the  House  with  an 
armed  followmg  to  apprehend  them.  Happily,  the 
five  members  liad  left  before  the  king's  arrival, 
otherwise  the  civil  war  might  have  broken  out  there 
and  then.  The  House  voted  that  a  great  breach  of 
pri\'ilege  had  been  committed.  Immediately  London 
bristled  with  mobs,  and  the  precincts  of  Whitehall 
resounded  with  ciies  for  justice.  These  tumults, 
said  the  king,  "  were  not  like  a  stonn  at  sea,  which 
yet  wants  not  its  terror,  but  like  an  earthqiiake, 
.shaking  the  very  foundation  of  all,  than  which 
nothing  in  the  world  hath  more  of  horror."-  The 
king  withdrew  to  Hampton  Coui't. 

Confidence  was  now  at  an  end  between  Charles 
and  the  Parliament ;  and  the  Jesuits,  who  were 
plentifully  scattered  through  England,  by  infiamiiig 
the  passions  on  both  sides,  took  care  that  it  .should 
not  be  I'estored.  After  some  time  spent  in  remon- 
strances, messages,  and  answei's,  the  king  marched 
to  Hull,  where  was  store  of  all  kinds  of  arms,  the 
jjlace  having  been  made  a  magazine  in  the  war 
against  the  Scots.  At  the  gates,  Charles  was  re- 
fused entrance  hj  the  governor,  Sir  John  Hotham, 
who  held  the  city  for  the  Parliament.  Pronouncing 
him  a  traitor,  the  king  turned  away  and  directed 
his  course  to  Nottingham."  There  on  the  22iul  of 
August,  1G42,  Charles  set  up  his  standard,  which, 
as  Lord  Clarendon  takes  note,  was  blo'sv'n  down 
the  same  night,  nor  could  it  be  replaced  till  two 
days  thereafter,  from  the  violence  of  the  storm  then 
blowing.  It  was  a  worse  omen  that  conipai-ati-\ely 
few  assembled  to  tliat  .standard.  Tlie  king  now 
issued  his  summons  to  the  sjentlemeu  of  the  North 


-  Eilon  Basilile :  the  Portraiture  of  his  Sacred  Majesty  in 
his  SoUtxide  and  Siiffcrinri':.    Papre  I-"'.    Lond.,  l&IS. 
"  rhid.,  p.  42. 


THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT. 


519 


to  meet  liim  at  York.  Tlio  -woi-cl,  "  To  youi-  tents, 
O  Israel,"  had  gone  foitli ;  tlie  civil  war  luwl  com- 
menced. 

TliLs  recalls  us  once  more  to  Scotland.  The  two 
kingdoms  were  at  that  moment  tlu'eateued  with  a 
common  peril,  and  this  summoned  them  to  a  common 
duty.  That  duty  was  to  unite  for  their  mutual 
defence.  They  looked  around  them  for  a  basis  on 
wliich  they  might  combine,  each  feeling  that  to  let 
the  other  sink  was  to  betray  its  own  safety.  The 
groiuid  ultimately  chosen  was  partly  civil  and 
partly  religious,  and  necessarily  so,  seeing  that 
the  quarrel  conjoined  inseparably  the  two  interests. 
The  bond  of  alliance  finally  adopted  was  the 
Solenui  League  and  Covenant.  Whether  we  ap- 
|)rove  or  disapprove  of  its  form,  it  was  in  its 
substance  undeniably  lawful  and  even  nscessary, 
being  for  the  defence  of  religion  and  liberty;  and  in 
its  issue  it  saved  the  liberties  of  Great  Britain. 

There  is  a  prevalent  idea  that  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant  was  a  merely  religious  bond,  the 
device  of  an  exclusive  and  sour  Presbyterianism— 
a  propagandist  measure,  promoted  maiidy  by  pro- 
pagandist zealots.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from 
tlie  truth  of  Idstory.  The  Solemn  League  was 
the  matuVed  and  compendious  deliverance  of  the 
people  of  England  and  Scotland  on  the  great  ques- 
tion of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  as  it  stood  in 
that  age ;  and  it  piit  into  shape  the  practical 
steps  which  it  behoved  the  two  nations  to  take, 
if  they  woidd  retain  the  blessings  of  a  free  Govern- 
ment and  a  Protestant  Church.  This  bond  was 
framed  with  much  care  by  the  Scottish  Parliament 
and  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Scottish  Church, 
with  the  concurrence  and  assistance  of  the  English 
commissioners  who  were  sent  down  for  that  pur- 
pose. It  was  heartily  accepted  by  the  ablest 
statesmen,  the  most  learned  divines,  and  by  the 
whole  body  of  the  Protestant  people  in  both 
England  and  Scotland.  The  analysis  which  Hallam 
has  given  of  tins  famous  document  is  remarkably 
concise  and  eminently  fair.  We  quote  the  yet  more 
conqiendious  statement  of  its  provisions  by  another 
historical  writer,  who  says :  "  Looking  at  both 
( 'oven.ants  [the  National  and  the  Solenni  League], 
and  tieating  them  as  one  document,  the  princii)les 
therein  emliodied  were  the  following  : — 

"  1.  Defence  of  Reformed  Presbyterian  religion 
in  Scotland.  2.  Promotion  of  uniformity  among 
the  Chiu'clies  of  the  three  kingdoms.  .'?.  E.xtirpa- 
tion  of  Popery,  Prelacy,  and  all  unsound  forms  of 
ri^igion.  4.  Preservation  of  Parliaments,  and  of 
the  liberties  of  the  peojjle.  .').  Defence  of  the 
sovereign  in  his  maintaining  the  Reformed  religion, 
the  Parliaments,  and  the  liberties  of  the  people. 


G.  Discovery  and  punishment  of  malignants,  and 
disturbers  of  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  nations. 
7.  Mutual  defence  and  protection  of  each  indi- 
vidually, and  of  all  jointly,  who  were  within  the 
bonds  of  the  Covenant.  8,  Sincere  and  earnest 
endeavour  to  set  an  example  before  the  world  of 
jjublic,  personal,  and  domestic  virtue  and  godli- 
ness."' 

The  signing  of  the  Solemn  League  by  the  Scottish 
Convention  of  Estates  and  the  General  Assembly 
recalled  the  memorable  scene  transacted  in  the 
Greyfriars'  Churchyard  in  1638.  Tears  rolled 
down  the  face  of  the  aged  as  they  took  the  pen  to 
subscribe,  while  the  younger  testified  by  their 
shouts  or  their  animated  looks  to  the  joy  with  which 
they  entered  into  the  bond.  In  the  City  of  Lon- 
don the  .spectacle  was  scarcely  less  impressive,  l)ut 
more  novel.  On  the  25th  of  September,  1643,  the 
two  Houses  of  Parliament,  with  the  Assembly  of 
Divines,  including  the  Scottish  Commissioners,  now 
sitting  at  Westminster,  met  in  St.  Margaret's 
Church,  Westminster,  and  after  sei-mon  the  Solemn 
League  was  read,  article  by  article,  the  members 
standing  uncovered,  and  swearing  to  it  with  up- 
lifted hands.  Afterwards,  Alexander  Henderson, 
who  presided  over  the  famous  assembly  at  Glasgow, 
delivered  an  address  ending  with  these  words  : — 
"  Did  the  Pope  at  Rome  know  what  is  this  day 
transacting  in  England,  and  were  this  Covenant 
written  on  the  plaster  of  the  wall  over  against 
him,  where  he  sitteth,  Belshazzar-like,  in  his  sacri- 
legious pomp,  it  would  make  his  heart  to  tremble, 
his  coinitenance  to  change,  his  head  and  mitre 
to  shake,  his  joints  to  loose,  and  all  his  cardinals 
.and  prelates  to  be  astonished."  The  Scots  fol- 
lowed iqi  their  Covenant  by  sending  an  army  into 
England  to  assist  the  Parliament  against  the  royal 
forces.  While  the  controversy  is  finding  its  way 
to  an  issue  through  the  bloody  fields  of  the  civil 
war,  we  must  turn  for  a  little  space  to  a  more 
peaceful  scene. 

These  civil  convulsions,  which  owed  their  origin 
in  so  large  a  degi'ee  to  the  innovations  and  cere- 
monies of  Laud,  led  many  in  England  to  ask 
whether  the  National  Church  had  been  jiliu-cd 
under  the  best  form  of  goveriunent,  and  wlu'tlicr 
something  more  sim])le  than  the  lordly  and  coni- 
yjlicated  rc(jbne  enacted  by  Elizabeth  might  not  bo 
more  conservative  of  the  piirity  of  the  Church  and 
the  liberties  of  the  nation!  Might  it  not,  they 
said,  be  better  to  complete  our  Reformation  more 
on  tlu!  uuicli'l  of  the  other  Protestant  Churches  of 


'  Dodds,   Tlie   Fifty   Years'  Struggle;    or,  the  Scottish 
Co  counters.    Pages  U,  42.    Lond.,  1868. 


550 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


ChxisteiKilom  1  The  Scots,  too,  in  their  negotiations 
^vith  them  in  Iti-tO  and  16-tl,  had  represented  to 
them  how  much  a  "  nearer  conformity  "  in  worship 
and  discipline  woidd  tend  to  cement  the  union  be- 
tween the  two  kingdoms.  If  the  Reformation  had 
brought  the  two  nations  together,  a  yet  greater 
accord  in  ecclesiastical  matters  would  make  their 
union  still  stronger,  and  more  lasting.  There  was 
profound  policy  in  these  views  in  an  age  when 
nations  were  so  powerfully  influenced  by  the 
principle  of  religion.  From  this  and  other  causes 
the  question  of  Church  government  was  being  very 
anxiously  discussed  in  England  ;  pamplilets  wei'e 
daily  issuing  from  the  press  upon  it ;  the  gi'eat 
boily  of  the  Puritans  had  become  Presbyterians ; 
and  in  1642,  when  the  royal  .standard  was  set  up  at 
Nottingham,  and  the  king  unsheathed  the  sword 
of  civil  war,  the  Parliament  passed  an  Act  abolish- 
ing prelacy ;  and  now  came  the  question,  what 
was  to  be  put  in  its  room  1 

On  the  1st  of  July,  1643,  the  Lords  and  Commons 
passed  an  ordinance  "for  the  calling  of  an  Assembly 
of  learned  and  godly  divines  and  others,  to  be  con- 
sulted with  by  the  Parliament  for  the  settling  of  the 
government  and  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  for  vindicating  and  clearing  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  said  Church  from  false  aspersions  and  inter- 
pretations." To  this  Assembly  121  divines  were 
summoned,  with  thirty  lay  assessors,  of  whom  ten 
were  Lords  and  twenty  Commoners.  The  divines 
were  mostly  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  several  of  them  were  of  episcopal  rank.  It 
would  be  hard  to  find  in  the  annals  of  the  Church, 
coimcU  or  synod  in  which  there  were  so  many  men 
of  great  talents,  ripe  scholai-ship,  mature  theological 
knowledge,  sober  judgment,  and  sincere  piety  as  in 
the  Assembly  which  now  met  at  Westminster. 
The  works  of  many  of  them,  which  have  descended 
to  our  day,  attest  the  range  of  their  acquii-ements 
and  the  strength  of  their  genius.  Hallam  admits 
theii"  "  learning  and  good  sense ;"  and  Richard 
Baxter,  who  must  be  allowed  to  be  an  impartial 
judge,  says,  "  Being  not  worthy  to  be  one  of  them 
myself,  I  may  the  more  freely  speak  that  tnith 
which  I  know,  even  in  the  face  of  malice  and  envy 
— that  the  Christian  world  had  never  a  synod  of 
more  excellent  divines  (taking  one  thing  with 
another)  than  this  synod  and  the  synod  of  Dort." 
At  the  request  of  the  English  Parliament,  seven 
commissioners  from  Scotland  sat  in  the  Assembly 
— three  noblemen  and  four  ministers.  The  names 
of  the  four  ministers — the  best  proof  of  whose 
superiority  and  worth  is  that  they  are  household 
words  in  Scotland  to  this  day — were  Alexander 
Henderson,    Samuel    Rutherford,    Robert    Baillie, 


and  George  Gillespie.  The  elders  associated  with 
them  were  the  Earl  of  Cassilis,  Lord  Maitland,  and 
Sir  Archibald  Johnston  of  Warriston.  They  met 
in  Heiu-y  VII. 's  Chapel,  and  on  the  approach  of 
winter  they  retii-ed  to  the  Jerusalem  Chamber. 
They  were  presided  over  by  Dr.  William  Twiss, 
the  prolocutor — "a  venerable  man  verging  on 
seventy  years  of  age,  with  a  long  pale  countenance, 
an  im])Osmg  beard,  lofty  brow,  and  meditative  eye, 
the  whole  contour  indicating  a  life  spent  in  severe 
and  painful  study."'  More  the  scholar  than  the 
man  of  business,  he  was  succeeded  in  the  cliair, 
after  a  year's  occupancy,  by  Mr.  Charles  Herle — 
"  one,"  says  Fuller,  "  so  much  Christian,  scholar, 
gentleman,  that  he  can  unite  in  aflection  with  those 
who  are  disjoined  in  judgment  from  him."'  At 
the  prolocutor's  table  sat  his  two  assessors — Dr. 
Cornelius  Burgess,  active  and  intrepid,  and  Mr. 
John  Wliite,  the  "  Patriarch  of  Dorchester."  On 
either  hand  of  the  prolocutor  ran  rows  of  benches 
for  the  members.  There  they  sat  calm,  grave, 
dignified,  with  moustache,  and  peak  beard,  and 
double  Elizabethan  nifl",  dressed  not  in  canonicals, 
but  black  coats  and  bands,  as  imposing  an  Assembly 
as  one  could  wish  to  look  upon.  There  with  pale, 
gracious  face,  sat  Herbert  Palmer,  one  of  the  most 
scholai  ly  and  eloquent  men  of  the  day.  There  was 
Stephen  Marshall,  the  powerful  popular  declaimer, 
who  made  his  voice  be  heard,  in  pulpit,  in  Parlia- 
ment, in  the  Assembly,  all  through  these  stormy 
times  ;  there  was  Edmund  Calamy,  the  gi'andfather 
of  the  yet  more  celebrated  man  of  that  name; 
there  was  Edward  Rejaiolds,  the  scholar,  orator,  and 
theologian  ;  there  were  Arrowsmith  and  Tuckney, 
to  whom  we  mainly  owe  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms ;  there  were  Vines,  and  Staiuiton,  and 
Hoyle;  there  were  Ashe,  Wliitaker,  Caryl,  Sedgwick, 
and  many  othere,  all  giving  their  speeches  and  votes 
for  Presb3rteilan  government. 

On  the  Erastian  side  there  were  the  learned  Light- 
foot,  the  pious  Coleman,  and  the  celebrated  John 
Selden,  a  man  of  prodigious  erudition,  who  was 
deputed  as  a  lay  assessor  by  the  House  of  Commons. 
His  model  of  Church  and  State  was  the  Jewish 
theocracy;  "Parliament,"  he  said,  "is  the  Church."'' 
Apart  there  sat  a  little  party ;  they  amounted 
to  ten  or  eleven  diWnes,  the  most  distinguished  of 
whom  were  Philip  Nye  and  Thomas  Goodwin,  whom 
Wood,  in  his  Atlieme,  styles  "the  Atlases  and 
patriarchs  of  independency."  On  the  right  hand  of 
the  prolocutor,  occupying  the  front  bench,  sat  the 


'  M''Crie,  Annals  of  English  Presbytery,  p.  145. 
"  Fuller,  Church  Hist.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  467. 
3  Baillie,  Letters,  vol.  ii.,  p.  268. 


THE   WESTMINSTER  STANDARDS. 


.551 


Scottish  coiiuiii.'ssioners.  A  large  Kliare  in  the  debate 
oil  all  questions  foil  to  them  ;  and  their  dialeutiu 
skill  and  theological  learning,  having  just  come 
from  the  long  and  earnest  discussion  of  tho  same 
ijuostions  in  their  own  country,  enabled  them  to 
inlluencc  powerfully  tho  issue. 

Each  projiosition  was  tiret  considered  in  com- 
mittee. There  it  was  long  and  anxiously  debated. 
It  was  next  discussed  sentence  by  sentence  and 
word  by  word  in  the  Assembly.  Into  these  discus- 
sions it  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  enter.  Laboriously 
and  patiently,  during  the  slow  process  of  more  than 
live  years,  did  the  builders  toil  in  the  reaiing  of 
tlieir  edifice.  They  sought  to  the  best  of  their 
knowledge  and  power  to  build  it  on  the  rock  of 
the  Scriptures.  They  meant  to  rear  a  temple  in 
which  three  nations  might  worship ;  to  erect  a 
citadel  within  which  three  kingdoms  might  entrust 
their  independence  and  liberties.  We  need  not 
analyse,  we  need  only  name  the  documents  tJiey 
framed.  These  were  the  Confession  of  Faith,  the 
Form  of  Church  Government,  the  Directory  for 
Public  Worship,  and  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  all  of  wliicli  were  voted  by  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  Assembly.  "It  would  be 
difficult  to  fix  upon  any  point  of  doctrine,"  says  an 
ecclesiastical  writer  who  labours  under  no  bias 
in  favour  of  Presbytery,  "  in  whicli  the  Confession 
of  Faith  materially  diflers  from  the  [Thii'ty-niue] 


Articles.     It  lias  more  sjstem The  majority 

of  the  miuLsters  of  the  Assemljly  were  wOlin"  to 
set  aside  episcopacy,  though  there  were  some  who 
wished  to  retain  it.  The  majority  were  also  willin" 
to  set  up  Presbytery  in  its  place,  tliough  Uicrc  were 
a  few  who  ])referred  tho  Independent  or  Cou'tc- 
gational  government.  On  one  subject  they  were 
all  united,  and  that  was  in  their  adherence  to  tho 
doctrines  of  Calvin."' 

There  will  be  vai-ious  opinions  on  the  system  of 
doctrine  exhiliited  in  the  foin-  documents  mentioned 
above,  compendiously  styled  the  "Westminster 
Standards."  There  will  be  only  one  opinion  re- 
specting the  logical  fearlessness  and  power,  the 
theological  compreliensiveness,  and  the  intellectual 
grandeur  of  these  monuments.  The  collected 
genius  and  piety  of  the  age — if  we  may  not  call 
it  the  first,  yet  hardly  inferior  to  the  first  age  of 
England's  Protestantism — were  brought  to  the  con- 
struction of  them.  They  have  mfluenced  less  the 
country  in  which  they  had  their  birth  than  they 
have  done  other  lands.  During  the  succeeding 
years  they  have  been  moulding  the  ojjinions  of 
individuals,  and  inspiring  the  creed  of  Churches,  in 
all  parts  of  the  world.  They  are  felt  as  plastic 
agencies  wherever  the  English  sceptre  is  swayed  or 
the  English  tongue  is  spoken;  nor  are  there  yet  any 
decided  signs  that  their  supremacy  is  about  to  pass 
away. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

I 

PARLIAMENT  TlilUMPHS,    AND   THE   KINO   IS    BEHEADED. 

Scotland  Receives  the  Westminster  Standards — England  becomes  Presbyterian — The  Civil  War— Army  of  the  King 
— Ai-my  of  the  Parliament— 2lforaic  of  each— Battle  of  Maa-ston  Mooi-— Military  Equipment— The  King  Surrenders 
to  the  Scots— Given  up  to  the  English— Cromwell— The  Army  takes  Possession  of  the  King— Pride  Purges 
Pai'liament— Charles  Attainted  and  Condemned— The  King's  Execution — Close  of  a  Cycle— Thirty  Years'  Plots 
and  Wars- Overthrow  of  the  Popish  Projects. 


In  1(U7  the  "Westminster  Standards"  were  re- 
ceived by  the  Church  of  Scotland  as  a  part  of  the 
•niifonnity  of  religion  to  which  the  three  kingdoms 
iiad  become  bound  in  the  Solemn  League.  These 
Acts  were  afterwards  ratified  by  the  Estates  in 
Parliament,  and  sworn  to  by  all  ranks  and  classes 
in  the  kingdom.  Scotland  laid  luside  her  simple 
creed,  and  accepted  in  its  room  an  elaborate  "  Con- 
fession of  Faith,"  composed  by  an  Assembly  of 
English  divines.  She  put  lier  rudimental  cati'- 
ckisms  on  the  shelf,  and  began  to  use  those  of  tho 


"  Larger  and  Shorter "  which  had  first  seen  the 
light  in  Henry  Vll.'s  Chapel  !  Her  "  Book  of 
Connnon  Order"  no  longer  regulated  her  public 
worship,  which  was  now  conducted  according  to  a 
"Directory,"  aiw  framed  on  English  soil  and  by 
English  minds.  Her  old  Psalter,  whose  chants 
had  Ijeen  so  often  heard  in  dtiys  of  sorrow  and  in 
lioius  of  triumph,  siie  exchanged  for  a  new  PsaJni- 


Hunt,  Hdiii'ious  Thoncjht  in  EiujhiiiJ,  p.   199;   Loud., 


552 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


book,  executed  by  Mr.  Francis  Rous,  an  Indepen- 
dent of  the  Long  Parliament.  Tlie  discarded 
documents  had  been  in  use  for  nearly  a  centmy, 
Scotland  had  received  tbeni  from  the  most  vene- 
rated Fathers  of  her  Church,  but  she  would  sutler 
no  national  predilection  to  stand  in  the  way  of  her 
honourable  fiiltilment  of  her  gi-eat  engagement  with 
England.  She  wished  to  be  thoroughly  united  in 
heart  with  the  sister  kingdom,  that  the  two  might 
stand  up  together,  at  this  gi-eat  crisis,  for  the  cause 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  England  on  her  part 
made  greater  concessions  than  Scotland  had  dared 
to  hope.  Thcigh  the  English  Parliament  does  not 
appear  ever  to  bi.ve  ratified  the  scheme  of  doctrine 
and  government  drawn  up,  at  its  own  request,  by 
the  Westminster  Assembly,  the  Chiu-ch  and  nation 
nevertheless  adojited  it,  and  for  some  time  acted 
upon  it.  Episcojsacy  was  abandoned,  the  Liturgy 
was  laid  aside,  and  worship  conducted  according  to 
the  "  Du'ectory  for  the  Public  Worship  of  God." 
The  country  was  divided  into  Provinces  ;  each  Pro- 
vince was  subdivided  into  Presbyteries ;  and  so 
many  delegates  from  each  Pre.sbytery  were  to  form 
a  National  Assembly.  England  was  Presbyterian — 
it  is  an  almost  forgotten  chapter  in  its  history — and 
its  Presbyterianisra  was  not  borrowed  from  either 
Geneva  or  Scotland  :  it  had  its  birth  m  the 
Chapel  of  Heuiy  VII.,  and  was  set  up  at  the  wdsh 
of  its  own  clergy.  And  although  it  flourished  only 
for  a  brief  space  in  the  land  where  it  arose,  it  has 
left  its  mark  on  Scotland,  where  it  modified  the 
Presbyterianism  of  John  Knox,  and  stamped  it 
with  the  impress  of  that  of  Westminster. 

From  that  unique  transaction,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  assembled  two  nations  before  one  altar, 
where  they  swore  to  combat  together  for  religion, 
for  law,  and  for  liberty,  we  turn  to  the  battle-field. 
Fierce  and  tjloody  were  these  fields,  as  ever  liappens 
in  a  civil  war,  where  the  hate,;  and  passions  of 
rival  factions  contend  together  with  a  bitterness 
and  f\iry  unknown  to  foreign  s  rife.  The  two 
armies  fii-st  met  at  EdgehOl,  War\  ""ckshire.  The 
hard-contested  field  was  claimed  by  both  sides.  To 
either  victory  could  not  be  other  than  mournful, 
for  the  blood  that  moistened  the  dust  of  the  battle- 
field was  that  of  brother  shed  by  the  hand  of 
brother.  The  campaign  thus  opened,  the  tide  of 
battle  flowed  hither  and  thither  through  Eng- 
land, bringing  in  its  train  more  than  the  usual 
miseries  attendant  on  war.  The  citizens  were 
di-agged  away  from  their  quiet  indu.stries,  and  the 
peasants  from  their  peaceful  agricultui-al  labours, 
to  live  in  camps,  to  endure  the  exhausting  toil  of 
marches  and  .sieges,  to  perish  on  the  battle-field, 
and  be  flung  at  last  into  the  trenches,  instead  of 


sleeping  with  ancestral  dust  in  the  churchyards  of 
then-  native  village  or  parish.  It  was  a  terrible 
chastisement  that  was  now  inflicted  on  En'dand. 
The  Royalists  had  at  first  the  supeiiority  in  arms  ; 
their  soldiers  were  well  disciplined,  and  they  were 
led  by  commanders  who  had  learned  the  art  of  war 
on  the  battle-fields  of  the  Continent.  To  these 
trained  combatants  the  Parliament  at  tlie  outset 
could  oppose  only  raw  and  undisciplined  levies ; 
but  as  time  wore  on,  these  new  recruits  acquired 
skill  and  experience,  and  then  the  fortune  of  battle 
began  to  turn.  As  the  armies  came  to  be  finally 
constituted,  the  one  was  brave  from  principle  :  the 
consciousness  of  a  just  and  noble  cause  inspii-ed 
it  with  ardour  and  courage,  while  the  want  of  any 
such  inspiriting  and  ennobling  conviction  on  the 
other  side  was  felt  to  be  an  element  of  weakness, 
and  sometimes  of  cowardice.  The  longer  the  war 
lasted,  this  moral  disparity  made  itself  but  the  more 
manifest,  and  at  last  victory  settled  unchangeably 
with  the  one  side,  and  defeat  as  unchangeably  with 
the  other.  The  gay  and  dissolute  youths,  who 
drank  so  deeply  and  swore  so  loudly,  and  who  in  the 
end  were  almost  the  only  persons  that  assembled  to 
the  standard  of  th®  king,  were  on  the  day  of  battle 
trodden  down  like  the  mire  of  the  streets  by  the 
tenible  Ironsides  of  Cromwell,  who  reserved  their 
enthusiasm  for  the  fight  and  not  for  the  revel,  and 
who,  bowing  their  heads  before  God,  lifted  them  up 
before  the  enemy. 

The  day  of  Marston  Moor,  1st  of  July,  1644, 
virtually  decided  the  fate  of  the  war.  It  was  here 
the  Scottish  army,  9,000  strong,  first  took  their 
place  alongside  the  soldiers  of  the  Parliament,  in 
pursuance  of  their  compact  with  England,  and 
then-  iinion  was  sealed  by  a  gi-eat  victory.  This 
field,  on  which  were  assembled  larger  masses 
of  aimed  men  than  perhaps  had  met  in  hostile 
ari-ay  on  English  soil  since  the  wars  of  the  Roses, 
was  a  triangle,  of  which  the  base  was  the  road 
running  east  and  west  from  York  to  Wetherby, 
and  the  two  sides  were  the  rivers  Nidd  and  Ouse, 
the  junction  of  which  formed  the  apex.'  Here  it 
was  covered  with  gorse,  there  with  crops  of  wheat 
and  rye.  Forests  of  spears — for  the  bayonet  had 
not  yet  been  invented — mai-ked  the  positions  taken 
up  by  the  pikemen  in  their  steel  morions,  their 
corsets  and  proof-cuirasses.  On  either  flank  of 
theii-  squares  were  the  musketeers,  similarly  armed, 
with  their  bandoliers  tlu'own  over  theii-  shoulders, 
holding  a  dozen  charges.  They  were  supported  by 
the  cavalry:  the  cuirassiers  in  casque,  cuirass, 
gauntlet,  and  greave ;  the  carbineers  and  th-agoons 


1  Markham,  Life  of  Lard  Fairfax,  p.  56;  Lond.,  1S70. 


BATTLE   OF   MARSTON   MOOR. 


(From  Ihc  Painlhvj  hij  Vandtjck.) 


in  their  buff  coats,  and  anned  with  sword,  pistols, 
and  short  nuisket.  Tlien  came  the  artillery,  with 
their  culverins  and  falconets.'  The  Royalist  forces 
appeared  late  on  the  field ;    the  Scots,  to  beguile 


'  Life  of  Lord  Fairfax,  pp.  60,  Gl. 


161 


the  time,  began  to  sing  jisalms.  Theii*  general, 
Leslie,  now  Earl  of  Leven,  had  mingled,  as  we 
have  already  said,  in  many  of  the  blood)'  scenea 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  so  bravely  acquitted 
himself  that  he  was  the  favourite  field-marshal 
of    Gustavus    Adolphus.     Altogether    there    were 


554 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISJI. 


close  on  50,000  men  on  that  memorable  field,  now 
waiting  for  the  signal  to  join  battle.  The  sun  had 
sunk  low — it  was  seven  of  the  evening,  but  the 
day  was  a  midsummer  one — ere  the  signjil  was 
given,  and  the  two  armies  closed.  A  bloody 
struggle  of  two  lioiu's  ended  in  the  total  rout  of  the 
king's  forces.  Upwards  of  4,000  coipses  covered 
the  field :  the  wounded  were  in  proportion.  Be- 
sides the  slaughter  of  the  battle,  gi-eat  numbers  of 
the  Royalists  were  cut  down  in  the  flight.  The 
allies  captured  many  thousand  stand  of  arms,  and 
some  hundred  colours.  One  eye-^vitness  wi-ites 
that  they  took  colours  enough,  had  they  only  been 
white,  to  make  surplices  for  all  the  cathedrals  in 
England.! 

From  this  day  the  king's  fortunes  steadily 
declined.  He  was  worsted  on  every  battle-field ; 
and  in  the  spring  of  16-iG,  his  affairs  having  come 
to  extremity,  Charles  I.  threw  himself  into  the 
ai-ms  of  the  Scots.  In  the  Parliament  of  England  the 
Independent  party,  with  Cromwell  at  its  head,  had 
attained  the  supremacy  over  the  Presbyterian,  and 
the  king's  choice  having  to  be  made  between  the 
two,  turned  in  favour  of  the  Presbyterians,  whose 
loyalty  was  far  in  excess  of  the  deserts  of  the  man 
on  whom  it  was  lavished.  This  was  an  acquisition 
the  Scots  had  not  expected,  and  which  certainly 
they  did  not  \n.sh,  seeing  it  placed  them  m  a  very 
embarrassing  jDosition.  Though  loyal — loyal  to  a 
weakness,  if  not  to  a  fault — the  Scots  were  yet 
mindful  of  the  oath  they  had  sworn  with  England, 
and  refused  to  admit  Charles  into  Scotland,  and 
place  him  again  upon  its  tlu'one,  till  he  had  signed 
the  terms  for  which  Scotland  and  England  were 
then  in  amis.  Any  other  course  would  have  been 
a  violation  of  the  confederacy  which  was  sealed  by 
oath,  and  would  have  involved  them  in  a  war  with 
England."     But  Charles  refused  Ms  consent  to  the 


'  Ufe  of  Lord  Fairfax,  pp.  170—175.  Two  Letters,  &c.,  in 
King's  Pamphlet,  No.  164. 

'■'  Alexander  Henderson  was  appointed  to  confer  with 
the  king.  A  series  of  papers  passed  between  them  at 
Newcastle  on  the  subject  of  Church  government,  but 
the  discussion  was  resultless.  The  king  pleaded  that 
his  coronation  oath  bound  liim  to  uphold  prelacy. 
Henderson  replied  that  the  Parliament  and  nation  wore 
willing  to  release  him  from  this  part  of  the  oath. 
Charles  denied  that  the  Houses  of  Parliament  had  this 
power,  and  we  find  liim  maintaining  tliis  by  the  fol- 
lowing extraordinary  argument  :  "  I  am  confident," 
says  he,  "  to  make  it  clearly  appear  to  you  that  this 
Church  never  did  submit,  nor  was  subordinate  to  them 
[the  Houses  of  ParHamentl,  and  that  it  was  only  the 
king  and  clergy  who  made  the  Reformation,  the  Parlia- 
ment merely  seiwing  to  help  to  give  tlie  civil  sanction. 
All  this  being  proved  (of  which  I  make  no  question), 
it  must  necessarily  follow  that  it  is  only  the  Church 
of  England  (in  whose  favour  I  took  this  oath)  that  can 
release  me  from  it.    Wherefore  when  the  Church   of 


conditions  required  of  him,  and  the  Scots  had  now 
to  thhik  how  the  monarch  should  finally  be  disposed 
of.  They  came  ultimately  to  the  resolution  of 
delivering  him  up  to  the  English  Parliament,  on 
receiving  assurance  of  his  safety  and  honour.  The 
disposal  of  the  king's  person,  they  held,  did  not 
belong  to  one,  but  to  both,  of  the  kingdoms.  The 
as.siirance  which  the  Scots  asked  was  given,  but  in 
woi-ds  that  implied  a  tacit  reproof  of  the  suspieion.s 
which  the  Scots  had  cherished  of  the  honom-able 
intentions  of  the  English  Parliament ;  for,  "  as  all 
the  world  doth  know,"  said  the}',  "  this  kingdom 
hath  at  all  times  shown  as  great  aflection  for  theix- 
kings  as  any  other  nation."^ 

But  the  Parliament  soon  ceased  to  be  master  of 
itself,  and  the  ten'ible  catastrophe  was  quickly 
reached.  The  king  being  now  a  prisoner,  England 
came  under  a  dual  directorate,  one  half  of  which  was 
a  body  of  debating  civilians,  and  the  other  a  conquer- 
ing army.  It  was  very  easy  to  see  that  tliis  state 
of  matters  could  not  long  continue,  and  as  easy  to 
divine  how  it  would  end.  The  army,  its  pride 
fanned  by  the  victories  that  it  was  daily  wiiming, 
aspired  to  govern  the  country  which  it  believed 
its  valour  was  saving.  Lord  Fairfax  was  the 
nominal  head  of  the  army,  but  its  real  niler  and 
animating  spirit  was  Cromwell.  A  man  of  indomi- 
table resolution  and  vast  designs,  with  a  style  of 
oratory  singularly  tangled,  labyrinthic,  and  hazy, 
but  with  clear  and  p-'Ctical  conceptions,  and  a 
fearless  com\age  that  led  him  right  to  the  execution 
of  his  purposes,  Cromwell  j)ut  himself  at  the  head 
of  afiairs,  and  soon  there  came  an  end  to  debates, 
protestations,  and  delays.  Colonel  Joyce  was  sent 
to  Holmby  House,  where  Charles  was  confined,  to 
demand  the  surrender  of  the  kmg,  and  he  showed 
snch  good  authority — an  armed  force,  namely — that 
Charles  was  immediately  given  up.  Colonel  Pride 
was  next  sent  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  taking 
liis  stand  at  the  door,  with  a  regiment  of  soldiers, 
he  admitted  only  such  as  could  be  relied  on  with 
reference  to  the  measures  iii  prospect.  The  numbers 
to  which  Parliament  was  reduced  by  "  Colonel  Pride's 

England  (being  lawfully  assembled)  shall  declare  that  I 
am  free,  then,  and  not  before,  I  shall  esteem  myself  so." 
(The  Papers  lohich  2>assed  at  N(ni'  Castle  heiwixt  His  Sacred 
Majesty  and  Mr.  Alexander  Henderson,  concerning  the 
change  of  Church  Government,  Anno  Dam.  1G4G.  London, 
1G49.    His  Majesties  Second  Paper,  p.  20.) 

3  Tlie  Eikon  Basilike  (p.  183)  first  propagated  the  ridi- 
culous calumny  tliat  the  Scots  sold  their  king.  It  has 
since  been  abundantly  proved  that  the  ^£400,000  paid  to 
the  Scots  were  due  to  them  for  service  in  the  campaign, 
and  for.  delivery  of  the  fortresses  which  they  held  on  the 
Border,  and  that  this  matter  was  arranged  five  months 
before  the  question  of  the  disposal  of  the  king's  person 
was  decided,  with  which  indeed  it  had  no  connection. 


EXECUTION    OF   CHARLES   1. 


555 


purge,"  as  it  was  called,  did  not  exceed  Jifty  or  sixty, 
and  tlieso  were  mostly  Independents.  This  body, 
termed  the  Rump  Parliament,  voted  that  no  further 
application  should  be  inaile  to  the  king;  and  soon 
thereafter  drew  up  an  ordinance  for  attainting 
Charles  Stuart  of  high  treason.  They  appointed 
commissioners  to  form  a  High  Court  of  Justice,  and 
Charles,  upon  being  brought  before  this  tribimal, 
and  declining  its  jurisdiction,  was  condemned  as  a 
traitor,  and  sentenced  to  be  beheaded.  The  scaftbld 
was  erected  in  front  of  Whitehall,  on  the  30th  of 
January,  1649.  An  immense  crowd  filled  the 
spacious  street  before  the  palace,  and  all  the 
avenues  leading  to  it,  on  which  shotted  cannon 
were  turned,  that  no  tumult  or  rismg  might  inter- 
rupt the  tragedy  about  to  be  enacted.  The  citizens 
gazed  awed  and  hon-or-struck ;  so  suddenly  had  the 
.spectacle  risen,  that  it  seemed  a  horrid  dream 
thi'ough  which  they  were  jiassing.  A  black  scaffold 
before  the  royal  palace,  about  to  be  wetted  with 
their  sovereign's  blood,  was  a  tragedy  unknown  in 
the  history  of  England  ;  the  nation  could  scarcely 
believe  even  yet  that  the  terrible  drama  would  go 
on  to  an  end.  They  took  it  "  for  a  pageantry," 
says  Burnet,  "  to  strike  a  terror."  At  the  appointed 
hour  the  king  stepped  out  upon  the  scaftbld.  The 
monarch  bore  himself  at  that  awful  moment  with 
calmness  and  dignity.  "  He  died  gi-eater  than  he 
had  lived,"  says  Burnet.'  He  bent  to  the  block  ; 
the  axe  fell,  and  as  the  executioner  held  up  the 
bleeding  head  in  presence  of  the  spectators,  a  deep 
and  universal  groan  burst  forth  from  the  multitude, 
and  its  echoes  came  back  in  an  indignant  protest 
from  all  i)arts  of  England  and  Scotland. 

From  this  scaffold  in  front  of  AVhitehall,  with 
the  unwonted  and  horrid  spectacle  of  a  royal  corpse 
upon  it,  let  us  tiu-n  to  the  wider  drama  with  which 
the  death  of  Charles  I.  stands  connected,  and  inquire 
what  were  the  bearings  of  the  king's  fall  on  the 
higher  interests  of  human  progress.  In  his  execu- 
tion we  behold  the  close  of  a  cycle  of  thirty 
years'  duration,  spent  in  plotting  and  warring  against 
the  Reformation.  That  cycle  opened  with  a  scaftbld, 
and  it  closed  with  a  scaftbld.  It  conmienced  with 
the  execution  of  the  martyrs  of  Prague  in  1G18, 
recorded  in  ])receding  chapters  of  this  history,  and 
it  closed  at  Whitehall  on  the  scaflx)ld  of  Charles  I. 
in  1649.  Between  the.se  two  ixjints  what  a  multi- 
tude of  battles,  sieges,  and  tragedies — the  work  of 
the  Popish  Powers  in  their  attempt  to  overthrow 
that  great  movement  that  w,i.s  bringing  with  it  a 
tempor.il  and  spiritual  emauciiiatiou  to  the  human 


'  Bi$t.  of  his  own  Time,  vol.  i.,  p.  65;  Lond.,  1815. 


race  !  Who  can  count  the  number  of  martyrs  that 
had  been  called  to  die  during  the  currency  of  that 
dark  cycle  !  No  history  records  even  a  tithe  of  their 
names.  What  oceans  of  blood  had  watered  the 
Bohemian  and  Hungarian  plains,  what  massacres 
and  devastation  had  overthrown  their  cities  and 
villages !  These  nations,  Protestant  when  this 
cycle  began,  were  forced  back  and  trodden  down 
again  into  Popish  superstition  and  slavery  when  it 
had  come  to  an  end.  This  period  is  that  of  the 
Thii-ty  Years'  War,  which  continued  to  sweep  with 
triumphant  force  over  all  the  Protestant  kingdoms  of 
Germany  till  a  gi-eat  champion  was  summoned  from 
Sweden  to  roll  it  back.  After  Gustavus  Adolphus 
had  gone  to  his  gi-ave,  the  Roman  Catholic  reaction 
seemed  to  gather  fresh  force,  and  again  threatened 
to  overflow,  with  its  devastating  anas  and  its 
debasing  doctrines,  all  the  Gei-man  countries. 
But  by  this  time  the  area  of  Protestantism  had 
been  enlarged,  and  England  and  Scotland  had 
become  more  important  theatres  than  even  Ger- 
many. The  Reformation  had  drawn  its  forces  to 
a  head  in  Britain,  and  the  unceasing  aims  of  the 
Popish  Powers  were  directed  vnth  the  view  of 
destroying  it  there.  While  abroad  Ferdinand  of 
Austria  was  endeavouring  to  waste  it  with  armies, 
the  Jesuits  were  intriguing  to  cori-upt  it  in  Great 
Britain,  and  thereby  recover  to  the  obedience  of 
Rome  those  two  nations  where  Protestantism  had 
entrenched  itself  with  such  power,  and  without 
which  their  triumphs  in  other  parts  of  Christendom 
would  have  but  little  availed.  Their  efforts  were 
being  attended  with  an  ominous  success.  James 
VI.  and  Charles  I.  seemed  instraments  fashioned 
on  purpose  for  their  hands.  Filled  with  an  uncon- 
querable lust  of  arbitrary  power,  constitutionally 
gloomy,  superstitious,  and  crafty,  nowhere  could 
better  tools  have  been  found.  The  Jesuits  began 
by  throwing  the  two  countries  into  convulsions — 
their  established  mode  of  proceeding ;  they  marked 
out  for  special  attack  the  Presbyterianism  of  the 
northern  kingdom ;  they  .succeeded  in  gi-afting  pre- 
lacy upon  it,  which,  although  it  did  not  extermi- 
nate it,  greatly  emasculated  and  crippled  it ;  they 
took  from  the  Church  the  freedom  of  her  As- 
semblies, the  only  organ  of  public  sentiment  then  in 
Scotland,  and  the  one  bulwark  of  its  liberties.  In 
England  they  managed  to  marry  the  king  to  a 
Po]iish  princess ;  they  flooded  the  kingdom  with 
Romish  emissaries ;  they  overlaid  the  Protestant 
worshi])  with  Popish  rites  ;  and  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land they  were  replacing  with  the  tribunals  of 
desjiotisin.  Their  design  .seemed  on  the  very  eve 
of  being  crowned  with  complete  success,  when  sud- 
denly the  terrible  ajiparition  of  a  royal  scaffold  arose 


556 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


before  tlie  Palace  of  Whitehall.  It  was  only  a  few 
months  before  this  that  the  Thirty  Years'  War  had 
been  ended  by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  which  gave 
j^eatly  enlarged  liberties  to  Protestantism,  and  now 
the  western  branch  of  the  great  plot  was  brought  to 
nought.  So  sudden  a  collapse  had  overtaken  the 
schemings  and  j>lottings  of  thii-ty  years  !     The  sky 


of  Europe  changed  in  almost  a  single  day ;  and 
that  great  wave  of  Popi.<h  reaction  which  had  rolled 
over  all  Germany,  and  dashed  itself  against  the 
shores  of  Britain,  thi'eatening  at  one  time  to  sub- 
moi'ge  all  the  Protestant  States  of  Chiistendom,  felt 
the  check  of  an  unseen  Hand,  and  subsided  and 
retired  at  the  scaflbld  of  Charles  1. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

RESTORATIOX    OF    CHARLES    11.,    AND    ST.    BARTHOLOMEW    D.^Y,    1GG2. 

The  Struggle  to  be  Eenewed— The  Commonwealth — Cromwell's  Eule — Charles  II.  Restored— His  Welcome — Enthu- 
siasm of  Scotland — Character  of  Charles  II. — Attempted  Uuion  between  the  Anglican  and  Presbyterian  Paitios 
— Presbyterian  Proposals— Things  to  bo  Rectified — Conference  at  the  Savoy — Act  of  Uniformity — The  24th  of 
August,  1662 — A  Second  St.  Bartholomew— Secession  of  2,000  Ministers  from  the  Chui-ch  of  England — Grandeur 
of  their  Sacrifice — It  Saves  the  Reformation  in  England. 


This  long  cycle,  which  had  seen  so  many  flourishing 
Protestant  Chui'ches  exterminated,  so  many  martyrs 
lay  down  their  lives,  and  so  many  fail-  lauds 
covered  -with  ruins,  had  ended,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
the  o^'erthrow  of  the  Popish  projects,  and  the  eleva- 
tion of  Protestantism  to  a  higher  platform  than 
it  had  ever  before  attained.  Nevertheless,  the  end 
was  not  yet :  the  victory  was  not  assured  and  com- 
plete, and  the  defeat  of  the  Popish  Powers  was  not 
a  final  one.  The  struggle  was  to  be  renewed  once 
more,  and  another  crisis  had  to  be  passed  through 
before  Protestantism  should  be  able  to  surround  it- 
self with  such  political  bulwarks  as  would  assure  it 
against  a  repetition  of  those  armed  attacks  to  which 
it  had  been  perpetually  subject  from  the  Vatican 
and  its  vassal  kings,  and  be  left  in  peace  to  pursue 
its  evangelical  labours. 

The  fall  of  the  Monarchy  in  England  was  suc- 
ceeded by  a  Commonwealth.  The  Commonwealth 
soon  passed  into  a  military  Dictatoi'ship.  The 
nation  felt  that  the  constitutional  liberty  for  which 
it  had  contended  on  the  battle-field  had  escaped  it, 
and  that  it  had  agaiir  fallen  under  that  arbitrary 
government  wliich  many  hojied  had  received  its 
mortal  woimd  when  the  head  of  Charles  rolled  on 
the  scaffold.  Both  England  and  Scotland  felt  the 
heavy  weight  of  that  strong  hand  which,  putting 
away  the  crown,  had  so  fii-mly  grasped  the  scejjtre. 
Perhaps  England,  swarming  with  Royalists  and 
Republicans,  with  factions  and  sectaries,  was  not  yet 
fit  for  freedom,  and  had  to  return  for  a  little  whUe 
longer  into  bonds.  But  if  the  forms  of  the  rule 
under  wliich  she  was  now  placed  were  despotic,  the 


spirit  of  liberty  was  there  ;  her  ail'  had  been  purified 
from  the  stifling  fog  of  a  foreign  slavery  ;  and  licr 
people  could  more  freely  breathe.  If  Cromwell 
was  a  tyrant,  he  was  so  after  a  very  difierent 
piattern  from  that  of  Charles  I. ;  it  was  to  evil- 
doers at  home  and  despots  abroad  that  he  was  a 
terror.  England,  under  his  government,  suddenly 
bounded  up  out  of  the  gulf  of  contempt  and  weak- 
ness mto  wliich  the  reigns  of  the  two  Stuarts  had 
sunk  her.  Rapidly  mounted  upward  the  prestige 
of  England's  arms,  and  brightly  blazed  forth  the 
splendour  of  her  intellect.  She  again  became 
a  power  in  Christendom,  and  was  feared  by  all 
who  had  evil  designs  on  hand.  The  Duke  of 
Savoy  at  the  bidding  of  the  Lord  Protector  stayed 
his  massacres  in  the  Waldensian  Valleys,  Cardinal 
Mazarin  is  said  to  have  changed  countenance  when 
he  heard  his  name  mentioned,  and  even  the  Pope 
trembled  in  the  Vatican  when  Oliver  threatened  to 
make  his  fleet  visit  the  Eternal  City.  He^  said  he 
should  make  "  the  name  of  an  Englishman  as  great 
as  ever  that  of  a  Roman  had  been."  At  home  his 
severe  countenance  scared  the  persecutor  back  into 
his  cell,  and  the  streets  of  the  capital  were  cleansed 
from  the  horrible  sights,  but  too  common  in  the 
days  of  Charles  and  Laud,  of  men  standing  in  the 
pilloiy  to  have  their  noses  slit,  their  ears  cropped 
off,  and  their  cheeks  branded  with  red-hot  ii-ons, 
for  no  oflence  save  that  of  being  imable  to  practise 
the  ceremonies  that  formed  the  king's  and  the 
archbishop's  religion.  His  death  in  1658  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  Protectorate  of  his  son  Richard,  who 
finding    the   burden,   which   even   the   Atlantean 


CHARLES   II.    AND   THE   EESTORATION. 


557 


shoulders  of  his  father  had  borne  imcasily,  insup- 
jiortiiblo  to  Iiim,  speedily  resigned  it,  and  retired 
into  private  life.' 

Weary  of  the  confusions  and  alarms  that  pre- 
vailed under  the  "  C'oniuiittee  of  Safety"  that  was 
now  formed  to  guide  the  State,  the  nation  as  one 
man  turned  their  eyes  to  the  son  of  their  former 
sovereign.  They  sent  a  deputation  to  him  at 
Breda,  inviting  him  to  take  possession  of  the  throne 
of  liLs  ancestors.  The  Scottish  Pre.sbyterians  were 
among  the  most  forward  in  tliis  matter;  indeed 
they  had  proclaimed  Charles  as  king  upon  first  re- 
ceiving tidings  of  his  father's  execution,  and  had 
cro\vned  him  at  Scone  on  the  1st  January,  1651.  We 
rcricct  with  astonishment  on  the  fact  that,  dosijitc 
all  the  blood  which  the  two  nations  had  shed  in 
resistance  of  arbitrary  power,  Charles  II.  was  now 
received  back  without  conditions,  vmless  a  vague 
declaration  issued  from  Breda  should  be  considered 
as  such.  The  nation  was  stupefied  by  an  excess  of 
joy  at  the  thought  that  the  king  was  returning. 

From  Dover,  where  Charles  II.  lauded  on  the  26th 
May,  1660,  all  the  way  to  London  his  j)rogress 
was  like  that  of  a  conqueror  returning  from  a 
campaign  in  which  his  victorious  arms  had  saved 
his  country.  Gay  pageantries  lined  the  way,  while 
the  ringing  of  beUs,  the  thunder  of  cannon,  the 
shouts  of  a  frantic  people,  and  at  night  the  blaze  of 
bontii-es,  proclaimed  the  ecstasy  into  which  the 
nation  had  been  thrown."  A  like  enthusiasm  was 
dis])layed  in  Scotland  on  occasion  of  the  return  of 
the  royal  exile.  The  19th  of  Jime  was  appointed 
to  be  oUserved  as  a  thanksgiving  for  the  king's 
icstoration,  and  after  sennou  on  that  day  the 
magistrates  assembled  at  the  Cross  of  Edinburgh, 
where  wa.s  set  a  table  ^vith  wine  and  sweetmeats. 
CJlasses  wei^e  broken,  trumpets  were  soimded, 
drums  were  beat ;  the  church-bells  sent  forth  their 
merriest  peals,  and  in  the  evening  a  gi-eat  fire,  in 
which  was  burned  the  effigy  of  Cromwell,  lilazed 
on  the  Castle-hill.''' 

Charles  was  cro^vncd  at  London  on  tlie  2'.)th  of 
May,  a  truly  fatal  day,  which  was  followed  by  a 
flood  of  jirofimity  and  vice  in  England,  and  :i 
tori-ent  of  righteous  blood  in  Scotland.  This  had 
Ix-en  foreseen  by  some  whose  feelings  were  not  so 
perturbed  as  to  be  incapable  of  observing  the  true 
ciiaracter  of  Charles.     Mr.  John  Livingstone,  one 


'  For  a  full  and  able  account  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  in 
Scotland  during  Cromwell's  administration,  see  irislory 
of  the  Church  of  Srntland  during  flic  Commonwealth,  by 
the  Key.  James  Bcattie;  Edin.,  1842. 

-'  Clarendon,  Hist,  of  the  IlrbclHon,  vol.  vii.,  p.  .")0.'>. 

'■>  Wodrow,  Hist,  of  Church  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  G2; 
Glas.,  1828. 


of  the  Scottish  ministers  sent  to  accompany  the  kin" 
from  Holland,  is  said  to  have  remarked,  when 
stepping  on  board  the  ship  with  Charles,  "that 
they  were  bringing  God's  heavy  wrath  to  Britain.  "■• 
For  all  who  approached  liim  Charles  II.  had  a 
smiling  face,  and  a  profusion  of  pleasant  words.  He 
was  as  yet  only  thirty  years  of  age,  but  he  was 
already  a  veteran  in  vice.  He  was  a  consum- 
mate dissembler.  The  school  of  adversity,  which 
strengthens  the  virtues  of  other  men,  had  only  per- 
fected Charles  Stuart  in  the  arts  of  hypocrisy  and 
falsehood.  The  English  Presbyterians  sent  over 
some  of  their  number — among  others  Reynolds, 
Manton,  and  Calamy — to  wait  on  him  in  Holland  ; 
and  he  so  regaled  them  with  pious  discourse,  after 
the  manner  of  his  gi-andfather,  that  they  thought 
they  were  getting  for  their  king  an  experienced 
and  matui'ed  Christian.  "  He  knew  how  to  bewail 
the  sms  of  his  father's  house,  and  could  talk  of  the 
power  of  godliness  as  fluently  as  if  he  had  been  pupil 
all  his  days  to  a  Puritan."^  When  seated  on  the 
tlu'one  he  took  several  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers 
into  the  number  of  his  chaplains,  and  even  heard 
Richard  Baxter  preach.  Charles  II.  had  retui-ned  t(3 
England  with  his  mind  made  up  touching  the  form 
of  Church  government  which  was  to  be  established 
in  the  kingdom,  but  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  for 
caiTying  his  project  into  execution.  There  were 
two  things  that  Charles  lacked  notwithstanding  his 
merry  countenance  and  his  pious  talk  ;  the  one  was 
conscience,  and  the  other  was  a  heart.  He  was  the 
coldest  of  mankind.  He  was  a  tyrant,  not  from 
ambition,  and  certainly  not  from  that  sort  of  am- 
bition which  is  "  the  last  infirmity  of  noble  minds," 
but  from  the  cold,  cruel  selfishness  of  the  volup- 
tuary ;  and  he  prized  his  throne  for  no  object  of 
gloi-y  or  honour,  the  stirruigs  of  which  he  never 
felt,  but  because  it  enabled  him  to  wallow  in  low, 
bestial  pleasures.  From  that  throne,  as  fi'om  an 
overspreading  Upas,  distilled  the  jwison  of  moi'al 
death  all  over  the  kingdom.  He  restored  to 
England  in  the  seventeenth  centuiy  one  of  those 
royal  sties  which  had  disgi-aced  pagan  Rome  in  the 
fu-st.  His  minister  was  Clarendon,  on  whom,  as 
Asiatic  Sultan  on  vizier,  Charles  devolved  all  the 
care  and  toil  of  go^'ernment,  that  he  might  pass 
his  hours  less  interruptedh'  in  his  seraglio. 

The  first  me.isure  after  Charles's  restoration  was 
an  attempted  union  between  the  Anglican  and  the 
Presbyterian  parties,  the  latter  being  the  chief  pro- 
moter of  the  project.  Having  as  yet  free  access  to 
the  king,  the  Presbyterians  brought  in  their  pi'O- 
posals.     The  things  of  which  they  complained  were 


■•  Bennct,  MemA)rial,  p.  241. 


558 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISINI. 


mainly  tliese  : —  the  gi-eat  extent  of  the  dioceses, 
the  pci-formance  of  the  bishop's  duty  by  deputy,  his 
assuming  the  ■whole  power  of  ordination  and  juris- 
diction, the  imposition  of  new  ceremonies,  and  the 
arbitrary  suspension  of  ministers.  For  reforming 
these  evils  they  proposed  that  "  Bishop  Usher's  n- 
duction  of  episcopacy  to  the  form  of  synodical 
government,  received  in  the  ancient  Church,  should 
be  the  gi-ound-work  of  an  accommodation."  They 
proposed  that  suffragans  should  be  chosen  liy  the 


The  answer  returned  by  those  with  whom  they 
were  negotiating,  and  whom  they  had  not  yet  been 
permitted  to  meet  in  conference,  though  desirous  of 
doing  so,  was  not  such  as  to  inspire  them  with 
sanguine  hopes.  Some  little  while  after,  the  king 
put  forth  a  declaration,  containing  some  concessions 
which  came  nearer  what  the  Presbyterians  thought 
might  form  a  basis  of  union.'  But  neither  did 
this  please  the  Royalist  and  prelatic  party.  All  it 
led  to  was  a  conference  between  a  certain  number 


respective  synods ;  that  the  ministers  should  be 
under  no  oaths  or  promises  of  obedience  to  thcu- 
bishops  ;  and  that  the  Vnshoijs  should  govern  ac- 
cording to  the  canons  and  constitutions  to  be  ratified 
and  established  by  Parliament.  As  to  ceremonies, 
they  humbly  represented  that  the  worship  of  God 
was  perfect  without  them  :  that  they  had  been 
fruitful  in  disputes,  schisms,  and  the  silencing  of 
pious  pastors  in  the  past ;  and  being,  on  the  con- 
fession of  their  advocates,  in  themselves  matters  of 
indifference,  they  prayed  to  be  released  from  kneel- 
ing at  the  Sacrament,  wearing  of  sacerdotal  vest- 
ments, making  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  and 
bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus.  They  also  craved  a 
slight  revision  of  the  Liturgy. 


of  ministers  of  both  parties,  who  met  at  the  Savoy. 
The  Presbyterian  ministers  were  invited  to  con- 
ference, and  encouraged  to  unbosom  themselves,  in 
the  way  of  revealing  all  their  difficulties  and  scraples. 
But  for  what  end?  That  their  scruples  might  be 
removed,  said  the  prelates ;  though  in  truth  the 
real  object  of  the  opposite  party  was  that,  being 
masters  of  the  sentiments  of  the  Presbyterians,  they 
might  the  more  easily  overreach  them.  It  was  a  fore- 
gone conclusion  that  no  union  should  be  formed  ; 
but  that,  on  the  contraiy,  the  Puritan  element  should 
once  for  all  be  purged  out  of  the  Church  of  England. 


>  The  main  provisions  of  the  royal  declaration  arc  given 
in  Bennet's  Memorial,  pp.  246— 2t8. 


SECESSION   OF   PURITAN   MINISTERS. 


559 


The  king  and  prelates  now  knew  how  far  the 
Puritans  would  yield,  and  on  what  points  they 
would  make  no  compromise,  and  so  they  were  able 
to  frame  theu-  contemplated  Act  of  Uniformity,  so 
as  to  place  the  Puritan  ministers  between  the 
alternative,  as  they  phrased  it,  of  proving  knaves 
or  becoming  martyrs.  On  the  19th  May,  1G62, 
was  passed  the  followng  fiimous  Act  : — "  That  all 
who  had  not  received  episcopal  ordination  should 
be  re-ordained  by  bishops:  that  every  minister 
should,  on  or  before  the  24th  of  August  following, 
being  the  feast  of  St.  Bartholomew,  declare  his 
imfeigned  assent  and  consent  to  everything  con- 
tained in  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  on 
pain  of  being  ipso  J'acio 
deprived  of  his  benefice; 
that  he  should  also  ab- 
jui-e  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant  as  an  un- 
lawful oath,  and  swear 
the  oath  of  supremacy 
and  allegiance  ;  and  de- 
clai'e  it  to  be  unlawful, 
imder  any  pretext  what- 
soever, to  take  up  arms 
against  the  sovereign." ' 

Under  this  Act, 
equally  remarkable  for 
what  it  tolerated  as  well 
as  for  what  it  stringently 
prohibited,  it  was  lawful 
to  preach  another  gospel 
than    that    which    Paul  ricu.viiij  haxter.     (F, 

l)reached,   but  it  was  a 

crime  to  preach  at  all  without  a  surjilice.  Under 
this  Act  it  was  lawful  to  believe  in  baptismal 
regenci-ation,  but  a  crime  to  admiiiister  baptism 
without  the  sign  of  the  cross.  Under  this  Act  it 
was  lawful  to  profane  God's  name  every  hour  of 
the  day,  but  it  was  a  crime  to  mention  the  name 
of  Jesus  without  lifting  one's  hat.  Some  have  dis- 
tinguished between  principles  and  points ;  in  this 
controversy  all  the  principles  were  on  one  side, 
and  all  the  points  on  the  other ;  for  the  men 
enforcing  the  latter  admitted  that  for  these  rites 
there  was  no  foundation  in  the  Word  of  God,  and 
that  they  were  inatters  of  indifference. 

A  space  for  deliberation  was  allowed.  The  2-ttli 
of  August  was  fixed  upon  as  the  term  when  they 
must  cxj)ress  their  submission  to  the  Act,  or  abide 
the   consequences.       That   day    had   already    been 


'  Burnet,  Hitt.  of  his  own  Time,  vol.  i.,  pp.  182,  183; 
Lend.,  1724, 


marked  by  a  horror  unspeakably  great,  for  on  the 
24th  of  August,  1.572,  had  been  enacted  one  of  the 
most  terrible  crimes  of  all  history — the  Massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew. 

With  very  difl'erent  feelings  was  that  day  waited 
for  in  the  halls  of  the  voluptuous  court  of  Charles 
II.,  in  the  conclave  of  a  tyrannical  hierarchy,  and 
in  the  parsonages  and  homes  of  the  godly  ministere 
and  people  of  England.  Issues  of  tremendous 
magnitude  hung  on  the  part  which  the  Puritan 
party  should  act  on  that  day.  If  they  should  suc- 
cumb, farewell  to  the  Reformation  in  England  :  it 
would  be  laid  in  its  gi'ave,  and  a  great  stone  rolled 
to  the  mouth  of  its 
sepulchre.  The  day  ar- 
rived, and  the  sacrifice 
it  witnessed  saved  the 
realm  of  England,  by 
preserving  the  Protes- 
tant element  in  the 
nation,  which,  had  the 
Puritans  conformed, 
would  have  utterly 
perished.  On  the  24th 
of  August,  two  thou- 
sand ministers,  rather 
than  submit  to  the  Act 
of  Uniformity,  surren- 
dered their  livings,  and 
left  their  sanctuaries  and 
parsonages.  They  went 
out  each  man  alone. 
The  England  of  their 
a  r..i(,-ni  t.,).rii  u,  inT/  I  day  was  no  free  country 

in  which  they  were  at 
liberty  to  organise  and  carry  on  their  Church  in 
a  state  of  secession.  They  had  no  gi-eat  leader 
to  march  before  them  in  then-  exodus ;  they  had 
no  generons  press  to  proclaim  their  wi'ongs,  and 
challenge  the  admu-ation  of  then-  country  for  their 
sacrifice ;  they  went  forth  as  Abraham  did,  at  the 
call  of  God,  "  not  kno'wing  whither  they  went," 
not  kno'sving  where  they  should  find  the  next  meal, 
or  where  they  should  lay  theii-  head  at  night. 
They  were  ordered  to  remove  to  a  distance  of 
twenty  miles  from  then-  own  parish.  It  was 
farther  enjoined  on  the  ejected  ministers  to  fix  their 
residence  not  nearer  than  six  miles  to  a  cathedral 
town,  nor  nearer  than  three  miles  to  a  royal  burgh  ; 
and  it  was  made  unlawfvd  for  any  two  of  them  to 
live  in  the  same  place.  What  a  glory  this  army  of 
confessors  shed  on  England  !  What  a  victory  for 
Protestantism !  The  world  thought  they  were 
defeated.  No  ;  it  was  the  king  whom  this  S])ectacle 
startled  amid  his  revels ;  it  was  the  prelates  whom 


560 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


this  noble  sacrifice  at  the  shrine  of  conscience 
rebulted  and  terrified  ;  it  was  a  godless  generation, 
whom  this  sight  for  a  moment  roused  from  its  indif- 
ference, that  wiis  conquered. 

These  men  were  the  strength  and  glory  of  the 
Church  of  England.  The  author  of  The  Reformed 
Pastor,  sm-ely  a  fair  judge  of  ministei-ial  qualifica- 
tions, says  of  them  :  "  I  do  not  believe  that  ever 
England  had  as  faithful  and  able  a  ministry,  since 
it  was  a  nation,  as  it  hath  at  this  day ;  and  I  fear 
few  nations  on  earth,  if  any,  have  the  like."  "  It 
raised  a  giievous  ciy  over  the  nation,"  writes  Bishop 
Burnet ;  "  for  here  were  many  men  much  valued, 
and  distinguished  by  theii'  abilities  and  zeal,  cast 
out  ignominiously,  reduced  to  great  jDoverty,  and 


provoked  by  spiteful  usage."  "  Worthy,  learned, 
pious,  orthodox  divines,"  says  the  philosophic  Locke, 
"  who  did  not  thi'ow  themselves  out  of  service,  but 
were  forcibly  ejected." 

St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  1662,  is  one  of  the  great 
outstanding  epochs  in  the  long  combat  of  conscience 
against  power.  But  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that 
the  victories  of  conscience  must  always,  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  as  indeed  the  St.  Bartholo- 
mew and  all  similar  days  teach  us,  bear  outwardly 
the  guise  of  defeat,  and  the  checks  and  discomfitures 
of  power  must  come  in  the  garb  of  victory;  and 
thus  it  is  through  seeming  triumph  that  error 
marches  to  ruin,  and  thus  it  is,  too,  through  ap- 
parent defeat  that  truth  advances  to  dominion. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


SC0TL.4.ND— 3IIDDLET0N  S   TYRAJfNY — ACT   EECISSORY. 

Extravagant  Loyalty  of  the  Scots — A  Schism  in  the  Eanks  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterians — Eesolutioncrs  and  Pro- 
testers— Charles's  Purpose  to  Restore  Prelacy — Clarendon — Maitland— James  Sharp— The  "Judas  of  the  Kirk  of 
Scotland" — The  Scottish  Parliament  of  1661 — Decline  of  the  Scottish  Presbytei-ians — Acts  passed  in  Parliament 
^Act  of  Supremacy — Lays  the  Scottish  Kirk  at  the  King's  Feet — The  Oath  of  Allegiance — The  Act  Reoissory— 
Tyranny  and  Revolution — Sudden  Destruction  of  Scottish  Liberties — Legislation  and  Drunkenness. 


The  .Jesuits  had  anew  betaken  themselves  to 
spinning  that  same  thread  which  had  been  so  sud- 
denly and  rudely  severed  on  the  scafibld  which  the 
.30th  of  January,  1649,  saw  erected  before  the 
Palace  of  Whitehall.  There  had  been  a  pause  in 
their  schemings  during  the  administration  of 
Cromwell,  but  no  sooner  had  the  head  of  that 
great  ruler  been  laid  in  the  grave,  and  a  Stuart 
again  seen  on  the  throne  of  England,  than  the 
Fathers  knew  that  their  hour  was  come,  and 
straightway  resumed  their  plots  against  the  religion 
and  liberties  of  Great  Britain.  We  have  seen  the 
tii'st  outburst  of  that  cloud  that  descended  upon 
England  with  the  advent  of  Chailes  II.  in  the 
expulsion  of  the  2,000  Nonconformists  ;  but  it  was 
on  the  northern  kingdom  that  the  tempest  was 
destined  to  break  in  gi'eatest  fury,  and  to  rage  the 
longest.     We  return  to  Scotland. 

We  have  seen  the  exti-avagant  j<iy  with  which 
the  king's  return  was  hailed  in  Scotland.  This 
ecstasy  had  its  source  in  two  causes,  and  a  brief 
exfilanation  of  these  will  help  to  make  clearer  the 
course  which  events  took  afterwards.  The  first 
cause  was  the  almost  idolatrous  loyalty  which  the 
Scots  bore  to  the  House  of  Stuart,  and  from  which 


all  their  dire  experience  of  the  meanness,  fickleness, 
and  perfidy  which  had  chai-acterised  the  recent 
sovereigns  of  that  house  had  not  been  able  to  wean 
them.  The  second  was  a  decay  of  that  spirit  of 
pui'e  i^atriotism  that  had  animated  the  Scots  in 
the  days  of  Alexander  Henderson,  and  the  im- 
mediate consequence  of  which  was  a  deplorable 
disunion  in  their  ranks  at  a  time  when  it  behoved 
them  above  all  things  to  be  united.  The  schism  to 
which  we  refer  is  that  known  in  histoiy  as  the 
Besohttioners  and  the  Protesters,  which  had  arisen 
in  1651.  The  question  between  the  two  parties 
into  wliicli  the  once  united  band  was  now  split, 
had  its  first  rise  in  the  suspicions  of  the  sincerity 
of  Charles  II.,  that  began  to  be  entertained  by 
some  of  the  ministers,  who  blamed  their  bretlu-en 
for  admitting  him  to  make  solemn  professions 
which  all  they  knew  of  his  conduct  and  character 
belied.  This  led  to  the  formation  of  a  Royalist 
party  in  the  Church  ;  and  the  breach  between  them 
and  their  lirethren  was  widened  by  what  soon 
thereafter  took  place.  Cromwell  invaded  Scotland 
with  his  army,  and  the  question  was  raised,  shall 
the  whole  fencible  population  be  enrolled  to  resist 
him,  or  shall  those  only  who  ai-e  the  known  friends 


MIDDLETON   AND   SHARP. 


661 


of  the  Refoniiation  be  permitted  to  bear  arms  'i  It 
was  resolved  to  admit  all  sorts  into  the  army, 
and  the  Parliament  proceeded  to  fill  up  some  of 
the  highest  military  commands,  and  some  of  the 
most  dignified  and  influential  offices  in  the  Civil 
Service,  from  among  those  who  were  the  avowed 
and  bitter  enemies  both  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
and  tlie  civil  liberties  of  the  kingdom.  The 
General  Assembly  of  1G51  was  divided  on  the 
(juestion  ;  a  majority  supported  the  action  of  Par- 
liament, and  were  termed  Benolut loners ;  the 
minority  protested  against  it,  and  were  known  as 
the  I'rotesteiv.  Tlie  latter  were  headed  by  James 
Gutlirie,  who  was  afterwards  martyred.  Many 
plausible  arguments  were  pleaded  on  both  sides  ;  in 
the  ordinary  state  of  affairs  the  course  approved  by 
the  Resolutioners  was  the  natural  one ;  but  in  the 
circumstances  in  which  Scotland  then  was,  it  was, 
to  say  the  least,  inexpedient,  and  in  the  end  it 
proved  most  fatal.  It  cleft  the  Protestant  phalanx 
in  twain,  it  embittered  the  minds  of  men  liy  the 
sharp  contention  to  which  it  led,  and  above  the 
brutal  violence  of  Middieton,  and  the  dark  craft  of 
Sharj),  two  men  of  whom  we  are  about  to  speak,  it 
j)aved  the  way  for  the  fall  of  Presliyterianism  and 
th(^  triumph  of  Charles  II. 

Hardly  had  Charles  mounted  the  throne,  when  he 
resumed  the  work  of  his  father  and  grandfather  in 
Scotland.  His  sure  instincts  taught  him  that  there 
was  no  gi-eater  obstacle  to  his  cherished  object  of 
arbitrary  government  than  the  Scottish  Kirk 
watching  jealously  over  the  popular  liberties,  and 
by  the  working  of  its  courts  reading  daily  lessons 
to  the  people  on  liberty  in  the  best  of  all  ways, 
that  of  teaching  them  to  use  their  rights,  and  to 
defend  thcii"  privileges.  He  could  no  more  tolerate 
an  Independent  Presbyteiian  Church  alongside  an 
absolute  throne  than  James  VI.  had  been  able  to  do, 
believing  such  an  anomaly  to  be  just  as  impossible 
in  the  wider  realm  of  Britain  as  his  grandfather 
had  deemed  it  in  the  narrower  domaui  of  Scotland. 
But  Charles  was  too  indolent  to  prosecute  in  person 
his  grand  scheme,  and  its  execution  was  handed 
over  to  others.  Lord  Clarendon,  we  have  said,  was 
his  minister,  and  knowing  his  master's  wishes,  one 
of  his  first  cares  was  to  find  fitting  tools  for  the 
woik  that  was  to  be  done  in  Scotland.  Clarendon 
.accounted  liimself  exceedingly  fortunate,  no  doubt, 
in  discovering  two  men  whom  nature  seemed  to 
have  shaped  and  moulded  for  his  very  purpose.  The 
two  men  on  wliom  Clarendon's  eye  liad  lighted  were 
not  only  richly  endowed  with  all  the  vile  rpialities 
that  could  fit  them  for  the  base  task  to  which  he 
destined  them,  but  they  were  equally  distingiiished 
by  the  happy  absence  of  any  noble  and  generous 


endowment  vi'hich  might  have  enfeebled  the  working 
and  impaired  the  success  of  those  opposite  qualities, 
the  posses.sion  of  which  had  led  to  theii-  selection. 
These  two  men  were  Middleton  and  Sharp. 

The  first  was  the  less  base  of  the  two.  Obscurely 
born,  we  know  nothing  of  Middleton  tOl  we  find 
him  acting  as  "  a  pickman  in  Colonel  Hepbiun's 
regiment  in  France." '  He  next  served  under 
the  Parliament  in  England,  "  taking  the  Covenant 
as  he  would  have  put  a  cockade  in  his  hat,  inereh' 
as  the  badge  of  the  side  on  which  he  fought."  - 
Afterwards  he  took  arms  for  the  king  ;  he  adhered 
to  the  royal  cause  in  exUe ;  and  on  the  death  of 
Montrose,  Charles's  imacknowledged  lieutenant  in 
Scotland,  Middleton  succeeded  to  his  place.  His 
daring  and  success  on  the  field  brought  him  rapid 
promotion.  He  had  now  attained  the  rank  of  earl. 
He  retained  the  coarse,  brutal,  overbearing  habits  of 
the  camp;  he  (h-ank  deeply,  withheld  himself  from  no 
vice,  answered  all  appeals  to  reason  or  justice  with 
a  stroke  of  his  sword.  Cruel  by  disposition,  and 
with  heart  still  further  hardened  by  the  many  scenes 
of  atrocity  and  outrage  in  which  he  had  mingled,  he 
was  set  over  the  people  of  Scotland,  as  the  fittest 
tool  for  taming  their  obdurate  .and  haughty  spiiits 
into  compliance  with  tlie  mandates  of  the  court. 

James  Sharp  was  in  some  respects  very  unlike 
the  man  with  whom  he  was  mated  in  the  infamous 
work  of  selUng  his  Church  and  betraying  his 
country ;  in  other  respects  he  bore  a  very  close 
resemblance  to  him.  With  placid  face,  stealthy 
eye,  and  grave,  decorous  exterior,  Sharp  seemed  to 
stand  far  apart  from  the  fierce,  boisterous,  and 
debauched  Middleton  ;  nevertheless,  in  their  iiuier 
qualities  of  suppleness,  imscrupulousness,  and  ambi- 
tion, the  divine  and  the  soldier  were  on  a  level.  Sharp 
was  a  person  of  very  ordinaiy  capacity  ;  he  had  but 
one  pre-eminent  talent,  and  even  that  he  was  careful 
to  hide  tUl  it  revealed  itself  in  the  light  of  its 
crooked  working  :  he  was  a  consummate  deceiver. 
Sent  to  London  by  the  Scottish  ministers  at  the 
period  of  the  Restoration,  with  instructions  to  watch 
over  the  Presbyterian  interests,  he  not  only  be- 
trayed the  cause  confided  to  him,  but  he  did  so  with 
an  art  so  masterly,  and  a  dissimulation  so  comjilete, 
that  his  treachery  was  not  once  suspected  till  it  had 
borne  its  evil  fniit,  and  was  beyond  remedy.  The 
letters  which  he  wrote  to  his  brethren  in  Scotland, 
and  by  which  he  kept  their  eyes  closed  till  their 
Church  was  overthrown,  are  embodied  in  the  Intro- 
duction to  Wodrow's  Ilidori/,  and  will  remain  a 
monument  of  his  infamy  to  all  coming  time.     His 


'  Kirkton,  Hist,  of  Church  of  Scotland,  p.  GO, 
-  Dodds,  Fifty  Years'  Struggle,  p.  95. 


562 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


name  bns  become  a  synonym  among  his  countrymen 
for  all  that  is  dark  and  hypocritical.  He  received 
the  wages  for  which  lie  had  undertaken  his  work, 
and  became  known  henceforth  among  his  contempo- 
rai-ies  asthe  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  and  Primate 
of  all  Scotland.  He  stands  in  the  pillory  of  history 
as  the  "  Judas  of  the  Kiik  of  Scotland." 

It  was  resolved  to  establish  prelacy  in  Scotland  ; 
and  only  a  few  months  elapsed  after  Charles  II. 
ascended  the  throne  till  a  beginning  was  made  of 
the  work  ;  and  once  commenced,  it  was  ui-ged  for- 
ward wtliout  pause  or  stop  to  the  end.  In 
January,  1G61,  the  Scottish  Parliament  was  as- 
sembled. It  was  opened  by  Middleton,  as  royal 
commissioner.  The  appearance  of  this  man  was  to 
Scotland  a  dark  augury  of  the  work  expected  of 
the  Pai'liament.  Had  the  nation  been  fairly  repre- 
sented, the  religion  and  liberties  of  the  country 
would  have  been  in  small  danger  ;  for  even  yet 
the  majority  of  the  aristocracy,  almost  all  the 
ministei-s,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  people  re- 
mained true  to  the  principles  of  the  Reformation. 
But  "  Middleton's  Parliament,"  for  by  this  name 
was  it  kno^v^l,  did  not  fairly  represent  the  nation. 
Wholesale  bribery  and  open  force  had  been  em- 
ployed to  pack  the  House.  The  press  was  gagged, 
many  gentlemen  known  to  be  zealous  Presbyterians 
were  imprisoned,  and  some  popular  ministers  were 
banished,  the  better  to  secure  a  Parliament  that 
would  be  subservient  to  the  court.  Scotland 
enjoyed  no  Act  of  Indemnity,  such  as  protected 
England,  and  not  a  public  man  was  there  in  the 
northern  countiy  who  was  not  liable  to  be  called 
to  account  for  any  word  or  action  of  his  during 
the  past  ten  years  which  it  might  please  the 
Government  to  construe  imfavoirrably.  This  let 
loose  a  reign  of  violence  and  terror.  The  ministers, 
though  pious  and  diligent,  did  not  possess  the  in- 
trepid spirit  of  Melville  and  Henderson,  and  those  of 
their  tune.  The  grand  old  chiefs  of  the  Covenant — 
Loudon,  Sutherland,  Rothes — were  dead,  and  the 
young  nobles  who  had  arisen  in  their  room,  quick 
to  imbibe  the  libertine  spirit  of  the  Restoration, 
and  to  conform  themselves  to  the  pattern  shown  to 
them  at  Whitehall,  had  forgotten  the  piety,  and 
with  that  the  patriotism,  of  their  fathers.  The 
great  .scholars  and  divines  who  had  illumined 
the  sky  of  Scotland  in  the  latter  days  of  James 
VI.  and  the  reign  of  Charles  I. — the  Hendersons, 
the  Hallyburtons,  the  Gillespies — had  died  as 
these  troubles  were  beginning.  Rutherford  lived 
to  publish  his  Lex  Rex  in  1660,  and  to  hear  that 
the  Government  had  burned  it  by  the  hands  of  the 
hangman,  and  summoned  its  author  to  answer  to 
a  charge  of  high  treason,  when  he  took  his  depar- 


ture "  to  where,"  in  his  own  words,  "  few  kings 
and  gi-eat  folk  come."  The  existing  race  of  clergy, 
never  having  had  the  bracing  influence  which  grap- 
pling with  gi-eat  questions  gives,  and  emasculated 
by  the  narrow  and  bitter  controversies  which  had 
raged  in  the  Church  dui'ing  the  twelve  preceding 
years,  were  somewhat  pusillanimous  and  j'ielding, 
and  incapable  of  showing  that  bold  front  which 
would  repel  the  bad  men  and  the  strong  measures 
with  wliich  they  were  about  to  be  assailed.  "  The 
day  was  going  away,"  but  no  one  had  foreseen  how 
black  would  be  the  night  that  was  descending  on 
the  poor  Church  of  Scotland,  and  how  long  its 
hours  of  darkness  would  continue. 

The  tirst  measure  passed  in  Parliament  was  of 
such  vast  significance  that  it  may  be  said  to  have 
consummated  the  work  which  it  professed  only  to 
have  begun.  This  was  the  Act  of  Supremacy, 
which  transferred  the  whole  power  of  the  Church 
to  the  king,  by  making  him  absolute  judge  in  both 
ci%il  and  ecclesiastical  mattei-s.  This  was  a  blow 
at  the  root.  It  did  not  indeed  set  up  prelacy,  but 
it  completely  subverted  the  Presbyterian  Kh-k 
wliich  Knox  had  established  in  Scotland ;  for  that 
Church  is  independent  in  things  spiiitual,  or  it  is 
nothing. 

This  Act  was  immediately  followed  by  another, 
which  was  meant  to  carry  into  eflfect  the  former. 
This  second  Act  imposed  an  Oath  of  Allegiance. 
Allegiance  to  the  king  was  what  every  Scotsman 
was  mlling  to  render  as  fully  ■svithout  as  wth  an 
oath  ;  but  the  allegiance  now  exacted  of  him  went 
beyond  the  just  measure  of  obedience  due  by 
Scottish  subject  to  sovereign.  The  new  oath 
bound  the  swearer  to  uphold  the  supremacy  of  the 
king  in  all  religious  as  well  as  all  civil  matters ; 
and  to  refuse  the  oath,  or  deny  the  principle  it 
contained,  was  declared  to  be  high  treason.  This 
left  to  Scotsmen  no  alternative  but  perjury  or 
treason.  The  whole  Scottish  nation,  only  twenty- 
three  years  before,  had  taken  an  oath  which 
declared  that  "  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
only  King  and  Head  of  his  Church,"  an  exjiression 
which  was  meant  to  repudiate  and  shut  out  the 
ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  the  monarch.  The  new 
oath  was  in  flat  contradiction  of  the  old,  and  made 
the  swearer  vest  in  an  eai-thly  throne  that  which 
he  had  declared  with  all  the  solemnity  of  an  oath 
was  the  exclusive  prerogative  of  the  Heavenly 
King.  How  then  could  the  Scottish  people  swear 
this  second  oath  without  perjuring  themselves  1  The 
Act  laid  a  yoke  on  the  consciences  of  the  Christian 
people.  On  those  who  had  no  conscience,  it  im- 
posed no  burden  ;  but  all  were  not  in  a  condition 
to  swear  contradictory  oaths,  and  to  feel  that  they 


SCOTTISH   LIBERTIES   OVERTHROWN. 


5G3 


Lacl  incurred  neither  siu  nor  shame,  and  the  latter 
class  were  the  greater  as  well  as  the  more  loyal  part 
of  the  nation. 

The  flood-gates  of  tyranny  now  thrown  wide  open, 
the  deluge  poiu'ed  in.  As  if  tyranny  had  become 
giddy — had  gi'owu  delirious — an  almost  insane 
attempt  was  uiado  to  blot  out,  and  cause  to  perish 
from  the  memories  of  men,  that  whole  period  of 
the  mitiou's  history  dm'ing  which  the  Church  of 
Scotland  had  administered  her  doctrine  and  govern- 
ment, subject  only  to  her  Divine  Head.  We  refer 
to  the  period  dui'uig  which  her  Assemblies  and 
comts  had  been  free  to  meet  and  legislate.  The 
"Act  Recissory  "  was  passed.  This  Act  swept  away 
all  the  Parliaments,  all  the  General  Assemblies — in 
short,  the  whole  legislation  of  Scotland  since  the 
year  1G38.  All  were  by  a  single  .stroke  bui-ied  in 
oblivion.  Thus  the  men  who  now  reigned,  not 
content  with  having  the  future  in  then-  hands, 
made  war  upon  the  past.  The  National  Covenant 
was  declared  an  unlawfid  oath  and  condemned. 
The  Solemn  League  was  also  condemned  as  an 
unla\vful  and  treasonable  compact.  The  Glasgow 
Assembly  of  1G.38,  over  which  Alexander  Hender- 
son presided,  could  not  be  other  than  specially 
obno.xious,  seeing  it  overturned  the  prelacy  of  the 
previous  period,  and  accordingly  it  was  declared  to 
be  a  seditious  and  unlawful  meeting,  and  put  under 
the  ban  of  Government. 

We  know  not  whether  the  wildest  revolutionist 
(iver  committed  greater  excesses,  or  showed  himself 
under  the  .spmt  of  a  more  delii-ious  madness,  than 
the  men  who  now  unhappily  governed  Scotland. 
We  behold  them  scorning  all  truth  and  equity, 
making  void  all  oaths  and  promises,  tearing  do'svn 
all  the  fences  of  the  State,  and  leaving  the  tlu'one 


no  claim  to  obedience  and  respect  save  tliat  which 
the  sword  and  the  gallows  can  enforce.  Although 
they  had  plotted  to  bring  all  authority  into  con- 
tempt, to  vilify  all  law,  and  destroy  society  itself, 
they  coidd  not  have  adopted  fitter  methods.  In  a 
neighboiu'ing  country,  liable  to  be  visited  ^vith 
periodic  revolutionary  tempe.sts,  we  have  seen  no- 
thing wilder  than  the  scenes  now  being  transacted, 
and  about  to  be  transacted,  in  Scotland.  In  France 
the  tempest  rises  from  below ;  it  ascends  from  the 
Communistic  aljyss  to  assail  the  seats  of  power  and 
the  tribunals  of  justice  :  in  tlio  instance  we  are  now 
contemplating  the  storm  descended  upon  the  country 
from  the  throne  :  it  was  the  closet  of  the  monarch 
that  sent  forth  the  devastators  of  order.  Never 
before,  perhaps,  had  country  made  so  swift  and 
tenible  a  descent  into,  not  social  anarchy,  but 
monarchical  and  military  despotism.  Scotland  up 
to  this  hour  was  enjoying  an  ample  Ubei-ty — that 
liberty  was  fenced  round  on  all  sides  by  legal 
securities :  a  single  edict  laid  them  all  in  the 
dust,  and  confiscated  that  whole  liberty  which  they 
giiarded,  and  the  country  went  sheer  down  at  a 
plunge  into  the  gulf. 

The  tyranny  that  -WTOught  all  this  havoc  in  a 
moment,  as  it  were,  has  been  stigmatised  as 
"intoxicated."  History  has  preserved  the  fact 
that  the  intoxication  was  moi-e  than  a  figure. 
"  It  was  a  maddening  time,"  says  Bumet,  "  when 
the  men  of  affkirs  were  per'jietually  drunk." ' 
Middleton,  who  jiresided  over  this  revolutionary 
crew,  was  a  notorious  inebriate,  and  came  seldom 
sober  to  the  House ;  and  it  is  an  accepted  fact  that 
the  framers  of  the  Act  Recissoiy  passed  the  night 
that  preceded  the  proclamation  of  their  edict  in  a 
deep  debauch. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 


ESTABLISHMENT   OP   rUELACY    IN   SCOTLAND. 

Destruction  of  Scottish  Protestantism— Marquis  of  Argyle — His  Character — His  Possessions — His  Patriotism — His 
Services  to  Charles  II. — How  Requited — He  is  Condemned  as  a  Traitor — His  Demeanour  in  Prisou— on  the  Scaffold 
—Mr.  James  Guthrie— His  Character— Sentenced  to  be  Hanged— His  Behaviour  on  the  Sc.iffold— His  Head  Affixed 
to  the  Netherbow — Prelacy  set  up— Tlie  Now  Bishops — Their  Char.octer— Robert  Leighton— The  Ministers  re- 
quired to  Receive  Presentation  and  CoUation  Anew— WiU  Scotland  Submit  ? 


We  have  seen  the  scheme  resumed,  after  a  short 
jiause,  of  seating  a  Popisli  prince  upon  the  throne  of 
England,  and  carrying  over  the  whole  power  and 
influence  of  the  three  kingdoms  to  the  interests  of 


Rome.     A  beginning  hatl  been  made  of  the  bold 
project  in  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  whose  con- 

'  Burnet,  Ilisi.  of  his  own  Time,  vol.  i.,  pp.  119-151, 


JJO-t 


HISTOllY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


cealed  Popery  better  served  the  purpose  of  the  meu 
who  were  behind  the  scenes  than  an  open  profes- 
sion of  the  Romish  faith  would  have  done.  The 
next  part  of  tlie  programme  was  the  destruction  of 
the  Protestantism  of  Scothiud.  The  three  infamous 
edicts  passed  in  the  Parliament  of  IGGl  had  stripped 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  of  every  legal 
security,  had  imposed  upon  the  Scots  a  virtual  ab- 
juration of  Presbyterianism,  and  left  the  Protestant 
Church  of  the  northern  country  little  better  than  a 


was  cautious,  eminently  wise,  liberal  in  politics, 
eloquent  in  discourse,  and  God-fearing,  and  to  the 
graces  of  the  true  Chi-istian  he  added  the  virtues  of 
the  jiatriot.  His  inheritance  was  a  magnificent 
one.  -From  those  western  isles  which  receive  the 
first  shock  of  the  Atlantic  wave  as  it  rushes  toward 
the  mainland,  his  possessions  stretched  southward 
to  the  Clyde,  and  away  towards  the  Tay  on  the 
east,  comprehending  many  a  grand  mountain,  many 
a  far-extending  forest,  many  a  strath  and  moorland, 


VIKW    OF    THE    Uri 


T.    ANDREWS     CATUZDUAL. 


wreck.  A  fourth  edict  was  about  to  complete  the 
work  of  the  former  three.  But  at  this  stage  it 
was  found  necessary  to  set  up  the  scaffold.  There 
were  two  men  in  Scotland  of  pre-eminent  position 
and  influence,  who  must  be  taken  out  of  the  way 
before  it  would  be  safe  to  proceed  with  the  measure 
now  contemplated,  namely,  that  of  abolishing  Pre.s- 
byterianism  and  substituting  prelacy.  These  two 
men  were  the  Marquis  of  Argyle  and  Mr.  James 
Guthrie,  minister  at  Stirling. 

Archibald,  Marquis  of  Argyle,  stood  conspicuous 
among  the  nobles  of  Scotland ;  in  grandeur  and 
influence  he  towered  high  above  them  all.  Nature 
had  endowed  him  with  excellent  talents,  which  a 
careful  education  had  developed  and  trained.     He 


watered  liy  great  i-ivers,  and  dotted  with  meadow 
and  corn-land — the  seat  of  a  mighty  clan,  who  knew 
no  king  but  the  Maccallum-More.  To  his  Highland 
princedom  he  added  many  an  acre  of  the  I'icher 
south,  and  he  owned  many  a  mansion  in  the  great 
cities,  where  he  occasionally  kept  court.  In  those 
years  when  Scotland  had  no  king,  Argyle  bore  the 
burden  of  the  State,  and  charged  himself  ^vith  the 
protection  of  the  Presbyterian  interests. 

That  he  was  wholly  free  from  the  finesse  of  the 
age,  that  threading  his  way  amid  the  snares  and  pit- 
falls of  the  time  he  never  deviated  from  the  straight 
road,  and  that  amid  his  many  plans  he  never 
thought  of  the  aggrandisement  of  his  own  family, 
we  will  not  venture  to  affirm ;   but  in  the  main 


ARGYLE   BEFORE   HIS   EXECUTION. 


565 


his  desifTis  were  noble,  and  his  aims  steadily  and 
"■randly  patriotic.  He  had  rendered  some  impor- 
tant services  to  Charles  Stuart  when  the  fortunes  of 
tlie  royal  liouse  were  at  the  lowest.  Argyle  had 
protested  against  the  execution  of  Charles  I.,  and 
when  England  rejected  the  son,  Argyle  was  the  tirst 
to  invite  Charles  to  Scotland,  and  he  it  was  who 
placed  the  crown  of  that  ancient  kingdom  upon  his 
head.  He  naturally  expected  that  these  services, 
done  at  a  time  which  made  them  trebly  valuable, 


A  deep  serenity  filled  his  mind,  which  imparted 
a  calmness,  and  even  majesty,  to  his  demeanour 
during  the  hours  between  his  sentence  and  its  exe- 
cution. In  his  prison  he  had  a  ravishing  sense  of 
God's  love,  and  a  firm  assurance  of  his  admission 
into  the  heavenly  joys.  All  night  through  he  slept 
sweetly,  and  rose  refreshed  in  the  morning.  He 
dined  with  his  friends  on  the  day  of  his  execution, 
discoursing  cheerfully  with  them,  and  retu-ing  after 
dinner  for  secret  prayer.      The  procession    to    the 


VIEW    OF    EDINBUKOU    CASTLE    FIIOM    THE    Glt.lSS    MAKKET. 


would  not  be  wholly  forgotten.  Argyle  posted  up 
to  London  to  congi-atulatethe  king  on  his  restoration. 
It  was  now  that  he  discovered  the  utter  baseness 
of  the  num  by  whose  side  he  had  stood  when  so 
many  hail  forsaken  him.  Without  even  being  ad- 
mitted into  Charles's  presence,  he  was  seized,  and 
sent  down  by  sea  to  Scotland,  to  be  tried  by  the 
Parliament  for  high  treason.  On  Saturday,  the 
25th  of  l\Iay,  1G61,  he  wa,s  sentenced  to  be  beheaded 
on  the  Monday  following.  He  was  the  most  pro- 
minent Protestant  in  Scotland,  and  therefore  he 
must  die. 

Argyle  shrank  from  physical  suffering ;  but  now, 
sentenced  to  the  axe,  he  conquered  his  constitu- 
tioual  weakness,  and  rose  above  the  fear  of  death. 

152 


scaffold  being  formed,  "  I  could  die  like  a  Roman," 
said  he,  "  but  choose  rather  to  die  as  a  Christian. 
Come  away,  gentlemen ;  he  that  goes  tirst  goes 
cleanest."  He  stopped  a  moment  on  his  way  to 
execution,  to  greet  James  Guthrie,  nowundersentenco 
of  death,  and  confined  in  the  same  prison.  They 
embraced.  "  Were  I  not  under  sentence  of  death 
myself,"  said  the  minister  to  the  marquis,  "  I  would 
cheerfully  die  for  your  lordship."  Tliey  parted  as 
men  do  who  are  soon  to  meet  again,  and  Ai-gyle, 
his  step  firm,  and  the  light  of  triumph  on  his  brow, 
went  on  his  way.  On  the  scaffold  he  addressed  the 
people  with  great  composure,  bidding  them  prepai-e 
for  times  which  would  leave  them  only  this  alter- 
native, to  "sin  or  sull'er."    When  about  to  lay  his 


566 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISHL. 


licad  on  the  block  bis  physician  approached  liim  and 
loiiched  his  pulse,  and  found  that  it  was  beating  at 
its  usual  rate,  calm  and  strong.'  He  kneeled  down, 
and  after  a  few  minutes'  prayer,  he  gave  the  signal, 
the  uxe  fell,  and  that  kingly  head  rolled  on  the 
scaflbld."  It  was  affixed  to  the  west  end  of  the 
Tolbooth,  "a  monument,"  says  Wodi-ow,  "of  the 
Parliament's  injustice  and  the  land's  misery."-' 

In  a  few  days  Mr.  James  Guthrie  was  brought 
forth  to  die.  Guthrie  was  descended  from  an 
ancient  Scottish  family,  and  was  distinguished  for 
liis  pietj',  his  loaming,  his  eloquence,  and  his  sweet- 
ness of  disposition,  combined  with  great  firmness  of 
principle.  HLs  indictment  charged  him  mth  a 
variety  of  ofl'ences,  amounting  in  the  eyes  of  hLs 
enemies  to  high  treason ;  but  his  real  offence  was  his 
being  a  consistent,  eloquent,  and  influential  Protes- 
tant, which  made  it  necessary  that  he  should  be  put 
out  of  the  way,  that  Middleton  might  rule  Scotland 
as  he  liked,  and  that  James  Sharj)  might  march  in 
and  seize  the  mitre  of  St.  Andrews.  He  was  sen- 
tenced to  be  "hanged  at  the  Cross  of  Edinburgh  as  a 
traitor,  on  the  1st  of  June,  1G61,  and  thereafter  his 
head  to  be  struck  off  and  affixed  on  the  Nethei-bow, 
Ids  estate  to  be  confiscated,  his  coat-of-arms  torn 
and  reversed,  and  his  chilcb'en  declared  incapable,  in 
all  time  coming,  to  enjoy  any  office,  dignities,  ifcc, 
within  this  kingdom."  His  composure  was  not  in 
the  least  disturbed  by  hearing  this  sentence  pro- 
nounced as  doom ;  on  the  contrary,  he  expressed, 
with  much  sweetness,  a  hope  that  it  would  never 
affect  their  lordships  more  than  it  affected  him,  and 
that  his  blood  would  never  be  required  of  the  lung's 
house.  On  the  day  of  his  execution  he  dined  with 
his  friends  in  prison,  diffusing  round  the  table  the 
serenity  and  joy  that  filled  his  own  soul,  and  cheer- 
ing the  sorrow  of  his  guests  by  the  hopes  that  found 
eloquent  expression  from  liis  lips.  The  historian 
Burnet,  who  witnessed  his  execution,  says  that  "on 
the  ladder  he  spoke  an  hour  with  the  composedness 
of  one  who  was  delivering  a  sermon  rather  than  his 
last  words."''  The  martyr  himself  said  that  he  had 
often  felt  greater  fear  in  ascending  the  pulpit  to 
preach  than  he  now  did  in  mounting  the  gallows  to 
die.  "  I  take  God  to  record  upon  my  soul,"  said 
he  in  conclusion,  "  I  would  not  exchange  this 
scaflbld  with  the  palace  or  miti-e  of  the  greatest 
prelate  in  Britain."    His  face  was  now  covered  with 


'  Burnet,  Hist,  of  his  own  Time,  vol.  i.,  p.  57;  Lond.,  1815. 

-  Wodrow,  bk.  i.,  sec.  3.  Burnet,  Hist,  of  Ms  own  Time, 
vol.  i.,  p.  179 ;  Edin.  ed. 

^  The  body  of  Argylo  was,  immediately  on  liis  execu- 
tion, carried  into  the  Magdalene  Chapel,  and  laid  upon  a 
table  still  to  be  seen  there. 

*  Bin-net,  vol.  i.,  p.  159. 


the  fatid  napkin ;  he  made  it  be  lifted  a  moment, 
and  said,  "  The  Covenants  shall  yet  be  Scotland's 
reviving." '' 

His  head  was  affixed  to  the  Netherbow,  and  there 
it  remained,  blackening  in  the  sun,  through  all  the 
dark  years  of  persecution  that  followed.  The 
martyrs  on  their  way  to  the  Grass  Market  to  die 
passed  the  spot  where  these  honoured  remaiiis  were 
exposed.  They  must  have  felt,  as  they  looked  up 
at  them,  that  a  ray  of  glory  was  cast  athwart  their 
path  to  the  scaflbld,  though  the  persecutor  had  not 
meant  it  so.  "  Courage,"  would  these  mouldering 
lips  seem  to  say,  and  strengthened  by  the  thought 
that  James  Guthrie  had  trodden  this  road  before 
them,  the  martyrs  passed  on  to  the  gallows.  Having 
hung  all  these  mournful  years,  and  been  obsei-ved 
of  many  martyr  processions,  Guthrie's  head  was  at 
last  taken  down  by  a  young  man  named  Hamilton, 
who  was  at  the  time  a  student  in  Edinburgh,  and 
afterwards  became  successor  at  Stirling  to  the  man 
to  whose  remains  he  had  performed  thLs  kind 
office. 

The  two  men  of  all  living  Scotsmen  whom 
Middleton  and  Sharp  most  feared  were  now  in 
their  grave,  and  the  way  was  open  for  the  execution 
of  the  project  on  which  then-  heai-t,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  king,  was  so  much  set — the  institution  of 
prelacy  in  Scotland.  Accordingly,  on  the  Gth  of 
September,  1661,  Charles  II.  issued  a  proclamation, 
restoring  "  the  ancient  and  legal  government  of  the 
Church  by  archbishops  and  bishops,  as  it  was 
exercised  in  the  year  1637."  The  only  reason 
assigned  for  so  vast  a  change  was  the  king's  good 
pleasure.  The  royal  mandate  must  serve  for  the 
wishes  of  the  people,  the  law  of  the  coimtry,  and 
the  warrant  of  Scripture.  In  the  December  fol- 
lo\ving,  five  ministers  set  out  for  London,  and  got 
themselves  appointed  bishops,  and  consecrated  in 
AVestminster.  The  first  was  James  Sharp,  who 
now,  as  the  reward  of  his  treachery,  obtained  the 
archiepisoopal  mitre  of  St.  Andrews.  The  second 
was  Fairfoul,  who  was  made  Bishop  of  Gla.sgow. 
If  a  slender  theologian,  he  had  some  powers  as  a 
humourist ;  but  his  censors  said  that  Jiis  morals 
were  not  so  pure  as  his  lawn.  The  third  was 
Wishai-t,  who  had  the  See  of  Edinburgh.  He,  too, 
was  of  damaged  character,  and  had  a  habit,  when 
he  had  drunk  freely,  of  emjihasising  his  talk  with 
oaths.  The  fourth  was  Sydserf,  now  in  his  dotage, 
and  made  Bishop  of  Orloiey.  The  fifth  was  a  man 
of  pure  character,  and  fine  genius,  who  was  thrown 

'  Wodrow,  bk.  i.,  sec.  4.  Mr.  Guthrie's  indictment,  his 
speech  in  court,  and  his  speech  on  the  scaffold,  are  aU 
given  in  full  in  Wodrow,  vol.  i. ;  GHas.,  1828. 


EPISCOPACY   IN   SCOTLAND. 


567 


in  to  reconcile  the  Scots  to  the  new  Establishment. 
This  was  Robert  Leighton,  appointed  to  the  epis- 
copal chair  of  Dunblane.  His  exposition  of  the 
fii'st  Epistle  of  Peter,  so  chaste  and  gi'aceful  in 
style,  and  so  rich  in  evangelical  ti-uth,  will  long 
remain  a  montiment  of  his  fervent  piety.  Leighton 
held  that  nothing  had  been  laid  down,  even  inferen- 
tially,  in  Scripture  on  the  subject  of  Chiu'ch  govern- 
ment; and  he  looked  ou  episcopacy  as  the  best  form, 
but  he  knew  that,  as  matters  then  stood  in  Scotland, 
the  liberties  of  the  nation  were  bound  up  with  the 
maintenance  of  the  Presbj'terian  government ;  and 
that  government,  moreover,  he  had  sworn  to  main- 
tain. This,  if  nothing  else,  ought  to  have  inspired 
him  with  a  salutary  fear  of  becoming  the  tool  of  the 
tyrant  and  the  partner  of  renegades  in  a  traitorous 
scheme  for  sapping  the  ancient  liberties  of  his  native 
land,  and  overthrowing  the  sacred  independence 
of  his  Church.  His  genius  and  piety  but  made  the 
part  he  acted  the  more  criminal,  seeing  they  were 
employed  to  support  measures  which  he  condemned. 
The  blood  of  Argyle  and  Guthrie  had  to  be  poured 
out  before  he  could  wear  his  mitre,  and  one  would 
have  thought  that  never  could  he  put  it  on  his  head 
without  feeling  that  it  imprinted  its  red  marks  on 
his  brow.  In  those  days  there  were  few  genume 
honours  to  be  gained  in  Scotland  save  those  which 
the  headsman  bestowed. 

Soon  after  their  consecration  the  new  prelates 
an-ived  in  Scotland.  They  entered  Edinburgh  with 
some  little  pomp,  being  not  unwilling  to  air  their 
new  dignity — all  except  Leighton,  who,  as  if 
ashamed  of  his  companions,  and  unwilling  to  be 
paraded  in  the  train  of  Sharp,  stole  away  when  the 
party  approached  the  city,  and  made  his  entrance 
privately.  One  of  their  first  acts  after  setting  foot 
on  their  native  soil  was  to  ordain  other  ten  bishops. 
These  had  tUl  now  been  Presbyterian  ministers ; 
their  anointing  took  place  in  the  Chapel  of  Holy- 
rood.  Scotland  was  now  divided  into  fourteen 
dioceses,  and  over  each  diocese  was  set  a  regularly 
consecrated  bishop  with  jurisdiction.  The  new 
shepherds  to  whom  the  Scottish  flock  was  committed 
by  Charles  II.  had  all,  before  receiving  then-  second 
consecration,  renounced  their  Presbyterian  ordina- 
tion as  null.  This  throws  an  interesting  light  on 
the  mission  they  had  now  taken  in  hand,  and  the 
condition  of  that  countiy,  as  it  appeared  in  their 
eyes,  in  which  they  were  to  fulfil  it.  If  their 
Presbyterian  ordination  was  worthless,  so  was  that 
of  all  Presbyters  in  Scotland,  and  equally  worth- 
less were  the  powere  and  ministrations  of  the 
whole  Presbyterian  Church.  Scotland,  in  short, 
was  a  pagan  country.  It  possessed  neither  valid 
pastors  nor  valid  Sacraments,  and  had  been  without 


both  since  the  Eeformation ;  and  these  men,  them- 
selves consecrated  in  Westminster,  now  consecrated 
others  in  Holyrood,  and  came  with  the  benevolent 
design  of  restoring  to  Scotland  the  valid  orders  of 
which  Knox  had  deprived  it.  In  short,  they 
came  to  plant  Christianity  a  second  time  in  Soot- 
land.  Let  us  mark  how  they  proceeded  in  theii' 
work. 

Ou  the  8th  of  May,  1662,  the  Scottish  Pariia- 
ment  sat.  The  new  bishops  took  their  places  in 
that  Assembly,  gi-acing  it,  if  not  by  their  gifts  of 
learning  and  apostleship,  on  which  history  is  silent, 
by  their  titles  and  official  robes.  Their  presence 
reminded  the  Parliament  of  the  necessity  of  show- 
ing its  zeal  in  the  king's  service,  and  especially 
that  branch  of  it  on  which  Charles  was  at  that  time 
so  intent,  the  transforming  a  Presbytei'ian  country 
into  a  predatic  one,  and  changing  a  constitutional 
government  into  an  arbitrary  monarchy.  The 
Parliament  was  servile  and  compliant.  Act  followed 
Act,  in  rapid  succession,  completing  the  work  which 
the  king  had  commenced  in  his  proclamation  of  the 
September  previous  ordaining  episoopacj'.  In  the 
first  Act  of  Parliament  it  was  laid  down  that  "the 
ordering  and  disposing  of  the  external  government 
and  policy  of  the  Church  doth  [jroperly  belong  unto 
his  Majesty  as  an  inherent  right  of  the  crown,  by 
vii-tue  of  his  royal  prerogati\'e  and  supremacy  in 
causes  ecclesiastical."'  The  next  Act  restored  the 
bishops  to  all  their  ancient  privileges,  spiritual  and 
temporal ;  another  Act  was  passed  against  all  resis- 
tance to  the  king's  government ;  another  forbidding 
all  attempts  for  any  alteration  in  Church  or  State, 
and  another  declaring  the  Covenants  imlawful  and 
seditious.  To  this  Act  was  added  a  curious  appen- 
dage, wliich  would  not  have  been  surprising  had 
it  issued  from  the  Vatican,  but  coming  from  a 
tempoi'al  government  was  certainly  a  novelty.  A 
dispensing  clause  was  sent  forth  from  Whitehall, 
releasing  all  who  had  taken  the  Covenant  from  the 
obligation  of  fulfilling  the  oath.  That  oath  might 
or  might  not  be  valid,  but  for  the  government  to 
publish  a  release  of  conscience  to  all  who  had  sworn 
it  was  one  of  the  startling  assumptions  of  this 
extraordinary  time. 

One  other  edict  remains  to  be  specially  noted. 
It  required  all  ministers  in  Scotland  ordained  since 
1649,  on  or  before  the  20th  of  September  to  present 
themselves  before  the  patron  to  take  presentation 
anew  to  their  livings,  and  before  the  bishop  of  the 
diocese  to  receive  collation.  The  year  1 649  was  fixed 
on  as  that  fi-om  which  commenced  this  second  ordina- 
tion because,  the  strict  covenanting  party  being  then 

'  See  Act  in  Wodi-ow,  bk.  i.,  chap.  3,  sec.  2. 


568 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


in  power,  patronage  had  been  abolished.  But  now, 
patronage  being  restored,  those  who  had  entered 
the  Church  by  the  free  choice  of  the  people,  and  not 
by  the  nomination  of  the  patron,  were  called  on  to 
retrace  their  steps,  and  begin  anew  by  j)assing 
through  this  ordeal.  Collation  from  the  bishop, 
which  was  also  requii'ed  of  them,  implied  something 
more  than  that  they  had  been  informal  niiiristers, 
namely,  that  they  had  not  been  ministers  at  all,  nor 
had  (!ver  discharged  one  valid  function.  One  of 
the  clauses  of  that  collation  ran  tluis — "I  do  hereby 
receive  him  into  the  functions  of  the  holy  ministry." 
Tliat  certainly  meant  that  the  man  now  receiving 
collation  had  not  till  then  been  clothed  with  the 
ministerial  office,  and  that  for  the  first  time  was  he 
now  validly  to  discharge  its  functions.  The  pruiciple 
on  which  all  these  changes  proceeded  was  plainly 
this,  that  government  was  restoring  to  Scotland  a 
true  miniistry,  which  it  had  lost  when  its  ancient 
hierarchy  was  overthrown. 

It  was  not  necessary  in  order  to  the  carrying  oiit 
of  these  edicts  that  Charles  II.  should  leave  London, 
the  scene  of  his  ease  and  of  his  pleasures,  and  visit 
the  northern  kingdom.  The  royal  voluptuary, 
dearly  as  he  loved  power,  would  perhaps  have  fore- 
gone it  in  pai-t,  had  he  been  required  to  earn  it  at 
the  price  of  anxiety  and  drudgery.  But  there  was 
no  need  he  should  submit  to  this  sacrifice ;  he  had 
zealous  and  tnisty  tools  on  the  spot,  who  were  but 
too  willing  to  do  the  work  which  he  was  too  indolent 
to  undertake  himself  The  Prii^  Council  exercised 
supreme  power  in  his  name  in  Scotland,  and  he 
coidd  safely  leave  with  the  members  of  that  Council 
the  prosecution  of  all  the  schemes  of  tyi'amiy  then 


on  foot.  There  were  men  around  him,  too,  of 
darker  counsels  and  wder  schemings  than  liimself — 
men  who,  though  he  little  suspected  it,  were  just  as 
ready  to  tlu'ust  him  aside  as  they  would  have  been 
to  dispatch  any  Covenanter  in  all  Scotland,  should 
he  stand  in  their  way  ;  these  persons  devised  the 
steps  which  were  necessary  to  be  taken,  the  king 
sanctioned  them,  and  the  perjured  and  biiitid  jimto 
who  served  Charles  in  Scotland  carried  them  out. 
We  behold  the  work  already  almost  completed. 
Only  two  years  have  elapsed  since  Charles  II. 
ascended  the  throne,  and  the  liberties  and  religion 
of  Scotland  have  been  all  but  entirely  swept  away. 
What  it  had  taken  a  century  and  a  half  to  achieve 
— what  had  been  painfully  won,  by  the  stake  of 
Hamilton,  the  labours  of  Knox,  and  the  intrepidity 
of  Melvillo  and  Henderson,  had,  as  it  now  seemed, 
been  lost  in  the  incredibly  short  space  from  1600 
to  1602.  The  tame  acquiescence  of  Scotland  at  so 
gTeat  a  ci-isis  amazes  us !  Have  all  become  un- 
laitliful  ?  Is  there  no  one  to  fight  the  old  battle  1 
Of  the  tens  of  thousands  who  twenty-four  years 
before  assembled  in  the  Greyfriars'  Chiu-ch-yai-d 
of  Edinburgh,  their  hands  lifted  up  to  heaven,  is 
thei'e  no  select  band — a  thousand  ?  a  hundi'ed  1 
fifty  ?  —  willing  to  throw  themselves  into  the 
breach,  and  stem  the  torrent  of  Popish  intrigue  and 
tyrannical  violence  that  is  flooding  Scotland,  and, 
having  overwhelmed  it,  will  next  rush  on  England, 
burying  beneath  its  swelling  wave  the  Pl'otes- 
tanti.sm  of  the  southern  kingdom,  and  along  with 
it  the  Protestantism  of  all  Chiistendom  ?  Is  there 
none  to  avert  a  catastrophe  so  a^\•ful  i  We  shall 
see. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 


FOUR    HUNDRED    MINISTEltS    EJECTED. 


The  Bishops  hold  Diocesan  Courts— Summon  the  Minister.s  to  Receive  Collation— Tlie  Ministers  Disobey — Middleton's 
Wrath  and  Violence— Archbishop  Fairfoul's  Complaint—"  Drunken  Act  of  Glasgow  "—The  1st  of  November, 
1C62— B'our  Hundred  Ministers  Ejected— Middleton's  Consternation- Sufferings  of  the  Ejected— Lamentations  of 
the  People— Scotland  before  the  Ejection— The  Curates— Middleton's  Fall— The  Earl  of  Rothes  made  Commi.s- 
sioner— Conventicles— Court  of  High  Commission— Its  Cruelty— Turner's  Troop— Terrible  Violence. 


The  Parliament,  h.-iving  done  its  work,  dissolved. 
It  had  promulgated  those  edicts  which  placed  the 
Church  and  State  of  Scotland  at  the  feet  of  Charles 
II.,  and  it  left  it  to  the  Privy  Council  and  the 
bishops  to  carry  into  eflect  what  it  had  enacted  as 
law.     Without   loss  of  time  the  woi-k  was  com- 


menced. The  bishops  held  diocesan  courts  and 
summoned  the  ministers  to  receive  collation  at 
their  hands.  If  the  ministers  should  obey  the 
summons,  the  bishops  would  regard  it  as  an  ad- 
mission of  their  office:  they  were  not  unnaturally 
desii'ous  of  such  recognition,  and  they  waited  with 


'DRUNKEN   ACT   OF   C4LASG0W." 


569 


impatience  and  anxiety  to  sec  what  response  their 
citation  should  receive  from  the  Presbyterian 
pastors.  To  their  gi-eat  mortification,  very  few 
ministers  presented  themselves.  In  only  a  few 
solitary  instances  were  the  episcopal  mandates 
obeyed.  The  bishops  viewed  this  as  a  contempt 
of  their  office  and  an  atiront  to  their  persons,  and 
were  \vi'otk  at  the  recalcitrants.  Middleton,  the 
king's  prime  minister  in  Scotland,  was  equally 
angry,  and  he  had  not  less  cause  than  the  bishops 
for  being- so.  He  had  assured  the  king  that  the 
royal  sceptre  once  firmly  stretched  out  would  com- 
pel the  Pi'esbyterians  of  the  North  to  bovi^  to  the 
crosier;  and  if,  after  all,  iiis  project  should  fiiU, 
he  would  be  ruined  in  the  eyes  of  Charles.  To 
the  irascibility  and  imperiousness  with  whicli 
nature  had  endowed  him,  Middleton  added  the 
training  of  the  camp,  and  he  resolved  to  deal  with 
this  matter  of  conscience  as  he  would  with  any 
ordinary  breach  of  military  discipline.  He  did  not 
understand  this  opposition.  The  law  was  clear : 
the  king  had  commanded  the  ministers  to  receive 
collation  at  the  hands  of  the  bishop,  and  the  king 
must  be  obeyed,  and  if  not,  the  recusant  must  take 
the  consequences — he  must  aljide  both  Middleton's 
and  the  king's  wrath. 

Having  made  up  his  mind  to  decisive  measures, 
Middleton  and  the  other  members  of  the  Privy 
Council  set  out  on  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the 
western  counties,  whei-e  the  more  contumacious 
lived.  Coming  to  Glasgow,  Ai-chbishoiJ  Faufoul 
complained  that  "not  one  minister  in  his  whole 
diocese  had  presented  liimself  to  own  him  as 
bishop,  and  receive  collation  to  his  benefice ;  that 
he  had  only  the  hatred  which  attends  that  office  in 
Scotland,  and  nothing  of  the  jiower ;  and  that  his 
Gi'ace  behoved  to  fall  upon  some  other  and  more 
effi;ctual  methods,  otherwise  the  new-made  bishops 
would  be  mere  ciphers."'  Middleton  consoled  the 
poor  man  l)y  telling  him  that  to  the  authority 
of  his  crosier  he  would  add  the  weight  of  his 
sword,  and  he  would  then  see  who  would  be  so 
bold  as  to  refuse  to  own  him  as  his  diocesan.  A 
meeting  of  the  Privy  Council  was  held  in  tlic 
College  Hail  of  Glasgow,  on  the  1st  of  October, 
16G2.  They  met  in  a  condition  that  augured  ill 
for  the  adoption  of  moderate  measures.  The 
bishops  urged  thom  to  extreme  courses ;  wth  these 
counsels  their  own  passions  coincided ;  they  drank 
till  they  were  maddened,  and  could  tliink  only  of 
vengeance.  It  was  resolved  to  cxtriule  from  tlioir 
livings  and  banish  from  thoir  parishes  all  the 
ministers  who  had  been  ordained  since  1649,  and 


'  Wodrow,  bk.  i.,  chap.  3,  sec.  3. 


had  not  received  presentation  and  collation  as 
tho  king's  Act  requii-cd.  In  pursuance  of  this 
summary  and  violent  decision  a  proclamation  was 
drawn  up,  to  be  published  on  the  -Itli  of  October, 
conmianding  all  such  ministers  to  withdraw  them- 
selves and  their  families  out  of  llieir  parishes 
before  the  1st  of  November  next,  and  forbidding 
them  to  reside  within  the  bounds  of  their  respective 
presb3rteries.  They  had  three  weeks  given  them 
to  determine  which  they  would  choose,  submission 
or  ejectiou.- 

This  Act  came  afterwards  to  be  known  as  the 
"  Drunken  Act  of  Glasgow."  It  is  hardly  con- 
ceivable that  sober  men  would,  in  the  cii'cum- 
stances,  have  issued  so  ferocious  an  edict.  "  Duko 
Hamilton  told  me,"  says  Burnet,  "  they  were  all  so 
drunk  that  day  that  they  were  not  cajiable  of  con- 
sidering anything  that  was  before  them,  and  would 
hear  of  nothing  but  executing  the  law  without  any 
relenting  or  delay.  "^  The  one  sober  man  at  the 
board,  Sh-  James  Lockhart  of  Lee,  remonstrated 
against  the  madness  of  his  fellow-councillors,  but 
he  could  recall  them  neither  to  sobrietj'  nor  to 
humanity.  Their  fiat  had  gone  forth :  it  had 
sounded,  they  believed,  the  knell  of  Scottish  Pres- 
byterianism.  "  There  are  not  ten  men  in  all  my 
diocese,"  said  Bishop  Fairfoul,  "  who  will  dare  to 
disobey."  Middleton  was  not  less  confident.  That 
men  should  cast  themselves  and  their  families 
penniless  upon  the  world  for  the  sake  of  conscience, 
was  a  height  of  fanaticism  which  he  did  not  ba 
lieve  to  be  possible  even  in  Scotland.  Meanwhile 
the  day  drew  on. 

The  1st  of  November,  to  which  Middleton  had 
looked  forward  as  the  day  that  was  to  crown  his 
bold  policy  with  success,  and  laying  the  Presby- 
terianism  of  Scotland  in  the  dust,  to  establish  on 
its  ruins  prelacy  and  arbitrary  government,  was,  on 
the  contrary,  in  the  issue  to  hurl  him  from  power, 
and  lift  up  that  Presbyterianism  which  he  thought 
to  destroy.  But  to  Middleton  retribution  came 
in  tho  guise  of  victory.  Hardly  four  weeks  had 
ho  given  the  ministers  to  determine  the  gi-ive 
question  whether  they  should  renounce  their 
Presbyterianism  or  surrender  their  livings.  They 
did  not  need  even  that  short  space  to  make  up 
their  minds.  Four  hours — four  minutes — were 
enough  where  the  question  was  so  manifestly 
whether  they  should  obey  God  or  King  Charles. 
When  the  1st  of  November  came,  four  hundred 
ministers — more    than    a    third    of    the    Scottish 

^  The  Act  is  said  to  have  been  tho  suggestion  of  Tair- 
foul,  Archbishop  of  Glasgow.  (Wodrow,  bk.  i.,  chap.  3, 
sec.  n.) 

^  Uurnet,  Hist.  ofJiis  own  Time,  vol.  i.,  pp.  19t,  195. 


570 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


clergy — rose  up,  and  quitting  their  manses,  their 
churches,  and  their  parishes,  went  forth  with  their 
families  into  banishment.  INIiddleton  was  as- 
tounded. He  could  never  have  believed  that  the 
gauntlet  he  had  flung  do\vn  would  be  taken  up 
so  boldly.  It  was  submission,  not  defiance,  he  had 
looked  for  from  these  men.  The  bishops  shared 
his  consternation.  They  had  counselled  this 
violent  measure,  and  now  they  trembled  when 
they  saw  how  well  it  had  succeeded.     They  had 


It  was  the  beginning  of  winter,  and  the  sight  of  the 
bare  earth  and  the  bleak  skies  would  add  to  the 
gloom  around  them.  They  went  forth  not  know- 
ing whither  they  went.  Toiling  along  on  the 
rough  miry  road,  or  laying  them  do\vn  at  night 
under  the  roof  of  some  poor  hovel,  or  seated  with 
their  little  ones  at  some  scantily  furnished  table, 
they  nevertheless  tasted  a  joy  so  sweet  that  they 
would  not  have  exchanged  their  lot  for  all  the 
delights  of  their  persecutors.     They  had  incurred 


VIEW    OF    GLASGOW    CATHEDRAL. 


thought  that  the  Scotland  of  Knox  was  dead,  and 
this  Act  was  meant  to  consign  it  to  its  sepulchre ; 
the  Act,  on  the  contrary,  had  brought  it  to  life 
again ;  it  was  rising  in  the  strength  of  old  days, 
and  they  knew  that  they  must  surely  fall  before  it. 
Middleton's  rage  knew  no  Vjounds  :  he  saw  at  a 
glance  all  the  fatal  consequences  to  himself  of  the 
step  he  had  taken — the  ultimate  failure  of  his 
planSj  the  loss  of  the  royal  favour,  and  the  eventual 
triumph  of  that  cause  to  wliich  he  thought  he  had 
given  tlie  death-blow. 

Meanwhile,  the  sufferings  of  the  ejected  ministers 
were  far  from  light.  Tlie  blow  had  come  suddenly 
upon  them,  and  left  them  hardly  any  time  to  provide 
accommodation  for  themselves  and  their  families. 


their  monarch's  sore  displeasure,  but  they  knew 
that  they  had  the  approval  of  then-  heavenly  King, 
and  this  sweetened  the  bitter  cup  they  were  drink- 
ing. Tlie  sacrifice  they  were  now  making  had  only 
added  to  their  guilt  in  the  eyes  of  their  monarch, 
and  they  knew  that,  distressing  as  was  their  present 
condition,  then-  futiu-e  lot  was  sure  to  be  more 
wretched  ;  but  rather  than  take  their  hands  from 
the  plough  they  would  part  with  even  dearer  posses- 
sions than  those  of  which  they  had  been  stripped. 
They  had  counted  the  cost,  and  would  go  forward 
in  the  path  on  which  they  had  set  out,  although 
they  plainly  descried  a  scafibld  at  the  end  of  it. 

The  religious  people  of  Scotland  followed  with 
their  affection  and  theii-  prayei-s  the  pastors  who 


THE   EJECTED   PASTORS   AND   THEIR   FLOCKS. 


571 


had  been  torn  from  them.  The  throne  had  loosened 
its  hold,  prelacy  had  sealed  its  doom,  but  the  firm- 
ness of  principle  shown  by  the  ministers  liad  exalted 
the   cause  of   Presbytery,   and    rallied    once    more 


24th  of  August  to  the  Presbyterians  in  England. 
Tears,  loud  waOings,  and  bursts  of  sorrow  broke  in 
in  many  cases  upon  the  public  service.  It  was  a 
day  not  only  of   weeping    but    howling,  like  the 


A    (O.NVENTICLC:     WORSIIH'    ON    THE    HILL-SIDE. 


round  it  the  better  portion  of  the  Scottish  people. 
The  sliepherds  had  been  smitten,  but  the  flocks 
would  not  long  escape,  and  they  prepared  to  sufler 
when  their  day  of  trial  should  come.  Meanwhile, 
lamentation  and  woe  overspread  the  country. 
"  Scotland,"  says  Wodrow,  "  was  never  witness  to 
such  a  Sabbath  as  the  last  on  which  these  ministens 
preached  ;  and  I  know  no  parallel .  to  it  save  the 


weeping  of  Jazer,  as  when  a  besieged  city  is  sacked." 
The  Sunday  that  followed  the  ejection  was  sadder 
even  than  that  on  which  the  pastors  had  bidden 
their  congregations  farewell.  The  silence  as  of 
death  brooded  over  a  large  portion  of  Scotland. 
All  over  tlic  western  counties  of  Ap-  and  Lanark  ; 
over  many  parts  of  Lothian,  Fife,  Eskdale,  Teviot- 
dale,  and  Nithsdale  the  churches  were  closed.     To 


572 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


quote  "N:iplit:ili's"  son;:;  of  Lamcntatimi  (a  woll- 
kno\\Ti  book  ill  Irfcotlancl) — "  Then  might  wo  have 
seen  the  shepherils  smitten  and  the  flocks  scat- 
tered, our  teachers  removed  into  corners,  and  the 
Lord's  vineyard  and  sanctuaiy  hiid  most  dcsohite, 
so  that  in  some  wliolc  counties  and  ])rovinccs  no 
preacliing  was  to  be  licard,  nor  could  the  Lord's 
Day  be  otherwise  known  than  by  the  sorrowful 
remembrance  of  those  blessed  enjoyments  whereof 
now  we  are  deprived." 

From  this  scene  of  desolation  let  us  turn  to 
the  Scotland  of  only  two  years  before,  as  graphic- 
ally depicted  by  an  old  chronicler.  "  At  the 
king's  return  every  parish  had  a  minister,  every 
village  had  a  school,  every  family  almost  had  a 
Bible,  yea,  in  most  of  the  countiy  all  the  children 
of  age  could  read  the  Scriptures,  and  were  provided 
of  Bibles,  either  by  their  parents,  or  by  thcu- 
ministei-s.  .  .  .  .  I  have  lived  many  years  in 
a  parish  where  I  never  heard  an  oath,  and  you 
might  have  ridden  many  mOes  before  you  heard 
one ;  also  you  could  not  for  a  great  part  of  the 
country  have  lodged  in  a  famUy  where  the  Lord 
was  not  wor.shipped  by  reading,  singing,  and  public 
prayer.  Nobody  complained  more  of  oiu-  Chu^-ch 
government  than  our  taverners  ;  whose  ordinary 
lamentation  was — their  trade  was  broke,  people 
were  become  so  sober."^  It  was  from  this  flourish- 
ing condition  that  Scotland,  in  the  short  space  of 
two  years,  was  plunged  into  her  jiresent  desolation. 

The  numerous  vacant  pulpits  had  to  be  tilled. 
Tlie  bishops  turned  their  eyes  to  the  northern 
counties  in  quest  of  men  to  succeed  the  pious  and 
learned  ministers  who  had  been  ejected.  Some 
hundreds  of  raw  untaught  young  men  were  brought 
from  that  part  of  Scotland,  drafted  into  the  Church, 
and  taught  to  do  duty  as  curates.  The  majority  of 
them  were  as  incapable  as  they  were  unwelcome. 
They  were  all  of  them  without  liberal  education, 
and  many  of  them  lacked  morals  as  well  as  letters. 
"  They  were  ignorant  to  a  reproach,"  says  Bishop 
Burnet,  "  and  many  of  them  o{)enly  ■\'icious  ;  they 
were  a  disgrace  to  the  order  and  the  .sacred  functions, 
and  were  indeed  the  dregs  and  refuse  of  the  northern 
parts."-  In  some  cases  then*  arrival  in  the  parish 
was  met  by  a  shower  of  .stones ;  the  church-door 
was  barricaded  on  Sunday  morning,  and  they  had 
to  make  their  entrance  by  the  window. 

Middleton  wa-s  now  di'awing  near  the  close  of  his 
career.  He  had  dragged  Argyle  to  the  block  and 
Guthrie  to  the  gallows,  and  he  had  filled  up  his  cup 
by  extruding  from  their  charges  four  hundred  of 


'  Kirkton,  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  pp.  Gt,  65. 
=  Burnet,  vol.  i.,  p.  229. 


the  best  ministers  of  Scotland,  and  now  his  fiill  fol- 
lowed hard  on  the  heels  of  his  great  crime.  But  in 
his  case,  as  in  so  many  similar  ones,  infatuation  pro. 
ceded  destruction.  Middleton  had  now  few  sober 
hours ;  for  no  sooner  had  the  fumes  of  one  debauch 
been  dissipated  than  those  of  another  began  to  act 
upon  him.  Even  Charles  became;  disgusted  at  his 
habitual  intoxication.  His  passionate  violence  and 
drunken  recklessness  had  completely  lost  the  oppor- 
tunity for  the  peaceable  establishment  of  prelacy  in 
Scotland.  He  had  but  damaged  the  king's  interests 
by  his  precipitation,  and  the  Earl  of  Rothes  was 
sent  down  to  supersede  him.  The  new  commissioner 
was  a  son  of  that  Earl  Rothes  who  had  been  one  of 
the  early  leaders  of  the  Covenanters.  The  son  was 
as  distinguished  for  his  profligacy  as  the  father  had 
been  for  his  piety  and  his  talents.  He  was  coarse, 
avaricious,  licentious,  and  the  policy  of  violence 
which  had  been  inaugurated  under  Middleton  was 
continued  under  Rothes. 

It  was  now  that  field-meetings  termed  conventicles 
arose.  The  greater  part  of  the  pious  ministers  cast 
out,  and  their  places  filled  by  incapable  men,  the 
people  left  the  new  preachers  to  hold  forth  within 
empty  walls.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  church- 
doors  were  thi'own  open  on  Sunday  morning,  few 
entered  save  the  curates'  dependants,  or  the  repro- 
bates of  the  place ;  the  bulk  of  the  jjopulation  were 
elsewhere,  listening  to  those  ministers  who,  not 
being  comprehended  in  the  Act  of  1 662,  having  been 
ordained  before  the  year  1649,  were  still  permitted 
to  occupy  their  pulpits ;  or  they  had  gathered  by 
hundreds  or  by  thousands,  devoixt  and  reverend, 
on  some  moorland,  or  in  some  sequestered  glen, 
or  on  some  mountain-side,  there  to  listen  to  one 
of  the  ejected  ministers,  who,  taking  his  .stand  on 
some  rock  or  knoll,  preached  the  Woi-d  of  Life. 
It  was  exceedingly  mortifj'ing  to  the  bishops  to  see 
their  curates  despised,  their  churches  empty,  and 
the  people  travelling  miles  in  all  weathers  to  hear 
those  whom  they  had  extruded.  They  immediately 
obtained  an  Act  forbidding  any  one  to  preach  unless 
he  had  a  licence  from  a  bishop,  and  commanding 
the  people  to  attend  their  parish  churches  imdcr 
the  penalty  of  a  fine.  This  Act  was  termed  the 
"  Ijishops'  drag-net."  It  failed  to  fill  the  empty 
pews  of  the  parish  churches.  One  tjTannical  mea- 
.sure  only  necessitates  another  and  more  tyi-annical. 
Ai'chbi.shop  Sharp  posted  up  to  London  to  olitain 
additional  powers.  He  returned,  .and  set  iqi  the 
Court  of  High  Commission.  This  w.as  the  Star 
Chamber  of  England  over  again.  In  truth,  it  bore, 
in  its  flagrant  defiance  of  forms,  and  its  inexor.ably 
merciless  spirit,  a  close  resemblance  to  the  "  Holy 
Office "   of  tho   Inquisition.       Soldiers   were   sent 


PERSECUTION   IN   THE    SOUTH   AND   WEaT   OE   SCOTLAND. 


573 


forth  to  scour  tlie  country,  and  if  one  was  found 
■who  had  been  absent  from  the  parish  church,  or 
liad  given  a  little  aid  to  jny  of  the  outed  ministers, 
or  was  suspected  of  the  sin  of  Presbyterianism,  he 
was  dragged  to  the  bar  of  the  High  Commission 
Court,  where  sat  Sharp,  like  another  Pihadaman- 
thus,  ready  to  condemn  all  whom  the  soldiers  had 
captured  and  haled  to  his  dread  tribunal.  The 
lay-judges  in  disgust  soon  left  the  entii-e  business  in 
the  hands  of  the  archbishop  and  his  assistant  pre- 
lates. Their  process  was  simple  and  swift.  The 
labour  of  compiling  an  indictment,  the  trouble  of 
examining  witnesses,  the  delay  of  listening  to 
pleadings  were  all  dispensed  with.  The  judges 
walked  by  no  rule  or  statute,  they  kept  no  record 
of  theii-  proceedings,  and  they  suffered  no  one  to 
escape.  All  who  came  to  that  bar  left  it  under 
condemnation.  The  punishments  awarded  from 
that  judgment-seat  were  various.  Some  it  amerced 
in  heavy  fines :  some  it  ordered  to  be  publicly 
whipped  :  some  it  sent  into  banishment :  others  it 
consigned  to  dungeons ;  and  some  it  branded  on 
the  cheek  with  hot  irons,  and  sold  as  slaves,  and 
shipped  off  to  Barbadoes.  The  times,  bad  as  they 
were,  were  not  so  bad  as  to  suffer  such  a  court  to 
exist.  In  two  years  the  High  Commission  sank 
under  the  odium  which  its  atrocious  injustice, 
cruelty,  and  tyi-anny  drew  down  upon  it. 

"  Sir,"  said  the  minister  of  Colvend  on  the 
Solway,  addressing  Sharp  one  day  from  the  bar  of 
this  terrible  court.  "  Know  you,"  gi-owled  Eothes, 
"to  whom  you  speak?"  "Yes,"  replied  the  un- 
daunted pastor,  "  I  speak  to  James  Sharp,  once 
a  fellow-minister  vdih  myself."  Without  further 
intjuiry  into  his  ofiences,  he  was  laid  in  irons, 
thrown  into  the  "  Thieves'  Hole  "  in  the  Tolbooth, 
with  a  lunatic  for  his  companion,  and  idtimately 
banLshed  to  the  Shetland  Islands,  where  "  for  four 
years,"  says  Wodrow,  "  he  lived  alone  in  a  wild 
desolate  island,  in  a  veiy  miserable  ])light.  He 
had  nothing  but  barley  for  his  bread,  and  his  fuel 
to  prepare  it  with  was  sea-tangle  and  wreck ;  and 
had  no  more  to  preserve  his  miserable  life." 

In  Scotland,  Presbytery  and  Liberty,  like  the 
twuis  of  classic  story,  have  ever  flourished  and  faded 
together.  After  1GG3  no  Parliament  met  in  Scot- 
land during  sLx  years.  The  laws  were  virtually 
defunct,  and  the  will  of  the  king  was  the  sole  autho- 


rity in  the  State.  Charles  II.  issued  proclamations, 
liis  Privy  Council  in  Scotland  turned  them  into 
Acts,  and  the  soldiers  executed  them  with  theii" 
swords.  It  was  in  this  way  that  the  country  was 
governed.  Its  Presbyterian  religion  and  its  consti- 
tutional liberties  had  fallen  together. 

No  part  of  the  country  south  of  the  Grampian 
chain  escaped  this  most  teiTible  tyramiy,  but  the 
south  and  west  in  particular  were  mercilessly 
scourged  by  it.  The  ■wretched  inhabitants  of  these 
covmties  had  been  given  into  the  hands  of  Sir 
James  Ttu-ner.  Turner  ■was  a  man  naturally  of 
choleric  temper,  and  when  his  passions  were  in- 
flamed by  tb-Lnk,  which  often  happened,  his  fury 
rose  to  madness.  His  troop  was  worthy  of  himself. 
Drawn  from  the  dregs  of  the  populace,  they  merited 
the  name,  not  of  soldiers,  but  of  rufiiaus,  who  were 
in  their  element  only  when  carousing,  pillaging,  and 
shedding  blood.  It  would  be  endless  to  recount 
the  barbarities  which  Turaer's  troop  exercised  upon 
the  poor  peasantry. 

The  great  public  offence  of  each  parish  was  still 
the  empty  church  of  the  curate.  To  pimish  and  so 
abate  this  scandal,  the  following  device  was  fallen 
upon.  After  sermon  the  curate  called  over  the 
roll  of  the  parisluoners,  and  marked  those  not  pre- 
sent. A  list  of  the  absentees  was  given  to  the 
soldiers,  who  were  empowered  to  le-vy  the  fine  to 
which  non-attendance  at  church  rendered  the  per- 
son Liable.  If  the  family  was  not  able  to  pay  the 
fine,  a  certain  number  of  the  troop  took  up  their 
quarters  in  the  house,  cursing,  blaspheming,  carous- 
ing, wasting  by  their  riotous  li-viug  the  substance 
of  the  family,  and,  before  taking  leave,  destroying 
what  they  had  not  been  able  to  devour.  Rum  was 
almost  the  inevitable  consequence  of  such  a  visit, 
and  members  of  families,  recently  in  affluence, 
might  now  be  seen  wandering  about  the  country  in 
circumstances  of  destitution.  After  the  landlord, 
it  came  to  be  the  tenant's  turn  to  be  eaten  up.  As 
the  locust-swarms  of  the  East,  so  passed  these  mis- 
creant bands  from  parish  to  parLsh,  and  from  family 
to  family,  leaving  their  track  an  utter  waste.  Tlie 
sanctity  of  homo,  the  ser^vices  of  devotion,  the  de- 
cencies of  morality,  respect  to  rank,  and  reverence 
for  age,  all  perished  in  the  presence  of  this  obscene 
crow.  Lou<ler  and  louder  every  day  waxed  the 
cry  of  the  suffering  country. 


574 


HlSTOflY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

BREACH  OF  THE  "  TRIPLE  LEAGUE  "  AND  WAR  WITH  HOLLAND. 

The  same  Policy  pursued  in  England  and  Scotland — Scheme  for  Introducing  Popery  and  Ai-bitrary  Goveruiuent 
— Test  Acts — Non-resistance — Power  of  the  Militia  Given  to  the  King — Humiliation  of  the  Nation — The  Queen- 
mother — Surrender  of  Dunkirk — Breach  of  the  "Triple  League" — The  King's  Sister — Interview  at  Dover— 
M.  Colbert— War  with  Holland  resolved  on— How  the  Quarrel  was  Picked — Piratical  Attack  on  Dutch  Merchant- 
men by  the  Navy  of  England — The  Exchequer  Seized  by  the  King — An  Indulgence  Proclaimed— War  Commenced 
— Eapid  Ti-iumphs  of  the  French — Duplicity  of  Louis  XIV. — William,  Prince  of  Orange,  made  Stadtholder  of 
HoUand — The  Great  Issue. 


The  gi-eat  project  planned  and  moved  by  the  Jesuits 
for  reconquering  England,  and  through  England 
subjugating  Christendom,  and  restoiing  the  Church 
of  Rome  to  her  former  domLnancy  in  every  coun- 
try of  Europe,  was  proceeding  on  parallel  Lines, 
stage  by  stage,  in  both  England  and  Scotland  at 
once.  On  the  24th  of  August,  1662,  two  thousand 
ministers,  who  formed  the  strength  and  glory 
of  English  Pi'otestantism,  were  driven  out  of  the 
Church  of  England.  In  the  November  following,  a 
similar  measure  was  adopted  in  Scotland.  Fom- 
hundred  men,  the  flower  of  the  Scottish  clergy, 
were  extiiided  from  their  churches,  and  soon  there- 
after forbidden  all  exercise  of  their  oflice  under 
pain  of  death.  The  Protestantism  of  Great  Britain 
was  not  indeed  entu'ely  smitten  down  by  these 
gi-eat  blows,  but  it  lay  wounded  and  bleeding,  and 
had  scarce  spirit  or  strength  left  it  for  continuing 
the  battle  with  a  yet  powerful  foe.  This  was  an 
entire  revereal  of  the  policy  which  had  been  pursued 
before  the  Restoration.  The  policy  of  the  Solemn 
League  was  to  unite  the  two  kingdoms  of  Scotland 
and  England  on  a  thoroughly  Protestant  basis,  that 
they  might  be  able  in  concert  to  establish  a  consti- 
tutional throne,  maintain  the  authority  of  the  laws, 
and  fortify  the  domain  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
Now  the  policy  of  the  Government  was  to  break  up 
the  concord  which  had  been  formed  between  the  two 
countries,  that  on  the  niins  of  their  Protestantism 
they  might  plant  ai'bitrary  power  and  the  Popish 
religion.  What  Charles  mainly  aimed  at,  we  grant, 
was  absolute  power ;  what  the  yet  deeper  plotters 
arotmd  him  sought  to  compass  was  the  restoration 
of  the  Romish  faith  ;  but  they  found  it  easy  to 
persuade  the  monarch  that  he  could  not  gain  his 
own  object  except  by  advancing  theirs.  Thus  each 
put  then-  shoulder  to  the  gi-eat  task,  and  the  kuig's 
pi'erogative  and  the  iisurpations  of  the  tiara  ad- 
vanced by  equal  steps,  while  English  liberty  and 
national  honour  sank  as  the  other  rose. 

The  fii-st  more  manifest  step  of  this  national  de- 
cline wa.s   the   famous   declaration  inserted  in  the 


Act  of  Uniformity,  and  which  every  ecclesiastical 
functionary,  from  the  Primate  of  all  England  down  to 
the  village  schoolmaster,  was  requii-ed  to  subscribe, 
and  in  which  he  declared  it  to  be  "  unlawful,  on 
any  pretence  whatever,  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
king."  This  test  pledged  beforehand  all  who  took 
it  to  submit  to  any  act  of  tyranny,  however  gross, 
and  to  any  invasion  on  their  property  and  person, 
however  monstrous.  It  left  to  Englishmen  a 
strange  measure  of  liberty,  namely  that  of  passive 
obedience  and  non-resistance.  Soon  thereafter,  there 
followed  another  declaration  which  all  civil  and 
military  functionaries  were  enjoined  to  make,  and 
which  ran  thus :  "  I  do  swear  I  will  not  endeavour 
any  alteration  in  the  government  of  this  kingdom 
in  Church  or  State,  as  it  is  by  law  established."  The 
nation  was  thus  pledged  neither  to  amend  anything 
that  might  be  wi'ong,  however  glaringly  so,  in  the 
existing  state  of  matters,  nor  to  offer  resistance  to 
any  aggi'ession,  however  unjust  and  oppressive, 
that  might  be  attempted  in  future.  WliUe  it  dis- 
aimed  itself,  and  stood  literally  manacled  before 
the  throne  of  Charles,  the  nation  armed  him  with 
full  means  for  tp-annising  over  itself,  by  handing 
over  to  him  the  sole  power  of  the  militia,  which 
then  occupied  the  place  of  the  army.  Thus  was 
arbitrary  government  set  up.  To  resist  the  king, 
said  the  men  of  law,  is  treason ;  to  dissent  from 
his  religion,  said  the  divines,  is  anathema.  What 
was  this  biat  an  apotheosis  of  the  prerogative  1  and 
the  only  maxim  to  which  Charles  now  found 
it  needful  to  have  respect  in  i-uling,  was  to  make 
the  yoke  press  not  too  heavily  at  first,  lest  the 
nation  should  break  the  fetters  with  which  it 
had  bound  itself,  and  resume  the  powers  it  had 
sun-endered. 

There  now  opens  a  chapter  in  English  history 
which  is  sad  indeed,  being  a  continuous  succession 
of  humiliations,  disasters,  and  dishonours.  Soon 
after  Charles  II.  ascended  the  throne,  the  queen- 
mother,  who  had  been  residing  in  Paris  since  the 
execution  of  her  husband,  Charles  I.,  came  across  to 


CHARLES   II.'s   TRUCKLING   AND   BASENESS. 


575 


pay  her  son  a  visit.  Tlie  ostensible  object  of  her 
journey  was  to  congratulate  her  son,  but  her  true 
errand  was  to  ripen  into  an  alliance  a  friendship 
already  formed  between  Charles  IL  and  Louis 
XIV.,  termed  the  Grand  jMonarch,  and  truly  worthy 
of  tlie  name,  if  a  hideous  and  colossal  combination 
of  dissoluteness,  devotion,  and  tyranny  can  make 
any  one  great.  It  would  mightily  expedite  the 
gi-eat  scheme  then  in  hand  that  the  King  of  Eng- 
land should  be  in  thorough  accord  with  the  King 
of  France,  whose  anus  were  canying  the  fame  of 
Louis  and  the  faith  of  Rome  over  so  many  countries 
of  the  Continent  of  Europe. 

The  tirst-fruits  of  this  interview  were  the  suixen- 
der  of  Dunku-k  to  the  French.  This  fortress  had 
been  deemed  of  so  gi'eat  importance,  that  Parliament 
a  little  before  had  it  in  contemplation  to  prepare  an 
Act  amiexing  it  for  ever  to  the  crown  of  these 
realms ;  it  was  now  sold  to  the  French  king  for 
£400,000 — a  sum  not  more  than  sufficient  to  cover 
the  value  of  the  guns  and  other  military  stoi-es 
contained  in  it.  The  loss  of  this  important  place 
deeply  grieved  the  nation,  but  what  affected  the 
English  people  most  was  the  deplorable  sign  which 
its  sale  gave  of  a  weak  and  mercenary  court. 

The  next  public  jiroof  that  the  Coiu-t  of  England 
was  bemg  drawn  into  the  scheme  for  the  destruction 
of  the  Protestant  faith,  was  the  breach  of  the  "Triple 
League"  on  the  part  of  Charles  IL,  and  his  uniting 
with  France  to  make  war  upon  Holland.  This 
famous  Alliance  had  been  formed  between  England, 
Holland,  and  Sweden ;  and  its  object  was  to  stem 
the  torrent  of  Louis  XIV.'s  victorious  arms,  which 
were  then  threatening  to  overrun  aU  Europe  and 
make  the  Roman  sway  again  universal.  This  Triple 
Alliance,  which  the  great  minister  Su'  William 
Temple  had  been  at  gi-eat  pains  to  cement,  was  at 
that  time  the  political  bulwark  of  the  Protestant 
religion  and  the  liberties  of  Europe,  and  its  betrayal 
was  a  step  to  the  ruin  of  more  than  England. 
Britain  was  very  artfully  detached  from  her  Pro- 
testant allies  and  her  own  true  interests.  Tlie 
Duchess  of  Orleans,  King  Charles's  sister,  was  dis- 
patched (1G70)  on  a  private  interview  with  her 
brother  at  Dover,  on  purpose  to  break  this  design 
to  him.  Having  bi-ought  her  negotiation  a  certain 
length  .she  returned  to  Paris,  leaving  behind  hcu-  a 
lady  of  acknowledged  charms.  Madam  Carewell, 
aftenvards  Duchess  of  Portsmouth,  and  the  king's 
favourite  mistress,  to  jjrosecute  what  she  had  been 
unable  to  conclude.  Next,  M.  Colbert,  amljassador 
from  the  Court  of  France,  came  across  with  100,000 
pistoles  to  lay  out  to  the  best  advantage.  With  so 
many  and  so  convincing  reasons  Colbert  had  little 
difficulty  in  pei-suading  the  muiistry,  knowi  as  the 


Cabcd,^  to  espouse  the  French  interests,  and  per- 
suade the  king  to  foil  out  \vith  the  Dutch.  Mr. 
Coventry  was  sent  across  to  Sweden  to  induce  that 
Government  also  to  withdraw  from  the  League.  He 
succeeded  so  far  that  Sweden  first  grew  lukewarm 
in  the  cause,  and  after  having  anned  itself  at  the 
expense  of  the  Alliance,  and  dissembling  for  a 
while,  it  dropped  the  vizor,  and  drew  the  sword 
on  the  side  of  France."  Thus  Protestant  Holland 
was  isolated. 

A  war  with  Holland  having  been  resolved  upon, 
the  next  thing  was  to  pick  a  quarrel.  This  task 
required  no  little  invention,  for  the  Dutch  had 
not  only  behaved  with  j^erfect  good  faith,  but  had 
studied  not  to  give  offence  to  England.  A  new 
and  hitherto  untried  device  was  fallen  upon.  In 
August,  1671,  the  Dutch  fleet  was  cruising  m  the 
North  Sea,  in  fulfilment  of  their  treaty  engagements : 
a  "sorry"  yacht  carrying  the  English  flag  suddenly 
sailed  into  the  fleet,  and  singling  out  the  admiral's 
ship,  tmce  fired  into  hei-.  The  Dutch  commandei", 
having  regard  to  the  amity  existing  between  the 
two  nations,  paid  a  visit  to  the  captain  of  the  yacht, 
and  inquu'ed  his  reason  for  acting  as  he  had  done. 
The  admiral  was  told  that  he  had  msulted  Eng- 
land by  failing  to  make  his  whole  fleet  strike  to  his 
little  craft.  The  Dutch  commander  civilly  excused 
the  omission,  and  the  yacht  returned  to  England, 
bearing  as  her  freight  the  quarrel  she  had  been 
sent  to  open.^  This,  with  a  few  other  equally 
frivolous  incidents,  furnished  the  English  Court 
with  a  pretext  for  deelarmg  war  against  Holland. 

The  Dutch  could  not  believe  that  England  was 
in  earnest.  They  were  conscious  of  no  offence, 
and  piu-sued  then-  commerce  in  our  seas  without 
suspicion.  A  rich  fleet  of  merchantmen,  on  their 
voyage  from  Smyrna,  were  passing  thi-ough  the 
Channel,  with  a  feeble  convoy,  when  they  were  set 
upon  by  English  men-of-war  near  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
The  king  had  thought  to  seize  this  rich  booty,  and 
therewith  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war  which  he 
was  meditating.  His  attempt  at  playing  the  pti-ate 
upon  his  own  coasts  did  not  succeed  :  the  merchant- 
men defended  themselves  mth  spuit,  and  the  king's 
prize  was  so  meagi'e  that  it  scarce  sufficed  to  pay 
the  surgeons  who  attended  the  wounded,  and  the 
caqienters  who  repah-ed  the  battei-ed  ships.  The 
next  attempt  of  Charles  II.  to  put  himself  in  funds 


'  So  termed  because  the  initial  letters  of  their  names 
form  that  word— Clifford,  Ai-lington,  Buckingham,  Ashley, 
Lauderdale. 

-  Andrew  Marvell,  Growth  of  Popery  and  Arbitrary 
Oovernment  in  England,  pp.  2S,  29 ;  .\insterdam,  1677. 

•■'  Sir  William  Temple,  Works  and  Letters,  vol.  iii.,  pp. 
502,503;  Edin.,  ITS'!. 


576 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


for  the  war  was  to  seize  on  the  Exchequer,  unJ  con- 
fiscate all  moneys  laid  up  there  to  the  use  of  the 
State.  To  the  terror  of  the  whole  nation  and  the 
ruin  of  the  creditors,  the  Crown  issued  a  proclama- 
tion declaring  itself  bankrupt,  "  made  prize  of  the 
subject,  and  broke  all  faith  and  contract  at  home  in 
order  to  the  breaking  of  them  abroad  with  more 
advantage." ' 

While  the  king's  fleet  was  in  the  act  of  attacking 
the  Dutch  merchantmen  in  the  Channel,  his  printers 
were  busy  on  a  proclamation  of  Indulgence.  On 
the  15th  of  JNIarch,  1672,  a  proclamation  was  issued 
repealing  all  the  penal  laws  against  Papists  and 
Nonconformists,  and  granting  to  both  the  free 
exercise  of  their  worship.  A  gift  in  itself  good  only 
alarmed  the  nation,  by  the  time  at  which  it  was 
issued,  and  the  ground  on  which  it  was  placed. 
The  Indulgence  was  based  on  the  king's  inherent 
supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  aflairs,  a  prerogative  in 
virtue  of  which  he  might  reimpose  the  fetters  on 
Nonconformists  when  he  chose,  and  the  end  woidd 
be  that  only  Papists  would  be  free,  and  the  nation 
would  lose  its  religion.     So  did  the  people  reason. 

It  was  now  (17th  March,  1672)  that  the  stroke 
fell  upon  Holland.  Charles  II.  and  the  powerful 
Louis  XIV.  miited  in  a  simultaneous  attack  on  the 
little  Protestant  State,  the  former  by  sea  and  the 
latter  by  land.  The  invasion  was  the  more  suc- 
cessful that  it  had  been  so  little  expected.  The 
victorious  arms  of  France  poured  across  the  frontier 
of  the  United  Provinces  in  an  irresistible  torrent. 
The  towns  and  fortresses  upon  the  German  side 
opened  their  gates  to  the  invaders,  and  the  French 
made  themselves  masters  of  the  inland  cities  "  in 
as  little  time  as  travellers  usually  employ  to  view 
them."  -  Tliis  rapid  advance  of  the  French  armies 
was  aided  by  an  extraordinary  drought  which  that 
summer  rendered  their  rivers  and  canals  easily 
fordable,  and  which  may  be  said  to  have  opened  the 
gates  of  their  country  to  the  enemy.' 

The  English  had  not  the  success  at  sea  which  the 
French  king  had  on  land,  nor  did  this  displease 
Louis  XIV.  He  had  declared  by  his  ambassador 
at  Vienna  that  he  had  undertaken  this  war  for  the 
extiipation  of  heresy,  and  he  had  instructed  his 
admiral  so  to  arrange  the  line  of  battle  in  the  joint 
fleets  as  that  the  English  heretics  should  have  a 
large  share  of  the  promised  extirpation.  "  He  only 
studied,"  says  Marvell,  "  to  sound  our  seas,  to  spy 
our  ports,  to  learn  our  buildings,  to  contemplate 
our  way  of  fighting,  to  consume  ours  and  to  pre- 

'  Andrew  Marvell,  Growth  of  Popery  and  Arbitrary  Qo- 
vemment  in  England,  pp.  30,  31.    Hume,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  65. 
•  Bowyer,  His*,  of  King  William  III.,  p.  17 ;  Lond.,  1702. 
"  Sir  William  Templa,  The  United  Provinces,  p.  185. 


serve  his  own  navy,  and  to  order  all  so  that  the 
two  gi-eat  naval  Powers  of  Europe  being  crushed 
together,  he  might  remain  sole  arbitrator  of  the 
ocean,  and  by  consequence  master  of  all  the  isles 
and  continents. "  * 

In  truth  Louis  XIV.  wanted  but  little  of  ac- 
complishing his  whole  design.  In  the  short  space 
of  three  months  he  had,  with  his  army  of  150,000 
men,  overrun  Holland,  and  reduced  the  States  to 
the  brink  of  ruin.  Many  of  the  richest  families, 
belieraig  all  to  be  lost,  had  fled  from  the  country. 
The  conqueror  was  refusing  to  make  peace  on  any 
other  terms  than  the  establishment  of  the  Romish 
Church  in  Holland.  The  French  king,  prompted  by 
his  Jesuit  advisers,  scorned  to  accept  of  toleration 
for  "  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Roman  religion,"  and 
demanded  its  public  exercise  throughout  all  the 
United  Provinces,  and  that  provision  should  be 
made  from  the  public  reveniie  for  its  maintenance. 
The  English  Government  seconded  the  French  king's 
demands,  and  the  fall  of  Holland  as  a  Protestant 
State  seemed  imminent.  With  dragoons  hewing 
do\vn  Protestantism  in  Scotland,  \vith  arbitrary 
edicts  and  dissolute  maxims  wasting  it  in  England, 
with  Holland  smitten  down  and  Louis  XIV.  stand- 
ing over  it  with  his  great  sword,  it  must  have  seemed 
as  if  the  last  hour  of  the  Reformation  was  come,  and 
the  triumph  of  the  Jesuits  secured.  As  Innocent  X. 
surveyed  Europe  from  the  Vatican,  what  cause  he 
had  for  exultation  and  joy  !  He  was  nearing  the 
goal  of  his  hopes  in  the  speedy  accession  of  a 
Popish  monarch  to  the  throne  of  England. 

It  was  out  of  the  great  wreck  caused  by  the 
triumph  of  the  Spanish  arms  in  the  preceding 
century  that  William  the  Silent  emerged,  to  achieve 
liis  mighty  task  of  rescuing  Protestantism  from 
impending  destruction.  Sinking  States,  discomfited 
armies,  and  despairmg  Protestants  sun-ounded  him 
on  all  sides  when  he  stood  up  to  retrieve  the 
mighty  ruin.  A  second  time  was  the  grand  marvel 
to  be  rejjeated.  The  motto  of  his  house,  Tandem 
Jit  surculus  arbor,''  was  once  more  to  be  verified. 
Out  of  this  mighty  disaster  produced  by  the  French 
arms,  was  a  deliverer,  second  only  in  glory  to  the 
Great  William,  to  arise  to  be  the  champion  of  a 
sinking  Protestantism,  and  the  upholder  of  perishing 
nations.  The  House  of  Orange  had  for  some  time 
past  been  under  a  cloud.  A  generation  of  Dutch- 
men had  arisen  who  knew  not,  or  did  not  care  to 
know,  the  services  which  that  house  had  rendered 
to  their  country.  The  ambition  of  burgomasters 
had  eclipsed  the  splendour  of  the  glorious  line  of 
William,  and  the  strife  of  factions  had  brought  low 

*  Marvell,  p.  46. 

'  "At  last  the  sprig  becomes  a  tree." 


WILLIAM   OF   ORANGE,   HEREDITARY   STADTHOLDER. 


577 


the  country  which  his  patriotLsm  and  wisdom  had 
laisod  so  high.  Thf>  office  of  Stadtholder  liad  been 
iibolished,  and  the  young  Prince  of  Orange,  the  heir 
not  only  of  the  name,  but  of  the  virtues  and  abilities 
of  his  great  ancestor,  forbidden  access  to  all  offices 
of  the  State,  was  living  as  a  private  person.  But  the 
afflictions  that  now  overtook  them  chastened  the 
Hollanders,  and  turned  their  eyes  toward  the  young 
prince,  if  haply  it  might  please  Providence  to  save 
them  by  his  hand.     The  States-General  appointed 


opposed  by  all  the  Jesuits  of  Europe,  by  the  vic- 
torious arms  of  France,  by  the  treachery  and  the 
fleet  of  Charles  II. ;  but  he  feels  the  grandeur  as 
well  as  the  gravity  of  his  noble  mission,  and  he 
addresses  himself  to  it  with  patience  and  courage. 
The  question  is  now  who  shall  occupy  the  throne 
of  England?  Shall  it  be  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
under  the  title  of  William  III.  ?  or  shall  it  be  a 
protege  of  the  Jesuits,  under  the  title  of  James  II.  1 
In    other    words,    shall    the    resources    of    Great 


r    IilNKIKK    lUUM    THE    SE.\ 


him  Captain  and  Admiral-General  of  the  United 
Provinces.'  From  this  hour  the  spirits  of  the 
Dutch  began  to  reNive,  and  the  tide  in  their  for- 
tunes to  turn.  The  conflict  was  nearly  as  arduous 
as  that  which  his  illustrious  progenitor  had  to 
wage.  He  dealt  Louis  XIV.  several  repulses, 
obliged  him  to  surrender  some  of  his  conquests, 
and  by  his  prudence  and  success  so  won  upon  his 
countrymen,  that  their  sufii-ages  jilaced  him  in  the 
high  ])Osition  of  Hereditary  Stadtholder.  We  now 
behokl  a  champion  presenting  himself  on  the  Pro- 
testant side  worthy  of  the  crisis.  He  must  wage 
his  great  fight  against  tremendous  odds.       He  is 


'  Bowyer,  Hist,  of  William  III.,  vol.  i.,  p.  19. 

153 


Britain  be  wielded  for  Protestantism,  or  shall  its 
power  be  employed  to  uphold  Popery  and  make  its 
sway  again  triumphant  and  universal  1  Fleets  and 
armies,  prayers  and  ftxith,  must  decide  this  ques- 
tion. Tlie  momentous  issues  of  the  conflict  were 
felt  on  both  sides.  Tlie  Kings  of  France  and  Eng- 
land pressed  William  of  Orange  to  accept  of  a 
sovereignty  under  their  suzerainty,  in  the  hope  of 
beguiling  him  from  liis  destined  mission.  The 
prince  replied  that  he  would  never  sell  the  liberties 
of  his  country  which  his  ancestors  had  so  long 
defended  :  and  if  he  could  not  prevent  the  over- 
throw with  which  they  threatened  it,  he  had  one 
way  left  of  not  beholding  its  ruin — and  that  was 
"  to  lie  in  the  last  ditch." 


IIIS'L'OUY    OF    l'ROTi:STANTlSM. 


CTrAPTER  XXTV 


THE    POnSII    PLOT,    AN'D   DFATH    OF   fHARLES    I!. 

The  Issue  Adjusted— Who  shall  Sit  on  the  Throne  of  Britain  ?— Peace  with  Holland— Charles  II.  a  Pensioner  of 
Louis  XIV.— English  Ships  Seized  by  France— No  Eedress— Duke  of  York's  Second  Marriage— William  of  Orange 
.Marries  the  Princess  Mary— The  Duke  of  York's  Influence  in  the  Government— Alarm— Test  Acts— The  Duke's 
Exclusion  from  the  Throne  demanded — The  Popish  Plot— Titus  Gates- The  Jesuit  Coleman— His  Letter  to  PfTe 
la  Chaise — Murder  of  Sir  Edmundbm-y  Godfrey— The  Duke's  Exclusion— Attempts  to  throw  the  Plot  on  the 
Presbyterians— Execution  of  Essex,  EusseU,  and  Sidney— Judge  Jeffreys— Illness  and  Death  of  the  King— AVhat 
they  Said  of  his  Death  at  Home. 


In  the  great  -war  of  Tnith  and  Liberty  against 
Error  and  Slavery  which  had  raged  since  the  day.s 
of  Wiclift'e,  and  in  which  there  had  been  so  many 
momentous  crises,  but  no  crisis  so  momentous  as 
the  present,  the  grand  issue  had  now  been  adjusted. 
That  issue  was  simply  this  :  Shall  a  Protestant  or 
a  Popish  regime  be  established  in  Christendom? 
In  order  to  arrive  at  the  final  determination  of  this 
issue  the  question  had  first  to  be  decided,  as  one 
of  the  essential  preliminaries,  to  whom  shall  the 
throne  of  Great  Britain  belong] — whether  shall 
a  Protestant  or  a  Popish  sovereign  occupy  it  ?  The 
house  of  Orange  had  for  some  time  been  in  obscurity, 
but  it  was  the  singidar  fortune  of  that  illustrious  line 
to  emerge  into  prominence  at  all  the  great  epochs  of 
the  Reformation,  and  with  its  re-emergence  the  light 
of  victory  ever  returned  to  gild  again  the  banners 
of  Protestantism.  The  present  horn-  produced  a 
second  William  of  Orange,  who,  devoting  himself  to 
the  cause  of  his  country  and  of  Christendom,  when 
the  condition  of  both  seemed  desperate,  turned  the 
tide  of  the  French  victories  which  were  overflois-ing 
Europe,  uplifted  the  sinking  balance  of  the  Pro- 
testant interests  in  England,  and  elevated  the  cause 
of  the  Reformation  to  so  stable  a  position,  that  of 
the  second  William  it  may  be  truly  said  that  he 
crownied  the  great  struggle  which  the  first  William 
liad  commenced  more  than  a  century  before. 

We  cannot  follow  in  its  details  the  progi-ess  of 
this  gi'eat  struggle,  we  can  only  indicate  the  direction 
and  flow  of  its  current.  The  veteran  warriors  of  the 
French  king  had  to  retreat  before  the  soldiers  of 
the  young  Stadtholder,  and  the  laurels  which  Louis 
XIV.  had  reaped  on  so  many  bloody  fields,  he  had 
at  last  to  lay  at  the  feet  of  the  yoimg  prince.  The 
English,  who  had  conducted  their  operations  by  sea 
with  as  little  glory  as  the  French  had  carried  on 
theirs  by  land,  found  it  expedient  in  1 G74  to  conclude 
a  j)eace  with  Holland.  The  union  between  England 
and  France  was  thus  at  an  end,  but  though  no 
longer  confederate  in  arms,  the  two  crowns  con- 
tinued to  prosecute  in  concert  the  greater  plot  of 


overthrowing  Protestantism.  A  deeper  influence 
than  perhaps  either  Power  was  aware  of,  steadily 
moved  both  towards  one  goal.  The  more  success- 
fully to  undermine  and  ruin  the  Protestantism  of 
Great  Britain,  England  was  kept  dependent  on 
France.  The  necessities  of  the  English  monarch 
were  gi'eat,  for  his  Parliament  was  unwilling  to 
furnish  him  with  supplies  while  he  and  his  Govern- 
ment pursued  measures  which  were  in  opposition  to 
the  nation's  wishes  and  interests.  In  the  straits  to 
which  he  was  thus  reduced,  Charles  II.  was  but  too 
glad  to  have  recourse  to  Louis  XIV.,  who  freely 
permitted  him  access  to  his  purse,  that  he  might  the 
more  efiectually  advance  the  glory  of  France  by 
lowei-ing  the  prestige  of  England,  and  securing  the 
co-operation  of  the  English  king  in  the  execution  of 
his  projects,  and  more  especially  of  those  that  had 
for  their  object  the  overthrow  of  Protestantism, 
which  Louis  XIV.  deemed  the  gi-eat  enemy  of  his 
throne  and  the  great  disturber  of  his  kingdom. 
Thus  Charles  II.,  while  he  played  the  tyrant  at  home, 
was  content  to  be  the  pensioner  abroad. 

The  subserviency  of  the  English  Government  to 
France  was  carried  still  further.  After  England 
had  made  peace  with  Holland  the  French  king  sent 
out  his  privateers,  which  scoured  the  Channel,  made 
prizes  of  English  merchantmen,  and  came  so  close 
in  shore  in  these  piratical  expeditions,  that  our 
ships  were  .seized  at  the  very  entrance  of  their 
harboura.  The  king's  Government  submitted  to 
these  insults,  not  indeed  from  any  principle  of 
Christian  forbearance,  but  because  it  dared  not 
demand  reparation  for  the  wrongs  of  its  subjects 
at  the  hand  of  the  King  of  France.'  Instead  of 
enforcing  redress,  in.sults  were  recompensed  \^'ith 
favours,  and  vast  stores  of  warlike  ammunition,  guns, 


'  We  find  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Trade  present- 
ing to  his  Majesty  in  Council  in  1676,  in  the  name  of  all 
the  merchants  in  London,  a  list  of  the  ships  taken  by  the 
French,  amounting  to  fifty-four,  andbegging  his  Majesty's 
interference.  (A  List  of  Several  Ships  betonging  to  the 
English  Mercliants,  &c. ;  Amsterdam,  1677.) 


MAERIAGE   OF   THE   PRINCE   OF   ORANGE. 


579 


fron,  shot,  gunpowder,  pikes,  and  other  weapons 
were  sent  across,  to  arm  the  fortresses  and  ships  of 
France.  This  transportation  of  warlike  material 
continued  to  go  on,  more  or  less  openly,  from  June, 
1675,  to  June,  1677.'  Such  was  the  i-eprisal  we 
took  of  the  French  for  burning  our  ships  and  rob- 
bing our  merchants,  as  if  King  Charles  were  bent 
on  doing  what  he  had  urged  the  Prince  of  Orange  to 
do  in  respect  of  Holland,  and  were  content  to  hold 
the  sovereignty  of  England  under  the  protection  of 
France.  The  two  crowns  were  drawn  yet  closer  by 
the  marriage  of  the  king's  brother,  the  Duke  of 
York.  His  tirst  wife,  a  daughter  of  Lord  Clarendon, 
having  died,  Louis  XIV.  chose  a  second  for  him  in 
the  person  of  the  Princess  of  Modena,  a  relation  of 
the  reigning  Pope.  The  princess  was  a  pensioner  of 
France,  and  Louis  XIV.  admitted  her  husband  to 
the  same  honour,  by  offering  his  purse  to  the  duke, 
since  their  interests  were  now  the  same,  to  assist 
liim  against  all  his  enemies. 

While  one  train  of  events  was  going  forward, 
and  the  throne  of  England  was  being  drawn  over  to 
the  side  of  Rome,  another  train  of  events  was  in 
[irogress,  tending  to  link  that  same  throne  to  the 
Protestant  interests.  Another  marriage,  which  took 
place  soon  after  the  duke's,  paved  the  way  for 
that  great  Lssue  in  which  this  complication  of  affairs 
was  to  end.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  having  finished 
his  campaign  of  1677,  came  across  to  England, 
accompanied  by  a  noble  retinue,  to  open  marriage 
negotiations  with  the  Princess  Mary.  This  princess, 
the  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  York  by  his  fh'st  wife, 
was  a  lady  of  graceful  person  and  vigorous  intellect, 
and  the  prince  on  seeing  her  was  foschiated  with 
her  charms,  and  eagerly  pressed  his  suit.  After 
some  delays  on  the  part  of  the  king  and  the  duke, 
the  marriage  was  at  last  arranged,  and  was  consum- 
mated to  the  great  joy  of  the  people  of  both  countries.  - 
To  that  general  satisfaction  there  was  one  exception. 
Louis  XIV.  was  startled  when  he  learned  that  an 
affair  of  such  consequence  had  been  transacted  at  a 
court  where,  during  many  years,  nothing  of  moment 
had  been  concluded  without  his  knowledge  and 
advice.  Our  ambassador  at  Versailles,  Montague, 
said  that  he  had  never  seen  the  king  so  moved  as 
on  receiving  this  news.  "Tlie  duke,"  he  said,  "  had 
given  his  daughter  to  the  gi-eatest  enemy  he  had  in 
tlie  world.'"*  Men  saw  in  it  another  proof  that  the 
great  conqueror  had  liogvm  to  fall  before  the  young 
Stadtholder.  The  marriage  placed  William  in  the 
lino  of  succession  to  the  English  throne,  though 
still  there  were  between  him  and  this  high  dignity 

'  Andrew  Marvell,  p.  69. 

=  Bowycr,  Ilisi.  of  William  III.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  95—97. 

'  Burnet,  Hist,  of  his  own  Time,  vol.  ii.,  p.  13 ;  Lond.,  1815. 


the  possible  offspring  of  Chailes  II.  and  also  James, 
Duke  of  York. 

Meanwhile  the  kingdom  was  filled  witli  priests 
and  Jesuits.  Their  numbers  had  been  recruited  by 
new  arrivals  in  the  train  of  the  Princess  of  Modena. 
Mass  was  said  openly  in  the  queen's  chapel  at 
Somerset  House,  and  the  professors  of  the  Romish 
faith  were  raised  to  the  highest  offices  of  the  king- 
dom. Charles  wore  the  crown,  but  the  Duke 
of  York  governed  the  nation.  The  king,  aban- 
doning himself  to  liis  pleasures,  left  the  care 
of  all  affair's  to  his  brother ;  whom,  although  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  no  one  durst  call 
a  Papist  without  incurring  the  penalty  of  death. 
All  who  had  eyes,  and  were  willing  to  use  them, 
might  now  see  the  religion  of  Rome  marching  like 
an  armed  man  upon  the  liberties  of  England. 

The  Parliament  was  at  last  arou.sed,  and  set 
about  concerting  measures  to  save  the  country. 
They  had  often  addressed  the  kuig  on  the  matter, 
but  in  a  manner  so  little  in  earnest  that  nothing 
came  of  it.  If  Charles  was  of  any  faith  it  was  that 
of  Rome,  and  his  usual  answer  to  the  supplications 
of  the  Commons,  i)raying  him  to  take  steps  to  pre- 
vent the  growth  of  Popery,  was  the  issue  of  a  new 
proclamation,  which  neither  hurt  the  Romanists 
nor  benefited  the  Protestants.  Now  the  ParliiV 
ment,  more  in  earnest,  resolved  to  exclude  all 
Papists  from  any  share  in  the  government.  For 
this  end  the  "  Test  Act "  was  framed.  This  Act 
required,  "  Tliat  all  persons  beaiing  any  office,  or 
place  of  trust  and  profit,  shall  take  the  oaths  of 
Supremacy  and  Allegiance  in  public  and  open  court, 
and  shall  also  receive  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Church  of 
England."  The  swearer  was  also  required  to  sub- 
scribe a  declaration  that  he  did  not  believe  in  Tran- 
substantiation.  This  test  aimed  at  a  great  deal, 
but  it  accomplished  little.  If  it  excluded  the  more 
honest  of  the  professors  of  the  Roman  creed,  and 
only  these,  for  no  test  could  bar  the  entrance  of 
the  Jesuit,''  it  equally  excluded  the  Nonconfoiinists 
from  the  service  of  the  State.  Immediately  on  the 
passing  of  the  Bill,  the  Duke  of  York  and  the  Lord 
Treasurer  Clifford  laid  down  all  their  offices.  These 
were  the  first-fruits,  but  they  were  altogether  de- 
ceptive;   for  while  the  duke  professed  to  bow  to 


*  "The  reverend  Fathers  of  the  Society  have  given 
order  to  erect  several  private  workhouses  in  England  for 
case-hardening  of  consciences.  The  better  to  carry  on 
this  affair  there  are  thousands  of  Italian  Wzards  sent 
over,  that  shall  make  a  wolf  seem  a  sheep,  and  aa  rank  a 
Papist  as  any  in  .Spain  pass  for  a  good  English  Protes- 
tant."—T/ic  Poinsh  Courant,  Dec.  11th,  1678.  (The  Popish 
Courant  was  published  alternately  with  The  Weekly 
Pacquet  of  Advice  from  Rome.) 


r,sa 


HISTORY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


the  nation's  wishes  by  publicly  stripping  himself  of 
his  ottices,  he  continued  to  wield  in  private  all  the 
influence  he  had  before  exercised  openly. 

The  fears  of  the  nation  rose  still  higher.  The 
Test  Act  had  done  little  to  shelter  them  from  the 
storm  they  saw  approaching,  and  they  demanded 
other  and  gi-eater  securities.  The  duke  had  laid 
down  his  staff  as  commander  of  the  army,  but  by- 
and-by  he  would  grasp  a  yet  mightier  rod,  the 
sceptre  of  England  namely.  The  nation  demanded 
Ids  exclusion  from  the  throne.  There  could  be  no 
permanent  safety  for  the  liberties  of  England,  they 
believed,  till  the  duke's  succession  was  declared 
illegal.  The  army  lay  encamped  at  Blackheath  ; 
this  also  aggi'avated  the  popular  terror.  The  ex- 
cuse pleaded  by  the  oouii;  for  stationing  the  army 
so  near  to  London  was  the  fear  of  the  Dutch.  The 
Dutch  again.st  whom  the  army  are  to  act,  said  the 
people,  are  not  so  far  off  as  Holland,  they  are  the 
men  who  assemble  in  St.  Stephen's.  The  coiu't 
has  lost  all  hope  of  the  Parliament  e.stablishing  the 
Roman  religion  by  law,  and  here  is  the  army  ready 
at  a  stroke  to  sweep  away  all  Parliaments,  and 
establish  by  the  sword  the  Roman  Church  and 
arbitrary  government.  These  su.spicions  were  held 
as  all  but  confirmed,  when  it  was  found  that  in  the 
coiarse  of  a  single  month  not  fewer  than  fifty-seven 
commissions  were  is.sued  to  Popish  recusants,  with- 
out demanding  either  the  oath  of  supremacy  or  the 
test.  The  Secretary  of  State  who  countersigned 
the  warrants  was  committed  to  the  Tower  by  the 
Commons,  but  liberated  next  day  by  the  king. 

The  alarm  rose  to  a  panic  by  an  exti'aordinary 
occuiTence  which  happened  at  this  time,  and  which 
was  enveloped  in  considerable  mystery,  from  which 
it  has  not  even  yet  been  wholly  freed.  We  i-efer 
to  the  Popish  Plot.  Few  things  have  so  deeply 
conviil.sed  England.  The  information  was  in  some 
parts  so  inconsistent,  incredible,  and  absurd,  and  in 
others  so  circumstantial,  and  so  certainly  true,  and 
the  story  so  fell  in  with  the  character  of  the  times, 
which  were  prolific  in  strange  surmises  and  un- 
natural and  monstrously  wicked  devices,  that  few 
people  doubted  that  a  daring  and  widely  ramified 
conspiracy  was  in  progi-ess  for  burying  England 
and  all  its  Protestant  institutions  in  ruins.  Titus 
Gates  was  the  first  to  give  information  of  this 
astounding  project.  Gates,  who  had  received 
orders  in  the  Church  of  England,  but  had  re- 
conciled himself  to  Rome,  appeared  before  the  king 
and  Council,  and  stated  in  effect,  "  That  there  had 
been  a  plot  carried  on  by  Jesuits  and  other 
Catholics,  against  his  Majesty's  life,  the  Protestant 
religion,  and  the  go\"ernment  of  this  kingdom." 
Gates  was  only  half  informed ;  he  was  to  a  large 


extent  guessing,  and  hence  the  variations,  mistakes, 
and  contradictions  into  which  he  fell.  He  may 
ha^'c  been  pai-tially  admitted  into  the  secret  by  the 
conspirators ;  but  however  ho  came  liy  his  know- 
ledge, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  plot  there  was. 
The  papers  of  Coleman,  the  Jesuit,  were  seized,  and 
these  fully  corroborated  the  substance  of  Gates' 
information.  Coleman's  letters  during  the  three 
preceding  years,  addressed  to  Pere  la  Chaise,  the 
confessor  of  Louis  XIV.,  left  no  doubt  that  he  was 
in  concert  with  high  personages  in  France  for 
restoring  Popery  in  England.  "  We  have  here," 
saj-s  he  in  one  of  these,  "  a  mighty  work  upon  our 
hands,  no  less  than  the  conversion  of  three  king- 
doms, and  by  that  perhaps  the  utter  subduing  of  a 
pestilent  heresy,  which  has  a  long  time  domineered 
over  this  northern  world.  There  were  never  such 
hopes  since  the  death  of  our  Queen  Maiy  as  now  in 
our  days.  God  has  given  us  a  prince,"  meaning 
the  duke,  "  who  has  liecome  (I  may  say  by  a 
miracle)  zealous  of  being  the  author  and  instrument 
of  so  glorious  a  work ;  but  the  opposition  we  ai'e 
sure  to  meet  with  is  also  like  to  be  great ;  so  that 
it  imports  us  to  get  all  the  aid  and  assistance  we 
can."  In  another  letter  he  said,  "  I  can  scarce 
believe  myself  awake,  or  the  thing  real,  when  I 
think  of  a  prince,  in  such  an  age  as  we  live  in, 
converted  to  such  a  degi-ee  of  zeal  and  piety  as  not 
to  regard  anything  in  the  world  in  comparison  of 
God  Almighty's  glory,  the  salvation  of  his  own 
soul,  and  the  conversion  of  our  poor  kingdom."  ' 

The  murder  of  Sir  Edmundbury  Godfrey  con- 
firmed the  popular  suspicions,  as  well  as  deepened 
the  fear  in  which  the  nation  stood  of  the  con- 
spirators. Godfrey,  who  was  the  most  popular 
magistrate  in  London,  had  been  specially  active  in 
the  discovery  of  the  ])lot,  and  was  the  first  to  take 
the  evidence  of  Gates  relating  to  it.  The  Jesuits 
had  dropped  liints  that  he  should  pay  dearly  for  his 
pains,  and  the  good  man  himself  knew  this,  and 
remarked  that  he  believed  he  should  be  the  fii-st 
martyr ;  and  so  it  happened.  After  he  had  been 
missing  four  days,  his  body  was  found  in  a  ditch 
near  Primrose  Hill,  a  mile's  distance  outside  of 
London,  and  in  such  a  posture  as  to  make  the 
world  believe  that  he  had  mui-dered  himself.  His 
gloves  and  cane  were  lying  on  the  bank  near  him, 
and  his  body  was  run  through  with  his  own  sword. 
But  there  was  neither  blood  on  his  clothes,  nor 
other  wound  on  his  person,  save  a  cu'cular  discolora- 
tion on  his  neck,  showing  that  he  had  been  strangled, 
as  was  afterwards  found  to  have  been  the  fact  bv 


'  Hume,  Hist.  Eng.,  cliap.  67,  sec.  3.    Hallam,  Constiiut. 
Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  115j  116. 


THE   POPISH   PLOT. 


581 


the  confession  of  one  of  Lis  murJenn-s,  Pmnce.' 
Tlie  Parliament,  from  the  evidence  laid  before  it, 
was  convnnced  of  the  existence  of  a  plot,  "  contrived 
and  carried  on  by  Popish  recusants  for  assassinating 
and  murdering  the  king,  subverting  the  Govern- 
ment, rooting  out  and  destroying  the  Protest;»nt 
religion."  The  House  of  Lords  came  to  the  same 
conclusion. 

Bat  seeing  the  plot,  among  other  objects,  con- 
templated the  murder  of  the  king,  what  motive  had 
the  Jesuits  to  seek  to  be  rid  of  a  man  who  was  at 
heart  friendly  to  them?  Charles  II.,  it  was  com- 
monly believed,  had  been  reconciled  to  Rome  when 
at  Breda.  He  was  sincerely  desii'ous  of  having  the 
Roman  religion  restored  in  England,  and  a  leading 
object  of  the  secret  treaty  signed  at  Dover  between 
France  and  England  in  1670  was  the  advancement 
of  the  Popish  faitli  in  Great  Britain.  Nevertheless 
the  object  of  the  Jesuits  in  planning  his  assassina- 
tion was  transparent :  Charles  loved  their  Church, 
and  would  do  all  in  his  power  to  further  her  in- 
terests, but  he  would  not  sacrifice  Ids  crown  and 
pleasures  for  her.  Not  so  the  Duke  of  York.  A 
zealot,  not  a  voluptuaiy,  he  would  not  stay  to 
balance  interests,  but  would  go  thi-ough  with  the 
design  of  restoring  the  Church  of  Rome  at  all 
hazards.  James,  therefore,  was  the  sovereign 
whom  the  Jesuits  wished  to  see  upon  the  throne  of 
England. 

But  the  more  the  Jesuits  strove  to  raise  him  to 
tlie  throne,  the  more  resolved  were  the  people  of 
England  to  exclude  liini  from  it.  A  Bill  to  that 
cflect  passed  the  House  of  Commons  on  November 
loth,  1680,  and  was  carried  up  to  the  House  of 
Lords  by  Lord  William  Russell.  It  was  thi-own  out 
of  the  Upi)er  House  by  a  majority  of  thirty  voices. 
The  contest,  in  which  was  involved  the  fate  of 
Britain,  continued.  The  Parliament  struck,  time 
after  time,  against  the  di'.ke,  but  the  king  was 
staunch  to  his  interests.  The  House  of  Lords  and 
the  bishops  espoused  his  cause,  and  the  duke 
triumphed.  The  Commons,  despite  their  zeal, 
failed  to  alter  the  s'.iccession,  or  even  to  limit  the 
prerogative. 

But  the  duke,  notwithstanding  his  victory  in 
Parliament,  found  that  the  feeling  of  the  nation, 
ai-ising  from  the  Popish  plot,  set  strongly  against 
him  ;  and  now  he  set  to  work  to  discredit  the  plot, 

'  "Htre  is  litely  discovered  a  strange  mirack',  bpyond 
that  of  St.  Denis  or  St.  Winifred.  A  gentleman  first 
stifled  and  then  strangled,  that  should  afterwards  get  up 
and  walk  invisibly  almost  five  miles,  and  then,  having 
I'ocn  dead  four  days  before,  run  himself  through  with  hi'J 
owu  sword,  to  itcstify  his  trouble  for  wronging  Catholic 
tniitoi's  whom  he  never  iiyuruj.'  {The  Popish  Courant, 
Dec.  3rd,  1C7S.) 


and  to  persuade  the  public  that  it  never  had  existed 
save  in  the  imagination  of  fanatics.-  The  skill  of 
a  general  is  shown  in  conducting  a  safe  retreat  as 
well  as  in  ordering  a  successful  charge.  Treasons 
are  never  to  be  acknowledged  unless  they  succeed. 
When  the  Gunpowder  Plot  failed  it  was  disowned  ; 
the  credulous  were  told  that  only  a  few  desperadoes 
were  concerned  in  it ;  in  truth,  that  it  was  a  State 
trick,  a  plot  of  Secretary  Cecil  against  the  Roman 
Catholics.  The  same  tactics  were  pursued  a  second 
time.  Writers  were  hired  to  render  the  Popish  plot 
ridiculous,  and  laugh  down  the  belief  of  it.  One  or 
two  conspirators  were  executed,  but  in  great  haste, 
lest  they  should  tell  too  much.  Coleman,  whose 
papers  had  supplied  such  strong  evidence  of  the 
conspiracy,  died  protesting  stoutly  his  innocence, 
and  vindicating  the  duke."  But  of  what  worth 
were  such  protestations  1  Treason  and  murder 
cease  to  be  such  when  directed  against  heretics.  To 
tell  the  truth  at  the  last  moment  to  the  jirejudice 
of  the  Church  is  to  forfeit  paradise  ;  and  it  is  even 
lawful  to  curse  the  Pope,  provided  it  be  done  in  his 
own  interests. 

Their  success  in  getting  the  plot  to  be  disbelieved 
not  being  equal  to  their  expectations,  the  duke  and 
his  party  next  tried  to  throw  it  upon  the  shoulders 
of  the  Nonconformists.  One  of  the  arts  employed 
for  this  purpose  was  to  drop  prepared  papers  in 
the  houses  of  the  chief  persons  concerned  in  the 
discovery  of  the  Popish  plot ;  and  on  their  dis- 
covery— an  easy  matter,  seeing  those  who  had 
left  them  knew  where  to  search  for  them — to  pro- 
ceed against  those  in  whose  dwellings  they  had 
been  found.  Colonel  Mansel  was  one  of  the  first 
to  be  arraigned  on  a  charge  so  supported ;  but  he 
was  acquitted  by  the  Attorney-General,  who,  in 
addition  to  finding  Mansel  iimocent,  declared  that 
this  ajjpeared  "  a  design  of  the  Papists  to  lay  the 
plot  upon  the  Dissenters."  This  judgment  being 
accounted  disloyal  by  the  court,  the  Attorney- 
General  was  dismissed  from  his  oflice.' 

The  charters  of  the  City  of  London  were  next 
attacked.'  Parliaments  were  summoned  only  to  be 
dissolved.  The  king  was  weary  of  holding  such 
troublesome  assemblies.     The  tragedy  of  England's 


^  "  The  great  work  is  now  to  damn  that  plot  which  we 
could  not  go  through  with."  [The  rojtish  Courant,  Feb. 
24th,  1679.)  The  Wcekbj  Paeqnct  of  A(hicc/i-om  Rome  was 
at  this  time  seized  by  order  of  the  court,  and  tlie  author 
punished  for  printing  without  a  licence ;  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  5th  of  November  was  suppressed,  and  it  was 
forbidden  to  mention  the  Popish  plot,  unless  it  were  to 
attribute  it  to  the  Protestant  fanatics. 

•'  Uurnet,  Hisi.  of  his  own  Time,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  ill,  50. 

<  Bennet,  Memorial,  p.  283. 

'  Hume,  Hist.  Eng.,  chap.  69,  sec.  5. 


582 


HISTORY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


ruin  was  proceeding  apace.  It  was  treason  to  lament 
the  nation's  approaching  fate.  There  were  still  a 
few  in  that  evil  time  who  had  courage  to  open  their 
mouth  and  plead  for  the  sinking  liberties  and  religion 
of  theii-  countrj'.   Among  these  we  mention  Johnson, 


the  ruin  of  their  country.  England  was  a  limited 
monarchy,  and  that  gave  its  suVijccts,  in  their  view, 
the  right  of  resistance  when  the  monarch  exceeded 
his  constitutional  powers;  otherwise,  a  limited 
monarchy  meant  nothing.     The  excess  in  the  pre- 


THE    INTERIOR    OF    THE    CHAI'EL    ROYAL    (eANQVETIXG    HOISE),    WHITEHALL. 


who  won  for  himself  the  high  displeasure  of  the 
court  by  his  Julian.  Tliis  was  a  parallel  between 
Popery  and  Paganism,  based  on  the  life  of  the 
great  apostate,  in  which  the  author  gave  a  scathing 
exposure  of  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience. 
Johnson  was  amerced  in  a  heavy  fine,  and  sent  to 
the  prison  of  the  King's  Bench  till  it  was  paid. 

Nobler  victims  followed.  The  Earl  of  Essex, 
Lord  Russell,  and  Algernon  Sidney  had  met  to- 
gether to  consult  by  what  steps  they  might  prevent 


sent  case  was  flagrant,  the  Crown  had  broken 
through  all  restraints,  and  it  behoved  every  patriot 
to  do  what  in  him  lay  to  recall  it  within  the  boun- 
daries of  the  constitution.  So  far,  and  no  farther, 
had  these  men  plotted.  Against  the  life,  and  the 
constitutional  rule  of  Charles  Stuart,  they  had 
devised  nothing.  But,  unhappily,  the  Rye  House 
plot  was  contemporaneous  with  their  consultation, 
and  the  Government  found  it  an  easy  matter,  by 
means  uf  the  false  witnesses  which  such  Govern- 


534 


HISTORY   OF   PEOTESTANTIS-M. 


nicuts  have  always  at  tliiir  command,  to  connect 
these  patriots  with  a  plot  they  had  no  concern  in, 
and  in  truth  abhoired.  They  were  condemned  to 
die.  Lord  Essex  was  murdered  in  the  Tower ; 
Kussell  and  Sidney  died  on  the  scaflbld.  With  the 
calumess  and  joy  of  Christian  patriots  they  gave 
tlieir  blood  for  the  Protestant  religion  and  tlie  con- 
stitutional liberty  of  Great  Britain.'  Thiis  the 
Popish  plot,  though  it  had  missed  its  immediate 
object,  gained  virtually  its  end.  Charles  II.  still 
lived  ;  but  the  laws  of  England  were  being  annulled, 
the  nation  had  sunk  deeper  in  despotism,  the  enemies 
of  the  duke  had  been  destroyed,  and  his  succession 
to  the  throne  secured. 

The  work  of  destruction  was  carried  still  farther. 
Xo  pains  were  spared  to  render  Nonconformists 
odious.  They  were  branded  with  vile  names,  they 
were  loaded  with  the  guilt  of  murderous  plots,  their 
enemies  being  intent  on  drawmg  upon  them  a 
tempest  of  popular  vengeance.  The  Government 
liad  no  lack  of  instruments  for  executing  their-  base 
ends ;  but  the  hour  yielded  another  agent  more 
monstrous  than  any  the  court  till  now  had  at  its 
service.  This  monster  in  human  form  was  Jeifreys. 
Regarding  neither  law,  nor  reason,  nor  conscience, 
he  was  simply  a  i-uflian  in  ennine.  "  All  people," 
says  Burnet,  "  were  apprehensive  of  very  black 
designs  when  they  saw  Jeffreys  made  Lord  Cluef 
Justice,  who  was  scandalously  vicious,  and  was 
drunk  every  day ;  besides  a  di-unkenness  in  his 
temper  that  looked  like  enthusiasm."-  He  made 
liis  cii-cuit  like  a  lictor,  not  a  judge ;  the  business 
of  his  tribunal  was  transacted  with  an  appallmg 
dispatch.  Nonconformity,  at  that  judgment-seat, 
was  held  to  be  the  sum  of  all  villainies  ;  and  when 
one  chargeable  ■vfith  that  crime  appeared  there 
he  could  look  for  nothing  less  fearful  than  death. 
Jeffreys  scowled  upon  him,  roared  at  liim,  poured  a 
torrent  of  insultuig  and  vilifying  epithets  upon 
him,  and  then  ordered  him  to  the  gallows.  "  His 
beha'^'iour,"  says  Burnet,  "  was  beyond  anything 
that  was  ever  heard  of  in  a  civilised  nation."  '•'  On 
one  circuit,"  says  the  same  authoritj',  '•  he  h:inged 

in  several  places  about  six  hundred  persons 

England  had  never  known  anything  like  it."^ 

In  the  year  1683,  as  Jeffreys  was  making  his 
northern  cu-cuit,  he  came  to  Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Here  he  was  informed  that  some  twenty  young  men 
of  the  tovni  had  formed  themselves  into  a  society, 
and  met  weekly  for  prayer  and  religious  conver- 
sation. Jeffreys  at  once  saw  in  these  youths  so 
many  i-ebels  and  fanatics,  and  he  ordered  them  to 

'  Burnet,  Hisl.  of  his  oicii  Time,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  20G— 200. 

=  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  21G. 

=  Ibid. .vol.  ii.,  pp.  314,  315. 


be  apprehended.  The  young  men  were  brought 
before  his  tribunal.  A  book  of  rules  which  thoy 
had  dra^vn  out  for  the  regulation  of  their  societj' 
was  also  produced,  and  was  held  by  the  judge  as 
sufficient  jjroof  that  they  were  a  club  of  plotters. 
Fixing  his  contemptuous  glance  on  one  of  them, 
whose  looks  and  dress  wei'e  somewhat  meaner  than 
the  others,  and  judging  him  the  most  illiterate,  he 
resolved  to  expose  his  ignorance,  and  hold  him 
up  as  a  fair  sample  of  the  rest.  His  name  was 
Thomas  Verner.  "  Can  you  read,  sirrah  ? "  said 
the  judge.  "  Yes,  my  lord,"  answered  Mr.  Verner. 
"  Reach  him  the  book,"  said  Jeffrej's.  The  clerk  of 
the  court  put  his  Latin  Testament  into  the  hand  of 
the  prisoner.  The  young  man  opened  the  book,  and 
read  the  first  verse  his  eye  lighted  upon.  It  was 
Matt.  vii.  1,2:  "iVe  Judicate,  nc  judicemiui,"  ic. 
"Construe  it,  siirah,"  roared  the  judge.  The  pri- 
soner did  so  :  "  '  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged  ; 
for  with  what  judgment  ye  judge,  ye  shall  be 
judged.'  "  Even  Jeffreys  changed  countenance,  and 
sat  a  few  minutes  in  a  muse ;  but  instantly  re- 
covering himself,  he  sent  the  young  men  to  prison, 
where  they  lay  a  year,  and  would  without  doubt 
have  been  brought  to  the  scaffold,  had  not  the 
death  of  the  king,  which  occm-red  ui  the  meantime, 
led  to  their  release.* 

Meanwhile,  the  king's  last  hour  was  drawing 
nigh.  To  be  surprised  by  death  in  the  nudst  of  his 
profligacies  and  tyrannies  was  a  doom  unspeakably 
terrible — far  more  terrible  than  an}'  to  which  he  was 
condemning  his  victims.  Such  was  the  fate  of 
Charles  II.  The  king  had  of  late  begun  to  reflect 
seriously  upon  the  state  of  his  affairs  and  the  con- 
dition into  which  his  kingdom  had  fallen,  which 
bred  liim  constant  uneasiness.  He  complained 
of  his  confidence  having  been  abused,  and  dropped 
a  hint  with  some  warmth,  that  if  he  lived  a 
month  longer  he  would  find  a  way  to  make  him- 
self easier  the  rest  of  his  life.  It  was  generally 
Ijelieved  by  those  about  tlie  court  that  the  king 
meant  to  send  away  the  duke,  and  recall  IMonmouth 
from  Holland,  summon  a  new  Parliament,  and  have 
his  son  acknowledged  as  his  successor.  This  in- 
volved an  entire  change  of  policy,  and  in  particular 
an  utter  frustration  of  the  cherished  project  of  the 
Romani.sts,  so  surely,  as  they  believed,  approaching 
consummation.  The  king  confided  his  plans  to  the 
Duchess  of  Portsmouth,  the  favourite  mistress  ;  she 
kept  the  secret  from  all  save  her  confessor.  Whether 
the  confessor  kept  that  secret  we  know  not ;  what 
he  would  consider  the  higher  good  of  the  Church 
would,  in  this  instance,  release  him  from  the  oblig;i- 


Bennct,  Memorial,  pp.  290,  291. 


STTRPIOTOUS   DEATH   OF   CHAF>LES   TT. 


585 


tion  to  secresy,  if  1ip  tliouglit  fit  to  break  it.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  the  king,  who  had  previously  been 
in  good  liealth,  was  suddenly  seized  with  a  violent 
illness.  The  symptoms  of  the  malady,  all  agi-ecd, 
were  those  of  poisoning.  When  it  became  evident 
that  the  king  was  dying.  Priest  Huddlestono  was 
admitted  by  a  back  door  vdth  the  materials  for 
mass,  Chailes  received  the  Sacrament,  and  the  host 
liaving  stuck  in  liis  throat  it  was  washed  dovni  with 
a  draught  of  water.  After  this  the  king  became 
calm.  Tlie  English  bishops  were  now  admitted, 
but  Charles  paid  no  attention  to  their  exhortations. 
He  gave  special  directions  to  the  duke  liLs  brother 
about  his  mistresses,  but  he  spoke  not  a  word 
of  his  wife,  nor  of  his  subjects,  nor  servants. 
What  a  mournful  spectacle,  what  a  chamber  of 
liorrors !  Surprised  by  death  in  the  midst  of  his 
harem  !  How  ghastly  his  features,  and  how  racking 
his  pains,  as  he  complains  of  the  fire  that  burns 
within  him  !  and  yet  his  courtiers  gaze  with  perfect 
indifference  on  the  one,  and  listen  with  profound 
unconcern  to  the  other.  Behind  him  what  a  past 
of  crime  !  Ai'ound  him  are  two  kingdoms  groaning 
under  his  twanny.  Before  him  that  great  Tribunal 
before  wliich  Charles,  as  well  as  tlie  humblest  of 
his  subjects,  must  give  account  of  his  stewardship ; 
and  yet  lie  neither  feels  the  burden  of  guilt,  nor 
dreads  the  terrors  of  the  reckoning.  This  utter 
callousness  is  the  saddest  feature  in  this  sad  scene. 
"  No  part  of  his  character  looked  wickeder,  as  well 
as  meaner,"  says  Bishoj)  Burnet,  "  than  that  he,  all 
tlie  wliile  that  he  was  professing  to  be  of  the  Church 
of  England,  expressing  both  zeal  and  afiection  to 
it,  was  yet  secretly  reconciled  to  the  Church  of 
Rome  :  thus  mocking  God,  and  deceiving  the  world 
with  so  gross  a  prevarication.  And  his  not  having 
the  honesty  or  courage  to  own  it  at  the  last :  his 
not  showing  any  sign  of  the  least  remorse  for  his  ill- 
led  life."'  Charles  II.  died  on  the  6th  of  February, 
1684,  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  With  his 
life  departed  all  the  homage  and  obsequiousness  that 
had  waited  round  the  royal  person ;  his  corpse  was 
treated  almost  as  if  it  had  been  so  much  carrion ; 

'  Burnet,  Hist,  of  his  own  Time,  vol.  ii.,  p.  274. 


liis  burial  was  mean,  and  v/iihout  the  pomp  that 
usually  attended  the  funeral  of  the  kings  of  England. 
If  one  spoke  of  the  king's  death  ho  had  to  bo 
careful  in  what  terms  he  did  so.  His  words  were 
caught  up  by  in\isiblo  auditors,  and  a  hand  was 
stretched  out  from  the  darlmcss  to  pimLsh  the  im- 
prudence of  indiscreet  remarks.  A  physician  who 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  king  had  been 
poisoned  was  seized  with  a  sudden  illness,  the 
symptoms  of  which  closely  i-esembled  those  of  the 
king,  whom  he  followed  to  the  grave  in  a  few  days. 
But  at  Rome  it  was  not  necessary  to  observe  the 
same  circumspection.  The  deuth  of  Charles  II. 
was  there  made  the  theme  of  certain  orations,  which 
eulogised  it  as  singidarly  opportune,  and  it  was 
delicately  insinuated  that  his  brother  was  not  with- 
out some  ■  share  in  the  merit  of  a  deed  that  was 
destined  to  introduce  a  day  of  gloiy  to  the  Roman 
Church  and  the  realm  of  England.  Misson  has 
given  a  few  extracts  from  these  orations  and 
epigrams  which  are  somewhat  curious.  "  James," 
says  the  author  of  one  of  these  pieces,  "  intending 
to  notify  to  the  gods  his  accession  to  the  crown, 
that  he  might  send  the  important  message  by  an 
ambassador  worthy  of  them  and  liim,  he  sent  his 
brother."-  And  again,  "  His  brother,  who  is  to  be 
his  successor,  adds  wings  to  him  that  he  may  arri-\-e 
sooner  at  heaven."^  The  author  of  these  orations, 
unable  to  restrain  his  transports  at  the  accession  of 
James,  breaks  out  thus — "  We  will  declare  that  he 
gives  a  new  day  to  England  ;  a  day  of  joy  ;  a  day 
free  from  all  obscui'ity.  That  kingdom  enlightened 
liy  the  setting  of  Charles,  and  the  rising  of  James, 
shall  suffer  night  no  more.  O  happy  England  !  a 
new  constellation  of  twins,  Charles  and  James,  Ls 
risen  in  thy  horizon.  Cast  thy  eyes  on  them,  and 
care  no  more  for  Castor  and  Pollux.  At  least  divide 
thy  veneration.  And  while  Castor  and  Pollux  will 
be  the  guides  of  thy  ships,  as  they  hitherto  have 
been,  let  James  and  Chailes  conduct  thee  to  hea\en 
whither  thou  aspirest,  as  thou  deservest  it."  ■* 

-  JlisGon,  Travels  in  Itahj,  vol.  II.,  part  i.,  p.  218. 
■'  "  Eegnaturus  a  tcrpo  frater,  alaa  Carolo  ad  cesium 
addidit."    (Misson,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  606.) 
■•  Misson,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  670. 


586 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


THE    FIRST    RISING    OF    THE    SCOTTISH    PRESBYTERIANS. 


Barbarities— Inflexible  Spirit  of  the  Scots— Dragoons  at  Dairy— The  Presbyterians  of  the  West  take  Ai-ms— Capture 
of  Sir  James  Tiu'ner— The  March  to  Lanark— They  Swear  the  Covenant,  and  Publish  a  Declaration— Their 
Sufferings  on  the  Marcli— Arrive  near  Edinburgh— Battle  of  the  Pentlauds— Defeat  of  the  Presbyterians — 
Prisoners— Their  Trial  and  Execution— Neilson  of  Corsac  and  Hugh  McKail— The  Torture  of  the  Boot— Execution 
of  Hugh  McKail— His  Farewell. 


In  returning  to  Scotland,  as  we  once  more  do,  it  is 
necessary  to  go  back  some  twenty  years,  and  briefly 
narrate  the  dismal  tragedy  which  was  being  enacted 
in  the  northern  kingdom  while  the  events  which 
liave  occupied  us  in  the  last  few  chapters  were 
passing  in  England.  The  last  scene  which  we 
witnessed  in  Scotland  was  the  ejection  of  four 
hundred  ministers,  and  the  irruption  into  their 
pari.shes  and  pulpits  of  an  equal  number  of  young 
men  from  the  northern  parts,  who  were  totally 
devoid  of  learning,  many  of  them  being  as  devoid 
of  morals ;  while  all,  by  their  glaring  unfitness 
for  their  office,  were  objects  of  contempt  to  the 
people.  The  ejected  ministers  were  followed  to 
tjie  woods  and  the  moors  by  their  parishioners, 
and  dragoons  were  sent  out  to  hunt  for  these 
worshipjiers  in  the  wilderness,  and  bring  them  back 
to  fill  the  chui'ches  their  desertion  had  left  empty. 
The  men  who  acted  for  the  Government  in  Scotland, 
brutal,  unprincipled,  and  profligate,  observed  no 
measure  in  the  cruelties  they  inflicted  on  a  people 
whom  they  were  resolved  to  bend  to  the  yoke  of  a 
despotic  monarch  and  an  idolatrous  Church.  In- 
decencies of  all  sorts  desecrated  the  heai-ths,  and 
fines  and  violence  desolated  the  homes  of  the 
Scottish  pea!5antiy.  The  business  of  life  all  but 
stood  still.  Vu'tue  fled  from  the  scene  of  such 
\inhallowed  outrage,  and  many  families  who  had 
lived  till  then  in  affluence,  become  the  sudden  prey 
of  greedy  informers  and  riotous  spoilers,  sank  into 
poverty  and  beggaiy.  But  the  spirit  of  the  nation 
would  not  yifild.  Every  new  oppression  but 
deepened  the  resolution  of  the  sufferers  to  stand 
l)y  their  Church  and  their  country,  despite  all 
the  attempts  to  cornipt  the  one  and  enslave  the 
other.  The  glorious  days  of  the  past,  the  uplifted 
hands  of  their  fathers,  the  majesty  of  their  Gene- 
ral Assemblies,  the  patriarchal  and  learned  men 
who  had  preached  the  Word  of  Life  to  them, 
their  own  vows,  all  these  grand  memories  came 
back  upon  them,  and  made  it  impossible  for  them 
to  comply  with  the  mandates  of  the  court.  Tlieir 
resistance  had  so  far  been  only  passive,  but  now 


tlie  hour  was  come  when  a  passive  resistance  was 
to  be  exchanged  for  an  active  and  organised  oppo- 
sition. 

The  first  rising  of  the  persecuted  Presbyterians 
was  owing  to  an  occurrence  purely  accidental.  On 
Tuesday  morning,  the  13th  of  November,  1666, 
four  of  the  persecuted  wanderers,  whom  cold  and 
himger  had  forced  to  leave  their  solitudes  amid 
the  mountains  of  Glen-Ken,  appeared  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Dairy,  in  Kirkcudbrightshire.  They  came 
just  in  time  to  prevent  one  of  those  outrages 
which  were  but  too  common  at  that  time.  A 
party  of  Sii-  James  Turner's  soldiers  were  le%'y- 
ing  fines  in  the  village,  and  having  seized  an  old 
man  whose  poverty  rendered  him  unable  to  dis- 
chai'ge  his  penalties,  they  were  binding  him  hand 
and  foot,  and  tlu-eatening  to  strip  him  naked 
and  roast  him  on  a  gridii'on.  Shocked  at  the 
threatened  barbarity,  the  wanderers  interposed  in 
behalf  of  the  man.  The  soldiers  drew  upon  them, 
and  a  scuffle  ensued.  One  of  the  rescuing  party 
fired  his  pistol,  and  wounded  one  of  the  soldiers, 
whereupon  the  party  gave  up  their  prisoner  and 
their  arms.  Having  been  informed  that  another 
party  of  Turner's  men  were  at  that  moment  engaged 
in  similar  outrages  at  a  little  distance  from  the 
village,  they  resolved  to  go  thither,  and  make  them 
prisoners  also.  This  they  did  with  the  help  of 
some  country-people '  who  had  joined  them  on  the 
way,  killing  one  of  the  soldiei's  who  had  offered 
resistance. 

All  this  was  the  work  of  an  hour,  and  had  been 
done  on  impulse.  These  countrymen  had  now  time 
to  reflect  on  what  was  likely  to  be  the  consequence 
of  disai-ming  and  capturing  the  king's  soldiers. 
Tliey  knew  how  vindictive  Sir  James  was,  and  that 
he  was  sure  to  avenge  in  his  own  cruel  way  on 
the  whole  district  the  disgrace  that  his  soldiers  had 
sustained.  They  could  not  think  of  leaving  the  help- 
less people  to  his  fury ;  they  would  keep  together, 


'  Wodrow,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  17,  18;   Qlasg.,  1830.    Kirkton, 
pp.  229—231.    Blackadder,  Memoirs,  p.  136. 


THE   BATTLE   OF   BULLION   GREEN. 


587 


and  go  on  with  the  enterprise  in  whicli  they  had 
so  unexpectedly  embarked,  thougli  that  too  was  a 
serious  matter,  .spping  it  was  \-irtually  to  defy  the 
CioNernmeiit.  They  mustered  lo  the  number  of 
fifty  horsemen  and  a  few  foot,  and  resolving  to  be 
heforehnnd  with  .Sir  James,  marched  to  Dumfries, 
drank  tlie  king's  health  at  tlie  cross,  and  after  this 
display  of  loyalty  went  straight  to  Turner's  house 
and  made  him  their  prisoner.  The  revolt  had 
broken  out,  and  a  special  messenger,  dispatched 
from  Carlisle,  carried  the  news  to  the  king. 

It  happened  that,  a  day  or  two  before  the  occur- 
I'ence  at  Dalrj',  Commissioner  Rothes  had  set  out 
for  London.  On  presenting  himself  at  Whitehall 
the  king  asked  him,  "What  news  from  Scotland?" 
Rothes  replied  that  "  all  v.-as  going  v,-ell,  and  that 
the  people  were  qitiet."  His  majesty  instantly 
handed  him  the  despatch  which  ho  had  received 
of  the  "  homd  rebellion."  The  commissioner's  con- 
fusion may  be  imagined.  Charles  had  set  up  the 
machine  of  episcopacy  to  amplify  liis  power  in 
Scotland,  and  procure  him  a  quiet  reign  ;  but  here 
was  an  early  presage  of  the  troubles  -with  which  it 
was  to  fill  his  life.  It  had  ali-eady  dethroned  him 
in  the  hearts  of  his  Scottish  subjects,  and  this  was 
l)ut  an  earnest  of  the  greater  calamities  which  were 
to  strike  his  house  after  he  was  gone. 

The  party  who  had  captured  Sir  James  Turner 
turned  northwards,  carrying  with  them  their  pri- 
soner, as  a  trophy  of  their  courage.  Their  little 
army  swelled  in  mimbers  as  they  advanced, 
by  continual  contributions  from  the  towns  and 
villages  on  the  line  of  their  march.  Late  on  the 
evening  of  Sunday,  the  25th  of  November,  they 
i-eached  Lanark.  Then-  march  thither  had  been 
accomplished  under  many  disadvantages  :  they  had 
to  traverse  deep  moors;  they  had  to  endm-e  a  drench- 
ing lain,  and  to  lie,  wet  and  weary,  in  churches 
and  bams  at  night,  with  a  most  inadequate  supply 
of  victuals.'  Their  resolution,  however,  did  not 
flag.  On  the  Monday  the  horse  and  foot  mus- 
tered on  the  high  street,  one  of  their  ministers 
mounted  the  Tolbooth  stairs,  preached,  and  after 
sermon  read  the  Covenant,  which  the  whole  army, 
who  were  joined  by  several  of  the  citizens,  swore 
\vith  uplifted  hands.  They  next  published  a  decla- 
ration setting  forth  the  reason  of  their  appearing 
in  arms,  namely,  the  defence  of  their  Presbyterian 
government  and  the  liberties  of  their  country. -' 
"  Here,"  says  Kirkton,  "  this  rolling  snow-ball  was 
at  the  biggest."  Their  numbers  were  variously 
estimated  at  from   1,500  to  3,000,  but  they  were 


'  Kirkton,  Hist.,  pp.  234-236. 

-  The  declaration  is  given  in  Wodrow,  vol.  ii.,  p.  25. 


necessarily  deficient  in  Ijoth  drill  and  arms.  Sir 
James  Turner,  their  enforced  comrade,  describes 
them  as  a  set  of  brave,  lusty  fellows,  well  up  in 
their  exercises  for  the  short  time,  and  can-j-iiig 
arms  of  a  very  mi.scellaneous  description.  Besides 
the  usual  gun  and  sword,  they  were  provided  with 
scythes  fixed  on  poles,  forks,  staves,  and  other 
weapons  of  a  rude  sort.  Had  they  now  joined 
battle,  victory  would  probably  have  declared  in  their 
favour,  and  if  defeated  they  were  in  the  midst  of  a 
friendly  population  who  would  have  given  them 
safe  hiding.  Unfortunately  they  gave  credit  to  a 
report  that  the  j:)eople  of  the  Lotliians  and  the 
citizens  of  Edinburgh  but  waited  their  approach  to 
rise  and  join  them.  They  continued  their  march 
to  the  east  only  to  find  the  population  less  friendly, 
and  their  own  ntimbers,  instead  of  increasing  as 
they  had  expected,  rapidly  diminishing.  The 
weather  again  broke.  They  were  buifeted  by 
toiTents  of  rain  and  occasional  snow-drifts ;  they 
marched  along  in  deep  roads,  and  crossed  swollen 
rivers,  to  arrive  at  night  foot-sore  and  hungry,  with 
no  place  to  sleep  in,  and  scarcely  any  food  to  re- 
cruit their  wearied  strength.  In  this  condition  they 
advanced  within  five  miles  of  Edinburgh,  only  to 
have  their  misfortunes  crowned  by  being  told  that 
the  citizens  had  closed  their  gates  and  mounted 
cannon  on  the  walls  to  prevent  their  entrance. 
At  this  point,  after  several  consultations  among 
themselves,  and  the  exchange  of  some  communi- 
cations with  the  Pri\-y  Cotmcil,  they  came  to  the 
resolution  of  returning  to  their  homes. 

With  this  view  they  marched  round  the  eastern 
extremity  of  the  Pentlands — a  range  of  hills  about 
six  miles  south  of  Edinburgh — with  the  intent 
of  pursuing  then-  way  along  the  south  side  of  the 
chain  to  their  homes.  It  was  here  that  Dalziel 
with  his  army  came  up  with  them.  The  insurgents 
hastily  mustered  in  order  of  battle,  the  foot  in  the 
centre  and  the  horse  on  the  two  wings.  The  action 
was  commenced  by  Dalziel's  sending  a  troop  of 
cavalry  to  attack  the  right  wing  of  the  enemy. 
The  insurgents  drove  them  back  in  confusion.  A 
second  attack  was  followed  by  the  rout  of  the 
Government  troops.  There  came  still  a  third, 
which  also  ended  in  victory  for  the  Presbji;erians, 
and  had  their  cavaliy  been  able  to  pursue,  the  day 
would  have  been  won.  Dalziel  now  saw  that  he 
had  not  silly  and  fanatical  countrymen  to  deal 
with,  but  resolute  fighters,  ill-armed,  way-worn, 
and  faint  through  sleeplessness  and  hunger,  but 
withal  of  a  tougher  spirit  than  his  ovvn  well-drilled 
and  well-fed  dragoons;  and  ho  waited  till  the  main 
body  should  arrive,  which  it  now  did  through  a 
defile  in  the  hills  close  by  the  scene  of  the  action. 


688 


HISTORY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


The  odds  were  now  very  unequal.  The  Presby- 
terian host  did  not  exceed  900,  the  Govei-nment 
army  was  not  less  than  3,000.  Dalziel  imw 
moved  liis  masses  to  the  assault.  The  sun  had 
gone  down,  and  the  sombre  shadows  of  a  winter 
twilight  were  being  jn-ojected  from  the  summits 
above  tliem  as  the  two  armies  closed  in  conflict. 
The  insurgents,  under  their  courageous  and  skil- 
ful leader.  Captain  Wallace,  fought  gaUantly, 
but  they  were   finally  borne   down   by  numbers. 


tinued  in  the  courts  of  law.  The  prisoners  were 
brought  to  Edinburgh,  crowded  into  various  prisons, 
and  brought  to  their  trial  befm-p  a  tiibunal  where 
death  more  certainly  awaited  them  than  on  the 
battle-field.  Fifty  had  fallen  by  the  sword  on 
Rullion  Green,  but  a  greater  nimiber  were  to  die 
on  the  gallows.  In  the  absence  of  Rothes  it  fell  to 
the  primate,  Sharp,  to  preside  in  the  Council,  "and 
being  now  a  time  of  war,  several  of  the  lords 
grumbled  very  much,  and  spared  not  to  say  openly 


THE    PENTLAND    HILLS. 


As  the  night  fell  the  fighting  ended ;  in  truth, 
they  had  prolonged  the  contest,  not  for  the 
coming  of  victory,  which  now  they  dared  not 
hojie  for,  but  for  the  coming  of  darkness  to  cover 
their  flight.  Leaving  fifty  of  their  number  dead 
on  the  battle-field  of  Rullion  Green — for  such  was 
the  name  of  the  spot  on  which  it  was  fought — the 
rest,  excepting  those  taken  prisoners,  who  were 
about  100,  made  their  escape  over  the  hills  or  along 
their  southern  sloiies  towards  their  native  shires  in 
the  west.' 

The  slaughter  begun  on  the  battle-field  was  con- 


with  oaths,  '  Have  we  none  in  Scotland  to  give 
orders  in  such  a  juncture  but  a  priest  1'  "'  Sharp, 
on  being  told  of  the  rising,  was  seized  -with  some- 
thing like  panic.  In  his  consternation  he  wrote 
urgent  letters  to  have  the  king's  army  sent  down 
from  the  north  of  England,  and,  meanwhile,  he 
proposed  that  the  Council  should  shut  them- 
selves up  in  the  castle.  His  temfied  imagination 
pictured  himself  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  rebels. 
But  when  he  received  the  news  of  the  defeat  of 
the  insurgents,  "then,"  says  Bumet,  "the  com- 
mon   observation  that   cruelty  and   cowardice   go 


'  Kirkton,  pp.  242,  245.   Burnet,  vol.  i.,p.  303. 


2  Wodrow,  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  20. 


CRUEL  TREATMENT   OF   THE   CAPTIVE   COVENANTERS. 


589 


together,  was  too  visibly  verified."  '  The  prisoners 
had  been  admitted  to  quarter  by  the  soldiers  on 
the  battle-field,  and  in  all  common  justice  this 
ought   to    have    been    held  as  the    king's    promise 


judicial  murders  carried  through,  that  the  firat  ten, 
who  were  mostly  men  of  property,  suffered  only  a 
few  days  after  the  battle.  They  were  sentenced  to 
be  hanged  at  the  Cross  of  Ediubui-gh,  their  heads 


THE    OLU    COVE.V.lXXr.U's    LAST    SEKMON. 


of  their  lives.  The  cleiical  members  of  Council, 
however,  refused  to  Uike  that  view  of  the  mat- 
ter, insisting  that  the  quarter  to  which  they  had 
been  admitted  was  no  protection,  the  war  being  one 
of  rebellion.  Tliey  were  tried,  condemned,  and 
executed  in  batches.      With  such  speed  were  these 


'  Bui-net,  Hist,  of  his  own  Time,  vol.  i.,  p.  303 

154 


to  be  dispersed  over  the  countr}^  and  affixed  as 
monuments  in  the  piincipal  cities,  and  their  riglit 
arms  to  be  exposed  on  the  Tolbooth  of  Lanark, 
where  their  hands  had  been  lifted  up  to  swear  the 
National  Covenant.  They  all  died  with  undaunted 
courage.  Tliey  niight  have  saved  their  lives  by 
subscribing  the  declaration  of  submission  to  the 
bishops,  but  all  of  them  refused.    They  fell  a  sacri- 


JOO 


HISToltY    OF    l*[;OTFXrANTr.S.Al. 


fice  to  Prelacy,  giving  their  blood  in  opposition  to 
those  manifold  evils  which  had  rushed  in  like  a 
torrent  upon  their  country  through  the  dostriic- 
tion  of  its  Presbj-terinn  Government.  Nor  ditl 
their  punishment  end  with  their  lives.  Their 
families  were  plundered  after  their  death  ;  their 
substance  was  swallowed  up  in  fines,  and  their 
lands  were  confiscated.  Theii-  homes  were  invaded 
by  soldiei"s,  and  the  inmates  driven  out  to  a  life  of 
poverty  in  their  o\vn  country,  or  to  wander  as 
exiles  in  a  foreign  land.' 

One  batch  of  prisoners  succeeded  another  on  the 
gallows  till  all  were  disposed  of  "  It  was  a  moving 
sight,"  says  Burnet,  "  to  see  ton  of  the  prisoners 
hanged  upon  one  gibbet  at  Edinburgh.  Thirty-five 
more  were  sent  to  theii-  counties,  and  hanged  up 
before  their  own  doors,  their  ministers  (the  curates) 
all  the  while  using  them  hardly,  and  declaring  them 
damned  for  their  rebellion."  - 

Among  these  sufl'erers  there  are  two  over  whose 
last  hours  we  shall  pause  a  little.  These  are  Mr. 
John  Neilson  of  Corsac,  and  Mr.  Hugh  McKail,  a 
minister.  Both  were  made  to  undergo  the  torture 
of  the  boot  in  prison,  the  CouncU  reviving  in  their 
case  a  horrible  practice  which  had  not  been  known 
in  Scotland  in  the  memory  of  living  man."  The 
object  of  theii-  persecutors  in  subjecting  them  to  this 
terrible  ordeal  was  to  extort  from  them  information 
respecting  the  origin  of  the  insurrection.  The 
rising  had  been  wholly  unpremeditated.  Neverthe- 
less the  judges  continued  the  infliction,  although  the 
two  tortured  men  protested  that  it  was  impossible 
to  disclose  a  plot  which  never  existed.  The  shrieks 
of  Neilson  were  heai-trending ;  but  the  only  effect 
they  had  upon  the  judges  was  to  bid  the  execu- 
tioner strike  yet  again."*  The  younger  and  feebler 
prisoner  stood  the  infliction  better  than  the  other. 
The  slender  and  delicate  leg  of  the  young  McKail 
was  laid  in  the  boot ;  the  hammer  fell,  the  wedge 
was  driven  down,  a  pang  as  of  burning  fire  shot 
along  the  leg,  making  every  limb  and  feature  of 
the  prisoner  to  quivei-.  McKail  uttered  no  groan. 
Six,  seven,  eight,  ten  strokes  were  given;  the 
hammer  was  raised  for  yet  another;  the  suflcrer 
solemnly  protested  in  the  sight  of  God  "  that  he 
could  say  no  more,  although  every  joint  in  his  body 
was  in  as  gi-eat  torture  as  that  poor  leg." 

'  "Wodrow,  Hist,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  48—51.  Kirkton,  Hist., 
pp.  248,  249. 

-  Burnet,  Hist,  of  Ws  oii'n  Time,  vol.  i.,  p.  304. 

•■'  The  boot  consisted  of  four  narrow  boards  nailed 
together,  so  as  to  form  a  case  for  the  leg.  The  limb  being 
laid  in  it,  wedges  were  driven  down,  which  caused  intoler- 
able pain,  and  frequently  mangled  the  leg  to  the  extent 
of  bruising  both  bone  and  marrow. 

■•  Wodrow,  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  Si. 


The  real  offence  of  McKail  was  not  his  join- 
ing the  insm-gents,  but  his  ha\-ing  preached  in 
the  high  church  of  Edinburgh  on  the  Sunday  pre- 
ceding that  on  wliieh  the  "Four  Hundred"  were 
ejected,  and  having  used  some  expres.sions  which 
were  generally  iniderstood  to  be  levelled  at  the 
Ai-chbishop  of  St.  Andrews.  The  young  minister 
took  occasion  to  refer  in  his  sermon  to  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Church,  saying  that  "  the  Scripture  doth 
abundantly  evidence  that  the  people  of  God  have 
sometimes  been  persecuted  by  a  Pharaoh  upon  the 
throne,  sometimes  by  a  Haman  in  the  State,  and 
sometimes  by  a  Judas  in  the  Church."  The  hearers 
had  no  difficulty  in  finding  the  living  representa- 
tives of  all  three,  and  especially  of  the  last,  who 
stood  pre-eminent  among  the  dark  figures  around 
him  for  his  relentless  cruelty  and  unfathomable 
perfidy.  The  words  changed  Sharp  iiato  a  pillar  of 
salt :  he  was  henceforth  known  as  "  the  Judas  of 
the  Scottish  Kirk." 

When  Hugh  McKail  was  sentenced  to  the  gal- 
lows he  was  only  twenty-six  years  of  age.  He  was 
a  person  of  excellent  education,  gi-eat  elevation  of 
soul,  an  impressive  eloquence,  and  liis  person  seemed 
to  have  moulded  itself  so  as  to  shadow  forth  the 
noble  lineaments  of  the  spirit  that  dwelt  within  it. 
He  had  a  freshness  and  even  gaiety  of  mind  which 
the  near  approach  of  a  violent  death  could  not  ex- 
tinguish. On  entering  the  prison  after  his  trial, 
some  one  asked  him  how  his  limb  was.  "  The  fear 
of  my  neck,"  he  repUed,  "makes  me  forget  my  leg." 
In  prison  he  discoursed  sweetly  and  encouragingly 
to  his  fellow-sufferers.  On  the  night  before  his  exe- 
cution he  laid  him  down,  and  sank  into  quiet  sleep. 
When  he  appeared  on  the  scaffold  it  was  with  a 
countenance  so  sweet  and  grave,  and  an  air  so 
serene  and  joyous,  that  he  seemed  to  the  spectatoi-s 
i-ather  like  one  coming  out  of  death  than  one  enter- 
ing into  it.  "  There  was  such  a  lamentation,"  says 
Kirkton,  "  as  was  never  kno-vvir  iir  Scotland  before; 
not  one  dry  cheek  upon  all  the  street,  or  in  all  the 
numberless  windows  in  the  market-place.""  Having 
ended  his  last  words  to  the  people,  he  took  hold  of 
the  ladder  to  go  up.  He  paused,  and  tm-ning  yet 
again  to  the  crowd,  he  said,  "  I  care  no  more  to  go  up 
that  ladder  and  over  it  than  if  I  were  going  to  my 
father's  house." 

Having  mounted  to  the  top  of  the  ladder,  he 
lifted  the  napkin  that  covered  his  face,  that  he  might 
utter  a  few  more  last  words.  Never  was  sublimer 
or  more  pathetic  farewell  spoken. 

"  And  now  I  leave  off  to  speak  any  more  with 
creatures,  and    begin   my    intercourse   with    God 


5  Kirkton,  Hist.,  p.  249. 


THOMAS   DALZIEL   OF   BINNS. 


591 


•which  shall  never  be  broken  ofif !  Farewell,  father 
and  mother,  friends  and  relations !  Farewell,  the 
world  and  all  delights  !  Farewell,  sun,  moon,  and 
stars !      Welcome,  God    and    Father !     Welcome, 


sweet  Jesus  Christ,  the  Mediator  of  the  New 
Covenant !  Welcome,  blessed  Spirit  of  Grace,  the 
God  of  all  consolation  !  Welcome,  glory  !  Wel- 
come, eternal  life !    And  welcome,  death  ! " 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


THE    FIELD-PREACHING    OR    "  CONVENTICLE. 

Scotland  to  be  Crushed— Thomas  Dalziel  of  Binns— His  Character— Barbarities  exercised  by  his  Soldiers — A  Breath- 
ing Time — Duke  Lauderdale — Tlie  Indulgence — Its  Fruits— The  Accommodation — Failure  of  both  Plans— The 
Conventicle— Field-preaching  at  East  Nisbet,  Mearse— Place  of  Meeting — The  Assembling — The  Guards — The 
Psalm — The  Prayer— The  Sermon— The  Communion-tables— Tlie  Communicants— The  Communicating— Other 
Services — Blackadder's  Account— Terror  of  the  Government. 


The  insurgent  Covenanters  were  condemned  and 
executed  as  rebels.  In  a  constitutional  country  the 
law  is  the  king,  and  whoever  rises  up  against  it, 
be  he  sovereign  or  subject,  he  is  the  rebel.  The 
opposite  doctrine  is  one  which  is  fit  only  for  slaves. 

The  Government,  feeling  themselves  to  be  the 
real  law-breakers,  were  haunted  by  the  continual 
fear  of  insurrection.  Having  suppressed  the 
Pentland  rising,  they  scattered  over  the  king- 
dom, and  exposed  to  public  view  in  its  chief  cities, 
the  heads  and  other  ghastly  remains  of  the  poor 
sufferers,  to  warn  all  of  the  danger  they  should 
incur  by  any  disobedience  to  the  edicts  or  any 
resistance  to  the  violence  of  the  ruling  party.  But 
the  Government  coiild  not  deem  themselves  secure 
till  the  spirit  of  the  people  had  been  utterly  crushed, 
and  the  down-trodden  country  rendered  incapable  of 
offering  any  resistance.  In  order  to  reach  this  end 
they  resolved  to  begin  a  reign  of  terror.  In  Thomas 
Dalziel  of  Binns,  whom  we  have  already  named, 
tliey  found  an  instrument  admirably  adapted  for 
their  p\irpose.  This  man  united  the  not  uncon- 
genial characters  of  fonatic  and  savage.  If  ever  he 
had  possessed  any  of  the  "  milk  of  human  kind- 
ness," he  had  got  quit  of  what  certainly  would  have 
been  a  gi-eat  disqualification  for  the  work  now  put 
into  his  liands.  In  his  wars  among  the  Tartais 
and  Turks  his  naturally  cruel  disposition  had  been 
rendered  utterly  callous ;  in  .short,  he  had  gi-own 
not  less  the  Turk  than  any  of  those  with  whom  ho 
did  battle.  From  these  distant  campaigns  he 
returned  to  inflict  on  his  countrymen  and  country- 
women the  horrid  cruelties  which  he  had  seen  and 
practised  abroad. 

His  outward  man  wa.s  a  correct  index  of  the 
fierce,  fieiy,  fanatical,  and  malignant  spirit  that 
dwelt  within  it.       His  figure  was  gaunt  and  weird. 


To  have  seen  the  man  striding  along  at  a  raiiid 
pace,  with  his  flinty  face,  his  hard  cheek-bones,  his 
gleaming  eyes,  his  streaming  beard — for  he  had  not 
shaved  since  Charles  I.  was  beheaded — and  his 
close-fitting  antique  dress,  making  him  so  spectre- 
like, one  would  have  thought  that  he  was  other 
than  an  inhabitant  of  earth.  The  aii-  of  huny  and 
violence  that  hung  about  him  betokened  him  crazy 
as  well  as  cruel. 

This  man  was  sent  by  the  Government  to  be 
the  scourge  of  the  Presbyterians  in  the  western 
counties  of  Scotland.  He  was  accompanied  by  a 
regiment  of  soldiers  quite  worthy  of  their  leader. 
Void  of  every  soldierly  quality,  they  were  simply 
a  horde  of  profligates  and  rufiians.  Terror, 
wretchechiess,  and  misery  overspread  the  counti-y 
on  their  approach.  Dalziel  tortured  whom  he 
would,  shot  men  on  the  most  venial  charges  with- 
out any  forms  of  law,  hung  up  peojile  by  the  arms 
all  night,  and  threw  women  into  prisons  and  holes 
filled  with  snakes.'  Of  the  exploits  of  this  modern 
Attila  and  his  Huns,  Bishop  Burnet  gives  us  the 
following  account.  "  The  forces,"  says  he,  '•  were 
oi'dered  to  lie  in  the  west,  where  Dalziel  acted  the 
Muscovite  too  gi-ossly.  He  threatened  to  spit 
men  and  to  roast  them  ;  and  he  killed  some  in  cold 
blood,  or  rather  in  hot  blood,  for  he  was  then 
drunk  when  he  ordered  one  to  be  hanged  because 
he  would  not  tell  where  his  father  was,  for  whom 
he  was  in  search.  Wlien  he  heard  of  any  who  did 
not  go  to  church,  he  did  not  trouble  himself  to  set 
a  fine  upon  him,  but  he  set  as  many  soldiei-s  upon 

him  as  should  eat  him  up  in  a  night 

Tlie  clergy  (the  curates)  never  interceded  for  any 
compassion  to  their  people.      Nor  did   thej'  take 

'  Kirkton,  Hist.,  pp.  2o(),  25?. 


592 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTTS^r. 


cai'e  to  live  move  reg>il<ivly,  or  to  laboui"  more  care- 
fully. They  looked  on  the  soldiexyas  their  patrons, 
they  were  ever  in  their  company,  complying  with 
them  in  their  excesses;  and  it"  they  were  not  much 
wronged,  they  rather  led  them  into  them,  than 
chocked  thorn  for  them."'  These  oppressions  bnt 
burned  the  deeper  into  the  nation's  heart  a  detesta- 
tion of  the  system  which  it  was  sought  to  thrust 
npon  it. 

In  16G7  came  a  lull  in  the  tempest.  This  .short 
calm  was  owing  to  various  causes.  The  cry  of 
Scotland  had  reached  even  the  ears  of  Charles  II., 
and  ho  sent  do'wn  Lauderdale,  who  had  not  quite 
forgotten  that  he  had  once  been  a  Presln-terian,  and 
was  still  a  Scotsman,  to  take  tiie  place  of  the  cruel 
and  profligate  Rothes.  The  policy  of  the  Court  of 
London  had  also  undergone  a  change  for  the  better, 
though  not  from  the  high  principles  of  justice,  but 
the  low  motives  of  interest.  A  tolerant  policy 
towards  tlie  English  Nonconformists  was  deemed 
the  likeliest  way  of  disarming  the  opposition  of  the 
enemies  of  the  Duke  of  York,  who  was  known, 
thoiigh  he  had  not  yet  avowed  it,  to  be  a  Papist, 
and  the  only  means  of  pa\-ing  his  way  to  the  throne  ; 
and  Scotland  was  permitted  to  share  ^vith  Eng- 
land in  this  milder  rcijinie.  Its  administrators 
were  changed,  the  standing  anny  was  disbanded, 
much  to  the  chagrin  of  tliose  who  were  enriching 
themselves  by  its  plunder,  and  Sharp  was  bidden 
confine  himself  to  his  dioce.se  of  St.  Andrews." 
Thus  there  came  a  breathing-space  to  the  afBicted 
country. 

Lauderdale  opened  his  administration  in  Scotland 
with  an  attempted  reconciliation  between  Presby- 
terianism  and  Prelacy.  In  one  respect  he  was  well 
qualified  for  the  work,  for  having  no  religion  of  his 
own  he  was  equally  indifferent  to  that  of  the  two 
parties  between  whom  he  now  undertook  to  mediate. 
Nature  had  endowed  Lauderdale  \vith  gi-eat  talents, 
but  with  nothing  else.  He  was  coarse,  mean,  selfish, 
without  a  spark  of  honour  or  genei-osity,  gi-eedy 
of  power,  yet  greedier  of  money,  arrogant  to  those 
beneath  him,  and  cringing  and  abject  to  his  supe- 
riors. His  bloated  features  were  the  index  of 
the  vile  passions  to  which  he  often  gave  way,  and 
the  low  excesses  in  which  he  habitually  indulged. 
It  was  easy  to  see  that  should  he  fail  in  his  project 
of  reconcilmg  the  two  parties,  and,  on  the  basis  of 
their  union,  of  managing  the  country,  his  violent 
temper  and  unprincipled  ambition  would  hniTy  him 
into  cruelties  not  less  great  than  those  which  had 
made  his  predecessor  infamous. 

'  Burnet,  Bist.  of  his  own  Time,  vol.  i.,  p.  SOfi. 

=  Ibid.,  pp.  307—309.     Kirkton,  Hist.,  pp.  2G9— 271. 


The  new  policy  bore  fruit  at  last  in  an  Indul- 
gence. In  1GG9  a  letter  arrived  from  the  king, 
granting  a  qualified  liberty  to  the  outed  ministers. 
If  willing  to  rccci^•e  collation  from  the  bishop,  the 
ministers  were  to  Ijo  inducted  into  vacant  jiarishes 
and  to  enjoy  the  whole  benefice ;  if  unwilling  to 
acknowledge  the  bishop,  they  were  nevertheless  to 
be  at  liberty  to  preach,  but  were  to  enjoy  no  tem- 
porality save  the  glebe  and  manse.  This  Indulgence 
grew  out  of  a  despaii-  on  the  part  of  Govennnent  of 
ever  compelling  the  jwople  to  return  to  the  parish 
churches  and  place  themselves  under  the  ministry 
of  the  curates ;  and  rather  than  permit  the  country 
to  relapse  into  heathenism  they  gi-anted  a  limited 
permission  to  the  Presbyterian  pastors  to  discharge 
their  oifice.  The  Government,  moreover,  foresaw 
that  this  would  divide  the  Presbyterians.  And  in 
truth  this  consequence  followed  to  a  deplorable 
extent.  Those  who  accepted  the  Government's 
fixvour  were  accused  by  their  brethren  who  declined 
it  of  homologating  the  royal  supremacy,  and  were 
styled  the  "  king's  curates ; "  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  those  who  stood  out  against  the  Indulgence 
were  regarded  by  the  Government  as  impracticable, 
and  were  visited  with  gi-eater  se^•erities  than  ever. 
Those  who  took  advantage  of  the  Indulgence  to 
resume  their  functions  might  justly  plead  that  the 
king's  letter  only  removed  an  external  violence, 
which  had  restrained  them  from  the  exercise  of  an 
ottice  which  they  held  from  a  Higher  than  Charles, 
and  that  their  preaching  in  no  sense  traversed 
the  great  fundamental  article  of  Presbyterianism, 
namely,  that  Christ  is  the  sole  fountain  of  all  office 
in  his  Church.  Nevertheless,  their  conduct  tended 
somewhat  to  obscure  this  vital  article,  and  more- 
over the  unbroken  union  of  Presbyterianism  was  a 
far  gi'eater  good  than  any  benefit  they  could  expect 
to  reap  from  availing  themselves  of  the  royal 
licence.  This  union  was  sacrificed  by  the  accept- 
ance of  the  Indulgence,  and  heats  and  animosities 
began  to  embitter  their  spirit,  and  weaken  the 
Presbyterian  phalanx. 

The  Government  made  trial  of  yet  another  plan. 
This  was  the  proposal  of  Archbishop  Leighton,  now 
ti-anslated  to  the  See  of  Glasgow,  and  is  known 
as  the  Accommodation.  The  archbishop's  scheme 
was  a  blending  of  the  two  forms  of  Prelacy  and 
Pre.sln'tery.  It  was  proposed  that  the  Ijishop 
should  keep  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  Church 
and  wield  its  government,  but  that  in  doing  so  he 
should  to  some  extent  make  use  of  the  machinery 
of  Presbj'terianism.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  this 
method  could  not  long  endure ;  the  Presbyterian 
admixture  would  speedily  be  purged  out,  and  onl}- 
Prelacy,    pure   and   simple,   would   remain.      The 


A  CONVENTICLE   ON   THE   WHITADDER. 


593 


Bcheme  was  never  brought  into  oper;ition.  The 
iimiable  and  pious  archbishop  bemoaned  its  failure  ; 
but  he  ought  to  have  reflected  that  the  men  whose 
unreasonable  obstinacy,  as  doubtless  he  deemed  it, 
had  defeated  his  project,  were  maintaining  views 
which  subjected  them  to  lines,  imprisonment,  and 
death,  and  in  which,  therefore,  it  was  to  be  jire- 
sumed  they  were  entu-ely  conscientious,  whereas  he, 
though  doubtless  equally  conscientious,  had  no  such 
opportunity  of  giving  proof  of  it,  inasmuch  as  his 
sentiments,  happily  for  himself,  were  in  accordance 
with  his  interests  and  honours. 

These  plans  and  others  to  allay  the  opposition  of 
Scotland,  and  quietly  plant  Prelacy  and  arbitrary 
government,  had  been  tried,  and  had  all  failed. 
What  was  now  to  be  done?  There  remained  to 
the  Government  only  the  alternative  of  confessmg 
their  defeat,  and  desisting  from  further  attempts,  or 
of  falling  back  once  more  upon  the  sword.  Those 
who  were  puslaing  on  the  Government  have  no  such 
word  in  their  vocabulary  as  "  desist."  They  may 
pause,  or  turn  aside  for  a  little,  but  they  never 
desist.  They  stop  only  when  they  have  ariived  at 
success  or  ruin.  The  Government  was  still  de- 
liberating whether  to  turn  back  or  go  forward 
when  there  appeared  on  the  horizon  of  Scotland 
another  sign,  to  them  most  portentous  and 
menacing.  That  Presbyterianism  which  they  had 
driven  out  of  the  churches,  and  were  tiying  to 
extirpate  mtli  the  sword,  was  rising  up  in  the 
^vild8  and  moorlands  to  which  they  had  chased 
it,  mightier  and  more  courageous  than  ever.  The 
outed  Presbyterimis  had  found  a  sanctuar}-  in  the 
heart  of  their  mountains  or  amid  the  solitudes  of 
their  moorlairds ;  and  there,  envu-oned  by  the 
majestic  peaks  or  the  scarcely  less  sublime  spaces 
of  the  silent  wilderness,  they  worshipped  the 
Eternal  in  a  temple  of  his  own  rearing.  Never 
had  the  Gospel  possessed  such  power,  or  their 
hearts  been  so  melted  under  it,  as  when  it  was 
preached  to  them  in  these  wilds ;  and  never  had 
their  Communion  Sabbaths  been  so  sweet  and 
hallowed  as  when  their  table  was  spread  on  the 
moorland  or  on  the  mountain ;  nor  had  their  psalm 
been  ever  sung  with  such  thrilling  ra])tui'e  as  when 
its  .strains,  rising  into  the  oiien  vault,  died  away 
on  the  wilds.  This  they  felt  was  wor.ship,  the  wor- 
ship of  the  heai-t — real,  fervent,  sublime. 

It  will  brighten  this  dark  page  of  our  history  to 
place  upon  it  a  little  pict\ue  of  one  of  these  gather- 
ings, where  children  of  the  Covenant  worshipped, 
far  from  city  and  temple,  in  the  holy  calm  of  the 
wilderness.  We  shall  take  an  actual  scene.  It  is 
the  year  1G77.  The  Comminiion  is  to  bo  celebrated 
on  a  certain  Sunday  in  the  Mearso,  in  the  south  of 


Scotland.  Notice  of  the  gathering  has  been  cii-cu- 
lated  by  trusty  messengers  some  time  before,  and 
when  the  day  arrives  thousands  are  seen  converging 
on  the  appointed  spot  from  all  points  of  the  horizon. 
The  place  chosen  is  a  little  oblong  hollow  on  the 
banks  of  the  Whitadder,  its  verdant  and  level  bosom 
enclosed  on  all  sides  by  ascending  grassy  slopes. 
Here,  as  in  an  amphitheatre,  gather  the  crowd  of 
worshippers.  There  is  no  hurry  or  distraction,  each 
as  he  enters  takes  his  place  in  silence,  till  at  length 
not  only  is  the  bottom  of  the  hollow  covered 
like  floor  of  church,  but  the  worshippers  over- 
flow, and  occupy  row  on  row  the  slopes  that 
form  its  enclosure.  At  the  head  of  the  little  plain 
there  is  a  low  mound,  which  serves  as  a  pulpit. 
There  stands  the  minister  about  to  begin  the  ser- 
vice. His  wliite  locks  and  furrowed  face  tell  of 
suffering ;  he  is  there  at  the  peril  of  life,  but  he 
betrays  no  fear  and  he  feels  none.  He  is  a  true 
servant  of  Him  who  planted  the  mountains  that 
rise  round  him,  and  hung  the  azui'e  vault  above 
them.     The  Almighty  wing  covers  him. 

Around  this  congregation  of  unarmed  wor- 
shipj^ers,  a  little  way  off,  are  posted  a  ti-oop  of 
horsemen,  who  keep  watch  and  ward  over  the 
assembly.  They  may  amount  to  a  hundi-ed,  and 
are  variously  armed.  It  may  be  that  the  dragoons 
of  Dalziel  are  on  the  seai-ch,  or  that  some  of  the 
persecutors  have  got  notice  of  then-  meeting,  and 
intend  dispersing  it  with  murderous  violence.  It 
is  to  prevent  any  surpiise  of  this  sort  that  armed 
scouts  are  stationed  all  roimd  them.  Outside  the 
fii-st  circle  of  watchers  is  a  second,  fiii-ther  off,  and 
amounting,  it  may  be,  to  a  score  of  horsemen  in 
all.  There  is  still  a  third  line  of  watchers.  Some 
dozen  men  ride  out  into  the  wilds,  and  disposing 
themselves  in  a  -wide  circuit,  sit  there  on  horse- 
back, theii"  eyes  fijced  on  the  distant  horizon, 
ready,  the  moment  the  figure  of  trooper  appears 
on  the  far-off  edge  of  the  moor,  to  signal  his 
approach  to  the  cu-ele  behind  them,  as  they  to  the 
inner  line.  In  this  way  an  extent  of  country  some 
fifty  miles  in  circuit  is  obseiwed,  and  the  congre- 
gation within  its  triple  lino  worsliip  iu  comparative 
security,  knowing  that  should  danger  appear  they 
will  have  time  to  escape,  or  pivpare  for  its  aj)- 
proach. 

The  day  was  one  of  the  loveliest  that  the 
Scottish  summer  affords.  The  sky  was  -without 
a  cloud,  and  the  air  was  perfectly  calm.  No  gust 
of  wind  broke  the  cadence  of  the  speaker's  voice, 
or  lost  to  the  assembly  a  word  of  what  he  uttered. 
The  worship  is  commenced  with  praise.  The 
psalm  is  tii-st  read  by  the  minister ;  then  its  notes 
may   bo    heard  rising   in  soft  sweet  strains  from 


594 


IIlSTOltY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


tliose  immediately  around  him.  Aiion  it  swells. into 
fuller  volume,  wiudiig  ever  louder  and  loftier  as 
voice  after  voice  strikes  in.  Now  the  whole  ii-s- 
sembly  have  jouied  in  the  psalm,  and  the  climax 
of  the  praise  is  reached.  The  majestic  anthem 
fills  the  dome  over  them.  It  pauses,  and  again  it 
bursts  out ;  again  its  melodious  numbers  ascend  into 


are  expressed  !     After  the  prayer  the  text  is  read 
cut,  and  the  sermon  commences. 

The  preacher  on  the  occasion  of  which  we  speak 
was  Mr.  John  Welsh,  and  liis  text  was  selected 
from  the  Song  of  Solomon,  ii.,  11,  12 — that 
sweetest  of  all  lyrics,  which  paints  the  passinc 
away   of  winter   of   the   Old   Economv,    and   the 


THOMAS  DALZIEL  OF  BINNS.     (Proiii  o  Portrait  ofler  D.  Patton,  in  the  JlihUollicqiic  Rationale.) 


the  sky ;  again  they  roll  away  over  the  face  of  the 
wilderness,  awakening  its  silence  into  song.  The 
moorland  begins  to  sing  with  its  children. 

The  psalm  ended,  praj'er  is  oflered.  The  feeling 
that  he  is  the  channel  through  which  the  petitions 
and  thanksgivings  of  the  thousands  around  him  are 
ascending  to  the  Mercy-seat  deepens  the  solemnity 
of  the  minister,  and  enkindles  his  fervoiu-.  With 
what  reverence  he  addresses  the  "  Mo.st  High!" 
How  earnestly  he  pleads,  how  admii'able  the  order 
in  which  his  supplications  airange  themselves,  and 
how  chaste  and  beautiful  the  words  in  which  they 


coming  of  the  spring-time  of  the  Gospel,  as 
comes  the  Eastern  spring  with  its  affluence  of 
verdure,  and  blossoms,  and  songs : — "  Lo,  the 
winter  is  past :  the  rain  is  over  and  gone : 
the  flowers  appear  on  the  earth  :  the  time  of  the 
singing  of  birds  is  come,  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle 
is  heard  in  our  land."  The  jn-eaoher  took  occasion 
to  refer  to  the  spring-time  of  the  Reformation  in 
Scotland,  when  the  earth  was  so  gi-een,  and  the 
skies  so  fair.  Its  short  summer  had  been  chased 
away  by  a  winter  of  black  tempests,  but  not 
finally,  nor  for  long,  he  was  assured.     The  Scottish 


596 


HISTORY   OF   PEOTESTANTISM. 


earth  would  again  gi-ow  mollient,  its  skies  would 
clear  up,  and  the  Gospel  would  again  be  heai-d  in 
its  now  silent  pulpits.  The  sight  around  him 
showed  that  the  Evangelical  Vine  had  struck  its 
roots  too  deeply  in  the  soil  to  be  overturned  by  the 
tempests  of  tjTamiy,  or  blighted  by  the  mephitic 
air  of  a  returning  superstition.  The  sermon  ended, 
there  followed,  amid  the  deep  stillness  of  the  multi- 
tude, the  prayer  of  consecration.  The  communicants 
now  came  forward  and  seated  themselves  at  the 
Communion-tables,  which  were  arranged  much  as  in 
an  ordinaiy  church.  Two  parallel  tables,  covered 
with  a  pure  white  cloth,  ran  along  the  plane  of  the 
hollow :  these  were  joined  at  the  upper  end  by  a 
C1-0S3  table,  on  which  were  placed  the  bread  and  the 
wine.  The  persons  seated  at  the  table  were  no 
promiscuous  crowd.  Though  set  up  in  the  open 
wilds,  the  ministers  never  forgot  that  the  Commu- 
nion-table was  "  holy,"  and  that  none  but  the 
disciples  of  the  Saviour  could  be,  in  their  opinion, 
worthy  commiuiicants.  Accordingly,  as  was  the 
custom  among  the  French  Huguenots,  so  also 
with  the  Scottish  Covenanters,  the  usual  "  token  " 
was  given  to  the  people  on  the  Saturday  pre- 
ceding, and  this  "pass"  no  one  could  obtain 
unless  he  was  known  to  be  of  Christian  deport- 
ment. To  rally  round  the  war-standard  of  the 
Covenant  did  not  of  itself  entitle  one  to  a  seat 
at  the  Communion-table,  for  well  did  the  leaders 
know  that  in  character  and  not  in  numbers  lay  the 
strength  of  the  movement.  While  the  bread  and 
cup  were  being  distributed,  a  minister  addressed 
the  communicants  in  a  suitable  exhortation.  The 
elders,  who  were  generally  men  of  position,  and 
always  men  of  kno^vn  piety,  waited  at  table  :  when 
one  body  of  communicants  had  partaken  they  rose, 
and  others  took  their  places.  On  the  present  occa- 
sion there  were  not  fewer  than  sixteen  successive 
tables  :  and  as  the  number  that  each  table  accom- 
modated was  not  less  than  200,  the  entire  body  of 
persons  who  that  day  joined  in  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  could  not  be  below  3,200.  Others 
were  present  besides  the  communicants,  and  the 
entire  assemblage  could  not  be  reckoned  at  less 
than  between  4,000  and  5,000.  The  sen-ices  were 
conducted  by  five  ministers.  After  "  celebration," 
another  sermon  was  preached  by  Mr.  Dickson,  who 
took  for  his  text  Gen.  xxii.  14:  "And  Abraham 
called  the  name  of  that  place  Jehovah-jii-eh :  as  it 
is  said  to  this  day.  In  the  mount  of  the  Lord  it 
shall  be  seen."  The  duty  he  pressed  on  his  hearers 
was  that  of  walking  by  faith  through  the  darkness 
of  the  night  now  covering  them,  till  they  should 


come  to  the  mount  where  the  day  of  deliverance 
would  break  upon  them.  The  services  were  not 
confined  to  the  Communion  Simday,  but  included 
the  day  before  and  the  day  after ;  the  people  thus 
remained  three  days  on  the  spot,  retiring  every 
night  from  their  place  of  meeting,  mai-shalled  in 
rank  and  file  under  then-  guards  ;  and  retwrning  to 
it,  in  the  same  order,  next  morning.  They  found 
resting-places  for  the  night  in  the  villages  and  fai-m- 
houses  in  the  neighbourhood ;  their  provisions  they 
had  brought  with  them,  or  they  purchased  with 
money  what  they  needed. 

Before  quitting  a  spot  to  be  sacred  ever  after, 
doubtless,  in  their  memory,  three  sermons  were 
preached  on  the  Monday — the  first  by  Mr.  Dickson, 
the  second  by  ]Mr.  Riddel,  and  the  thii'd  by 
Mr.  Blackadder.  The  same  man  who  closed  these 
public  services  has  left  us  his  impression  of  this 
memorable  scene.  "  Though  the  people  at  first 
meetmg,"  says  Mr.  Blackadder,  "  were  something 
apprehensive  of  hazard,  yet  fi'om  the  time  the 
work  was  entered  upon  till  the  close  of  it,  they 
were  neither  alarmed  nor  afirighted,  but  sat  as 
composed,  and  the  work  was  as  orderly  gone  about, 
as  if  it  had  been  in  the  days  of  the  gi'eatest  peace 
and  quiet.  For  there,  indeed,  was  to  be  seen  the 
goings  of  God,  even  the  goings  of  their  God  and 
King  in  that  sanctuaiy,  which  was  encoui'aging  to 
them,  and  terrible  to  his  and  theii-  enemies  out 

of  his  holy  place Many  great  days 

of  the  Son  of  Man  have  been  seen  in  thee,  O 
now  how  desolate  Kirk  of  Scotland  !  but  few  like 
this." ' 

These  field-preachmgs  were  in  ti-uth  regarded  with 
terror  by  the  Government.  The  men  who  ruled 
Scotland  would  rather  have  seen  ten  thousand 
warriors  arrayed  against  them  in  battle,  than  have 
beheld  these  men  and  women,  armed  only  with 
prayers  and  patience,  assembling  in  the  wilds,  and 
there  bowing  in  worship  before  the  God  of  heaven. 
And,  indeed,  the  Government  had  good  reason  for 
fear ;  for  it  was  at  the  conventicle  that  the 
nation's  heart  was  fed,  and  its  courage  recruited. 
While  these  gatherings  were  kept  up,  in  vain  were 
all  the  edicts  with  which  the  persecutors  proscribed 
Pi'esbyterianism,  in  vain  the  swords  and  scaflbhls 
with  which  they  sought  to  suppress  it.  The  fiold- 
jireachings  multi])lied  soldiers  for  fighting  the 
battles  of  religion  and  liberty  faster  than  thoir 
dragoons  could  shoot  them  down  on  the  moors,  or 
their  hanciuien  strangle  them  in  the  Grass  Market. 


Blackadder,  Memoirs,  MS.  coiiy. 


HARSH   MEASUPiES    AOAIXST   THE    CONVENTICLE. 


507 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 


DKUMCI.OG — liOTir.VCLL    EHIDGE — THE    ■•  KILLING   TIMES. 


The  Conrsnticlo  to  bo  Crushed — Storm  of  Edicts — Letters  of  lutercommimiug — Sharp's  New  Edict— His  Assassination 
— The  Hij^hland  Host — Graham  of  Clavurhouse — His  Defeat  at  Driimclog — Dissensions  in  tlie  Covenanters'  CiimiJ 
— Battle  of  Bothwell  Bridge — Prisoners— They  are  Penned  in  Greyfriars'  Cliurchyard— Shipped  off  to  Barbadoes— 
The  "  Killing  Times" — .Tames  II. — His  Toleration — Tlie  Sanquhar  Declaration— Tlie  Stuarts  Disowned — The  Last 
Two  Martyrs,  Argyle  and  Renwick— Importance  of  the  Covenanting  Struggle. 


Despaiuino  of  being  .able  to  go  tlirongh  with  their 
ilesigns  so  long  as  the  field-prcacliijig.s  were  pei'- 
mittecl  to  take  place,  tlie  Privy  Council  summoned 
all  their  powers  to  tlie  suppression  of  these 
assemblages.  Lauderdale's  insolence  and  tyranny 
li.ad  now  readied  their  fullest  development.  He 
was  at  this  time  all-powerful  at  court ;  lie  could,  as 
a  consoquenco,  govern  Scotland  as  lie  listed ;  but 
])roud  and  ])owerful  as  lie  was,  Sharj)  continued  to 
make  liim  liis  tool,  and  as  the  conventicle  was  the 
special  object  of  the  primate's  abhorrence,  Lauder- 
dale was  compelled  to  jjut  forth  liis  whole  power  to 
crush  it.  The  conventicle  was  denounced  as  a 
rendezvous  of  rebellion,  and  a  rain  of  edicts  was 
directed  agaiiiust  it.  All  persons  attending  field- 
preachings  were  to  be  punished  with  fine  and 
couliscation  of  their  property.  Those  informing 
against  them  were  to  share  tlie  fines  and  the 
])ropcrty  confiscated,  save  wlien  it  chanced  to  be 
the  estate  of  a  landlord  that  fell  under  the  Act. 
These  good  things  tlie  Privy  Council  kept  for 
themselves,  Lauderdale  sometimes  carrying  off 
the  lion's  share.  Magistrates  were  enjoined  to  see 
that  no  conventicle  was  held  within  their  burgh  ; 
landlords  were  taken  bound  for  their  tenants ; 
master.s  for  their  servants ;  and  if  any  .should 
transgi-css  in  this  respect,  by  stealing  away  to  hear 
one  of  the  outed  ministers,  his  superior,  whether 
magistrate,  landlord,  or  master,  was  to  denounce  or 
jiunish  the  culprit;  and  failing  to  do  so,  was  himself 
to  incur  tlie  penalties  he  ought  to  have  inflicted 
upon  his  dependants.  These  unrighteous  edicts 
received  rigorous  execution,  and  sums  were  extorted 
tliereby  whicli  amazed  one  when  he  reflected  to 
what  extent  tlio  country  had  suflored  from  previous 
)iillagings.  It  was  not  enough,  in  order  to  escape 
tills  legal  robl)ery,  that  one  eschewed  the  con- 
venticle ;  he  must  lie  in  his  place  in  the  parish 
church  on  Sunday ;  for  every  day's  absence  ho  was 
liable  to  a  fine.' 


>  'Wodvow,  HUi.  0/  Churrh  nf  fii-ollavil.  bk.  ii.,  ch.ap.  12. 
Aikman,  Hist,  of  Scotland,  vol.  iv.,  p.  003. 


The  misery  of  the  country  was  .still  further 
deepened  by  the  macliineiy  whicli  was  set  up 
for  the  working  of  this  system  of  ruinous  oppres- 
sion. The  Privy  Council,  too  large,  it  was  judged, 
for  the  quick  dispatch  of  business,  wa,s  reduced  to 
a  "  Committee  of  Aff"airs."  Sharp  was  president, 
and  with  him  were  associated  two  or  three  others, 
true  yoke-fellows  of  tlie  "  Red  Primate."  This 
court  was  bound  by  no  statute,  it  permitted  no 
ajijieal,  and  like  the  cave  of  ancient  story, 
although  many  footsteps  could  be  seen  going  in, 
there  were  none  visible  coming  out.  Another 
means  of  executing  the  cruel  laws  which  had  re- 
placed the  ancient  statutes  of  the  kingdom,  was  to 
raise  an  additional  force,  and  place  garrisons  in  the 
more  disaflected  shires.  This,  again,  necessitated  a 
"cess,"  which  was  felt  to  be  doublj'  gricNous,  inas- 
much as  it  obliged  the  country  to  furnish  the  means 
of  its  own  destruction.  The  peasantry  had  to  pay 
for  the  soldiers  who  were  to  pillage,  torture,  and 
murder  them.  A  yet  further  piece  of  ingenious 
wickedness  were  the  "  Letters  of  Intcrcommuning," 
which  were  issued  by  the  Government  against  tlie 
more  eminent  Presbyterians.  Those  against  whom 
these  missives  were  fulminated  were  cut  ofl"  from 
human  society :  no  friend,  no  relation,  dur.st  give 
them  a  night's  lodging,  or  a  meal,  or  a  cup  of  cold 
water,  or  address  a  word  or  a  letter  to  them  ;  they 
were  forbidden  all  help  and  sympathy  of  their 
fellow-creatures.  For  a  minister  to  preach  in 
the  fields  was  to  incur  the  penalty  of  deatli,  and  a 
price  was  set  upon  his  head.  The  nation  was 
diiided  into  two  classes,  the  oppressors  and  the 
oppressed.  Government  had  become  a  system  of 
lawless  tribunals,  of  arbitrary  edicts,  of  spies,  im- 
prisonings,  and  niurderings.  Sucli  was  the  state 
of  Scotland  in  the  year  1076.  Nevertheless,  the 
conventicle  still  flourished. 

Till  the  field-preaching  was  entirely  and  utterly 
swe]it  away,  the  persecutor  felt  that  he  liad  accom- 
|)lished  nothiiig.  After  all. the  severities  he  had 
)iut  ill  force,  would  it  be  jiossible  to  find  more 
rigorous  moans  of  suiijiression  !      The  )iersecutor's 


598 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


invention  was  not  yet  at  an  end.  Move  tenible 
severities  were  devised ;  and  Sharp  proposed  and 
carried  in  Council  the  most  atrocious  edict  which 
had  yet  been  passed.  Tlie  edict  in  question  was  no 
less  than  to  make  it  a  capital  ciime  on  the  part  of 
any  to  attend  a  field-preaching  in  arms.  This  was, 
in  fact,  to  pass  sentence  of  death  on  four-fifths  of 
the  people  of  Scotland;'  in  some  districts  the 
entii-e  population  came  within  the  scope  of  the 
penalty.  But  so  it  was  :  it  was  death  to  be  present 
at  a  field-preaching  ;  and  judges,  officers,  and  even 
sergeants  were  empowered  to  kill  on  the  spot,  as 
traitors,  all  persons  whom  they  found  going  armed 
to  the  conventicle.  This  barbarous  law  only 
nursed  what  the  Government  wished  to  extirpate. 
If  liable  to  be  murdered  by  any  Government  official 
or  spy  who  met  him,  what  coxild  the  man  so  threat- 
ened do  but  cany  anns  ?  Thus  the  congi-egation 
became  a  camp ;  the  attenders  on  field-pi'eachiiigs 
came  prepared  to  fight  as  well  as  to  worship ;  and 
thus  were  the  Covenanters  forced  by  the  Govern- 
ment into  incipient  war. 

Through  Sharp's  influence  and  cruelty  mainly  had 
this  unbearable  state  of  matters  been  realised.  His 
violence  at  last  provoked  a  terrible  retaliation. 
Only  a  few  days  before  his  departure  for  London, 
where  the  atrocious  edict  of  his  own  drafting  was 
afterwards  ratified  by  the  king,  he  was  surprLsed  at 
a  lonely  spot  on  Magus  Moor,  as  he  was  passing 
(3rd  May,  1679)  from  Edinburgh  to  St.  Andrews, 
dragged  from  his  carriage,  and  massacred.  Tliis 
was  a  gi'eat  crime.  The  French  state.sman  would 
have  said  it  was  worse — it  was  a  gi-eat  blunder ; 
and  indeed  it  was  so,  for  though  we  know  of  no 
Presbyterian  who  justified  the  aet,  its  guilt  was 
imputed  to  the  whole  Presbyterian  body,  and  it 
furnished  a  pretext  for  letting  loose  upon  them  a 
more  ferocious  and  exterminating  violence  than  any 
to  which  they  had  yet  been  subjected.  The  edict 
lived  after  its  author,  and  his  assassination  only 
secured  its  more  merciless  and  rigorous  enforce- 
ment. 

In  this  ten-ible  drama  one  bloody  phase  is  suc- 
ceeded by  a  bloodier,  and  one  cniel  actor  is  followed 
by  another  still  more  cruel  and  ferocious.  The 
Government,  in  want  of  soldiers  to  cany  out  their 
measures  on  the  scale  now  contemplated,  turned 
their  eyes  to  the  .same  quai-ter  whence  they  had 
obtained  a  supply  of  curates.  An  army  of  some 
10,000  Highlanders  was  brought  down  from  the 
Pojiish  north,-  to  spoil  and  torture  the  inhabitants 
of  the  western  Lowlands.     Tliis  Highland  host,  as 


'  Aikman,  Eist.  of  Scotland,  vol.  iv.,  p.  603. 
'  Wodrow,  Hist.  Ch.  of  Scotland,  bk.  ii.,  ch.  13. 


it  was  tenned,  came  armed  with  field-pieces, 
muskets,  daggers,  and  spades,  as  if  to  be  occupied 
against  some  great  fortified  camp ;  they  brought  with 
them  also  shackles  to  bind  and  lead  away  prisoners, 
whose  ransom  would  add  to  the  spoil  they  might 
take  in  war.  These  savages,  who  neither  knew  nor 
cared  anything  about  the  quarrel,  were  not  a  little 
.surprised,  on  arriving  in  the  shires  of  Lanark  and 
A3'r,  to  see  neither  army  nor  fortified  city,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  the  pursuits  of  peaceful  life  going 
calmly  on  in  the  workshops  and  fields.  Defrauded 
of  the  pleasure  of  fighting,  they  betook  them, 
to  the  more  lucrative  business  of  stealing.  They 
quartered  themselves  where  they  chose,  made  the 
family  supply  them  -with  strong  drink,  rifled  lock- 
fast places,  drew  their  dii-ks  on  the  slightest  pro- 
vocation, and  by  thi-eats  and  tortures  compelled  the 
mmates  of  the  houses  they  had  invaded  to  reveal 
the  places  in  which  their  valuables  were  liidden. 
At  the  end  of  two  months  they  were  withdrawn, 
the  Government  themselves  having  become  ashamed 
of  them,  and  being  disappointed  that  the  jiopula- 
tion,  by  submitting  patiently  to  this  infliction,  had 
escaped  the  massacre  which  insurrection  would 
have  drawn  down  ujjon  them  from  this  ruthless 
horde.  This  host  returned  to  their  native  hills, 
loaded  with  the  multifarious  spoil  which  they  had 
gathered  in  their  incursion.  "  Wlien  this  goodly 
army  retreated  homewards,"  says  Kirkton,  "  you 
would  have  thought  by  their  baggage  that  they  had 
been  at  the  sack  of  a  besieged  city."^ 

John  Graham  of  Claverhouse  and  his  dragoons 
next  appear  upon  the  scene.  His  trooi)s  are  seen 
scoiu-ing  the  countiy,  now  skinnishing  with  a  party 
of  Covenanters,  now  attacking  a  field-meeting,  and 
dyeing  the  heather  with  the  blood  of  the  worship- 
pers, and  now  shooting  peasants  in  cold  blood  in 
tlie  fields,  or  murdering  them  at  their  own  doors. 
Defeat  checked  for  a  little  their  career  of  riot, 
jirofanity,  and  blood.  It  is  Sunday  morning,  the 
1st  of  June,  1079.  On  the  strath  that  runs  ea.st- 
ward  from  Loudon  Hill,  Avondale,  the  Covenantee 
had  resolved  to  meet  that  day  for  worship.  The 
rounded  eminence  of  the  hill,  with  its  wooded 
top,  was  on  one  side  of  them,  the  moss  and 
heath  that  make  up  the  bosom  of  the  valley  on 
the  other.  The  watchmen  are  .stationed  as  usual. 
Mr.  Douglas  is  ju.st  lieginning  his  sermon  when  a 
signal-gun  is  heard.  Claverhouse  and  his  dragoons 
are  advancing.  The  wor.shippers  sit  still,  but  the 
armed  men  step  out  from  the  others  and  put  them- 
selves in  order  of  battle.  They  are  but  a  small 
host — fifty  horsemen,  fifty  foot  with  muskets,  and 

^  Kirkton,  Hist.,  pp.  390,  391. 


BATTLES   OF    DRUMCl/Xi    AND    JiOl'HWKIJ,    lUMDOK. 


599 


fi  Iiimdred  and  fifty  armed  witli  halberds,  forks,  and 
similar  weapons.  Sir  Robert  Hamilton  took  the 
command,  and  was  supported  by  Colonel  Cleland, 
Balfour  of  Burley,  and  Hackston  of  Eathilet. 
Their  step  was  firm  as,  singing  the  Seventy-sixth 
Psalm  to  the  tune  of  "  Martyrs,"  they  advanced 
to  meet  the  enemy.  They  met  him  at  the  Morass 
of  Druniclog.  The  first  mutual  volley  left  the 
Covenanters  untouched,  but  when  the  smoke  had 
rolled  away  it  was  seen  that  there  were  not  a  few 
empty  saddles  in  Claverhouse's  cavalry.  Plunging 
into  the  moss,  trooper  and  Covenanter  grappled 
hand  to  hand  with  each  other ;  but  the  enthusiastic 
valour  of  the  latter  earned  the  day.  The  ch-agoons 
began  to  reel  like  drunken  men.  Claverhouse  saw 
that  the  field  was  lost,  and  fled  with  the  remains 
of  his  troop.  He  left  foi-ty  of  his  men  dead  on 
the  field,  with  a  considerable  number  of  wounded. 
The  Covenanters  had  one  killed  and  five  mortally 
wounded.' 

It  was  the  heroism,  not  the  numbers,  of  the 
Covenanters  which  had  won  the  field ;  and  the 
lesson  which  the  victory  taught  them  was  to  main- 
tain the  spirit  of  devotion,  which  alone  could  feed 
the  fire  of  their  valour,  and  to  eschew  division. 
The  nation  was  ^vith  them  in  the  main,  tlieir  recent 
success  had  brought  prestige  to  their  cause,  num- 
bers were  now  flocking  to  their  standards,  some  of 
them  men  of  birth,  and  seeing  the  royal  forces  in 
Scotland  were  few,  their  chances  wei-e  now  better 
than  when  they  measured  swords  with  the  Govern- 
ment at  Rullion  Green.  But  unhappily  they  were 
split  up  by  questions  gi'owng  out  of  the  Indulgence, 
and  they  laboured  under  the  further  disadvantage 
of  having  no  master-mind  to  pre.side  in  council 
and  command  in  the  field.  It  was  under  these 
fatal  conditions  that,  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  the 
battle  of  Bothwell  Bridge  was  fought. 

After  Diiimelog  the  Covenanters  pitched  their 
camp  on  Hamilton  Moor,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Clyde.  They  were  as.sailable  only  by  a  nari'ow 
bridge  across  that  river,  which  might  be  easily 
defended.  The  royal  army  now  advancing  against 
them,  under  Monmouth,  numbered  about  15,000; 
the  Presby-terian  host  was  somewhere  about  .'5,000. 
But  they  were  weakened  in  presence  of  the  enemv 
more  by  disunion  than  by  disparity  of  numbers.  The 
Indulgence  had  all  along  been  productive  of  evils, 
and  was  now  to  inflict  upon  them  a  crowning 
disaster.  It  was  debated  whether  those  who  had 
accepted  the  Indulgence  should  be  permitted  to  join 
in  arms  with  their  brethren  till  first  they  had 
condemned  it.     A  new  and  extreme  doctrine  had 

'  Aiknian,  Hist,  of  Scotland,  vol.  v.,  p.  5. 


sprung  up,  and  was  espoused  by  a  party  among  the 
Presbyterians,  to  the  eflect  that  the  king  by  the 
Erastian  power  he  claimed  over  the  Church  had 
forfeited  all  right  to  the  civil  obedience  of  the  sub- 
jects. The  days  and  weeks  that  ought  to  have  been 
spent  in  drilling  recruits,  providing  ammunition, 
and  forming  the  men  into  regiments,  were  wasted 
in  liot  discussion  and  bitter  recrimination ;  and 
when  the  enemy  at  last  approached  they  were  found 
unprepared  to  meet  him.  A  gallant  partj'  of  300, 
headed  by  Hackston,  defended  the  bridge  for  many 
houi-s,  the  mam  body  of  the  covenanting  army  re- 
maiiang  idle  spectators  of  the  unequal  contest,  till 
they  saw  the  brave  little  party  give  way  before 
overwhelming  numbers,  and  then  the  royal  forces 
defiled  across  the  bridge.  Panic  seized  the  Presby- 
terian host,  left  without  oflicers ;  rout  followed ; 
the  royal  cavalry  pursued  the  fugitives,  and  mer- 
cilessly cut  down  all  whom  they  overtook.  The 
banks  of  the  Clyde,  the  town  of  Hamilton,  in  .short 
the  whole  surrounding  country  became  a  scene 
of  indiscriminate  slaughter.  No  fewer  than  400 
perished.  This  disastrous  battle  was  fought  on 
Sunday  morning,  the  22nd  of  June,  1679. 

It  was  now  that  the  cup  of  the  suflering  Presby- 
terians was  filled  to  the  brim.  The  Government, 
eager  to  improve  the  advantage  they  had  obtained 
on  the  fatal  field  of  Bothwell  Bridge,  struck  more 
terribly  than  ever,  in  the  hope  of  eflecting  the  utter 
extermination  of  the  Covenantei-s  before  they  had 
time  to  rally.  Twelve  hundred  had  sun-endered 
themselves  pi'isoners  on  the  field  of  battle.  They 
wei'e  stripped  almost  naked,  tied  two  and  two, 
driven  to  Edinburgh,  being  treated  with  great 
inhumanity  on  the  way,  and  on  arriving  at  their 
destination,  the  prisons  being  full,  they  were 
penned  like  cattle,  or  rather  like  wild  beasts,  in 
the  Greyfi-iars'  Churchyard.  What  a  diflcrent 
spectacle  from  that  which  this  famous  spot  had 
exhibited  forty  years  before  !  Their  miseiy  was 
heartrending.  The  Government's  barbarity  to- 
wards them  would  be  incredible  were  it  not  too 
surely  attested.  These  1,200  persons  were  left 
without  the  slightest  shelter ;  they  were  ex- 
posed to  all  weathers,  to  the  rain,  the  tempest,  the 
snow ;  they  slept  on  the  bare  earth  ;  their  guard 
treated  them  capriciously  and  cnielly,  robbing 
them  of  their  little  money,  and  often  di-iving 
away  the  citizens  who  sought  to  relieve  their 
great  sufferings  by  bringing  them  food  or  clothing. 
Some  made  their  escape  ;  others  were  released 
on  signing  a  bond  of  non-resistance ;  others  were 
freed  when  found  to  be  sinking  under  wounds, 
or  diseases  contracted  by  e.xposui-e.  At  the  end 
of   fne    months — for   so    long   did    this    miserable 


600 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


crowd  remain  shut  up  within  the  walls  of  the 
gravej-ard — the  1,200  were  reduced  to  250.  On 
the  morning  of  the  1.5tli  of  November,  1679,  these 
250  were  taken  down  to  Leith  and  embarked  on 
board  a  vessel,  to  be  transported  to  Barbadoes. 
They  were  crowded  into  the  hold  of  the  ship, 
where  there  was  .scarce  room  for  100.  Awful 
were  the  heat,  the  thirst,  and  other  horrors  of 
this  floating  dungeon.  Their  ship  wa.s  overtaken 
by  a  terrible  tempest  oflf  the  coast  of  Orkney.     It 


filled  with  fresh  victims  brought  in  by  the  spies 
with  whom  the  country  swarmed.  Several  gentle- 
men and  many  leai'ned  and  venerable  ministers  were 
confined  in  the  dungeons  of  Blackness,  Dunottar, 
and  the  Bass  Rock.  Aged  matrons  and  pious 
maidens  were  executed  on  the  scaffold,  or  tied  to 
stakes  within  sea-mark  and  drowned.  The  pei-se- 
cution  fell  with  equal  severity  on  all  who  appeared 
for  the  cause  of  their  country's  religion  and  liberty. 
No  eminence  of  birth,  no  fame  of  talent,  no  lustre 


was  thrown  hy  the  winds  u[)on  the  rocks,  and  many 
of  the  poor  prisoners  on  board  were  drowned. 
Those  who  escaped  the  waves  were  carried  to  Bar- 
badoes and  sold  as  slaves.  A  few  only  survived  to 
return  to  their  native  land  at  the  Revolution. 

The  years  that  followed  are  known  as  "  the  killing 
times  ;  "  and  truly  Scotland  during  them  became  not 
unlike  that  from  which  the  term  Ls  boiTowed — 
a  shambles.  The  Presbyterians  were  hunted  on 
the  mountains  and  tracked  by  the  bloodhounds  of 
the  Privy  Coimcil  to  the  caves  and  dens  where  they 
had  hid  themselves.  C'laverhouse  and  his  dragoons 
were  continually  on  the  pursuit,  shooting  down 
men  and  women  iir  the  fields  and  on  the  highways. 
As  fast  as  the  prisons  could  be  emptied  they  were 


of  \-irtue  could  .shield  their  possessor  from  the  most 
horrible  fate  if  he  opposed  the  designs  of  the  court. 
Some  of  lofty  intellect  and  famed  statesmanship 
were  hanged  and  quartered  on  the  gallows,  and  the 
ghastly  spectacle  of  their  heads  and  limbs  met  tlw 
gazer  in  the  chief  cities  of  the  kingc^om,  a.s  if  the 
land  were  still  inhabited  by  cannibals,  and  had 
never  known  either  ci\'ilisation  or  Christianity. 
It  is  calculated  that  during  the  twenty-eight  yeare 
of  persecution  in  Scotland  18,000  persons  suSered 
death,  or  hardships  approaching  it. 

There  came  a  second  breathing-time  under  James 
II.  This  monarch,  \vith  the  view  of  introducing 
Popery  into  the  three  kingdoms,  published  a  Tolera- 
tion, which  he  made  universal.     It  was  a  treacherous 


THE   SANQUHAR   DECLARATION. 


601 


gift,  but  tlie  niiijority  of  Nonconformista  in  both 
England  and  Scotland  availed  themselves  of  it. 
The  bulk  of  the  oiited  Piesbyteiian  pastors  accepted 
it,  and  returned  to  the  discharge  of  their  fimctions. 


up  the  street  of  that  ancient  burgh,  and  on  ar- 
riving at  the  cross  one  of  them  dismounted,  and  the 
others  forming  a  ring  round  him,  while  the  citizens 
congregated  outside  the  circle,   he    read  aloud  the 


ROnEllT    LEIOIITON,    ARCHIIISHOP    OF    fiL.\SGOW    (jET.  40). 

(From  a  Poi-trait  of  the  period  engraved  by  E,  Wldte.) 


There  was  a  party,  however,  who  refused  to  profit  by 
King  James's  Toleration,  and  who  continued  to  be 
the  objects  of  a  relentless  persecution.  Tliey  had 
previously  raised  the  question  whether  the  House 
of  Stuart  had  not,  by  their  jjerversion  of  the  Consti- 
tution, religious  and  civil,  and  then-  systematic  and 
habitual  tyranny,  forfeited  all  right  to  the  throne. 
The  conclusion  at  which  they  arrived  they  announced 
in  their  famous  proclamation  at  Sanquhar.  On  the 
22nd  of  June,  1680,  a  little  troop  of  horsemen  rode 
165 


following  dechu-ation  : — "  We  do  by  these  presents 
disown  Charles  Stuart,  that  lias  been  reigning,  or 
rather  tyramrising,  on  the  throne  of  Britain  these 
years  bygone,  as  having  any  right,  title,  or  interest 
in  the  crown  of  Scotland,  for  government — as  for- 
feited se\'eral  years  .since,  by  his  perjury  and  breach 
of  covenant  both,  to  God  and  His  Kirk,  and  by 
his  tyranny,  and  breach  of  the  essential  conditions 
of  reigning  in  mattera  civil.  .  .  We  do  declare  a 
war  with  such  a  tyrant  and  usurper."    The  reading 


G02 


HISTORY    Ob'   PnOTESTAXTISxAI. 


einloil,  tliey  atlixed  their  jiaper  to  the  market  cross, 
and  rodo  away  into  the  moorhuuls  from  wliich  tlicy 
liad  so  suddenly  and  mysteriously  issued. 

From  this  little  landward  town  was  sounded  out 
the  tirst  knell  of  the  coming  downfall  of  the  House 
of  Stuart.  It  looked  eminently  absurd  in  these 
twenty  men  to  dethrone  the  sovereign  of  Great 
Britain,  but  however  we  may  denoiuice  the  act  as 
extravagant  and  even  treasonable,  the  treason  of 
these  men  lay  in  their  not  having  fleets  and  armies 
to  put  down  the  tji-ant  that  the  law  might  reign. 
The  Sanquhar  Declaration  however,  ^vith  all  its 
seeming  extravagance,  did  not  exhaust  itself  in  the 
solitudes  in  which  it  was  first  heard.  It  startled  the 
court.  The  Government,  instead  ot  letting  it  die,  took 
it  up,  and  published  it  all  over  the  three  kingdoms. 
It  was  read,  pondered  over,  and  it  operated  with 
other  causes  in  awakening  and  guiding  public  senti- 
ment, till  at  last  the  feeble  echoes  first  raised  among 
the  moors  of  Lanark,  came  back  in  thunder  in 
1688  from  the  cities  and  capitals  of  the  empii-e. 

The  close  of  the  persecution  was  distinguished  by 
two  remarkable  deaths.  As  Argyle  and  Guthrie 
had  opened  the  roll  of  Scottish  mai-tyi's,  so  now  it 
is  closed  by  Argyle  and  Eenwick.  It  was  meet 
surely  that  the  son  of  the  proto-raartyr  of  the 
Twenty-eight  Years'  Persecution,  .should  pour  out 
his  blood  on  the  same  scaffold  on  which  that  of  his 
great  ancestor,  and  of  so  many  besides,  had  been  shed, 
and  so  seal  as  it  were  the  testimony  of  them  all.  The 
deep  sleep  into  which  he  fell  just  before  his  execu- 
tion has  become  historic.  He  was  taken  aside  in  pre- 
sence of  his  enemies  into  a  pavilion,  to  rest  awhile, 
before  departing  to  his  eternal  rest.  Equally  his- 
toric are  his  last  words:  "  I  die  with  a  heart-hatred 
of  Popery,  prelacy,  and  all  superstition  whatever." 
Having  so  spoken  he  laid  his  head  upon  the  block. 

The  scaffold,  before  being  taken  down,  was  to 
be  wetted  with  the  blood  of  yet  another  martyi- — 
James  Renwick.  He  was  of  the  number  of  those 
who  refused  to  o^vll  James  as  king ;  and  fearlessly 
avowing  his  sentiments  on  this  as  on  other  matters, 
he  was  condemned  to  be  executed.  He  appeared 
on  the  scaffold  on  the  17th  of  Februaiy,  1688 — 
calm,  courageous,  and  elevated.  In  his  last  prayer 
he  expressed  a  confident  hope  that  the  dawn  of 
deliverance  for  Scotland  was  near,  and  that  days  of 
glory  yet  awaited  her.  He  essayed  to  address  the 
vast  concourse  of  sorrowing  spectators  around  the 
scaflbld,  but  the  drums  beat  all  the  while.  There 
came  a  pause  in  their  noise,  and  the  martyr  was 
heard  to  say,  or  rather  to  sing,  "  I  shall  soon  be 
above  these  clouds — I  shall  soon  be  above  these 
clouds,  then  shall  I  enjoy  thee,  and  glorify  thee,  O 
my  Father,  without  intemiption,  and  without  in- 


termission, for  ever."  The  martyr's  death-song  was 
Ihe  morning  hynm  of  Scotland,  for  scarcely  had  its 
ilnilling  strains  died  awa3'  when  deliverance  rame 
in  the  manner  we  shall  jiresently  see.' 

^Meanwhile  we  l)eliold  Scotland  apparently 
crashed.  All  her  noblemen  and  gentlemen  who 
had  taken  the  .side  of  the  nation  against  the  court 
had  perished  on  the  scaffold,  or  had  been  chased 
into  exile  ;  her  people  were  lying  by  thousands  in 
their  quiet  graves  among  the  moors  or  in  the  city 
churchyards,  their  withering  limbs  illuminating 
with  ghastly  yet  glorious  light  the  places  where 
they  were  exposed  to  view ;  and  when  Renwick 
ascended  the  ladder  to  die,  the  last  minister  of  the 

'  We  have  quoted  a  few  only  of  the  authorities  consulted 
in  the  compilation  of  this  brief  sketch  of  the  Twenty- 
eight  years'  Persecution.  For  the  information  of  other 
tliau  Scottish  readers,  we  may  state  that  details  com- 
prehending the  dying  speeches  of  the  martyrs  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Scots  Worthies,  Naphtali,  Cloud  of  Witnesses, 
De  Foe,  Simpson's  Traditions,  Dodd's  Fifty  Years'  Strugijle, 
MfCrie's  Story  of  the  Scottish  Church,  &c.  &c. 

At  p.  606  we  give  an  engraving  of  the  Martjrrs'  Monu- 
ment, Edinburgh.  Upon  the  slab  of  tlie  monument  are 
inscribed  the  following  earnest  verses  and  the  notes 
accompanying  them  :— 

"  Halt,  passenger,  take  heed  what  you  do  see. 
This  tomb  doth  shew  for  what  some  men  did  die. 

"  Here  lies  inteia-'d  the  dust  of  those  who  stood 
'Gainst  perjury,  resisting  unto  blood; 
Adlieriug  to  tlie  Covenants,  and  laws 
Establisliing  the  same ;  which  was  the  cause 
Their  lives  were  saerific'd  unto  the  lust 
Of  Prelatists  abjur'd.    Tliough  here  their  dust 
Lies  mixt  with  murderers,  and  other  crew, 
Wliom  justice  justly  did  to  death  pursue  : 
But  as  for  them,  no  cause  was  to  be  found 
Worthy  of  death,  but  only  they  were  sound. 
Constant  and  stedfast,  zealous,  witnessing 
For  the  Prerogatives  of  CHRIST  their  KING. 
Which  Truths  were  seal'd  by  famous  Guthrie's  head. 
And  all  along  to  Mr.  Eenwick's  blood. 
They  did  endure  the  wrath  of  enemies, 
Eeproaches,  torments,  deaths  and  injuries. 
But  yet  they're  those  who  from  such  troubles  came. 
And  now  triumph  in  glory  with  the  LAMB. 

"From  May  27th,  1661,  that  the  most  noble  Marquis 
of  Arqyle  was  beheaded,  to  the  17th  of  Febry.,  1688, 
that  Mr.  James  Eenwick  suifcred;  were  one  way  or  other 
Murdered  and  Destroyed  for  the  same  Cause,  about 
Eighteen  thousand,  of  whom  were  execute  at  Edinbtirgh, 
about  an  hundred  of  Noblemen,  Gentlemen.  Ministers 
and  Others :  noble  Martyi's  for  JESUS  CHRIST.  The 
most  of  them  lie  here. 

"For  a  particular  account  of  the  cause  and  manner  of 
their  Sufferings,  see  the  Cloud  of  Witnesses,  Crookshank's 
and  Defoe's  Histories." 

The  opened  book  below  the  slab  contains  certain  texts 
from  The  Revelation  of  St.  John,  namely,  vi.  9—11;  a  part 
of  \'ii.  14;  and  a  part  of  ii.  10. 

At  tlie  very  foot  of  the  monument  we  are  told  that 
"  This  Tomb  was  first  erected  by  James  Currie,  Mercht. 
in  Pent  land,  and  otliers,  1706  :  Renewed,  1771." 


ACCESSION   OF  JAMES  II. 


603 


Presbyterian  body  still  in  arms  against  the  Govern- 
ment had  Mien.  There  now  remained  none  but  a 
few  country -people  around  the  blue  banner  of  tlie 
Covenant.  Never  did  defeat  appear  more  complete. 
As  a  nation  Scotland  seemed  to  be  crushed,  and  as 
a  Church  it  seemed  utterly  overthrown. 

Yet  in  reality  Scotland  liad  gained  a  great  vic- 
tory. By  her  twentj^-eight  j-ears  of  sufl'ering  she 
had  so  illustrated  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
straggle  and  the  momentous  issues  at  stake,  and 
she  had  so  exalted  tlie  contest  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  investing  it  with  a  moral  grandeur  that 
stimulated  England,  that  she  mainly  contributed  to 
the  turning  of  the  tide,  and  the  triumph  of  the 
Protestant  cause  all  over  Clu'istendom.  The  world 
was  then  in  one  of  its  gi-eatest  crise.s.  The  Ee- 
formation  was  ebbing  in  Germany,  in  France,  in 
Holland,  in  all  the  countries  of  Christendom  ;  every- 
where a  double-headed  tyranny  was  advancing  on 
men,  trampling  down  the  liberties  of  nations  and 


the  rights  of  Churches.  Scotland  retreated  behind 
the  bulwai-k  of  her  Presbyterian  Church ;  she 
fought  against  the  "  supremacy  of  King  James," 
which  meant  simply  arbitrary  government ;  she 
fought  for  the  "  supremacy  of  King  Jesus,"  which 
meant  free  Parliaments  not  less  than  free  Assem- 
blies— the  supremacy  of  law  versus  the  supremacy 
of  the  monarch — conscience  versits  power.  Di.s- 
guised  under  antiquated  names  and  phrases,  this 
was  the  essence  of  the  great  struggle,  and  though 
Scotland  lost  her  people  in  that  struggle  she  won 
her  cause.  Her  leaders  have  all  fallen ;  the  last 
of  her  ministei-s  has  just  expired  on  the  scaflbld  ; 
there  is  but  a  mere  handful  of  her  people  around 
her  blue  banner  as  it  still  floats  upon  her  moun- 
tains ;  but  there  is  an  eye  watching  that  flag  from 
beyond  the  sea,  ready  whenever  the  hour  shall 
strike  to  hasten  across  and  reap  the  victory  of  these 
twenty-eight  years  of  maityrdom,  by  grasping  that 
flag  and  planting  it  on  the  throne  of  Britain. 


CHAPTEPv.  XXVIII. 


JAMES    11. — PROJECTS   TO    RESTORE    POPERY. 


James  II.— Suspicions  of  the  Nation— His  Promises  to  Maintain  the  Protestant  Religion— Joy  of  the  People — Fears 
of  Louis  XIV. — His  Coronation— Goes  to  Mass — Imposes  Taxes  without  his  Parliament — Invasion  of  Argyle— 
Insurrection  of  Monmouth— These  Eisings  Suppressed — Cruelties  of  Jeffreys — The  Test  Act — Debates  respecting 
a  Standing  Army — State  of  Protestantism  throughout  Christendom — Its  Afflicted  Condition  Everywhere — A 
Moment  of  Mighty  Peril— Hopes  of  the  Jesuits. 


Charles  II.  being  dead,  his  brother,  the  Duke  of 
York,  ascended  tlie  throne  under  the  title  of 
James  II.  The  peace  and  quietness  in  which  he 
took  possession  of  the  cro^vn  may  well  surprise 
us,  and  doubtless  it  surprised  James  himself 
Universally  suspected  of  being  a  Papist,  the  law 
which  made  it  caj)ital  for  any  one  to  afiirm  that 
he  was  so,  so  far  from  allaying,  rather  tended  to 
confinn  the  wide-spread  suspicions  respecting  him. 
It  was  only  a  few  years  since  the  entire  nation 
almost  had  appeared  to  concur  in  the  jiroposal  to 
exclude  him  from  the  throne,  and  strenuous  efforts 
liad  been  made  in  Parliament  to  pass  a  Bill  to  that 
effect.  Nevertheless,  when  the  ho<n-  an-ived, 
Jame.s's  accession  took  jjlace  with  general  acquies- 
cence. It  is  tnie,  that  as  there  had  been  no  tears 
for  the  death  of  Charles,  so  there  were  no  sliouts 
for  the  accession  of  James  :  the  heralds  wlio  pro- 
claimed him  passed  through  silent  streets.  But  if 
there  was  no  enthusiasm  there  was  no  opposition : 


no  one  thought  it  his  duty  to  raise  his  voice  and 
demand  securities  Ijefore  committing  the  religion 
and  liberties  of  England  into  the  hands  of  the  new 
sovereign.' 

Knowing  the  wide  distrust  entertained  by  the 
nation,  and  fearing  perhaps  that  it  might  break 
out  in  tunuilt,  James  met  his  Council  the  same  day 
on  wliich  his  brother  died,  and  voluntarily  made 
in  their  presence  the  following  declaration : — "  I 
sliall  make  it  my  endeavour  to  preserve  this  govern- 
ment, both  in  C'lnirch  and  State,  as  it  is  now  by 
law  established.  I  know,  too,  that  the  laws  of 
England  are  sufficient  to  make  the  king  as  great 
a  monarch  as  I  can  wish ;  and  as  I  shall  never 
depart  from  the  just  rights  and  prerogatives  of  the 
crown,  so  I  shall  nt^ver  invade  anj'  man'.s  projierty." 
These  words,  printed  and  difl'used  over  the  coun- 
tiy,  quieted  the  feai-s  of  the  nation.     Tliey  were 


'  Burnet,  Hisi,,  vol.  ii.,  p.  28 


604 


HISTORY  (^P  PROTESTANTISM. 


ficcepted  ns  an  explicit  pi'omise  of  two  things  :  first, 
that  Jfimes  would  not  cliangp  the  religion  of  the 
nation ;  and  secondly,  that  he  would  not  tax  the 
people  but  with  the  consent  of  his  Parliament. 

The  nation  persuaded  itself  that  it  had  obtained 
a  sure  and  solid  guarantee  of  its  rights.  These 
few  vague  words  seemed  in  its  eyes  an  invincible 
rampart,  and  it  abandoned  itself  to  an  excess  of 
joy.  It  had  buried  all  its  suspicions  and  jealousies 
in  the  grave  of  the  defunct  monarch,  and  now  it 
had  nothing  but  welcomes  and  rejoicings  for  the 
new  sovereign.  "  The  conmion  phrase,"  sajs 
Burnet,  "  was,  '  We  have  now  the  word  of  a 
king ; '  and  this  was  magnified  as  a  greater 
security  than  laws  could  give."^  Numerous  ad- 
(h'esses  from  public  bodies  were  carried  to  the 
foot  of  the  throne,  extolling  the  wtues  of  the  late 
king,  and  promising  lo3'alty  and  obedience  to  the 
new  one,  under  whom,  it  was  confidently  predicted, 
the  prestige  and  renown  of  England  would  be 
very  speedily  and  mightily  enhanced.  Even  the 
Quakers,  who  eschew  flattery,  and  love  plaiiuiess 
and  honesty  of  speech,  presented  themselves  in 
the,  presence  of  James  II.  with  a  petition  so  art- 
fully worded,  that  some  took  occasion  to  say  that 
the  Jesuits  had  inspii-ed  their  pen.  "  We  are 
come,"  .said  they,  "  to  testify  our  sori'ow  for  the 
death  of  our  good  friend  Charles,  and  our  joy  for 
thy  being  made  our  governor.  We  are  told  thou 
ai-t  not  of  the  persuasion  of  the  Church  of  England, 
no  more  than  we ;  wherefore  we  hope  thou  wilt 
grant  us  the  same  liberty  thou  allowest  thyself ; 
which  doing,  we  wish  you  all  manner  of  happiness." - 

The  assurances  that  were  accepted  by  the  people 
of  England  as  solid  securities,  and  which  fUled 
them  with  so  lively  a  joy,  were  those  of  a  man 
whose  creed  permitted  hun  to  promise  everything, 
but  required  him  to  fulfil  nothing,  if  it  was  preju- 
ilicial  to  the  interests  of  his  Church.  James  was 
feeding  the  nation  upon  delusive  hopes.  Once 
firmly  seated  on  the  throne,  he  would  forget  all 
that  he  now  jiromised.  Meantime,  these  assurances 
were  repeated  again  and  again,  in  terms  not  less 
explicit,  and  in  manner  not  less  solemn.  The 
religion  and  laws  of  England  would  not  be  changed, 
the  king  would  have  all  men  know."  And  so  ap- 
parently frank  and  sincere  were  these  protestations, 
that  if  they  cpiieted  the  alarm  of  the  people  of  Eng- 
land, they  awakened  the  fears  of  the  French  king. 
Louis  XIV.  began  to  doubt  James's  fidelity  to 
the  Church  of  Rome,  and   the   compact  between 


'  Bumet,  Hist.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  281. 
-  Bowyer,  Hist.  James  11.,  p.  10. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  11, 


the  crowns  of  France  and  England  to  restore 
the  sway  of  that  Church  in  all  the  counti-ies  of 
Christendom,  and  to  fear  that  he  was  preferiing 
the  safety  of  his  crowni  to  the  supremacy  of  his 
creed.  He  wrote  to  his  ambassador  in  London, 
inquiring  how  he  was  to  construe  the  conduct  of 
the  English  sovereign,  adding,  "If  he  and  his 
Parliament  come  to  a  cordial  tinist  one  of  another, 
it  may  probably  change  all  the  measures  we  have 
been  so  long  concerting  for  the  glory  of  our  throne 
and  the  establishment  of  the  Catholic  religion." 

Meanwhile  the  king  gave  ordei-s  to  prepare  for 
his  coronation,  which  he  appointed  for  St.  George's 
Day.  The  ceremony  was  marred  by  several  un- 
toward occurrences,  which  the  people  inteipreted  as 
bad  omens.  The  canopy  which  was  carried  over  liim 
broke  dowii.  The  crown  was  too  big,  and  sat  so 
low  on  his  forehead  as  partially  to  blindfold  him. 
On  that  same  day  his  son  by  Mrs.  Sidley  died. 
Certain  other  things  fell  out,  which,  although  of 
less  moment,  tended  to  tarnish  the  pomp  of  the 
ceremonial,  and  to  inspire  the  sjiectators  with  in- 
auspicious forebodings.  There  were  surer  omens 
of  impendmg  evO  presented  to  theii-  eyes  if  they 
could  have  read  them.  The  king  was  mounting 
the  throne  ^vithout  legal  pledge  that  he  would 
govern  according  to  law.  And  though  he  and  the 
cpieen  had  resolved  to  have  all  the  seiwices  con- 
ducted in  the  Protestant  form,  the  king  refused  to 
take  the  Saci-ament,  which  was  always  a  part  of  the 
ceremony ;  "  and  he  had  such  senses  given  him 
of  the  oath,"  says  Burnet,  "  that  he  either  took  it 
as  luilawful,  ^^^th  a  resolution  not  to  keep  it,  or 
he  had  a  reserved  meaning  in  his  own  mind."  * 

James,  deeming  it  perhaps  an  unnecessary  labour 
to  presei've  appearances  before  those  who  were  so 
willing  to  be  deceived,  began  to  drop  the  mask  a 
little  too  soon.  The  first  Sunday  after  his  brother's 
death,  he  went  openly  to  mass.  Tliis  was  to  avow 
what  till  then  it  was  death  for  any  one  to  assert, 
namely,  that  he  was  a  Papist.  His  next  indiscre- 
tion was  to  piiblish  certain  papers  found  in  the 
strong-box  of  his  brother,  sho\ving  that  during  his 
lifetime  Charles  had  reconciled  himself  to  Rome. 
And,  lastly,  he  ventured  iqjon  the  bold  step  of 
levying  a  tax,  for  which  he  had  no  authority  from 
Parliament,  and  which  he  exacted  simply  in  virtue 
of  his  prerogative.  These  acts  traversed  the  two 
pledges  he  had  given  the  nation,  namely,  that  he 
would  not  change  the  religion,  and  that  he  would 
govern  by  Parliament ;  and  though  in  themselves 
trivial,  they  were  of  ominous  significance  as 
indicating  his  future  policy.     To  be  an  arbitrary 

••  Burnet,  ^ir'■«^,  vol.  ii.,  p.  290. 


JUDGE   JEFFEEYS. 


605 


monarch,  to  govern  without  law,  without  Par- 
liaments, to  consult  only  his  own  will,  and  to 
plant  this  absolute  power  on  the  dominancy  of  the 
faith  of  Rome,  the  only  stable  basis  he  believed  on 
wliich  he  could  rest  it,  was  the  summit  of  James's 
ambition.  His  besotted  wife,  who  so  largely 
governed  him,  and  the  fawning  Jesuits  who  sur- 
rounded him,  persuaded  him  that  this  was  the  true 
glory  of  a  monarch,  and  tliat  this  glory  was  to  bo 
attained  by  the  peojDio  being  made  entirely  sub- 
missive to  the  priests,  and  the  priests  entirely 
submissive  to  the  throne ;  and  that  to  accomplish 
this  it  was  lawful  in  the  first  place  to  make  any 
number  of  false  promises,  and  not  less  dutiful  in 
the  second  to  break  them.  It  was  a  dangerous 
course  on  which  he  was  entering.  The  scaffold  of 
his  father  bade  him  beware,  but  James  took  no 
heed  of  the  warning. 

The  more  sagacious  saw  that  a  ciisis  was 
approaching.  To  the  indications  the  kmg  had 
already  given  that  he  was  meditating  a  change  of 
the  Constitution,  another  sign  was  added,  not  less 
ominous  than  those  that  had  gone  before  it.  The 
Parliament  that  had  assembled  was  utterly  coiTupt 
and  subser%dent.  With  a  Papist  on  the  throne,  and 
a  Parliament  ready  to  vote  as  the  king  might  be 
pleased  to  direct,  of  what  force  or  value  was  the  Con- 
stitution? It  was  already  abrogated.  Many,  both 
in  England  and  Scotland,  fled  to  Holland,  where 
they  might  concert  measures  for  the  rescue  of  king- 
doms now  threatened  with  niin.  The  immediate 
results  of  the  deliberations  of  these  exUes  were  the 
descent  of  Argyle  on  Scotland,  and  the  invasion 
of  England  by  Monmouth,  the  natural  son  of 
Charles  II.,  a  favom-ite  of  the  English  peojjle  as 
he  had  all  along  been  of  his  father.  An  adverse 
fortune  pursued  both  expeditions  from  their  com- 
mencement to  their  disastrous  close.  Both  were  ill- 
planned,  both  were  unskilfully  led,  and  both  were 
inadequately  supported.  Argyle,  in  1685,  sweeping 
round  the  north  of  Scotland  with  a  few  ships,  un- 
furled the  standard  of  insurrection  among  the 
mountains  of  his  native  Highlands.  Penetrating 
at  the  head  of  4,000  men  to  the  banks  of  the  Clyde, 
he  was  there  overthrown ;  Monmouth,  setting  sail 
from  Holland  at  the  same  time,  landed  at  Lyme,  in 
Dorsetshire,  and  gathering  round  liis  standai'd  a 
few  thousand  men,  he  joined  battle  with  the  king's 
forces  and  encountered  titter  defeat.  Both  leadei-s 
were  taken  and  executed.  Neither  was  the  crisis 
ripe,  nor  were  the  leaders  competent.  The  neck  of 
England  had  to  be  more  grievously  galled  by  the 
yoke  of  the  tjnaut  before  its  people  should  be 
prepared  to  adopt  the  conclusion  at  which  a  )  tarty 
of   the  persecuted  Presbyterians  in  Scotland    had 


arrived,  and  which  had  been  proclaimed  at  the 
market  cross  of  Sanquhar,  namely,  that  the  House 
of  Stuart,  by  their  perjuries  and  tyrannies,  had  for 
ever  forfeited  the  throne  of  these  realms.  When 
the  hour  should  have  fully  come,  a  mightier  de- 
liverer than  either  of  the  two  would  be  found  to 
execute  vengeance  on  the  royal  house,  and  to  break 
the  fetters  of  the  enslaved  nations. 

The  failure  of  these  two  attempts  had  the  effect, 
like  all  suppi'essed  insurrections,  of  strengthening 
the  Government  wliich  they  were  intended  to  over- 
throw. His  enemies  discomfited,  the  next  care  of 
James  was  to  take  vengeance  on  them.  His  foes 
were  entirely  at  his  mercy.  This  would  have  been 
a  plea  for  clemency  with  ordinary  tyrants ;  but 
James  II.  was  a  tp-ant  after  the  pattern  of  Caligula 
and  other  despots  of  ancient  times,  and  he  smote  his 
prostrate  enemies  with  a  frightful  and  merciless 
violence.  He  sent  Lord  Cluef  Justice  Jeffreys,  and 
four  judges  worthy  to  sit  on  the  same  bench  with 
him,  along  with  General  Kirk  and  a  troop  of 
soldiers,  to  chastise  those  counties  in  the  west 
which  had  been  the  seat  of  Monmouth's  rising. 
The  cruelties  inflicted  by  these  ferocious  ministei's 
of  the  tyrant  were  appalling.  Jeffreys  hanged  men 
and  women  by  thirties  at  a  time  ;  and  Kirk  had  the 
gallows  erected  before  the  windows  of  his  ban- 
queting-room,  that  the  sight  of  his  struggling 
victims  might  give  zest  to  his  debauch.  Fi'om  the 
bar  of  Jeffreys  there  was  no  escape  but  by  buying 
with  a  gi'eat  sum  that  life  which  the  injustice  of 
the  judge,  and  not  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner,  had 
put  in  the  power  of  the  tribunal,  and  when  the 
Lord  Chief  Justice  retmmed  to  London  he  was 
laden  with  wealth  as  well  as  blood.  Jeffreys 
boasted  -^vith  a  horrible  pleasure  that  "  he  had 
hanged  more  men  than  all  the  judges  of  England 
since  William  the  Conqueror."  Nor  did  any  one 
gainsay  his  averment,  or  dispute  his  pre-eminence 
in  the  work  of  shedding  innocent  blood,  save  Kirk, 
who  advanced  his  own  pretensions- — on  perfectly 
good  grounds,  we  doubt  not — to  share  in  the  merit 
of  the  Lord  Cliief  Justice.  Some  of  the  apologists 
of  James  IT.  have  afiirmed  that  when  the  monarch 
learned  the  extent  of  Jeffreys'  cnielty  and  barbarity, 
he  expressed  his  disappro\'al  of  these  dveds.  If  so, 
he  took  a  strange  way  of  showing  his  displeasure ; 
for  no  sooner  had  Jeffreys  returned  from  the  gory 
field  of  his  triumphs  to  London,  than  lie  was 
punished  by  being  promoted  to  the  office  of  Lord 
High  Chancellor  of  England,  and  made  a  peer  of 
the  realm.' 


'  Bowyer,  Hist.  James  II.,  pp.  33,  'M.     Burnet,  HUt., 
vol.  ii.,  p.  ol5.    Benuct,  Memorial,  pp.  21'3— i!Ul. 


606 


HlSTOllY   OF   PHOTESTANTISM. 


Among  the  other  prisoners  hrought  to  the  bar  of  counsel  moved  for  postponement  of  the  trial.  "  I 
this  ferocious  judge  was  the  renowned  and  most  will  not,"  cried  Jeffreys,  "  give  liim  a  minute's  time 
eloquent  IJichard  Baxter.     Tlie  scene  that  followed      to  save  his  life.     We  have  had  to  deal  with  other 


IIEW    or    THE    MAUTVUs     MO.NC.MENT,     G1;LY1  UIAUs      ClU  l.l  II VAIIII,    LIILN  BUKGH. 


•we  shall  give  in  tlie  words  of  Bennet.  It  will 
enable  us  to  realise  the  monstrous  tyranny  of  the 
times,  and  the  utter  shame  into  which  England  had 
sunk.  Baxter  was  committed  on  Jefl'reys'  warrant 
for  his  paraphrase  on  the  New  Testament,  which 
was  called  a  scandalous  and  seditious  book  against 
the  Government.     Being  much  indisposed,  Baxter's 


sort  of  persons,  but  now  we  have  a  saint  to  deal 
with.  I  know  how  to  deal  with  saints  as  well  as 
sinners.  Yonder  stands  Oates  in  the  pillory,  and 
he  says  he  suftirs  for  truth,  and  so  says  Baxter ; 
but  if  Baxter  did  but  stand  on  the  other  side  of  the 
])illory  with  him,  I  wovdd  say  two  of  the  greatest 
rogues  and  rascals  in  tlie  kingdom   stood    there." 


608 


HISTORY    OF   niOTKSTANTISM. 


'■  His  counsel,"  says  Bennet,  "  were  not  suflerod  to 
])ioceed  in  the  defence  of  their  client,  but  were 
lirow-beatcn  and  hectoi'ed  by  the  judge  in  a  manner 
that  suited  Billingsgate  much  better  than  a  tribunal 
of  justica  Mr.  Baxter  beginning  to  sjieak  for  him- 
self, says  Jeifrcys  to  him,  '  Richard,  Richard,  dost 
thou  think  we  will  hear  thco  poison  the  court  ? 
And,  Richard,  thou  art  an  old  fellow,  an  old  knave; 
thou  hast  written  books  enougli  to  till  a  cart,  every 
one  as  full  of  sedition — I  may  say  treason — as  an 
egg's  full  of  meat.  Hadst  thou  been  whijit  out  of 
thy  writing  forty  years  ago,  it  had  been  hai^jsy-  I 
know  thou  hast  a  mighty  party,  and  I  see  a  great 
many  of  thy  brotherhood  in  corners,  to  see  what 
will  become  of  their  mighty  Don,  but  by  the  grace 
of  Almighty  God  I  ^vill  crush  them  all.' 

"After  this  strange  insult,  another  of  Mr. 
Baxter's  counsel  begins  to  speak,  and  to  clear  Mr. 
Baxter,  would  have  read  some  passages  of  the  Ijook, 
but  Jeffreys  cried  out,  '  Yon  shall  not  draw  me 
into  a  conventicle  with  your  annotations,  nor  your 
snivelling  parson  neither.'  So  that  when  neither  he 
himself  nor  the  la-\\'yers  could  be  heard,  but  were  all 
silenced  by  noise  and  fury,  the  judge  proceeds  to 
sum  up  the  matter  to  the  jury  :  '  It  is  notoriously 
known,'  says  he,  '  that  there  has  been  a  design  to 
ruin  the  king  and  nation,  the  old  game  has  been 
renewed,  and  this  has  been  the  main  incendiary. 
He  is  as  modest  now  as  can  be,  but  the  time  was 
when  no  man  so  ready  at  ."Bind  your  kings  in 
chains  and  youi-  nobles  in  fetters  of  ii-on  ;"  and  "  To 
youi-  tents,  O  Israel !"  Gentlemen,  for  God's  sake 
do  not  let  us  be  gulled  twice  in  an  age.'  Wlien  he 
had  done  his  harangue,  Mr.  Baxter  presumes  to  say, 
'  Does  your  lordship  think  any  jury  ^vill  pretend  to 
pass  a  verdict  on  me  upon  such  a  trial?'  'I  will 
warrant  you,  Mr.  Baxter,'  says  he ;  'do  not  trouble 
your  head  about  that.'  The  jury  immediately  laid 
their  heads  together  at  the  bar,  and  brought  him  in 
guilty.  This  was  Jlay  30th,  and  on  the  29th  of  June 
follo^ving,  judgment  was  given  against  him  that 
he  should  pay  a  fine  of  500  marks,  lie  in  prison  till 
it  was  paid,  and  be  bound  to  his  good  beha\iour 
seven  years."' 

The  troubles  of  Monmouth's  insurrection  having 
been  got  over  by  the  help  of  the  army  and  Jeffreys, 
the  next  step  taken  by  the  king  for  the  establish- 
ment of  arbitrary  power  and  the  Romish  religion  in 
Britain  was  the  abolition  of  the  Test  Acts.  Those 
declared  Papists  incapable  of  serving  in  public 
em]5loyments,  and  cs]iecially  of  holding  commissions 
in  the  anny.  These  laws  had  been  passed,  not 
because  the  faith  of  the  Romanist  was  a  false  one, 

'  Bennet,  Memorial,  pp.  303—305. 


but  because  his  allegiance  was  given  to  another 
so\ereign.  But  the  point  in  the  present  case  was. 
Can  the  king  simply  in  ^-ii-tue  of  his  prerogative 
i-epeal  these  laws  1  Parliament  had  enacted  them, 
and  Pai-liament,  it  was  argued,  was  alone  competent 
to  repeal  them.  In  the  Parliament  that  met  on 
November  9th,  168.5,  James  declared  his  resolution 
of  forming  a  standmg  amiy,  and  of  cntrustuig 
Romanists  with  commissions  in  it.  The  sudden 
outbreak  of  the  late  rebellion,  the  king  argued, 
showed  how  necessary  it  was  for  the  peace  of  the 
nation,  and  the  safety  of  the  throne,  to  have  a 
certain  number  of  soldiers  always  in  pay.  And  as 
regarded  the  second  point,  the  employment  of 
officers  excluded  by  the  Test  Acts,  he  had  frankly 
to  acknowledge  that  he  had  emjiloyed  many  such  in 
the  late  camjiaign,  and  that  he  had  been  so  well 
served  by  them,  and  they  had  so  approved  the 
loyalty  of  their  principles  by  their  practices,  that 
he  would  neither  expose  them  to  the  disgrace  of 
dismissal  nor  himself  to  the  loss  of  their  services. 
In  short,  James  declared  that  he  would  have  a 
standing  armj',  and  that  it  should  be  ofhcered  by 
Romanists. 

This  speech  from  the  throne  surprised  and 
bewildered  Parliament.  They  now  saw  of  how 
little  value  were  the  promises  with  which  the 
king  had  amused  them.  Already  the  sword  of 
arbitrary  power  was  suspended  above  their  heads, 
and  the  liberties  of  England  were  about  to  pass 
into  the  hands  of  those  whose  allegiance  had  been 
given  to  a  foreign  jirince.  They  had  a  Popish  king, 
and  now  they  were  aboiit  to  have  a  Popish  army. 
Long  and  warm  debates  followed  in  Parliament. 
At  last  the  House  of  Commons  resolved  to  present 
an  address  to  the  king,  representmg  to  him  that 
members  of  the  Church  of  Rome  could  not  by  law 
hold  either  civil  or  military  employment,  nor  could 
their  disabUities  be  removed  save  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment ;  but  that  out  of  the  reverence  thej'  entertained 
for  his  Majesty  they  were  ■willing  to  capacitate  ))y 
law  such  a  number  of  Roman  Catholic  officers  as  he 
might  be  pleased  to  include  in  a  list  to  be  pre- 
sented to  Parliament.  This  compromise  was  not 
satlsfiictory  to  the  king ;  neither  did  it  suit  his 
designs  that  the  Pai-liament  should  continue  its 
debates.  Accordingly  it  was  prorogued  on  the  20th 
of  November,  1685,  and  dissolved  on  the  2nd  of 
July,  1687.  On  the  ruins  of  Parliament  rose  the 
prerogative. 

This  was  but  one  of  the  many  calamities  that 
were  at  this  same  hour  darkening  the  skies  of 
Protestantism.  The  year  1685  was  truly  a  fatal 
one.  In  all  the  countries  of  Europe  the  right  hand 
of  Rome  had  been  upraised  in  triumph.     Just  five 


A   CRISIS   IN   CHRISTENDOM. 


609 


weeks  Ijefore  .Tames  II.  ilismissed  his  Parliaiuent, 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  the  only  security  of  the 
Huguenots,  had  been  revoked  in  France.  The 
calamities  that  followed  we  have  already  described. 
Smitten  by  the  whole  power  of  Louis  XIV.,  the 
Protestants  of  that  unhappy  country  were  llocing 
from  its  soil  in  wretched  crowds,  or  overtaken  Ly 
the  ofiicers  of  the  tyrant,  were  rotting  in  dungeons 
or  pouring  out  their  blood  on  the  mountains  and  on 
the  scaffold.  It  was  now,  too,  that  the  most  terrible 
of  all  the  tempests  that  ever  descended  upon  the 
poor  Vaudois  broke  over  their  mountains.  Fire 
and  sword  were  carried  through  their  land;  theii- 
lioni(«teads  and  sanctuaries  were  razed,  a  miserable 
remnant  only  were  left  of  this  once  flourishing 
people,  and  they,  after  languishing  for  some  time 
in  prison,  were  carried  to  other  countries,  and  for 
the  first  time  in  history  their  valleys  were 
seen  to  be  empty.  Nor  did  these  close  the 
list  of  Protestant  reverses.  The  Electorate  of 
the  Palatinate  passed  to  a  most  bigoted  Popish 
fomily.  In  the  same  year,  too,  the  structure  of 
arbitrary  power  in  Scotland  was  advanced  a  stage. 
The  Parliament  wliich  met  m  May  of  that  year  was 
so  submissive  that  it  passed  two  Acts  :  the  first  for 
"  the  security  of  the  Protestant  religion" — "  that  is," 
says  Dr.  Kennet,  "  for  the  extirpation  of  the  Pres- 
byterians;" and  the  second  for  settling  "the  Excise 
of  inland  and  foreign  commodities  upon  his  Majesty 
and  heirs  for  ever."  In  the  preamble  of  this  last 
Act,  they  declai'e  "  that  they  abhor  all  principles 
that  are  derogatory  to  the  king's  sacred,  supreme, 
and  .absolute  power  and  authority,  which  none, 
whether  private  persons  or  collegiate  bodies,  can 
participate  of  any  manner  of  way,  but  in  dependence 


on  him,  and  therefore  they  take  this  occasion  to 
renew  their  hearty  and  sincere  ofler  of  their  lives 
and  fortunes,  to  assist,  and  defend,  and  maintain 
his  rights  and  prerogatives  against  all  mortals."' 
It  was  not  the  Scottish  nation  that  thus  basely 
]ii>ostrated  itself  before  the  tyrant,  placing  their 
conscience  as  well  as  their  fortune  at  his  service, 
for  the  supremacy  wluch  was  so  obsequiously  as- 
cribed to  him  would  have  been  manifestly  a 
violation  of  theii-  great  national  oath ;  the  party 
whose  voice  is  now  heard  ofiering  this  idolatrous 
wor.ship  to  James  II.  is  that  of  the  unprincipled, 
debauched,  and  servile  crew  to  whom  he  had  com- 
mitted the  government  of  the  northern  country, 
where  now  .scarcely  were  left  any  remains  of  an 
ancient  and  sacred  liberty. 

The  present  was,  perhajis,  the  gloomiest  moment 
which  had  occurred  in  the  aniials  of  Protestantism 
since  l.')72,  the  era  of  the  St.  Bartholomew  Massacre. 
In  fiict  the  gloom  was  moi'e  universal  now  than  it 
was  even  then.  Everywhere  disaster  and  defeat 
were  lowering  upon  the  Protestant  banners.  The 
schemes  of  the  Jesuits  were  prospeiing  and  their 
hopes  were  high.  Bishop  Burnet,  who  at  that  time 
withdrew  from  England,  and  made  a  visit  to  Rome, 
says,  "  Cardinal  Howard  showed  me  all  Iiis  letters 
from  England,  by  which  I  saw  that  those  who 
wrote  to  him  reckoned  that  their  designs  were  so 
well  laid  that  they  could  not  miscarry.  They 
thought  they  should  certainly  cany  everything  in 
the  next  session  of  Parliament.  There  was  a  high 
strain  of  insolence  in  their  letters,  and  they  reckoned 
they  were  so  sure  of  the  king,  that  they  seemed  to 
have  no  doubt  left  of  their  succeeding  in  the  reduc- 
tion of  England.  "- 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


A   GRFAT  CRISIS    IN    ENGL.\ND   AXD   CHRISTENDOM, 


Ix'eland— Duke  of.Orinond  Dismissed  from  the  Liputen.incy— The  Army  Ee-modelled — Tyrconnel  made  Lord  Lieutenant 
— Appoint.s  Popish  Judges— Lord  ChauCLdlor  of  Ireland— The  Charters  of  the  Corpoi-Jitions  Abolished— Civil 
Eights  of  the  Protestants  Confiscated— Their  Religious  Eights  Invaded— Protestant  Tithes  and  Churches  Seized 
—Parliament  Dissolved— English  .ludges  give  James  II.  a  Dispensing  Power — A  Popish  Hierarchy— Clergymen 
Forbidden  to  Preach  against  Popery- Tillotson,  Stillingfleet,  i-c— Ecclesiastical  Commission— Bishop  of  London 
and  Dr.  Sharp  Suspended— The  Army  .at  Hounslow  Heath — A  New  Indulgence- Seven  Bishops  sent  to  the  Tower 
—Birth  of  the  Prince  of  Wales— Acquittal  of  the  Bishops— Eejoicings— Crisis. 


Meanwhile  the  Jesuits'  projects  were  pushed  for- 
ward with  great  vigour.  A  universal  toleration 
was  published  in  Scotland.  James  had  recoui'se  to 
the  not  unconimou  device  of  employing  toleration 


to  establish  intolerance,  and  the  olijcct  at  which  he 
aimed  was  pei-fectly  \niderstood  in  Scotland.     But  it 

'  Bowyer,  Hist.  James  I/.,  p.  48. 
=  Bui-net,  Hist,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  331,  332. 


610 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


wixs  in  Ireland  where  the  king's  design  of  ensla\'ing 
his  kinijdoms,  and  bowing  the  necks  of  his  people 
to  the  Romish  yoke,  was  most  undLsgviisedl}-  sho^\^^, 
and  most  audaciously  pursued.  Within  less  than 
two  months  after  he  had  ascended  the  throne,  the 
Duke  of  Oi-mond,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  a 
man  of  .sterling  uprightness,  and  of  inviolable  zeal 
for  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  English  interests, 
was  commanded  to  deliver  up  the  sword  of  state. 
The  Privy  Council  was  next  changed ;  nearly  all  the 
Protestant  members  were  expelled,  and  their  seats 
given  to  Papists.  The  army  was  re-modelled  by 
Colonel  Talbot.  It  consisted  of  7,000  Protestants 
who  had  rendered  good  service  to  the  crown,  but 
theii-  Protestantism  was  a  huge  disqualification  in 
the  eyes  of  the  monarch,  and  accordingly  all  of 
them,  officers  and  men,  were  summarily  dismissed 
to  make  room  for  Papists.  Talbot  robbed  them 
before  tui-ning  them  adiift,  by  denjTJig  to  the 
officers  compensation  for  their  commission,  and  by 
defrauduig  the  private  soldiers  of  theii-  arrears  of 
2)ay.  Talbot  was  one  of  the  most  infamous  of  men. 
Abhorred  and  detested  above  all  men  in  the  three 
kingdoms  by  the  English  in  Ireland,  tliis  did 
not  prevent  his  rising  to  the  highest  posts  in  the 
State.  After  revolutionising  the  army,  he  went 
across  to  London,  where,  through  the  influence  of 
the  queen,  and  Father  Petre,  now  become  the 
intimate  and  trusted  adviser  of  the  king,  he  was 
first  created  Earl  of  Tyrcomiel,  and  next  appointed 
Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland.'  The  news  that  the 
government  of  Ireland  had  been  put  into  the  hands 
of  Tyrconnel  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  on  the  poor 
Protestants  of  that  country.  "Perhaps  no  age," 
Bays  Bishop  King,  "  can  parallel  so  dreadful  a 
catastrophe  among  all  ages  and  sexes,  as  if  the  day 
of  doom  was  come,  every  one  lamenting  their  con- 
dition, and  almost  all  that  could  abandoning  the 
kingdom."^  Animated  by  a  furious  zeal,  Tyrconnel 
hastened  to  the  coast,  eager  to  cross  the  chamiel, 
and  enter  on  his  work  of  overthrow  in  Ireland. 
But  the  winds  were  contrary.  The  Protestants 
accounted  them  merciful  winds,  for  while  TjTconnel 
was  dialing  and  fuming  at  the  delay,  the  Earl  of 
Clarendon,  who  meanwhile  held  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenancy, was  aiTanging  affairs,  and  jiroviding,  so 
far  as  he  could,  for  the  safety  of  the  Protestants  in 
prospect  of  the  tempest  which  all  saw  was  sure  to 
burst  as  soon  as  Tyrconnel  had  set  foot  in  Ireland.^' 
An-ived  at  last.  Clarendon  jiut  the  sword  of  state 
into  the  liand  of,T3Tconnel,  who  lost  not  a  moment 
in  bectinnins  the  work  for   which  he  had  been  so 


eager  to  grasp  that  symool  of  power.  Tlie  fii-st 
change  effected  was  in  the  important  department  of 
justice.  The  Protestant  judges  were  mostly  dis- 
missed, and  the  weakest  and  most  profligate  men 
in  the  profession  were  promoted  to  the  bench.  We 
can  give  but  one  specimen  of  these  poitentous 
changes.  Sir  Alexander  Fitton  was  made  Lord 
High  Cliaucellor  of  Ireland.  He  was  "  a  man 
notorious  on  record,  as  convicted  of  forgery  both  in 
'Westminster  Hall  and  at  Chester,  and  fined  for  it 
by  the  Lords  in  Parliament."  He  was  taken  out 
of  the  King's  Bench  Prison  to  be  keeper  of  the 
King's  conscience.  "  He  had  no  other  merit  to 
recommend  him  but  being  a  convert  to  the  Popish 
religion  ;  and  to  him  were  added  as  masters  in 
Chancery,  one  Stafibrd,  a  Romish  priest,  and  O'Neal, 
the  son  of  one  of  the  most  busy  and  notorious 
murderere  in  the  massacre  of  1641."'  Ignorant  of 
law,  Fitton  gave  judgment  accorclLig  to  his  mclina- 
tions,  affii-niing  that  the  Court  of  Chancery  was 
above  all  laws  ;  and  after  heai'ing  a  cause  between 
a  Protestant  and  a  Papist,  he  would  often  declare 
that  before  giving  judgment  he  would  consult  a 
divine — that  is,  his  confessor,  educated  in  Spain, 
and  furnished  with  distinctions — to  satisfy  his  con- 
science. "  In  the  year  1687  there  was  not  a  Pro- 
testant sheriff  in  the  whole  kingdom,  except  one, 
and  he  put  in  by  mistake  for  another  of  the  same 
name  that  was  a  Papist.  Some  few  Protestants 
were  continued  in  the  commission  of  the  peace,  but 
they  were  rendered  useless  and  insignificant,  being 
overpowered  in  everything  by  the  gi'eat  number  of 
Roman  Catholics  joined  in  commission  with  them  ; 
and  those  for  the  most  part  the  very  scum  of  the 
people,  and  a  great  many  whose  fathers  had  been 
executed  for  theft,  robbery,  and  murder.""' 

The  next  step  of  the  Government  for  cnishing  the 
Protestantism  of  Ireland  was  to  ^vrest  from  the 
Protestants  their  Parliamentary  vote.  Their  right 
to  choose  their  own  representatives  in  Parliament 
was  one  of  the  main  defences  of  the  peoi)le's 
liberties  in  both  England  and  Ireland.  The 
great  massacre  in  16-11  had  read  a  lesson  which 
the  Protestants  of  Ireland  did  not  neglect,  on  the 
necessity  of  fortifying  that  important  jirivilege. 
With  this  view  they  had  founded  corporations  to 
which  Protestants  only  were  admissible ;  and  thoy 
had  built  at  their  own  charges  many  corporate  towns 
from  the  chai-ter.'s  of  which  Romanists  were  excluded. 
This  barrier  was  throwai  down  liy  the  dissolution  of 
all  the  corporations  in  the  kingdom.  This  sweejiing 
change  was  effected  by  the  threats  or  promises  of 


'  Bowyer,  Hist.  James  II.,  \).  Gl. 

-  King,  Stateof  Ireland— apud  Bennet's  Memorial,  p.  313. 

•*  Bowyer,  Hist.  James  II.,  p.  02. 


■*  Bowyer,  Hist.  James  II.,  p.  G5. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  6(3. 


OPPRESSION   OF  THE   IltlSH    PROTESTANTS. 


611 


Tyrcoiinfl,  liy  tlio  insinuations  of  his  secretary 
FM'iH,  and,  wlien  these  failed,  by  Quo-war rtinios 
hroii'^lit  into  the  Exchequer  Court.  New  cliarters 
were  (granted,  filled  u))  chiefly  with  Romanists,  or 
men  of  desperate  or  of  no  fortune ;  and  a  clause  was 
inserted  in  every  one  of  them  placing  them  under 
the  absolute  control  of  the  king,  so  that  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  could  put  in  or  exclude  from  these  cor- 
porations whomsoever  ho  would.  Thus  the  barrier 
of  free  Parliamentary  representation  in  Ireland  was 
levelled  with  the  dust. ' 

All  being  now  ready — a  Popish  Lord  Lieutenant, 
a  Popish  bench  of  judges,  Popish  corporations,  and 
a  Popish  army  being  set  up — the  civil  rights  of 
Protestants  were  largely  confiscated.  Odious  and 
treasonable  charges  were  laid  at  their  door ;  these 
were  supported  by  false  oaths ;  fines,  imj^rison- 
ments,  and  confiscation  of  estates  followed.  The 
Protestant  was  actually  placed  beyond  law.  If  a 
Popish  tenant  owed  his  Protestant  landlord  his  rent, 
he  paid  him  by  swearing  him  into  a  plot.  If  a 
Papist  owed  his  Protestant  neighbour  any  money, 
lie  discharged  his  debt  in  the  same  coin.  The 
Protestants  were  disarmed  and  left  defenceless 
against  the  frequent  outrages  and  robberies  to 
which  they  were  sulijected.  The  abstraction  of  a 
cow  or  a  sheep  from  his  Protestant  neighbour  would 
sometimes  be  enjoined  on  the  penitent  in  the  con- 
fessional in  order  to  absolution.  A  counterfeit  deed 
would  transfer  a  Protestant  estate  to  a  Roman 
Catholic  owner.  But  at  last  these  petty  robberies 
were  deemed  too  tedious,  and  a  wholesale  act  of 
plunder  was  resolved  on.  A  register  was  compiled 
of  all  the  names  of  Protestants  of  whatever  rank 
and  age  who  could  be  discovered,  and  an  Act  of 
Attainder  was  passed  in  the  Irish  Parliament 
again.st  all  of  them  as  guilty  of  high  treason,  and 
tlieir  estates  were  vested  in  the  king.- 

Their  religious  rights  were  not  less  grievously 
invaded.  James  II.  professed  to  be  a  patron  of 
liberty  of  conscience,  as  if  the  same  religion  which 
compelled  the  King  of  Spain  to  set  up  the  Inquisi- 
tion should  require  the  King  of  England  to  practise 
toleration.  There  came  some  curious  illustrations 
of  James's  understanding  of  that  liberty  which  he 
vaunted  so  much  ;  it  seemed  to  mean  an  unrestricted 
right  of  appropriation  on  the  part  of  the  Romanist, 
and  an  equally  unrestricted  obligation  of  surrender 
on  the  part  of  the  Protestant  of  whatever  the  latter 
possessed  and  the  former  coveted.  In  accordance 
with  this  new  species  of  toleration,  the  priests  began 
to  declare  openly  that  the  tithes  belonged  to  them, 


'  Bowyer,  Hist.  James  II-,  p.  6C. 
-  Bemiet,  Memorial,  pp.  318,  319. 


and  forljade  their  people  under  pain  of  anathema  to 
pay  them  to  the  Protestant  incumbents.  An  Act 
of  I'arliament  was  next  passed,  ))y  which  not  only 
all  tithes  payable  by  Romanists  were  gi\-en  to  tlieir 
own  priests,  but  a  method  was  devised  of  drawing 
all  the  tithes,  Protestant  and  Popish,  to  the  Romish 
clergy.  The  Protestant  clergj'uian  was  forbidden 
by  the  Act  to  receive  any  ecclesiastical  dues  from 
Roman  Catholics,  and  as  soon  as  liis  place  became 
vacant  by  demission  or  death,  a  Popish  incumbent 
was  appointed  to  it,  who,  as  a  matter  of  com'se, 
received  all  the  tithes.  The  University  of  Dublin, 
the  one  great  nurseiy  of  learning  in  the  kingdom, 
was  closed.  Protestant  schools  throughout  Ireland 
were  shut  up,  or  converted  into  Popish  seminaries. 
The  Protestant  churches  in  many  parts  of  the 
country  wei-e  converted  into  mass-houses.  Their 
seizure  was  effected  with  a  mixture  of  violence  and 
devotion.  The  mayor,  accompanied  by  the  priests, 
would  proceed  to  the  edifice,  send  to  the  sexton  for 
the  keys,  and  if  these  were  refused,  break  open  the 
door ;  the  building  entered,  the  pews  would  be  torn 
up,  the  floor  cleared,  mass  would  be  said,  and  then 
the  church  would  be  declared  consecrated,  and  not 
to  be  given  back  to  the  Protestants  under  pain  of 
sacrilege. 

Death  was  not  as  yet  decreed  against  the  Protes- 
tants, but  they  were  called  to  endure  every  violence 
and  wrong  short  of  it ;  and  in  not  a  few  instances 
this  last  penalty  was  actually  meted  out  to  them, 
though  not  ostensibly  for  their  Protestantism. 
Many  were  mui'dered  in  their  houses,  some  were 
killed  by  the  soldiers,  some  perished  by  martial 
law,  and  others  were  starved  to  death  in  prisons. 
Things  were  in  train  for  a  general  slaughter,  and 
there  is  some  ground  to  fear  that  the  horrible  carnage 
of  1641  would  have  been  re-enacted  had  James  II. 
returned  victorious  from  the  Boyne. 

We  return  to  England.  Parliament,  as  has 
already  been  said,  James  prorogued  on  the  20th  of 
November,  1685,  and  after  repeated  prorogations, 
he  at  last  dissolved  it  on  the  2nd  of  July,  1687. 
Finding  his  Parliament  intractable,  notwithstand- 
ing the  many  methods  he  had  taken  to  pack  it, 
the  king  resolved  to  try  another  tack.  He 
began  to  tamper  with  the  judges,  in  order  to 
procure  from  them  an  opinion  that  the  preroga- 
tive was  above  the  law.  The  first  with  whom 
he  was  closeted,  Sir  Thomas  Jones,  told  the  king 
that  twelve  judges  might  be  found  who  were 
of  his  mind,  but  certainly  twelve  lawyere  would 
not  be  found  who  were  of  that  opinion.'  Jones 
and   all   the  judges    who   refused   to   bend   were 

■'  Bowyer,  Hist.  James  II.,  pp.  70,  71. 


C12 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


removed,  and  others  put  in  their  room,  who  were 
more  at  the  devotion  of  tlie  king.  The  bench,  thu3 
re-modelled,  was  willing  to  fall  in  with  the  measures 
of  the  court,  and  to  advance  the  royal  prerogative 
to  that  extravagant  pitch  to  which  some  fawning 


land  are  sovereign  princes ; "  secondly,  "  that  the 
laws  of  England  are  the  king's  laws ; "  thirdly, 
"  that  therefore  it  is  an  incident,  inseparable  pre- 
rogative of  the  Kings  of  England,  as  of  all  other 
sovereign  princes,  to  dispense  with  all  penal  laws 


VIEW    OF    JUBGE    Jtlilti.\s      HOI  SL,    1)1  KL    STREET,    WESTMINSTER. 
(From  an  Ori-jinal  Drnriiiy  lij  .Sliqihcril.) 


courtiers,  and  a  few  equally  obsequious  prelates  and 
preachers,  had  exalted  it  in  their  fidsome  harangues : 
that  "  monarchy  and  hereditary  succession  were  by 
Divine  right ; "  that  "  the  legislature  was  vested  in 
the  person  of  the  prince  ; "  and  that  "  power  in  the 
king  to  dispense  with  the  law  was  law."  Accord- 
ingly the  bencli,  in  a  case  that  was  tried  on  purpose,' 
gave  it  as  judgment,  first,  "  that  the  Kings  of  Eng- 

'  Bumet,  Hist,  vol.  ii.,  p.  341. 


in  particular  ca.ses,  and  upon  particular  necessary 
reasons ; "  fourthly,  "  that  of  those  reasons  and 
necessities  the  king  is  tlie  sole  judge  ; "  and  fifthly, 
"  that  this  is  not  a  trust  invested  in  or  gi-anted  to 
the  king,  but  the  ancient  remains  of  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  Kings  of  England,  wliich  never  was 
yet  taken  from  them,  nor  can  be."-     This  sapped 


-  Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  .342,  343.     Bowyer,  Hist.  James 
//.,  pp.  72,  73.    Bennet,  Memorial,  pp.  322,  323. 


156 


PORTUAITS  OF  THE  SEVEN  Bisiioi's.     (from  a  coiiftrnporara  Pr.nt.) 


fiU 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


the  liberties  of  England  at  their  veiy  root :  it  was 
an  ovei-throw  of  the  powers  of  the  Constitution  as 
comiilcte  as  it  was  sudden  :  the  prerogatives  of  the 
three  branches  of  the  State — the  nation,  the  Parlia- 
ment, the  throne — were  all  lodged  in  the  king,  and 
swallowed  uj)  in  the  royal  prerogative.  This  de- 
struction of  all  law  was  solemnly  pronounced  to  be 
law ;  and  the  very  men  whose  office  it  was  to  pre- 
serve the  law  incorrupt,  and  its  administration  pure, 
were  the  men  who,  to  their  eternal  reproach,  laid 
the  liberties  of  England  at  the  feet  of  the  monarch. 

This  mighty  attribute  James  did  not  permit  to 
lie  idle.  It  was  not  to  be  worn  as  a  State  jewel, 
but  ^^'ielded  as  a  sword  for  the  destruction  of  what 
yet  remained  of  the  liberties  of  England.  The 
king  proceeded  to  exercise  the  dispensing  power 
without  reserve.  Promotions,  favours,  and  smiles 
were  showered  all  round  on  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  The  PopLsh  community,  like  the 
fleece  of  Gideon,  was  wet  with  the  dew  of  the 
royal  beneficence,  wliile  the  rest  of  the  nation  was 
dry.  Popish  seminaries  and  Jesuit  schools  wei'e 
erected  not  only  in  Loudon,  but  in  all  the  moi'e 
considerable  towns,  and  Romish  ecclesiastics  of 
every  rank  and  name,  and  in  every  variety  of 
costume,  multitudinous  and  cloudy  like  the  swarms 
of  Egypt,  began  to  cover  the  land.  The  Pioman 
Church  was  regularly  oi-ganised.  Four  Popish 
bishops  were  publicly  consecrated,  and,  under  the 
title  of  Vicars  Apostolic,  sent  down  to  the  pro- 
vinces to  exercise  theii-  functions  in  the  dioceses 
te  which  they  had  been  appointed.  Theii-  pastoral 
lettei-s,  printed  by  the  king's  printei",  were  openly  ■ 
di.spersed  over  the  kingdom.  The  regidar  clergy 
appeared  in  their  habits  at  Whitehall  and  St. 
James's,  and  openly  boasted  that  "  they  hoped  in 
a  little  time  to  walk  in  procession  through  Cheap- 
side."  A  mighty  harvest  of  converts  was  looked 
for,  and  that  it  might  not  be  lost  from  want  of 
labom-ers  to  reap  it,  regulars  and  seculars  from 
beyond  the  sea  flocked  to  England  to  aid  in  gather- 
ing it  in.  The  Protestant  Church  of  England  was 
rapidly  losing  her  right  to  the  title  of  "national;" 
she  was  gradually  disappearing  from  the  land  under 
the  operation  of  the  law  referred  to  above,  by 
which  her  preferments  and  dignities  were  being 
swallowed  up  by  Popish  candidates.  Preferment 
there  was  none,  unless  one  Was  of  the  religion  of 
the  king  and  of  Edward  Pctre,  Clerk  of  the 
Closet,  and  Father  Confessor  to  his  ^Majesty. 

The  dispensing  power,  while  daily  enlarging  the 
s])here  of  the  Romish  Church,  was  daily  contracting 
that  of  the  Protestant  one.  A  royal  order,  directed 
to  the  bisliops,  enjoined  them  "to  discharge  all  their 
inferior  clergy   from   preaching  upon  controverted 


points  in  divinity."  While  the  Protestant  pulpit 
was  fettered,  an  unbounded  licence  was  gi\en  to 
the  Popish  one.  The  priests  attacked  the  Protestant 
faith  with  all  the  vigour  of  which  they  were 
capable,  and  their  sennons,  printed  by  authority, 
were  dispersed  over  the  kingdom.  This  order  was 
modelled  on  a  worthy  precedent.  One  of  the  first 
acts  of  Queen  Mary,  for  the  restoration  of  Popery, 
was  a  proclamation  forbidding  all  preaching  upon 
controverted  points,  for  fear,  it  was  said,  of  awaki-n- 
ing  animosities  among  her  subjects.  The  same 
tender  regard  tor  the  peace  of  his  kingdom  moxed 
James  II.  to  issue  his  edict. 

The  king's  order  had  just  the  opposite  eSect  of 
that  which  he  intended.  It  called  forth  in  defcucf 
of  Protestantism  a  host  of  mighty  intellects  and 
brilliant  writers,  who  sifted  the  claims  of  Rome  to 
the  foundation,  exposed  the  falsehood  of  her  pre- 
tensions, and  the  tyrannical  and  immoral  tendency 
of  her  doctrines,  in  such  a  way  that  Popery  came 
to  be  better  understood  by  the  people  of  England 
than  it  h.ad  ever  been  before.  The  leaders  in  tliisi 
controversial  war  were  Tillotson,  Stillingfleet, 
Tennison,  and  Patrick.  "  They  examined  all  the 
points  of  Popery,"  says  Burnet,  "  with  a  solidity  of 
judgment,  a  cleai-ness  of  arguing,  a  depth  of  learn- 
ing, and  a  vivacity  of  writing  far  beyond  anything 
that  had  before  that  time  appeared  in  our  langu.age."' 
Against  these  powerful  and  accomplished  writers 
was  pitted,  perhaps  the  shallowest  race  of  Popish 
controversialists  that  ever  put  on  harness  to  do 
battle  for  their  Church.  They  could  do  little  besides 
translating  a  few  meagi-e  Frencli  works  into  bad 
English.  On  theii-  own  soil  these  works  had  done 
some  service  to  Rome,  backed  as  they  were  by 
Louis  XIV.  and  Ms  dragoons ;  but  in  England, 
where  they  enjoyed  no  .such  aids,  and  where  they 
were  exposed  to  the  combined  and  well-directed 
assaults  of  a  powerful  Protestant  phalanx,  they 
were  instantly  crushed.  Hardly  a  week  passed  with- 
out a  Protestant  sermon  or  tract  issuing  from  the 
press.  Written  with  a  searching  and  incisive 
logic,  a  scathing  wit,  and  an  overwhelming  power 
of  argument,  they  consumed  and  burned  up  the 
Romanist  defences  as  fii'e  does  stubble.  The  ex- 
posiu'e  was  complete,  the  rout  total ;  and  the 
discomfited  Romanists  could  only  exclaim,  in 
impotent  rage,  that  it  was  exceeding  bad  manners 
to  treat  the  king's  religion  with  .such  contem])t. 
Tillotson  and  liis  companions,  however,  did  not  aim 
at  playing  the  courtier ;  they  were  in  deadly 
earnest ;  they  saw  the  Protestantism  of  England 
and  of  Christendom  in  danger  of  perishing ;  they 


'  Burnet,  vol .  ii.,  p.  34G. 


THE   ARMY   AT   HOUNSLOW   HEATH. 


615 


beliekl  scaffolds  and  stakes  coming  fast  npon  them  ; 
they  felt  assured  that  the  horrors  of  Mary's  reign 
were  about  to  renew  themselves  under  James ;  and 
they  resolved  to  wield  voice  and  pen  with  all  the 
energy  they  possessed,  before  they  should  be  stifled 
in  dungeons  and  strangled  at  stakes.  The  moral 
courage  and  dialectic  power  of  these  men  largely 
contributed  to  the  saving  of  England,  for,  while  on 
the  one  hand  they  diffused  among  the  people  a  clear 
and  full  intelligence  on  the  point  at  issue,  on  the 
other  they  threw  the  court  on  measures  so  desperate 
by  way  of  defending  itself,  that  they  proved  in  the 
end  its  own  undoing. 

To  silence  these  Protestant  champions,  a  new 
Court  of  Incpiisition  was  established,  styled  a  "Com- 
mission for  Ecclesiastical  Affairs."  The  members 
nominated  were  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbur}', 
Lord  Chancellor  Jeffreys,  the  Earls  of  Rochester 
and  Sunderland,  the  Bishops  of  Rochester  and 
Durliam,  and  Lord  Chief  Justice  Herbert.  All 
the  persons  named  refused  from  the  fii-st  to  act 
upon  it,  save  Jeffreys  and  the  BLshop  of  Durham, 
in  whose  hands  was  thus  left  the  business  of  the 
newly-created  court.  The  members  of  the  com- 
mission were  empowered  to  "  exercise  all  manner 
of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in  the  fullest  manner  ;" 
in  other  words,  to  put  the  Church  of  England 
(piietly  into  its  grave. 

A  beginning  was  made  with  Dr.  Sharp.  He  was 
a  learned  divine,  and  an  eloquent  preacher,  and  had 
distinguished  himself  by  his  able  defences  of  Pro- 
testantism and  liis  vigorous  attacks  on  Romanism 
in  the  pulpit.  This  was  interpreted  into  "an  attempt 
to  beget  an  ill  ojiinion  in  the  minds  of  his  hearers 
of  the  king  and  his  Government,  and  to  lead  the 
people  into  schism  and  rebellion,"  and  consequently 
a  contempt  of  "  the  order  about  preachers."  The 
king  sent  an  order  to  the  Bishop  of  London  to 
Kusjiend  Dr.  Sliarp.  The  bishop  excused  himself 
on  the  ground  that  the  order  was  contrary  to  law, 
whereupon  both  the  Bishop  of  London  and  Dr. 
Sharp  wei-e  suspended  by  the  Court  of  Ecclesias- 
tical Commission.' 

This  incident  convinced  the  Jesuits  that  the  dis- 
pensing power  was  not  safe  so  long  as  it  rested 
.solely  upon  the  opinion  of  the  judges.  The  prero- 
gative might  be,  and  indeed  was,  disputed  by  the 
tlivines  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  army 
wo\ild  be  a  much  firmer  basis  for  so  great  a  fabric. 
Accordingly,  the  Jesuits  represented  to  the  king 
what  gi'eat  things  Louis  of  France  was  at  that 
hour  accomplishing  by  his  dragoons,  in  the  way  of 

'  Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  347,  348.  Bowyer,  Hist,  of  James 
I/.,  pp.  77—83. 


converting  men  to  the  Roniish  faith  ;  and  Jame.s, 
zealous  of  rivalling  his  orthodox  brother,  and  fore- 
seeing how  efficient  dragonnades  would  be  for  up- 
holding the  dispensing  power,  assembled  his  army 
to  the  number  of  about  1.5,000  at  Hounslow  Heath. 
Erecting  a  chapel,  he  had  mass  said  daily  at  head- 
quarters, although  the  great  majority  of  the  .soldiers 
were  Protestants.  The  nation  saw  a  cloud  gather- 
ing above  it  which  might  burst  upon  it  any  hour  in 
ruin.  Its  forebodings  and  alarms  found  expression 
in  a  tract  which  a  learned  divine,  Jlr.  Samuel 
Johnson,  addressed  to  the  army.  "Will  you  be 
aiding  and  assisting,"  asked  he,  "  to  set  up  mass- 
houses,  to  erect  that  kingdom  of  darkness  and 
desolation  amongst  us,  and  to  train  up  all  our 
children  to  Popery  ]  What  service  can  you  do 
your  country  by  being  under  the  command  of 
French  and  Irish  Papists,  and  by  bringing  the 
nation  under  a  foreign  yoke  1  .  .  .  .  Will  you 
exchange  your  birth-right  of  English  laws  and 
liberties  for  martial  and  club  law,  and  help  to 
destroy  all  others,  only  at  last  to  be  eaten  up  youi'- 
selvesf "  "  For  this  patriotic  advice,  Mr.  Johnson 
was  degraded  from  his  office,  whipped  from  New- 
gate to  Tyburn,  and  made  to  stand  three  times  in 
the  pillory.  He  had  sown  seeds,  however,  in  the 
army,  which  bore  fruit  afterwai'ds. 

It  was  while  the  king  was  pursuing  this  course 
— trampling  down  the  laws,  subjecting  some  of 
the  most  eminent  of  his  subjects  to  barbarous  in- 
dignities, and  preparing  the  army  to  deal  the  final 
coup  to  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liberties  of 
England — that  he  published  (April  4th,  1687)  his 
"  Gracious  Declaration  for  Libertj'  of  Conscience." 
In  this  edict  his  Majesty  declared  it  to  be  his  opinion 
that  "conscience  ought  not  to  be  constrained,"  anil 
accordingly  he  suspended  all  oaths  and  tests  for 
oflice,  and  all  penal  laws  for  nonconformity  to  the 
established  religion,  and  in  general  removed  all  dis- 
abilities from  every  one,  in  order  that  all  fit  to  serve 
him  might  be  eligible  to  public  employment.  All 
this  James  gi-anted  solely  in  virtue  of  his  royal 
prerogative. 

To  the  Nonconformists  this  Indulgence  was  the 
0])ening  of  the  prison  doors.  They  had  been 
grievously  harassed,  and  having  a  natural  right  to 
their  liberty,  it  does  not  surprise  us  that  they  were 
Avilling  to  part  with  their  fetters.  They  could  now 
walk  the  streets  without  the  fear  of  having  their 
steps  dogged  by  an  ecclesia.stical  bailiff,  and  could 
woi'ship  in  their  own  houses  or  in  their  churches 
without  the  terror  of  incurring  the  ignominy  of  the 
pillory.     The  change  to  them  was  immense  ;  it  was 

•  Bowyer,  pp.  85,  SH. 


niG 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


fi-ppiloni  fiftor  filavM-y,  and  tlieir  joy  being  in  pro- 
iiortion,  tlie  terms  in  wliicli  they  thanked  James 
wero  warm  indeed,  and  in  some  cases  extravagant ; 
thongli  it  must  be  confessed  that  had  this  Indulgence 
been  honestlj-  meant,  it  wo\dd  have  been  worthy 
of  all  tlie  praises  now  lavished  u))on  its  author.  But 
tlie  gift  was  not  Iionestly  intended.  James's  Tolera- 
tion was  a  sweetened  cup  holding  a  deadly  poison. 
Tlie  gi'eat  uiajority  of  the  Nonconformists  perfectly 
understood  the  motive  and  oliject  of  the  king  in 
granting  this  Indulgence,  and  appreciated  it  at  its 
true  worth.  It  rested  solely  on  the  royal  preroga- 
tive. It  did  not  establish  liberty  of  conscience ;  it 
Ijut  converted  that  great  principle  into  a  pede.stal 
of  arbitrary  power.  James  had  given  the  English 
nation  a  year's  liberty,  or  a  month  it  might  be,  or 
a  day,  to  be  succeeded  by  an  eternity  of  ser\-itude. 

Having  set  up  the  dispensing  power,  James  pro- 
ceeded to  \ise  it  for  the  overturn  of  all  institutions 
and  princi])les,  not  excepting  that  liberty  for  the 
sake  of  which,  as  he  said,  he  had  assiimed  it.  The 
bolt  fell  tirst  on  the  two  luiiversities.  The  Idng 
sent  his  mandate  to  Cambridge,  ordering  the  admis- 
sion of  one  Allan  Francis,  a  Benedictine  monk,  to 
the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  without  taking  the 
usual  oaths.  The  senate  replied  that  they  could  not 
do  so  without  breaking  their  own  oaths,  and  be- 
sought the  king  not  to  compel  them  to  commit  -wilful 
perjiu'v.  The  king  insisted  that  the  monk  .should 
be  admitted,  and,  the  senate  still  refusing,  the  vice- 
chancellor  was  dejH-ived  of  his  office.  The  storm 
next  burst  over  Oxford.  The  presidency  of  Mag- 
dalen College  being  vacant,  the  Romanists  coveted 
exceedingly  this  noblest  and  richest  of  the  founda- 
tions of  learning  in  Christendom.  The  king  ordered 
the  election  of  Anthony  Farmer,  a  man  of  bad  repu- 
tation, but  who  had  promised  to  become  a  Papist. 
The  authorities  of  Oxford  must  either  violate  their 
oatiis  or  disobey  the  king.  They  resolved  not  to 
perjiu-e  themselves ;  they  refused  to  admit  the 
king's  nominee.  James  stormed,  and  threatened 
to  make  them  feel  the  weight  of  his  displeasure, 
which  in  no  long  time  they  did.  The  president 
and  twenty-five  fellows  were  extruded  from  the 
university,  and  declared  incapable  of  receiving  or 
being  admitted  into  any  ecclesiastical  dignity,  bene- 
fice, or  promotion.  The  nation  looked  on  with  just 
indignation.  "It  was  accounted,"  says  Burnet,  "an 
open  piece  of  robbery  and  bnrglary  when  men,  au- 
thorised by  no  legal  commission,  came  and  forcibly 
turned  men  out  of  their  profession  and  freehold."  ' 

The  more  tyrannical  his  measures,  the  louder 
.James  protested  that  he  would  uphold  the  Church 

'  Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  p.  381.    Bowyer,  p.  123. 


of  England  as  by  law  estahlished,  and  hence  the 
submission  of  the  nation  to  these  attacks  upon  its 
rights.  But  the  next  step  on  which  the  king 
ventured  threw  the  people  into  greater  alarm 
than  they  had  yet  felt.  This  was  the  imprisomng 
of  seven  bishops  in  the  Tower.  This  bold  act  grew 
out  of  a  new  Declai-ation  of  Liberty  of  Conscience 
which  the  king  thought  right  to  issue.  This  decla- 
ration wa.s  accompanied  with  an  order  enjoining  the 
bishops  to  distribute  it  throughout  their  dioceses, 
and  cause  it  to  be  read  during  Divine  .service  in  all 
the  churches  of  the  kingdom.  Several  of  the  bishops 
and  vast  numbers  of  the  clergy  refused  to  read  this 
paper,  not  because  they  were  opposed  to  liberty  of 
conscience,  Imt  because  they  knew  that  under  this 
phrase  was  couchexl  a  dispensing  power,  which  the 
king  was  using  for  the  destruction  of  the  laws  and 
in.stitutions  of  the  kingdom,  and  to  read  this  paper 
was  to  make  the  Church  of  England  accessory  in- 
directly to  her  own  ruin.  Six  bishops,-  -with  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterburj',  were  summoned  before 
the  Ecclesiastical  Commission,  and,  after  being  hec- 
tored by  JefR-eys,  were  sent  (.lune  29,  1688)  to  the 
Tower.     London  was  thunderstruck. 

To  prevent  timiult  or  insurrection,  the  bishops 
were  conveyed  by  water  to  their  prison.  But  the 
thing  could  not  be  hid,  and  the  ])eople  in  vast 
numbers  crowded  to  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  and 
by  loud  demonstrations  extolled  the  constancy  of 
the  bishops,  while  some,  felling  on  their  knees, 
invoked  their  blessing  as  their  barge  passed  down 
the  river.  When  they  arrived  at  the  Tower,  the 
bishops  ascended  the  stairs  between  a  double  row 
of  officers  and  soldiers,  who,  receiving  them  as  con- 
fessors, kneeled  to  receive  their  blessing.^ 

Wliile  armed  force  was  being  put  forth  to  extir- 
pate the  Protestant  faith,  Jesuitical  craft  was  busily 
exerted  to  propagate  the  Roman  creed.  The  city 
and  the  country  were  filled  with  catechisms  and 
manuals,  in  which  the  gi'osser  eiTors  of  Popery  were 
glossed  over  with  a  masterly  skill,  and  the  two 
faiths  were  made  to  wear  so  close  a  resemblance 
that  a  vidgar  eye  could  scarce  discern  the  difference 
between  them.  A  Pojnsh  orphanage  was  erected  ; 
noblemen  were  closeted  with  the  king  and  solicited 
to  be  converted  ;  Father  Petre  was  designed  for  the 
See  of  York.  At  last,  almost  all  disguise  being 
thrown  oflT,  the  Papal  Nuncio  made  his  entry  into 
London  in  open  day,  passing  through  the  streets  in 
gre.at  pomp,  preceded  by  a  cross-bearer,  and  followed 

-  Tliey  wore  Kon,  Bishop  of  B.atli  and  'Wells,  Lloyil  of 
St.  Asaph,  Turner  of  Ely,  Lake  of  Chichostev,  Wliito  of 
Peterborough,  and  Trcl.a-mipy  of  Bristol.  The  primate 
was  William  Sancroft. 

'■'  Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  p.  430.    Bowyer,  pp.  1C2.  103. 


ACQUITTAL   OF  THE   SEVEN    BISHOPS. 


617 


by  a  crowd  of  priests  :uicl  monks  in  the  habits  of 
their  orders. 

To  these  signs  was  added  another  yet  more  re- 
markable. The  Jesuits  had  foretold  that  should 
the  king  abolish  the  penal  laws,  a  work  so  accept- 
able to  Heaven  would  not  fail  to  be  rewarded  with 
a  Prince  of  Wales.  It  was  now  that  the  jjrophecy 
was  fultilled.  Humours  had  been  spread  tluough 
the  nation  some  time  before  that  the  queen  wa.s 
pregnant.  On  Saturday,  the  9th  of  June,  1688, 
after  playing  cards  at  Whitehall  till  eleven  of  the 
clock  at  night,^  the  queen  made  herself  be  carried 
to  St.  James's,  where  a  bed  had  previously  been 
prejiarcd,  and  the  public  were  not  a  little  surpiised 
to  be  told  that  next  morning,  between  the  hour.s  of 
ten  and  eleven,  she  had  there  given  birth  to  a  son. 
This  was  the  one  thing  wanted  to  complete  the  i>ro- 
^ramme  of  the  Jesuits.  James  was  growing  into 
yeai-s;  his  two  daughters  were  both  man-ied  to 
Protestant  princes  ;  and  however  zealous  for  Rome, 
wthout  a  son  to  inherit  his  crown  and  Ids  religion, 
the  Papists  considered  that  they  but  reposed  imder 
a  gourd,  which,  like  that  of  sacred  story,  might 
wtlier  in  a  night ;  but  now  they  were  secured 
against  such  a  catasti'ophe  by  a  bii'th  which  they 
themselves  called  mii-aculous.  The  king  had  now 
been  provided  with  a  successor,  and  the  arrangement 
was  complete  for  seciu-ing  the  perpetuity  of  that 
Romish  establishment  in  England  which  every  day 
was  bringing  nearer. 

There  was  but  one  little  trouble  in  .store  for  the 
Jesiiits.  On  the  30th  of  June  the  bishops  were 
acquitted.  The  presence  of  the  judges  could  not 
restrain  the  joy  of  the  people,  and  the  roof  of  West- 
minster Hall  resounded  with  the  shouts  that  hailed 
the  sentence  of  the  court.  The  echoes  were  caught 
up  by  the  crowd  outside,  and  repeated  iu  louder 
demonstrations    of   joy.       The    great    news    was 


speedily  communicated  to  the  cities  ef  Westminster 
and  London  :  "  Not  guilty  !"  "  Not  guilty !  "  {)asse(l 
from  man  to  man,  and  from  street  to  street ;  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  citizens  was  awakened  as  the 
words  flew  onwards,  and  so  loudly  did  the  two 
cities  rejoice  that  their  shouts  were  heard  at 
Hounslow  Heath.  The  soldiers  now  burst  into 
luizzahs,  and  the  noise  of  the  camp  fell  on  the  king's 
ear  as  he  was  being  that  day  entertained  iu  the  Earl 
of  Feversham's  tent.  Wondering  what  the  unusual 
noise  might  mean,  the  king  sent  the  earl  to  inquire, 
who,  speedily  returning,  told  the  king,  "  nothing 
but  the  soldiers  shouting  upon  the  acquittal  of  the 
bishops."  "And  do  you  call  that  nothing!"  replied 
the  king,  evidently  discomposed.  There  was  cause 
for  agitation.  That  storm,  the  first  muttermgs  of 
wliich  had  been  heard  at  the  Market  Cross  at 
Sanquhar,  was  rolling  darkly  up  on  all  sides. 

But  the  king  took  not  warning.  He  was  stead- 
fastly purposed  to  pursue  to  the  end  those  projects 
wliich  appeared  to  him  and  his  Jesuit  advisers  to 
be  rapidly  approaching  the  goal.  He  had  set  uy) 
the  dispensing  power  :  with  it  he  was  overturning 
the  laws,  fLUing  the  judicial  bench  with  his  own 
creatures,  re-modelling  the  Chm-ch  and  the  univer- 
sities, and  daily  swelling  the  Popish  and  murderous 
elements  in  the  army  by  recruits  from  Ireland ; 
Parliament  he  had  dissolved,  and  if  it  should  please 
him  to  re-assemble  it,  the  same  power  which  had 
given  him  a  subservient  army  could  give  him  a  sub- 
servient Parliament.  The  reqiusite  machinery  was 
ready  for  the  destruction  of  the  religion  and  liljer- 
ties  of  England.  Is  the  work  of  two  centuries  to 
be  swept  away?  Has  the  knell  of  Protestantism 
rung  out  I  If  not,  in  what  quarter  is  deliverance 
to  arise'?  and  by  whose  arm  will  it  please  the  great 
Ruler  to  lift  up  a  sinking  Christendom,  and  restore 
to  stability  the  cause  of  liberty  and  truth  I 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

PROTESTANTISM    MOUNTS   THE    THRONE    OF    GREAT    BRITAIN. 

The  Movement  Eoturns  to  the  Land  of  its  Birth-England  Looks  to  William  of  Orange— State  of  Parties  in  Europe- 
Preparations  ill  England  against  Invasion— Alarm  and  Proclamation  of  James  II.— Declaration  of  William  of 
Orange— The  Dutch  Fleet  Sails— A  Storm— Tlic  Dutch  Fleet  Driven  Back— William's  Appeals  to  tlie  English 
Soldiers  and  Sailors-The  Fleet  again  Sets  Sail-Shi f tings  of  the  Wind-Landing  at  Torbay-Prince  of  Orange's 
Address— The  Nation  Declares  for  liim-King  James  Deserted— His  Flight- The  Crown  .Settled  on  the  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Orange — Protestantism  on  the  Throne. 

Christendom,  had  returned  to  the  land  from  which 


After  the  revolution  of  three  centuries.   Protes- 
tantism,   in    its    march    round    the    countries    of 


'  Bowyer,  p.  K^i. 


it  had  set  out.  On  the  very  spot  where  Wielifle 
had  opened  the  war  in  1300,  Protestantism  was 
now  lighting  one  of  the  most  momeiitou.s  of  its 


61S 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


miiny  great  battles,  inasmuch  as  this  conflict  would 
determine  what  fruit  was  to  remain  of  all  its  past 
labours  and  contendings,  and  what  position  it 
would  hold  in  the  world  during  the  coming  cen- 
turies— whether   one   of  ever-lessening   influence. 


afliliated  disciple  of  the  Jesuits  upon  the  throne,  ^ 
with  its  institutions,  one  after  anotlier,  attacked,  un- 
dermined, and  overthrown,  England  was  rapidly 
sinking  into  the  abyss  from  which  Wiclifl'e's 
spirit    had    rescued    it,    and    along    with  it   would 


VIEW    OF    THE    INTERIOR   OF   THE   CHAPEL    KO\AL     ST     JAMES  ! 


till  finally  it  should  vanish,  like  some  previous 
premature  mo\ements,  or  whether  it  was  to  find 
for  itself  a  basis  so  solid  that  it  should  spread 
abroad  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  continu- 
ally gathering  fresh  brightness,  and  constantly 
creating  new  instrumentalities  of  conquest,  till  at 
last  it  should  be  acce^ited  as  the  ruler  of  a  woi-ld 
which  it  had  libei-ated  and  regenerated. 

The  first  part  of  the  alternative  seemed  at  this 
moment    the    likelier   to   be   realised.      With   au 


descend  into  the  same  abyss  the  remains  of  the 
once  glorious  Churches  of  Geneva,  of  France,  and 
of  Scotland.  Help  there  appeared  not  in  man. 
No  voice  was  heard  in  England  powei-ful  enough 
to  awaken  into  life  and  action  that  spirit  which 
had  given  so  many  martyrs  to  the  stake  in  the  days 
of  Mary.  This  spirit,  though  asleep,  was  not  dead. 
There  were  a  few  whose  suspicions  had  been  awake 


'  See  Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  395,  396. 


APPEALS   TO   THE   PRINCE   OF   ORANGE. 


619 


ever  since  the  accession  of  James  II.;  and  of  those 
who  liad  sunk  into  lethargy  many  were  now 
thoroughly  aroused  by  the  violent  measures  of  the 
king.  The  imprisonment  of  the  bishops,  and  the 
birth  of  the  "  Prince  of  Wales,"  were  two  events 
which  the  nation  interpreted  as  sure  portents  of  a 
coming  slaveiy.    The  people  of  England  turned  their 


mysterious  child,  at  whose  christening  the  Pope, 
through  his  nuncio,  stood  god-father,  and  on  whom 
it  pleased  the  king  to  bestow  the  title  of  "  Piince 
of  Wales." 

Many  had  ere  this  opened  correspondence  with 
the  Stadtholder,  entreating  him  to  interpose  and 
prevent  the  ruin  of  England  ;  the  number  of  such 


eyes  in  search  of  a  deliverer  beyond  the  sea,  and 
fixed  them  upon  a  prince  of  the  illustrious  House  of 
Orange,  in  whom  the  virtues,  the  talents,  and  the 
self-sacrificing  heroism  of  the  gi'eat  William  lived 
over  again,  not  indeed  with  greater  splendour,  for 
that  was  impossible,  not  even  with  equal  si)lendour, 
but  still  in  so  pre-eminent  a  glory  as  to  mark  him 
out  as  the  one  man  in  Europe  capable  of  sustaining 
the  burden  of  a  sinking  Christendom.  Besides  the 
cardinal  qualification  of  his  Protestantism,  William, 
by  his  maniage  with  the  daughter  of  James  II., 
was    the    next    heir    to    the   throne,   after    that 


was  now  greatly  increased,  and  among  others  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  addressed  him  from  the 
Tower,  and  the  Bishop  of  London  from  his  i-etire- 
ment  in  the  country.  Others  crossed  the  sea,  some 
on  pretext  of  visiting  friends,  and  some,  as  they 
said,  to  benefit  by  the  German  spas.  A  majority 
of  the  nobility  favoured  the  intervention  of  William, 
and  found  means  of  letting  their  wishes  be  kno-rni 
at  the  Hague.  Despatches  and  messengers  were 
constantly  crossing  and  recrossing  the  ocean,  and 
James  and  his  Jesuits  might  ha\e  known  that 
gi'eat  designs  were  on  foot,  had  not  tln'ir  secure 


620 


HISTORY   OF  PROTESTANTISIiL 


holcl  on  England,  as  they  fancied  it,  blinded  them 
to  their  danger.  The  representatives  of  most  of  the 
liistoric  houses  in  England  were  more  or  less  openly 
suj)porting  the  movement.  Even  so  eai'ly  as  the 
death  of  Charles  II.,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  is 
said  to  have  urged  William  to  undertake  the 
deliverance  of  English  Protestantism,  otfering  to 
assist  him  ;  but  the  prince  answered  that  he  would 
attempt  nothing  against  his  father-in-law  without 
.in  absolute  necessity,  "  but  at  the  same  time  he 
protested  that  if  he  could  not  otherwise  prevent  the 
subversion  of  the  laws  and  religion  of  England,  he 
would  undertake  the  voyage,  though  he  should 
embark  in  a  fishing-boat." '  On  a  sui'vey  of  the 
case,  it  appeared  to  William  that  an  absolute 
necessity  had  arisen,  and  he  proceeded  to  make 
preparations  accordingly. 

In  weighing  the  chances  of  success,  William  had 
to  take  into  account  the  state  of  parties  in  Europe, 
and  the  foi'ces,  both  friendly  and  hostile,  that  would 
come  into  J'lsy  the  moment  he  should  set  sail  for 
England.  Ranged  against  him  were  Austria,  Spain, 
Erance,  and,  of  course,  the  monarch  to  be  attacked, 
James  II.  These  powerful  kingdoms,  if  not  bound 
in  actual  treaty,  were  all  of  them  leagued  together 
l)y  a  common  faith  and  a  common  interest.  Austria 
had  held  the  balance  in  Europe  for  five  centuries, 
and  was  not  prepared  to  resign  it.  Spain,  fallen 
from  the  height  on  which  it  stood  a  century  before, 
WiXH  nevertheless  ready  to  devote  what  strength  it 
still  possessetl  to  a  cause  which  it  loved  as  dearly 
Hs  ever.  France,  her  exchequer  full,  her  armies 
immerous,  and  her  generals  flushed  '\\'ith  victorj', 
had  never  been  more  formidable  than  now.  Louis 
XIV.  might  make  a  diversion  in  favour  of  his  ally, 
James  II.,  by  attacking  Holland  as  soon  as  William 
had  withdrawn  his  troops  across  the  sea.  To  guard 
himself  on  this  side,  the  Prince  of  Orange  sought  to 
detach  Austria  and  Spain  from  France  by  repre- 
senting to  them  the  danger  of  French  ascendency, 
and  that  Louis  was  not  fighting  to  advance  the 
Roman  religion,  but  to  make  himself  universal 
monarch.  His  representations  were  ,so  far  success- 
ful that  they  cooled  the  zeal  of  the  Coui'ts  of 
Vienna  and  Madrid  for  the  "  Grand  Monarch," 
and  abated  somewhat  the  danger  of  William's 
great  enterpi'ise. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  ]irince  gathered  round  him 
what  allies  ho  could  from  the  Protestant  j)oition 
of  Europe.  It  is  interesting  to  find  among  the  con- 
federates ai'ound  the  great  Stadtholder  thu  represen- 
tatives of  the  men  who  had  been  the  chief  champions 
of  the.  Protestant  mo\emeut  at  its  earlier  stages. 

'  Bfuuct,  Manorial,  p.  337. 


The  old  names  once  more  appear  on  the  stage,  and 
the  close  of  the  great  drama  carries  us  back  as  it 
were  to  its  Ijcginniug.  At  Minden,  in  Westj)halia, 
William  of  Orange  met  the  Electors  of  Saxony  and 
Brandenburg,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel,  and 
the  Princes  of  the  House  of  Luueburg,  who,  on 
a  mutual  exchange  of  sentiments,  wwe  found  to  Ijo 
of  one  mind,  that  the  balance  of  Europe  as  settleil  at 
the  Peace  of  Westphalia  after  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
had  been  grievously  disturbed,  and  that  it  urgently 
needed  to  be  redressed  by  upholding  the  Protestant 
Church,  restoring  the  ancient  liberties  of  England, 
and  setting  bounds  to  the  growing  power  of  France." 

At  this  moment  an  event  happened  which  fur- 
nished William  with  a  pretext  for  the  warlike 
preparations  he  was  so  busily  pushing  forward  with 
a  view  to  his  English  expedition,  and  also  closed  the 
door  by  which  the  French  might  enter  Holland  in 
his  absence.  On  the  2nd  of  June,  1688,  the  Elector 
of  Cologne  tiled.  This  principality  commanded 
twenty  leagues  of  the  Rhine,  and  this  placed  the 
keys  of  both  the  Netherlands  and  Holland  in  the 
hands  of  its  chief.  It  was  therefore  a  matter  of 
grave  importance  for  the  peace  and  safety  of  the 
Dutch  States  who  should  fill  the  vacant  electorate. 
Germany  and  France  brought  forward  each  its 
candidate.  If  the  French  king  should  succeed  in 
the  election,  war  was  inevitable  on  the  Rhine,  and 
for  this  it  behoved  William  of  Orange  to  be  pre- 
j)ared,  and  so  his  naval  armaments  went  foi-ward 
without  exciting  suspicion.  It  was  the  German 
candidate  who  was  eventually  elected,  and  thus  an 
affair  which  in  its  progress  had  masked  the  prepara- 
tions of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  in  its  issue  extended 
protection  to  an  undertaking  which  otherwise  would 
have  been  attended  with  far  gi-eater  difficulty.^ 

Early  in  September,  however,  it  began  to  be 
strongly  suspected  that  these  great  preparations  in 
Holland  both  by  sea  and  land  pointed  to  England. 
Instantly  precautions  were  taken  against  a  possible 
invasion.  The  chief  ports,  and  in  particular  Ports- 
mouth and  Hull,  then  tlie  two  keys  of  England,  were 
]int  into  Popish  hands,  and  the  garrisons  so  modelled 
that  the  majority  were  Papists.  Officers  and  pri- 
vate soldiers  were  brought  across  from  Ireland 
,'ind  drafted  into  the  army,  but  the  king  lost  more 
than  he  gained  by  the  offence  he  thus  gave  to  the 
Protestant  soldiers  and  their  commanders.  The 
rumours  from  the  Hague  grew  every  day  more 
certain,  and  the  fitting  out  of  the  fleet  went  on  at 
j-edouljled  speed.  Orders  were  dispatched  to  Tvr- 
conncl  to  send  over  whole  regiments  from  Ireland  ; 


Bowyer,  ji.  191.     Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  p.  •t.'jfl. 
Ibid.,  p.  I'Jl.    Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  -157—402. 


PREFARATION.S   OF  WILLIAM    OF   OEANOE. 


621 


and  meanwhile  to  allay  the  jealousies  of  the  people 
another  proclamation  was  published  (September 
21st),  to  the  efl'ect  that  his  Majesty  would  call  a 
Parliament,  that  he  would  establish  a  universal 
liberty  of  conscience,  that  he  would  inviolably  ujihold 
the  Church  of  England,  that  he  would  exclude 
Romanists  from  the  Lower  House,  and  that  he  woidd 
repeal  all  the  tests  and  penalties  against  Non- 
conformity. It  had  hapi)ened  so  often  that  while 
the  king's  words  breathed  only  liberty  liLs  acts 
contained  nothing  but  oppression,  that  this  procla- 
mation had  little  or  no  effect. 

The  king  ne.xt  received,  through  his  envoy  at 
the  Hague,  certain  news  of  the  prince's  design  to 
descend  on  England.  At  the  same  time  James 
learned  that  ninnerous  lords  and  gentlemen  had 
crossed  the  sea,  and  would  return  under  the  banners 
of  the  invader.  "  Upon  the  reading  of  this  letter," 
says  Bowyer,  "  the  king  remained  speechless,  and 
as  it  were  thunder-struck.  The  airy  castle  of  a 
dispensing  arbitrary  power,  raised  by  the  magic 
spells  of  Jesuitical  counsels,  vanished  in  a  moment, 
and  the  deluded  monarch,  freed  from  his  enchant- 
ment by  the  apju-oach  of  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
found  himself  on  the  brink  of  a  preciiiice,  whilst 
all  his  intoxicating  flatterers  stood  amazed  and  con- 
founded at  a  distance,  without  daring  to  ofl'er  him 
a  supporting  hand,  lest  his  greater  weight  should 
hurry  both  him  and  them  into  the  abyss."  ' 

The  first  device  of  the  court  was  an  attempt  to 
prepossess  the  nation  against  their  deliverer.  A  jiro- 
clamation  was  issued  setting  forth  that  "  a  gi-eat  and 
s\iilden  invasion  from  Holland,  with  an  armed  force 
of  foreigners,  would  speedily  be  made,"  and  that 
under  "some  false  pretences  relating  to  liberty,  pro- 
jierty,  and  religion,  the  invasion  proposed  an  absolute 
conquest  of  these  his  ilajesty's  kingdoms,  and  the 
utter  subduing  arid  subjecting  them,  and  all  his 
peojJe,  to  a  foreign  Power."  Besides  this  proclama- 
tion other  measures  were  taken  to  rally  the  people 
round  the  sinking  dynasty.  The  bishops  were 
courted ;  the  Anabaptist  Lord  Mayor  of  London  was 
replaced  by  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England  ; 
the  Duke  of  Ormond,  who  had  been  dismissed  from 
the  Lord-Lieutenancy  of  Ireland,  had  the  gartej- 
bestowed  upon  him  ;  and  a  general  pardon  was 
issued,  from  which,  however,  a  score  of  persons  were 
excepted.  These  measures  availed  not  their  author, 
for  late  and  forced  amnesties  are  always  acce]ited 
by  the  people  as  signs  of  a  monarch's  weakness  and 
not  of  his  clemency. 

On  the  ."ird  of  October,  the  bishops,  at  the  king's 
command,  waited  on  him  with  their  advice.     They 

I  Bowyor,  p.  2(1 1. 


strongly  counselled  an  entire  reversal  of  his  wliolo 
jiolicy,  and  the  now  docile  monarch  conceded  nearly 
all  their  demands.  The  reforms  began  to  be  put  in 
execution,  but  news  arriving  in  a  few  days  that  J;he 
Dutch  fleet  had  been  driven  back  Ijy  a  storm,  the 
king's  concessions  were  instantly  withdrawn.  James 
sank  lower  than  ever  in  the  confidence  of  the  nation." 
No  stay  remained  to  the  king  Imt  his  fleet  and  army  ; 
the  first  was  sent  to  sea  tii  watch  the  Dutch,  and 
the  latter  was  increased  to  :iO,000,  by  the  arrival  of 
regiments  from  Ireland  and  Scotland. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  other  side  of  the  German 
Ocean,  the  PrLnce  of  Orange  was  providing  trans- 
ports and  embarking  his  troops  mth  the  utmost 
diligence.  To  justify  his  undertaking  to  the  world, 
he  published,  on  the  10th  of  October,  a  declaration 
in  six-and-twenty  articles,  comprehending,  first,  an 
enumeration  of  the  oppressions  under  which  the 
English  nation  groaned;  secondly,  a  statement  of  the 
remedies  which  had  been  used  in  vain  for  the  i-e- 
moval  of  these  grievances ;  and  thirdly,  a  declaration 
of  the  reasons  that  moved  him  to  undertake  the  de- 
livei-ance  of  England.  "  His  expedition,"  he  said, 
"  was  intended  for  no  other  design  but  to  have  a 
free  and  lawful  Parliament  assembled,"  to  which  all 
questions  might  be  refen-ed,  touching  "the  esta- 
blishment of  the  Protestant  religion,  and  the  peace, 
honour,  and  happiness  of  these  nations  upon  lasting 
foundations." 

All  things  being  ready,  the  Prince  of  Orange 
took  solemn  leave  of  the  States.  Standing  on  the 
threshold  of  his  great  enterprise,  he  again  jjrotested 
that  he  had  no  other  objects  than  those  set  forth 
in  his  declaration.  Most  of  the  senators  wei-e  melted 
into  tears,  and  could  oidy  in  l)roken  utterances 
declare  their  love  for  their  prince,  and  their  wshes 
for  his  success.  "  Only  the  )n-ijice  himself,"  says 
Burnet,  "  continued  firm  in  his  usual  gra\'ity  and 
})hlegm." 

On  the  19th  of  October,  William  went  on  board, 
and  the  Dutch  fleet,  consisting  of  fifty-two  men-of- 
war,  twenty-five  frigates,  as  many  fire-ships,  mth 
four  hundred  victuallers,  and  other  vessels  for  the 
transportation  of  3,660  horse,  and  10,692  foot,  i)ut 
to  sea  from  the  flats  near  the  Brielle,  with  a  wind 
at  south-west  by  south.''  Admiral  Herl)ert  led  the 
van,  and  Vice-Admiral  Evertzen  brought  up  the 
rear.  The  prince  placed  himself  in  the  centre, 
canying  an  English  flag,  emblazoned  with  his  aims, 
s\nTounded  with  the  legend,  "  For  the  Protestant 
Religion  and  Liberties  of  England."  ITndemeath 
was  the  motto  of  the  House  of  Nassau,  Jo.  Mn'in- 
tii'u.drni/  (T  will  maintain). 


liowyor,  pp.  l.'Oil-  210. 


■'  VnJ..  p.  227. 


622 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Gathei-ed  beneath  the  bannere  of  William,  now 
advancing  to  deliver  England  and  pnt  the  cro^vii 
upon  many  a  previous  conflict,  was  a  brilliant 
assemblage,  representative  of  several  nations. 
Besides  the  Count  of  Nassau,  and  other  Dutch  and 
German  commanders,  there  came  with  the  prince 
those  English  and  Scottish  noblemen  and  gentlemen 
wliom  ])ersec\ition  had  compelled  to  tlee  to  Holland. 
Among  these  were  men  of  ancient  family  and 
liistoric  name,  and  othera  distinguished  by  their 
learning  or  theii-  services  to  the  State.  The  most 
illustrious  of  the  French  exiles  joined  in  this  expe- 
dition, and  contributed  by  theii-  experience  and 
bravery  to  its  success.  With  the  prince  was  the 
renowned  Marshal  Schomberg  and  his  son,  Count 
Charles  Schomberg,  and  M.  la  Caillemote,  son  of 
the  Marquis  de  Ruvigny.  Moreover,  73G  oflicei-s, 
mostly  veterans,  accustomed  to  conquer  under 
Turenne  and  Conde,  commanded  in  William's  bat- 
talions. Besides  these  was  a  chosen  body  of  three 
regiments  of  infantry  and  one  squadron  of  cavalry, 
composed  entirely  of  French  refugees.  Each  regi- 
ment numbered  750  fighting  men.'  Marshal  Schom- 
berg commanded  under  the  orders  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  and  such  was  the  confidence  reposed  in  his 
character  and  abilities  that  the  Princess  of  Orange 
gave  him,  it  is  said,  secret  instructions  to  assert  her 
rights  and  carry  out  the  enterprise,  should  her 
husband  fall.  Two  other  refugee  oificers  were 
similarly  commissioned,  should  both  the  prince  and 
the  marshal  fiill."  Thus  had  his  two  greatest 
enemies  provided  William  with  an  army.  Louis 
of  France  and  James  of  England  had  sent  the 
flower  of  their  generals,  statesmen,  and  soldiei-s 
to  swell  this  expedition ;  and  Popish  tyi-anny  had 
gathered  out  of  the  various  countries,  and  assembled 
under  one  avenging  banner,  a  host  that  burned  to 
fight  the  great  cro%vning  battle  of  Protestantism. 

The  first  night  the  fleet  was  at  sea  the  wind 
veered  into  the  north,  and  settled  in  the  north-west. 
It  soon  rose  to  a  violent  storm,  which  continued  all 
next  day.-  The  fleet  was  driven  back,  some  of  the 
sliips  finding  refuge  in  Helvoetsluys,  from  which 
they  had  sailed,  others  in  the  neighbouring  har- 
bours, but  neither  ship  nor  life  was  lost,  save  one 
man  who  was  blown  from  the  shrouds.  It  was 
rumoured  in  England  that  the  Dutch  armament 
had  gone  to  the  bottom,  whereupon  the  Romanists 
sang  a  loud  but  premature  triiimph  over  the  fancied 
disaster,  which  they  regarded  as  a  compensation  for 
the  destruction  of  the  Amiada  exactly  a  hundred 
years  before.     To  keep  up  the  delusion,  and  make 


'  Weiss,  French  Protestant  Refugees,  p.  231. 
-•  Ibid..,  p.  232. 


the  English  Court  more  remiss  in  their  pi-epara- 
tions,  the  Amstei'dam  and  H:uirlem  gazettes  were 
ordered  to  make  a  lamentable  relation  of  the  great 
damage  the  Dutch  fleet  and  the  amiy  had  sus- 
tained, that  nine  men-of-war,  besides  smaller  vessels, 
were  lost.  Dr.  Burnet  and  several  English  gentlemen 
drowned,  the  States  out  of  humour  \y\t\\  the  ex- 
pedition, and,  in  fine,  that  it  was  next  to  impossible 
for  the  prince  to  resume  his  design  till  next  spring.'' 

While  waitmg  for  the  re-assembling  and  re-fitting 
of  his  fleet,  the  Prince  of  Orange  issued  a  declara- 
tion to  the  army  in  England,  in  which  he  told  them, 
"  We  are  come  to  preserve  your  religion,  and  restore 
and  establish  your  liberties  and  properties,  and 
therefore  we  cannot  sufier  ourselves  to  doubt  but 
that  all  true  Englishmen  will  come  and  concur 
with  us  in  our  desii-e  to  secure  these  nations  from 
Popery  and  slavery.  You  must  all  plainly  see  that 
you  ai'e  only  made  use  of  as  instruments  to  enslave 
the  nation  and  ruin  the  Protestant  religion,  and 
when  that  is  done,  you  may  judge  what  you  your- 
selves may  expect.  .  .  .  We  hope  that  you 
will  not  sufler  yourselves  to  be  abused  by  a  false 
notion  of  honour,  but  that  you  will  in  the  first 
place  consider  what  you  owe  to  Almighty  God,  and 
next  to  your  country,  yourselves,  and  your  poste- 
rity." Admiral  Herbert  addressed  a  similar  letter, 
at  the  same  time,  to  Ms  Majesty's  navj',  exhorting 
them  to  join  the  prince  in  the  coumion  cause. 
"  For,"  .said  he,  "  should  it  plea.se  God  for  the  sins 
of  the  English  nation  to  sufier  your  arms  to  prevail, 
to  what  can  your  victory  serve  you,  but  to  enslave 
you  deeper,  and  overthi'ow  the  true  religion  in 
which  you  have  lived  and  yoiu"  fathers  died?" 
These  appeals  had  the  best  efiect  upon  the  soldiers 
and  sailore  ;  many  of  whom  x-esolved  not  to  draw 
a  sword  in  this  quarrel  till  they  had  secured  a  free 
Parliament,  and  a  gu.arantee  for  the  laws,  the 
liberties,  and  the  religion  of  England. 

The  storm  continued  for  eight  days,  during  which 
the  fleet  was  re-fitted  and  re-victualled.  When  all 
was  ready  the  wind  changed  into  the  ea,st.  With 
this  "  Protestant  wind,"  as  the  sailors  called  it,  the 
fleet  a  second  time  stood  out  to  sea.  It  was  divided 
into  three  squadrons.  Tlie  English  and  Scottish 
division  of  the  armament  sailed  under  a  red  flag ; 
the  Brandenburghers  and  the  guards  of  William 
under  a  white ;  and  the  Dutch  and  French,  com- 
manded by  the  Count  of  Nassau,  under  a  blue. 
The  tack  chosen  at  first  w.is  northerly ;  but  the 
wind  being  strong  and  full  from  the  east,  the  fleet 
abandoned  that  course  at  noon  of  the  .second  day 
and  steered  westward.''     Had  the  northerly  coui'se 


'  Bowyer,  p.  22; 


Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  p. 


LANDING   OF  THE   PRINCE   OF   ORANGE. 


623 


been  }-)ersLstecl  in,  the  fleet  would  have  encountered 
the  Englisli  navy,  which  was  assembled  near  Har- 
well, in  the  Ijelief  that  the  prince  would  land  in 
the  north  of  England ;  but  happily  the  wind,  rising 
to  a  brisk  gale,  carried  them  right  across  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Channel,  and  at  the  same  time  ke])t 
the  English  fleet  wind-bound  in  their  roadstead. 
At  noon  on  the  .Srd  of  November,  the  D\itc'h  fleet 
passed  between  Dover  and  Calais.  It  wtis  a  lirave 
sight — the  armament  ranged  in  a  line  seven  leagues 
long,  sailing  proudly  onwards  between  the  shores 
of  England  and  France,  its  decks  crowded  with 
officers  and  soldiers,  while  the  coast  on  either  hand 
was  lined  with  crowds  wliich  gathered  to  gazp  ©n 
the  grand  spectacle.  Before  night  fell  the  fleet 
had  sighted  the  Isle  of  Wight.  The  next  day  was 
Sunday:  the  fleet  carried  but  little  sail,  and  bore 
slowly  along  before  the  wind,  which  still  kept  in 
the  ea.st.  It  was  the  anniversary  of  the  prince's 
birth,  and  also  his  marriage,  and  some  of  his  officers, 
deeming  tlie  day  auspicious,  advised  him  to  land  at 
Portsmouth  ;  but  William,  choosing  rather  to  give 
the  fleet  leisui-e  for  the  exercises  appropriate  to  the 
aacred  day,  forbore  to  do  so.  The  Bay  of  Torquay 
was  under  their  lee,  and  here  William  resolved  to 
attempt  a  landing.  The  pilot  was  bidden  be  careful 
not  to  steer  past  it,  but  a  haze  coming  on  he  had 
gi'eat  difficulty  in  measuring  his  course.  When  the 
mist  cleared  ofl',  it  was  found  that  the  fleet  was  con- 
siderably farther  down-channel  than  the  intended 
))oiut  of  debarkation,  and  as  the  wind  still  blew 
from  the  east  it  was  imjjossible  to  return  to  it.  To 
go  on  to  Plymouth,  the  next  alternative,  involved 
considerable  hazard,  for  it  was  uncertain  how  the 
Earl  of  Bath,  wlw)  commanded  there,  might  receive 
them.  Besides,  Pl}Tnouth  was  not  nearly  so  com- 
modious for  landing  as  the  Bay  of  Torquay,  which 
they  had  passed  in  the  haze.  While  the  jirince  was 
deliber.ating,  the  wind  .shifted  ;  there  came  a  calm 
of  a  few  moments,  and  then  a  breeze  set  in  from  the 
so\ith-west :  "  a  soft  and  happy  gale,"  says  Bin-net, 
who  was  on  board,  "  which  earned  in  the  whole 
fleet  in  four  hoiu-s'  time  into  Torbay."  Scarcely 
had  the  shi])s  dropped  their  anchors  when  the  wind 
returned,  and  blew  again  from  the  ea.st.' 

Tlie  landing  was  safely  efiected  ;  the  peasants  of 
Devonshire  flocked  in  crowds  to  welcome  their 
deliverer  and  supply  his  troops  with  provisions ; 
the  mild  air  refreshed  them  after  their  sea-voyage. 
Tlie  landing  of  the  horees,  it  was  feared,  would  be 
a  matter  of  gi'eat  difficulty ;  Ixit  they  were  shown 
a  place,  says  Bm-net,  "  so  happy  for  our  landing, 

'  Burnet,  vol.  ii.,  p.  499.  Bowyer,  Hist,  of  King 
WiUiam  III.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  235,  28G. 


though  we  came  to  it  by  mere  accident,  that  if  we 
had  ordered  the  whole  island  round  to  be  sounded 
we  could  not  luive  foruid  a  properer  ]')l;ice  for  it." 
There  was,  moreover,  a  dead  cahn  all  that  morning, 
and  a  business  which  they  had  reckoned  woiild 
occuj)y  them  for  days  was  got  through  in  as  many 
hours.  When  the  jiiinee  and  Mai'shal  Schomberg 
had  stejijied  on  shore,  William,  says  Bishop  Burnet, 
'•  took  mo  heartily  by  the  hand,  and  asked  me  if  I 
would  not  now  believe  jii-edestination."  "  He  was 
cheerfuller  than  ordinary,"  he  adds,  "  yet  he  re- 
turned soon  to  his  usual  gravity." 

They  had  no  sooner  effected  the  debarkation  of 
men,  horses,  and  stores,  than  the  wind  changed 
again,  and  setting  in  from  the  west,  it  blew  a  violent 
storm.  Sheltered  by  the  western  arm  of  the  bay, 
William's  ships  suflered  no  damage  fi'om  this  tem- 
pest ;  not  so  the  king's  fleet,  which  till  now  had 
been  wind-bound  at  Harwich.  They  had  learned 
that  William's  ships  had  passed  down  the  Channel, 
and  the  commander  was  eager  to  pursue  them.  The 
calm  which  enabled  William  to  enter  Torbay,  had 
also  allowed  the  king's  navy  to  leave  their 
roadstead,  and  setting  out  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy 
they  had  come  as  far  as  the  Isle  of  Wight  when 
they  were  met  by  this  storm.  They  were  tossed 
on  the  rollers  of  the  Chamiel  for  some  days,  and 
though  at  last  they  managed  to  enter  Portsmouth, 
it  was  in  so  shattered  a  condition  that  they  were 
unfit  for  service  that  yeai-.  "  By  the  immediate 
hand  of  Heaven,"  says  Bumet,  "  we  were  masters 
of  the  sea  without  a  blow.  I  never  found  a  dis- 
jiosition  to  superstition  in  my  temper ;  I  was  rather 
inclined  to  be  philosojihical  u})on  all  occasions.  Yet 
1  must  confess  that  this  strange  ordering  of  the 
wiTids  and  seasons,  just  to  change  as  our  aff'airs 
I'oquired  it,  could  not  but  make  deep  impressions 
u])on  me,  as  well  as  on  all  who  observed  it."" 

For  the  first  few  days  it  was  doubtful  what  re- 
ception England  would  give  its  deliverer.  The 
winds  were  "  Protestant,"  every  one  acknowledged, 
but  would  the  currents  of  the  political  and  social 
firmament  prove  equally  so'!  The  terror  of  the 
executions  which  had  followed  the  rising  under 
Monmouth  still  weighed  on  the  nation.  The  forces 
that  William  had  brought  with  him  appeared  in- 
adetiuate,  and  on  these  and  other  gi'ounds  many  stood 
in  doubt  of  the  issue.  But  in  a  few  days  the  tide 
of  Protestant  feeling  began  to  flow;  fii-st  the  people 
declared  in  favour  of  William — next  the  gentry 
of  the  neighbouring  counties  gave  in  their  accession 
to  him  ;  and  lastly  tlie  nobles  gathered  under  liis 
banners.     Of  soul  t<io  magnanimous  and  strong  to 


'  Bumet,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  489,  500. 


o2-t 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


be  eitlier  etisily  olated  or  easily  cast  down,  this 
tardiness  of  the  people  of  England  to  assert  theii* 
liberties,  wliich  William  ha<i^  come  across  the  sea 
to  vindicate,  drew  from  the  prince  a  dignified  re- 
buke. Addressing  the  gentlemen  of  Somersetsliii'e 
and  Dorsetshire  (November  15),  we  find  him  saying, 
"You  see  we  are  come  according  to  your  invita- 
tion and  our  promise.  Our  duty  to  God  obliges 
us  to  protect  the  Protestant  religion,  and  our  love 
to  mankind  your  liberties  and  properties.  We 
expected  you  that  dwelt  so  near  the  place  of  our 
landing  would  have  joined  us  sooner ;  not  that  it 
is  now  too  late,  nor  that  we  want  yom-  mili- 
tary assistance  so  much  as  your  countenance  and 
presence,  to  justify  our  declared  pretensions,  in 
order  to  accomplish  our  good  and  gi-acious  design 
.  .  .  .  Therefore,  gentlemen,  friends,  and  fellow 
Protestants,  we  bid  you  and  all  your  followers  most 
heartily  welcome  to  our  court  and  camp.  Let  the 
whole  world  now  judge  if  our  pretensions  are  not 
just,  generous,  sincere,  and  above  price,  since  we 
might  have  even  a  bridge  of  gold  to  return  back  ; 
but  it  is  our  principle  rather  to  die  in  a  good  cause 
than  live  in  a  bad  one."' 

Courage  is  as  contagious  as  fear.  The  first  ac- 
cessions to  the  prince  were  followed  by  crowds  of 
all  ranks.  The  bishops,  the  great  cities,  the  nation 
at  large  declared  on  his  side.  The  king  made 
hardly  any  show  of  opposition.  The  tempests  of 
the  ocean  had  disabled  his  fleet ;  a  spu-it  of  deser- 
tion had  crept  in  among  his  soldiers,  and  his  army 
could  not  be  relied  on.  The  priests  and  Jesuits,  who 
had  urged  him  to  violent  measures,  forsook  him  now, 
when  he  was  in  extremity,  and  consulted  their  own 
.safety  in  flight.  The  friends  on  whom  formerly  he 
had  showered  his  favours,  and  whom  he  believed 
incapable  of  ever  deserting  him,  proved  false  ;  even 
his  own  children  forsook  him.  No  one  stood  by 
him  at  this  hour  b\it  his  queen,  and  she  deemed  it 
prudent  to  retire  to  France.  The  man  who  but  a 
few  days  before  stood  at  the  head  of  one  of  the 
most  powerful  kingdoms  of  Europe,  who  had  fleets 
and  armies  at  his  command,  who  had  around  him 
so  numerous  and  powerful  an  aristocracy,  was  in  a 
moment,  with  hardly  a  sword  unsheathed  against 


'  Bowyer,  Hitt.  WiUiam  III.,  voL  i.,  pp.  241,  242. 


him,  stripped  of  all,  and  now  stood  alone,  his  friends 
scattered,  his  armies  in  revolt,  his  kingdom  alienated 
and  his  power  utterly  broken.  Overwhelmed  by 
the  suddenness  and  gi'eatness  of  his  calamities,  he 
fled,  no  man  pursuing,  throwing,  in  his  flight,  the 
great  seal  into  the  Thames  ;  and  having  reached  the 
sea-coast,  the  once  mighty  monarch  threw  himself 
into  a  small  boat,  ci-ossed  the  Channel,  and  sought 
the  protection  of  the  man  whose  equal  he  had  beefl 
till  this  unhappy  hour,  but  on  whose  bounty  he 
was  henceforth  content  to  subsist. 

The  throne  being  thus  vacated,  a  Convention  was 
held,  and  the  crown  was  settled  on  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Orange.  William  ascended  the  throne 
as  the  representative  of  Protestantism.  That  throne, 
destined  to  become  the  greatest  in  the  world,  we 
behold  won  for  the  Reformation.  This  was  the 
triumph,  not  of  English  Protestantism  only,  it  was 
the  triumph  of  the  Protestantism  of  all  Christendom. 
It  was  the  resurrection  of  the  cause  of  the  French 
Huguenots,  and  through  them  that  of  Calvin  and 
the  Church  of  Geneva.  It  was  the  revival  not 
less  of  the  cause  of  the  Scots  Covenantei's,  whose 
torn  and  blood-stained  flag,  upheld  at  the  latter  end 
of  their  struggle  by  only  a  few  laymen,  was  soon  to 
be  crowned  with  victory.  WiUiam  the  Silent  lives 
once  more  in  his  great  descendant,  and  in  William 
III.  tights  over  again  his  great  battle,  and  achieves 
a  success  more  glorious  and  dazzling  than  any 
that  was  destined  to  cheer  him  in  his  mortal  life. 
Protestantism  planting  herself  at  the  centre  of  an 
empire  whose  circuit  goes  round  the  globe,  and 
whose  sceptre  is  stretched  over  men  of  all  kindreds, 
languages,  and  nations  on  the  eai-th,  with  letters, 
science,  colonies,  and  organised  churches  round  her 
as  her  ministers  and  propagators,  sees  in  this 
glorious  outcome  and  issue  the  harvest  of  the  toils 
and  blood  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  heroes, 
confessors,  and  martyrs  whom  she  has  reared.  One 
sowed,  another  reaped,  and  now  in  the  accession  of 
William  III.  both  rejoice  together. 

We  found  Protestantism  at  the  bar  of  the 
hierarchy  in  St.  Paul's  in  the  person  of  John 
Wicliffe,  we  leave  it  on  the  throne  of  England  in  the 
person  of  William  III.  While  the  throne  of  England 
continues  to  be  Protestant,  Great  Britain  -will  stand; 
when  it  ceases  to  be  Protestant,  Britain  will  fall. 


GENEEAL    INDEX. 


157 


GEl^ERAL     INDEX 


Abelard  of  Paris,  the  father  of  modom  scepticism,  i.,  57 ; 
his  genius,  57 ;  he  stands  at  the  parting  of  the  three 
great  schools  of  thought  in  Europe,  57  ;  ever  since  hia 
days  three  currents  of  thought  in  Christendom,  58. 

AuRiAN  VI.,  his  birth,  i.,  477;  tutor  to  Charles  V.,  477; 
elected  Pope,  477 ;  his  policy,  477 ;  his  fear  of  the 
Turk,  488 ;  his  brief  against  Luther,  488 ;  his  scheme 
of  reform,  488 ;  his  nuncio  at  the  Diet  at  Nuremberg, 
489;  the  "Hundred  Grievances"  and  Adrian's  rage, 
489  ;  his  death,  490. 

AiOLE,  Farel  visits  it,  and  acts  as  schoolmaster  in  it,  ii.,  248 
Bern  empowers  him  to  explain  the  Scriptures  at  Aigle, 
248  ;  he  founds  a  Reformed  Church  in  it,  248. 

Alasco,  John,  his  parentage,  iii.,  166 ;  educated  at  Louvain, 
visits  Zwinglc,  and  takes  up  his  abode  with  Erasmus, 
1G6  ;  his  recaU  to  Poland  and  proffered  dignities,  167  ; 
severs  himself  from  the  Romish  Church  and  goes  to 
East  Friesland,  167;  reforms  East  Fricsland,  1G7; 
retires  to  England,  169;  his  friendship  with  Cranmer, 
169 ;  superintendent  of  the  Reformed  congregation  in 
London,  169 ;  sails  for  Denmark  on  the  accession  of 
Mary,  169  ;  his  wanderings,  170  ;  his  reforming  labours 
in  Poland,  170 ;  his  death  and  burial,  171. 

Albekt,  Archbishop  of  Mainz,  farms  the  Pope's  indul- 
gences, i.,  256;  employs  Tetzel  to  sell  them,  256; 
Miltitz's  interview  with,  290. 

Albioenses,  crusades  against,  i.,  38 ;  region  of,  39 ;  their 
arts,  agriculture,  and  cities,  39 ;  edicts  against,  39 ; 
massacres  under  Count  of  Toulouse,  41. 

Alesius,  a  canon  of  St.  Andrews,  iii.,  472 ;  converted  by 
Patrick  Hamilton,  472 ;  an  eye-witness  of  the  burning 
of  Hamilton,  477 ;  flees  into  exile,  478. 

Alexius,  Luther's  companion,  i.,  233;  his  sudden  death, 
233. 

Alkmaau  besieged  by  Alva,  iii.,  98;  encouraging  letter  of 
William,  and  terrible  threats  of  Alva,  98 ;  cannonaded, 
breached,  and  the  foe  repulsed,  99 ;  what  Ensign 
Solia  saw  within  its  walls,  99 ;  the  siege  raised,  100. 


Alva,  Duke  of,  his  character,  person,  blood-thirstiness,  iii., 
66;  crosses  Mont  Cenis  with  an  army,  67;  eutnmce 
into  the  Low  Countries,  67 :  arrests  Counts  Egmont 
and  Horn,  68  ;  made  President  of  the  Council  of  Blood, 
69 ;  Brandt's  summary  of  its  horrors,  69 ;  loses  the 
battle  of  Dam,  and  orders,  in  his  rage,  nineteen  Con- 
federate noblemen  for  immediate  e-xecution,  72 ;  be- 
heads Counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  74  ;  erects  a  statue 
to  himself  at  Antwerp,  77;  exercises  teiTible  cruelties 
on  Mons,  Mechlin,  Zutphen,  and  Naarden,  88 ;  his 
capture  of  Haarlem,  and  what  it  cost  him,  98  ;  his 
recall  and  manner  of  leaving,  100  ;  numbers  executed 
during  his  government,  100. 

Ambolse,  Conspiracy  of,  ii.,  542  ;  executions  at,  543  ;  Pacifi- 
cation of,  574. 

Ambrose,  his  diocese,  19 ;  independence  of  his  See  of  Milan, 
19 ;  his  death,  20  ;  his  theology,  20. 

Amsterdam,  battle  of  Dutch  and  Spanish  fleets  before  it, 
iii.,  100;  defeat  of  the  Spaniards,  100  ;  joins  the  Pro- 
testant side,  123 ;  civic  revolution  in,  124. 

Anabaptists  in  Switzerland,  ii.,  59 ;  their  first  disciples, 
creed,  and  morals,  61 ;  severities  of  the  magistrates 
against,  62  ;  horrible  Anabaptist  tragedy,  62 ;  Zwingle's 
views  on,  63;  German  Anabaptists,  or  the  "  Heavenly 
Kingdom,"  100;  Matthias  the  baker,  and  John  Buck- 
holdt  the  tailor,  101 ;  tenets  and  death  of  Buckholdt, 
102. 

Antwerp,  outbreak  of  Lutheranism  in  Augustinian  convent 
of,  iii.,  9;  drowning  of  Nicholas  the  preacher  at,  10; 
sack  of  its  cathedral  by  Iconoclasts,  53  ;  liberty  to  the 
Reformed  to  build  churches  in  it,  58;  bows  its  neck 
again  to  the  regent,  64  ;  spoiled  by  Spanisli  mutineers, 
105  ;  terrible  sack  of,  by  the  Spanish  army,  the  "Ant- 
werp Fury,"  113. 

Appenzell  reformed  by  Klarer,  i.,  447 

Arovle,  Archibald,  Marquis  of,  his  great  power  in  Scot- 
land, iii.,  563;  services  to  the  royal  house,  564;  last 
hours  and  behaviour  on  the  scaffold,  565. 


628 


HISTORY   OF    PROTESTANTISM. 


Akmai)A,  Spanish,  its  object,  iii.,  446;  its  building,  447; 
its  numbers  and  equipment,  447 ;  attempts  to  delude 
Enghind,  448 ;  anothei-  Amiadii  prepared  in  Flanders, 
448 ;  preparations  of  England  for  resisting  it,  449  ; 
the  Armada  SiiOs,  450  ;  is  off  the  coast  of  England, 
452  ;  battles  in  the  Channel,  453  ;  roadstead  of  Calais, 
455  ;  a  fire-ship  and  flight,  456 ;  bloody  battle  in  the 
North  Sea,  456 ;  storm  and  shipwreck,  458 ;  dreadful 
catastrophes  on  the  Irish  coast,  458 ;  interview  between 
the  lliuister  of  Anstruther  and  a  Spanish  admii-al, 
459 ;  mourning  in  Spain,  459  ;  rejoicings  of  Protestant 
States  over  its  total  destruction,  460. 

Arnold  of  Brescia,  i.,  51 ;  a  pupil  of  Abelard,  51 ;  his 
eloquence,  51 ;  returns  to  Italy,  and  preaches  in  Brescia, 
51;  his  picture  of  the  times  and  scheme  of  Reform, 
52;  inveighs  against  the  wealth  of  the  clergy,  and  is 
condemned  by  Innocent  II.,  52 ;  banished  from  Italy, 
53  ;  on  the  Pope's  death  returns  to  Kome,  and  labours 
there  ten  years,  53  ;  demands  separation  of  temporal 
and  spiritual  powers,  53 ;  seized  and  burned,  54. 

Arundel,  his  Constitutions,  i.,  361 ;  purges  Oxford,  364 : 
Aves  to  Mary  and  himself,  365 ;  he  becomes  the  evil 
genius  of  Henry  V.,  371;  persecutes  Lord  Cobham, 
374;  enacts  new  festivals,  393  ;  his  death  and  character, 
381. 

Askew,  Anne,  trial  and  torture  of,  iii.,  406;  her  martj-rdom. 
407. 

AuGsnvKG,  Diet  at,  i.,  582 ;  assembling  of  princes,  583  ; 
emperor's  arrival,  586;  the  Diet  opened,  589;  the 
Torgau  Articles,  585  ;  subscribing  of  Augsburg  Con- 
fession, 594 ;  its  reading,  596  ;  its  articles,  597 ;  its 
results,  599 ;  the  place  and  uses  of  the  Confession,  602; 
plottings  to  counteract  the  Confession,  603 ;  demand 
made  on  the  Protestants,  604 ;  attemj)ted  refutation 
of  the  Confession,  610;  the  play  of  the  masks,  611 ; 
second  attempt  at  refutation  of  Confession,  614  ;  Ban 
of  Augsburg,  ii.,  96. 

B 

Badby,  John,  his  condemnation,  i.,  353;  his  conversation 
at  the  stake  with  the  Prince  of  Wales,  354. 

Bakkeb,  John  de  Waerden,  his  martyrdom,  iii.,  14. 

Basle,  its  importance,  ii.,  71 ;  proportion  of  Protestants  and 
Eomanists,  71  ;  Protestants  demand  abolition  of  the 
mass,  71  ;  the  magistrates  temporise,  72 ;  conflict 
between  the  citizens  and  the  Senate,  73 ;  night  of  the 
8th  of  February,  73  ;  the  idols  broken  and  burned,  74  ; 
Erasmus  quits  Basle,  75 ;  description  of  the  town  and 
its  environs,  221 ;  Calvin  arrives  there,  and  lodges  in 
the  house  of  Catherine  Klein,  224 ;  writes  his  "  Insti- 
tutes "  and  departs,  237. 

Beda,  head  of  the  Sorbonnc,  ii.,  138;  zeal  against  Pro- 
testantism, 140;  obtains  an  Act  for  the  burning  of 
Lutherans,  201. 


"  Beggaks,''  or  League  of  Flemish  nobles,  iii.,  41;  their 
objects,  42 ;  procession  and  petition  to  the  Regent 
Marg;iret,  44 ;  speech  of  Brederode  and  reply  of  the 
regent,  45 ;  their  livery,  45  ;  "  Beggars  of  the  Sea," 

82  ;  they  capture  Brill  and  found  the  Dutch  KopubUc, 

83  ;  battle  with  the  Spanish  fleet,  102. 

Belgic  Co.nfessiox  of  Faith,  its  compilation,  iii.,  32  ;  dift'ers 
from  the  Augsburg  Confession  on  the  Lord's  Supper, 
but  is  in  agreement  with  all  the  other  Reformed  Confes- 
sions, 33 ;  it  originates  with  a  few  private  Christians,  33 ; 
its  aim  to  guide,  not  fetter  the  understanding,  33 ;  rati- 
fied in  1566  by  a  Synod  at  Antwerp,  34  ;  a  copy  of,  sent 
to  King  of  Spain,  34 ;  a  "Representation  "  appended,  to 
magistrates  of  the  Netherlands,  34  ;  its  teachings  on 
toleration,  34. 

Bern,  Conference  at,  ii.,  64 ;  journey  of  Swiss  deputies 
thither,  65  ;  the  theses  and  disputation,  66  ;  the  fete 
of  St.  Viucent,  68 ;  Bern  embraces  the  Refoimation, 
69  ;  the  citizens  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper  together, 
70 ;  Bern  proposes  blockade  of  the  Five  Cantons,  89 ; 
assists  Geneva  against  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  276  ;  inter- 
feres adversely  in  the  question  of  ceremonies  at  Geneva, 
280 ;  consulted  in  the  matter  of  Servetus,  333 ;  takes 
the  part  of  the  Libertines,  354. 

Berengarius  of  Tours,  i.,  47 ;  opposes  transubstantiation, 
47  ;  condemned  by  numerous  CouncOs,  47  ;  he  recants, 
47  ;  his  repentance  and  death,  48. 

Bernard,  St.,  his  zeal,  i.,  51  ;  preaches  in  south  of 
France  in  opposition  to  Henri,  51. 

BERariN,  Louis  de,  his  conversion  to  the  Gospel,  ii.,  159  ; 
his  zeal  and  courage,  160  ;  liis  imprisonment  and  release 
by  the  king,  160 ;  his  condemnation  and  martyrdom, 
101. 

Beza,  Theodore,  his  birth  and  education,  ii.,  319  ;  becomes 
the  feUow-laboui'er  of  Calvin,  319 ;  his  personal  appear- 
ance, 550 ;  his  address  at  the  CoUoquy  of  Poissy,  550 ; 
at  the  request  of  Catherine  de  Medici,  collects  statistics 
of  the  Protestant  Church  of  France,  550  ;  presides  at 
the  Synod  of  La  EocheUe  (1571),  587. 

Beziers,  destruction  of,  i.,  41,  42. 

Bilnev,  Thomas,  his  personal  appeai-ance,  iii.,  3.'J9 ;  the 
first  convert  at  Cambridge,  359 ;  his  labours  at  Cam- 
bridge, 365 ;  his  device  to  convert  Latimer,  300  ;  sets  out 
on  a  preaching  tour,  378 ;  his  arrest  and  trial,  379 ;  his 
fall  and  recovery,  380;  the  "Lollards'  Pit,"  380;  his 
burning,  381 ;  followed  by  numerous  martyrs,  381. 

Bohemia,  first  preachers  of  the  Reformed  doctrine  in,  iii., 
194  ;  heroism  of  its  early  martjTS,  195 ;  invasion  of 
Ferdinand  I.  and  flight  of  the  pastors,  196 ;  the  Jesuits 
introduced,  197;  MaximUian  II.  and  Joachim  Neuhaus, 
198 ;  its  creed  ratified  by  the  king,  199;  the  Majestiits- 
Bricf,  199 ;  flourishing  state  of  the  Bohemian  Pro- 
testant Church,  200 ;  its  constitution,  &c.,  200 ;  joy  of 
the  Protestants,   201 ;    reaction  under    the  Emperor 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


629 


JIatthias,  201 ;  election  of  Ferdinand  II.,  and  the 
troubles  growing  out  of  it,  201 ;  battle  of  the  White 
Hill,  and  consequent  overthrow  of  Protestantism,  202  ; 
apprehension  of  nobles  and  senators,  202 ;  condemned 
to  death,  203 ;  a  strange  phenomenon,  206  ;  the  Bohe- 
mian martyrs  one  by  one,  207 ;  their  last  words  and 
heroic  hehainour  on  the  scaffold,  207 — 210;  their 
execution  the  obsequies  of  their  country,  212;  murder 
of  ministers  by  the  troops,  212 ;  the  Anabaptists 
banished  from  Moravia,  213;  sorrowful  departure  of 
the  Calvinistic  and  Lutheran  pastors,  214  ;  school- 
masters banished  and  books  burned,  215;  the  grandees 
o.vpelled,  216  ;  reign  of  terror  in  the  towns,  21G  ;  alter- 
native: apostacy  or  banishment,  217;  Bohemia  a  desert, 
and  the  nation  trampled  out,  218. 

BoiEvx,  Anne,  her  bii-th  and  character,  iii.,  375 ;  Henry 
A^III.'s  passion  for,  375  ;  her  marriage  and  coronation, 
399 ;  her  execution,  402. 

BoLocM.\,  its  situation  and  magnificence,  i.,  572;  meeting 
between  Pope  and  Emperor  at,  574 ;  fetes  and  mid- 
night interriews,  574 ;  Charles  V.  crowned,  579  ;  coro- 
nation rites,  and  theii-  significance,  579. 

CoxivAui),  Prior  of  St.  Victor,  his  accomplishments,  ii., 
240 ;  lashes  satirically  Alexander  VI.  and  other  Popes, 
241;  his  journey  to  Kome,  242 ;  imprisoned  in  Castle  of 
ChUlon,  243. 

BossuET,  "  the  Eagle  of  Meaux,"  iii.,  345  ;  his  bigotrj-, 
346. 

BouKBON,  Anthony,  Duke  of  Vendume,  his  character,  ii., 
533 ;  man-ies  Jeanne  d'Albret  and  becomes  ICing  of 
Navarre,  533 ;  killed  at  siege  of  Eouen,  570. 

liRADWAiiDiNE  tcaches  the  Gospel  at  O.xford,  i.,  61. 

BU190NNET,  Bishop  of  Meaux,  goes  on  embasay  to  Rome, 
ii.,  130;  professes  Protestantism,  131;  his  influence  at 
court,  132;  circulates  the  Bible,  134  ;  Reformation  in 
his  diocese,  135;  his  fall,  141;  his  inter\-iew  with 
Denis  in  prison,  142. 

Bbo-vvn,  John,  of  Ashford,  iii.,  357  ;  story  of  his  martyr- 
dom, 357. 

Bkvssels,  first  martjTS  of  the  Reformation  burned  at, 
i.,  490. 

Buuys,  Peter  d(^  founder  of  the  Petrobrusians,  i.,  50 ;  is 

burned,  50. 
BuD.nus,  his  efforts  to  save  Berquin,  ii.,  160. 
BuLLiNOER,  Dean,  his  address  to  his  parishioners,  ii.,  77 ; 

his  Bon  Henry  succeeds  him,  78. 


CAJETA.V,  Cardinal,  his  character,  i.,  273  ;  tries  the  cause  of 
Luther,  278 ;  his  haughtiness,  280 ;  his  opinion  of 
Luther,  281  ;  his  letter  to  the  Elector  Frederick,  and 
Frederick's  reply,  285. 


Calvin,  John,  his  birth  and  lineage,  ii.,  146;  his  dispo- 
sition and  training,  146  ;  appointed  to  Chaplaincy  of 
La  Gesine,  147  ;  Calvin  under  Mathurin  Cordier  at  La 
Marche,  Paris,  147 ;  his  influence  on  the  French  Ian- 
guagc,  148 ;  enters  the  College  of  Montaigne,  149 ; 
discussions  with  his  cousin  Olivetan,  150  ;  his  struggles 
of  soul,  152  ;  opens  the  Bible  and  sees  the  Cross,  153; 
goes  to  Orleans  and  begins  the  study  of  law,  156  ;  his 
coUege  companions,  156;  repairs  to  Bourgea  and 
studies  Greek,  157  ;  begins  to  evangelise,  158;  recalled 
from  Boui-ges  by  news  of  his  father's  illness,  159; 
Calvin  at  No}-on,  164;  preaches  at  Pont  I'Eveque,  165  ; 
his  missionary  labours  in  Paris,  166 ;  his  interview 
with  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  175 ;  writes  an  inaugural 
for  Rector  Cop,  176;  his  flight  from  Paris,  176;  takes 
up  his  abode  with  Du  TiUet  at  Angouleme,  177 ;  his 
inter\-iew  with  Lefe\-re,  178;  goes  to  Poictiers,  178; 
dispenses  there  the  Lord's  Supper  for  the  first  time  in 
France,  179 ;  sends  out  three  missionaries,  179 ;  re- 
nounces his  ecclesiastical  preferments  and  sells  his 
patrimonial  inheritance,  200 ;  meets  Servetus  at  Paris, 
201  ;  resumes  his  evaugehstie  labours,  202 ;  his  forecast 
of  communism,  204  ;  quits  Paris  for  the  last  time,  204 ; 
arrives  at  Strasburg,  220  ;  ascends  the  Rhine  to  Basle, 
221 ;  his  interview  with  Erasmus,  222  ;  compiles  the 
"  Institutes,"  225 ;  enters  Geneva,  280 ;  adjured  by 
Farcl  to  remain,  281 ;  lectures  in  the  cathedral,  and 
compiles  a  creed  and  catechism,  282  ;  fi-ames  the  Con- 
stitution of  Geneva  on  model  of  old  theocracy,  284 ; 
frames  a  code  of  morals,  285 ;  the  Libertines  obtain 
a  majority  in  the  Council  against  him,  286;  Easter 
Sunday,  1538,  287 ;  Calvin  and  Farel  in  presence  of  the 
tumult,  287 ;  their  banishment,  290 ;  Calvin  becomes 
pastor  and  professor  of  theology  at  Strasburg,  291 ; 
his  letters  to  Geneva  and  Sadoleto,  292  ;  goes  to  the 
Conference  at  Frankfort,  295;  his  interviews  with 
Melancthon,  and  love  for  him,  296;  Calvin  among 
the  Latin,  and  Luther  among  the  Teutonic  peoples, 
296  ;  tragic  death  of  Calvin's  four  chief  opponents  at 
Geneva,  300  ;  the  tide  turns  in  his  favour,  301  ;  his 
return  to  Geneva,  301 ;  his  marriage,  303  ;  his  eccle- 
siastical ordinances,  304 ;  the  Venerable  Company,  305 ; 
the  Consistor}-  and  Council,  305  ;  a  theocratic  republic 
established  at  Geneva,  306  ;  Calvin's  studies,  sermons, 
and  coiTespondcncc,  308 ;  estimate  of  his  Commentaries, 
309  ;  his  battles  with  the  Libertines,  310 ;  his  coUisiou 
with  the  family  of  Pcrrin,  311 ;  his  defence  before  the 
Council,  312;  personal  outrages  upon,  314;  sufferings 
of  Calvin  and  Luther  compared,  314 ;  death  of  Ideletto 
de  Bure,  his  wife,  314 ;  Calvin  turns  with  hope  to 
England,  316 ;  what  he  judged  necessary  for  the 
Reformation  of  England,  316;  his  efforts  for  union, 
317 :  Calvin's  and  Zwingle's  views  on  the  Lord's  Supper 
practically  the  same,  317  ;  biilliant  gi-oup  round  Cah-in, 
319;  the  man  at  the  centre,  320;  his  encounter  with 
Servetus,  321  {see  Servetus);   his  conflict  with  Ber- 


630 


HISTORY  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


tholior  and  tho  Libertines,  323 ;  Calvin  debars  from,  and 
the  Council  admits  to  the  Commimion-tablc,  the  Liber- 
tines, 325 ;  Sunday,  3rd  September,  1553,  32G  ;  Cal- 
vin's Tictory  over  the  Libertines,  327 ;  the  two  beacons, 
328 ;  Cal\'in'8  connection  vnth  the  condemnation  and 
death  of  Servetus  examined,  338  ;  his  letter  to  the  five 
martyrs  of  Lyons,  341 ;  his  correspondence  with  the 
Duke  of  Somerset,  Cranmer,  and  Edward  VI.,  342; 
his  longings  for  union,  344 ;  dedications  of  his  works, 
345 ;  his  vast  correspondence,  346 ;  Calvin  and  Knox, 
346 ;  Calvin  and  Innocent  III.  compared  and  con- 
trasted, 347  ;  last  attack  of  the  Libertines  on  Calvin, 
349 ;  spiritual  supremacy  of  the  Consistory  the  key 
of  his  position,  350 ;  the  refugees,  351 ;  grandeur  of 
Calvin's  rule,  352 ;  spiritual  glory  of  the  Church  of 
Geneva  under  Calvin,  353 ;  collision  with  Bolsec  and 
Castalio,  354 ;  his  care  of  the  French  Church,  354 ; 
makes  Geneva  a  missionary  propaganda,  356 ;  his 
organisation  of  the  French  Church,  357 ;  founds  an 
academy  at  Geneva,  358 ;  Cardinal  Sadoleto  visits  him, 
359 ;  his  poverty,  360 ;  his  last  appearance  in  the 
pulpit,  365  ;  his  last  visit  to  the  CouncU,  368  ;  receives 
the  pastors  and  senators  on  his  death-bed,  368  ;  Farel 
visits  him,  369  ;  he  dies,  369 ;  his  grave,  370 ;  estimate 
of  his  work,  371 ;  Luther  and  Calvin  compared,  371  ; 
successive  theories  of  Presbyterian  Church  govern- 
ment, 374  ;  the  key  of  Calvin's  position,  376  ;  the  two 
great  lessons,  376. 

CiMPAGNA  di  Roma,  Luther's  journey  across,  i.,  250 ;  its 
present  condition,  251. 

Capito,  Wolfgang,  i.,  427;  preaches  at  Basle,  443. 

Cakaccioli,  Galeazzo,  a  noble  Neapolitan  and  convert,  ii., 
423  ;  Calvin's  testimony  to,  423. 

Cakaffa,  a  member  of  the  Oratory  of  Divine  Love,  ii.,  422; 
attends  the  Evangelical  reunions  at  Chiaja,  Naples, 
423  ;  re-establishes  the  Inquisition,  423  ;  becomes  Paul 
IV.,  425. 

Caklstadt,  Archdeacon  of  Cathedral,  Wittemberg,  his 
Obelisks,  i.,  291 ;  his  disputation  with  Dr.  Eck  at 
Leipsic,  292 ;  his  personal  appearance,  293 ;  what  he 
maintains  on  the  power  of  the  will,  294  ;  dispenses  the 
Lord's  Supper  at  Wittemberg,  482 ;  opposes  Luther  on 
the  Sacrament,  508  ;  leaves  Wittemberg  for  Orlamund, 
509 ;  disputes  with  Luther  on  images,  510. 

Caenesecchi,  Pietro,  a  patrician  of  Florence  and  martyr, 
ii.,423. 

Caspak,  Leonard,  and  other  martyrs  in  Bavaria,  i.,  546. 

Charles  I.  of  England,  his  father's  gift  the  Basilicon  Boron, 
iii.,  536 ;  his  character,  537 ;  his  arbitrary  acts  and 
measures,  538;  the  "Book  of  Sports,"  540;  sends 
down  canons  and  Liturgy  to  Scotland,  542 ;  scene  in 
St.  Giles'  on  first  reading  of  Liturgy,  542  ;  makes  war 
on  the  Scots,  545 ;  peace,  and  second  war,  546 ;  the 
Long  Parliament  meets,  546 ;  tho  Irish  massacre  and 
the  king's    suspected   complicity,   548 ;    sets  up  his 


standard  at  Nottingham,  548  ;  Scots  join  the  English, 
549;  the  king  defeated  at  Marston  Moor,  552  ;  attainted 
and  condemned,  554  ;  his  execution,  555. 

Charles  II.,  joy  at  his  restoration,  iii.,  557 ;  his  hypocrisy, 
657 ;  purposes  the  overthrow  of  Scottish  Presbj-tery, 
561 ;  his  infamous  tools — Middleton,  Sharp,  Lauder- 
dale, 562 ;  Acts,  Eecissory,  &c.,  for  destruction  of 
Scottish  Protestantism,  562 ;  legislation  and  drunken- 
ness, 563;  sets  up  prelacy  in  Scotland,  566  {see  Scottish 
"  Kirk  ") ;  scheme  for  introducing  Popery  and  arbi- 
trary government,  574 ;  breach  of  the  "  Triple  Al- 
liance "  and  war  with  Holland,  575 ;  Charles  becomes 
a  pensioner  of  Louis  XIV.,  578;  the  Test  Act,  579; 
Charles's  Ulness  and  death,  584 ;  suspicions  of  poison, 
685. 

Charles  IV.,  his  Golden  Bull,  133  ;  chai-acter  of  his  reign 
in  Bohemia,  134. 

Charles  V.,  his  character,  i.,  303;  his  dominions,  304; 
elected  to  the  Empire,  305;  Luther's  appeal  to,  309; 
coronation  as  emperor,  320  ;  opens  the  Diet  at  Worms, 
323  ;  Aleander  pleads  before  the  emperor  and  the  Diet 
against  Luther,  320 ;  his  first  impressions  of  Luther, 
339;  his  ban  against  him,  347;  war  between  Charles 
V.  and  Francis  I.,  476 ;  victory  at  Pa  via  leaves 
Charles  V.  at  the  head  of  Europe,  520 ;  the  Pope  forms 
a  League  against  him,  624  ;  the  emperor  sacks  Rome, 
631  ;  Charles  and  the  Pope  unite  to  destroy  heresy, 
544 ;  aims  at  being  supreme  in  Christendom,  564 ;  lays 
the  train  for  extinction  of  Protestantism,  568 ;  lands 
at  Genoa,  569 ;  audience  and  arrest  of  Protestant 
deputies,  670 ;  sets  out  for  Bologna,  572 ;  interviews 
with  Clement  VII.  at  Bologna,  575  ;  proposes  a  Coun- 
cil, and  summons  a  Diet  at  Augsburg,  578 ;  his 
coronation,  579 ;  crosses  the  Tyrol,  580 ;  arrives  at 
Innspruck,  581 ;  entrance  into  Augsburg,  686 ;  his 
speech  at  the  Diet,  691 ;  his  labours  and  vexations, 
ii.,  100;  his  League  with  Pope  Paul  III.  in  order  to 
war  against  the  Schmalkald  princes,  112  ;  his  ban 
against  the  Elector  of  Saxony  and  Landgrave  of  Hesse, 
116;  tho  climax  of  his  power,  119;  Maurice  turns 
against  him,  120;  flight  of  the  emperor,  121;  abdi- 
cation and  retirement  into  Monastery  of  St.  Juste,  122  ; 
his  end,  123;  his  persecuting  edicts  in  the  Nether- 
lands, iii.,  8,  11 ;  his  abdication,  14  ;  his  own  summary 
of  his  labours,  15. 

Charles  IX.,  assembles  the  States-General  at  Orleans,  ii., 
546  ;  influence  of  his  mother  on  his  character,  677 ;  his 
dissimulation  with  Admiral  Coligny,  593 ;  his  interview 
with  the  legate  of  Pius  V.,  596;  his  doublings,  697;  his 
afEected  anger  at  Coligny's  being  wounded,  698;  his 
hesitation  before  the  massacre,  599 ;  fires  on  his  sub- 
jects, 603 ;  his  sweat  of  blood,  612 ;  his  Huguenot  nurse, 
613;  his  death,  613. 

Chatelaix,  Bishop  of  Ma(,'on,  his  sudden  death,  ii.,  519. 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


631 


CiiiCHELEY,  Primate,  instigates  Henry  V.  to  war  with 
Franee,  i.,  386 ;  edicts  against  the  Lollards,  389 ; 
reprimanded  by  the  Pope,  394  ;  advises  Henry  V.  to 
refuse  entrance  to  the  Legate-a-latere,  398. 

Church,  Primitive,  early  triumphs,  i.,  3;  corruptions  of 
fourth  century,  3;  modelled  on  the  pattern  of  the 
Empire,  3 ;  rites  brought  into  her  by  the  Northern 
nations,  4,  5 ;  her  ministry  changed  to  a  sacrificing 
priesthood,  8  ;  Churches  of  Lombardy  in  seventh  and 
eighth  centuries,  20;  services  of  Koman  Church  to 
Western  nations,  23  ;  submission  of  Lombard  Churches 
to  Rome,  23. 

Clacdius  of  Tui-in,  i.,  21 ;  his  Commentaries,  21 ;  his  doc- 
trine of  the  Lord's  Supper,  21 ;  his  battle  against 
images,  22 ;  his  views  on  the  primacy,  22 ;  approved 
by  Councils  in  France,  23. 

Clement  VII.,  his  character,  i.,  490  ;  sends  Campeggio  to 
the  Diet  at  Nuremberg,  491 ;  letter  to  Charles  V.,  503; 
Charles  to  Clement,  504 ;  interviews  with  emperor  at 
Bologna,  574  ;  sails  to  Marseilles  to  meet  Francis  I., 
ii.,  186 ;  marries  his  niece  to  second  son  of  Francis  I., 
188;  returns  to  Rome  and  dies,  189;  perplexities 
caused  him  by  English  divorce,  iii.,  376;  his  doublings, 
377. 

Clement  XIV.  (GanganeUi) ,  his  character,  ii.,  418  ;  he 
suppresses  the  Jesuits,  419  ;  his  sudden  death,  419. 

ComE  receives  the  Reformed  Faith,  i.,  447. 

CoLET,  Dean,  studies  at  Florence,  iii.,  350 ;  founds  St. 
Paul's  School,  350;  his  lectures  at  St.  Paul's,  351. 

CoLiGNY,  Gaspard  de,  his  lineage  and  early  career,  ii.,  534  ; 
his  daily  life  at  ChatiUon,  535  ;  sots  out  for  the  civil 
wars,  562 ;  becomes  commander-in-chief  in  the  civil 
wars,  572 ;  plot  to  seize  him  and  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
581 ;  proclaimed  an  outlaw,  584 ;  magnanimity  amid  his 
calamities,  584 ;  Charles  IX.'s  deceitful  negotiations 
with  him,  593;  shot  at  on  leaving  the  Louvre,  598; 
murdered  on  the  night  of  St.  Bartholomew,  602. 

CoNDE,  Prince  of,  his  character,  ii.,  534  ;  sentenced  to  die, 
545  ;  escapes  by  the  death  of  Francis  II.,  546  ;  seizes 
Orleans  and  begins  the  civil  wars,  562 ;  taken  prisoner 
at  battle  of  Dreux,  572 ;  Idllod  in  battle  of  Jarnac, 
582. 

Confessions  :  Augsburg  {sec  Augshuro)  ;  Belgic  {see 
Belgic);  Tetrapolitan  Confession,  ;602 ;  Netherland 
Confession,  iii.,  78. 

Conscience  more  powerful  than  philosophy,  ii.,  95. 

Consensus  Tiguhinis,  ii.,  317. 

Constance,  Council  of,  its  assembling,  i.  146 ;  canonises 
St.  Bridget,  149  ;  declares  a  General  Council  above  the 
Pope,  149;  tries  and  deposes  John  XXIII.,  153;  de- 
poses three  Popes,  153;  elects  Martin  V.,  179;  breaking 
up  of  the  Council  and  magnificent  departure  of  the 
Pope,  182. 


CoNSTANTiNE,  Emperor,  complains  of  the  disputes  of  the 

clergj',  i.,  4  ;  his  "Donation,"  11. 
Constantine  of  Samosata,  i.,  32  ;  his  disciples,  33  ;  stoned 

to  death,  33  ;   succeeded  by  Simeon  and  Sergius,  33  ; 

their  labours  and  death,  33. 

CoNTAiiiNi,  Cardinal,  his  character,  ii.,  297  ;  recommends 
reform  at  Hagenau  Conference,  298. 

Cordier,  Mathurin,  Calvin's  first  schoolmaster,  ii.,  147. 

Cosmo  de  Medici,  his  merchandise  and  love  of  letters,  ii., 

184  ;  becomes  Duke  of  Tuscany,  185. 
Council  of  Blood  in  the  Netherlands,  its  constitution,  iii., 

69;  destroys  men  at  the  rate  of  about  fifty  per  day,  70; 

"William  of  Orange  cited  before  it,  71  {see  Netherland 

Martyrs). 
Council  of  Trent,  its  programme  of  European  massacre, 

iii.,  40,  41. 
Councils  :    persecuting  edicts    of    Councils  of  Toulouse, 

Lateran,   Tours,  i.,  39,   40;    CouncQ   of   Basle,    202; 

debates  with  the  Hussites,  206  ;  CouncU  of  Pisa,  363  ; 

deposes  two  rival  Popes,  363  ;  of  Trent,  ii.,  113. 

Covenants  of  the  various  Reformed  Chui-ches,  iii.,  521 ; 
National  Covenant  of  Scotland,  521 ;  National  Covenant 
renewed,  543  ;  its  provisions,  543 ;  solemn  scene  in 
Grej'friars'  Churchyard,  543;  swearing  of  covenant, 
followed  by  the  Free  Assembly  of  1638  and  fall  of  pre- 
lacy, 544  ;  the  Solemn  League  framed,  549;  summary  of 
its  principles,  549  ;  Westminster  Assembly,  550  ;  West- 
minster Standards,  551 ;  their  influence  on  the  Churches 
of  the  world,  551 ;  England  Presbyterian,  552. 

Cr.4^mer,  Thomas,  birth  and  education,  iii.,  389  ;  intro- 
duced to  the  king,  392  ;  advises  Henry  to  ask  opinion 
of  the  Universities  on  his  marriage,  392 ;  made  Primate 
of  England,  399;  pronounces  divorce  of  Catherine,  399  ; 
reforms  the  Church  of  England,  408  ;  difiiculties  of  his 
work,  416  ;  proposed  Protestant  Convention,  416;  con- 
demned for  treason,  423  ;  disputes,  along  with  Ridley 
and  Latimer,  on  the  mass  at  Oxford,  423 ;  his  recan- 
tation and  repentance,  430  ;  his  martjT-dom,  431. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  vigour  of  his  protectorate,  iii.,  356. 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  his  early  career  and  first  meeting  with 
Henry  VIII.,  iii.,  392  ;  ad%'ises  Henry  to  abolish  the 
Papal  jurisdiction  in  England,  392  ;  taken  into  the 
king's  service,  393  ;  counsels  the  king  to  abolish  the 
Pope's  supremacy  in  England,  392  ;  is  beheaded,  404. 


D 

D'Alrret,  Jeanne,  Queen  of  Nav.arre,  ii.,  536  ;  establishes 
Protestantism  in  her  kingdom,  537 ;  her  greatness  as  a 
sovereign,  637 ;  joins  the  Protestant  chiefs  at  La 
Rochelle,  and  presents  her  son  to  the  Protestant  army, 
582 ;  comes  to  court  of  France  on  occasion  of  her  son's 
marriage,  593 ;  her  sudden  death,  694. 


632 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


Denmauk,  Arcimbold  sells  indulgences  in,  ii.,  M,  33;  Paul 
Elia,  its  first  herald  of  Protestantism,  33  ;  Taussanus, 
its  great  licformcr  {sec  Tavssanvs)  ;  the  Danish  New 
Testament,  34 ;  meeting  of  Estates  at  Odenscc,  and 
edict  of  toleration,  39;  influence  of  Church  song  in  the 
Eefoi-mation  of  Denmark,  39  ;  theological  college  estab- 
lished at  Malmoe,  40;  new  translation  of  the  New 
Testament,  41  ;  the  theology  of  Danish  Protestants 
agrees  with  Augsburg  Confession,  42;  a  disputa- 
tion challenged  and  declined,  44  ;  monasteries  dissolved 
and  Protestantism  established,  44 ;  futile  invasion  of 
ex-lCing  Christian  II.,  45  ;  accession  of  Christian  III., 
47 ;  new  ecclesiastical  constitution  framed  by  Pome- 
ranus,  49 ;  Keformation  completed,  and  Christian  III. 
crowned,  50. 

DiAHA  of  Poictiers,  mistress  of  Heniy  II.,  ii.,  517;  insti- 
gates the  king  to  persecute,  51S ;  Diana  and  the  tailor, 
519;  her  avarice,  521. 

Diet  of  Bohemia,  i.,  207 ;  of  Worms  summoned,  322 ; 
opened,  323  ;  Aleander  pleads  before  it,  326  ;  Luther 
cited  to  it,  329  ;  his  arrival  at  Worms,  333  ;  appears 
before  the  Diet,  336  ;  his  address,  34 1 ;  ban  pronounced 
upon  him,  347  ;  Diet  of  Nuremberg  (1522),  488  ;  edict 
permitting  the  Gospel  to  be  preached,  489 ;  second 
JDict  at  Nuremberg  (1524),  401 ;  Diet  at  Spires  (1526), 
624 ;  second  Diet  of  Sijircs  (1529),  548;  asked  to  repeal 
the  edict  of  toleration,  549  ;  consultations,  550 ;  the 
Great  Protest,  551;  Diet  at  Augsburg,  582  [see 
Augsbukg)  ;  Diet  at  Zurich  (1529),  ii.,  78,  Confer- 
ences at  Hagenau  and  Eatisbon,  297. 

Dominic,  St.,  organises  the  Inquisition,  i.,  45;  founds  a 
new  Order,  81 ;  Dominicans  foim  twoTaands — preachers 
and  inquisitors,  82. 

DoiiT,  first  National  Sj-nod  at  (1578),  iu.,  124  ;  its 
sentiments  on  toleration,  125 ;  Synod  of  Dort  (1618), 
148 ;  Calvinism  the  common  theology  of  the  Eefonna- 
tion  and  of  the  early  Dutch  Church,  148;  Arminius 
and  rise  of  Anninianism,  149  ;  his  tenets,  as  developed 
by  his  disciples,  149;  the  five  points,  150;  the 
Remonstrants,  152;  opening  of  the  S)-nod,  152;  con- 
demns and  deposes  the  Remonstrants,  153 ;  the 
theology  of  the  first  and  second  ages  of  the  Reforma- 
tion compared,  154  ;  influence  of  the  Sjmod,  154. 

Du  Bellay  sent  to  negotiate  an  alliance  with  the  Pro- 
testant princes,  ii.,  166. 

Dii  BouRG,  the  merchant,  ii.,  203;  his  arrest,  209;  his 
burning,  210. 

DiTRAT,  Chancellor  of  France,  ii.,  140;  persecutes  the 
Protestants  of  Meaux,  141. 


EcK,  Dr.,  professor  of  philosophy  at  Ingolstadt,  opposes 
Luther,  i.,  2G9 ;  disputation  at  Leipsic,  291 ;  his 
entrance  into  that  city,  291 ;   propositions  maintained 


against  Carlatadt  and  Luther,  294  ;  Eck  at  Rome,  301 ; 
procures  bull  against  Luther,  311  ;  Aleander  publishes 
the  bull,  and  bums  Luther's  -iTOtings,  312  ;  Eck  a.? 
spokesman  of  the  Diet  at  Worms,  338 ;  appointed  to 
write  a  refutation  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  608, 
614 ;  invited  to  oppose  Taussanus,  the  Danish  Re- 
former, ii.,  37 ;  flattering  letter  of  Danish  bishops  to 
him,  38 ;  chosen  champion  for  tho  disputation  at 
Baden,  57;  personal  aiipcarance,  58;  Eck  and  Charles 
V.  helping  the  Reformation,  59. 

Edward  III.,  Urban  V.  demands  tribute  from  him,  i.,  68; 
edict  passed  in  his  reign  to  restrain  Papal  encroach- 
ments, 69 ;  debates  in  Parliament  on  the  Pope's 
demand,  70. 

Edward  VI.,  education  and  piety,  iii.,  408;  coronation, 
409 ;  encourages  Somerset  and  Cranmcr  in  theii' 
Church  Reforms,  409;  case  of  Joan  of  Kent,  417; 
death  of  Edward  VI.,  418. 

Egmokt,  Lamoral,  Count  of,  his  appearance,  iii.,  16 ;  sent 
to  Spain  to  demand  meeting  of  States-General,  &c.,  35 ; 
his  severities  against  the  image-breakers  of  Flanders, 
60 ;  his  resolution  at  Dendermonde,  and  William 
the  Silent's  warning,  65  ;  arrested  and  thrown  into 
the  Castle  of  Ghent  by  Alva,  68 ;  condemned  and  be- 
headed, 74. 

Elizabeth  of  England,  joy  at  her  accession,  iii.,  431 ;  her 
Protestant  policy  and  its  eifeets,  432 ;  her  ministers, 
Cecil  and  Bacon,  434  ;  the  Marian  exOcs  welcomed, 
437  ;  excommunieated  by  Pius  V.,  441 ;  the  Babington 
conspii-acy,  444  ;  execution  of  conspirators,  444  ;  queen 
at  Tilburj-,  449  ;  thanksgi%-ing  ijrocession  to  St.  Raid's, 
460  ;  persecutes  the  Puritans,  462 ;  her  character,  464 ; 
outburst  of  mind  in  her  reign,  465. 

EuFiBE,  The,  revived  by  the  Pope  under  Charlemagne,  i., 
215;  the  seven  electors,  215  ;  ceremonial  of  coronation 
according  to  golden  bull,  217  ;  limits  of  the  emperor's 
power,  218  ;  splendour  of  the  Empire  under  Charles  V., 
219;  the  Empire  threatens  liberty,  220. 

England,  the  cradle  of  the  Reformation,  i.,  124,  400; 
ii.,  8 ;  iii.,  347 ;  made  the  custodian  and  dispenser  of 
the  Bible,  358  ;  Parliament  of,  authorises  a  new  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible,  400 ;  Act  permitting  the  Bible  to  be 
read,  and  a  copy  to  be  placed  in  every  parish  church, 
405  ;  in  conjunction  mth  Scotland,  the  head-quarters 
of  Protestantism,  441;  greatness  of  Protestant  Eng- 
land, 461,  464. 

England,  Church  of,  Henry  VIII.  dedai-ed  head  of,  iii., 
395,  398;  ecclesiastical  changes  consequent  on  aboli- 
tion of  Papal  supremacy,  396 ;  a  Bible  in  everj-  church, 
405 ;  King  Henry's  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man,  and 
Necessary  Erudition  of  a  Christian  Man,  406  ;  Cranmer's 
Reformation  of,  410;  Book  of  Homilies,  410;  super- 
stitious usages  forbidden,  and  the  Comjnunion  in  both 
kinds,  411;  Cranmer's  Cato/iwm,  411 ;  Book  of  Common 
Traycr,  412;  the  Communion  Service,  412;  the  Articles, 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


633 


413 ;  Litany  and  Gospels  in  English,  434  ;  Elizabeth, 
Act  of  Uniformity,  434  ;  changes  in  the  Prayer  Book 
on  the  head  of  the  Sacrament,  435 ;  the  "  stone  pulpit," 
sermons,  additional  homilies,  436  ;  itinerant  preachers, 
438 ;  Eeformcrs'  view  of  the  royal  supremacy,  440. 
Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  his  character  and  career,  i.,  318; 
comes  to  Basle  and  issues  his  New  Testament,  428  ; 
leaves  Basle  and  retires  to  Friburg,  ii.,  75 ;  his  advice 
to  Louis  dc  Bcrquin,  ICO  ;  his  interview  with  Cahnn, 
222 ;  Paul  III.  enlists  his  pen,  and  offers  him  a 
cardinal's  hat,  224  ;  timidity  of  the  gi-eat  scholar,  224  ; 
his  letter  to  the  people  of  the  Netherlands,  iii.,  11 ;  his 
services  to  the  English  Rcf oi-mation,  3.3 1 ;  publica- 
tion of  his  Greek  and  Latin  New  Testament,  358. 


F.UJEU,  early  history  of,  i.,  458  ;  disputes  with  Zwingle  af^ 
Zurich,  459 ;  joined  with  Eck  to  refute  the  Augsburg 
Confession,  614. 

Fahel,  WOliam,  his  parentage,  ii.,  128 ;  his  devotion  to 
Rome,  129  ;  a  pupil  and  fellow-labourer  of  Lefevre  at 
Paris,  129  ;  he  arrives  at  Aigle,  in  Switzerland,  248 ; 
begins  to  preach  there,  248 ;  his  character  as  a  preacher, 
248 ;  repulsed  from  Lausanne  and  goes  to  Morat,  249  ; 
preaches  at  Neuf chatel,  249  ;  consummates  its  Reforma- 
tion, 250;  Vallangin  reformed,  251 ;  turns  his  ej'e  to- 
wards Geneva,  253 ;  evangelises  at  Orbe,  254 ;  Swiss 
towns  reformed  by  him,  255 ;  enters  Geneva  and  re- 
forms it,  264  {see  Geneva)  ;  adjures  Calvin  to  become 
his  feUow-labourer,  281  (see  Calvin);  banished  from 
Geneva  and  goes  to  Neuf  chatel,  291 ;  attends  Servetus 
in  his  last  hours,  338 ;  \-isits  Calvin  on  his  death-bed, 
369 ;  goes  with  Saunier  to  the  Waldensian  Sj-nod, 
349. 

Fekdin.vxd  I.,  brother  of  Charles  V.,  his  policy  at  Diet  of 
Spires  (1526),  i.,  526;  his  secret  orders  at  Diet,  529; 
presides  at  Diet  (1529),  548  ;  suddenly  qiuts  the  Diet, 
550. 

Ferdinand  II.  educated  by  the  Jesuits,  iii.,  230  ;  his  vow, 
231 ;  aims  at  the  extinction  of  Protestantism  and  the 
liberties  of  Germany,  261  [see  Hungary  and  the  Thirty 
Years'  WjVr). 

France,  great,  but  misses  the  Reformation,  ii.,  3  ;  its  central 
position,  123 ;  tragic  grandeur  of  its  Protestantism, 
124  ;  Louis  XII.,  124 ;  its  early  Reformers,  128 ;  its 
crisis,  172;  its  grand  purgation,  213  ;  an  ominous  day 
in  its  calendar,  218  ;  its  first  martjTS  and  e.xilcs,  218  ; 
their  glory,  219;  first  Protestant  assemblies,  525 ;  its 
book -hawkers,  525 ;  testimony  of  Florimond  de  Eaemond 
to  its  early  Protestants,  526 ;  list  of  Protestant  con- 
gregations at  Henry  II.'s  death,  526 ;  strength  of  Pro- 
testantism in,  564. 


FR.iNCis  I.,  his  campaign  against  Charles  V.  in  Italy,  i., 
519;  taken  captive  at  battle  of  Paria,  520;  violates 
his  treaty  with  Charles  V.,  and  war  ensues,  643  ;  his 
humiliations,  ii.,  100;  his  character,  132;  makes  ad- 
vances to  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany,  166 ; 
repulsed  and  turns  to  England,  167;  meets  Henry 
VIII.  at  Boulogne,  167  ;  offers  to  marry  his  second 
son  to  the  niece  of  Clement  VII.,  183  ;  aims  at  uniting 
Rome  and  the  Reformation,  191 ;  summons  a  meeting 
in  the  Louvre  to  discuss  Melaucthon's  programme  of 
union,  195  ;  Francis  I.  sketches  a  basis  of  union,  196 ; 
alarm  awakened  by  it  in  the  Sorbonne  and  the  Vatican, 
196  ;  Francis  in  the  grand  procession  of  1535,  214  ; 
his  speech  in  Notre  Dame,  215 ;  witnesses  the  dreadful 
executions  that  followed,  216  ;  turns  again  to  the  Ger- 
man Protestants,  219  ;  takes  Piedmont  and  Savoy  from 
the  duke,  278  ;  his  death-bed  and  lying  in  state,  513. 

Francis  II.,  his  character,  ii.,  532  ;  governed  by  the  Guises, 
533 ;  bums  Du  Bourg,  538 ;  establishes  Chambres 
ardentes,  539  ;  violence  of  his  persecutions,  539 ;  Con- 
spiracy of  Amboise,  542 ;  barbarous  executions  of  the 
insurgents,  543;  death  and  funeral  of  Francis  II., 
545. 

Francis,  St.,  his  birth,  i.,  80  ;  early  habits,  SO ;  journey  to 
Rome,  and  interview  with  Innocent  III.,  80,  81 ;  com- 
missioned to  found  a  new  order,  81  ;  their  rapid  and 
wide  diffusion,  81. 

Frederick,  Elector  of  Saxony,  builds  the  Schloss-kirk, 
Wittemberg,  i.,  262  ;  his  dream,  263  ;  protects  Luther, 
273  ;  requests  Luther  to  quit  Saxony,  286  ;  Pope  offers 
bim  the  golden  rose,  288  ;  Empire  offered  to,  but  de- 
clined, 304  ;  Leo  X.'a  letter  to,  311 ;  his  death,  512. 

French  Church,  first  National  Synod  of,  ii.,  528  ;  its  con- 
fession of  faith,  530  ;  its  constitution  and  courts,  531 ; 
Quick's  testimony  to  flourishing  condition  of  French 
Church,  532 ;  French  and  Scottish  ecclesiastical  or- 
ganisations compared,  iii.,  315. 

French  Church  of  the  Desert,  iii.,  343 ;  places  of  meeting 
and  worship,  344  ;  her  persecutions  and  martyrs,  345 ; 
her  pastors,  Paul  Rabaut  and  Antoine  Court,  346 ; 
Revolution  of  1789,  347. 

French  Dragonnades,  confiscation  of  Protestant  churches, 
iii.,  328  ;  persecuting  amts,  328  ;  fimd  for  purchase 
of  consciences,  329 ;  Pere  la  Chaise  and  Madame  de 
llaintenon,  329  ;  the  dragonnades  commenced,  330  ; 
consummated  in  revocation  of  Edict  of  Nantes,  332 
{see  Nante.s). 

French  Protestants,  their  eminence  in  agriculture,  iii., 
321 ;  in  trade  and  manufactures,  321 ;  their  probity 
and  command  of  foreign  commerce,  322 ;  illustrious 
names  in  law,  in  oratory,  in  letters,  322 ;  the  pulpit 
eloquence  and  pulpit  orators  of  France,  323 ;  French 
Protestant  seminaries,  324  ;  eminent  French  pastors, 
325. 


634 


HISTOBY   OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


Frytk,  John,  his  character  and  conversion,  iii.,  359  ;  his 
dreadful  sufferings  with  eight  others  in  the  cellar  at 
Oxford,  371 ;  his  martyrdom,  399. 


G 

Gardiner,  with  Bonner  and  Cardinal  Pole,  becomes  the 
instrument  of  Mary's  cruelties,  iii.,  420  [see  Mary). 

Geneva,  grandeur  of  its  site,  ii.,  238 ;  diminutive  size,  and 
sneers  of  Voltaire,  238 ;  places  itself  under  its  bishop, 
who  swears  to  preserve  its  franchises,  239  ;  Martin  V. 
deprives  its  citizens  of  the  right  of  electing  their  bishop, 
239  ;  he  appoints  a  prince  of  the  House  of  Savoy  to  be 
their  bishop,  240 ;  war  between  the  bishop  and  the 
citizens,  240 ;  Berthelier  and  Levrier  stand  up  for  its 
independence,  242 ;  Berthelier  beheaded,  243  ;  Levrier 
apprehended,  tried,  and  beheaded,  244 ;  Geneva  allies 
itself  with  Bern  and  Friburg,  246 ;  strength  of 
Popery  in  Geneva  and  Leman  VaUey,  256 ;  Farel 
preaches  the  great  pardon  in  it,  but  is  expelled,  257 ; 
its  Reformation  begun  by  Froment,  the  schoolmaster, 
258  ;  Froment's  New  Year's  Day  sermon,  260 ;  first 
Protestant  Communion  in  Geneva,  2G1  ;  plot  to  mas- 
sacre all  the  converts,  261 ;  war  on  its  streets,  262  ; 
its  bishop,  Pierre  de  la  Baume,  flees,  263 ;  edict  of 
Council,  permitting  free  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  263  ; 
Farel,  Viret,  and  Froment  enter  it,  264  ;  plot  to  seize 
Geneva  under  cover  of  a  hunting  party,  266 ;  duke 
and  emperor  combine  against  it,  267  ;  its  suburbs  razed 
by  its  citizens  in  self-defence,  268  ;  Geneva  needed  as 
a  new  foothold  of  Protestantism,  269 ;  Friburg  and 
Bern  abandon  it,  270 ;  the  bishop  departs,  and  the 
citizens  assume  its  government,  270  ;  attempt  to  poison 
the  Protestant  ministers,  271  ;  public  disputations 
between  the  monks  and  the  ministers,  272  ;  miracles 
and  exposures,  273  ;  strange  symbolical  figures,  274  ; 
mass  forbidden  by  the  Council,  275;  the  Popish  faith 
ceases  to  be  the  religion  of  Geneva,  ■  275 ;  Geneva 
blockaded  by  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  275 ;  Bern  inter- 
venes, 276 ;  the  Savoy  army  beaten  off,  277 ;  Geneva 
completes  its  Reformation,  278 ;  motto,  and  com- 
memorative tablet,  279 ;  Geneva  becomes  the  mate- 
rial basis  of  a  great  moral  empire,  280;  Cali-in 
enters  it  [see  Calvin)  ;  civil  constitution  of  the 
Genevan  republic,  282 ;  the  Old  Testament  theo- 
cracy taken  as  a  model,  284 ;  the  sumptuary  laws, 
285  ;  rise  of  the  Libertine  party,  286  ;  banishment  of 
Calvin  and  Farel,  287 ;  Rome  draws  near  to  Geneva, 
292  ;  Calvin's  letter  to  Senate  and  people,  292 ;  Calvin's 
return  to  Geneva,  301 ;  ecclesiastical  constitution  of 
Geneva,  304  ;  the  new  Geneva,  306 ;  two  Genevas— the 
Protestant  and  Libertine,  309 ;  the  Thermopyk-c  of 
Christendom,  309 ;  the  Libertines'  kst  attack,  349 ;  their 
complaints  of  Calvin's  sermons  and  publications,  350 ; 
their  plot  to  massacre  the  refugees,  and  its  failure,  352 ; 


glory  of  Geneva  under  Calvin,  352  ;  its  academy,  358 ; 
daily  life  of  its  citizens,  362  ;  vast  increase  of  its  trade 
and  wealth,  363  ;  the  Sabbath  in  Geneva,  364. 

Germany,  causes  disposing  it  towards  the  Reformation,  ii., 
2  ;  picture  of,  before  the  Thirty  Years'  "Wax,  iii.,  256 ; 
frightful  desolation  of,  after  the  war,  308. 

GlANAVELLo,  a  Waldensian  patriot,  ii.,  488  :  his  bravery 
and  skill,  489  ;  repeatedly  repulses  Pianezza's  soldiers, 
490 ;  Valley  of  Rora  ravaged  and  desolated,  490 ; 
Gianavello  renews  the  war,  and  performs  prodigies  of 
valour,  491 ;  Cromwell's  letters  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy 
and  Louis  XIV.  in  behalf  of  the  "Waldenses,  492; 
treaty  of  peace,  494. 

Gregory  VII.  begins  War  of  Investitures,  i.,  14  ;  his  theo- 
cratic idea,  15  ;  humbles  Henry  IV.  of  Germany,  15 ; 
his  idea  realised  by  Innocent  III.,  who  exalts  the  mitre 
above  the  Empire,  16. 

GcisE,  Charles,  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  his  cowardliness,  ii., 
515;  transfers  trial  of  heresy  from  the  Parliament  to 
the  bishops,  521. 

Guise,  Francis,  Duke  of,  his  descent  and  character,  ii., 
515 ;  perpetrates  the  massacre  at  Vassy,  558  ;  entrance 
into  Paris  after  massacre,  560  ;  his  assassination,  673. 

GusTAVus  Adolphus,  his  birth  and  early  training,  iii.,  248 ; 
his  first  campaigns,  274  ;  resolves  to  embark  in  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  275  ;  parting  address  to  his  Diet, 
275  ;  lands  in  Germany,  277  ;  takes  Stettin  and  Pome- 
rania,  278  ;  conquers  at  Leipsic,  and  routs  the  Impe- 
rialists, 285 ;  his  object  the  restoration  of  Protestantism, 
290 ;  terms  proposed  by  him  to  the  Romanists,  290 ; 
enters  Bavaria,  and  defeats  TUly,  291 ;  falls  at  Liitzen, 
294  ;  his  burial  at  Stockholm,  297 ;  his  character  and 
mission,  298  [see  Thirty  Years'  War). 

Guthrie,  James,  minister  at  Stirling,  his  character,  iii., 
566  ;  executed,  and  his  head  afiixed  to  the  Netherbow, 
Edinburgh,  566. 


H 

Haarlem,  siege  of,  iii.,  92 ;  its  defences,  92 ;  its  army  of 
Amazons,  92 ;  breach,  assault,  and  repulse  of  the  foe, 
93 ;  mining  and  countermining,  battles  below  the 
earth,  94 ;  blockade,  famine,  and  dreadful  misery,  94 ; 
its  fall  and  its  massacre,  95 ;  a  moral  victory  to  thp 
Protestant  cause,  96. 

Haller,  Berthold,  the  Reformer  of  Bern,  i.,  444 ;  he 
preaches  and  administers  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Bern,  ii.,  70. 

Hamilton,  Patrick,  proto-martyr  of  Scotland,  iii.,  470;  his 
lineage,  and  studies  abroad,  470 ;  preaches  at  Linlith- 
gow, 471  ;  his  doctrine,  471  ;  his  marriage,  471 ;  in- 
veigled to  St.  Andrews,  and  arrested,  472 ;  his 
evening  party,  472;  panoramic  view  of  contemporary 


GENERAL  ESTDEX. 


635 


Christendom,  473;  final  arrest,  474;  liis  trial,  and 
accusations  of  Prior  Campbell,  476 ;  his  six  hours  at 
the  stake,  477;  Campbell's  dreadful  death,  477;  im- 
pression made  by  Hamilton's  martj-rdom,  477. 

Henby  IV.  of  England,  enacts  the  first  death-penalty  for 
reUgion,  i.,  3.51;  De  Uarctico  Combttrcntlo,  3.52,  369; 
his  letter  to  Pope  Gregory  XII.,  362;  projects  a 
crusade,  369  ;  dies  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber,  370. 

Henry  V.,  his  coronation,  i.,  370 ;  change  of  character, 
370 ;  his  -war  with  France,  387  ;  fights  the  battle  of 
Agincourt,  387  ;  his  death,  fimeral,  and  character,  388. 

Henby  VI.,  distractions  of  England  during  his  infancy, 
i.,  393. 

Henry  VII.  hetroths  his  son  Henry  (VIII.)  to  his 
brother's  widow,  Catherine  of  Spain,  iii.,  353. 

Henry  VIII.,  his  disposition,  ii.,  10  ;  his  troubles,  99  ;  his 
education  and  popularity,  iii.,  349 — 352 ;  his  coronation, 
and  marriage  to  Catherine,  353 ;  his  book  against 
Luther,  363;  the  divorce  stirred,  378;  bull  for  dis- 
solving his  marriage,  383 ;  commission  to  try  the  cause 
in  England,  385  ;  Henry  and  Catherine  cited  before  it, 
but  trial  adjourned,  385;  Henry's  wrath,  385;  cited 
to  Rome,  386  ;  inhibits  bull  of  citation,  386  ;  casts  his 
clergy  in  the  penalties  of  prcsmunire,  394 ;  made  head 
of  the  Church  of  England,  395 ;  foreign  imiversities 
approve  the  divorce,  398 ;  divorces  Catherine,  and 
marries  Anno  Boleyn,  399 ;  is  excommunicated  by  the 
Pope,  400 ;  tyrannical  enactments,  404  ;  his  executions, 
405  ;  his  death,  407  ;  his  character,  407. 

Henry  II.  of  France,  his  dislike  of  business,  ii.,  515; 
parties  at  his  comt,  515  ;  Henry  witnesses  the  burning 
of  the  tailor,  519  ;  numerous  martjTS  in  his  reign, 
520 ;  his  quarrel  with  Julius  III.,  and  Edict  of  Chateau- 
briand, 520  ;  dispensed  from  his  oath  to  Charles  V.  by 
legate  of  Paul  IV.,  521 ;  treaty  of  Cateau  Cambresis, 
and  loss  inflicted  by  it  on  Henr)-,  522  ;  holds  a  "  Mer- 
curiale,"  522 ;  arrests  Du  Bourg,  523 ;  killed  at  a 
tournament,  524 ;  lies  in  state,  525 ;  motto  on  the 
tapestry  covering  his  corpse,  525. 

IIbnby  III.  of  Franco,  his  shameful  character,  ii.,  614 ; 
quarrels  with  the  Duke  of  Guise,  615 ;  murders  the 
Duke  of  Guise  and  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  616 ;  joins 
Henry  (of  the  White  Plume),  and  is  excommunicated 
by  the  Pope,  610;  marshes  on  Paris,  and  is  assassi- 
nated by  the  monk  Clement,  616. 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  King  of  Navarre,  presented  to  the 
Protestant  army  by  his  mother  at  La  RochcUe,  ii., 
682 ;  his  marriage  with  Charles  IX.'s  sister,  597 ; 
rejoicings  at,  598 ;  shall  he  be  massacred  ?  600 ;  his 
march  on  Paris  with  Henry  III.,  616  ;  his  birth  and 
rearing,  017;  assumes  the  crown  of  France,  018;  his 
battles,  019  ;  question  of  renunciation  of  Protestantism, 
and  different  counsel  of  Sully  and  Duplcssis,  020  ;  joins 
the  Church  of  Rome,  021 ;  promulgates  the  Edict  of 


Nantes,  622 ;  is  assassinated  by  RavaiUac,  023 ;  his 
character,  624. 

Hesse,  Philip,  Landgrave  of,  i.,  506  ;  first  meeting  between 
him  and  Melancthon,  507  ;  Philip  at  Diet  of  Spires, 
and  skill  in  debate,  525 ;  constitution  of  Church  of 
Hesse,  537  ;  presides  at  Conference  at  Marburg,  554  ; 
undertakes  reconcilement  of  Luther  and  Zwingle,  555  ; 
his  disappointment,  562 ;  his  flight  from  Augsburg, 
615  ;  takes  arms  for  restoration  of  Duke  of  Wurtem- 
berg,  ii.,  104  ;  he  surrenders  to  Charles  V.,  116  ;  is  led 
about  in  chains  by  the  emperor,  117. 

HoLlJtND,  epitome  of  its  history,  ii.,  4  ;  naval  ascendency, 
iii.,  3  {see  Netherlands)  ;  offers  its  sovereignty  to 
Prince  Maurice  on  the  death  of  his  father,  WUliam  the 
Silent,  147;  greatness  and  decline,  155  (see  United 
Provinces)  ;  England's  war  with,  574 ;  overrun  by 
Louis  XIV.,  and  saved  by  WiUiam,  Prince  of  Orange, 
576. 

Horn,  Count,  iii.,  16  ;  persecutes  the  Calvinists  at  Toumay, 
62 ;  arrested  by  Duke  of  Alva,  08;  condemned  and  exe- 
cuted, 74. 

Hosius,  Cardinal,  his  parentage,  iii.,  185  ;  his  great  powers 
and  prodigious  activity,  186 ;  introduces  the  Jesuits 
into  Poland,  186. 

Huguenot,  origin  of  the  term,  ii.,  546 ;  their  iconoclastic 
zeal,  554;  "  Edict  of  January ,"  granting  partial  freedom 
of  worship  to,  556 ;  barbarous  edicts  against,  561  ; 
rapid  revival  after  the  St.  Bartholomew,  608 ;  de- 
generacy in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.,  iii.,  311 ;  their 
poUtical  conventions,  and  outbreak  of  the  wars  of 
religion,  311  ;  suppression  of  Protestantism  in  Beam, 
313 ;  capture  of  St.  Jean  d'j\ngely,  314 ;  siege  of 
Montauban,  315;  siege  of  La  Rochelle,  316;  English 
fleet  sent  to  succour  it,  317 ;  its  fall,  and  end  of  the 
religious  wars,  318  ;  liberty  ia  France  falls  with  the 
Huguenots,  320 ;  Mazarin  subjects  aU  classes  to  the 
tyranny  of  the  crown,  321. 

HuN,  Richard,  his  murder  in  the  Tower,  iii.,  356. 

Hungary  and  Transylvania,  entrance  and  rapid  spread  of 
Protestantism  in,  iii.,  219;  its  first  preachers,  219;  Louis 
II.  and  his  terrible  edict,  220 ;  the  Turk  steps  in — the 
battle  of  Mohacz,  221 ;  contest  for  the  Hungarian 
sovereigntj',  221  ;  labours  of  Devay,  the  Hungarian 
Reformer,  221 ;  reforming  efforts  of  Count  Nadasdy, 
222 ;  discussion  before  Ferdinand  I.  and  its  results, 
224 ;  the  New  Testament  in  Hungarian,  225  ;  dispute 
about  the  Lord's  Supper,  226 ;  Sjmod  of  Erdoed  and 
Confession  of  the  Five  Cities,  226  ;  Diet  declares  for  the 
Reformation,  227 ;  the  preacher  Szegedin,  227 ;  Pro- 
testantism flourishes  in  Hungary  and  Transylvania, 
228  ;  Ferdinand  II.  and  era  of  persecution,  229 — 232 ; 
the  Jesuits  and  their  plans,  233  ;  a  million  of  corpses, 
233;  Leopold  I.  and  the  golden  age  of  the  Jesuits, 
236 ;  the  tjTant's  instrument,  Lobkowitz,   237 ;   two 


636 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


monsters,  237 ;  Protestants  rotbed  of  their  churches 
and  schools,  237 ;  forbidden  the  rights  of  citizenship, 
238 ;  tragedies  enacted  by  the  Archbishop  of  Gran, 
242  ;  tragic  story  of  Dabricius,  243 ;  banishment  of  the 
pastors,  244 ;  four  bundled  ministers  condemned  and 
banished  to  the  galleys,  244 ;  fe;irf ul  sufferings  on  their 
journey,  244;  a  second  band  sent  to  the  gaUeys,  245; 
released  by  Admiral  de  Ruj'ter,  245 ;  utter  desolation 
of  the  Protestant  Church  of  Hungary,  247. 
Hvss,  John — Huss's  pioneers  in  Bohemia,  i.,  130;  his  birth, 
134 ;  university  career,  134  ;  becomes  preacher  in 
Bethlehem  Chapel,  Prague,  134  ;  studies  the  writings 
of  Wieliife,  136  ;  his  sermons,  137 ;  is  exiled,  137 ; 
places  the  Bible  above  the  Church,  139;  efiect  of  the 
Papal  schism  on  Huss,  141 ;  posts  his  "  Six  Errors," 
142 ;  his  final  retreat  from  Prague,  143 ;  his  journey 
to  Constance,  148;  the  emperor's  safe-conduct,  154; 
Huss  imprisoned,  154 ;  Husa  before  the  Council  of 
Constance,  156  ;  his  second  appearance,  and  the  eclipse, 
158  ;  his  views,  158 ;  efforts  to  make  him  retract,  159  ; 
his  dream,  160 ;  his  third  appearance  before  the  Council, 
161  ;  Sigismund  and  Huss  face  to  face,  161  ;  is  con- 
demned and  degraded,  161,  162;  his  burning,  164; 
Huss  and  Wicliffe  compared,  165  ;  testimony  of  a 
Polish  poet  to,  iii.,  159. 

Hussites,  their  wars :  efiect  of  Huss's  martjTdom  in 
Bohemia,  i.,  178;  Council's  buU  against  the  Hussites, 
182;  outbreak  of  war,  184;  Ziska's  manifesto,  185; 
Prague  besieged  by  the  emperor,  185 ;  repeatedly  re- 
pulsed, 186;  the  Hussites  refuse  the  crown  to  Sigismund, 
188  ;  victories  of  Ziska,  188;  influence  of  these  on  the 
Reformation,  189;  Hussite  mode  of  warfare,  189;  the 
Wagenburg,  the  iron  flail,  &c.,  189,  190;  bull  and 
second  crusade  against  Bohemia,  191;  battle  of  Aussig, 
192;  ballad  of  the  battle,  194;  third  crusade,  195; 
number  of  the  crusaders,  195;  their  defeat,  196;  the 
Hussites  invade  Germany,  197 ;  a  new  crusade,  200 ; 
panic  and  flight  of  invaders,  201 ;  negotiations  at 
Council  of  Basle,  202;  arrival  of  Hussite  deputies  at 
Basle,  203;  debates  in  the  Council  on  their  four 
articles,  203,  204 ;  the  Compactata,  207 ;  Calixtines 
and  Taborites,  208 ;  war  between  the  two,  208  ;  .^neaa 
Sylvius'  account  of  the  Taborites,  209 ;  the  Taboritea 
become  the  "United  Brethren,"  212;  they  elect  three 
pastors  by  lot,  212 ;  their  condition  in  1516,  213. 


Iceland,  introduction  of  Protestantism  into,  ii.,  51. 

Innocent  III.  founds  the  Inquisition,  i.,  37,  38  ;  commences 
the  crusades,  39 ;  opens  the  fourth  Latcran  Council, 
40;  sends  monks  to  preach  the  crusades,  4 1 ;  persecutes 
the  Albigenscs,  41 ;  smites  England  with  interdict, 
65;  annuls  Magna  Charta,  and  excommunicates  the 
barons,  66. 


Inquisition  founded,  i.,  45  ;  its  organisation  and  working, 
45 ;  it  roots  out  the  Protestantism  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  46 ;  Inquisition  restored  by  Caraffa  (Paul 
IV.),  ii.,  422 ;  Inquisition  at  Nuremberg,  427  ;  torture- 
chamber,  427  ;  instruments  of  torture  described,  428  ; 
the  Iron  Virgin,  429. 

"Institutes  :  "  what  led  Calvin  to  write  them,  ii.,  225;  the 
inductive  method  followed  in  them,  226  ;  pioneers  of  the 
"Institutes,"  227 ;  their  two  tremendous  facts,  228 ;  their 
successive  editions,  228  ;  their  order  and  arrangement, 
229  ;  the  "  Institutes"  on  predestination  and  election, 
231 ;  opinions  of  divines  and  philosophers  on,  233  ;  an 
apology  for  the  Reformed,  236 ;  grandeur  of  the  appeal 
to  Francis  I.,  237. 

Intention,  Jesuit  doctrine  of,  ii.,  395  ;  illustrative  cases, 
397  ;  marvellous  virtue  of,  398. 

Interim,  The,  enforced  on  Germany,  ii.,  118;  a  virtual 
restoration  of  Popery,  118;  Melancthon  accepts  it, 
119;  calamities  of  Germany  under  it,  315. 

Investitures,  "War  of,  i.,  14. 

Isidore,  his  forged  decretals,  i.,  13. 

Italy,  pride  of  the  past  her  stumbling-block,  ii.,  4  ;  spread 
of  Protestantism  in  the  sixteenth  century,  423. 


James  II.  of  England,  his  influence  as  Duke  of  York  with 
his  brother's  government,  iii.,  579  ;  proposed  exclusion 
from  the  throne,  580 ;  his  accession,  and  promise  to 
maintain  the  Protestant  religion,  603  ;  crowned,  and 
goes  to  mass,  604  ;  rising  in  the  West  of  England,  605 ; 
cruelties  of  its  suppression,  605 ;  state  of  Protestantism 
throughout  Christendom,  608  ;  crisis  in  England  and 
Christendom,  609 ;  Tyrconnel  made  Lord  Lieutenant 
of  Ireland,  610;  judges,  corporations,  and  army 
Romanised,  611;  frightful  oppressions  of  Protestants 
in  Ireland,  611  ;  a  dispensing  power  set  up,  612;  a 
Popish  hierarchy,  614;  commission  for  ecclesiastical 
affairs  established,  615;  the  indulgence,  615;  seven 
Protestant  bishops  sent  to  the  Tower,  616  ;  birth  of  a 
Prince  of  Wales,  617  ;  James's  consternation  at  news 
of  William's  expedition,  621 ;  aU  forsake  him,  624  ;  he 
flees,  624. 

James  V.  of  Scotland  presides  at  a  trial  for  heresj-  at 
Holyrood,  iii.,  479 ;  plot  for  assassinating  the  nobles 
favourable  to  the  Reformation,  479 ;  defeat  at  the 
Solway,  and  death  at  Falkland  Palace,  480. 

James  VI.  of  Scotland,  influence  of  evil  counsellors  upon 
iii.,  520 ;  love  of  arbitrary  power,  620 ;  Andrew 
Melville  before  him,  522 ;  passes  the  "  Black  Acts," 
523 ;  interview  of  Andrew  Melville  with,  at  Falkland, 
624  ;  ascends  the  English  throne,  526 ;   the  proposed 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


637 


Spanish  match,  iV29 ;  pursues,  on  the  throne  of  England, 
his  plan  for  the  destruction  of  Scottish  Presbyterianiam, 
531 ;  visits  Scotland,  and  sets  up  prelacy,  531 ;  passes 
the  Five  Ai-ticles  of  Perth,  532 ;  dies,  533 ;  remark- 
able awakenings  in  Scotland  the  year  of  the  king's 
death,  533—536. 

Jeffkeys,  Lord  Chief  Justice,  his  ferocity,  iii.,  584  ;  tries 
twenty  young  men  at  Newcastle,  584  ;  his  cruelties  in 
the  suppression  of  Blonmouth's  insurrection,  605 ;  made 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  605. 

.Jerome  of  Prague,  studies  at  O.xford,  i.,  140;  returns  to 
Bohemia,  and  becomes  the  fellow-labourer  of  Huss, 
140;  becomes  to  Constance,  167;  his  imprisonment, 
167;  his  fall,  168;  his  repentance,  170;  his  defence 
before  the  Council,  171 ;  his  interview  with  Cardinal 
of  Florence,  172;  his  condemnation  and  degradation, 
173;  his  martjTdom,  176;  the  place  of  Huss  and 
Jerome  in  the  Kefonnation,  177. 

Jesuits,  The,  founded  by  Ignatius  Loyola  {see  Loyola) 
vow  of  first  nine  disciples  in  Montmartre,  ii.,  383 
Loyola  and  Lainez  frame  their  "  Constitutions,"  387 
powers  of  their  General,  388 ;  organisation  of  the 
society,  388 ;  their  six  grand  divisions  sub-divided  into 
thirty-seven  provinces,  389  ;  their  houses,  &c.,  389  ; 
the  world  naked  and  open  to  their  General,  389 ;  novi- 
tiates, 389;  second  novitiate,  iSrc,  390;  the  scholars, 
the  coadjutors,  the  professed,  390 ;  their  oath  of 
obedience,  392  ;  rigours  of  their  discipline,  and  their 
devotion,  393 ;  their  moral  code  {see  Pkobabilism  and 
Intention)  ;  their  doctrine  of  regicide,  398 ;  M. 
Chalotais'  report  to  Parliament  of  Bretagne  on  Jesuit 
doctrine  of  king-killing,  398 ;  proofs  from  history, 
399  ;  their  doctrine  of  mental  reservation,  399  ;  direc- 
tions for  swearing  falsely,  400 ;  when  are  blasphemy 
and  murder  lawful?  400;  theft  lawful,  401  ;  illustrative 
case  from  Pascal,  401 ;  Jesuit  morality  the  consumma- 
tion of  wickedness,  402;  the  "Secret  Instructions," 
404  ;  how  to  plant  their  establishments,  404  ;  gain  the 
parochial  clergy,  405 ;  search  out  rich  men,  405 ; 
attract  youth,  405;  gain  the  ear  of  the  great  and 
princes,  405 ;  draw  rich  widows  into  their  power,  407 ; 
discover  the  revenues  and  heirs  of  noble  houses,  410  ; 
illustrations  from  Spain,  410;  the  "Instructions"  to 
be  kept  secret,  411;  how  the  "Instructions"  came  to 
light,  411,  418;  spread  of  the  Jesuits,  412;  in  Italy, 
412;  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  413;  in  France  and 
<fcrmany,  413;  in  Cologne  and  Ingolstadt,  413; 
characteristics  of  their  spread  in  Germany,  414  ;  their 
career  in  Poland,  416 ;  their  missions  in  the  East 
Indies  and  Abyssinia,  417;  their  kingdom  of  Para- 
guay, 417 ;  their  trading  establishments  in  the 
West  Indies,  417;  a  Jesuit  bank-ruptcy,  418; 
their  banishments  and  suppressions,  418;  Pius  VII. 
restores  the  order,  419  ;  they  effect  the  ruin  of  Poland 
(see  PoLANii) ;   thi  ir  arts  in  Hungary  {see  Hunoaky)  ; 

158 


they  enter  England,  442  ;  dispensation  to  take  orders 
in  the  Church  of  England,  442  ;  repeated  attempts  on 
the  Ufo  of  Elizabeth,  443  ;  intrigues  in  England  under 
Charles  II.,  580  ;  hopes  under  James  II.,  609. 

John,  Bastard  of  Savoy,  made  Bishop  of  Geneva,  ii.,  240 ; 
his  miserable  death,  244. 

John,  Don,  of  Austria,  made  Governor  of  the  Netherlands, 
iii.,  120  ;  seizes  the  Castle  of  Namur,  121  ;  intercepted 
letters  between  him  and  Philip,  122  ;  his  disappoint- 
ment and  death,  126. 

John  Fkedebick,  Elector  of  Saxony,  goes  to  the  Diet  at 
Spires,  i.,  525 ;  issues  a  commission  to  Luther  to 
organise  the  German  Church,  536  ;  his  League  with 
Landgrave  of  Hesse  to  protect  Protestantism,  545  ;  hia 
courageous  conduct  at  the  Diet  of  Spires  (1529),  550; 
subscribes  the  Great  Protest,  551 ;  his  character,  554; 
joins  the  Schmalkald  League,  573  ;  Luther's  letter  to, 
574  ;  his  journey  to  Augsburg,  582  ;  commissions  the 
Wittemberg  theologians  to  compile  a  summarj-  of  Pro- 
testant faith,  584  ;  shall  he  join  the  imperial  procession 
to  mass  f  589  ;  the  first  to  sign  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
594  ;  iJresents  Confession  to  the  emperor,  596  ;  attempts 
of  the  emperor  to  shake  his  steadfastness,  614  ;  out- 
lawed by  the  emperor,  ii.,  116  ;  defeated  by  Charles  V. 
at  Mtihlberg,  116;  led  about  a  captive  in  the  emperor's 
train,  117  ;  refuses  to  bow  to  the  "  Interim,"  119. 

John,   King,    quarrels  with    Innocent,    iii.,    64 ;    places 

England  at  the  Pope's  feet,  65. 
John  of  Gaunt  befriends  Wicliffe,  i.,  94  ;    his  altercation 

with  Bishop  Courtenay,  94  ;  deserts  Wicliffe,  118. 

John  XXIII.,  his  bull  against  the  King  of  Hungary,  i.,  142 ; 
his  infamous  character,  143  ;  summons  a  Council  at 
Constance,  146  ;  his  entrance  into  that  city,  148  ;  trial 
and  terrible  indictment,  151;  his  flight,  152;  is  de- 
posed, 153. 

Jubilee  of  Julius  III.,  ceremonies  of,  ii.,  315  ;  the  golden 
hammer,  315. 

JuDA,  Leo,  i.,  427  ;  Leo  Juda  and  the  monk,  454  ;  mingles 
in  disputation  at  Zurich,  458. 

Junius,  Franciscus,  his  birth  and  early  life,  iii.,  41  ;  his 
conversion,  and  courage  as  a  preacher,  42. 


K 

Keyser,  Pastor,  of  Switzerland,  seized  and  burned,  ii., 
77,  80. 

Knox,  John,  his  birth-place,  iii.,  483;  scholastic  studies, 
483 ;  call  to  the  ministry,  484  ;  his  first  sermon  the 
key-note  of  the  Scottish  Reformation,  484  ;  the  galleys, 
and  what  he  learned  in  them,  485 ;  visits  Scotland  in 
1555,  485;  what  his  \-isit  accomplished,  485;  retires 
to  Geneva,  486  ;  the  lords  of  the  Congregation  and  the 
first  "  band,"  488 ;    Ivnox's  final  return  to  Scotland, 


638 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


490 ;  outlawed  by  the  regent,  490 ;  his  sermon  at 
Perth,  491;  he  preaches  at  St.  Andrews,  492;  Pro- 
testant worship  set  up  in  many  towns  as  the  result, 
493;  his  incessant  and  llcrculcin  labours,  494 ;  he 
counsels  negotiations  witli  England,  494  ;  licformation 
estahlished,  495;  his  idoul  of  thu  Church,  496;  his 
educational  plan,  497  ;  sermon  in  St.  Giles's  against 
idolatry,  501 ;  dehates  -with  Mary  in  HoljTOod,  502  ; 
rebukes  the  Protestant  nobles,  507 ;  second  interview 
with  Mary,  507 ;  tried  for  high  treason,  508 ;  his 
acquittal,  509;  what  liberty  owes  him,  510;  grief  at 
Regent  Murray's  assassination,  512 ;  retires  to  St. 
Andrews,  512  ;  James  Meh-ille's  picture  of  him  in  the 
pulpit,  512;  opposes  the  Tulchan  bishops,  512;  his 
denunciation  of  the  St.  Bartholomew  Jlassacre  in  St. 
Giles's,  512  ;  his  death  and  character,  513. 


Lambert,  Francis,  of  Ai-ignon,  quits  his  monastery,  i., 
537 ;  passing  through  Switzerland,  comes  to  Wittem- 
berg,  538  ;  his  Paradoxes,  538 ;  a  young  priest  impugns 
them,  538  ;  Lambert  constitutes  the  Church  of  Hesse, 
539  ;  attends  Marburg  Conference,  558 ;  sides  with  the 
Swiss  divines,  5G0. 

Lambert,  his  disputation  with  Henry  VIII.,  iii.,  404  ;  his 
cruel  martyrdom,  404. 

La  Rochelle,  comedy  at,  witnessed  by  King  and  Queen 
of  Navarre,  ii.,  527  ;  founding  of  Protestant  Church  at, 
528 ;  Protestant  chiefs  assemble  at,  582 ;  Synod  at,  and 
greatness  of  French  Protestantism  at  that  period,  587 ; 
the  capital  of  French  Protestantism,  609  ;  its  siege,  and 
brave  defence  of  its  citizens,  609 ;  the  siege  raised, 
610. 

Latimer,  Hugh,  birth,  education,  and  conversion,  iii.,  365  ; 
his  power  in  the  pulpit,  3GG ;  disputes  on  the  mass  at 
Oxford,  423;  burned,  with  Ridley,  at  O.xford,  429; 
his  prophetic  words  at  the  stake,  430. 

Laud,  Archbishop,  his  consecration  of  St.  Catherine  Cree 
Church,  London,  iii.,  538;  innovations  and  perse- 
cutions, 639;  tumult  in  St.  Giles's,  Edinburgh,  at 
introduction  of  his  Liturgj',  542 ;  executed,  546. 

Laurent  de  la  Croix,  a  Dominican  friar,  embraces  the 
Gospel,  ii.,  172;  his  labours,  172;  apprehension  and 
martyrdom,  173  ;  the  populace  of  Paris  sides  with  the 
persecutor,  174. 

Lausanne,  its  site,  ii.,  248  ;  commencement  of  Reformation 
in,  249. 

League,  The,  formed  to  crush  the  Protestants,  ii.,  614. 

Lecleec,  the  wool-comber  and  martjT,  ii.,  143 ;  founds 
Protestant  Church  at  Metz,  and  is  burned,  143  ;  com- 
pared with  Bri(;onnet,  144. 

Lefevke,  Jacques,  his  birth  and  early  life,  ii.,  125  ;  teaches 


a  free  justification,  126;  agitation  in  tho  Sorbonne, 
128;  translates  the  Bible,  134;  Lefevre  anxious  for 
tho  conversion  of  Francis  I.,  155. 

Leo  X.,  his  literary  and  artistic  tastes,  i.,  256  ;  ho  rebuilds 
St.  Peter's,  256 ;  commissions  Tetzel  to  soli  indul- 
gences, 256  ;  his  bull  against  Luther,  311 ;  fulminates 
bull,  Cccna  Domini,  at  Rome,  328;  joy  at  tho  expulsion 
of  the  French,  476  ;  his  illness,  death,  and  burial,  47G ; 
his  "profitable  fable,"  ii.,  130;  splendours  of  Rome 
imder  him,  130. 

Leopold  I.  of  Austria,  his  training,  iii.,  236 ;  personal 
appearance,  236  ;  devotion  to  the  Jesuits,  236  ;  attempt 
to  poison  him,  241 ;  Leopold  and  the  chemist,  242. 

L'Etoile,  Pien-e  de,  professor  of  law  at  Orleans,  ii.,  156; 
his  code  of  jurisprudence,  156. 

Leydex,  its  situation,  iii.,  106;  its  siege,  106;  the  dykes 
cut,  107 ;  the  waters  do  not  rise,  107 ;  famine  and 
pestilence,  108 ;  the  winds  shift,  and  ocean  roUs  in, 
108;  Leyden  relieved,  109;  ocean  roUed  back,  110; 
a  university  founded  in,  110. 

L'Hopital,  Michel  de.  Chancellor  of  France,  advocates 
toleration  in  States-General,  ii.,  546  ;  pleads  in  favour 
of  the  Reformed  at  Colloquy  of  Poissy,  549  ;  services 
to  the  Protestants  at  Assembly  of  Notables,  656. 

Lilly  and  Linacre,  their  service,  as  scholars,  to  Protes- 
tantism, iii.,  350. 

Lollards,  views  of  English  LoUards,  i.,  359  ;  persecution 
of,  3G6 ;  their  petition  for  re-distribution  of  ecclesiastical 
property,  368 ;  accused  of  treason,  377  ;  midnight 
meeting  at  St.  Giles-in-the-Fields,  378  ;  martj-rdoms 
of,  381 ;  their  services  to  English  liberty,  383  ;  more 
stringent  ordinances  against,  385  ;  Lollard  martjTS — 
Claydon,  Taylor,  White,  &c.,  388  ;  Lollardism  essen- 
tially Protestant,  400 ;  LoUards  of  Scotland,  iii.,  468. 

Louis  XIII.  of  France,  iii.,  309  ;  his  mother,  Maria  de 
Medici,  regent  and  real  sovereign,  310. 

Louis  XIV.,  his  accession,  iii.,  320  ;  his  absolutism,  327  ; 
his  licentiousness,  327 ;  his  persecutions,  328  (sec 
Draoonnades)  ;  his  death,  346. 

Louisa  of  Savoy,  her  character,  and  hostility  to  Pro- 
testantism, ii.,  140. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  his  birth,  ii.,  377  ;  wounded  at  Pampe- 
luna,  378  ;  his  enthusiasm  kindled  by  reading  the  Le- 
gends of  the  Saints,  379  ;  the  cave  of  Manressa,  380  ; 
Luther  and  Loyola  compared,  381  ;  his  vision  of  two 
camps,  and  \-isit  to  Jerusalem,  382  ;  returns  and'makes 
Christendom  his  field  of  labour,  382  ;  his  first  disciples, 

383  ;  the  regimen  to  which  he  subjected  them,  383  ; 
TOW  in  llontmartre,  Paris,  383  ;  the  Spiritual  Exercises, 

384  ;  the  four  weeks  of  meditation,  385  ;  Loyola'  visits 
Rome,  and  obtains  a  bull  constituting  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  386  ;  he  contemplates  the  conquest  of  all  naitions, 
387  ;  becomes  General  of  the  Order,  387. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


G39 


LuTUEK,  his  parents,  i.,  229  ;  birth  of  Martin,  229  ;  his 
childhood,  230;  his  school-days,  231  ;  sings  for  bread 
in  Eisenach,  and  is  taken  into  the  Cotta  family,  231  ; 
enters  Erfurt  University,  232  ;  lights  upon  a  Bible,  233 ; 
his  conscience  awakens,  and  he  enters  the  Augustiruau 
convent,  234  ;  anger  of  his  father,  236 ;  drudgery  of 
the  convent,  237 ;  studies  the  Bible,  237  ;  his  agony, 
238  ;  Vicar-General  Staupitz,  239  ;  his  conversation 
with  Luther,  239;  the  "forgiveness  of  sins,"  241; 
the  Kcformation  rehearsed  in  Luther,  242  ;  his  ordi- 
luition  as  a  priest,  243  ;  becomes  professor  in  Wittem- 
berg  University  and  lectures  from  the  Bible,  244  ;  his 
first  church,  244  ;  his  fame  as  a  preacher,  245 ;  his 
journey  to  Rome,  245;  monasteries  of  Italy,  248;  his 
illness  at  Bologna,  and  the  "  voice,"  248 ;  Florence 
and  Savonarola,  249  ;  his  first  sight  of  Eome,  250 
Luther  in  Rome,  251  ;  enchantment  dispelled,  253 
Luther  on  Pilate's  Stairs,  254  ;  his  resolution,  255 
returns  to  Wittemberg,  255 ;  Apposes  Tetzel's  indul- 
gences, 261 ;  All  Saints'  Eve  and  Luther's  Theses,  262 ; 
dissemination  of  the  Theses,  266  ;  attacked  by  Prierio, 
268 ;  by  Dr.  Eck,  269 ;  Luther  cited  to  Rome,  272  ; 
Cajetan  deputed  to  try  the  cause  in  Germany,  273 ; 
Luther  and  Uelancthon's  first  meeting,  273  ;  Luther 
goes  to  Augsburg,  275  ;  a  borrowed  coat,  275 ;  Urban 
of  Serra  Longa  counsels  Luther,  275 ;  Luther  before 
Cajetan,  278 ;  discussion  on  the  Sacrament,  279  ;  last 
interview,  280  ;  flight  from  Augsburg,  281  ;  Rome's 
beforehand  condemnation,  282  ;  resumes  his  work  in 
university,  284 ;  his  appeal  from  the  Pope  to  the 
Church,  286  ;  requested  to  quit  Saxony,  286  ;  Luther's 
interviews  with  Miltitz,  290  ;  disputation  at  Leipsic, 
291;  discussion  between  Luther  and  Eck  on  the  pri- 
macy, &c.,  297 ;  enLargod  views,  299 ;  appeal  to  the 
princes  and  people  of  Germany,  305  ;  picture  of  the 
Papacy,  306 ;  Leo's  bull  against  Luther,  310 ;  his 
Sabylonish  Captivity,  312 ;  his  letter  to  Pope  Leo, 
314  ;  burns  Leo's  bull,  315  ;  the  emperor  importuned 
to  execute  bull  against  Luther,  320  ;  emperor's  edict 
for  execution  of  bull,  326 ;  princes  demand  a  hearing 
for  Luther,  328 ;  Luther  cited  to  "Worms,  329  ;  his 
journey  thither,  and  reception  at  Erfurt,  itc,  330; 
arrival  at  Worms,  334 ;  Luther  in  prayer,  335 ;  he 
appears  before  the  Diet,  336 ;  Luther  again  in  prayer, 
340 ;  second  appearance  before  the  Diet,  340 ;  "  Hero 
I  stand,"  &c.,  344  ;  the  draught  of  beer,  345 ;  shall 
the  safe-conduct  bo  violated  ?  346 ;  Luther  leaves 
Worms,  and  Charles  fulminates  his  ban,  347 ;  enters 
the  Wartburg,  347  ;  his  "idleness,"  478;  he  translates 
the  New  Testament,  478  ;  beauty  of  translation,  479  ; 
Prince  George  of  Anhalt's  estimate  of,  479  ;  leaves  the 
Wartburg  and  returns  to  Wittemberg,  483  ;  his  sermon, 
484  ;  translates  the  Old  Testament,  485  ;  his  theory  of 
impanation,  508 ;  Luther  at  the  Inn  of  Jena,  509  ; 
disputes  with  Carlstadt,  510;  Luther  and  the  War  of 
the  Peasants,  515  ;  ravages  of  the  war  and  its  lessons, 


517;  Luther  marries  Catherine  von  Bora,  521;  he 
organises  the  Lutheran  Church,  532  ;  his  theory  of 
universal  priesthood,  533  ;  what  constitutes  the  Church, 
534  ;  commission  for  re-institution  of  Church,  636j 
Saxony  the  model  for  other  German  Churches,  537  ; 
moderation  of  Luther  in  his  Church  ^-isitation,  540 ; 
his  Shorter  and  Larger  Catechisms,  542 ;  counsels  Ger- 
man princes  to  shun  war,  545 ;  debate  with  Zwingle 
at  Conference  of  Marburg,  556  ;  his  battle-sermon,  567  ; 
Luther  and  Charles  V.  compared,  568  ;  Luther  in  the 
Castle  of  Coburg,  592 ;  his  letter  to  Melanethon,  593 ; 
his  wrestlings  in  the  Coburg,  609 ;  his  journey  to  Eis- 
leben,  ii.,  107;  his  Ulness  and  death,  107;  Varilla's 
estimate  of  him  as  a  preacher,  110 ;  the  supper-table  in 
the  Augtistine,  Ul;  his  funeral,  111. 


M 

Maestricht,  siege  of,  by  Duke  of  Parma,  iii.,  128  ;  horrors 
of  its  massacre,  128. 

M.\GDEEUKG,  its  wealth  and  importance,  ui.,  280 ;  its  siege 
and  capture  by  TUly,  281 ;  horrors  of  its  sack,  284 ; 
destruction  of,  285. 

Makburg,  Conference  at,  i.,  554;  its  object,  555;  arrival 
of  Luther  and  Zwingle,  555 ;  the  debates  on  the 
Sacrament,  556  ;  failure  of  the  Conference  to  unite  the 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  divines,  561 ;  grief  of  Zwingle, 
561 ;  articles  drafted  by  Luther,  and  signed  by  both 
parties,  563. 

Margaret  of  Valois,  her  character,  ii.,  132;  makes  the 
Gospel  be  preached  in  the  Louvre,  170 ;  retires  to 
Beam,  220 ;  reforming  labours  in  Beam,  220. 

Maetlv  v.  demands  repeal  of  statutes  of  Provisors  and 
Praemunire,  i.,  394  ;  appoints  foreigners  to  livings  in 
England,  395  ;  sends  Legate-a-latere  to  England,  398 ; 
his  nuncio  imprisoned  in  England,  399  ;  annuls  statutes 
of  Provisors  and  Praemunire,  399  ;  appoints  to  English 
sees,  400. 

Martyrs,  Marian,  from  Rogers  to  death  of  Mary,  iii.,  425 
—431. 

Mary  of  England,  training  and  disposition,  iii.,  419;  her 
false  promises,  420  ;  undoes  the  work  of  Edward  VI. 
and  Cranmer,  420  ;  imprisons  the  Protestant  preachers, 
422  ;  repeals  the  laws  in  favour  of  the  Reformation, 
423;  marries  Philip  II.,  423;  restores  Popish  laws 
and  customs,  424 ;  reconciles  England  with  Rome, 
424;  the  martyrs  of  her  reign,  425 — 430;  her  death, 
431. 

Mary  of  Guise,  Regent  of  Scotland,  sides  with  the  hier- 
archy, iii.,  489 ;  summons  the  Protestant  preachers  to 
Stirling,  489 ;  her  treacherj',  and  consequent  sack  of 
monasteries  at  Perth,  490 ;  marches  against  Perth, 
491 ;  puts  herself  in  order  of  battle  at  Cupar  Moor, 


640 


HISTORY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


49-4 ;  retires  with  her  army  to  Loith,  495  ;  her  death, 
495. 

Maky  Sti-.uit  arrivea  at  Holyrood,  iii.,  497 ;  beauty  and 
disposition,  49S ;  lifo  in  France,  500 ;  quits  it,  and 
arrives  at  Leith,  500 ;  her  influence  on  the  Scottish 
noWes,  501;  mass  in  the  royal  chapel,  502;  Knox's 
interview  with,  502 ;  refuses  to  ratify  Protestant 
establishment,  507 ;  puts  Knox  on  his  trial  for  high 
treason,  508;  simimary  of  her  career,  512;  her  execu- 
tion, 514. 

Max  Toweu  at  Nuremberg,  the  old  Inquisition,  ii.,  428. 

Mazarin,  his  extravagance,  iii.,  321  ;  brings  on  the  war  of 
the  Fronde,  326 ;  makes  the  crown  absolute,  327 ;  dies 
at  the  summit  of  his  power,  327. 

JIE.4VX,  first  Protestant  flock  in  France,  ii.,  134 ;  it  flourishes, 
135—137. 

Medici,  Catherine  de,  her  birth,  ii.,  184 ;  Catherine  as  a 
gii-1,  186;  her  character,  186;  married  to  second  son 
of  Francis  I.,  188;  Catherine  and  Death,  189  ;  Calvin 
and  Catherine — a  contrast,  190;  her  self-control,  518; 
her  dream  the  night  preceding  her  husband's  death, 
524 ;  her  testimony  to  Protestantism,  526  ;  her  poHcy 
under  Francis  II.,  533;  attains  the  government  of 
France  under  Charles  IX.,  546  ;  opens  the  haUs  of 
Fontainebleau  to  the  Protestant  preachers,  548  ;  her 
,  policy  in  the  first  civil  war,  569 ;  present  at  siege  of 
Kouen,  570 ;  attains  supremo  control  in  France,  573 ; 
how  served  by  Death,  575 ;  progress  in  the  south  of 
France  with  her  son,  577  ;  her  conference  with  the  Duke 
of  Alva  at  Bayonne,  579 ;  a  massacre  concocted,  580 ; 
revokes  Edict  of  January,  and  forbids  profession  of 
Protestantism  on  pain  of  death,  582  ;  picture  of  the 
French  Court  imder  her,  594  ;  inspirits  her  son  for  the 
St.  Bartholomew  Jlassacre,  596—599  ;  anticipates  the 
hour  fixed  for  it,  602  ;  continues  to  govern  France 
under  her  son,  Henry  III.,  614;  her  death,  617. 

Melanctiion,  Philip,  arrives  at  Wittemberg,  i.,  273 ;  birth 
and  training,  274 ;  inaugural  lecture,  274 ;  parting 
between  him  and  Luther,  332  ;  revises  Luther's  trans- 
lation of  New  Testament,  478 ;  his  Commonplaces, 
485  ;  with  Luther,  prepares  the  Torgau  Articles,  584  ; 
compiles  the  Augsburg  Confession,  585  ;  his  fears  at 
Augsburg,  609;  concessions  and  fall,  616  ;  sends  pro- 
gramme of  union  to  Francis  I.,  ii.,  194  ;  meetings  with 
Cah-in  at  Frankfort,  296. 

Melville,  Andrew,  birth  and  education,  iii.,  517;  his  life 
at  Paris  and  Geneva,  518  ;  returns  homo,  and  begins  his 
war  against  the  Tulchan  episcopate,  518  ;  first  interview 
with  James  VI.,  522;  second  interview  at  Falkland, 
524  ;  European  importance  of  his  struggles,  525 ;  is 
banished  to  France,  where  he  dies,  531. 
MiDDELBURG,  siege  and  capture  by  the  Sea  Beggars,  iii., 

102. 
Mill,  Walter,  the  last  martyr  in  Scotland  under  Popery, 
iii.,  488  ;  his  trial  and  burning  at  St.  Andrews,  488. 


MiLON,  Bartholomew,  the  hunchback,  his  conversion,  ii., 
202  ;  courageous  behaviour. at  the  stake,  210. 

MoLLio,  professor  at  Bologna,  ii.,  425  ;  his  address  co  his 
judges  of  the  Inquisition,  425. 

Monasteries,  visitation  of  English,  iii.,  400 ;  their  fright- 
ful disorders  and  suppression,  401. 

Monastic  Orders,  their  rise,  i.,  76 ;  false  pictures  of,  76  ; 
corruption  of  older  orders,  77 ;  contemporary  wit- 
nesses, 77  ;  constitution  of  new  orders,  82 ;  their  vow 
of  poverty,  how  evaded,  83  ;  their  rapid  and  vast  cor- 
ruption, 83 ;  Armachanus'  battle  with  them,  84. 

Montmorency,  Anne  de,  Constable  of  France,  ii.,  515  ;  hie 
influence  over  Henry  II.,  515 — 518  ;  a  member  of  the 
Trium\'irate,  548 — 564 ;  slain  in  battle  of  St.  Denis, 
581. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  first  meeting  between  him  and  Erasmus, 
iii.,  352 ;  his  execution,  402. 

MuNZER  and  the  War  of  the  Peasants,  i.,  512;  Munzer's 

opinions,  513;  his  terrible  death,  518. 
Myconius,  Oswald,  Rector  of  the  Cathedral  School  at  Basle, 

i.,  443;  labours  at  Lucerne,  443. 


N 

Nantes,  Edict  of,  ii.,  622  ;  its  revocation,  iii.,  332  ;  churches 
demolished  and  pastors  banished,  333  ;  lay  Protestants 
forbidden  to  emigrate,  334 ;  their  flight  not-n-ith- 
standing,  their  disguises,  and  sufferings,  334 ;  des- 
truction of  literature,  trade,  manufactures,  &c.,  335  ; 
panegyrics  of  the  clergy,  336  ;  Te  Dcum  at  Rome,  338  ; 
sufferings  in  the  prisons  and  galleys,  338  ;  Quick's 
description,  339  ;  martyrs,  341  ;  medals  of,  342. 

Netherlands,  how  formed,  iii.,  1 ;  their  first  settlers,  2 ; 
their  early  history,  2  ;  theii-  trade  and  commerce,  3  ; 
power  of  the  Roman  Church  in  them  during  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries,  4  ;  ebb  in  the  fifteenth,  5 ;  fore- 
runners of  the  Reformation  in  them,  5  ;  influence  of 
Romaimt  version  of  Bible  and  Wicliffe's  writings,  6  ; 
influence  of  commerce,  6  ;  Charles  V.  and  his  perse- 
cuting edicts,  8 ;  the  emperor's  Placards  from  1521  to 
1540,  10;  spread  of  Lutheranism  in,  13;  bull  for  ex- 
tension of  hierarchy  in,  23  ;  terrible  oppression  and 
cruelties,  26,  27  ;  rhetoric  clubs,  30  ;  field-preachings, 
46  [sec  Netherlamd  Field-I'Reachings)  ;  image-break- 
ings, 51  [see  Netherland  Image-isreakinos)  ;  reaction 
and  submission  of  the  Southern  Netherlands,  oS ; 
whirlwinds  from  the  south,  64  ;  terrible  calamities  on 
William  of  Orange's  retirement  to  Nassau,  65 ;  meeting 
of  Netherland  Synod  and  establishment  of  Presby- 
terian Church  government,  77 ;  peace  negotiations  at 
Cologne,  129;  the  Netherlands  abjure  Philip  II.,  132; 
greatness  of  the  revolution,  132  ;  the  Walloons  return 
under  the  yoke  of  Spain,  134  ;  tumults  excited  by  the 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


641 


Jeauitsin,  against  toleration,  143;  William  compelled  to 
issue  edict  forbidding  pubHc  exercise  of  Komish  wor- 
ship in  the  Provinces,  145 ;  the  Catholic  cities  of 
Antwerp  and  Brussels  issue  similar  edicts,  13G  ;  con- 
dition subsequent  to  William  of  Orange's  death  {see 
United  Pkovinces). 

Netherland  Church  grows  up  amid  battle-fields  and 
stakes,  ui.,  137  ;  its  infant  springs,  138 ;  the  "  Forty 
Ecclesiastical  Laws,"  138  ;  its  four  grades  of  ministers, 
and  manner  of  their  election,  138  ;  their  examination 
and  admission,  140;  the  fortnightly  exercise,  visitation, 
worship,  schools,  140  ;  power  of  the  magistrate  in,  141 ; 
its  constitution  completed  by  Synod  of  Middelburg  in 
1581,  142  ;  keen  agitation  on  the  subject  of  the  magis- 
trate's power  in,  143. 

Netherland  Field-preachixgs:  first  field-preaching  near 
Ghent,  iii.,  46;  7,000  present,  46;  the  second  field- 
preaching  at  same  place,  47 ;  arrangements,  wall  of 
waggons,  sentinels,  &c.,  47  ;  baptism  dispensed,  and 
Psalms  of  Darid  sung,  47 ;  first  public  sermon  in 
Brabant,  47  ;  edicts  against,  disregarded,  47 ;  field- 
preachings  at  Toumay,  47  ;  their  preacher,  Ambrose 
WiUc,  and  their  congregation  of  20,000,  48 ;  .it  Horn, 
in  HoDand,  48  ;  enormous  conventicle  near  Haarlem, 
49  ;  distinction  between  the  Confederates  and  the  field- 
preachers,  50  ;  preachings  at  Delft,  Utrecht,  Hague, 
51;  influence  of  the  field-preachings,  peaceful,  .51. 

Netherland  Image-breakixgs  :  sudden  and  mysterious  out- 
break of,  iii.,  52 ;  overspread  the  Low  Coimtries  in  a 
week,  52 ;  first  appear  at  St.  Omer,  Flanders,  52 ; 
extend  into  Brabant  and  sack  Antwerp  Cathedi-al,  53  ; 
purgation  of  all  the  churches  and  chapels  in  Antwerp, 
54 ;  preachers  and  converts  take  no  part  in  the 
image-breakings,  56 ;  true  iconoclast  hammer,  56 ; 
preacher  Modet's  Apology,  56 ;  image-breaking  at 
Valenciennes,  56  ;  at  Hague,  Delft,  Haarlem,  Rotter- 
dam, and  Amsterdam,  57  ;  what  Protestantism  teaches 
concerning  image-breaking,  57  ;  the  popular  outbreaks 
of  the  Heformation  and  of  the  French  Eevolution  com- 
pared, 58 ;  Philip's  anger  and  terrible  resolve  on 
hearing  of  the  image-breakings,  59. 

Netkerlakd  ILiRTYBS:  drowning  of  Nicholas,  iii.,  10; 
execution  of  Bakkor,  14  ;  burning  of  Ogier  and  his  two 
sons,  27  ;  of  Mulere,  schoolmaster  at  Oudenard,  27  ; 
tragic  story  of  Capel,  28 ;  burning  of  three  martjTS 
connected  with  England,  28  ;  what  the  Netherlands 
owe  to  their  martj-rs,  29  ;  Joost  de  Cruel  beheaded  at 
Eosen,  and  cruel  martj-rdom  of  John  de  Graef,  38 ; 
four  martjTS  burned  at  LiUe,  45 ;  John  Cornelius 
Winter  beheaded,  46  ;  the  gallows  full,  65 ;  Brandt's 
description  of  the  persecutions,  65  ;  two  sisters,  65  ; 
Shrovetide,  and  a  projected  holocaust,  70  ;  the  Inquisi- 
tion passes  sentence  of  death  upon  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Netherlands,  70  ;  execution  of  two  widows  at 
Utrecht,  75  ;  of  Herman  Schinkel  at  Delft,  76  ;  m:ir- 


tyrdom  of  Peter  van  Kulen  and  his  maid-servant,  76  ; 

a  new  gag   invented,    76 ;    the   Blood    Council    and 

numerous  martyrs,  80,  86. 
"  NoBLA  LEYyoN,"  i.,  25  ;  antiquity,  25  ;  its  teachings,  28. 
Norway,  establishment  of  Protestantism  in,  ii.,  50. 

Nuremberg,  Diet  at,  i.,  488,  491  ;it3  "  Hundred  Grievances," 
489 ;  site  of  Nuremberg,  495  ;  its  trade  and  citizens 
in  Middle  Ages,  496  ;  its  burgrave,  497  ;  its  arts, 
498  ;  Albert  Diiror,  498  ;  architecture  of  Nuremberg, 
499 ;  Rath-Haus  and  state  dungeons,  500 ;  Protestantism 
enters  it,  502  ;  torture-chamber  and  Inquisition  {see 
Max  Tower). 


0 

OcHiNO,  Bernardino,  the  Capuchin  and  orator,  ii.,  423 ; 
preaches  the  Lent  sermons  at  Naples,  423  ;  Charles  V. 
among  his  audience,  423  ;  cited  before  the  Holy  Ofiice, 
and  flees,  425. 

(EcoLAMPADius,  his  birth  and  studies,  i.,  428;  aids  Erasmus 
in  his  edition  of  the  New  Testament,  428  ;  reforms 
Basle,  443 ;  present  at  Marburg  Conference,  550 ; 
debates  with  Luther  at  Conference,  557  ;  Protestant 
champion  at  disputation  at  Baden,  ii.,  58 ;  lodged  at 
the  Pike  Inn,  58  ;  his  personal  appearance,  58 ;  his 
letter  to  the  Churches  of  Provence,  446. 

Oldcastle,  Sir  John,  embraces  doctrines  of  Wicliffe,  i., 
371  ;  patronises  Lollard  preachers,  371 ;  his  interview 
with  the  king,  371 ;  is  excommiinicated,  373;  confes- 
sion of  his  faith,  373  ;  his  examination  before  Arch- 
bishop Arundel,  374 ;  his  sentence  and  escape,  375 ; 
seized  and  brought  to  London,  382  ;  condemnation  and 
burning,  382. 

Olivetan,  discussions  between  him  and  Cah-in,  ii.,  150. 

Orleans,  martyrs  of,  i.,  47 ;  betrayed  by  a  pretended 
disciple,  50 ;  their  noble  confession,  50  ;  condemned 
as  Manicheans  and  burned,  50  ;  siege  ef  town  by  the 
Duke  of  Guise,  572. 

Oxford,  teaching  at,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  i.,  60  (see 
Wicliffe,  Cranmer,  &c.). 


Pack,  Otto,  his  plot,  i.,  545. 

Papacy,  its  rise  traced,  i.,  8  ;  first  pastors  of  Rome,  8  ;  edict 
of  Valcntinian  makes  Rome  head  of  the  Western 
Churches,  9  ;  prestige  of  the  city  of  Rome,  9 ;  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  made  supreme  over  all  bishops  by 
Phocas,  9 ;  a  divine  foundation  claimed  by  the  Roman 
bishops  on  the  fall  of  the  Western  Empire,  9  ;  gifts  of 
Pepin  and  Charlemagne,  11  ;  influence  of  forgeries,  13; 
its  noon  under  Innocent  III.,  16  ;  its  success  viewed  by 
Baronius  as  a  proof  of  its  divinity,  1 7  ;  complex  cousti- 


642 


HISTOEY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


tution  of  Papacy,  220 ;  the  temporal  sovereignty 
limited,  the  spiritual  supremacy  universal,  221  ;  the 
governmental  machinery  of  Papacy,  122  ;  the  Papacy 
absolute  in  temporals  as  in  spirituals,  226  ;  Luther's 
picture  of,  305  ;  Papacy  the  originator  of  the  wars  in 
Bohemia,  in  Italy,  in  Spain,  in  Switzerland,  401  ; 
instigator  of  the  Crusades,  the  War  of  Investitures, 
&c.  &c.,  402,  404  ;  the  wars  in  Poland,  France,  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses,  &c.,  404,  405. 

Parma,  Alexander  Farnese,  Duke  of,  made  Governor  of  the 
Netherlands,  iii.,  128  ;  his  character,  128  ;  defeats  from 
Prince  Maurice,  155  ;  his  death,  156. 

Paesia,  Margaret,  Duchess  of,  appointed  Kegent  of  the 
Netherlands,  iii.,  20  ;  her  character,  23  ;  three  Councils 
under  her  for  administration  of  the  Netherlands,  22  ; 
storms  in  them,  25 ;  summons  a  meeting  of  the  Knights 
of  the  Golden  Fleece  and  the  Stadtholders  of  the 
Provinces,  30  ;  commanded  to  prosecute  heretics  with 
more  vigour,  32  ;  her  perilous  position,  39  ;  procession 
of  "  Beggars"  to,  44,  51  ;  Margaret  resigns  her  regency, 
and  retires  from  the  Netherlands,  68. 

Paschale,  Jean  Louis,  a  Waldensian  martyr,  ii.,  470 ; 
hecomes  pastor  in  the  Waldensian  colony  of  Calabria, 
471  ;  apprehended,  and  brought  in  chains  to  Rome, 
471 ;  condemned  to  death,  473  ;  burned  in  presence  of 
Paul  IV.,  474. 

Paschasivs  Radbertl's,  invents  transubstantiation,  i.,  47  ; 
opposed  by  Berengarius,  47. 

Passav,  Peace  of,  ii.,  122  ;  followed  by  Treaty  of  Augsburg 
(1655),  122. 

Patebsen,  Olaf  and  Lawrence,  first  Reformers  of  Sweden, 
ii.,  15  ;  they  translate  the  Bible,  15  ;  Oiaf  debates  with 
Peter  Gallus  at  TJpsala,  17 ;  his  second  debate  with 
Gallus  on  ecclesiastical  possessions,  24. 

Paulicians,  i.,  32  ;  their  origin,  33  ;  their  tenets,  33  ;  perse- 
cutions, wars,  and  victories,  34  ;  settle  in  Thrace,  and 
spread  over  the  West,  34. 

Paulines  of  AquUeia,  i.,  20 ;  his  opinion  on  the  Lord  s 
Supper,  20. 

Pavane,  first  martyr  of  Protestantism  in  France,  ii.,  142  ; 
his  fall,  repentance,  and  martyrdom,  142. 

Pavia,  battle  of,  i.,  520 ;   its  influence  on  Protestantism, 

i.,  520,  and  ii.,  166. 
Perrenot,  Anthony,  Bishop  of  Arras  and  Cardinal  Gran- 
velle,  his  character,  and  influence  with  Philip  II.,  iii., 
23 ;  conflicts  between  him  and  WOliam  of  Orange  and 
Counts  Egmont  and  Horn,  25  ;  his  haughtiness  at  the 
councU-board,  25 ;  secretly  instigates  Philip  II.  to 
severities,  26 ;  his  cruelties,  26 ;  attacked  in  plays, 
farces,  and  lampoons,  30 ;  he  leaves  the  Nether- 
lands, 32. 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  his  personal  appearance  and  mental 
qualities,  iii.,  15  ;  renews  the  persecuting  edicts  of  his 
father  in  the  Netherlands,  17  ;   sets  up  the  Inquisition, 


1 8  ;  retains  his  troops  in  Flanders,  in  violation  of  his 
oath,  18 ;  appoints  Margaret,  Duchess  of  Parraa, 
regent,  and  sets  sail  for  Spain,  20 ;  overtaken  by  a 
tempest,  22  ;  promulgates  the  canons  of  the  Council  of 
Trent  as  law  throughout  the  Netherlands,  38  ;  orders 
the  secret  drowning  of  heretics,  39 ;  consummate 
duplicity  and  Jesuitry  of,  in  his  letters  to  Margaret 
and  the  States,  59  ;  the  Marquis  of  Berghen  and  the 
Baron  de  Montigny  sent  as  ambassadors  to  him,  51  ; 
he  puts  them  to  death,  68 ;  passes  sentence  of  death  on 
the  whole  Netherlands,  70 ;  pronounces  a  ban  on 
William  of  Orange,  130. 

Pisa,  Council  of,  deposes  Gregory  XII.  and  Benedict 
XIII.,  i.,  363  ;  elects  Alexander  Y.,  363. 

Pivs  v.,  his  parentage  and  early  Ufe,  ii.,  590  ;  his  austerities 
and  fanaticism,  590 ;  becomes  Inquisitor  at  Rome,  590  ; 
his  habits  as  Pope,  590 ;  his  correspondence  with 
Charles  IX.  respecting  the  extermination  of  heretics, 
691 ;  character  of  his  Pontificate,  598  ;  his  death,  598. 

Placards,  The :  the  two  parties  in  the  Fiench  Church  refer 
their  difference  to  Farel,  ii.,  206  ;  the  Placards,  206  ; 
their  fierce  denunciation  of  the  mass,  207  ;  published 
over  France,  and  posted  on  door  of  king's  closet,  208  ; 
procession  of  Corpus  Christi  organised  by  Morin,  209  ; 
terrible  executions,  210;  flight  from  France,  212. 

Plot,  Gunpowder,  bulls  of  Clement  VIII.  prepare  the  way 
for  it,  iii.,  526  ;  its  object,  527  ;  authors,  and  mode  of 
execution,  527  ;  pacific  professions  of  Romanists  the 
while,  528  ;  connection  of  the  Roman  Catholic  autho- 
rities with,  528. 

Plot,  Popish,  statement  of  Titus  Oates,  iii.,  580  ;  letters  of 
the  Jesuit  Coleman  to  Pore  la  Chaise,  580 ;  murder  of 
Sir  Edmundbury  Godfrey,  580  ;  attempt  to  fasten  the 
plot  on  the  Presbyterians,  581  ;  execution  of  Essex, 
Russell,  and  Sidney,  582. 

PoissT,  Colloquy  at,  ii.,  549  ;  address  of  Beza,  550  ;  reply  of 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  551  ;  imijulse  to  Protestantism 
from,  553. 

Poland,  first  introduction  of  Christianity  into,  iii.,  158 ; 
influence  of  writings  of  Wicliffe  in,  159 ;  the  light 
shines  on  Dantzic,  159  ;  entrance  of  the  Reformed 
doctrines  into  Thorn  and  Cracow,  160;  Queen  Bona 
Sforza,  160 ;  royal  ordinance,  establishing  liberty  of  tho 
press,  161  ;  entrance  of  Bohemian  Protestants  into 
Poland,  161  ;  students  leave  Cracow  for  Protestant 
universities,  161  ;  the  National  Diet  of  1552,  164  ; 
temporal  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops  abolished,  164; 
King  Slgismund  Augustus  favours  tho  Reformation, 
165  ;  his  project  of  a  National  Synod,  165  ;  labours  of 
John  Alasco,  166  {see  Alasco)  ;  arts  of  the  Papal  legate 
to  stave  off  Reformation,  172;  miracles  and  murders, 
173 ;  the  king  begs  of  the  Pope  a  Reformation,  which 
the  PopedccUnes,  174;  Diet  of  1563,  174;  National 
Synod  asked  for,  but  declined,  and  the  king  gained  over 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


643 


liy  the  legate,  174 ;  conference  of  Protestants,  and  Union 
of  Sandomir,  176  ;  acme  of  Protestantism  in  Poland, 
177  ;  organisation  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Poland, 
178;  a  modified  episcopacy :  powers  of  the  superinten- 
dent, the  senior,  the  civil  senior,  178;  the  Sj-nod  the 
supreme  authority,  179;  local  and  pro\'incial  SjTiods, 
general  Convocation,  179;  King  Sigismund  Augustus 
dies,  and  Duke  of  Anjou  elected,  182  ;  he  attempts  to 
cvado  the  coronation  oath,  182  ;  his  departure  from 
Poland,  183  ;  turn  of  the  Protestant  tide  under  Stephen 
Bathory,  183;  entrance  of  the  Jesuits,  184;  their 
tactics,  186;  their  schools,  &c.,  189;  decadence  of 
national  literature,  189 ;  national  disasters,  190 ; 
destruction  of  Polish  Protestantism,  and  ruin  of  the 
country,  192. 

Pkoiiabilism,  a  doctrine  of  the  Jesuits,  ii.,  393  ;  sets  aside 
the  first  commandment  of  the  Law,  394  ;  sets  aside  the 
second,  394  ;  illustrations  from  Emmanuel  Sa,  Filiu- 
tius,  Laymann,  &c.,  395  ;  Probahilism  a  Lesbian  rule, 
395. 

Procopivs  succeeds  Ziska  as  leader  of  the  Hussites,  i.,  190  ; 
his  statesmanship,  191 ;  his  victory  at  Eeisenberg,  200  ; 
his  theological  debates  at  Basle,  206 ;  his  death  in 
battle,  208. 

Prodigies,  i.,  544. 

Protest.\>'tism,  its  history  a  drama,  i.,  1  ;  a  Divine  graft, 
2 ;  revived  Christianity,  2 ;  the  need  of  letters,  free 
States,  &c.,  2 ;  Protestantism  not  possible  before  the 
sixteenth  century,  213;  Protestantism  and  Mediie- 
valism,  214;  comes  in  time  to  save  liberty,  220; 
Protestantism  and  Imperialism,  302  ;  sources  of,  350  ; 
cradle  of  EngHsh  Protestantism,  365  ;  influence  of  wars 
of  fifteenth  century  on  Protestantism,  401 ;  first  Pro- 
testant preachers,  485  ;  Protestantism  sustains  itself, 
619  ;  all  Central  and  Northern  Germany  Protestant, 
ji.,  105 ;  "  Interim,"  and  re-establishment  of  Pro- 
testantism, 117;  Protestantism  the  terror  of  kings, 
190  ;  third  phase  of,  in  Germany,  iii.,  249  ;  two  phases 
of  Protestant  movement  in  England,  347 ;  perilous 
condition  of  Protestantism  throughout  Europe,  608  ; 
Protestantism  returns  to  the  land  of  its  birth,  617  ; 
mounts  the  throne  of  Great  Britain,  624. 

Provisors  and  Pk.eminiue,  statutes  of,  i.,  69;  statutes  of, 
as  passed  under  Edward  III.  and  under  Richard  II., 
394  ;  denounced  by  Pope  Martin  V.,  395  ;  annulled  by 
the  Pope,  399. 

Ps.tLMs  of  David  versified  by  Marot,  ii.,  137 ;  sung  univer- 
sally in  France,  138 ;  versification  completed  by  Beza, 
and  published  at  Geneva,  138;  translated  into  Low 
Dutch,  and  sung  at  field-preachings  of  the  Nether- 
lands, iii.,  47 ;  psalmody  authorised  in  Church  of 
England,  413  ;  versified  by  Rous,  an  English  Indepen- 
dent, and  sung  in  Scotland,  55'.'. 

PvRiT.iNs,  rise  of,  iii.,  417  ;  condition  of,  imdcr  Elizabeth, 
462  ;  exiled  by  Laud,  539. 


E 

R.VDZiwiLL,  Prince,  his  conversion  to  Protestantism,  iii., 
171;  his  etl'orts  to  reform  Poland,  171;  his  dying 
charge  to  his  son,  172;  his  prophetic  words  to  Sigis- 
mund  Augustus,  172. 

Ratisbon  League,  i.,  503;  its  scheme  of  Reform  rejected  by 
the  Lutheran  princes,  503 ;  Pacification  of,  ii.,  99 ; 
Conference  at,  297;  its  dead-lock  transubstantiatioH, 
and  its  alternative  Reformation  or  revolution,  298 ;  its 
failure  and  the  consequence,  422. 

Regictde,  doctrine  of  Jesuits  on,  ii.,  398  {see  Jesvits). 

Richard  II.  persecutes  the  Lollards,  i.,  351;  is  deposed, 
351. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  his  genius  and  vast  schemes,  iii.,  316  ; 
his  policy,  the  humbling  of  Austria  and  extirpation  of 
Protestantism,  317 ;  death  of  the  cardinal  and  Louis 
XIII.,  320. 

RoMAUNT  Version,  i.,  28;  Peter  Waldo's  connection  with 
it,  29,  35 ;  existing  copies  of  it,  29 ;  wide  dispersion 
and  great  services,  35 ;  diffused  by  the  Barbcs  and 
Troubadours,  36. 

EuFiNus  of  Aquileia,  i.,  20 ;  his  theology,  20. 


Samson,  the  Swiss  Tetzel,  i.,  437;  vends  pardons  in  the 
Swiss  cantons,  437 — 440. 

Sawtre,  William,  first  Protestant  martj-r  in  England,  i., 
352 ;  is  degraded,  352 ;  is  burned,  353. 

ScHAFFHAUSEN,  its  Reformation,  i.,  448 ;  influence  of 
Luther's  New  Testament  in,  448. 

ScHM.ALKALD,  meeting  of  Protestants  at,  i.,  573;  League  of, 
ii.,  98  ;  Charles  V.  makes  war  with,  113  ;  the  army  of 
the  League,  115 ;  betrayed  by  Maurice  of  Saxony;  end 
of  Schmalkald  war,  117;  humiliation  of  its  princes, 
117. 

Scotland,  characteristics  of  its  Reformation  as  compared 
with  that  of  England,  iii.,  466 ;  its  three  stages  of 
preparation,  and  services  of  Wallace  and  Bruce,  466 ; 
Crawar,  the  Lollards  of  Kyle,  Boece,  the  Bible,  46S ; 
Sir  David  Lindsay  and  George  Buchanan,  478;  pre- 
Reformation  martyrs,  478 — 480 ;  what  the  Reformation 
made  Scotland,  495. 

Scottish  "  Kirk,"  its'constitution,  iii.,  496 ;  spiritual  in- 
dependence, 496 ;  difference  between  Protestant  and 
Popish  spiritual  independence,  496 ;  courts  and  oflicc- 
bearers  of,  497  ;  inadequate  provision  for  its  ministry-. 
506;  its  first  Book  of  Discipline,  506;  ratification  of 
Protestant  establishment  by  Parliament,  511;  second 
Book  of  Discipline.  519 ;  perfected  polity  of  the  "  Kirk" 
compared  with  that  of  Geneva,  519  ;  the  "Kirk"  Scot- 


€44 


HISTORY   OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


land's  one  free  institution,  521;  relation  of  Scottish 
Presbytorianism  to  liberty,  521;  Act  of  1592,  ratifying 
Presbj-terian  Church  government,  524 ;  stealthy  intro- 
duction of  episcopacy  into  Scottish  Chui'ch,  525 ;  its 
overthrow  by  Assembly  of  1G38,  545;  accepts  the 
Westminster  Standards,  551 ;  prelacy  set  up  by 
Charles  II.,  566;  Sharp's  tre;ichery  and  reward,  566; 
Leighton'stime-servingness,  567  ;  Middleton's  violence, 
669 ;  four  hundred  ministers  ejected,  569  ;  sorrowful 
scenes,  570 ;  Scotland  before  aud  after  the  "  Restora- 
tion," 572  ;  the  field-meetings,  572  ;  Turner's  cruelties, 
573  {see  The  Twenty-eight  Yeaks'  Peksecution). 

Servetus,  Michael,  his  birth  and  early  life,  ii.,  320;  his 
Restitutio  Christianismi,  321 ;  condemned  to  death  by 
the  Inquisition  of  Vienne,  321 ;  comes  to  Geneva,  322 ; 
sentiments  avowed  by  him  on  his  trial,  322  ;  the  Liber- 
tines defend  Servetus,  329 ;  Servetus  and  Calvin  facw 
to  face,  330;  Servetus  prosecuted  by  the  Attorney- 
General,  330 ;  the  foreign  Chui-ches  consulted,  333 ; 
their  unanimous  verdict,  334 ;  condemnation  of  Ser- 
vetus, 334 ;  his  terror,  335 ;  procession  to  the  stake, 
337 ;  his  burning,  338 ;  vindication  of  Cah-in,  339. 

SiGiSMUND,  Emperor,  safe-conduct  to  Huss,  i.,  148 — 154; 

present  at  Huss's  condemnation,  161 ;  his  blushes,  161 ; 
acknowledged  King  of  Bohemia,  207 ;  violates  the 
Compactata  with  the  Hussites,  209;  his  misfortunes 
and  death,  209. 

SoLYMAs  the  Magnificent,  i.,  473 ;  relation  of  the  Turk  to 
the  Reformation,  473 ;  irruption  of  SoljTnan  into 
Europe,  476. 

Sp.vix,  causes  influencing  it  against  the  Reformation,  ii.,  5. 

Spires,  Diet  at  (1526),  i.,  523 ;  assembling  of  the  German 
princes,  525 ;  the  emperor's  letter  to  the  Diet,  526 ; 
dilemma  of  the  Diet,  527 ;  news  of  the  League  of 
Cognac,  627 ;  important  decree  of  Diet,  530. 

St.  Andre,  Marshal,  forms  a  party  at  court  of  Henry  II., 
ii.,  518. 

STArriTZ,  interview  with  Luther  in  Augustinian  convent, 
i.,  239;  his  counsels  and  present  of  a  Bible,  340;  re- 
commends the  monk  to  Frederick  for  his  universit}', 
243  ;  urges  Luther  to  preach,  244. 

St.  Bartholomew,  the  Massacre,  ii.,  588 ;  injunctions  of 
Council  of  Trent  and  counsels  of  PhQip  II.,  589; 
Charles  IX.  and  Catherine  solemnly  urged  to  massacre 
y  Pius  v.,  591 ;  testimonies  of  Guizot  and  De  Thou, 
592 ;  treacherous  proposals  to  assist  Prince  of  Orange, 
593 ;  the  marriage  plot,  596 ;  Charles  IX. 's  promise  to 
Papal  legate,  596 ;  the  marriage,  697 ;  final  prepara- 
tions, 599;  the  massacre,  002;  butchery  at  the  Louvre, 
603 ;  the  number  of  the  slain,  604  ;  arrival  of  numerous 
fugitives  in  Geneva,  605 ;  rejoicings  at  Rome,  and 
commemorative  medals,  606 ;  first  anniversary  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  610. 


St.  Bartholomew-day,  England,  caused  by  Act  of  Uni- 
formity, iii.,  559;  secession  of  2,000  ministers,  559; 
grandeur  and  influence  of  the  sacrifice,  660. 

Sweden,  early  religious  history,  ii.,  11;  power  of  its  clergy, 
and  miserj-  of  the  kingdom,  12 ;  early  pohtical  history, 
13 ;  introduction  of  Protestantism,  15  ;  Diet  of  Sweden 
adopts  Protestantism,  26 ;  completion  of  its  Reforma- 
tion, 27;  Sweden  flourishes,  28;  Eric  XIV.  and  the 
"  Red  Book,"  28  ;  revival  of  its  Protestantism,  29 ; 
accession  of  Sigismund,  32;  death  of  Charles  IX.  of 
Sweden  and  his  prophecy,  33. 

Switzerland,  its  scenery,  i.,  4 10;  its  poUtlcs,  411;  patriotism 
and  bravery  of  its  people,  411;  welcomes  the  new  liberty, 
411 ;  its  condition  prior  to  the  Reformation,  412  ;  igno. 
ranee  of  the  clergy,  413;  the  Bible  an  unknown  book, 
413;  worship  a  masquerade,  414;  Swiss  livings  held 
by  foreigners,  416;  scramble  for  temporaUties,  416; 
passion-plays,  417;  canons  of  Neuf chatel,  4 1 7 ;  frightful 
disorders  of  clergy  of  Lausanne,  418;  state  of  Geneva, 
419;  cry  for  Reform,  420;  many  leaders  in  Switzerland, 
421 ;  Valley  of  Tockenburg,  422 ;  village  of  Wildhaus, 
422 ;  Swiss  shepherds,  423  (ses  Zwingle)  ;  causes  dis- 
posing Switzerland  to  Protestantism,  ii.,  2;  disputation 
at  Baden,  and  its  results,  56 ;  establishment  of  Pro- 
testantism at  Bern,  64 ;  the  shepherds  of  the  Ober- 
land,  71 ;  the  Obcrland  in  darkness,  70 ;  the  Gospel 
invades  its  mountains,  76  ;  League  of  the  Five  Cantons, 
77 ;  persecution,  77 ;  war  between  the  Protestant  and 
the  Popish  cantons,  77  ;  a  "  Christian  Co-burghery," 
77;  a  peace  concluded,  82 ;  a  second  war,  85  ;  proposed 
European  Christian  Republic,  with  Philip  of  Hesse  at 
its  head,  86 ;  blockade  of  the  moxmtain  cantons,  89 ; 
the  comet,  92;  assembling  of  the  two  armies,  93;  a 
night  of  terror,  94. 


Taussanhs,  the  Reformer  of  Denmark,  ii.,  34  ;  returns  from 
Wittemberg,  and  enters  monastery  of  Antvorskoborg, 
35  ;  preaches  in  Viborg,  36  ;  Eck  and  Cochlaius  ini-ited 
to  oppose  him,  37 ;  Taussanus  removed  to  Copenhagen, 
41;  banished  by  the  reactionists,  46;  appointed  to  a 
chair  of  theology  in  Rocschildien,  60. 

Tetzel,  his  character,  i.,  256 ;  commissioned  to  sell  indul- 
gences, 257;  his  red  cross  and  iron  chest,  257;  extols 
the  power  of  his  indulgences,  258  ;  his  manner  of  life, 
260;  opens  market  at  Juterbock,  261;  his  counter 
Theses  to  Luther,  267. 

Teutonic  Order,  knights  of,  i.,  507;  their  historj-,  507. 

Thorpe,  WiUiam,  dialogue  in  prison  with  Archbishop 
Arundel,  i.,  357 ;  his  views  on  the  Sacrament,  357 ; 
on  authority  of  Scripture,  pilgrimages,  &c.,  359. 

Tiers  Parti  in  France,  their  aims,  ii.,  611. 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


645 


Tilly,  Count  von,  his  early  career  and  personal  appearance, 
iii.,  281 ;  his  cruelty  at  Magdeburg,  284 ;  his  defeat  at 
Leipsic,  286 ;  routed  at  the  Lech,  and  dies  of  his 
wounds,  291. 

TiTLEMAjJN,  Peter,  his  atrocities  in  the  Low  Countries, 
iii.,  27. 

TocKENBURG,  VaUoy  of,  receives  the  Reformation,  i.,  447. 

Transylvania  {see  Hungary). 

Trent,  Council  of,  its  meeting,  ii.,  113;  summary  of  its 
•decisions  and  policy,  113;  its  programme  of  massacre, 
iii.,  40. 

Triumvirate,  its  members  and  their  character,  ii.,  548; 
grasps  the  government  of  France,  560 ;  its  faU,  573. 

Tulchan  Bishops,  for  what  purpose  instituted,  iii.,  515; 
Andrew  Melville's  war  against,  518 ;  order  abolished  by 
General  Assembly,  518 ;  Carlyle's  description  of,  532. 

Turk,  The,  invades  the  south  of  Europe,  ii.,  106;  shields 
Protestantism  at  battle  of  Mohacz,  iii.,  221 ;  returns  at 
critical  moments,  226,  227. 

Twenty-eight  Years'  Persecution,  The:  for  first  period 
sec  "Scottish  Kirk;"  first  rising  of  the  Scottish  Pres- 
byterians, iii.,  686 ;  barbarity  at  Dairy,  586 ;  Presby- 
terians take  arms  and  capture  Sir  James  Turner,  587 ; 
march  to  Lanark  and  swear  the  Covenant,  587;  de- 
feated at  the  Pentlands,  588 ;  executions  and  torturings, 
589 ;  Hugh  McKail's  sublime  farewell,  590 ;  Thomas 
Dalziel,  of  Binns,  591 ;  his  character  and  personal 
appearance,  691;  his  frightful  barbarities,  591;  ad- 
ministration of  the  Duke  of  Lauderdale,  592;  the 
indulgence  and  its  fruits,  692 ;  a  Scottish  conventicle, 
693;  storm  of  edicts,  597;  "Letters  of  Intercom- 
muning,"  597;  Sharp's  new  edict:  the  Highland  host, 
598 ;  Graham  of  Claverhouse,  598 ;  his  defeat  at  Drum- 
clog,  599;  the  battle  of  Bothwell  Bridge,  599;  the 
prisoners  penned  nearly  five  months  in  Greyfriars' 
Churchyard,  599 ;  survivors  shipped  off  to  Barbadocs, 
600 ;  the  "  killing  times,"  600 ;  the  king  deposed  at 
the  Market  Cross  of  Sanquhar,  601 ;  martyrdom  of 
Argyle  and  Kenwick,  602 ;  the  blue  flag  on  the  Scot- 
tish mountains,  603. 

Tyndale,  William,  his  conversion,  iii.,  359 ;  tutor  at  Sod- 
bury  HaU,  361 ;  preaehes  at  Bristol,  302 ;  resolves  to 
translate  the  Scriptures,  362;  begins  in  London,  but 
completes  his  translation  in  the  Low  Countries,  363 ; 
prints  and  sends  copies  across  to  England,  365  ;  distri- 
bution by  Garnet,  and  reception  by  the  English  people, 
370 ;  purchase  and  burning  of,  by  Bishop  of  London, 
374 ;  fourth  edition  of  his  New  Testament,  382 


United  Provinces,  their  rise,  iii.,  129;  Union  of  Utrecht 
made  their  basis,  129;  the  grandeur  of  their  future, 


133;  on  the  death  of  WUIiam,  ofiEer  their  sovereignty 
to  Henry  III.  of  France,  147;  next  to  Elizabeth  of 
England,  147;  the  Earl  of  Leicester's  bad  adminis- 
tration of  them,  148  ;  their  thriving  condition  in  con- 
trast with  the  Southern  Netherlands,  148 ;  %'ictories 
won  for,  by  Prince  Maurice,  155;  mighty  growth  of 
Holland  in  power,  commerce,  &c.,  156 ;  causes  of  the 
decline  of  HoUand,  157;  the  Stadtholder  of  Holland 
becomes  King  of  England,  158. 

Upsaxa,  Conference  at,  ii.,  16;  Patersen  and  GaUus  on  the 
authority  of  the  Fathers,  &c.,  17;  important  conse- 
quences of  the  discussion,  23 ;  debate  on  ecclesiastical 
possessions,  24 ;  Lawrence  Patersen  made  Archbishop 
of,  28;  Synod  at,  to  settle  ecclesiastical  affairs,  29; 
"  Upsala  Declaration,"  32. 

Utrecht,  power  of  its  early  bishops,  iii.,  4;  fleld-preachings 
at,  51 ;  martyrdom  of  two  widows  of,  75 ;  Union  of 
Utrecht,  119,  129. 


Vadian,  Joachim,  reforms  the  canton  of  St.  Gall,  i.,  446. 

Valdez,  Juan  di,  leaves  the  court  of  Charles  V.  and  Spain 
for  the  Gospel,  ii.,  423 ;  joins  the  evangelical  re-union 
at  Naples,  423 ;  dies  before  the  tempest  bursts  on  his 
fellow  Protestants,  425. 

Valenciennes,  rescue  of  two  martyrs  at,  and  tenible 
revenge,  iii.,  29  ;  siege  of,  by  Noircarmes,  62 ;  sufferings 
of  the  besieged  and  their  surrender,  63 ;  execution  of 
two  Protestant  ministers  at,  63 ;  terror  inspired  by  its 
faU,  64. 

Vasa,  Gustavus,  begins  the  Reformation  of  Sweden,  ii.,  14 ; 
his  reforming  policy,  25 ;  his  coronation,  26 ;  his  death, 
28 ;  Eric  XIV.  succeeds,  28. 

Vasst,  massacre  at,  ii.,  557 ;  Crespin's  account  of,  568. 

Vermigli,  Peter  MartjT,  Prior  of  St.  Peter's  ad  aram,  be- 
comes a  convert  to  the  Gospel,  ii.,  423 ;  flees  from  Lucca 
and  goes  to  Strasburg,  425. 

ViOLius,  President  of  Council  of  State,  Brussels,  iii.,  35 ; 
his  sudden  death,  36. 

Viret,  his  parentage,  ii.,  254 ;  his  pulpit  eloquence,  254 ; 
goes  to  Geneva,  and  labours  with  Farel,  264 ;  attempt 
to  poison  him,  272 ;  his  preaching  at  Nismes,  554. 


W 

Waldenses,  i.,  24 ;  their  apostolicity,  25 ;  their  site,  25 ; 
their  antiquity,  25 ;  testimony  of  Romanists  to  their 
antiquity,  26 ;  arrangement  of  their  valleys,  26 
Angrogna,  27 ;  their  college,  28 ;  their  theology,  28 
their  version  of  the  Scriptures,  28 ;  their  Barbes,  29 
their  missions,  30  ;  their  two-fold  testimony,  ii.,  430 
the  situation  of  their  valleys,  431  ;  Papal  testimonies- 


646 


HISTORY  OF  PEOTESTANTISM. 


to  flourishmg  state  of  their  Church  in  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, 433  ;  tragedy  of  Christmas,  1400,  434  ;  crusade 
of  Innocent  VIII.  in  1487,  434 ;  destruction  of  the 
confessors  of  the  Dauphinese  Alps,  436 ;  Valley  of 
Pragelas  ravaged,  437 ;  interview  between  the  Pied- 
montese  army  and  Waldensian  patriarchs  before  La 
Torre,  437 ;  the  Valleys  of  Lucerna,  &c.,  devastated, 
438  ;  passage  of  the  Col  Julien  by  the  soldiers,  440  ; 
defeat  of  the  troops,  440  ;  flight  of  the  Waldeuses  to 
the  Pra  del  Tor,  and  their  pursuit  by  Cataneo,  441 ; 
Angrogna  described,  442 ;  destruction  of  Cataneo's 
host  in  it,  443  ;  the  mountain  mist  and  Pool  of  Saquct, 
443  ;  Waldenses  hear  tidings  of  the  Reformation,  446  ; 
send  deputies  to  the  Swiss  and  German  Churches,  447  ; 
SjTiod  held  in  their  valleys,  448 ;  peace  of  twenty- 
eight  years,  449  ;  martjTS,  Gonin,  &c.,  430  ;  touching 
fate  of  Nicholas  Sartoire,  450 ;  Barthelemy  Hector, 
the  colporteur,  452  ;  list  of  horrible  deaths,  452  ;  perse- 
cutions under  Emmanuel  Philibert  of  Savoy,  453  ;  war 
of  extermination,  456  ;  dreadful  character  of  invading 
army,  458  ;  flight  to  the  Pra  del  Tor,  459  ;  VaUey  of 
Lucerna  occupied  and  ravaged,  460 ;  the  great  cam- 
paign of  1561,  461 ;  oath  of  the  Waldenses,  462  ;  La 
Trinita  and  his  army  enter  the  VaUey  of  Angrogna, 
464  ;  brave  resistance  of  Waldenses,  and  terrible  de- 
struction of  the  invaders,  465 ;  second  overthrow  of 
La  Trinita  by  six  Vaudois,  466  ;  spirit  of  the  Vaudois 
warriors,  467  ;  the  year  of  the  plague,  478  ;  death  of 
all  the  pastors  save  two,  478 ;  Divine  service  hence- 
forward in  French,  479  ;  the  great  massacre,  479  ;  the 
Fropaganda  de  Fide  set  up  to  prepare  for  it,  481  ;  the 
winter  flight,  482  ;  the  massacre  begins,  484 ;  its 
horrors,  485 ;  Leger  compiles  an  authentic  record  of 
these,  485  ;  Cromwell's  interposition,  486 ;  the  Castel- 
luzzo  and  Milton's  hymn,  488  ;  massacres  in  the  Valley 
of  Rora,  and  exploits  of  GianaveUo,  489  (see  Giana- 
VELLo);  Cromwell's  second  interposition,  492;  the  exile, 

494  ;  instigated  by  Louis  XIV.,  495  ;  edict,  ofEering 
the  alternative  of  submission  to  Rome  or  extermination, 

495  ;  the  Valleys  empty  and  the  nation  in  prison,  497  ; 
banishment  beyond  the  Alps,  498  ;  their  retui'n,  under 
Henri  Amaud,  500  ;  their  first  Sunday  in  their  land, 
502  ;  their  battles  for  re-possession,  603  ;  their  great 
struggle  at  the  BalsigUa,  504-507  ;  their  final  re-estab- 
Ushment,  508 ;  condition  of  the  Waldenses  from  1690 
tni  present  time,  509  ;  labours  of  Dr.  GiUy  and  General 
Beckwith  for  them,  509 — 511  ;  their  lamp  kindled  at 
Rome,  612. 

Waljoensian  Colonies  of  Apulia  and  Calabria,  ii.,  468  ;  the 
inn  at  Turin,  468  ;  first  planting  and  rapid  prosperity 
of  the  colonies,  468,  469 ;  letters  cultivated  in  them, 
470 ;  visited  by  inquisitors,  472  ;  horrible  butcheries  in 
La  Guardia  and  Montalto,  473  ;  utterly  exterminated, 
473. 

Waldensian  Settlement  in  Provence,  ii.,  512  ;  they  change 


the  desert  into  a  garden,  513  ;  the  Parliament  of  Aix 
decrees  its  extermination,  513  ;  the  Abbe  Anquetil'a 
picture  of  its  destruction,  and  Francis  I.'s  remorse, 
514. 

Wallenstein,  his  birth,  iii.,  266  ;  grandeur,  267  ;  personal 
appearance,  267 ;  method  of  maintaining  an  army, 
268 ;  recalled,  291  ;  hia  rout  at  Liitzen,  296 ;  his 
supposed  conspiracy,  302  ;  his  assassination,  303. 

Wars:  of  the  Hussites,  i.,  178  ;  of  the  Papal  Schism,  402  ; 
of  the  Roses,  405  ;  commencement  of  civil  wars  in 
France,  ii.,  560  ;  names  and  characters  of  the  chiefs, 
563 ;  justification  of  the  Protestants  regarding,  665  ; 
rallying  of  provinces  to  the  two  standards,  568 ;  siege  of 
Rouen,  and  picture  of  the  Romanist  camp,  569  ;  battle 
of  Dreux,  570 ;  siege  of  Orleans,  572 ;  second  Huguenot 
war,  580 ;  third  civil  war,  and  battle  of  Jamac,  582  ; 
defeat  of  Montcour,  584  ;  a  new  Huguenot  army  takes 
the  field,  585  ;  peace  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye,  586 ; 
effect  of  civil  wars  on  French  piet}',  587  ;  siego  of 
Sancerre,  608  ;  its  horrors,  609 ;  wars  in  Germany  (see 
Thirty  Years'  War)  ;  wars  of  religion  in  France,  iii., 
309. 

War,  Thirty  Years',  its  commencement  in  the  infractions 
of  the  Majestats-Brief,  iii.,  249 ;  its  three  great  periods, 
251 ;  all  nationalities  drawn  into  it,  252 ;  its  imex- 
ampled  carnage,  253 ;  picture  of  the  camp,  254 ;  the 
superstitions  and  morals  of  the  host,  256 ;  picture  of 
Germany  before  the  war — its  husbandry,  towns,  schools, 
Protestantism,  256 ;  the  march  and  its  devastations, 
257 ;  society  destroyed,  259 ;  Protestant  pastors  op- 
pressed, 260 ;  ban  of  Ferdinand  II.  on  Frederick  V., 
Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  262 ;  troops  of  the  League  and 
of  the  Protestant  Union  ravage  the  Valley  of  the  Rhine, 
262 ;  the  Palatinate  taken  from  Frederick  and  given  to 
Duke  of  Bavaria,  263 ;  league  between  England,  Hol- 
land, and  Denmark,  265;  Denmark  leads  the  Pro- 
testant armies,  266 ;  the  Danes  defeated  and  the 
League  triumphant,  268 ;  edict  commanding  restora- 
tion of  all  the  property  taken  from  the  Romish  Church, 
269 ;  Denmark  and  Sweden  marked  for  conquest  by 
the  League,  270 ;  Ferdinand  II.  dismisses  Wallenstein, 
273 ;  Imperial  arms  turned  back  by  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
274  (see  Gustavus  Adolphus)  ;  project  of  Duke  George 
of  Saxony,  279;  siege  and  capture  of  Magdeburg  by 
the  Imperialists,  280  (see  Magdeburg)  ;  rout  of  the 
Imperialists  at  Leipsic,  286 ;  conquest  of  the  Rhine  and 
Bavaria  by  Gustavus,  287 ;  second  appearance  of 
Wallenstein  on  the  scene,  and  battle  of  Liitzen,  292 ; 
Gusta\'us  falls,  and  Oxenstiema  takes  the  helm,  299 ; 
defeats  and  victories  of  the  Swedes,  303;  the  Peace 
of  Westphalia  (1648),  304  ;  proclamation  of  the  peace, 
304  ;  banquet  at  Nuremberg,  305 ;  rejoicings  in  the 
various  towns,  306 ;  unexampled  desolation  of  the 
Fatherland,  308. 

Wicliffe,  John,  his  birth  and  education,  i.,  59 ;  goes  to 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


647 


Oxford,  and  becomes  a  fellow  of  Merton  College,  59 ; 
his  repute  as  a  scholastic,  60 ;    Bradwardine  teaches 
him  the  evangelical  doctrine,  61 ;  startled  by  the  ap- 
proach of  the  Black  Death,  02  ;  his  conversion,  63 ;  his 
personal  appearance,  63 ;  made  Bachelor  of  Theology, 
and   lectures    on   the   Bible,   64 ;    displaced   from   his 
Wardenship  of  Canterbury  Hall,  and  appeals  to   the 
Pope,  64  ;  Wicliife  takes  the  part  of  England  in  her 
quarrel  with  the  Pope,   73 ;  defends  England's  inde- 
pendence in  opposition  to  the  Pope's  supremacy,  74  ; 
begins  to  be  regarded  as  the  centre  of  a  new  age,  75  ; 
his  mental  conflicts,   75 ;   begins  his  battle  with  the 
monks,  86  ;  he  demands  the  abohtion  of  the  order,  and 
publishes  a  tractate  against  the  friars,  which  opens  his 
career  as  a  Reformer,  87  ;  chosen  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  the  Pope  on  the  question  of  appointment  to 
ecclesiastical    livings,   89 ;    proceeds    to   Bruges,   90 ; 
strengthens  England  in  her  battle  against  the  Papacy, 
92 ;    his   sentiments    leavening    the   nation,    93 ;    his 
writings    are    examined    at    Rome,    93;    three    bulls 
launched  against  him,  93  ;  summoned  before  the  hier- 
archy at  St.  Paul's,  94  ;  scene  in  court,  94 ;  the  court 
breaks  up,  and  Wicliife  returns  home,  95  ;  Parliament 
submits  a   question   to   Wicliife  touching  the   Papal 
revenue  drawn  from  English  sees,  95 ;  his  solution,  96 ; 
Wicliife  anew  summoned  to  appear  before  the  primate 
at  Lambeth,  98 ;  Wicliife  on  the  binding  and  loosing 
power  of  the  Pope,  99 ;  his   novel  views  on  Church 
property  and  Church  reform,  100,  101 ;  Wicliife  begins 
England's  exodus   from  her  house  of  bondage,   105; 
WiclifEo  is  shielded  by  the  schism  of  the  Popes,  107 ; 
his  tract  on  the  schism,   107;   he  falls  sick,   107;   is 
visited  by  the  friars,  108  ;  the  interview,  108 ;  resolves 
to  translate  the  Scriptures,   109;   excellence   of  the 
translation.  111 ;  its  diffusion,  and  consternation  of  the 
hierarchy,   who  forbid  it,   112;    its  influence  on   the 
nation,   113;  Wiclifie  attacks  the  dogma  of  tranaub- 
stantiation,   114;  his  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,  116; 
condemned  at  Oxford,  116;  he  is  cited  before  the  Pri- 
mate Courtenay ,  117;  the  court  shaken  by  an  earth- 
quake, 117;  his  opinions  condemned,  118;  his  friends 
fall  away,  118;  he  appeals  to  Parliament  and  demands 
a  sweeping  Reform,  119;  doctrine  of  his  Trialogus,  119; 
his  views  influence  Parliament,  121 ;  arraigned  before 
Convocation  on  question  of  transubstantiation,  122;  he 
reiterates  the  teaching  of  his  whole  Hfe,   122 ;    he 
arraigns  his  judges,  122;  retires  to  Lutterworth,  123; 
cited  by  Urban  VI.  to  Rome,  123;  excuses  himself  by 
letter,  123;  struck  with  palsy,    124;  his  death,   124; 
estimate  of  his  work,    124;   greatness  of  his    Refor- 
mation, 125;  his  theology  drawn  from  the  Bible,  127; 
summary  of  his  doctrines,  127;  his  ideas  on  Church 
order,  128;  his  piety,  129;  Lechler's  estimate  of  him, 
129 ;  his  missionaries,  350 ;  they  petition  Parliament 
for  a  Reformation,  361;  with  Wicliife,  begin  the  new 
times,  ii.,  8 ;  continued  progress  since  his  day,  9. 


WiLLi.iM,  Prince  of  Orange  (the  SUent),  his  personal  ap- 
pearance, iii.,   16  ;  at  the  Council-board  of  State,  25 ; 
opposes   Granvelle,   and   counsels   PhiUp   to  adopt  a 
milder  policy,   26  ;  retires,    with  Egmont  and  Horn, 
from  the   Council,    32  ;  their  letter  to  the  king,   32  ; 
Orange,  Egmont,  and  Horn  grasp  the  helm  when  Gran- 
velle retii-es,  35 ;  begs  leave  to  resign  his  oflice  of  Stadt- 
holder,  39 ;  made  depositary  of  a  dark  secret  in  the 
Forest  of  Vincennes,  40  ;  penetrates  Philip  II.'s  secret 
purposes,  64  ;  Conference  at  Dendermoude,  and  retire- 
ment to  Nassau,  in  Germany,  65  ;  unfurls  his  banner 
against  Spain,   71 ;    Joined   by  his   brother,   Louis   of 
Nassau,  72  ;  the  invading  aimy  enters  the  Netherlands 
and  conquers  at  Dam,   72  ;  defeat  of  Count  Louis  at 
Gemmingen,  74  ;  William  crosses  the  Rhine,  but  Alva 
declines  battle,  77 ;  William  retires,  77 ;  enters  on  his 
second  campaign,  82  ;  HoUand  and  Zealand  declare  for 
him,  82 ;  Aldegonde's  address  to  the  States,  86 ;  William 
made  Stadtholdcr  of  HoUand,  86 ;  crosses  the  Rhine, 
and  is  welcomed  by  the  Flemish  cities,  87  ;  influence 
of  the  St.  Bartholomew  on  the  campaign,  87  ;  his  army 
disbanded,  88  ;   he  arrives  in  HoUand  alone,  89  ;   re- 
organises Holland,  civilly  and  ecclesiastically,  89;  novel 
battle  on  the  ice,  90 ;  siege  of  Haarlem,  92  {see  Ha.ui- 
LESi) ;  question  of  the  toleration  of  the  Romish  worship, 
and  WiUiam's  views  on  toleration,  101  ;  his  third  cam- 
paign, and   death  of   Count   Louis,   104  ;  retires  into 
HoUand,  105  ;  his  eflEorts  for  Leyden,  107  ;  the  "  Father 
of  his  Country,"  116  ;  attitude  of  the  great  Powers  to- 
wards him,  117;  he  efEeets  the  "  Pacification  of  Ghent," 
118  ;  his  services  to  toleration,  119  ;  made  Governor  of 
Brabant,  and  enters  Brussels  in  triumph,  122  ;  .attempts 
to  bribe  him  to  betray  his  coimtry,  130  ;  Philip's  ban 
against   him,   130;   his   arraignment   of   Philip,   131; 
sovereignty   of    the    States    conferred   on   him,    131  ; 
Gaspar  Anastro  hires  his  servant  to  assassinate  him, 
135;  murdered  by  Belthazar  Gerard,  136;  his  great- 
ness,  136  ;   universal  mourning  for  him,   146  ;   heroic 
resolve  of  the  States,  147. 
William  of  Okange,  Stadtholder  of  Holland  (William  III.), 
retrieves  the  fortunes  of  his  house,  iii.,  576 ;  humiliates 
Louis  XIV.,  578  ;   marries  Mary,  daughter  of  James 
II.,  579  ;  England  looks  to  him  for  deliverance,  619  ; 
surveys  the  state  of  parties  in  Europe,  620  ;  prepares 
a  fleet,  620  ;  issues  a  manifesto,  621 ;  embarks  and  sets 
sail,  621  ;  most  Protestant  nationalities  under  his  iJag, 
622  ;  driven  back  by  a  storm,  622  ;  sets  sail  a  second 
time,  622  ;  strange  shiftings  of  the  wind,  623;  William 
lands  at  Torbay,  623;  the  nation  declares  for  him,  624; 
the  crown  settled  on  Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange,  624. 
WiLSNACK,  miracles  at,  i.,  136. 

WiRTHs,  The,  their  condemnation  and  execution,  i.,  470. 
WisHART,  George,  teaches  Greek  at  Montrose,  iii.,  480 ; 
picture  of,  by  Tylney,  480  ;  preaches  at  Dundee,  &c., 
481 ;  is  burned  at  St.  Andrews,  482. 


648 


HISTOKY    OF   PROTESTANTISM. 


"WiTTEMBACH,  a  disciplo  of  Eeuchlin,  i.,  428;  leads  Zwingle 
to  the  truth,  428. 

WoLsEV,  Cardinal,  his  parentage,  iii.,  354  ;  made  .iVrch- 
bishop  of  York,  Chancellor  of  England,  &c.,  355  ;  his 
grandeur  and  power,  356;  his  intrigues  for  the  Pope- 
dom, 364;  founds  a  college  at  Oxford,  367;  imprisons 
the  new  professors  in  its  cellar,  371;  recantation  of 
Barnes  in  his  presence,  373;  joined  with  Campeggio 
in  the  commission  for  adjudicating  on  the  divorce, 
383;  incurs  Henry's  displeasure,  385;  his  last  inter- 
view with  the  king,  386;  indictment  filed  against  him, 
387;  banished  from  court,  388;  his  last  days  and 
death,  388. 

W'uBTEMBERG,  Christopher,  Duke  of,  his  captivity  and 
escape,  ii.,  104;  the  duke  and  his  kingdom  join  the 
Protestants,  104. 


Zealand,  Islands  of,  the  Spaniards'  march  through  the  sea, 
iii.,  Ill  ;  hopes  of  Philip  II.  founded  on  their  seizure 
disappointed,  112. 

ZisKA,  circumstances  attending  his  birth,  i.,  183;  chamber- 
lain to  King  Wenceslaus,  183  ;  his  blindness,  189  ;  his 
marvellous  military  talents,  189  ;  his  death,  190  ;  his 
tomb,  190. 

ZuTPHEN,  Henry,  his  labours  at  Antwerp,  iii.,  9 ;  he 
preaches  at  Bremen,  and  undergoes  cruel  martyrdom 
in  Holstein,  i.,  506. 

Zwickau  Prophets,  i.,  482;  their  "new  Gospel,"  482;  the 
overthrow  of  all  order  in  Church  and  State,  483; 
tumults  in  Wittcmberg,  483 ;  Luther,  quitting  the 
Wartburg,  averts  the  destruction  of  Protestantism, 
by  exposing  the  errors  of  the  fanatics,  484. 

ZwiLLiNO,  Friar,  preaches  against  the  mass  at  Wittemberg, 


i.,  479;  makes  converts,  480;  attacks  the  monaatio 
vow,  481. 
Zwingle,  Ulric,  his  parentage  and  birth,  i.,  422 ;  winter 
evenings  of  his  childhood  and  youth,  422  ;  influence  of 
Swiss  scenery  on  his  mind,  423  ;  goes  to  school  at 
AV'esen,424;  removed  to  Basle,  424  ;  is  sent  to  Bern,  424; 
escapes  being  a  monk,  425;  studies  at  Vienna,  425; 
second  visit  to  Basle,  426 ;    first  seed  of  his  new  life, 

428  ;  becomes  Pastor  of  Glarus,  429 ;  first  visit  to  Italy, 

429  ;  the  Bible  his  first  authority,  430  ;  the  Spirit  the 
intei-preter,  430  ;  Swiss  Eeform,  a  new  tj-pe  of  Protest- 
antism, 431 ;  visits  Erasmus,  432  ;  second  visit  to  Italy, 
434  ;  goes  to  convent  of  Einsiedeln,  434  ;  his  sermon  to 
the  pilgrims,  434  ;  becomes  Preacher  at  Zurich,  435  ; 
his  ministry  there,  436  ;  ill  of  the  plague,  440 ;  his 
success  in  the  pulpit,  442  ;  his  opposition  to  foreign 
enlistments,  450;  reforms  the  worship  in  Zurich,  451; 
opposed  by  the  Diet,  &c.,  452 ;  aided  by  the  printing- 
press,  453 ;  great  disputation  at  Zurich,  454 ;  his 
Theses,  455;  joins  issue  with  Faber,  459;  his  pulpit 
lectures,  460 ;  dissolves  the  monasteries,  461;  forbids 
begging,  462 ;  he  marries,  463  ;  abolishes  images  and  the 
mass,  464  ;  purifies  the  churches,  468 ;  his  debate  with 
Am-Gruet  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  470 ;  his  dream,  471  ; 
first  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  at  Zurich,  471 ;  his 
social,  &c.,  reforms,  472  ;  goes  to  the  Conference  at 
Marburg,  555  ;  signs  articles  drafted  by  Luther,  564  ; 
resume  of  his  career,  ii.,  51  ;  his  doctrine  on  the  Lord's 
Supper,  53 ;  avoids  the  two  extremes  touching  the  Lord's 
Supper,  54;  what  is  done  on  the  human  side,  and  what 
onthe2fiviHcside,iathe  Lord's  Supper  P  55  ;  disputation 
at  Baden,  56  ;  sends  notes,  night  by  night,  to  the  Baden 
disputation,  58  ;  his  Wews  on  baptism,  63 ;  he  disputes 
at  Bern,  68 ;  his  share  in  the  Swiss  war  justified,  80 ; 
his  labours  and  daily  life,  83  ;  asks,  but  is  refused,  hii 
dismissal  by  the  Senate,  89  ;  departs  to  join  the  anny, 
94 ;  his  death,  94  ;  grief  and  dismay,  95. 


CASSELL  FETIEB   St   QLlSiS,    BELLE   SlUTAGE    WOKES,   LOKDOH,  E.O. 


Date  Due 

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The  history  of  Protestantism 

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