07.03.2019 Views

Protestantism in Sweden and Denmark - James Aitken Wylie

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

movement would have been its undo<strong>in</strong>g, for there<br />

is no maxim more certa<strong>in</strong> than this, that if a<br />

spiritual cause triumphs through material <strong>and</strong><br />

political means, it triumphs at the cost of its own<br />

life. <strong>Protestantism</strong> had entered Spa<strong>in</strong> to glorify<br />

itself by martyrdom.<br />

It was dest<strong>in</strong>ed to display its power not at the<br />

courts of the Alhambra <strong>and</strong> Escurial, but on the<br />

burn<strong>in</strong>g grounds of Madrid <strong>and</strong> Seville. Thus <strong>in</strong><br />

Spa<strong>in</strong>, as <strong>in</strong> many other countries, the great<br />

bus<strong>in</strong>ess of <strong>Protestantism</strong> <strong>in</strong> the sixteenth century<br />

was the orig<strong>in</strong>ation of moral forces, which, be<strong>in</strong>g<br />

deathless, would spread <strong>and</strong> grow from age to age<br />

till at length, with silent but irresistible might, the<br />

Protestant cause would be borne to sovereignty. It<br />

rema<strong>in</strong>s that we speak of one other country.--<br />

"Hedged <strong>in</strong> with the ma<strong>in</strong>,<br />

That water-walled bulwark, still secure<br />

And confident from foreign purposes,"[3]<br />

Engl<strong>and</strong> had it very much <strong>in</strong> her option, on<br />

almost all occasions, to m<strong>in</strong>gle <strong>in</strong> the movements<br />

23

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!