History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

them. With the exception of a very few, we do not
know even the names of the men who so willingly
offered their lives to plant the Gospel in their
native land. They were 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 matters it? They themselves are safe, and so
too are their names.
Not one of them but is inscribed in a record
more lasting than the historian's page, and from
which they can never be blotted out. They were
mostly men in humble station -- weavers, tapestryworkers,
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 Protestantism. While the nobles
were fuming at the pride of Granvelle, or humbly
but uselessly petitioning 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 Netherlands. Their blood it was
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