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History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

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statues some spr<strong>in</strong>gs had been found by which <strong>the</strong>y<br />

moved several parts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir bodies.[7]<br />

These edicts, unlike <strong>the</strong> terrible placards <strong>of</strong><br />

Philip, erected no gibbets, and dug no graves for<br />

liv<strong>in</strong>g men and women; <strong>the</strong>y were <strong>in</strong> all cases<br />

temporary, "till public tranquillity should be<br />

restored; " <strong>the</strong>y did not proscribe op<strong>in</strong>ion, nor did<br />

<strong>the</strong>y deny to <strong>the</strong> Romanist <strong>the</strong> Sacraments <strong>of</strong> his<br />

Church; <strong>the</strong>y suppressed <strong>the</strong> public assembly only,<br />

and <strong>the</strong>y suppressed it because a hundred pro<strong>of</strong>s<br />

had demonstrated that it was held not for worship<br />

but sedition, and that its fruits were not piety but<br />

tumults and disturbances <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> public peace. Most<br />

unwill<strong>in</strong>g was <strong>the</strong> Pr<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>of</strong> Orange to go even this<br />

length; it placed him, he saw, <strong>in</strong> apparent, not real,<br />

opposition to his formerly declared views. Nor did<br />

he take this step till <strong>the</strong> eleventh hour, and after<br />

be<strong>in</strong>g perfectly persuaded that without some such<br />

measure he could not preserve order and save<br />

liberty.<br />

545

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