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Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

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armies at his command, who had around him so<br />

numerous and powerful an aristocracy, was <strong>in</strong> a<br />

moment, with hardly a sword unsheathed aga<strong>in</strong>st<br />

him, stripped of all, and now stood alone, his<br />

friends scattered, his armies <strong>in</strong> revolt, his k<strong>in</strong>gdom<br />

alienated and his power utterly broken.<br />

Overwhelmed by the suddenness and greatness of<br />

his calamities, he fled, no man pursu<strong>in</strong>g, throw<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

<strong>in</strong> his flight, the great seal <strong>in</strong>to the Thames; and<br />

hav<strong>in</strong>g reached the sea-coast, the once mighty<br />

monarch threw himself <strong>in</strong>to a small boat, crossed<br />

the Channel, and sought the protection of the man<br />

whose equal he had been till this unhappy hour, but<br />

on whose bounty he was henceforth content to<br />

subsist.<br />

The throne be<strong>in</strong>g thus vacated, a Convention<br />

was held, and the crown was settled on the Pr<strong>in</strong>ce<br />

and Pr<strong>in</strong>cess of Orange. William ascended the<br />

throne as the representative of <strong>Protestantism</strong>. That<br />

throne, dest<strong>in</strong>ed to become the greatest <strong>in</strong> the<br />

world, we behold won for the Reformation. This<br />

was the triumph, not of English <strong>Protestantism</strong> only,<br />

it was the triumph of the <strong>Protestantism</strong> of all<br />

602

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