. The story of our Christianity; an account of the struggles, persecutions, wars, and victories of Christians of all times. lent by his ability to keep his own counsel under a terrible in France after the war, early in 1559, Henry II., stupidly supposing himto be of the same stuff as Philip and Alva, had revealed to him a plan for mur-dering the Huguenots : the horrid news was at once taken to heart and neverforgotten, but not a word, not a sign, not even a change of countenance, showedthe French king that he had mistaken his man. Familiar from childhood withcourt and state business,
. The story of our Christianity; an account of the struggles, persecutions, wars, and victories of Christians of all times. lent by his ability to keep his own counsel under a terrible in France after the war, early in 1559, Henry II., stupidly supposing himto be of the same stuff as Philip and Alva, had revealed to him a plan for mur-dering the Huguenots : the horrid news was at once taken to heart and neverforgotten, but not a word, not a sign, not even a change of countenance, showedthe French king that he had mistaken his man. Familiar from childhood withcourt and state business, deeply versed in affairs and men, he had learned to holdhimself in check, to look through appearances and pretences at the inner fact,and to stand on guard. The only blemish on his character is his lack of straight-forwardness in dealing with the king; but he knew that it is necessary to fightthe devil with fire, to employ spies and stratagems against a knave. If hedescended to the arts of his age to serve his country, it was not that he loveddeceit, but because without deceit successful statesmanship was WILUAM THE SILENT, PRINCE OF ORANGE. 487 488 THE STORY OF OUR CHRISTIANITY. Had lie been as guileless, as confiding, as his friends, there might have been noDutch Republic. His silence, as we have already seen, was broken whenever he saw the needof speech. At this time he put forth a pamphlet modestly urging the politicalnecessity of some degree of religious toleration. He had felt and seen the truthwhich is well expressed by a modern writer, that the heart turns to flint whenthe blessing of religion is changed into the curse of sect. Between the unbend-ing fierceness of two clashing opinions, the provinces were in a fair way to bedestroyed. Even the regent had lately urged the king to permit a meeting ofthe States-General, saying that it was better to preserve the Catholic religionfor a part of the country than to lose it altogether. But no argument couldmove th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectchurchhistory, bookye
