. The story of our Christianity; an account of the struggles, persecutions, wars, and victories of Christians of all times. can idea was not yet born; a sovereigns visit, still more his temporaryresidence, was esteemed an honor, whatever evils came in its train. The noblesenjoyed the pomp which girds royalty about: the people, perhaps beyond allother nations, delighted inshows, processions, festivalNobles and populthough constansubmitted cheerfullyship by which theygained nothing,and were loyal tillloyalty became im-possible. CharlesV. had wit enoughto foster the tradeof Antwerp, Am-sterdam, a
. The story of our Christianity; an account of the struggles, persecutions, wars, and victories of Christians of all times. can idea was not yet born; a sovereigns visit, still more his temporaryresidence, was esteemed an honor, whatever evils came in its train. The noblesenjoyed the pomp which girds royalty about: the people, perhaps beyond allother nations, delighted inshows, processions, festivalNobles and populthough constansubmitted cheerfullyship by which theygained nothing,and were loyal tillloyalty became im-possible. CharlesV. had wit enoughto foster the tradeof Antwerp, Am-sterdam, and theother towns, know-ing that the richerhis subjects, themore he could gainfrom them. PhilipII. ruined wholeprovinces for anidea that was falseand patiencewith which thesestates long en-dured the vilestoppression isalmost as marvellous asthe courage and persist-ence they afterwardsdisplayed in defending the most sacred rights of humanity. THE DUTCH REFORMATION. The collision came about largely, though very gradually, from religiouscauses. As much as in any land except Bohemia, the Reformation had been. 464 THE STORY OF OUR CHRISTIANITY. anticipated in these provinces. There .was no earl}- war like those of the Albi-genses in Languedoc, no sporadic resistance like that of the Vandois, off andon for centuries, in northern Italy ; but from about 1240 the country had beenfull of Cathari, Waldenses, and other alleged heretics. Under various names andwith differing opinions, they protested against the corruptions of the Church,and insisted on following private conscience. The most frightful severitieswere employed against them: in Flanders a criminal whose guilt had beenestablished by the hot iron, hot ploughshare, boiling kettle, or other logicalproof—for the most idiotic methods were adopted to detect a heretic, as long afterto expose a witch—was stripped and bound to the stake: he was then flayed,from the neck to the navel, while swarms of bees were let loose
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