ise its head.
Although so large a proportion of the inhabitants of the country were
secretly or openly attached to that faith, it was a penal offence to
participate openly in its rites and ceremonies. Religious equality,
except in the minds of a few individuals, was an unimaginable idea. There
was still one Church which arrogated to itself the sole possession of
truth, the Church of Geneva. Those who admitted the possibility of other
forms and creeds were either Atheists or, what was deemed worse than
Atheists, Papists, because Papists were assumed to be traitors also, and
desirous of selling the country to Spain. An undevout man in that land
and at that epoch was an almost unknown phenomenon. Religion was as much
a recognized necessity of existence as food or drink. It were as easy to
find people about without clothes as without religious convictions.

The Advocate, who had always adhered to the humble spirit of his
ancestral device, "Nil scire tutissima fedes," and almost alone among his
fellow citizens (save those immediate apostles and pupils of his who
became involved in his fate) in favour of religious toleration, began to
be suspected of treason and Papacy because, had he been able to give the
law, it was thought he would have permitted such horrors as the public
exercise of the Roman Catholic religion.

The hissings and screamings of the vulgar against him as he moved forward
on his stedfast course he heeded less than those of geese on a common.
But there was coming a time when this proud and scornful statesman,
conscious of the superiority conferred by great talents and unparalleled
experience, would find it less easy to treat the voice of slanderers,
whether idiots or powerful and intellectual enemies, with contempt.

CHAPTER VIII.

Schism in the Church a Public Fact--Struggle for Power between the
Sacerdotal and Political Orders--Dispute between Arminius and
Gomarus--Rage of James I. at the Appointment of Voratius--Arminians
called Remonstrants--Hague Conference--Contra-Remonstrance by
Gomarites of Seven Points to the Remonstrants' Five--Fierce
Theological Disputes throughout the Country--Ryswyk Secession--
Maurice wishes to remain neutral, but finds himself the Chieftain of
the Contra-Remonstrant Party--The States of Holland Remonstrant by a
large Majority--The States-General Contra-Remonstrant--Sir Ralph
Winwood leaves the Hague--Three Armies to take the Field against