And yet, to teach a lesson to oppressors, they endured, they
fought, they suffered, they conquered; and when they conquered, the
whole world was taught the lesson--worth all the Dutchmen's agony to
teach it--that the children of a heavenly Father are born free and
equal, and that it is neither the province of nation or church to coerce
them into any religious belief or doctrine whatsoever.
The principle of Protestantism was won in the eighty-year war of the
Netherlanders. During all this time the Dutch were notably giving a
lesson to oppressors. But then and afterward they furnished a brilliant
and commendable example to the oppressed. Though they fought the wrong,
they never opposed the truth. They were fierce, but never fanatical.
They loved liberty, but they never encouraged license; they believed in
freedom and the maintenance of chartered rights, but they never denied
their lawful allegiance to their governor, nor refused scriptural
submission to the powers ordained of God. The public documents
throughout the eighty years of war invariably recognized Philip as
lawful king. Even the University of Leyden, founded as a thanksgiving
offering for their successful resistance to the Spanish siege, observed
the usual legal fiction, and acknowledged the King as ruler of the
realm. And, although the Dutch had abundant reason to be vindictive,
once the opportunity offered, the desire for persecution vanished.
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