He then observed that when he took the oath as stadholder these unfortunate differences had not arisen, but all had been good friends together.

This was perfectly true, but he could have added that they might all continue good friends unless the plan of imposing a religious creed upon the minority by a clerical decision were persisted in.

He concluded that for love of one of the two great parties he would not violate the oath he had taken to maintain the Reformed religion to the last drop of his blood.

Still, with the same 'petitio principii' that the Reformed religion and the dogmas of the Contra-Remonstrants were one and the same thing, he assured the Assembly that the authority of the magistrates would be sustained by him so long as it did not lead to the subversion of religion.
Clearly the time for argument had passed.

As Dudley Carleton observed, men had been disputing 'pro aris' long enough.