.

All good men ought to do their best to prevent the enemies to the welfare of these Provinces from making profit out of our troubles." The whole matter he regarded as a struggle between the clergy and the civil power for mastery over the state, as an attempt to subject provincial autonomy to the central government purely in the interest of the priesthood of a particular sect.

The remedy he fondly hoped for was moderation and union within the Church itself.

He could never imagine the necessity for this ferocious animosity not only between Christians but between two branches of the Reformed Church.

He could never be made to believe that the Five Points of the Remonstrance had dug an abyss too deep and wide ever to be bridged between brethren lately of one faith as of one fatherland.