Reformed religion, had already taken place within the city. Upon the
22d, possession had been taken of at least three churches. The senate
had deputed pensionary Wesenbeck to expostulate with the ministers, for
the magistrates were at that moment not able to command. Taffin, the
Walloon preacher, had been tractable, and had agreed to postpone his
exercises. He furthermore had accompanied the pensionary to the
cathedral, in order to persuade Herman Modet that it would be better for
him likewise to defer his intended ministrations. They had found that
eloquent enthusiast already in the great church, burning with impatience
to ascend upon the ruins, and quite unable to resist the temptation of
setting a Flemish psalm and preaching a Flemish sermon within the walls
which had for so many centuries been vocal only to the Roman tongue and
the Roman ritual. All that he would concede to the entreaties of his
colleague and of the magistrate, was that his sermon should be short.
In this, however, he had overrated his powers of retention, for the
sermon not only became a long one, but he had preached another upon the
afternoon of the same day. The city of Antwerp, therefore, was clearly
within the seventh clause of the treaty of the 24th August, for preaching
had taken place in the cathedral, previously to the signing of that
Accord.

Upon the 2d September, therefore, after many protracted interview with
the heads of the Reformed religion, the Prince drew up sixteen articles
of agreement between them, the magistrates and the government, which were
duly signed and exchanged. They were conceived in the true spirit of
statesmanship, and could the rulers of the land have elevated themselves
to the mental height of William de Nassau, had Philip been able of
comprehending such a mind, the Prince, who alone possessed the power in
those distracted times of governing the wills of all men, would have
enabled the monarch to transmit that beautiful cluster of provinces,