CHAPTER IX.

BEGINNING OF REFORMATION IN THE NETHERLANDS.

(1518 to 1524.)

Freedom and Wealth—Ambition of Charles V.—Precursors of the Reformation—The Reformation at Antwerp—At Louvain—Erasmus attacked—Violent Proceedings of the Monks—Persecuting Edict—Arrest of Jacob Spreng—His Recantation—His Grief and Repentance—The Inquisition—Cornelius Grapheus, an Erasmian—His Imprisonment—Useless Abjuration—Henry of Zutphen, Evangelist—His Stay at Wittenberg—His Preaching at Antwerp—-His Arrest—His Rescue by the People—His Fate in Holstein—Demolition of the Convent of the Augustines—Numerous Adhesions to Reform—The Heavenly Spouse—Faith and Courage—Conventicles—A Martyr—Tolerance of some of the Bishops—One of the ‘Illuminated’—Luther’s Counsels 480