Page 42 - 12 The French Reformation
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to have a fulfillment; under far different
circumstances, however, and from causes of
an opposite character. The cruelties that
were inflicted upon the innocent Protestants
by the Catholics accumulated in a weight of
retribution, and in after centuries wrought
the very doom they had predicted to be
impending, upon the king, his government,
and his subjects; but it was brought about by
infidels and by the papists themselves. It was
not the establishment, but the suppression, of
Protestantism, that, three hundred years
later, was to bring upon France these dire
calamities.
Suspicion, distrust, and terror now pervaded
all classes of society. Amid the general alarm
it was seen how deep a hold the Lutheran
teaching had gained upon the minds of men
who stood highest for education, influence,
