He often declared that he would beg his bread from
door to door, submit to every insult, to every calamity, sacrifice even
life itself, rather than suffer the true Church to be injured. Ferdinand
was no time-server--no hypocrite. He was a genuine bigot, sincere and
conscientious. Animated by this spirit, although two thirds of the
inhabitants of Styria were Protestants, he banished all their preachers,
professors and schoolmasters; closed their churches, seminaries and
schools; even tore down the churches and school-houses; multiplied papal
institutions, and called in teachers and preachers from other States.
Matthias and Ferdinand now seemed jointly to reign, and the Protestants
were soon alarmed by indications that a new spirit was animating the
councils of the sovereign. The most inflexible Catholics were received
as the friends and advisers of the king. The Jesuits loudly exulted,
declaring that heresy was no longer to be tolerated. Banishments and
confiscations were talked of, and the alarm of the Protestants became
intense and universal: they looked forward to the commencement of the
reign of Ferdinand with terror.
As was to be expected, such wrongs and perils called out an avenger.
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