It is equally certain that by the 13th Article of the Act of Union--the organic law of the confederation made at Utrecht in 1579--each province reserved for itself full control of religious questions.

It would indeed seem almost unimaginable in a country where not only every province, but every city, every municipal board, was so jealous of its local privileges and traditional rights that the absolute disposition over the highest, gravest, and most difficult questions that can inspire and perplex humanity should be left to a general government, and one moreover which had scarcely come into existence.
Yet into this entirely illogical position the Commonwealth was steadily drifting.

The cause was simple enough.

The States of Holland, as already observed, were Remonstrant by a large majority.

The States-General were Contra-Remonstrant by a still greater majority.