William was a staunch Calvinist. “He was much possessed with the belief of absolute decrees,” and said to Burnet he adhered to them “because he did not see how the belief of Providence could be maintained upon any other supposition.”[2] Such convictions in such a man became elements of heroism, but it was thought, not perhaps without reason, that more care had been taken to impress his mind with the doctrine of Predestination, than to guard him against abuses incident to such an opinion. Yet there appears nothing fanatical in William’s religion, and whatever might be his moral conduct, it did not seem to have been connected with Antinomian prejudices, or with any doubt of the obligations of Christian virtue. It is remarkable, that though in Holland, at the time of the Synod of Dort, Calvinism appeared in union with intolerance, William had no sympathy in that feeling. Toleration was a ruling idea in his mind; and he blamed the English Church for alienating itself from other communions, and for claiming infallibility in practice, though eschewing it in theory. [Sidenote: PRINCESS MARY IN HOLLAND.] He had been brought up a Presbyterian, but he appears to have regarded Church government of secondary importance, and, as events proved, he could conform to Episcopacy. Indeed, it is said by Burnet--who claimed to know him well--that he, on the whole, preferred the English to the Dutch type of ecclesiastical rule.[3] The Prince had no reverence for antiquity, no æsthetic taste, no sensibility under the touch of elaborate ceremonies, or amidst the flow of harmonious music. He preferred an unritualistic worship, and distinctly disapproved of the surplice, the cross in baptism, and bowing to the altar; yet, again, we are assured that he highly esteemed the worship, as well as the polity, of the Church of England.[4]