systematically pursued by the Reformers; for the truth is, they had, at least in the outset, no plan and no distinct purpose. Luther did not think of denying the infallibility of the Pope, when he began his attack upon Tetzel; Henry VIII. was far from desiring a breach with Rome, when he sued for a divorce from Catherine; and it was the influence they had over the king, rather than any opposition to them as papists, which led the Scottish nobles, in the reign of James V., to regard the Catholic clergy as enemies. The Protestants were, in fact, driven by circumstances and by the tide of events over which they had no control, to results which even they had by no means anticipated.

The Reformation has been frequently represented as consisting in something more than we have allowed. It has been said, that it was a reform in the government of the church and so it was to some extent. But that this was not its great result, is evident from the fact that no common form in the administration of ecclesiastical affairs was adopted by the Protestants. The churches of Switzerland, Germany, England, and Scotland differed as much from each other in their constitution, as they did from the church of Rome. Again it has been contended that the Reformation was a reformation in doctrine. That the study of the Scriptures opened

the eyes of men to many of the errors of popery, and gave them more correct views of Christianity, is not to be denied. But this was not the one great result of the conflict with Catholicism; for the Reformers agreed in the reception of no common creed. Zwingle differed from Luther, Luther from Knox, and all three of them from the church of England, on many articles of belief. If then the Reformation is to be regarded as consisting in those points common to all who were engaged in carrying it on, all of these are embraced in the statement given above; for all the Protestants denied the supremacy of the Pope, and contended that the Scriptures were the only rule of faith and practice, and that every one had a right to read and interpret them for himself.

We have said that two great principles were declared by the Reformers; but we do not mean by this that they were fully acknowledged by them in practice. For a long time previous to the appearance of Zwingle and Luther, all Europe admitted the authority of the Romish Church to settle all points of doctrine. Soon after the conflict with the Pope in the sixteenth century began, his claims to infallibility were found to be groundless; and his opponents declared that the Scriptures were the only standard of divine truth. This declaration was most true; but those who made it did not act up to it. They formed

churches and bound them together by confessions of faith of their own manufacture, and then treated as heretics all who did not receive their paper creeds. While they denied the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff, they erected some other human power to lord it over men's consciences. The care of religion was intrusted to the state, and kings and parliaments were allowed to dictate to the people what they should or should not believe. Perfect toleration was almost as little known among the early Protestants, as among the friends of popery.

The above remarks are not made to censure the Reformers. The step they took towards religious liberty was, for them, a great step. When we remember how recent was their escape from the superstitions and tyranny of Rome, we are ready to admit that they did as much as we have a right to expect. In adverting therefore to their want of entire fidelity to their own principles, we only wish to guard the young reader against the erroneous impression that they finished the work which they commenced. They struck the first successful blow, and gained the first victory in the cause of religious liberty. They began to remove those corruptions with which Christianity had for a long time been obscured, and to restore its original simplicity and power. Since their day others have taken

up and carried forward the great work; and with each succeeding generation, we trust, a nearer approach has been made to just conceptions of the rights of man, and the truth as it is in Jesus. The spirit which animated the best of the Reformers in the sixteenth century was communicated to their immediate posterity. It was that spirit which bade the Pilgrims brave the storms of a winter's ocean and seek on our rockbound coast FREEDOM TO WORSHIP GOD.

The solemn obligation felt by our fathers, and to discharge which they endured and sacrificed so much, now rests upon their descendants. They are now in the place of the Reformers. And every lover of man, every friend to truth, every disciple of Christ, is called upon to promote the peace of the church and the progress of undefiled religion, by a meek, yet firm resistance to any and every attempt to elevate the authority of man above the authority of the Bible, or to arraign any human being for his religious faith, before any tribunal, except that of his conscience and his God.

END.