is of foreign origin and history, that it is not found. in the formularies of the Church of England, and that it has been confidently adopted and taken to themselves. by the great part of the modern Dissenters. But perhaps, after all, these objections may be insufficient of themselves. If the word sprung to birth in other lands, yet there was an ineffaceable difference between the Lutheran Protestants and the Anglican Protestants; the doctrine of Ubiquity, now fully developed, divided the Lutheran from the Anglican as completely as Transubstantiation divided both from the Papist: and an Anglican Protestant who might sacrifice his life in resisting the common enemy was to a Lutheran Protestant a martyr of the devil.* If the word be not to be found in the formularies, yet it is admitted in the works of some of the most illustrious of the defenders and apologists, of the Church of England. And if the modern separatists have often classed themselves together as Protestant Dissenters, it may be pointed out that they have no particular right to the designation. As they had no distinct outward existence in the time of the great struggle for Anglican independence, they contributed not to the martyrology of Mary in times subsequent they have not been distinguished by their opposition to Rome. The great works that have upset Popery, as an historical system and otherwise, have been written by English churchmen : and it would be difficult to name any writing of note on the Roman controversy, of which the author has been * Melanchthon, in one of his letters, says, "I am afraid we may be inclined to call the English exiles what the Danes call them, the devil's martyrs. I should not like to call Latimer that, or other good men whom I know." Ne videamur fremitus littoris Baltici probare, ubi vociferantur quidam martyres Anglicos esse martyres diaboli. Nolim hac contumelia afficere Spiritum sanctum in Latimero, qui annum octogessimum egressus fuit, et in aliis sanctis viris, quos novi." To Camerarius, 8 Cct. 1558. Epist. 893 (p. 959). + As, for examples, Chillingworth and Bramhall. an English dissenter. The weight and glory of the conflict with Rome belong to the Church of England: the advantages of her victory are shared by many who have deserted her precincts rather than hold the formularies for which her martyrs died. A graver reason of objection seems to be that it is improper to designate a church by any term of limitation. It is so even when the term selected may belong to the definition of the church, or of any of all churches: as, when the Church of England is called episcopal, a piece is given of her real definition; but if this be done constantly, a piece only is constantly given of her real definition, a part only of the whole. Much more is it improper when the term selected is no part of the real definition: as, when, in the term protestant, a constant description is applied to the Church of England, which declares no more than her accidental relation towards another church: not her own properties, or essence, or any part thereof. This cramps theology, narrows teaching, and fosters false notions of history. The Church of England was protestant long before the invention of the word protestant, long before the Reformation: and, though it is true that Rome became at the Reformation what Rome never was before, so that the necessity of protesting might seem to be stronger thence, yet it is not well to accept in constant designation a term which tends to obscure the position of the most ancient national church that has opposed itself to the claims of Rome. The roll of nigh three hundred persons burned alive for religion in this reign is terrible enough. But England escaped lightly in that age in comparison with other countries. The whole sum of her martyrs was often equalled in two or three Spanish Acts of Faith. The number of her martyrs in any one year of the persecution was exceeded to the half as many more, or even The dura- the double as many, by the victims of the Inquisition who died by fire in the same year in Spain. tion of the terror in England was four years. and in other countries it was everlasting. The English executions were studies in humanity in comparison with the abominable horrors that were perpetrated in other countries: the unutterable previous tortures, the indecent handling, the gags, the dogbeards, the slow roasting on elevated chairs. It belongs to the English nation to dislike cruelty for the sake of cruelty, for any pleasure felt in witnessing suffering. If cruelty was allowed by our ancestors, it was in the way of punishment, or for the sake of some sort of bravery, hazard, or wager, usually with the notion of limitation or condition. The penalties of our laws were dreadful in old times, but torture was always illegal. If the Inquisition had been brought into England in Mary's days, and had furnished a house in London with the necessary instruments of their office, menacing not one class only, but the whole community, it would not have stood long. Disaffection was stalking over the land when death released Mary: before her eyes were closed for ever, she beheld the Court passing and repassing, as they took the road to Hatfield to salute Elizabeth.* * In closing this volume of my work, I have to thank the Rev. Canon Knowles, of St. Bees, for most kind, able, and unfailing answers to enquiries upon difficult points: also the Rev. T. Lees, Vicar of Wreay. The Rev. Dr. Gifford, late Archdeacon of London, has given me the high benefit of his advice or opinion on more than one question. VOL. IV. 3 B INDEX TO VOLUME IV. ABINGDON, a Freewiller, 300 Abuses of the Mass, 13, 40, 112, 177; among the clergy, 338, 465 Agnus Deis, 567 Alasco, or Laski, leaves England, 42 Aldrich, Bp., 309, 316 Alexander, Peter, 146, 147 Alienation, 291, 294, 466 Allerton, 637 Alphonso a Castro, 338, 339, 342, 353, 368, 379 Altars, 242, 383, 433 Anabaptists, 606, 632, 645, 707 Anglican character of the struggle in Mary's reign, 96, 299, 337, 350, 732; the, position, 415, 605, 638 Anne of Cleves, 53 Antichrist, appellation of, 314, 319, 416, 542, 581 Apostolic See, 66, 557; arrogations of, 560, seq., 581 Appeal by Cranmer to a general council, 427, 501; by Latimer, 436 Appeals in primitive English antiquity, 567 Appeals made in vain to Pole, 350, 356; to Pope restored, 289; that Cranmer might try a case, 398 Ardley, 366 Arians, 601, 606 Articles, the Six mentioned, 27, 66, 343, 357; proposed revival of, 169, 170, 171, 172 the Forty-two, mentioned, 27, 74, 419, 420, 582, 606, 607, 694 in Convocation on the Sacrament, 74, seq., 92 issued by Mary, 132 ministered to conjugated clergymen, 144 for the Queen's marriage, 164 proposed for disputation at Oxford, 183, 185, seq., 208, 434, 435 of Bonner's Visitation, 239, seq. of Petition of clergy to bishops, 294, 298 |