any history of the Council of Trent. I will content myself with the judgment of Fra Paolo Sarpi, the ablest historian of that Council, who says, that whereas it was asked for with a view to put an end to the schisms which had sprung up, and to give greater liberty and power to the bishops, it terminated by confirming all the schisms which it found struggling for existence, and by placing the bishops in a state of complete subserviency to the pope. The further remark of Sarpi, that the Church was left by the Council more stained and corrupted by abuses than ever, is matter of more controversy; the truth, perhaps is, that while some abuses utterly indefensible and irreconcilable with the decrees of the Church were reformed, the great vices of the Church of Rome-which gave rise to the separation of Luther and Calvin; of a great party in France; of the whole of England, Sweden, and Denmark; of Prussia, and many German princes; which armed Gustavus Adolphus, and which struck deep the roots of religious liberty in Europe-remained unacknowledged, unreformed, as vigorous, as powerful, and as poisonous

as ever.

191

ESSAY XII.

THE REFORMATION. LUTHER. CALVIN. ZUINGLIUS.

THE cardinal doctrines of Christianity-the existence and the unity of God, the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, the Atonement, the promise of Immortality-had never been denied by those who professed and called themselves Christians.

But when scholastic theologians, defining the relations of Christ to God the Father, and of the Holy Ghost to God the Father and God the Son, declaring that the substance of the Spirit of Christ was the same as the substance of the Spirit of God the Father; that the Holy Ghost proceeded not only from the Father, but from the Father and the Son; that the Atonement of Christ was accepted as a satisfaction, like the ancient sacrifices of the heathen, for the sins of man; that the promise of immortality was only held out to those who professed certain abstruse and metaphysical articles of belief, which, by a perversion of the language used by Christ, were called Faith-then divisions in abundance sprang up.

One of the first divisions among Christians related to the choice of a bishop. Although this dissension caused violent contests, yet, arising from a personal cause, it could not be lasting.

The difference between Athanasius and Arius arose from a deeper cause, and was attended with more serious and more permanent effects.

Jesus Christ, while He laid down rules the most comprehensive respecting the conduct of men to each other, revealed with great reserve, and very partially, the nature of God. Like Moses, He taught there was only one God, who had commanded his chosen people, I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods but me.' The Jewish people, in obedience to their interpretation of the second commandment, had refrained from making, as the Greeks and Romans had done, any image of the Lord and Father. This departure from the usage of other nations was begun in the time of Pompey. Tacitus relates, Romanorum primus Cn. Pompeius Judæos domuit: templumque jure victoriæ ingressus est. Inde vulgatum, nullâ intus deûm effigie vacuam sedem, et inania arcana.'1

In the last days He said to his disciples, 'I go to my Father and to your Father.' So likewise He said, 'If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father, for the Father is greater than I.'"

But theologians ambitious of fame were not content with these indications. They did not think of God as one of our great poets thought

Thy throne is darkness in th' abyss of light,

A blaze of glory which forbids the sight.

They were determined to penetrate into this darkness; to ascertain the inscrutable nature of the Supreme

Tacitus, History, lib. v. 9.

2 St. John, chap. xiv. 28.

Being, and to prescribe a form of belief to which all Christians should be bound to adhere under pain of eternal damnation.

When Christ was upon the earth, He said to his disciples, Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. . . . Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the desert; go not forth behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not.' 1

From these various causes we have seen that there arose a complete change in the aspect of Christianity. Christ had left to his disciples-1. A simple theology founded on the Unity and Supremacy of God. 2. A pure morality. 3. A law of love and charity, by which all men were to be bound. In place of these the Church had introduced-1. A complex and unintelligible theology, combined with the ancient Polytheism of Greece and Rome. 2. A corrupt morality, giving an exemption from the penalties of sin for money. 3. Persecution of all who did not obey the Church.

With the revival of letters and the progress of civilisation, men began to read the Gospel and to ask for reform of abuses. Three men led the way to the Reformation-Erasmus, Luther, and Calvin. The Reformation in Switzerland and in England followed the traces of these three men.

Some account of each of these Reformers, and the

work they did, and the work they left undone, may be here given.

Luther was a great man-one of the reformers of European religion and morals. It was not his opposition to Leo X.'s bull of indulgences which made him great-though his opposition to that bull has been very unjustly attributed to the jealousy entertained of the Dominican by the Augustine order of friars. It was highly to the credit of his judgment and his courage, that he perceived at once that the bull of Leo was inconsistent with Christianity, and that he appeared at Augsburg to maintain his opinion. He knew well that the burning of John Huss at the Council of Constance had been approved by the strongest party at Rome, and he had no reason to trust that Charles, if he saw his interest in the burning of Luther, would have hesitated to commit an offence so light in his eyes as a breach of faith. Luther, however, with the innocence of the dove had some of the wisdom of the serpent. In an age which was opening its eyes to enquiry, and when the midnight of the dark ages was gradually yielding to light, Luther, by his incessant activity, by his preaching and his writing, by collecting disciples among the hearers of his lectures, and by his earnest exhortations to some of the most spirited and enlightened princes of Germany, was securing to himself friends, and many who did not venture openly to adopt his opinions gave him secret assurances that he would not be abandoned.

The inestimable service, however, which Luther rendered to the religion and morals of Europe and