ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



j'Jj*i|- privileges of the holy see, they had not furnished its 

 ** fnenl ' e8 *'i tn t ' lt> <i<t<'-t v.c.it>ons tu overthrow it." 

 From the short account which wo have ju-t given of 

 df. the Council of Trent, our renders will easily perceive, 

 rmaii do that it was by no means likely to put any effectual -top 

 not op the t o the progress of the Reformation. It was considered 

 rf by the patrons of the new opinions, as the exertion of 

 a power which felt itself to be unstable. Its authoritative 

 decisions were ridiculed by the Protestants and even 

 the Catholics have ceased to regard and to observe them 

 with their wonted veneration. The revolutionary spi- 

 rit appeared, by indications not to be questioned, in 

 many of the kingdoms of Europe. In England, the 

 changes were both numerous and radical. The refor- 

 mations of Henry VIII. were no less effectual than 

 hasty and tumultuous. lie was declared by his par- 

 liament to be " the supreme head, on earth, of the 

 church of England ;" and he proceeded, not only to 

 secure the property belonging to the monasteries which 

 he had suppressed, but to fabricate, with all his royal 

 diligence and skill, a suitable creed for the English 

 people. History may record him as the first layman 

 who took to himself, in the ecclesiastical sense of the 

 expression, the title of supreme head of the church. 

 The rough reformations of Henry, were succeeded by 

 the more deliberate and steady measures pursued by 

 the government, during the minority of Edward VI. 

 The Bible, which had been translated into English, 

 was allowed to be more generally read ; a new li- 

 turgy was composed ; and the service was performed 

 in the vernacular tongue. The persecutions under 

 Mary, in the course of which the virtuous Ridley, and 

 the aged Latimer, were put to death, terminated with 

 the reign of that infatuated princess. Elizabeth, her 

 successor, openly avowed and protected the new reji- 

 gion. The sacred scriptures, together with the litur- 

 gy and the homilies, were freely circulated. The ef- 

 forts of Spain and of Rome to restore the dominion of 

 the papacy, were crushed by the defeat of the cele- 

 brated armada ; the Scottish Catholics in the interest 

 of their beautiful and unfortunate queen, were no less 

 unsuccessful ; the parliament united with the sovereign 

 and her ministers ; a very great majority of the nation 

 supported the measures of the executive; and the reign 

 of Elizabeth, though its full brightness is shaded by 

 some acts of cruelty, must ever be regarded as that il- 

 lustrious period, when truth and genuine Christianity 

 secured for themselves a place, and established their 

 abode among the English people. 



Progrtfi of I* 1 Scotland, the Reformation was effectuated by dif- 

 the Refer- ferent means. Here we are constrained to look, not 

 ration in to the ruler, but to the subject. In the country allud- 

 ed to, the Reformation could not, with any measure of 

 propriety, be denominated a contest between the sove- 

 reign and the holy see, about the possession and the 

 exercise of unlimited power : At the commencement of 

 the changes, the civil and ecclesiastical authorities were 

 not opposed. In this country, the Reformation took its 

 rise from beginnings almost imperceptible. It was a 

 poor man who achieved the mighty work in our native 

 land. We hail the father of Scottish independence, 

 the magnanimous Knox ; at once the champion of truth 

 and of liberty ; stern, indeed, in his aspect, and fierce 

 in liis opposition, but stern only towards those whose 

 iniquities he reproved, and fierce only when summon- 

 ed by the mandate of heaven to arouse lus courage, 

 and to " wax valiant in fight." To his unwearied ex- 

 miong, we owe our emancipation from an enslaving 

 superstition, our successful system of education, the 



intelligence of our people, the discipline of our eccle- 



:1 polity, and \\lute\i i remains of genuine piety ral "'story, 

 in the remoter provinces and sequestered vales of the S "Y"*"*' 

 country to which we belong. We venerate his injured 

 name, and rejoice that a biographer has at length ap- 

 peared, who has done justice to the character of the 

 Scottish reformer, and, at the same time, ha- M i ured 

 for his own performance an abiding place among tin- 

 literature of the nation. 



With the exception of the miraculous powers, the Thcprei'h. 

 weapims u-ed In Knox were the verv s.-mu- weapons i"8' K IIUS< 

 with those which were employed by the apostle- in tin- 

 early period of the church." It was chicflv by tin- 

 "preaching of the word" that the Scottish reformer 

 accomplished the great work which he had under 

 ken. Though of an inferior .stature, and of an appear- 

 ance little engaging, his eloquence was clficacious in 

 the highest decree. During the circuit of the countn. 

 which he made soon after his returft from the conti- 

 nent, he produced an extraordinary change upon tin 

 sentiments and feelings of the people. Multitudes from 

 every quarter of the kingdom attended him, and e.i 

 gerly listened, while he proposed and explained to them 

 the doctrines of the Reformation. E\cry eye was fixed 

 upon him, and every heart throbbed with emotion, as he 

 prayed for deliverance to the enslaved land. The mind 

 sprang forward, rejoicing in its liberty, and the cou- 

 rage even of the fearful arose. " Come out of her, my 

 people," was the divine command ; and never was rt 

 pronounced in allusion to a church so gross and fester- 

 ing with corruption, and never, since the times of inspi. 

 ration, was it pronounced with greater energy, or with 

 more important results. No speech uttered even by 

 Demosthenes himself, in all the mighty fierceness of 

 his declamations, was ever followed by such effects as 

 the sermons of Knox. With the irresistible power of 

 truth and of heaven, he took possession of the under- 

 standing, and captivated the affections. Undismayed 

 by opposition, and not fearing the face of man, he over- 

 looked all distinctions between the rich and the poor, 

 the great and the humble; and addressing them indis- 

 criminately in the character of guilty and condemned 

 creatures, he proclaimed to them, with apostolical ener- 

 gy, the " glad tidings" of pardon and of peace. The 

 sinner trembled under the denunciation of punishment, 

 and the desponding were comforted and established in 

 their most holy faith. 



It is to be regretted that the zeal excited by the dis- DC traction 

 courses of Krox could not uniformly be restrained with- '" tll<? im - 

 in the limits which he himself would have prescribed jj' ^ ' **" 

 for it. The multitude, animated and inflamed by the 

 eloquence of the reformer, and moved likewise, in a 

 very considerable degree, by the imprudence of the Ca- 

 tholic party, proceeded, with ungovernable fury, to de- 

 stroy the objects and tho monuments of the papal wor- 

 ship. The images, relics, and altars, were broken in 

 pieces ; some of the religious hou sos shared a similar fate : 

 the barriers were removed ; the waters were out; and in 

 the overwhelming tide and fierceness of the inundation, 

 the superstitions of ancient times were swept away from 

 the land. We are not aware that the destruction of the 

 images and relics is to be lamented with extraordinary 

 sorrow ; but antiquaries and architects have wept, and 

 perhaps not without sufficient reason, over the fate of 

 the monasteries. Let it be remembered, however, that 

 when the machinery of superstition was broken, the su- 

 perstition itself was annihilated. The doctrines of po- 

 pery, considered as distinct from the authoritative 

 enactments of the holy see, had no possession and no 



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