Introductory. 2 7 



But even the most innocent and refined minds show, 

 as might be expected, the influence of the prevailing 

 spirit, and pantheism exhales from the pure lines of 

 Wordsworth, as from the endless painted repetitions of 

 wood and water, moor and sea, which line the walls of 

 our annual exhibitions. 



As to the second supposed objection, it may be observed 

 in reply to it, that in the movement of the Reformation 

 two distinct currents are manifest. 



One of these flowed in harmony with that previously 

 initiated by the humanists, as its effects on the Church 

 were simply disintegrating. In so far as it tended more 

 or less completely to the negation of Christianity, it cer- 

 tainly aided the great pagan revival, and may justly 

 claim a place of distinction amidst the agents of such 

 restoration. 



But the other current is that with which good people 

 in this country associate the Reformation that, namely, 

 by which certain remnants of dogma were drifted together 

 in definite but unstable aggregations, labelled " Luther- 

 anism," " Calvinism," and what not. 



But this second current was a mere " backwater," and 

 has resulted in no developments. The materials it 

 stranded have remained stationary, or, as in Switzerland 

 and Prussia, have utterly disintegrated, falling into and 

 directly aiding to give impetus to the great stream of the 

 naturalistic pagan revival. We may not unreasonably 



