8 PROLOGUE I 



well as with those of the spirit is no new thing 

 to Englishmen. We have been more or less 

 occupied with it these five hundred years. And, 

 during that time, we have made attempts to 

 establish a modus vivendi between the antagonists, 

 some of which have had a world-wide influence ; 

 though, unfortunately, none have proved univers- 

 ally and permanently satisfactory. 



In the fourteenth century, the controverted 

 question among us was, whether certain portions 

 of the Supernaturalism of mediaeval Christianity 

 were well-founded. John Wicliff proposed a 

 solution of the problem which, in the course of 

 the following two hundred years, acquired wide 

 popularity and vast historical importance : Lollards, 

 Hussites, Lutherans, Calvinists, Zwinglians, Socin- 

 ians, and Anabaptists, whatever their disagree- 

 ments, concurred in the proposal to reduce the 

 Supernaturalism of Christianity within the limits 

 sanctioned by the Scriptures. None of the chiefs 

 of Protestantism called in question either the 

 supernatural origin and infallible authority of the 

 Bible, or the exactitude of the account of the 

 supernatural world given in its pages. In fact, 

 they could not afford to entertain any doubt 

 about these points, since the infallible Bible was 

 the fulcrum of the lever with which they were 

 endeavouring to upset the Chair of St. Peter. 

 The " freedom of private judgment " which they 

 proclaimed, meant no more, in practice, than 



