A FACTOR IN AMERICAN CIVILIZATION 425 



that of the New England Puritans, who were the spiritual 

 offspring of Calvinism. It must be remembered that 

 Henry VIII did not free England from the Roman Cath- what Henry 



•^ " VIII Did for 



olio chui'ch by substituting a reformed religion or a radical Reform 

 reform in morals. He only set himself up as a spiritual 

 head instead of the Pope at Rome. He simply " became 

 pope in his own dominions, and heresy was still accounted 

 the foulest of crimes. Almost all the Roman Catholic 

 doctrines were asserted, except the supremacy of the 

 bishop of Rome. The Pope could praise Henry VIII for 

 orthodoxy while he excommunicated him for disobedi- 

 ence. It was Henry's pride to defy the authority of the 

 Roman bishop, and yet to enforce the doctrines of the 

 Roman church." Thus Luther would very likely have 

 perished by fire had he been an Englishman instead of 

 German. Henry limited the privilege of reading the 

 Bible to merchants and nobles. It was under Edward VI, 

 England's only Puritan king, that the way was opened Edward vi 

 to changes within the church in England ; and these 

 changes were wrought through Calvinism. In the regency 

 the reforming party had the majority, and Calvin, burn- 

 ing with zeal to include England with the Reformers of 

 the continent, urged a uniform confession of Christian 

 doctrine. "As for me," wrote Calvin to Craumer, "if I 

 can be made use of, I will sail through ten seas to bring 

 this about." The forty-two articles promulgated as the The Forty- 

 creed of the English church were Calvinistic, and the ^° 

 Book of Common Prayer, revised by Cranmer, did away 

 with most of the Romish superstitions. Calvin said of it : 

 "The Anglican liturgy wants the purity which was to 

 have been wished for, yet its fooleries can be borne with." 

 So much had been gained that he could put up with the 

 unwillingness of the English Puritans to separate them- 

 selves altogether from the Roman usages. Many of the 

 English people, however, demanded a more complete re- 

 form, and this culminated in the Puritan revolt which led 

 to exile and colonization in America, where religious 



