REF 
adopt, either of instant and unqualified sub- 
mission, or open contumacy. Luther de- 
termined upon the latter, and commenced 
hostilities against the infallibility of the 
Pope, by an appeal from the authority of 
the supreme head to a general council. 
Here then commenced that schism which 
caused even the vicar of Christ to tremble, 
and which laid a train under the founda- 
tions of spiritual domination and superstition 
that must one day not only agitate and de- 
form the superstructure, as it already has 
done, but finally destroy the whole fabric, 
and leave not one stone upon another that 
shall not be thrown down. 
Nothing now could have prevented the 
immediate destruction of Luther and his 
adherents, had not the attention of Europe 
been drawn aside from theological disputes 
to subjects of political discussion and de- 
bate. Luther was therefore suffered, with- 
out any great interference, to proceed in 
the w'ork in which he had engaged. By 
voluntarily offering to submit his opini- 
ons to the decisions of reason and revela- 
tion, and by making common cause with 
the friends of freedom and literature, his 
success exceeded even the most sanguine 
expectations of his warmest friends. In 
what manner Luther conducted himself af- 
ter he had succeeded in establishing a new 
system of religious faith and discipline, and 
what were the peculiarities of his creed, 
the reader will have observed in the arti- 
cles LutheRivns, and Protestants. See 
also Roman Catholics. 
From Germany, by the writings of Lu- 
ther, and from Switzerland, by the zeal and 
perseverance of Zuinglius, the work of re- 
form proceeded to spread itself over Den- 
mark, Sweden, Geneva, Holland, England, 
and Scotland. In France, Spain, and Italy, 
the reformation made comparatively but 
little progress. The same also is to be ob- 
served of Poland and Russia. The names 
of the principal reformers are the following ; 
and we are induced to enumerate them, 
that by consulting the various biographical 
accounts that have, from time to time, been 
published of tlieq;, our readers may enter 
more minutely into this very important 
branch of modern history : 
Lutiier, Erasmus, and Melancthon ; Cal- 
vin, Zuinglius, and Oecolampadius ; Bifl- 
liuger, Beza, and Martyr. In England, 
Henry VIII. Edward VI. Ridley, Latimer, 
Hooper, Cranmer, and Queen Elizabeth. 
In Scotland, the reformation was forwarded 
by the zeal and industry of Knox. These 
REF 
are the names of some of those men to 
whom the religious world is at this time in- 
debted for that freedom of thought, and 
many of those Christian privileges, with 
which it is so eminently favoured. 
That in every instance the motives of the 
reformers were pure, we do not contend ; 
nor are we disposed to conceal the fact, 
that many of them possessed a spirit of into- 
lerance inconsistent with the principles of 
entire liberty. The priestly audacity of Lu- 
ther, the time-serving policy of the learned 
Erasmus, the censurable timidity of Me- 
lancthon, and, above all, the fiery spirit 
and persecuting zeal of Calvin, which con- 
demned to the flames one of the best men 
of his age, M. Servetus, who had pre- 
sumed to express his doubts .concerning 
the Trinity, are so many blots in the his- 
tory of the reformation which Christians 
of our own time would do well carefully 
to avoid. For a brief, but elegant, account 
of the causes and progress of the reforma- 
tion by Luther, the reader may consult the 
invaluable work of Mr. Roscoe, entitled 
The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth; 
vo!s. iii. and iv. He should also peruse 
Burnet’s History of the Reformation ; and 
Dr. Robertson’s History of Charles the 
Fifth. 
REFRACTION, in astronomy, or Re- 
I'RACTiON of the stars, is an inflexion of the 
rays of those luminaries, in passing through 
our atmosphere, by which the apparent alti- 
tudes of the heavenly bodies are increased. 
This refraction arises from hence, that the 
atmosphere is unequally dense in difterent 
stages or regions ; rarest of all at the t 'p, and 
densestofall atthe bottom ; wdiich inequality, 
in the same medjuin, makes it equivalent to 
several unequal mediums, by which the 
course of the ray of light is continually bent, 
into a continued curve line. And Sir Isaac 
Newton has sliown, that a fay of light, in 
passing from the highest and rarest part 
of the atmosphere, down to the lowest and 
densest, undergoes the same quantity of 
refraction that it would do in passing im- 
mediately, at the same obliquity, out of a 
vacuum into air of equal density with that 
in the lowest part of the atmospliere. 
Hence arise the phenomena of the cre- 
pusculum or twilight ; and hence also it is, 
that the moon is sometimes seen eclipsed, 
when she is really below the horizon, and 
the sun above it. 
That there is a real refraction of the 
stars, &c. is deduced not only from phy- 
sical considerations, and from argumeats, 
