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 debate. Luther was therefore suffered, without any great interference, to proceed in the work in which he had engaged. By voluntarily offering to submit his opinions to the decisions of reason and revelation, 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, after he had succeeded in establishing a new system of religious faith and discipline, and what were the peculiarities of his creed, the reader will observe in the articles LUTHERANS and PROTESTANTS. See also ROMAN CATHOLICS.

The

From Germany, by the writings of Luther, and from Switzerland, by the zeal and perseverance of Zuinglius, the work of reform proceeded to spread itself over Denmark, Sweden, Geneva, Holland, England, and Scotland. In France Spain, and Italy, the reformation made comparatively but little progress. The same is also to be observed of Poland and Russia. 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 them, our readers may enter more minutely into this very important branch of modern history:-Luther, Erasmus, Melancthon; Calvin, Zuinglius, Ecolampadius; Bullinger, 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 are the names of some of those men, to whom the religious world is at this time indebted 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 intolerance, inconsistent with the principles of entire liberty. The priestly audacity of Luther, the time-serving policy of the learned Erasmus, the censurable timidity of Melancthon, and above all, the fiery spirit and persecuting zeal of Calvin, which condemned to the flames one of the best men of his age, M. Servetus, who had presumed to express his doubts concerning the Trinity, are so many blots in the history of the reformation, which christians of our times would do well carefully to avoid. For a brief but elegant ac

count of the causes and progress of the reformation by Luther, the reader may consult the invaluable work of Mr. Roscoe, entitled "The Life and Pontificiate of Leo the Tenth," vols. 3d and 4th. He should also peruse Burnet's History of the Reformation and Dr. Robertson's History of Charles the Fifth.

CHAPTER X.

PROTESTANTS.

A TERM now applied to all christians, who, in any country or of any sect dissent from the principles and discipline of the church of Rome. This name was first given to the following princes of the German Empire: John elector of Saxony, George elector of Brandenburg, the landgrave of Hesse, and the prince of Anhalt. These princes being seconded by thirteen imperial towns, viz. Strasburg, Ulm, Nuremberg, Constance, Rottingen, Lindaw, Windsheim, Memmingen, Nottingen, Kempton, Hailbron, Wissemberg, and St. Gall, solemnly protested against the decree of the emperor Charles V. and the diet of Spire, by which it had been decreed to prohibit any further innovations in religion. This protest was made in the year 1529; from which time all who have renounced, or never agreed to the doctrines of the Romish church, have been denominated Protestants. This class of Christians consequently includes the Huguenots in France, the Refugees in Holland, the Presbyterians in Scotland, as well as the Episcopalians and Nonconformists in England; together with a numerous body of Christians in America. The principal denominations of Protestants in England are the Episcopalians or church of England, the Presbyterians, the Independants, and the Baptists, General and Particular. These however, have divided themselves into innumerable sects and parties, the principal of which, are denominated Arians and Socinians, or, more properly speaking, Unitarians, Sabellians, Calvinists, Sublapsarians, Arminians, Baxterians, Antinomians, Brownists, Paedobaptists, Me thodists, Quakers, Universalists, Sabbatarians, Moravians, Sándemanians, and Swedenborgians. Concerning these and other christian sects, the reader will find very impartial accounts, drawn up in a popular and perspicuous manner, and accompa nied with many pious and sensible reflections on the nature and

ry

extent of christian candour, in the Rev. J. Evans' "Sketch of the denominations of the Christian World," eleventh edition. But for more elaborate accounts of the Christian sects, the reader is referred to Dr. Ree's Cyclopedia, theological, as, indeed, eveother department of which, is conducted in a manner every way worthy the literature of a country, where the genuine principles of religious liberty are clearly understood, and extensively encouraged. The sects and parties into which the protestant religion is divided have furnished the Roman Catholics, on some occasions, with matter of triumph, asserting that the Protestant faith is deficient in the first mark or characteristic of a true church, viz. that of unity; and unbelievers have not neglected to avail themselves of this circumstance to vilify the Christian religion altogether, as affording no sufficient data for religious truth, but engendering only strife, animosity, division, and bloodshed, and it must be confessed, that when the enemies of the protestant faith behold the rancour, the bigotry, and the malice of many sectaries, and particularly of the sects which are the most numerous and popular, they have but too much ground for their triumphs. When the spirit of Chillingworth shall have influenced the lives of all Protestants, their professions shall be as consistent as their leading principles are rational and spiritual. That author, addressing himself to a Romish writer, speaks of the religion of Protestants in the following terms." Know then, Sir, that when I say the religion of Protestants is in prudence to be preferred before your's; as on the other side I do not understand by your religion the doctrine of Bellarmine or Baronius, or any other private man amongst you, nor the doctrine of the Sorbonne, or of the Jesuits, or of the Dominicans, or of any other particular company among you, but that wherein you' all agree, or profess to agree, The Doctrine of the Council of Trent: So accordingly on the other side, by the religion of Protestants I do not understand the doctrine of Luther or Calvin, or Melancthon nor the confession of Augsburg, or Geneva: nor the Chatechism of Heidelberg nor the articles of the church of Engfand-no, nor the harmony of Protestant confessions; but that wherein they all agree, and all subscribe with a greater harmony, as a perfect rule of faith and action, that is THE BIBLE. The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants. Whatsoever else they believe besides it, and the plain, irrefragable, indubitable consequences of it, well may they hold it as a matter of opinion; but as a matter of faith and religion, neither can they with coherence to their own grounds believe it themselves nor require belief of it of others, without most high and most schismatical presumption. I, for my part, after a long, and

(as I verily believe and hope) impartial search of the true way to eternal happiness, do profess plainly, that I cannot find any rest for the sole of my foot, but upon this rock only. I see plainly, and with my own eyes, that there are popes against popes, and councils against councils; some fathers against other fathers, the same fathers against themselves; a consent of fathers of one age against a consent of fathers of another age; traditive interpretations of scripture are pretended, but there are few or none to be found: no tradition but that of scripture can derive itself from the fountain, but may be plainly proved either to have been brought in, in such an age after Christ, or that in such an age it was not in. In a word, there is no sufficient certainty but of scripture only for any considering man to build upon. This, therefore, and this only, I have reason to believe. This I will profess: according to this I will believe; and for this, if there be occasion, I will not only willingly, but even gladly lose my life, though I should be sorry that christians should take it from me. "Propose me any thing out of the book, and require whether I believe or no, and seem it never so incomprehensible to human reason, I will subscribe it with hand and heart, as knowing no demonstration can be stronger than this, God hath said so, therefore it is true. In other things I will take no man's liberty of judging from him; neither shall any one take mine from me. I will think no man the worse man, nor the worse Christian; I will love no man the less, for differing in opinion from me. And what measure I mete to others, I expect from them again. I am fully assured that God does not, and therefore men ought not, to require any more of any man than this-"To believe the scriptures to be God's word; to endeavour to find the true sense of it, and to live according to it."

Such are the genuine principles of Protestantism; such the spirit by which all Christians ought to be actuated. Those men, who calling themselves Protestants, are of a contrary spirit, (and it is a lamentable fact that their number is daily increasing) are a disgrace to their profession, and bring dishonour on the common cause of Christianity. Their devotion is enthusiasm, and their zeal madness; while their increasing number portends one of the greatest of all public calamities; threatening to rekindle the latent embers of persecution: again to light up those fires which the united efforts of reason, philosophy, and the principles of rational religion have conspired to extinguish forever. See ARMINIANS, PRESBYTERIANS, PURITANS, REFORMATION, and ROMAN CATHOLICS.

CHAPTER XI.

LUTHERANS.

So called from their founder, Martin Luther, an Augustine friar, and one of the earliest of the reformers. Some of the doctrines of the Lutherans, as they were originally taught by their founder, seem to have differed in but a very slight degree from those of the church of Rome, from which Luther dissented. For he held sacred, or at least connived at, many things which Calvin, Zuinglius, and the rest of the reformers, abhorred as so many of the gaudy vestments and abominations of the Whore of Babylon. Concerning transubstantiation, Luther seems to have differed more in word than substance from the church of Rome. He held that the body and blood of Christ were materially present in the Eucharist, though he professed his ignorance of the manner in which that presence was accomplished. It is true, he laid aside the offensive term transubstantiation, and substituted that of consubstantiation in the room of it; but whether the bread and wine are, as the Catholics declare, transubstantiated into the real body and blood of Christ, or whether, as Luther asserted, the material elements are mystically consubstantiated with the body and blood of our Saviour, by the consecration of the priest, it is clear that the Catholics and the Lutherans both held the doctrine of the real presence.

Luther also tolerated the use of images, altars, wax tapers, the form of exorcism, and private confession. But the grand and leading doctrine of Lutheranism, and that on which the permanent foundation of the reformation was laid, is the right of private judgement in matters of religion. "To the defence of this proposition," says Mr Roscoe, the candid and elegant biographer of Leo X., "Luther was at all times ready to devote his learning, his talents, his repose, his character and his life; and the great and imperishable merit of this reformer consists in his having demonstrated it by such arguments, as neither the efforts of his adversaries, nor his own subsequent conduct, have been able to confute or invalidate.

No sooner, however, had Luther succeeded in effecting a separation from the church of Rome, than he set himself to establish another system of religious government; in which, he manifested, that, however he might abominate many of the doctrines and practices of the papal government, he still retained no small por