assumed a new and a pleasing aspect. This illustrious princess, whose sentiments, councils, and projects breathed a spirit superior to the natural softness and delicacy of her sex, exerted this vigorous and manly spirit in the defence of oppressed conscience and expiring liberty, broke anew the despotic yoke of papal authority and superstition, and, delivering her people from the bondage of Rome, established that form of religious doctrine and ecclesiastical government which still subsists in England. This religious establishment differs, in some respects, from the plan that had been formed by those whom Edward VI. had employed for promoting the cause of the reformation, and approaches nearer to the rites and discipline of former times; though it is widely different, and in the most important points entirely opposite to the principles of the Roman hierarchy.

x. The seeds of the reformation were very early sown in Scotland, by several noblemen of that nation, who had resided in Germany during the religious In Scotland. disputes that divided the empire. But the power of the Roman pontiff, supported and seconded by inhuman laws and barbarous executions, choked, for many years, these tender seeds, and prevented their taking root. The first and most eminent opposer of the papal jurisdiction, was John Knox, a disciple of Calvin, whose eloquence was persuasive, and whose fortitude was invincible. This resolute

Pg It will not be improper to insert here the character of this famous Scottish reformer, as it was drawn by the elegant, spirited, accurate, and impartial pen of Dr. Robertson, in his History of Scotland, book vi. “Zeal, intrepidity, disinterestedness,” says that incomparable writer, "were virtues which he possessed in an eminent degree. He was acquainted too, with the learning cultivated in that age; and excelled in that species of eloquence which is calculated to rouse and to inflame. His maxims, however, were often too severe, and the impetuosity of his temper excessive. Rigid and uncomplying himself, he showed no indulgence to the infirmities of others. Regardless of the distinctions of rank and character, he uttered his admonitions with an acrimony and vehemence more apt to irritate than to reclaim. This often betrayed him into indecent and undutiful expressions with respect to the queen's person and conduct. Those very qualities, however, which now rendered his character less amiable, fitted him to be the instrument of Providence for advancing the reformation among a fierce people, and enabled him to face dangers, and to surmount opposition, from which a person of a more gentle spirit would have been apt to shrink back. By an unwearied application to study and to business, as well as by the frequency and fervour of his public discourses, he had worn out a constitution naturally strong. During a lingering illness, he discovered the utmost fortitude, and met the approaches of death with a magnanimity inseparable from his character. He was constantly employed in acts of devotion, and comforted himself with those prospects of immortality, which not only preserve good men from desponding, but fill them with exultation in their last moments."

Ph The earl of Morton, who was present at his funeral, pronounced his eulogium in a few words, the more honourable for Knox, as they came from one whom he had often censured with peculiar severity; "There lies he who never feared the face of inan."

reformer set out from Geneva for Scotland, in the year 1559, and, in a very short space of time, inspired the people, by his private exhortations and his public discourses, with such a violent aversion to the superstitions of Rome, that the greatest part of the Scotch nation abandoned them entirely, and aimed at nothing less than the total extirpation of popery. From this period to the present times, the form of doctrine, worship, and discipline, that had been established at Geneva by the ministry of Calvin, has been maintained in Scotland with invincible obstinacy and zeal, and every attempt to introduce into that kingdom the rites and government of the church of England has proved impotent and unsuccessful.*

i See Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i. p. 165, 232, 234, 569. Calderwood's History of Scotland's Reformation, published in folio at London, in the year 1680. Georg. Buchanani Rerum Scoticar. Hist. lib. xvi. p. 313, edit. Ruddiman. folio. Melville's Mer moirs, vol. i. p. 73.

Ik The indignation of the people, which had been excited by the vices of the clergy, was soon transferred to their persons, and settled at last, by a transition not unusual, upon the offices they enjoyed; and thus the effects of the reformation extended not only to the doctrine, but also to the government of the popish church. But in Germany, England, and the northern kingdoms, its operations were checked by the power and policy of their princes, and the episcopal hierarchy, which appears to be the most conformable to the practice of the church, since Christianity became the established religion of the Roman empire, was still continued, in these countries, under certain limitations. The ecclesiastical government was copied after the civil; and the diocesses and jurisdictions of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops, corresponded with the division and constitution of the empire. In Switzerland and the Low Countries, the nature and spirit of a republican policy gave fuller scope to the reformers; and thus all pre-eminence of order in the church was destroyed, and that form of ecclesiastical government established, which has been since called Presbyterian. The situation of the primitive church, oppressed by continual persecutions, and obliged by their sufferings to be contended with a form of government extremely simple, and with a parity of rank, for want of ambition to propose or power to support a subordination, suggested without doubt the idea of this latter system; though it would be unfair to allege this consideration, as a victorious argument in favour of Presbyterianism; because a change of circumstances will sometimes justify a change in the methods and plans of government. Be that as it may, the church of Geneva, which received the decisions of Calvin with an amazing docility, restored this Presbyterian, or republican form of ecclesiastical policy; Knox studied, admired, and recommended it to his countrymen, and he was seconded by many of the Scotch nobles, of whom some hated the persons, while others coveted the wealth of the dignified clergy. But in introducing this system, the Scottish reformer did not deem it expedient to depart altogether from the ancient form; but instead of bishops, proposed the establishment of ten superintendents, to inspect the life and doctrine of the other clergy, to preside in the inferior judicatories of the church, without pretending to claim either a seat in parliament, or the revenues and dignity of the former bishops. This proposal was drawn up and presented to a convention of estates, which was held in the year 1561; and what it contained, in relation to ecclesiastical jurisdiction and discipline, would have easily obtained the sanction of that assembly, had not a design to recover the patrimony of the church, in order to apply it to the advancement of religion and learning, been insinuated in it. After this, at certain periods, the name of bishops was revived, but without the prerogatives, jurisdiction, or revenues that were formerly appropriated to that order. They were made subject to the general assemblies of the clergy, and their power was diminished from day to day, until their name as well as their order was abolished, at the revolution in 1688, and Presbyterianism established.in Scotland by the laws of the state. See Robertson's History of Scotland, passim."

In Ireland.

XI. The cause of the reformation underwent, in Ireland, the same vicissitudes and revolutions that had attended it in England. When Henry VIII. after the abolition of the papal authority, was declared supreme head, upon earth, of the church of England, George Brown, a native of England, and a monk of the Augustine order, whom that monarch had created, in the year 1535, archbishop of Dublin, began to act with the utmost vigour in consequence of this change in the hierarchy. He purged the churches of his diocess from superstition in all its various forms, pulled down images, destroyed relics, abolished absurd and idolatrous rites, and by the influence as well as authority he had in Ireland, caused the king's supremacy to be acknowledged in that nation.' Henry showed soon after, that this supremacy was not a vain title; for he banished the monks out of that kingdom, confiscated their revenues, and destroyed their convents. In the reign of Edward VI. still farther progress was made in the removal of popish superstitions, by the zealous labours of bishop Brown, and the auspicious encouragement he granted to all who exerted themselves in the cause of the reformation. But the death of this excellent prince, and the accession of his sister to the throne, changed the face of things in Ireland, as it had done in England." Mary pursued with fire

The learned and pious primate Usher, in his Memoirs of the ecclesiastical affairs of Ireland, speaks of bishop Brown in the following manner; "George Brown was a man of a cheerful countenance, in his acts and deeds plain downright, to the poor merciful and compassionate, pitying the state and condition of the souls of the people, and advising them, when he was provincial of the Augustine order in England, to make their application solely to Christ; which advice coming to the ears of Henry VIII. he became a favourite, and was made archbishop of Dublin. Within five years after he enjoyed that see, he caused all superstitious relics and images to be removed out of the two cathedrals in Dublin, and out of all the churches in his diocess; and caused the ten commandments, the Lord's prayer, and the creed to be placed in gilded frames about the altars. He was the first that turned from the Romi religion of the clergy here in Ireland, to embrace the reformation of the church of England." See a very curious pamphlet in the fifth volume of the Harleian Miscellany, p. 558, entitled, Historical Collections of the Church of Ireland, &c.

Im Here Dr. Mosheim has fallen into a mistake, by not distinguishing between the designs of the queen, which were indeed cruel,-and their execution, which was happily and providentially prevented. This appears from a very singular and comical adventure, of which the account, as it has been copied from the papers of Richard, earl of Cork, and is to be found among the manuscripts of Sir James Ware, is as follows;

Queen Mary, having dealt severely with the protestant in England, about the latter end of her reign, signed a commission to take the same course with them in Ireland; and to execute the same with greater force, she nominates Dr. Cole one of the commissioners. This doctor coming with the commission to Chester on his journey, the mayor of that city, hearing that her majesty was sending a messenger into Ireland, and he being a churchman, waited on the doctor, who, in discourse with the mayor, taketh out of a clokebag a leather box, saying unto him, 'Here is a commission that shall lash the heretics of Ireland,' calling the protestants by that title. The good woman of the house being well affected to the protestant religion, and also having a brother named John Ed

and sword, and all the marks of unrelenting vengeance, the promoters of a pure and rational religion, and deprived Brown and other protestant bishops of their dignities in the church. But the reign of Elizabeth gave a new and a deadly blow to popery, which was again recovering its force, and arming itself anew with the authority of the throne; and the Irish were obliged again to submit to the form of worship and discipline established in England."

takes place

provinces.

XII. The reformation had not been long established in Britain, when the Belgic provinces, united by a The refor respectable confederacy, which still subsists, with- mation drew from their spiritual allegiance to the Roman in the united pontiff. Philip II. king of Spain, apprehending the danger to which the religion of Rome was exposed from that spirit of liberty and independence which reigned in the inhabitants of the low countries, took the most violent measures to dispel it. For this purpose he augmented the number of the bishops, enacted the most severe and barbarous laws against all innovators in matters of religion, and erected that unjust and inhuman tribunal of the inquisition, which would intimidate and tame, as he thought, the manly spirit of an oppressed and persecuted people. But his measures, in this respect, were as unsuccessful as they were absurd; his furious and intemperate zeal for the super

mends of the same, then a citizen in Dublin, was much troubled at the doctor's words; but watching her convenient time, while the mayor took his leave, and the doctor complimented him down the stairs, she opens the box, takes the commission out, and places in lieu thereof a sheet of paper, with a pack of cards wrapt up therein, the knave of clubs being faced uppermost. The doctor coming up to his chamber, suspecting nothing of what had been done, put up the box as formerly. The next day going to the water side, wind and weather serving him, he sails toward Ireland, and landed on the 7th of October, 1558, at Dublin. Then coming to the castle, the lord Fitz Walter, being lord deputy, sent for him to come before him and the privy council; who coming in after he had made a speech relating upon what account he came over, be presents the box unto the lord deputy, who, causing it to be opened, that the secretary might read the commission, there was nothing save a pack of cards with the knave of clubs uppermost; which not only startled the lord deputy and council, but the doctor, who assured them he had a commission, but knew not how it was gone; then the lord deputy made answer, "Let us have another commission, and we will shuffle the cards in the mean while. The doctor, being troubled in his mind, went away, and returned into England; and, coming to the court, obtained another commission; but staying for a wind on the water side, news came to him that the queen was dead; and thus God preserved the protestants of Ireland."

Queen Elizabeth was so delighted with this story, which was related to her by lord Fitz Walter on his return to England, that she sent for Elizabeth Edmonds, whose husband's name was Mattershad, and gave her a pension of forty pounds during her life. See Cox, Hibernia Anglicana, or History of Ireland, &c. vol. ii. p. 308. Harleian Miscellany, vol. v. p. 568.

n See The Life of Dr. George Brown, archbishop of Dublin, published at London in 4to. in the year 1681, and which has been reprinted in the fifth volume of the Harleian Miscellany, No. lxxix.

stitions of Rome accelerated their destruction, and the papal authority, which had only been in a critical state, was reduced to a desperate one, by the very steps that were designed to support it. The nobility formed themselves into an association, in the year 1566, with a view to procure the repeal of these tyrannical and barbarous edicts; but their solicitations and requests being treated with contempt,they resolved to obtain by force, what they hoped to have gained from clemency and justice. They addressed themselves to a free and an abused people, spurned the authority of a cruel yoke, and with an impetuosity and vehemence that were perhaps excessive, trampled upon whatever was held sacred or respectable by the church of Rome. To quell these tumults, a powerful army was sent from Spain, under the command of the duke of Alva, whose horrid barbarity and sanguinary proceedings kindled that long and bloody war from which the powerful republic of the United Provinces derived its origin, consistence, and grandeur. It was the heroic conduct of William of Nassau, prince of Orange, seconded by the succours of England and France, that delivered this state from the Spanish yoke. And no sooner was this deliverance obtained, than the reformed religion as it was professed in Switzerland, was established in the United Provinces ;" and, at the same time, a universal toleration granted to those whose religious sentiments were of a different nature, whether they retained the faith of Rome, or embraced the reformation in another form, provided still that they made no attempts against

o Dr. Mosheim seems here to distinguish too little between the spirit of the nobility and that of the multitude. Nothing was more temperate and decent than the conduct of the former; and nothing could be more tumultuous and irregular than the behaviour of the latter. While the multitude destroyed churches, pulled down monasteries, broke the images used in public worship, abused the officers of the inquisition, and committed a thousand enormities, the effects of furious resentment and brutish rage; the nobility and more opulent citizens kept within the bounds of moderation and prudence. Though justly exasperated against a despotic and cruel government, they dreaded the consequences of popular tumults as the greatest of misfortunes. Nay, many of them united their counsels and forces with those of the governess, the dutchess of Parma, to restrain the seditious and turbulent spirit of the people. The prince of Orange and count Egmont, whose memories will live for ever in the grateful remembrance of the Dutch nation, and be dear to all the lovers of heroic patriotism and sacred liberty throughout the world, signalized their moderation upon this occasion, and were the chief instruments of the repose that ensued. Their opposition to the government proceeded from the dictates of humanity and justice, and not from a spirit of licentiousness and rebellion; and such was their influence and authority among the people, that, had the imperious court of Spain condescended to make any reasonable concessions, the public tranquillity might have been again restored, and the affections of the people entirely regained. See Le Clerc, Histoire des Prov. Un. livr. i. p. 18.

p In the year 1573.

q It is necessary to distinguish between the toleration that was granted to the Roman catholics, and that which the Anabaptists, Lutherans, and other protestant sects