our eminent historian considers the spirit, temper, and enthusiasm of the first reformers. The enthu siasm he attributes to them is fanaticism in its worst sense. He speaks indeed of the inflexible intrepidity, with which they braved dangers, torments, and even death itself;' but he calls them the fanatical and enraged reformers;' he represents fanaticism, through the whole course of his history, as the characteristic of the protestant religion and its glorious founders: the terms, 'protestant fanaticism-fanatical ‚' churches'—are interspersed in various parts of his work; and we never meet with the least appearance of a distinction between the rational and enthusiastic, the wise and indiscreet friends of the Reformation. In short, we find a phraseology constantly employed upon this subject, which discovers an intention to confound protestantism with enthusiasm, and to make reformers and fanatics synonymous terms. We are told, that, while absurd rites and burthensome superstitions reigned in the Romish church, the reformers were thrown, by a spirit of opposition, into an en'thusiastic strain of devotion; and, in another place, that the latter placed all merit in a mysterious species of faith, in inward vision, rapture, and 'ecstasy.' It would be endless to quote the passages in which this representation of things is repeated in a great variety of phrases, and artfully insinuated into the mind of the reader, by dexterous strokes of a seducing pencil; which, though scattered here and there, yet gradually unite their influence on the imagination of an uninstructed and unwary reader, and form, imperceptibly, an unfavorable impression of that great event, to which we owe at this day our civil and religious liberty, and our deliverance from a yoke of superstitious and barbarous despotism. Protestants, in all ages and places, are stigmatised by Mr. Hume with very dishonorable titles; and it struck me particularly to see even the generous opposers of the Spanish inquisition in Holland, whose proceedings were so moderate, and whose complaints

were so humble, until the barbarous yoke of superstition and tyranny became intolerable; it struck me, I say, to see these generous patriots branded with the general character of bigots. This is certainly a severe appellation; and were it applied with much more equity than it is, I think it would still come with an ill grace from a lover of freedom, from a man who lives and writes with security under the auspicious shade of that very liberty which the Reformation introduced, and for which the Belgic heroes (or bigots-if we must call them so) shed their blood. I observe with pain, that the phraseology and mode of expression, employed perpetually by Mr. Hume, on similar occasions, seem to discover a keen dislike of every opposition made to power in favor of the Reformation. Upon the too general principle which this eminent writer has diffused through his history, we shall even be obliged to brand, with the opprobrious mark of fanaticism, those generous friends of civil and religious liberty, who, in the revolution of 1688, opposed the measures of a popish prince and an arbitrary government, and to rank the Burnets, Tillotsons, Stillingfleets, and other immortal ornaments of the protestant name, among the enthusiastic tribe; it is a question, whether even a Boyle, a Newton, or a Locke, will escape a censure which is lavished without mercy and without distinction.— But my present business is with the first reformers, and to them I return.

Those who more especially merit that title were Luther, Zuingle, Calvin, Melanchthon, Bucer, Martyr, Bullinger, Beza, Ecolampadius, and others. Now these were all men of learning, who came forth into the field of controversy (in which the fate of future ages, with respect to liberty, was to be decided) with a kind of arms that did not at all give them the aspect of persons agitated by the impulse, or seduced by the delusions of fanaticism. They pretended not to be called to the work they undertook by visions, or internal illuminations and impulses ;-they never

attempted to work miracles, or pleaded a divine commission-they taught no new religion, nor laid claim to any extraordinary vocation;they respected government, practised and taught submission to civil rulers, and desired only the liberty of that conscience which God has made free, and which ceases to be conscience if it be not free. They maintained, that the faith of a Christian was to be determined by the word of God alone; they had recourse to reason and argument, to the rules of sound criticism, and to the authority and light of history. They translated the Scriptures into the popular languages of different countries, and appealed to them as the only test of religious truth. They exhorted Christians to judge for themselves, to search the Scriptures, break asun der the bonds of ignorant prejudice and lawless authority, and assert that liberty of conscience to which they had an inalienable right as reasonable beings. Mr. Hume himself acknowleges, that they offered to submit all religious doctrines to private judgement, and exhorted every one to examine the ' principles formerly imposed upon him.' In short, it was their great and avowed purpose to oppose the gross corruptions and the spiritual tyranny of Rome“, of which Mr. Hume himself complains with a just indignation, and which he censures in as keen and vehement terms as those which were used by Luther and Calvin in their warmest moments.

6

I have already insinuated, and I acknowlege it here again, that the zeal of the reformers was sometimes intemperate; but I cannot think this circumstance sufficient to justify the aspersion of fanaticism, which is cast both on the spirit of the Reformation, and the principal agents concerned in it. A man may be over-zealous in the advancement of what he

a See the sensible and judicious Letters on Mr. Hume's History of Great Britain, that were published at Edinburgh in 1756, and in which some points, which I have barely mentioned here, are enlarged upon and illustrated, in an ample and satisfactory manner.

supposes to be the true religion, without being en titled to the denomination of a fanatic, unless we depart from the usual sense of this word, which is often enough employed to have acquired, before this time, a determinate signification. The intemperate zeal of the reformers was the result of that ardor, which takes place in all divisions and parties that are founded upon objects of real or supposed importance; and it may be affirmed, that, in such cir cumstances, the most generous minds, filled with a persuasion of the goodness of their end, and of the uprightness of their intentions, are the most liable to transgress the exact bounds of moderation, and to adopt measures, which, in the calm hour of deliberate reflexion, they themselves would not approve. In all great divisions, the warmth of natural temper, the provocation of unjust and violent opposition, a spirit of sympathy, which connects, in some cases, the most dissimilar characters, renders the mild vio lent, and the phlegmatic warm ;-and frequently the pride of conquest, which mingles itself, imperceptibly, with the best principles and the most generous views,-produce or nourish an intemperate zeal; and this zeal is, in some cases, almost inevitable. On the other hand, it may be suspected, that some writers, and Mr. Hume among others, may have given too high colors to their descriptions of this in temperate zeal. There is a passage of Sir Robert Cotton, that has much meaning. "Most men (says he) "grew to be frozen in zeal and benumbed, so "that whosoever pretended a little spark of earnest"ness, seemed no less than red-fire hot, in compari"son of the other."

Nothing can be more foreign from my temper and sentiments, than to plead the cause of an excessive zeal; more especially, every kind of zeal that approaches to a spirit of intolerance and persecution ought to be regarded with aversion and horror by all who have at heart the interest of genuine Christianity, and the happiness of civil society. There

may be, nevertheless, cases, in which a zeal (not that breathes a spirit of persecution, but) that mounts to a certain degree of intemperance, may be not only inevitable, but useful; and not only useful but necessary. This assertion I advance almost against my will, because it is susceptible of great and dangerous abuse; the assertion, however, is true, though the cases must be singularly important and desperate to which such zeal may be applied. It has been observed, that the reformation was one of these cases, and, all things attentively considered, the observation appears to be entirely just; and the violence of expression and vehement measures employed by some of the reformers might have been (I do not say that they really were) as much the effect of provident reflexion, as of natural fervor and resentment. To a calculating head, which considered closely, in those times of corruption and darkness, the strength of the court of Rome, the luxury and despotism of the pontiffs, the ignorance and licentiousness of the clergy, the superstition and stupidity of the people; in a word, the deep root which the papacy had gained through all these circumstances combined, what was the first thought that must naturally have occurred? No doubt, it was this-the improbability that cool philosophy, dispassionate reason, and affectionate remonstrances, would ever triumph over these multiplied and various supports of popery. And, if a calculating head must have judged in this manner, a generous heart, which considered the blessings that must arise upon mankind from religious liberty and a reformation of the church, would naturally be excited to apply even a violent remedy, if that were necessary, to remove such a desperate and horrible disease. It would really seem that Luther acted on such a view of things. He began mildly, and did not employ the fire of his zeal, before he saw that it was essential to the success of his cause. Whoever looks into Dr. Mosheim's history, or any other impartial account of the sixteenth cen