In 1545 a meeting of twenty-nine ministers at Erdöd adopted a creed of twelve articles in essential agreement with the Augsburg Confession. Another Lutheran synod at Medwisch (Medias), in 1548, drew up the Confessio Pentapolitana, which represented five free cities in Upper Hungary, and was declared legal in 1555. The Saxon or German population of Hungary and Transylvania remained mostly Lutheran.

On the other hand, the majority of the Magyars or Hungarians proper (the ruling race in that country) were more influenced by the Latin writings of Melanchthon and Calvin than by the German of Luther, and during the violent eucharistic controversies in Germany embraced the Calvinistic creed, which they formally adopted at the Synod of Czenger, 1557, and which they nominally profess to this day. A large number of Magyar pastors left the Lutheran Confession and embraced Calvinism in 1563. The Presbyterian polity and discipline were introduced by the Synods of Tarczal, Göntz, and Debreczin. Thus the separation of the two evangelical Churches was completed.

Protestantism made rapid progress under Maximilian II. At the close of the sixteenth century the larger part of the people and the whole nobility, with the exception of three magnates, had accepted the Reformation. It gave a vigorous impulse to national life and literary activity. It is astonishing to see the amount of religious information which was then spread among the citizens and the lower classes, and the fertility of the press in places where now not even an almanac is printed.'2

But under the reign of Rudolph II., King of Hungary from 1572 to 1608, began the counter-reformation of the Jesuits (among whom Peter Pázmány, a nobleman of Calvinistic parents, was the most successful in making converts), and a series of cruel persecutions by the Hapsburg rulers, urged on by the Popes, which continued for nearly two centuries, amid reactions, rebellions, civil wars, and wars with the Turks. A Jesuitical formula for the conversion of Hungarian

'We say nominally, for both the Reformed and Lutheran Churches of Hungary have been much affected by rationalism. This applies, however, to nearly all the State Churches of the Continent.

* Burgovszky, 1. c. p. 643.

Protestants pronounces awful curses on the evangelical faith, with the promise to persecute it by the sword. Whether genuine or not, it shows the intense bitterness of the conflict.' General Caraffa, a cruel papist, erected in the market-place at Eperjes a bloody scaffold, or 'slaughter-bank,' where for several months daily tortures and executions by fire and sword took place (1657).2

Protestantism survived these trials. Joseph II., by his famous Edict of Toleration, Oct. 29, 1781, secured to the followers of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions liberty of conscience and public worship. His brother and successor, Leopold, confirmed it in 1791. The remaining restrictions were removed in 1848. The present number of Protestants in Hungary is about three millions, or one fifth of the whole population (which in 1869 amounted to fifteen millions and a half). The Lutheran Confession prevails among the German population; the followers of the Reformed or Helvetic Confession are twice as numerous, and are mostly Magyars.

THE HUNGARIAN CONFESSION.

The HUNGARIAN CONFESSION, or CONFESSIO CZENGERINA, was prepared and adopted at a Reformed Synod held at Czenger in 1557 or 1558,3 and printed in 1570 at Debreczin.*

It treats, in brief articles or propositions, of the Triune God, of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Scripture designations of the Holy Spirit, the rules for explaining the phrases concerning God, the law and the gospel, the rights and sacraments of the Church, Christian liberty, election, the cause of sin, and the only mediator Jesus Christ. It is preceded by a strong Biblical argument against the anti-Trinitarians and Socinians, who had spread in Transylvania. It vehemently rejects the Romish transubstantiation and the Lutheran 'sarcophagia,' but

2

See above, p. 92, note 2.

Sismondi and Merle d'Aubigné (1. c. p. ix.) state that the persecutions of the Hungarian Protestants surpassed in cruelty the persecutions of the Huguenots under Louis XIV. The date is uncertain.

4

Debreczin is a royal free city in the northeastern part of the Hungarian Lowland, with about fifty thousand inhabitants, and contains the principal Calvinistic college of the kingdom. In 1849 it was the seat of the revolutionary government of Kossuth, and the independence of Hungary was there declared in the Reformed Church.

Damnamus Papisticum delirium . . . primo panem transsubstantiari, et offerri in missa: deinde sola accidentia panis manere. Ita et eorum insaniam damnamus, qui asserunt

...

also the sacramentarian' view of a purely symbolical presence, and teaches that Christ is truly though spiritually present, and communicates himself in the Lord's Supper as the living bread and the celestial drink, with all his gifts, to the believer. It defends infant baptism against the Anabaptists. It teaches a free election, but is silent abont reprobation, and denies that God is the author of sin. Later synods professed more clearly the doctrine of predestination and the perseverance of saints.

This Confession presents some original and vigorous features, but has only a secondary historical importance. It was practically superseded by the Second Helvetic Confession of 1566, which is far superior, and was subscribed by the entire Reformed clergy of Hungary convened at Debreczin in 1567. The Heidelberg Catechism was also introduced.

V. THE ANGLICAN ARTICLES OF RELIGION.

8 76. THE ENGLISH REFORMATION.

Literature.

I. WORKS ON THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES.

(a) Historical.

CHARLES HARDWICK (B.D., Archdeacon of Ely, and Christian Advocate in the University of Cambridge, d. 1859): A History of the Articles of Religion; to which is added a Series of Documents from A.D. 1536 to A.D. 1615, together with Illustrations from Contemporary Sources. Cambridge, 1851 (reprinted in Philadelphia, 1852); second edition, thoroughly revised, Cambridge, 1859 (pp. 399).

(b) Commentaries.

THOMAS R. JONES: An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles by the Reformers; being Extracts from the Works of Latimer, Ridley, Cranmer, Hooper, Jewell, Philpot, Pilkington, Coverdale, Becon, Bradford, Sandys, Grindal, Whitgift, etc. London, 1849.

THOMAS ROGERS (Chaplain to Archbishop Bancroft): The Catholic Doctrine of the Church of England, an Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles. London, 1579, 1585, 1607, and other editions (under various titles). Newly edited by J. J. S. Perowne, for 'The Parker Society,' Cambridge, 1854. This is the oldest commentary, and was countenanced by Bancroft, to whom it was dedicated.

Sarcophagiam, id est, ore corporali sumi corpus Christi naturale, sanguinolentum, sine ulla mutatione et transsubstantiatione.'-Niemeyer, pp. 544 sq. The severe judgment of the Lutheran doctrine was a retaliation for the condemnation of Zwingli and Calvin as sacramentarians by a Lutheran Synod of Hermanstadt. Ebrard, Vol. III. p. 424.

1 6

'Rejicimus et eorum delirium, qui Cœnam Domini vacuum signum, vel Christi absentis tantum MEMORIAM his signis recoli docent. Nam sicut Christus est AMEN, TEStis fidelis, VERAX, VERITAS ET VITA... ita Cana Domini est præsentis et infiniti æternique Filii Dei unigeniti a Patre memoria: qui se et sua bona, carnem suam et sanguinem suum, id est, panem vivum et potum cœlestem, Spiritus Sancti ope per verbum promissionis gratiæ, offert et exhibet electis fide vera evangelium Christi apprehendentibus.'—Page 545.

Gilbert BurneT (Bishop of Salisbury; b. 1643, d. 1715): An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. Oxford, 1814 (Clarendon Press), and other editions. Revised, with notes, by James R. Page.

RICHARD LAURENCE, LL.D. (formerly Reg. Prof. of Hebrew in Oxford): An Attempt to illustrate those Articles of the Church of England which the Calvinists improperly consider as Calvinistical. In eight sermons (Bampton Lectures for 1834). Oxford, third edition, 1838.

EDWARD HAROLD BROWNE (b. 1811, Bishop of Winchester since 1873, formerly of Ely): An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles, Historical and Doctrinal. London, 1850–53, in two vols.; since often republished in one vol. (ninth edition, 1871); Amer. edition, with notes by Bishop WILLIAMS of Connecticut, New York, 1865.

A. P. FORBES (Bishop of Brechin): An Explanation of the Thirty-nine Articles, with an Epistle dedicatory to the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D. Oxford and London, 1867. (High Church.)

R. W. JELF (Canon of Christ Church, Oxford): The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England explained in a Series of Lectures. Edited by J. R. King. London, 1873.

II. HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND.

(a) Documents and Contemporary Sources.

WORKS OF THE ENGLISH REFORMERS, published by "The Parker Society,' Cambridge, 1841-54, fifty-four vols. Contains the writings of Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Hooper, Sandys, Coverdale, Jewell, Grindal, Whitgift, the Zurich Letters, etc.

THE STATE CALENDARS, now being published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls.

JOHN FOXE (one of the Marian exiles, d. 1587): Acts and Monuments of the Church, or Book of Martyrs. London, 1563, and often in three or more volumes. Not accurate, but full of facts told in a forcible style. WILKINS: Concilia Magnæ Brittaniæ et Hiberniæ (446-1717). Four vols. folio. 1736 sq.

E. CARDWELL: Documentary Annals of the Church of England (1546-1716), Oxford, 1844, 2 vols.; Synodalia (1547-1717), Oxford, 1842, 2 vols.; The Reformation of the Laws in the Reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth, Oxford, 1850.

(b) Historical Works.

JOHN STRYPE (a most laborious and valuable contributor to the Church history and biography of the English Reformation period; b. 1643, d. 1737): Ecclesiastical Memorials... of the Church of England under King Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queen Mary (London, 1725-37; Oxford, 1822, 3 vols.): Annals of the Reformation... in the Church of England during Queen Elizabeth's Happy Reign (London, 1738; Oxford, 1824, 4 vols.; Memorials of Archbishops Cranmer (2 vols.), Parker (3 vols.), Grindal (1 vol.), Whitgift (3 vols.). See his Complete Works, Oxford, 1822-40, in twenty-seven vols.

GILBERT BURNET: The History of the Reformation of the Church of England. London, 1679 sqq., 7 vols., and other editions. New edition by Pocock.

C. HARDWICK: History of the Christian Church during the Reformation, third edition (by W. Stubbs). London, 1873, pp. 165-249.

FRED. SEEBOHM: The Oxford Reformers, Colet, Erasmus, and More. London, 1869. The same: The Era of the Protestant Revolution. 1874.

The Church Histories of England and of the English Reformation by J. COLLIER (non-Juror), DODD (Rom. Cath.), THOS. FULLER (Royalist; Church History of Great Britain until 1658 and The Worthies of England), NEAL (History of the Puritans), HEYLIN, SOAMES, MASSINGBEARD, Short, BLUNT, WADDINGTON, WEBER, MERLE D'AUBIGNÉ, FISHER.

Also the secular Histories of England by HUME, MACAULAY (the introductory chapter), HALLAM (Constitut. Hist.), LINGARD (Rom. Cath.), KNIGHT, FROUDE, RANKE, GREEN, in the sections on the Reformation period.

The last and, in its final results, the most important chapter in the history of the Reformation was acted in that remarkable island which has become the chief stronghold of Protestantism in Europe, the ruler of the waves, and the pioneer of modern Christian civilization and constitutional liberty. The Anglo-Saxon race is intrusted by Providence with the sceptre of empire in its eastward and westward course. The defeat of the Armada was that turning-point in history when the dominion in which the sun never sets passed from Roman Catholic Spain to Protestant England.

The Reformation in Britain, favored by insular independence, was

a national political as well as ecclesiastical movement, and carried with it Church and State, rulers and subjects; while on the Continent it encountered a powerful opposition and Jesuitical reaction. It began with outward changes, and was controlled by princes, bishops, and statesmen rather than by scholars and divines; while in other countries the reform proceeded from the inner life of religion and the profound study of the Scriptures. Good and bad men, from pure and low motives, took part in the work, but were overruled by a higher power for a noble end.' England produced no reformers of such towering genius, learning, and heroism as Luther and Calvin, but a large number of learned and able prelates and statesmen, and a noble army of martyrs worthily led by Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, Hooper, and Rogers. It displayed less theological depth and originality than Germany and Switzerland, where the ideas and principles of the Reformation were wrought out, but a greater power of practical organization. It gave the new ideas a larger field of action and application to all the ramifications of society and all departments of literature, which entered upon its golden age in the reign of Elizabeth, and which, in wealth of genius and in veneration for the truths of Christianity, far surpassed that of any other nation. Although at first despotic and intolerant, English Protestantism by its subsequent development became the guardian of civil and religious liberty. The fierce struggle between 'the old and new learning' lasted for more than a century, and passed through a baptism of blood which purified and fertilized the soil of England and became the seed of new colonies and empires beyond

the sea.

The British Reformation is full of romantic interest, and developed a great variety of strongly marked characters, who still excite

1 Robert Southey (Life of Wesley, Vol. I. p. 266, Harpers' edition) says: "In England the best people and the worst combined in bringing about the Reformation, and in its progress it bore evident marks of both.'

* Fisher (The Reformation, p. 533): 'The boldness and independence of the Elizabethan writers, their fearless and earnest pursuit of truth, and their solemn sense of religion, apart from all asceticism and superstition, are among the effects of the Reformation. This is equally true of them as it is of Milton and of the greatest of their successors. Nothing save the impulse which Protestantism gave to the English mind, and the intellectual ferment which was engendered by it, will account for the literary phenomena of the Elizabethan times.' Even that brilliant and racy French critic, Taine, must acknowledge the constant influence of 'the grave and grand idea of religion, of faith and prayer,' upon such writers as Bacon, Raleigh, Burton, and Sir Thomas Browne.