PREFACE. This work has grown out of a course of lectures which were given at the Lowell Institute in Boston early in the spring of 1871. I may be permitted to say that when I engaged to prepare these lectures, the subject was not new to me; and that the interval since they were delivered has been devoted to studies in the same field, the results of which are incorporated in this volume. It has appeared to me practicable to present to intelligent and educated readers, within the compass of a volume like the present, the means of acquainting themselves with the origin and nature, the principal facts and characters of the Reformation; while, at the same time, through notes and references, the historical student should be guided to further researches on the various topics which are brought under his notice. There are two features in the plan of the present work to which it may not be improper to call attention. With the religious and theological side of the history of the period, I have endeavored to interweave and to set in their true relation the political, secular or more general elements, which had so powerful an influence in determining the course of events. The attempt has also been made to elucidate briefly, but sufficiently, points pertaining to the history of theological doctrine, an understanding of which is peculiarly essential in the study of this period of history. The authorities on which I have chiefly depended, are indicated in the marginal references. The highest place belongs to the writings, and especially the correspondence of the Reformers themselves. The letters of Luther, Melancthon, Zwingle, Calvin; the correspondence of the English with the Helvetic Reformers during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth; the correspondence of Reformers in the French-speaking lands, in the collection of M. Herminjard, afford the most vivid as well as correct impression of the transactions in which their authors bore a leading part. Works like the "Correspondence of Philip II.," which M. Gachard among his other valuable contributions - has published from the archives of Simancas, have cast much new light on another side of the history of this era. Of the more recent historians, there are two of whom I am bound to make special mention in this place. The first is Ranke, whose admirable series of works on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been constantly in my hands. The mingling of general views with apposite and characteristic facts, lends to the historical productions of this truly illustrious writer a peculiar charm. The other historian is Gieseler, who possessed in an eminent degree the genius for accuracy, which Gibbon ascribed to Tillemont, and whose investigations, though extensive and profound upon every period of Church History, are nowhere more instructive than the period of the Reformation. It must be a matter of sincere regret to all scholars that Neander did not live upon to carry forward his great work, the counterpart of Gieseler, into this period. His posthumous History of Doctrine is quite brief in its treatment of the Protestant movement, but is not wanting in striking suggestions. Perhaps I should add to this short catalogue, the "Histoire de France" of Henri Martin, which appears to me to be the most satisfactory of the comprehensive works on the history of that country. There is one explanation further which I am anxious to make respecting the design of this book. It is intended in no sense as a polemical work. It has not entered into my thoughts to inculcate the creed of Protestantism, or to propagate any type of Christian doctrine; much less to kindle animosity against the Church of Rome. Very serious as the points of difference are which separate the body of Protestants from the body of Roman Catholics, the points on which they agree outweigh in importance the points on which they differ. Whoever supposes that the Reformers were exempt from grave faults and infirmities, must either be ignorant of their history, or have studied it under the influence of a partisan bias. Impartiality, however, is not indifference; and a frigid and carping spirit, that chills the natural outflow of a just admiration, may, equally with the spirit of hero-worship, hinder one from arriving at the real truth, as well as the best lessons of history. Should this volume be used in the class-room, it may be suggested to teachers that frequent reference should be made to the Chronological Table in the appendix, where contemporaneous events in the different countries are grouped together. Dates are pretty thickly strewn |