obtain an asylum, because their creed differed from the Lutheran. At length they found resting places at Wesel, Strasburg, and Frankfort. One party, with Poulain at their head, reached the last-named city in 1554. In June of the same year others followed, including several English. These all adopted the strict reformed churchorder which Poulain had established. Though they came from England, and hoped to return thither again, yet they renounced the Liturgy brought over by the English refugees, and thus became the first dissenters within the pale of English protestantism, if such it might then be called. John Knox became one of their ministers. Grindal and the English leaders in vain sought to induce them to conformity. They avowed a preference for their own ritual, as more simple than the Anglican form. They corresponded with Calvin, Vermiglio, Bullenger, Musculus, and Viret, more than with the Englishmen. Their congregations received an increase in 1555, by the arrival of the English and Flemish companions of John A` Lasco, who had left England in 1553, and amounted to 153 persons.* On their return to England in the subsequent reign, they held fast to their own church-order, and consequently came into speedy, collision with the new government and its favoured hierarchy, and were decided Nonconformists. * Life and selected Writings of the Fathers and Founders of the Reformed Church. Peter Martyr; by Dr. Schmidt, p. 154. CHAPTER XI. The Elizabethan Age. THE nation gave an eager welcome to the religious peace which appeared to be inaugurated by the accession. of Queen Elizabeth. There had been sufficient personal experience of oppression in matters of opinion, to render the new freedom, though far from perfect, very acceptable. The contests respecting religion had absorbed more of the public attention than any other subject, and the triumph of Evangelical truth was esteemed as a national victory. Its language became the staple of the utterances both of common life and of literature. If we turn to the pages of Shakspeare, Raleigh, Lilly, or Sidney,—or even of writers who possessed less reverence for the Word of God than these, we find the constant use of language implying a thorough acquaintance by the reader with the doctrines and facts of Scripture. Religious life, with all its manifestations, had become characteristic of the active portion of the community. Before this age, the favourite mark of the wits had been the vices of the clergy. These form the fertile subject of medieval satire. But from the time when true M godliness became reputable, the latter has been the chosen object of ridicule. The plays of Ben Jonson seek to bring into contempt the earnestness and Scriptural tastes which evidently then characterized a large portion of the public. The truth overcame the scoffers for the time; but, after the Restoration, the latter had their time of triumph, and the result was most disastrous for the nation. A middle course was taken by such great writers as Raleigh, and after him Lord Bacon, who lauded religion in noble phrases, and copiously referred to Scripture in their writings, without, however, entitling themselves to be regarded as agents in the great work of promoting the spread of spiritual truth for evangelical purposes. 66 Who cannot but admire the eloquent conclusion of Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World? "O eloquent, just,, and mighty Death! Whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared thou hast done; and whom all the world has flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised: thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness-all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with the two narrow words 'Hic jacet.' More truly religious, however, is the advice given by him to his wife, in his letter written to her just before his execution :- "Love God, and begin betimes. In Him you shall find true, everlasting, and endless comfort." Proof complete of the thorough diffusion of the textual knowledge of Scripture in the Elizabethan age, may be found in the plays of Shakspeare. There are above five hundred passages in his works, which may reasonably be referred to direct Scriptural originals, being either verbally, or substantially, founded on quotations from Holy Writ. There are about four hundred sentences, besides these, expressive of sentiments derived from the same source. Nor is this a case of the mere clever adaptation of familiar words. On the contrary, it is evident that the great dramatist thoroughly knew the doctrines of the Evangelical system, though we fail to discover to what extent he rested on them for his own hopes of heaven. Thus he speaks of the fall of man, and the grace which found its remedy : "All the souls that are, were forfeit once: And He, that might the vantage best have took, Found out the remedy.”—MEASURE FOR MEASURE, Act 2. And thus of God's righteousness and mercy : "Consider this,— That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy."-MERCHANT OF VENICE, Act 4. And thus of the work of faith : "Now God be praised, that to believing souls And thus of the atonement : "Then is there mirth in heaven, When earthly things made even, At one together."-As You LIKE IT, Act 5. We know not that he himself fled for refuge to "Christ's dear blood, shed for our grievous sins " RICHARD III. but the proofs of his own familiarity, and that of his audiences, with the phrases and teachings of the Bible are exceedingly numerous. A modern biographer of Shak speare says "We believe that the home education of William Shakspeare was grounded upon this book (the Bible); and that if this book had been sealed to his childhood, he might have been the poet of nature, of passion,-his humour might have been as rich as we find it, and his wit as pointed; but that he would not have been the most profound as well as the most tolerant philosopher; his insight into the nature of man, his meanness and his grandeur, his weakness and his strength, would not have been what it is." * If, in the tranquil years of his later life, he joined the gentry of his native town in hearing and supporting the popular Gospel lecturer who officiated there, he must have brought to the exercise a ready fund of ample Biblical knowledge. We would fain hope that he learned to appreciate the deep things of God,-to benefit by his own advice— "The means that Heaven yields, must be embraced, RICHARD II., Act 3. The extent to which the utterances of the heart were permitted, in the courtesies of high life at this period, is well shown in the language of a remarkable letter written by Bacon to Lord Coke, condoling with him on the occasion of his disgrace at court: * W. Shakspere, a Biography, p. 43. |