believe me, with sincere affection, your faithful friend and brother in the Church and Gospel of our common Lord.
G. W. Doane.
The Rev. Herman Hooker,
Editor of the Library of Christian Knowledge.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | |
|---|---|
| British and Anglo-Saxon Churches.—Intercourse with Rome.—EarlyCorruptions | [Page 1] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Divisions amongst Ecclesiastics.—The regular and secular Clergy.—ThePope favours the former.—Exemptions from Episcopal Jurisdiction.—Habitsof the Friars | [43] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Progress of Grievances under the Norman Princes.—Papal Interference.—Legates.—Collisionof Roman and English Forms of Law—Inconveniencesattending it | [47] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| Monasteries.—Their Usurpation of the Rights of the Clergy.—Impropriations.—Evilsof the System | [60] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| Early Reformers.—Waldenses.—Wickliffe.—Lollards | [75] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Luther.—Erasmus.—Sir T. More.—New Translation of the Bible.—Demandfor it | [96] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Cranmer.—The Divorce.—The Supremacy | [111] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Dissolution of the Abbeys.—Church Property.—Immediate Consequencesof the Dissolution | [135] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| Cromwell.—Gardiner.—Bonner.—The Act of the Six Articles.—Sermonsof those Days.—Proposed Disposal of Ecclesiastical Property.—Articlesof 1536.—The Bible in Churches.—Bishops’ Book,—King’sBook | [165] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| Edward VI.—Advance of the Reformation.—Erasmus’s Paraphrase.—Homilies.—Cranmer’sCatechism.—Office of Communion.—Bookof Common-Prayer.—Time of Service, and Length.—Primer.—Articlesof 1553.—Moderation of the English Reformers | [196] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| Hooper.—Puritans.—Expectations of the Roman Catholic.—Edward’sDeath.—Lady Jane Grey | [235] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| Mary.—Suppression of the Reformation.—Persecution of the Reformers.—Fox’sActs and Monuments | [252] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| Elizabeth.—Her Accession.—Her Caution.—Reformation again triumphant.—Returnof the Exiles.—Jewel.—Injunctions of Elizabethcompared with those of Edward.—Progress of the Puritans.—TheReformation not completed.—Conclusion | [276] |
A SKETCH
OF THE
REFORMATION IN ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
BRITISH AND ANGLO-SAXON CHURCHES.—INTERCOURSE WITH ROME.—EARLY CORRUPTIONS.
The Reformation is not to be regarded as a great and sudden event which took the nation by surprise. It was merely the crisis to which things had been tending for some centuries; and if the fire did at last run over the country with wonderful rapidity, it was because the trees were all dry. It is a mistake to suppose that whilst the Roman catholic religion prevailed all was unity. True it is, that the elements of discontent were as yet working for the most part under ground, but they were not on that account the less likely to make themselves eventually felt. The strong man armed was keeping the house, and therefore his goods were at peace; but he was in jeopardy long before he was spoiled. Luther was the match that produced the explosion, but the train had been laid by the events of generations before him.