and others; in Italian, of course, there were the works of Dante, and Tasso, and Petrarca. But modern literature really began with the Reformation. Of the German language a competent writer says that Luther "restored to it unity, and it was through his Bible that his speech became the universal speech." Before him, says the same writer,' "there were a multitude of dialects, no one of which was dominant, and the confusion was great." It may not be too much to say that as Dante's "Divina Commedia” made the modern Italian, Luther's translation of the Bible made the modern German. It is conceded by Romanists themselves that Calvin's writings in the French language might almost be said to have created the French prose in its present form ; his service in its behalf, at least, was preeminent in value.2 This old English Bible of ours, in its now somewhat antique phraseology, is recognized by all who speak intelligently and candidly on the subject, as having almost made our modern English speech. At all events, it furnishes a model of classic English which poets like Shelley and Byron, even, and great prose writers like Addison and Macaulay, have studied more than any other for the sake of power in vernacular expression. We shall have occasion to speak again of some of these things. It will suffice now to say that modern literature, whatever vicious scions may have been grafted into it, strikes its roots in the rich primitive soil of the Reformation, and is a growth of that great movement quite as much as modern theology is.

3. Then, since the Reformation, theology itself has become, instead of a chain and a drag upon the human intellect, a stimulus, a quickening and broadening power beyond almost any other. There will be plenty to dispute this proposition; 1 History of German Literature, by Prof. Hosmer, p. 187. He quotes Kurtz and Ludwig Haüsser as authorities.

2 The French date the beginnings of their literary development from him (Calviu), and his influence was not restricted to the sphere of religion, but embraced their intellectual life in general; no one else has so prominently influenced the spirit and form of their written language as he." -Häusser's "History of the Reformation Period," p. 241.

but it is true, all the same. Goethe claimed that Luther and his associates checked and turned back that development which received such impulse from Erasmus. His view was a prejudiced and mistaken one. The field of study, inquiry, discussion, into which the Reformation theology led forth the human mind, has been the scene of a larger and more energetic development and invigoration than the line of work inaugurated by Erasmus could ever have been. Whether men believe and teach this theology, or disbelieve and fight it, in either case it taxes the highest powers of the human soul, and in taxing and exercising them, by the universal law in such cases, sharpens them and gives them such vigor as strenuous exertion alone supplies. We are not afraid to say that among the ablest men in every country are always its theologians and preachers.

4. We can only note, in a word, that out of the Reformation has sprang the whole system of modern education; the university, the college, the free schools of Europe and America. Wherever the Reformation has gone, it has carried the blessings of popular education; where it has not gone, the school exists only in such form as a hierarchical interest permits. Savonarola, though only a reformer before the Reformation, did what he could to found free schools in Florence; Colet in London; Edward the Sixth, the young prince whose heart was so set upon the establishment of a pure faith and a pure worship, founded schools, especially intended for children of the poor, which stand till this day; Luther, Calvin and Knox wrought in the same line; while that the pilgrim men who brought the faith of the Reformation to this country, brought also the school, to stand alongside the church, is a fact too well known to need even mention. When, in a country where the Catholic religion is the established one, anything like popular education is allowed, the fact is to be regarded as exceptional.

5. Lastly, it is noteworthy that the remarkable progress made in science during the last hundred years, has with a single exception been in countries where the principles of

the Reformation prevail. The exception is France, and in France, of all Romish countries, there is most of freedom from papal control, and least of a disposition to submit to papal exaction. It is customary for writers unfriendly to evangelical religion to speak of religion in general as in "conflict" with science. The fact, it need scarcely be said, is far otherwise. Primitive Christianity, as brought back to the world in the Reformation, and made the power among men it now is, proves itself the truest friend of science, as of every other form of human activity and growth. They who assail it in the interest of science, are just seeking to pull down the roof that shelters them.

II.

THE REFORMATION.

II.

AS A REVIVAL OF SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

THERE is one point at which the Reformation, even as a religious movement, has been much misapprehended. The prominence early assumed by the polemical element, the character and results of that struggle with the Roman apostasy which was so marked a feature of the movement, especially as led by Luther, has made it seem to many, we think, that the Reformation is almost wholly to be regarded as a struggle and a victory, as between papal oppression and abuse upon the one hand, and the spirit of opposition which rose to resist because endurance was no longer possible upon the other. In the popular apprehension, as we sometimes meet with it even now, there were in that struggle just two parties, Luther and the Pope, and the chief interest in the history of the movement becomes, thus, largely of a personal kind. The personality of the actors, without doubt, had much to do in lending to the great drama its thrilling interest: but we must remember that all great historical movements have an interest and a significance far beyond what is personal to the men who become in them either leaders or followers.

Primitive Christian

ity Recovered.

The real significance of the Reformation was in the fact that it was, so far as it was complete, the recovery of primitive Christianity. After at least a thousand years of apostasy, in which save amongst a few persecuted sects, the Christianity of Christ and his apostles was mainly lost to the world; the Bible kept from the people, and scarcely known even to their

religious teachers; the simple Christian society founded by our Lord changed to an elaborate hierarchical system, with more than worldly pride in its pretension, and more than worldly pomp in its displays; the simple ordinances of the church supplanted by a ritual the whole purpose of which was to exalt the priesthood and confirm their power; the doctrines of the Christian faith either denied or so changed in their form and application as to lose their power either to help or to restrain; after centuries of all this, just in a return to the Bible as that which should settle every point of faith and decide every rule of duty, there came about a return to the primitive Christianity. There was again heard in the world a teaching of New Testament doctrine; and there was something bearing at least a resemblance to the New Testament church.

How Prepared.

Now, that which concerns us at present is the remarkable manner in which the way of this result was spiritually prepared. It was a remark of Grotius that "the Reformation was not brought about by synods, but by kings, princes and magistrates." "Not by synods," surely; not in the formal deliberation and decision of any body of men, but neither was it "by kings, princes and magistrates." Perhaps it was not very surprising that even a man of the vivid intelligence of Grotius, living at the time he did, should make this mistake. What would appear to him, mainly, was the activity of earthly powers either for or against the Reformation. And it is true that "kings, princes and magistrates" had much to do, either by design, or under the overruling of divine Providence, to bring about the result. Political interests, personal ambitions, even private passion entered into the great movement as elements. Henry VIII., of England, at heart a papist, save so far as the Pope's power clashed with his own, was without knowing it or intending it a leader of reform. Francis the First, of France, in the early part of his reign favoring the new religion to some extent, as a matter of policy, in the later years of it, by very eagerness with which he lent himself to the most atro

the