LETTER XII. HENRY VIII. 169 SIR, WE now reach the æra of the Reformation: to you, a subject of great joy to me, a subject of deep regret. You dedicate your twelfth chapter to its commencement under Henry VIII. It is one of the misfortunes of controversy, that charges, even of the most serious and offensive kind, may be conveyed in one line, or even by one word, while pages are necessary to refute them. With charges of this nature" the Book of the Church" abounds in a greater degree than any other work I have ever met with; they occur in your present chapter oftener than in any other. All, or even a considerable proportion of them, it is utterly impossible for me to discuss; I am therefore obliged to confine myself to such of your general charges against us, as appear to me to require particular notice. Has England been benefited by the reformation? This is the subject of the letter, which I now have the honour to address you. I shall inquire whether she has gained by it,-I. In temporal happiness ;II. In spiritual wisdom;-III. Or in morals?— IV. Whether the revival of letters was owing to the reformation, or materially promoted by it ?V. Whether the conduct of the religious orders called for the dissolution of the monasteries ? VI. Whether the church of Rome was negligent. in remedying the abuses which crept into it? VII. And, whether roman-catholic historical writers of the former, or the present times, merit the indiscriminate and unqualified abuse, which, certainly, without any provocation, you pour upon them. XII. 1. Has England gained by the Reformation in Temporal Happiness? TWICE, (if not thrice), did the roman-catholic religion rescue the inhabitants of England from paganism. She instructed them in the divine truths of the gospel; introduced civilization among them; was, after the Norman Conquest, their only protection against the oppressions of their conqueror; and, during a long subsequent period, their only defence against the tyranny of the barons. To her, you owe your magna charta, the important statute, de tallagio non concedendo, and several other statutes, regulations and forms, which are the groundwork and bulwark of your constitution. A numerous clergy instructed them in moral duty numerous portions, both of men and women, whose institutes were holy, furnished the young with means of education, the old with comfortable retreats, and all with the opportunites of serving God, in honour and integrity. Throughout England the roman-catholic religion only was acknowledged, so that the reformation found the whole nation one flock under one shepherd. Almost every village contained a church, to which the faithful, at stated hours, regularly flocked, for the celebration of the eternal sacrifices, for morning and evening prayer, and for exhortation and instruction. In a multitude of places, the silence of the night was interrupted by pious psalmody. Surely these circumstances were not only great religious, but great political blessings. England was covered with edifices raised by the sublimest science, and dedicated to the most noble and most salutary purposes; commerce prospered; agriculture, literature, every useful and ornamental art and science was excellently cultivated, and was in a state of gradual improvement. The monarch was illustrious among the most illustrious potentates of Europe, and held the balance between its preponderating princes: his court was splendid; the treasury overflowed with wealth; THERE WAS NO DEBT; and, (one fourth part of the tithes in every place being set apart for the maintenance of the poor *), THERE WAS NO POOR law. 2 Such was the temporal prosperity of England at the dawn of the reformation. Will it suffer on a comparison of it with the condition of England at any subsequent æra? or even with its present? You have been severe on Becket; but if Becket had filled the see of Canterbury throughout the reign of Henry VIII, how many lives, probably, would have been spared; how many noble and antient families saved; how much spoliation and sacrilege prevented! * Burn's Justice of Peace, title "Poor," sect. L. 1. XII. 2. Has England gained by the Reformation in Spiritual Wisdom? HER great gain, in this respect, is asserted by you in every part of "the Book of the Church :" I shall mention a single fact, then leave yourself to decide on the truth of your own repeated assertion. From the Book of the Church," I conclude that you are a sincere believer in the doctrines of the established church of England, as they are expressed in the thirty-nine articles, the authentic formulary of her faith. You therefore believe all that the roman-catholic church believes respecting the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Divinity of Christ, and the Atonement; but are these doctrines seriously and sincerely believed by the great body of the present English clergy? or by the great body of the present English laity? Do not the former, to use Mr. Gibbon's expression, sign the thirtynine articles with a sigh, or a smile? Is a sincere and conscientious belief of the doctrines expressed in them, considered by many of the laity to be a condition for salvation? Indifference to the thirty-nine articles being thus universal, or at least very general, among those who profess themselves members of the established church, must not you, who deem so highly of them, admit that,—as the roman-catholic church believes all that is said in the thirty-nine articles respecting the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Divinity of Christ, and the Atonement,--there existed, when the reformation peered, and all these articles were universally believed, more spiritual wisdom in England than exists in her at this time, with her present scanty creed? if Thus the balance, in respect both to temporal happiness and spiritual wisdom, now stands; but you look at the period between the first introduction of the reformation and its present æra, what years of havoc, what disputed successions of the crown, what wars, what legal murders, what demolitions of magnificent edifices, what destructions of manuscripts, of printed books, of sacred and profane monuments of art; what proscriptions, what confiscations, what calumnies, what imaginary plots, and what other inflictions of misery, in every form, were found necessary to extirpate the antient creed, and to introduce and establish the reformation! Surely you will acknowledge that an infinity, both of public and individual wretchedness would have been spared to England, if the refor'mation had not been carried to the extent to which it was carried :-but, "Vicisti! et victos tendere palmas "Ausonii videre!" VIRGIL. The reformation, and all that is connected with it, are now established by law; and never have a vanquished people more completely submitted to the conquerors, have conducted themselves with greater propriety, or received alleviations of their condition with greater gratitude, than the romancatholics have done : NONE of his majesty's subjects |