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Ch. 14.

The French
Revolution.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

ancient law to reason and free will has been tried in two memorable instances. I mean, of course, the Reformation and the French Revolution, Philosophy having destroyed the foundations of religion and civil government in France, the first storm which arose laid the ancient fabric in ruins. A Monarchy which, for antiquity, power, and grandeur, had no equal, a Church which came down from the time of the apostles, were in a moment, as by a stroke of Providence, laid prostrate in the dust. If there is a passage in the history of the human race over which we would willingly drop a veil, it is surely the painful spectacle, at once terrible and ridiculous, of a great and generous people first rioting in anarchy, then vainly searching by the light of reason for religion and law; treated like a corpus vile, upon which empirics were to experiment with impunity; and at length, after undergoing a series of minor revolutions, bandied from democracy to military despotism, from military despotism back again to the old regime, from the old regime to a sort of mongrel monarchy, from this mongrel monarchy back again to democracy, from democracy again to military despotism, are apparently as far from settled rest and peace as they were at the beginning of their troubles. There is not, perhaps, in either hemisphere, a people newly admitted into the family of nations, or which may hereafter hope for that distinction-not a republic of South America, nor a colony of Australasia, which may not boast of a

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

government more stable than that of the illustrious race whose history stretches back until it is lost in antiquity, whose sovereign was styled the Great King, and bore the still prouder title of the Eldest Son of the Church.

Ch. 14.

Revolution.

27

Happily, the English Revolution took place The English under more favourable circumstances. The attack upon the church which embodied the ancient faith of Christendom, was not an attack upon religion under the pretext of reform, but sprang from a sincere and earnest desire to purify Christian doctrine from the corruption which had gathered around it. Reformation, and not destruction, was the aim of the courageous and conscientious men who denounced the iniquities of Rome; and the work of reformation was performed betimes, by practical measures, and under the direction of powerful and peremptory rulers, who were not disposed to deal too roughly with the venerable fabric. Great as were the organic changes effected, violent as was the shock to faith, no more was done than the magnitude of the undertaking required.

gious freedom.

England was not altogether unprepared for Rise of relithese portentous innovations. A century and a half had passed since Wicliff had originated the movement against Rome; and with little encouragement from authority, and in spite of- or we should rather say, perhaps, with the aid of— persecution, the doctrines of the first reformer had steadily made way among the people. The

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Ch. 14.

Influence of
Wicliff.

TEACHING OF WICLIFF.

Norman princes had none of them been high churchmen, and, with one base exception, had uniformly resisted the arrogance of the see of Rome. Henry the Second had vindicated the ancient laws and customs of the realm against spiritual encroachment by the famous Constitutions of Clarendon. His successors had frequently obtained the enactment of statutes with the same intent. They had gone farther, and from time to time had issued proclamations and orders censuring and restraining the irregularities and licentiousness of the clergy. The parliaments had readily concurred in these measures; and those of Henry the Fourth and his son, while Wicliff was writing and preaching, frequently addressed the crown to repress the insolence of the ecclesiastics, and even to confiscate to the purposes of the state the possessions of the church. The secular clergy were, to a great extent, imbued with the spirit of disaffection towards the ancient rule and doctrine of the church. The people, however, were not yet prepared to revolt against authority which they had been taught to revere, or to cast aside doctrines and ceremonies upon which they and their fathers had fixed their hopes of salvation. The despotism of the mighty Church had not been oppressive to the lower orders. Her powerful arm had seldom been raised to strike, but often to protect, the poor and lowly. Her spiritual offices were ever accompanied by substantial succour to those who were in need of both. From those venerable mansions,

PROGRESS OF THE NEW DOCTRINES.

Ch. 14.

Monastic

reared and dedicated to the service of God, but
now seized by the rude hand, and bestowed on
the greedy sycophants of power, had for ages been charities.
dispensed a generous hospitality, to the poor as
well as to the rich. The numerous tenants of
the church, who seldom paid more than a tithe of
the value of the land which they held, had reason
to bewail the loss of their liberal and indulgent
landlord. There were many of the gentry, also,
especially among those of the minor degree, who
cherished a grateful recollection that the honour of
their families had in troubled times found a safe re-
fuge from military license in those religious houses,
which were now the homes of upstarts, or aban-
doned to decay; and there were some, even among
the pious, the learned and polite, who lamented the
precipitate downfall of a church which, throughout
ages of darkness and ignorance, had mitigated the
barbarity of manners, and kept alive the light of
religion, of literature and of the arts.

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of the northern

These considerations had weight with the great Religious bias mass of the people; accordingly, the new doc- counties. trines, at first, found favour chiefly in the metropolis and some of the surrounding districts, where a strong resentment was expressed against the false and corrupt church which had so long abused the credulity of mankind; but in other parts of the country, especially in the northern counties, far removed from the influence of the capital and the court, a different sentiment prevailed. Men regarded with horror and astonishment the pre

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ROMANISM PREVALENT IN THE NORTH.

Ch. 14. sumptuous impiety of their rulers. An insurrection took place in the north, but though this was suppressed, it was long before the reformed religion made way in the northern part of the island; and when at length it obtained a footing, independent dissent was preferred to the doctrine and discipline of the establishment. To this day, the great counties of York and Lancaster are at once the principal refuges of the old Catholic faith, and the central resort of nonconformity. This partial and gradual propagation of the new doctrine was far more favourable to its permanent success than a ready and fickle assent, while it mitigated the danger attendant upon the sudden subversion of principles upon which faith and obedience have been accustomed to rest.

Advantages of
gradual
reform.

Influence of

laws on popu

No great change takes place in civil or religious lar character. institutions without producing an effect on the character of the people. There is, indeed, no more interesting and instructive study in history than the way in which laws and manners act and react upon each other. If it is ever safe to speculate on what might have happened in any predicament of human affairs, we may venture to affirm that England could never have become great, prosperous, and enlightened, had she remained under the influence of Rome. The extreme political freedom which we enjoy is hardly compatible with spiritual despotism. It would have been impossible for men to have canvassed freely every principle of their government, and every act of