[268] Frobenio, ut nullius officinæ plus debeant sacrarum studia literarum. (Erasm. Ep. p. 330.) The study of sacred literature was more indebted to no printing-office than to that of Frobenius.
Four reforming Powers--Which reformed England?--Papal Reform?--Episcopal Reform?--Royal Reform?--What is required in a legitimate Reform--The Share of the Kingly Power--Share of the Episcopal Authority--High and Low Church--Political Events--The Greek and Latin New Testament--Thoughts of Erasmus--Enthusiasm and anger--Desire of Erasmus--Clamours of the Priests--Their Attack at Court--Astonishment of Erasmus--His Labours for this Work--Edward Lee; his Character--Lee's _Tragedy_--Conspiracy.
It was within the province of four powers in the sixteenth century to effect a reformation of the church: these were the papacy, the episcopate, the monarchy, and Holy Scripture.
The Reformation in England was essentially the work of Scripture.
The only true reformation is that which emanates from the word of God. The Holy Scriptures, by bearing witness to the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God, create in man by the Holy Ghost a faith which justifies him. That faith which produces in him a new life, unites him to Christ, without his requiring a chain of bishops or a Roman mediator, who would separate him from the Saviour instead of drawing him nearer. This Reformation _by the word_ restores that spiritual Christianity which the outward and hierarchical religion had destroyed; and from the regeneration of individuals naturally results the regeneration of the church.
The Reformation of England, perhaps to a greater extent than that of the continent, was effected by the word of God. This statement may appear paradoxical, but it is not the less true. Those great individualities we meet with in Germany, Switzerland, and France--men like Luther, Zwingle, and Calvin--do not appear in England; but Holy Scripture is widely circulated. What brought light into the British isles subsequently to the year 1517, and on a more extended scale after the year 1526, was the word--the invisible power of the invisible God. The religion of the anglo-Saxon race--a race called more than any other to circulate the oracles of God throughout the world--is particularly distinguished by its biblical character.
