Etext prepared by Dianne Bean, Prescott Valley, Arizona.
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
SANDS AND COMPANY
ST LOUIS, MO.
B. HERDER, 17 SOUTH BROADWAY
1908
These studies on various crucial points connected with the history ofreligion in Europe at the close of the Middle Ages, its decline,revival, and the causes which led to both, have already appeared inprint as regards their general outline, although they have for the mostpart been rewritten, added to, and in each case subjected to a carefulrevision.
Three of them were originally published in the Dublin Review, four in
the Scottish Review, two in Blackwood's Magazine, and three in the
Month. One was a contribution to the American Catholic Quarterly
Review. By the courtesy of the respective editors of these publications
I am enabled to gather them together in this volume.
It will be seen at a glance that a certain cohesion, historical andchronological, exists in their present arrangement, especially withreference to Part I.
The two first studies concern Henry VIII. and his sister the Queen ofScots, the significance of their matrimonial affairs, and the relationswhich their policy created between England, Scotland, France, and theEmpire. The third study has for its subject the distinguished andmuch-maligned Lieutenant of the Tower of London, who contributed solargely to the accession of the rightful sovereign, and who wasappointed to be governor of the Princess Elizabeth during her captivityat Woodstock. His subsequent persecution for the sake of religion wasthe consequence of Henry VIIIth's rupture with Rome, and Elizabeth'srepudiation of England's Catholic past. And as we can only gain anintelligible view of any historical movement by studying its context,its broad outlines, and its connection with foreign nations, the fourthessay describes the condition to which the religious revolution hadreduced Germany in the sixteenth century, and the reconversion of agreat part of that country, as well as of Austria and Switzerland, tothe Catholic faith. This was the work of the Jesuit, Peter Canisius,and we are thus led to a consideration of the newly-founded Society ofJesus and its methods. Its members soon became noted for sanctity andlearning, and emperors, kings, and royal princes clamoured for Jesuitsas confessors. The manner in which these acquitted themselves of thedifficult and unwelcome task imposed on them, is unconsciously revealedby themselves, in the private correspondence of members of the oldSociety, which has now been given to the world by one of their Order.Selections from this correspondence are contained in the fifth study.As a further result of the revolution that had been effected in thecasting off of old beliefs and traditions, we note the revival ofPantheism, an ancient, atheistic philosophy, whose modern apostle wasthe celebrated Giordano Bruno. His otherwise fruitless visit to Englandleft a deep impression on certain minds, learned and ignorant, and webegin for the first time to hear of examinations and prosecutions foratheism in this country. And this forms the subject of the sixth essay.The recoil that invariably takes place after any great political,social, or religious upheaval was not wanting to the Reformation inEngland, and in the reign of Charles I. High-Churchism, underArchbishop Laud, was thought to indicate a desire on