Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/83

 the Church was benefitted by it. In conclusion I will gather together the evidence in order to show that the Church of England was not made by Henry VIII., but only changed and purified by the movement which he started.

What were the causes of the Reformation?

In the last Lecture we heard enough to convince us how continually the English nation rebelled against papal usurpation. The nation tried by legislation, by protest, by letters, and by rebellion, to curb the Pope's authority in England, but it was not strong enough to succeed. The national feeling had not changed, but grew stronger as time went on. When Henry came the nation was only waiting for the happy opportunity of completing what had been so often attempted before. The people longed for their national independence. These aggressions of the Pope then were the first cause of the Reformation. England was more than weary of the Pope's demands for Peter's pence, for first-fruits and tenths. Our forefathers were disgusted at the insolence of the Pope in thrusting into our Sees and benefices men of foreign birth, ignorant of their ways, their language, and their customs. They lamented that men who held our livings very frequently lived out of England and that all they cared for was our money.

In addition to these facts the state of morality and religion in England had fallen to a very low ebb indeed. Such a state of things could not long continue. The Protestants on the Continent were denouncing the evil lives of many of the Romanists. This spirit spread to England.

It is not my intention in this Lecture to say much about the reformer, Martin Luther. But his movement in Germany