Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/52



half to bring the religious disputes of Europe to an end. But the wars of Religion were not solely the outcome of the spiritual needs of humanity. These contests were inspired and directed by the needs of political and economic advancement which the various princes and peoples of Europe wanted to secure from the secular ambitions of the head of the Roman Church.

Thus the arrangement of the several powers into neutrals, allies, and belligerents was dictated not simply by religious considerations but by their financial, industrial, and political interests. The Reformation was, in fact, a political necessity, and national churches were the inevitable counterparts of nation-states. Consequently lovers of economic independence and