A HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION ON THE CONTINENT. By GEORGE WADDINGTON, D.D., DEAN OF DURHAM, AND AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: DUNCAN AND MALCOLM, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1841. PREFACE. It is scarcely necessary to say that these volumes, ending with the death of Luther, do not contain a complete History of the Revolution which they profess to describe; they do not extend even to the earliest epoch assigned as that of its termination, nor do they treat, perhaps, with sufficient minuteness all the occurrences of the period which they embrace. There are, besides, some important observations, as to the influence of the Reformation on the political, social, and literary character of after-ages—a subject on which extremely different opinions prevail among learned men -which have been omitted, if I may not rather say deferred for these deficiencies have been, for the most part, occasioned by an unexpected interruption, which has turned my attention, during the last few months, to other objects, and it is my purpose, should health and some literary leisure be continued to me, to supply them in a Fourth and concluding Volume. Still, it is with much anxiety and diffidence that I submit this production to the public. The subject is one of great magnitude and difficulty, and very peculiar talents are required for its perfect treatment. Yet, as many thought that our national literature is almost discreditably defective in this department, and as I was not uninstructed in the earlier annals of |