continued to inflame many ardent souls, especially in Bohemia. There his writings were eagerly read and multiplied, and there his devoted follower, John Huss, nobly propagated Wycliffism as a popular faith; the disciple ultimately paying for his faithfulness to pure scripture truth, by his martyrdom at the stake at Constance, in 1414. But his public protests and efforts against pretensions, and especially against the "indulgences" purchasable of the priesthood, were cast into fruitful soil. Luther himself owed much to the works of Huss, which are full of extracts from Wycliffe, and thus our English reformer may be considered to have planted the seeds of the after great and glorious Protestant Reformation. HENRY VIII., AND THE ENGLISH REFORMATION, The English Reformation was never intended to be a thorough change of doctrines and ceremonies, but only to favour such a modification of the Roman Missal and Church ordinances, as suited the personal and political objects of Henry VIII., whereas in Germany the Reformation was a genuine, popular, Protestant, anti-papal movement. When. at the early age of 18, Henry VIII. came to the throne, the Catholic Church, with all its magnificent cathedrals, abbeys, monasteries, and nunneries was in supreme power and glory. At this period the greatest man in the kingdom was Cardinal Wolsey. His wealth was enormous, his ambition unbounded. He even aimed at the throne of St. Peter. He had possessed himself of supreme powers over the clergy and people of this realm. While, however, he ruled with lordly supremacy, he also showed munificent liberality in founding and endowing seats of learning. It so happened for him that the King's inclinations towards Anne Boleyn, involving the divorce of Queen Catherine, came into conflict with the Cardinal's ambition to be made Pope. As Shakespeare makes Wolsey confess at the final crisis and failure of his grand career : Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition; Now, Catherine was aunt of the potent Emperor Charles V., whose voice would prove very powerful in the election of the next occupant of the chair of St. Peter, and it was hardly likely the royal nephew would favour the divorce of Catherine, after her twenty years of unblemished married life with the English king. How was the great and crafty Cardinal to please both royal Henry and Emperor Charles? It was out of the question, so Wolsey temporised, as long as he could, and got the Courts appointed by the Pope to put off the final decision as to the divorce. The case was, at last, referred to the Pope at Rome. This process of procrastination so exasperated the ardent and disappointed royal lover, that Henry took matters with his characteristic determination into his own hand, with what result all know from the great play of our Immortal Dramatist. The Universities and Convocation were found to declare in favour of the divorce, and Anne Boleyn became Queen. Archbishop Cranmer, who was favourable to reforms in ecclesiastical affairs, now came under royal favour. Having quarrelled with the Pope, and being under the Papal censure, it occurred to Henry, he might as well console himself by becoming sole and supreme head of the Church of England. Parliament passed the "Act of Supremacy," whereby the authority of the Pope in this country became represented and invested in the King's person only. The monarch henceforth enjoyed absolute control of the church, respecting its property, worship, belief, ceremonies, honours, dignities, &c. THE DISSOLUTION OF THE ABBEYS AND MONASTERIES. Great events were to come about, calculated to produce an enormous diminution of the power and influence of the Romish ecclesiastics in this country. The King loved the display of magnificence and splendour, and he liked even more the indulgence of his sensuous passions. He had squandered the two millions hoarded up by his father, and he sorely needed additional wealth to fill his empty coffers. Why should he not seize and appropriate the immense pro perties and estates, and accumulated wealth of the religious orders? Lord Cromwell, as Vicar General, was appointed, along with commissioners, to make a full inspection of religious houses. On the report of these visitors, Parliament decreed the suppression of the lesser monasteries, numbering 376; granting to the King the revenues, in our money, of £300,000 a year, and the proceeds of the plate, jewels, furniture, bells, lead, &c., worth probably one million pounds. This was only a foretaste of a much larger and richer spoliation. After a few years, the greater abbeys and monasteries were appropriated by, or surrendered to the Crown, leaving to the King's disposal a revenue of over a million yearly. What the abbeys were in their full grandeur and prosperity we can partly conjecture from such stupendous ruins as the remains of Fountains, Bolton, Furness, Kirkstead, Strata Florida, Jervaux, Roche, and other abbeys. To help to realise the enormous sacrilegious spoliations a few illustrations of the Yorkshire abbeys may be quoted : Henry VIII. had no heart in any thorough religious reformation. He promoted the passing of the Act, known as the "Six Articles," or the "Bloody Statute." Though not called Popery, the whole system was, in reality, the same thing under king, as formerly under pope. Henry claimed and actually maintained an absolute authority over the consciences of his subjects. It cannot, indeed, be claimed that the departure from Catholic authority and ceremonialism made any great progress during the reign of this despotic and dissolute monarch; though there was beneath the surface an increasing desire of a great number of the people to be allowed to worship God according to His Word and their own consciences. The majority of the people, probably, still cherished a lingering after the imposing ceremonials of the Catholic Church, and the venerated Sacrament of the Mass. The |