542 CHRISTIANITY C6 vennes mountains and other secret retreats, the Huguenots held their stealthy communions. The French revolution again brought them liberty, since which they have experienced the various fortunes to which the people of France have been subject. The reformation made its appearance at an early period in the Nether- lands. But the emperor Charles V., and after him Philip II., resorted to the severest measures in order to crush it out. The people endured this rigor for a long time, and then they resist- ed, and finally established their independence. The church, henceforth connected with Geneva rather than with Wittenberg, held its first synod at Dort in 1574, and the next year founded the university of Leydon. The most remarkable feature of the church of the United Provinces was the celebrated Arminian contro- versy. Anninius and others resisted Calvin's doctrine of predestination. The matter was brought before the synod of Dort, and, as most of the clergy had been educated at Geneva, the doctrines of the Remonstrants, as the follow- ers of Arminius were called, were condemned. Though the Arminian church never acquired a position of great influence in Holland, its lead- ing men, among whom were Grotius, Episco- pius, Curcella'us, Limborch, Le Clerc, and Wet- stein, formed a school of wide-spread and last- ing influence in the literary world. The Re- monstrants became more and more latitudi- narian in their views, and verged toward So- cinianism far more than toward Calvinism. The Reformed church in Holland, though softened in the tone of its theology, has under- gone much less change in its faith than the Swiss or the German church. In Engljmd the doctrines of the Swiss reformers have had a peculiar fortune, owing partly to political and partly to other causes. The attitude of Henry VIII. toward Luther was unfavorable to the introduction of Lutheranism into England. Distinguished theologians from Strasburg sym- pathizing with the Swiss reformers, of whom Bucer and Peter Martyr are most known, were employed to aid Cranmer in carrying forward the work of reformation under Ed- ward VI. Mary's troubled reign followed. English Protestants fled to the continent, where they became acquainted with Calvin and the spirit of the reformation introduced by him. On Elizabeth's accession to the throne, the reformation, begun by Edward, was carried through mainly on the principles of the Re- formed church in respect to doctrines, but mod- ified by Lutheran principles in respect to eccle- siastical organization and the ritual. Not that the Lutheran church government and liturgy were copied, but that Luther's theory in re- spect to the extent to which the ancient usages of the church might be retained was adopted. The church of England merely retained a little more both of the liturgy and of the govern- ment of the Catholic church than the Lu- theran church did. It may be said in general terms that the Anglican church is eclectic, combining Calvinistic, Lutheran, and Catho- lic elements, while the Puritans of England adhered more strictly to the Reformed church. In England the history of Christianity and the history of the government are so con- nected that the one cannot be understood apart from the other. High-churchism and toryism go hand in hand, while the moderate party and the dissenters favor the progress of liberty. England, too, has had its crisis of unbelief. The English deists exerted great influence both in their own country and in other countries of Europe. But in no country has the church been truer to herself in the defence of Christianity than in England. More eminent, perhaps, in an- tiquarian than in Biblical learning, she presents a body of Christian literature which, as a whole, will bear comparison with that of any other country. The bishops of England have in this respect been outdone by the prelates of no other church. Nowhere have the principles of the Genevan church been carried out more fully than in Scotland. Knox not only knew Calvin and his followers intimately, but deeply sympathized with them. He was a Presbyterian by nature and by temperament as well as by conviction ; and the Scottish character in gen- eral, with its metaphysical tendencies, seems to be adapted to that type of theology and that form of religion. The Scottish church has maintained much of its original character through all the changing scenes of its history. It could neither be terrified by the Stuarts, nor bribed by pecuniary rewards or honors. The present Free church of Scotland is but a single specimen of the spirit and courage with which it has always been accustomed to face difficul- ties and dangers. The tendency to unbelief manifested in Edinburgh a generation ago was happily arrested by Chalmers, who was an ornament and a bulwark of his church. Though scarcely any church of western Eu- rope is without its representatives in the United States, the great bulk of the early emigrants to this country belonged to some one of the numerous branches of the Reformed church. Nearly all these churches have undergone some modifications in this country, more per- ceptible, perhaps, to Europeans than to our- selves. It is a common remark of intelligent foreigners, that with all the diversities of Christian sects among us, there is a general re- semblance, apparently growing out of the en- tire freedom of religious development in our country. An ardent love of religious liberty, shared by all Christian denominations in com- mon, a freedom from all entanglements with the state, and a strong aversion to the union of church and state, distinguish American Christians, and separate them widely from those of any other country. Hence, with all the diversities of creeds and forms of worship, there is not only a very catholic spirit, but a marked sentiment of Christian union, showing itself in harmonious action in cities and towns M-here different communions are thrown to-
