These are not certain signs of a religious age; but they would pass for
something at any period, even if they were mere hypocrisy. They would
show that religion was held in such respect and by so numerous a class
somewhere, as to make it worth while for the Queen and her court to
assume at least the outward badges of piety. But they have additional
force when we reflect at the same time that, at the period when they
were manifested, the Reformation was making a gradual but sure progress
in England; that the question of religion occupied every intelligent
mind and affected the interests of every family; that the lives and
fortunes of millions, the fate of kingdoms, and the progress of
intellectual freedom throughout the civilized world were inseparably
connected with the cause of Protestantism.
If bigotry and fanaticism had been prevalent in England, and the
opposing party of Romanist and Reformer nearly equal, there would have
been witnessed in that country during the sixteenth century a succession
of atrocities and horrors compared with which the wars of the white and
red roses were bloodless. If; on the other hand, the great mass of the
nation had been indifferent, with regard not merely to forms, but to
religion itself, we should not have seen the outward show of piety in
the highest ranks; we should not have seen a house of commons
legislating in favor of Edward's liturgy, and a nation turning to
worship in their vernacular tongue.
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