PREFACE TO VOLUME I.



  ABOUT twenty years ago I published a Review of D'Aubign6's Hiitory
of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland. The edition having
been soon exhausted, I was often called on by friends to issue a second
one; but circumstances beyond my control long prevented me from
acceding to their request.  During the interval, several editions of
D'Aubign6's work were published both in England and America, and
two or more new volumes were added, containing the history of the
German and Swiss Reformation, and commencing that of England. No
notice, however, was taken by the author, so far as I have bet n able to
discover, of the facts and reasoning contained in the Review, though the
latter was republished in Ireland, and pretty widely circulated.
  In preparing a second edition, I at first hesitated dihehlier it would be
worth while to pay any further attention to a writer, who is cle.rly so
bitter a partisan, and so wholly unreliable as an historian. His pre-
tended history is, in fact, little better than a romance. He omits more
than half the facts, and either perverts or draws on his imagination for
the remainder.  This may seem a strong accusation ; but it is amply
borne out by the authorities and specifications contained in the Rclvieiw.
Ilaving started out, it would seem, with the pre-determination to paint
the German Reformers as saints, and the Reformation as the work of
God, he makes every thing bend to his preconceived theory.
  Still, as his Work continued to be read, and perhaps believed by a con-
siderable number of sincere persons, I decided to re-issue the Revicwv in
an amended and considerably enlarged form, in order that those, who
really wished to discover the whole truth in regard to the Reformation,
might have an opportunity to read at least some of the facts on the other
side. But, at the same time, I thought it better to enlarge the plan of
the work, and to embrace in it Essays on the rise and history of the
Reformation in all the other principal countries of Europe.
  This is done in the second Volume, in which is furnished a summary
of the principal facts connected with the rise and progress of the Refor-
mation in England, Ireland, Scotland, the N etherlands, France, and
: orthern Europe. These Essays are mostly Reviews of different Protes-
tant works, and hence the style of the Reviewer, which has been adopted
in the original publication, has been preserved throughout both Volumes.
  The range of the present publication is thus very wide; and I feel that
I have not been able, in so brief a compass, to do full justice to a subject,
upon which so may learned volumes have been written on both sides.
Still I am conscious of having honestly endeavored to do whatever I was
able, to throw light upon a department of history so very important in
itself and in its practical bearings, and so little understood among our
separated brethren.
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