Liberty And Loyalty Or A Defence And Explication Of Subjection To The Present Government Upon The Principles Of The Revolution By John Brekell Author Of The Christian Warfare C

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IX THE REVOLUTIONS However helpful to the cause of absolutism in Government the early consequences of the Reformation were, still the fundamental principles of it, as of the Renaissance, or New Learning, were the direct contradiction of both the principle and practise of the absolute Monarchies. The freedom of individual thought and inquiry was the basis of both these movements, and while it addressed itself to the transformation of letters, art, science, and philosophy in the one case, it sought the like transformation of the religious conscience and the ecclesiastical system in the other. Such a movement could not fail to extend finally to the political system and seek its transformation also. Where the spirit of the Renaissance attacked the Monarchy, the exaggeration of Individual Liberty fostered by it threatened to plunge the state into anarchy. On the other hand, where the real spirit of the Reformation attacked it, the discipline of the religious life and the selfculture produced by it led the whole course of the revolution within safe lines. The contrast offered by the English and German revolutionary movement to that of France and Italy is to be explained chiefly in this way. The Revolution accomplished itself in England a full century before it did in France. We may place the beginning of it as far back as 1620, when King James I entered upon the policy of connecting Spain, the stanch supporter of the Roman Catholic Church, with England both diplomatically and by the marriage of Crown Prince Charles with the Spanish Infanta. King James seems to have fallen under the influence of the Spanish Ambassador, Gondomar, who made him understand that the best way to secure the permanence of the absolute Monarchic system was by...