The Chudrch of England and Protesdtant Reunion

Extract

In the sixteenth century a new Christendom,outside the obedience of the Holy See and owning no Papal authority, a union of all the newly-created Protestant Churches, a pan-Protestant confederation, was the vision of Archbishop Cranmer. Several attempts were made to bring together German Lutherans and Swiss Zwinglians and Calvinists. The formularies of the Church of England, to be read in the Book of Common Prayer, were framed deliberately that all Protestants who accepted the Creed of Nicea might be members of the established church; and not unskilfully framed, since Lutherans, Zwinglians and Calvinists alike were included in the Anglican episcopate of Queen Elizabeth’s appointment. But the efforts to secure a European Protestant confederation failed. The policy of Cranmer was frustrated. On the reformed doctrine of the Lord’s Supper a common denial of the Mass and Transubstantiation could not bring peace between Lutherans, who held to a Real Presence, and Zwinglians, who as stoutly maintained the contrary. On the questions of discipline and Church government the followers of John Calvin were not to be persuaded to accept the rule of princes in matters of faith and morals. International rivalries and the clash of political interests irritated and still further divided the various schools of Protestantism. When the ‘new religion,’ its forms defined and settled, was established in England and Scotland, in Holland, Switzerland, North Germany and the Scandinavian countries, minorities who would not conform to the religion of the State were penalized and dissent made an offence at law.