TROUBLES OF THE REFORMATION. Of judgment such presumptuous doom repeat!) His frame is tied; firm from the naked feet Then, 'mid the ghastly ruins of the fire, Behold the unalterable heart entire, Emblem of faith untouched, miraculous attestation ! 3* 61 XXXVI. GENERAL VIEW OF THE TROUBLES OF THE REFORMATION. AID, glorious Martyrs, from your fields of light, Our mortal ken! Inspire a perfect trust (While we look round) that Heaven's decrees are just ; Which few can hold committed to a fight That shows, ev'n on its better side, the might Now wrapt in flames-and now in smoke embowered- Are, with the heart that held them, all devoured; The Spirit set free, and crown'd with joyful acclamations ! 1822. exclamation of the protomartyr Stephen, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' The fire did its work soon-and his heart was found unconsumed amid the ashes." (Southey's Book of the Church, Vol II. pp. 240, 241.)-Ed. * For the belief in this fact, see the contemporary Historians.-W. W. 62 ENGLISH REFORMERS IN EXILE. Of proud Self-will, Rapacity, and Lust, 'Mid clouds enveloped of polemic dust, Which showers of blood seem rather to incite Than to allay. Anathemas are hurled From both sides; veteran thunders (the brute test Of truth) are met by fulminations new; Tartarean flags are caught at, and unfurled; XXXVII. ENGLISH REFORMERS IN EXILE.* SCATTERING, like birds escaped the fowler's net, By dauntless Luther freed, could they forget Their Country's woes. But scarcely have they met, Free to pour forth their common thankfulness, Ere hope declines:-their union is beset With speculative notions1 rashly sown, 1 1827. With prurient speculations 1822. During Mary's reign, fully 800 of the English clergy and laity sought refuge on the Continent, and they were hospitably received in Switzerland, the Low Countries, and along the Rhine. Some of the best known were Coverdale, Sandys, Jewel, Knox, Whittingham, and Foxe. They lived in Basle, Zurich, Geneva, Strasburg, Worms, and Frankfort; and it was in the latter town that the dissensions prevailed, referred to in the sonnet. These was unfolded in a Tract entitled The Troubles of Frankfort. The chief point in dispute was the use of the English Book of Common Prayer. Knox and Whittingham, under the guidance of Calvin, wished a modification of this book. The dispute ended in the Frankfort magistrates requesting Knox to leave the city. He retired to Geneva. On the accession of Elizabeth, the Frankfort exiles returned to England. -ED. ELIZABETH. Whence thickly-sprouting growth of poisonous weeds; Is he who can, by help of grace, enthrone XXXVIII. ELIZABETH. HAIL, Virgin Queen! o'er many an envious bar Portentous fellowship. * Her silver car, Black as the clouds its beams dispersed, while shone, For, wheresoe'er she moves, the clouds anon 1822 Reflect some portion of her glorious light! 1822. 63 Alluding doubtless to the foreign conspiracies against Elizabeth, the intrigues of Mary Queen of Scots, the Pope's excommunication, and conspiracies in the North of England, &c. See The White Doe.-ED. + An allusion probably to the Court of High Commission, and perhaps also to the execution of the Scottish Queen.-ED. 64 EMINENT REFORMERS. XXXIX. EMINENT REFORMERS. METHINKS that I could trip o'er heaviest soil, A thousand times more exquisitely sweet, The freight of holy feeling which we meet, In thoughtful moments, wafted by the gales From fields where good men walk, or bowers wherein they rest. * "On foot they went, and took Salisbury in their way, purposely to see the good Bishop, who made Mr Hooker sit at his own table; which Mr Hooker boasted of with much joy and gratitude when he saw his mother and friends; and at the Bishop's parting with him, the Bishop gave him good counsel and his benediction, but forgot to give him money; which when the Bishop had considered, he sent a servant in all haste to call Richard back to him, and at Richard's return, the Bishop said to him, 'Richard, I sent for you back to lend you a horse which hath carried me many a mile, and I thank God with much ease,' and presently delivered into his hand a walking-staff, with which he professed he had travelled through many parts of Germany; and he said, 'Richard, I do not give, but lend you my horse; be sure you be honest, and bring my horse back to me, at your return this way to Oxford. And I do now give you ten groats to bear your charges to Exeter; and here is ten groats more, which I charge you to deliver to your mother, and tell her I send her a Bishop's benediction with it, and beg the continuance of her prayers for me. And if you bring my horse back to me, I will give you ten groats more to carry you on foot to the college; and so God bless you, good Richard.'"-See Walton's Life of Richard Hooker.-W. W., 1822. * ie., Richard Hooker and a College companion.-ED. EMINENT REFORMERS. 65 XL. THE SAME HOLY and heavenly Spirits as they are, Their Church reformed !1 labouring with earnest care That Church, the unperverted Gospel's seat; In their afflictions a divine retreat; Source of their liveliest hope, and tenderest prayer!— In doctrine and communion they have sought To trace right courses for the stubborn blind, * The reading, "Their new-born Church," printed in all editions of the poems from 1822 till 1842, had been objected to by several correspondents; and out of deference to their suggestions it was altered to "Their Church reformed;" but Wordsworth wrote to his nephew and biographer, Nov. 12, 1846, "I don't like the term reformed; if taken in its literal sense as a transformation, it is very objectionable" (See Memoirs, Vol. II., p. 113), and in the "postscript" to Yarrow Revisited, &c., he says, "The great Religious Reformation of the sixteenth century did not profess to be a new construction, but a restoration of something fallen into decay, or put out of sight."-ED. |