was carried on by the kings as a
political institution, how the authority of Rome was overthrown and the
kings of England seized the opportunity to enhance their power and
advance their own interests. When the people realized that they had
exchanged an arbitrary power in Rome for an arbitrary power in England,
centred in the king, they cried out again at this latter tyranny, and
sought for religious reform against the authority of the church.

This movement was accompanied by a desire for political reform, also.
Indeed, all civil and religious authority centred in one person, the
king, and a reform of religious administration could not take place
without a reform of the political. The activity of English commerce
and the wide-spread influence of the revival of learning, which
developed a new and independent literary culture, made life intense and
progress rapid. When this spirit of political liberty sought
expression in England, it found it in the ancient privileges and rights
of the English people, to which they sought to return. It was
unfortunate that the desires for political liberty on the continent
found no such means to which they could attach their ideas of a liberal
government. In England we find these old rights and privileges a ready
support for the principles of constitutional liberty. There were many
precedents and examples of liberty which might be recalled for the
purpose of quickening the zeal of the people--many, indeed, had been
continued in local communities.

Nor were the English government and law wanting in the principles of
liberty which had been handed down from former generations. Moreover,
it became necessary, as a practical measure, for the kings of England,
if they desired to maintain their position, to call a parliament of the
people for the sake of their co-operation and help in the support of
the government. It is seen, therefore, that in England the spirit of
constitutional liberty, though perhaps suppressed at times, never
perished, though the assumption of royal power was very great, and when
the party which was seeking to carry forward {395} religious reform
joined itself to the party seeking political liberty, there was aroused
a force in England which would be sure to prove a check on royalty and
insure the rights and privileges of a free people.

Though the sentiment for religious reform was general throughout
England, this principle was viewed in many different ways by d