was not all that could be desired.  These were remote causes, which acted powerfully as they rolled along the stream of time, and which broke the barriers of faith like an overwhelming torrent, when an additional impetus was given.  But it should be distinctly remembered (1) that the direct act of schism was committed when Henry required Parliament and Convocation to exalt him to the spiritual supremacy; and (2) that the sins of churchmen and the faith of the Church are two distinct questions.  There may have been more corruption of life and morals, both in the laity and the priesthood of the Catholic Church at the Reformation, than at any other period of the Church’s history; but the Jews had been commanded to obey the Scribes and Pharisees, because they sat in Moses’ seat, at the very time when the Lamb of God could find no milder term to describe their hypocrisy and iniquity than that of a generation of vipers.

If schism is admitted to be a sin, it is difficult to see how any amount of crime with which other individuals can be charged, even justly, lessens the guilt of the schismatic.  There can be little doubt that the members of the Church are most fervent and edifying in their lives, when suffering from persecution.  Ambition has less food when there are no glittering prizes within its reach.  Faith is more sincere when there are no motives for a false profession, and every natural motive to conceal religious belief.  The Irish clergy were never charged with the gross crimes which have been mentioned in connexion with some few of their brethren in England.  Those who ministered outside the Pale, lived in poverty and simplicity.  The monasteries were not so richly endowed as the English conventual houses; and, perhaps, this freedom from the world’s goods, served to nerve them for the coming trial; and that their purer and more fervent lives saved the Irish Church and people from national apostacy.

Soon after Dr. Browne’s arrival in Ireland, he received an official letter from Cromwell, containing directions for his conduct there.  He is informed it is “the royal will and pleasure of his Majesty, that his subjects in Ireland, even as those in England, should obey his commands in spiritual matters as in temporal, and renounce their allegiance to the See of Rome.”  This language was sufficiently plain.  They are required to renounce their allegiance to the See of Rome, simply because “the King wills it.”  The affair is spoken of as if it were some political matter, which could easily be arranged.  But the source of this prelate’s authority was simply political; for Henry writes to him thus:  “Let it sink into your remembrance, that we be as able, for the not doing thereof, to remove you again, and put another man of more virtue and honesty into your place, as we were at the beginning to prefer you.”  Browne could certainly be in no doubt from whom he had received his commission to teach and preach to the people of Ireland; but that nation had received the faith many centuries before, from one who came to them with very different credentials; and years of oppression and most cruel persecution have failed in inducing them to obey human authority rather than divine.