Froude was by no means a blind admirer of Erasmus.

His favourite heroes were men of action, and he regarded Luther as the real champion of spiritual freedom.
Intellect, he used to say, fought no battles, and was no match for superstition.

Without Luther there would have been no Reformation.
There might well have been a Reformation without Erasmus.
Neither of them was necessary according to Contarini, and in truth the Reformation had many sides.

When Selden attended the Westminster Assembly of Divines, he took occasion to remind his colleagues that the Scriptures were not written in English.

"Perhaps in your little pocket Bibles with gilt leaves" (which they would often pull out and read) "the translation may be thus, but the Greek or the Hebrew signifies thus and thus." So he would speak, says Whitelock, and totally silence them.