The whole movement of the Reformation is a phase in that accelerated action of the modern mind which at its commencement we call the Renaissance.

It is a mistake to regard the Reformation as an isolated phenomenon or as a mere effort to restore the Church to purity.

The Reformation exhibits in the region of religious thought and national politics what the Renaissance displays in the sphere of culture, art, and science--the recovered energy and freedom of the reason.

We are too apt to treat of history in parcels, and to attempt to draw lessons from detached chapters in the biography of the human race.

To observe the connection between the several stages of a progressive movement of the human spirit, and to recognize that the forces at work are still active, is the true philosophy of history.
The Reformation, like the revival of science and of culture, had its mediaeval anticipations and foreshadowings.