He is still the Great Erastian, the protagonist of laity against clergy.

His policy is inextricably interwoven with the high and eternal dilemma of Church and State; and it is well-nigh impossible for one who feels keenly on these questions to treat the reign of Henry VIII.

in a reasonably judicial spirit.

No period illustrates more vividly the contradiction between morals and politics.

In our desire to reprobate the immorality of Henry's methods, we are led to deny their success; or, in our appreciation of the greatness of the ends he achieved, we seek to excuse the means he took to achieve them.