Let us hope that to this most fruitful field of truth, and purity and piety, and charity, Mr. Blunt’s delightful “Sketch” may turn many an eager eye and many a vigorous foot. And for ourselves, dear brother, when the cares and disappointments and disquietudes of life disturb or weary us, and we are tempted to fall back, or turn aside, or falter, on the high, “right onward” course of duty, next to the Author of our faith, and the bright cloud of prophets and apostles who stand nearest to his throne, let us direct our eyes to the illustrious fathers of the English Reformation. “We shall find there,” I cite again the eloquent and admirable Rose,[11] “bright examples of saints and martyrs--of men of whom the world was not worthy--who have done all and suffered all, that men could do and could suffer, for that one blessed cause, and in so doing and so suffering have found an elevation, a peace and a joy which nothing could give but the sense of God’s presence, and the influence of God’s Spirit, blessing his own servants in doing his own work. So warned, and so cheered, by the voice of Scripture and the comment of history, we shall betake us each to our humble path with a clearer conviction of duty, a stronger sense of the danger and the guilt of neglecting it, a firmer hope of a blessing, a more cheerful and animating view of the prospect before us.” And now, dear brother,--who rejoicest in a name, than which the earth has never known a nobler, the name of “the judicious Hooker,”--in the hope that, for the love you bear me, you will pardon this strange rambling, and with the prayer, that God may bless you many years with health and strength, to serve his glorious Church, with the rich gifts which he has given you--or, failing these, may comfort and sustain your heart with Milton’s noble sentiment, “They also serve who only stand and wait,”-- believe me, with sincere affection, your faithful friend and brother in the Church and Gospel of our common Lord. G. W. DOANE. _The Rev._ HERMAN HOOKER, _Editor of the Library of Christian Knowledge_. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. British and Anglo-Saxon Churches.--Intercourse with Rome.--Early Corruptions Page 1 CHAPTER II. Divisions amongst Ecclesiastics.--The regular and secular Clergy.--The Pope favours the former.--Exemptions from Episcopal Jurisdiction.--Habits of the Friars 43 CHAPTER III. Progress of Grievances under the Norman Princes.--Papal Interference.--Legates.--Collision of Roman and English Forms of Law--Inconveniences attending it 47 CHAPTER IV.