“See how great a flame aspires, Kindled by a spark of grace; Jesu’s love the nations fires, Sets the kingdoms on a blaze.” Take another epoch of the church’s history—the Reformation, begun by Luther, in the year 1517. This immense revival of truth and godliness, in the midst of a corrupted church, established itself in many parts of the German empire, where it continues to the present day. It was propagated in Sweden by one of Luther’s disciples, Olaus Petri. In Denmark, it was spread by Martin Reinard and Carlostadt. In France, it found a patroness in Margaret, Queen of Navarre. In Switzerland, John Calvin became famous as one of its great apostles. It made considerable progress in Spain, Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland. In the Netherlands, upwards of a hundred thousand persons were cruelly put to death because of their embracing it. In all the provinces of Italy, but more especially in the territories of Venice, Tuscany, and Naples, great numbers of people, of all ranks, were led by it to express an aversion to the Papal yoke. In Spain, not a few embraced it, and even Charles V. himself is presumed to have died a Protestant. In England, Henry VIII. unintentionally helped it forward by usurping the chair of church supremacy, hitherto occupied by his holiness the Pope; while his only son, King Edward VI., was its brightest ornament, and, in some respects, its most effectual support. In Ireland, George Brown, Archbishop of Dublin, pulled down images, destroyed relics, and purged the churches within his diocese from superstitious rites. While in Scotland, John Knox, a disciple of Calvin, launched his thunders against the Vatican, until he shook it to its base; and, at last, Queen Elizabeth, by an army, put an end to Popery in the whole of the Caledonian kingdom. This was a glorious and wide-spread work, the blessed results of which will be felt to the latest generations. But compare it with Methodism, and say which, in the same number of years, made the greater progress, and established itself in the widest extent of country. It is no disparagement to the Protestant Reformation to affirm that, in this respect, Methodism is immensely its superior.