Methodists, Presbyterians
and Baptists. The other Protestant denominations are comparatively
insignificant in point of numbers, and are for the most part offshoots
from the Christian communities just named.

Martin Luther, a Saxon monk, was the founder of the church which bears his
name. He was born at Eisleben, in Saxony, in 1483, and died in 1546.

The Anglican or Episcopal Church owes its origin to Henry VIII. of
England. The immediate cause of his renunciation of the Roman Church was
the refusal of Pope Clement to grant him a divorce from his lawful wife,
Catharine of Aragon, that he might be free to be joined in wedlock to Anne
Boleyn. In order to legalize his divorce from his virtuous queen the
licentious monarch divorced himself and his kingdom from the spiritual
supremacy of the Pope.

"There is a close relationship," says D'Aubigne, "between these two
divorces," meaning Henry's divorce from his wife and England's divorce
from the Church. Yes, there is the relationship of cause and effect.

Bishop Short, an Anglican historian, candidly admits that "the existence
of the Church of England as a distinct body, and her final separation from
Rome, may _be dated_ from the period of the divorce."(97)

The Book of Homilies, in the language of fulsome praise, calls Henry "the
true and faithful minister," and gives him the credit for having abolished
in England the Papal supremacy and established the new order of
things.(98)

John Wesley is the acknowledged founder of the Methodist Church. Methodism
dates from the year 1729, and its cradle was the Oxford University in
England. John and Charles Wesley were students at Oxford. They gathered
around them a number of young men who devoted themselves to the frequent
reading of the Holy Scriptures and to prayer. Their methodical and exact
mode of life obtained for them the name of _Methodists_. The Methodist
Church in this country is the offspring of a colony sent hither from
England.

As it would be tedious to give even a succinct history of each sect, I
shall content myself with presenting a tabular statement exhibiting the
name and founder of each denomination, the place and date of its origin,
and the names of the authors from whom I quote. My authorities in every
instance are Protestants.

Name of Place Founder. Year. Authority
Sect. of Quoted.
Origin.
Anabaptists Germa