sixteenth century had wrecked that tradition of religion, of
knowledge, of political and social order, which had been accepted
without question by the Middle Ages. The sudden freedom of the
mind from these older bonds brought a consciousness of power such
as had never been felt before; and the restless energy, the
universal activity of the Renaissance were but outer expressions
of the pride, the joy, the amazing self-confidence, with which man
welcomed this revelation of the energies which had lain slumbering
within him."

This was the first stage, but another quickly and naturally
followed, and dread took the place of confidence. With the
deepening sense of human individuality, came a deepening
conviction of the boundless capacities of the human soul. Not as a
theological dogma, but as a human fact man knew himself to be an
all but infinite power, whether for good or for ill. The drama
towered into sublimity as it painted the strife of mighty forces
within the breasts of Othello or Macbeth. Poets passed into
metaphysicians as they strove to unravel the workings of
conscience within the soul. From that hour one dominant influence
told on human action; and all the various energies that had been
called into life by the age that was passing away were seized,
concentrated and steadied to a definite aim by the spirit of
religion. Among the myriads upon whom this change had come, Thomas
Dudley was naturally numbered, and the ardent preaching of the
well-known Puritan ministers, Dodd and Hildersham, soon made him a
Non-conformist and later an even more vigorous dissenter from
ancient and established forms. As thinking England was of much the
same mind, his new belief did not for a time interfere with his
advancement, for, some years after his marriage he became steward