SME peple say yung bys and girls can"t understand this chapter. Theysay it is t difficult. But I want t see if it is.
Up t this time， as I have tld yu befre， in Western Eurpe had beenne Christian religin-the Cathlic. There was n Episcpalian， nr Methdist， nr Baptist， nr Presbyterian， nr anyther denminatin. All were just Christians.
In the sixteenth century， hwever， sme peple began t think that changes shuld be made in the Cathlic religin.
thers thught changes shuld nt be made. Sme said it was all right as it was.
thers said it wasn"t all right as it was. S a quarrel started.
This is the way the truble began. The ppe was building a great church called St. Peter"s in Rme. It tk the placef theld church that Cnstantine had builtn the spt where St. Peter was suppsed t have been crucified head dwn. The ppe wanted it t be the largest and finest church in the wrld， fr Christ had said， "Thu art Peter， and upn this rck [Peter means rck in Latin] I will build my church. …" S the Churchf St. Peter"s was t be the Capitlf the Christian religin. Bth Michelangel and Raphael had wrkedn the plans fr the new church. Inrder t get marble and stne andther materials fr this Churchf St. Peter， the ppe did asthers befre him had dne； he tre dwnther buildings in Rme and used their stne fr the new church.
Besides all this the ppe needed an enrmus amuntf mney t build such a magnificent church as he had planned. S he started t cllect frm the peple. Nw， there was a man in Germany named Martin Luther wh was a mnk and a teacherf religin in a cllege. Martin Luther thught that ntnly this but alsther things in the Cathlic Church were nt right. He made a listf ninety-five things that he thught were nt right and nailed them upn the church dr in the twn where he lived， and he preached against ding these things. The ppe sent Luther anrder t stp， but Luther made a bnfire and burned it publicly. Many tk sides with Luther， and befre lng there was a great bdyf peple wh had left the Cathlic Church and n lngerbeyed the ppe.
The ppe calledn the kingf Spain t help in this quarrel with Luther. Thereasn he calledn him was this： the kingf Spain was Charles V， the grandsnf the Ferdinand and Isabella wh had helped Clumbus. He was ntnly a gd Cathlic but the mst pwerful ruler in Eurpe. The Spanish explrers had claimed large partsf America and s Charles waswnerf a large partf the New Wrld. But he was emperr ntnlyf these Spanish settlements in America butf Austria andf Germany as well. It was quite natural that the ppe shuld g t Charles fr help.
Charles cmmanded Luther t cme t a city named Wrms t be tried. He prmised Luther that n harm wuld be dne him， and s Luther went. When Luther arrived at Wrms， Charlesrdered him t take back all he had said. Luther refused t d s. Smef Charles"s nbles said Luther shuld be burned at the stake. But Charles， as he had prmised， let him g and did nt punish him fr his belief. Luther"s friends were afraid， thugh， thatther Cathlics might d him harm. They knew Luther wuld take n caref himself， and s they themselves tk him prisner and kept him shut up frver a year， s that nne culd harm him. While Luther was in prisn， he translated the Bible int German； it was the first time that the Bible had been written in that language.
The peple wh prtested against what the ppe did were called Prtestants，Henry VIII and his secnd wife Anne Bleyn亨利八世和他的第二任妻子安妮 博林and the new churches that grew frm this prtest are still called Prtestant tday. The time when these changes were made in the Cathlic frmf wrship was called Re-frm-atin， as theld religin was refrmed.
Nw， yu may be a Cathlic and yur best friend may nt be a Cathlic， but that makes n difference in yur friendship. But at that time thse wh were Cathlics were deadly enemiesf thse wh were nt， and vice versa. Each side was sure it alne was right and thether side was wrng. Each side fught fr the things it thught were right， fught thether side as furiusly and madly and bitterly as if thether side were scundrels and devils. Friends and relatives murdered eachther because they thught differently abut religin， and yet all were suppsed t be Christians.
Charles was greatly wrried and trubled by the religius quarrels andther difficulties in his vast empire. He became sick and tiredf being emperr andf having t settle all the many prblems he had t slve. He wanted t be free t dther things that he was mre interested in. Being king did nt mean being able t d whatever yu wanted， as sme peple think. Charles then did what few rulers have ever dne vluntarily： He resigned-abdicated， as it is called- and gave up his thrne t his sn， wh was named Philip II.
Charles， glad t be ridf all the caresf state， went t live in a mnastery. There he spent his time ding what he liked-what d yu suppse？-making mechanical tys and watches-until he died！
Nw， the kingf England at this time， when Charles was kingf Spain， was Henry VIII. His last name was Tudr. S many kings had first names which were alike that such names were numbered t tell which Charlesr Henry was meant and hw manyf the same name there had been befre. Henry VIII was， at first， als a strng Cathlic， and the ppe had called him Defenderf the Faith. But Henry had a wife whm he wanted t divrce because she had n sn. Henry wanted a sn t succeed him as king and keep England united. Inrder t divrce her s that he might marry again， he had t have the agreementf the ppe because the ppe was thenlyne wh culd give Henry a divrce. Nw， the ppe at Rme was headf the Christian Church in allf Eurpe and the Americas and said what Christians culd dr culd nt d， n matter whether they were in Italyr Spainr England. Henry asked the ppe t grant him this divrce. The ppe， hwever， tld him he wuld nt give him a divrce.
Nw， Henry thught it was neither right nr prper that a man in anther cuntry-even if he were ppe-shuld say what culd be dne in England. He himself was ruler， and he didn"t intend t let any freigner meddle in his affairsr give himrders.
Then Henry said that he himself wuld be headf all the Christians inEngland； then he culd d as he wished withut the ppe"s permissin. S he made himself head， and then he divrced his wife. All the churches in England were nw tld by the king what they shuld d； the ppe n lnger had anything t say in the matter； the English churchesbeyed the king， nt the ppe. This made the secnd big break in the Cathlic Church.
After this， Henry VIII had fivether wives， six in all； ntf curse all atne time， fr Christians culdnly havene wife at a time. His first wife he divrced， the secnd he beheaded， the third died. The same thing happened t his last three wives： the first he divrced， the secnd he beheaded， and the third survived. Henry died befre she did.
Is this t difficult fr yu t understand？
【中文阅读】
有人说孩子们理解不了这一章。他们说这一章内容太难了。但是我想看看到底 是不是这样难。
我前面已经说过，直到此时，西欧只有一个基督教派--天主教。没有圣公会， 没有循道宗，没有浸礼会，没有长老会，也没有其他任何教派。所有的人都只是基 督徒。
但是，到了 16 世纪，有些人开始认为天主教应当变革。 另一些人认为不应该变革。
一些人说一切照旧就很好。 另一些人说还是老样子是不行的。于是一场争论开始了。 麻烦是这样开始的。教皇要在罗马建造一座称为圣彼得的大教堂。它要取代君士坦丁建造的那座老教堂，老教堂所在地据说是圣彼得遇难的地方，当时圣彼得是 倒钉十字架的。教皇希望它成为世界上最大最美的教堂，因为耶稣曾经说过："你是 彼得，我要把我的教会建造在这磐石上（彼得在拉丁语中的意思是磐石）……"所 以圣彼得大教堂在基督教中的地位就像国会大厦在美国的地位那样重要。米开朗基 罗和拉斐尔都为新教堂做过设计规划。为了得到大理石、石头和建造圣彼得大教堂 需要的其他材料，教皇采取了某些前人的做法；他拆掉了罗马的其他建筑，用取下 的石头来建造新教堂。
除此之外，教皇还需要一笔巨资来建造他计划中的那座宏伟华丽的教堂。所以 他开始向人们索要钱财。那时，德国有个人叫马丁 路德，是个修道士，也是一个教 宗教课的大学老师。马丁 路德认为不仅教皇做得不对，而且天主教会在其他方面也 做得不对。他列出九十五件他认为有必要纠正的事，并把这张单子钉在他所住的小 镇的教堂大门上，他还竭力劝说人们反对这些事情。教皇给路德下了一道命令让他 别这么做，但是路德生了一堆火，当众烧掉了命令。许多人支持路德，不久有一大批人脱离了天主教会，不再服从教皇。 教皇请求西班牙国王帮助解决他与路德的争端。他请他帮忙的原因是：西班牙国王是查理五世，也就是帮助过哥伦布的斐迪南国王和伊莎贝拉王后的孙子。他不 仅是一个虔诚的天主教徒，还是欧洲最强大的统治者。西班牙探险者已经在美洲的 大片土地上宣告了西班牙主权，所以查理是新大陆大片土地的所有者。然而他不仅 仅是西班牙在美洲殖民地的皇帝，还是奥地利和德国的皇帝。所以教皇自然想到找 查理帮忙了。
查理命令路德到沃尔姆斯城接受审判。他向路德保证不会伤害他，于是路德就 去了。路德到达沃尔姆斯后，查理命令他收回自己所说过的话。路德拒绝这样做。 一些查理的贵族主张路德应该被处以火刑。但是查理信守自己的承诺，放他走了， 没有因他的信仰而惩罚他。不过，路德的朋友担心其他天主教徒会伤害他。他们知 道路德不会保护自己，于是他们自己把他关起来，一关就是一年多，这样就没人能 伤害他了。在被关押期间路德把圣经译成了德语，这是圣经第一次有了德语译本。
反对教皇所作所为的人被称为新教徒，从这次抗议中形成的新教会如今依然被 称为"新教"。天主教的礼拜仪式发生变化的时期被称为"宗教改革运动"，因为旧 的宗教被"改革"了。
如今，也许你是天主教徒，你最好的朋友可能不是天主教徒，但是这不会影响 你们的友谊。可是在那个时期，那些天主教徒是那些非天主教徒的死敌，反过来也 一样。每一方都肯定自己这方是正确的，另一方是错的。每一方都为了捍卫自己的 信仰而战，和另一方展开了激烈、疯狂、凶猛的决斗，仿佛另一方就是恶棍和恶魔。 因为宗教信仰的分歧，朋友、亲属也相互残杀，尽管所有的人都被认为是基督徒。
查理对这些宗教争端和自己庞大帝国中的其他麻烦事感到非常焦虑和烦恼。他 开始厌烦做皇帝，而面对这么多必须解决的问题也让他感到厌倦。他希望自由自在 地做其他自己更感兴趣的事情。做国王并不意味着像有些人想的那样可以为所欲为。 于是查理做了别的国王不愿做的事情：他辞职了--现在叫"退位"--他把王位 让给了自己的儿子，他叫腓力二世。
查理再也不必为国事操劳了，他满心欢喜地住进了一家修道院。在那里，他 把时间都花在自己喜欢做的事情上--你猜猜是什么？--制造机械玩具和机械手 表--直到他去世！
当查理是西班牙国王时，英国的国王是亨利八世。他的姓是都铎。许多国王 的名字很像，所以这些名字都编了号，这样就可以知道是哪个查理或亨利，以及之 前还有几个国王也叫过这个名字。最初亨利八世也是坚定的天主教徒，教皇称他为 "信仰捍卫者"。但是亨利想和妻子离婚，因为她没能给他生儿子。亨利想要儿子来 继承自己的王位，维持英国的统一。他要和她离婚，以便再婚，但必须得到教皇的 同意，因为教皇是唯一有权批准亨利离婚的人。那时，罗马教皇是全欧洲和美洲的 基督教会的首领，由他来规定基督徒可以做什么，不可以做什么，无论是意大利、 西班牙还是英国的基督徒都要听从他的旨意。亨利请求教皇允许他离婚，但是，教 皇告诉亨利他是不会同意他离婚的。
这种情况下，亨利认为让一个别的国家的人--即使他"是"教皇--来规定 在英国该做什么，这既不公平也不适当。他自己就是国王，当然不想让任何外国人 来干预他自己的事或者对他发号施令。
随后亨利八世宣布自己是英国所有基督徒的领袖；这样他可以做自己想做的事， 不需要经过教皇的同意。于是他自立为领袖，然后就和妻子离了婚；英国所有的教 会现在应该做什么都要听从国王的吩咐；教皇对这类事再也没有发言权了；英国教 会服从的是国王，不再是教皇了。这造成天主教会内部的第二次大分裂。
从这以后，亨利八世又娶了五个妻子，一共是六个妻子；当然不是同时有六个 妻子，因为基督徒一次只能有一个妻子。他和第一个妻子离了婚，把第二个妻子砍 了头，第三个妻子病死了；后面三位和前三位的情况一样：第四个妻子也是离婚了， 第五个被他砍了头，第六个死在亨利八世后面，也是病死的。
你觉得这个故事很难懂吗？
