XV.

CHAP. encouragement to heretics to permit it to be called in question before an unlearned multitude. They added, that the queen had incurred excommunication, a sentence which they threatened to inflict not only on herself, but also on her council. For this intemperate declaration they were sent to the Tower, and as the Romanists retired from the field of combat, the protestants were left in its undisputed possession.

The Romanists having been thus vanquished, the queen next endeavoured to secure an union among the protestants; for although the troubles of Frankfort had been appeased, and letters of reconciliation had been exchanged between the contending parties, there was the same discordancy of opinion ready to display itself in open hostility. Some were desirous of introducing the service and discipline which the English had used when at Geneva; while others were in favour of the liturgy of Edward. Some were desirous of abolishing episcopacy, and of using no rites and ceremonies which were used by the church of Rome; while others thought it expedient to withdraw no farther from the church of Rome than was necessary to preserve purity of faith, and the independence of the national church.

The last were the sentiments of the queen herself, and they influenced her in the settlement of the English liturgy. A committee of divines* was appointed to review the second service book of king Edward the Sixth, and to adopt it as the groundwork of the new form of common prayer. It was

*The committee consisted of Parker, Grindal, Cox, Pilkington, May, Bill, Whitehead, Sands, Guest, and sir Thomas Smith.

1559.

the chief aim of Elizabeth to unite the nation in A. D. religious worship if not in religious opinion, and she was not less solicitous to include the Romanists, Elizabeth. if such a comprehension could be effected without a compromise of protestant principles. A great part of the nation still believed the corporal presence in a qualified or unqualified sense, and therefore the committee was recommended to expunge from the liturgy any express definition in its condemnation. In consequence, a rubric in the service book of Edward was omitted, explaining that the act of kneeling at the communion was not intended as an adoration of Christ's natural flesh and blood. In the first liturgy of Edward, the words used by the priest, on the delivery of the elements, were consistent with a belief in the corporal presence, though not necessarily implying it: in the second liturgy a form of words was substituted, incompatible with such a belief, though not offensively condemning it. But in the liturgy of Elizabeth both forms were, with great felicity, united. The committee of divines had left it at liberty whether the posture of kneeling or standing should be used at receiving the communion, but the parliament restrained it to kneeling. In the litany, among other deprecations, was one "from the bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities;" but this passage, introduced by the reformers of Edward, was justly thought inconsistent with the charitable spirit which should ever accompany prayer. However strongly error may be impugned in articles and canons, in our addresses to heaven it should ever be remembered that we are all fallible, as well as sinful.

VOL. II.

C

CHAP.

XV.

Besides these alterations, there were other deviations from the second service book of king Edward. The rubric, directing the order for morning and evening service, was altered, and it was to be performed in the accustomed place of the church, chapel, or chancel, with the additional direction that the chancels were to remain as in time past. The habits enjoined by the first book of king Edward, and prohibited by the second, were restored, and were commanded to be retained until some "other order should take place herein, by the authority of the queen's majesty, with the advice of the commissioners authorized under the great seal of England for causes ecclesiastical." Different interpretations were drawn from this clause, but the true interpretation was found to be that the present regulation was not intended to be temporary but permanent, and that no other order was ever intended to be taken.

The additions to the liturgy consisted principally of prayers for the for the queen and clergy in the daily service of morning and evening. These prayers were taken from the sacramentary of Saint Gregory, but were inserted now in the English liturgy for the first time. A selection of lessons was also made for the Sundays and holy days throughout the year.

The liturgy having been duly prepared, the bill authorizing its use was first brought into the house of commons, where it passed without debate; but in the house of lords it was encountered by the decided hostility of all the prelates, because the episcopacy was decidedly popish. The principal speakers were Heath, archbishop of York; Scot,

A. D.

1559.

bishop of Chester; both of whom had opposed the act of supremacy; together with Fecknam, abbot of. Westminster, who still retained his seat in the house Elizabeth. of lords. Heath's speech has been characterized

as

"rather elegant than learned *" Having enlarged on the several changes which had been made in the reign of king Edward, he asserted that both Cranmer and Ridley had often altered their opinions on the corporal presence. He argued that an act of such importance ought not to pass until it had received the assent of the clergy in convocation. "Not only the orthodox," he observed, "but even the Arian emperors commanded that points of faith should be settled and examined in ecclesiastical councils; and Gallio, by the light of nature, knew that a civil judge ought not to meddle in matters of religion t." The bishop of Chester said that the bill was contrary to faith and charity; that arguments once settled were not again to be brought in question, and that acts of parliament were improper rules of religious belief. Fecknam laid down three rules by which religion ought to be judged, its antiquity, its consistency, and its influence on the civil government. In the words of Saint Augustin, he recommended adherence to the catholic church, and he insinuated that the consent of the whole church in all ages ought to weigh more than the crude notions of a few preachers who had distracted both Germany and England. The speeches of the temporal peers on the other May 8. side of the question have not been preserved; but

* Burnet's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. b. 3. + Strype's Annals, vol. i. p. 73, folio, and Appendix to vol. i. No. 6.

XV.

CHAP. it cannot be supposed that the numerical superiority of the protestants in the division was obtained without some arguments adduced in their favour. The act of uniformity finally passed with the dissent of nine prelates and nine temporal lords *.

When the session of parliament had closed, the oath of supremacy was tendered to all the bishops, and it was refused by all, with the exception of Kitchen, bishop of Llandaff, whom Camden calls "the calamity of his see." On their refusal, they were all committed to prison; but, with the exception of Boner, White, and Watson, were soon restored to liberty. These three prelates had been the principal instruments of Mary's cruelties, and imprisonment was thought only a gentle punishment. A few inferior dignitaries, joining with the bishops in their refusal to take the oath, were also deprived; but of the inferior clergy not more than eighty incurred the penalty of disobedience to the statutet.

Since the death of cardinal Pole, the see of Canterbury had remained vacant, and this circumstance, joined with the non-compliance of so many prelates, rendered the succession of a protestant episcopacy

* The prelates were, the archbishop of York, and the bishops of London, Ely, Worcester, Llandaff, Lichfield, Exeter, Chester, and Carlisle: the temporal peers were, the marquis of Winchester, the earl of Shrewsbury, viscount Montague, and the barons Morly, Stafford, Dudley, Wharton, Rich, and North.-Collier's Eccles. History, v. ii. b. 6.

+ According to Burnet: Camden and cardinal Allen compute the whole number of the deprived clergy, including bishops, dignitaries, and parochial ministers, at two hundred and fortythree.-See Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i. c. iv.