The Reformation of Edward VI · Abolition & Reconstitution · The Restoration

The Reformation of Edward VI

Edward VI. — Repeal of the Six Articles — Lollard heresy laws — Abolition of congé d'élire — Confiscation of Chantries — First Book of Homilies — Royal Injunctions — Paraphrases of the Gospels, by Erasmus — Litany to be sung kneeling instead of in procession — Communion in both kinds — The Order of Communion, 1548 — Abolition of special rites and ceremonies — Destruction of images — Windsor Commission — Approval by Convocation of proposed Prayer Book — First Prayer Book of Edward VI., 1549 — Act of Uniformity — Principles of Revision — Simplicity, use of vernacular, purification of abuses — Effect of Reformers' views — Omissions to avoid conflict — Designed inadequacy of rubrics — Ordinal of 1550 — Exclusion of minor orders — Rising in Devon and Cornwall — Fall of Somerset — King's Letter to destroy Old Latin Service Books — Clerical Marriage Act — Martin Bucer — Peter Martyr — John Laski — Valerand Pullain — Cranmer on the Eucharist — Destruction of Altars — Day — Calvin — Censura — Objections and suggestions for further reform — Second Prayer Book of Edward VI., 1552 — Second Act of Uniformity — Recusancy Act — John Knox — Black Rubric — Alterations in new book — Royal Proclamation of the Forty-two Articles.

Edward VI. came to the throne on 28th January 1547. Among the Acts of Parliament in its first session were the repeal of the Six Articles Act and the Lollard Heresy Laws, 1 Edw. VI. c. 12. Other Acts abolished the congé d'élire (1 Edw. VI. c. 7) and provided that ecclesiastical procedure should be in the King's name and (1 Edw. VI. c. 14) secured to the King's use those chantries and free chapels which had escaped the previous legislation.

In July 1547 the First Book of Homilies was produced as a standard for preaching, and in August Royal Injunctions, with Articles of Enquiry for a Royal Visitation, were issued. These were similar to those of 1536, but went further.

The Paraphrases of the Gospels, by Erasmus, in English was ordered to be set up in all the churches like the Great Bible, one of the homilies was to be read on Sunday, and the Epistle and Gospel were to be read in English at High Mass. The Litany was to be said or sung by the priests and choir, kneeling in the centre of the Church, instead of in the old processions. At Convocation, Communion in both kinds was approved, nullo reclamante, and was to be incorporated in the Act of Parliament. To carry this out, sundry prelates and divines were appointed to draw up ‘The Order of Communion’ which was issued by Royal Proclamation on 8th March 1548. This ‘Order of Communion’ consisted of the exhortation, confession, absolution, comfortable words, and prayer of humble access, which still form part of the Communion Office in the Prayer Book. These are based upon the forms given in Hermann's Consultation, mentioned in the last chapter, which represented the form of Lutheranism most nearly allied to the Catholic doctrine and from which are excluded distinctive Lutheran expressions such as those about the corruption of man's nature. This Order was not to be substituted for the Latin Mass, but to be interpolated after the priest's communion.

Meanwhile, the Council in January had abolished the ceremonies of candles at Candlemas, ashes on Ash Wednesday, palms on Palm Sunday, creeping to the Cross on Good Friday, also Holy Bread, Holy Water, and all images in any church or chapel. It was in consequence of this that the disfigurement of so many of our Cathedrals and Churches took place, the figures being beheaded and the stained glass destroyed. In May, the whole service, both Matins, Mass, and Evensong, were sung in English at St. Paul's Cathedral, and no Mass was celebrated without some received the communion with the priest.

In September 1548 the Windsor Commission, consisting of bishops and divines, was assembled for the settlement of liturgical questions and a uniform order of prayer. There has been some diversity of opinion as to who sat on this Windsor Commission, but the following seem to have certainly been present: Archbishop Cranmer, Bishops Ridley of Rochester, Holbeach of Lincoln, Thirlby of Westminster, and Goodrich of Ely, with perhaps Skip of Hereford and Day of Chichester. There were also the Deans of St. Paul's, Exeter, and Durham, and the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

In December there was a public three days' debate in the House of Lords concerning the Eucharist founded upon a “book which was read touching the doctrine of the Supper”. Following this, “the book for the Service in the Church” was read in the Commons, and the Act of Uniformity to which it was attached was passed through Parliament by 21st January 1549: the date fixed by the Act for it to come into force was Whitsunday, 9th June (2 and 3 Edw. VI. c. 1). From the letters of the King to Mary, and also later to Bishop Bonner, it is clear that the book was approved of in Convocation, though the actual records have been lost.

This first Prayer Book of Edward VI., in English, was evolved, in the first place, out of the Sarum Breviary by the suppression of the services for tierce, sext, and nones, and the compression of matins, lauds, and prime into matins, and vespers and compline into evensong. The Litany was that drawn up in English under Henry VIII. The Introits, Collects, Epistles, and Gospels were mainly taken from the Sarum Use except those for Holy Week. ‘The Supper of the Lord or Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass’ was taken from the Sarum Missal, together with the ‘Order of Communion’ issued in 1548, but with important omissions.

The other rites were based on Sarum with alterations based on the Consultation of Hermann. The chief principles of the revision were first simplicity; through the multiplication of commemorations with special forms for each occasion, the regular reading of the Scripture and recitation of the Psalms had been so broken in upon that there was but little left in this direction. Hence commemorations with special versicles and responds, invitatories, and even antiphons, were swept away.

The employment of the vernacular language gave rise to an expansion of the part taken by the congregation in the services. In the course of time, especially as Latin ceased more and more to be in general use, the part originally intended for the whole congregation had become confined more and more to that fulfilled by the chorus or choir. In their attempt to purify the services the test that was adopted with regard to a rite or ceremony was whether it had in the past given rise to abuse rather than what was the original purity of its design. It was the extreme objection, which Reformers like Bucer had, to the consecration of anything inanimate which led to so many scenic practices being suppressed; and some of the beautiful and valuable old ceremonies were abolished only because their right use had not been fully expounded. Further, the Reformers seemed to attach only the materialistic view of the doctrine of Transubstantiation to their opponents, and then proceeded to eliminate every phrase from the rite, and every detail from the ceremony, which they considered might be thought to engender or support such views.

There is no doubt that much was not expressly mentioned, in order to avoid conflict; whilst one side or the other might deplore an omission, its statement in any one way might have given offence to others. Thus, whilst aiming at uniformity, this First Prayer Book of Edward VI. neither aimed at the exclusion of the more conservative reformers nor at total submission to the more advanced reformers, who came from the Continent. This is very clearly indicated in the total inadequacy of the rubrics, in the absence of any separate ‘Ordo’ or ‘Consuetudinary’ taken in conjunction with the permissive uses of Unction and of gestures.

The New Ordinal, which was not sanctioned by Parliament until 1550, was treated as a supplement to the Book of 1549, and thereafter printed with it, but both were revised together in 1552; all mention of the minor orders was excluded from it. This abolition of the old services, and even the old ones which remained must have seemed totally different in their new guise of language, brought about such a change in the services that they produced various risings in different parts of the country, the most serious of which was in Devon and Cornwall, which it took two months to subdue. Their final success the Council celebrated, to their own lasting disgrace, by directing the pulling down of all the bells out of the steeples in Devon and Cornwall, leaving only one “the least of the ryng that now is in the same” to prevent their being used again in the cause of sedition.

The Council, having quelled these risings by the aid of Lord Russell and his mercenaries, became more Erastian than ever; the Church was treated as but the theological department of the State, and Convocation was not consulted in the ensuing legislation.

With the fall of Somerset at the end of 1549, it was rumoured that the new Prayer Book would be abolished, but the Council immediately issued a King's Letter, extended by the Act 3 and 4 Edw. VI. c. 10 and 12, to call in, burn, deface, or destroy all the old church books and to take any images out of the churches.

In 1549 Parliament also passed the Permission of Clerical Marriage Act, 2 and 3 Edw. VI. c. 21. A great change was coming over the aims of the Reformers in consequence of the spread of views contrary to the doctrine of the Real Presence. In 1548 Martin Bucer of Strasbourg, who combined a belief in the Real Presence with a desire for communion with the Swiss, was made Professor of Divinity at Cambridge; at the same time Peter Martyr (Vermigli), an Italian Austin Canon, driven out of Italy to Zurich and Basle, who denied the Real Presence, was made Professor of Divinity at Oxford.

In 1550 John Laski, a Polish Bishop, who had become one of the extremist reformers in Germany, was appointed superintendent of the French and German Protestants at Austin Friars in London; he published in Latin the service used by the Walloons. Likewise Valerand Pullain, a Fleming, who had succeeded Calvin at Strasbourg, came to England, and was granted the Abbey of Glastonbury for his fellow worsted weavers, published in 1551 their order of service.

In 1550 Cranmer published a treatise in his own name on the Eucharist, with the express object of disproving the doctrine of the Real Presence. This was followed by the Council issuing letters to all the bishops ordering them to have the altars in their dioceses taken away. Day, Bishop of Chichester, was sent to prison for disobedience, as he maintained that the existing Act authorizing the Prayer Book could not be overridden by Proclamation.

Calvin in 1548 had written to the Protector Somerset urging more drastic reformation, and likewise to Bucer. Bucer and Peter Martyr were now invited to express their opinions on the Prayer Book of 1549, with a view to its revision; whereupon Bucer issued his Censura “sometimes shrewd, sometimes merely perverse, always moderate and scholarly” generally representing the more moderate reformers. His objections to the Prayers for the Dead, and the Epiklesis, likewise to vestments, the use of chrysom and chrism in baptism were carried into effect, as were to a large extent his objections to every scenic practice and the benediction or consecration of inanimate things. He likewise objected to bell-ringing and wished the churches to be shut when no service was proceeding. Peter Martyr's own objections are not to be found, but he approved those of Bucer, only adding an objection to the reservation of the Sacrament for the sick.

Of the old bishops, Gardiner, Bonner, and Heath over the Ordinal, Day over the destruction of altars, and Tunstall on an obscure charge of treason, were removed.

Cranmer now proposed a second Prayer Book in Convocation in January 1552, about which there was some discussion but nothing settled. Whereupon, without further ado, it was introduced into Parliament. There the Statute began by stating that the First Prayer Book “was a very Godly order of Common Prayer and the Administration of the Sacraments agreeable to the Word of God and the Primitive Church, but doubts had arisen about the fashion of it through curiosity rather than any worthy cause”.

In this way, as though only a schedule of alterations, the New Book was adopted and annexed to the Act of Uniformity; this Act was passed on the 14th April 1552 with effect from All Saints' Day, 1st November following, 5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 1. This second Act of Uniformity was also the first of the recusancy Acts, for it provided for punishment of recusants by ecclesiastical censures and of separatists by imprisonment; by recusants are meant those who refuse to attend services prescribed by law, whilst separatists insist on attending services not prescribed by law. Before it came into force, John Knox, who came to London as a Royal Chaplain from the North, preached a violent sermon against kneeling at the Communion. In spite of Cranmer's objection and without the consent of either Parliament or Convocation, the Council ordered the Black Rubric as to kneeling:

“We do declare that it is not meant thereby that any adoration is done or ought to be done either unto the Sacramental bread or wine there bodily received or unto any real and essential presence there being of Christ's natural flesh and blood”.

This Second Book does not seem to have ever come into general use; any penalty to enforce it was prevented by the illness of the King and the political excitements which filled his last days; he died on 6th July 1553.

The chief alterations in this Second Book were at Matins and Evensong; the exhortation, confession and absolution were prefixed as we have them now; these are thought to have been suggested by the work of Pullain, mentioned above. In the Baptismal Rite the exorcism, anointing, and use of the chrysom were omitted, so was the anointing in the visitation of the sick, and in the Ordinal the delivery of the Chalice to the Priest and the pastoral staff to the Bishop were abolished.

But the greatest changes were made in the office of the Holy Communion.

Vestments were forbidden, the Introit was omitted and the Ten Commandments inserted instead of the Kyries. The Gloria in Excelsis was transferred from the beginning to the end of the service. The mixture of water with the wine was omitted at the Offertory. The New Canon beginning with the Prayer for the Universal Church and ending with the Lord's Prayer, which was based on the Roman Canon, was divided into three parts — the Prayer for the Church Militant, the Prayer of Consecration, and the first alternative prayer after the Communion. The commemoration of the Blessed Virgin, the thanksgiving for the Patriarchs and Prophets, and the prayers for the dead were left out, and the sign of the Cross at the Consecration, the Epiklesis or invocation of the Holy Ghost and for the Angels to take the prayers “up into the Tabernacle” were also struck out. At the Communion the second clause of the administration was substituted for the first. (In our present order we have both.) The object of these changes was to stress the Calvinist Doctrine rather than that of the Real Presence.

In 1538 Cranmer had drawn up Thirteen Articles of Religion, which were mainly based on the Confession of Augsburg, and these had by 1550 been extended to forty-two, assent to which he required from all those who sought a preacher's licence. These were revised by the Commission on Canon Law, and forty-two articles were published in May 1553 by royal authority without having been submitted to Convocation, though it was asserted in their title that this had been done.

At the same time a larger catechism was drawn up by Ponet, Bishop of Winchester; and an authorized primer, in the place of that of Henry VIII., was also produced. These formularies were designed to include as much as possible of the newer Protestant spirit, without departing from the historic faith of the Church. The newer phrases and definitions were employed, but deprived of distinctive Protestant meaning. The Article upon the Eucharist, however, distinctly denied the Real Presence, but this was replaced in the Thirty-nine Articles published in Elizabeth's reign.

Abolition and Reconstitution of Reformation

Mary — Papal dispensation for marriage of her mother, Catherine of Aragon — Her divorce — Rebellion of Lady Jane Grey and Northumberland — Repeal of Edwardian legislation — Policy of Gardiner, Bonner, Tunstall, and Heath — Marriage with King Philip of Spain — Repeal of anti-Papal legislation of Henry VIII. — Absolution of nation by Cardinal Pole — Burning of Cranmer — Religious persecution — Mary's reasons and policy — Conflicts between reformers on the Continent — Elizabeth — Validity of marriage of her mother, Anne Boleyn — Declared illegitimate on execution of Anne Boleyn — Policy of Elizabeth not Erastian — Independent Church without authority over State — Objections to desire to introduce Prayer Book of 1549 — Adoption of Prayer Book of 1552 with alterations — Abolition of Black Rubric — Change in words of administration — Change in Ornaments Rubric — Thirty-nine Articles — Second Book of Homilies — New Ordinal — Supremacy Act, 1559 — Prayer Book, 1559 — Uniformity Act — Consecration of Archbishop Parker and eleven Bishops — Injunctions — Order — Advertisements — Romanists — Puritans — Millenary petition — James I. — Hampton Court Conference — Amendments to Prayer Book — Canons — Authorized Version of the Bible — Laud — Scottish Prayer Book of 1636 — Directory.

Mary had never acquiesced in the abolition of the Papacy from England, or in the severance of its Church from Rome. Without the validity of the Papal dispensation, the marriage of her mother to her husband's brother was illegal, and Cranmer in 1533 had declared in the archiepiscopal Court that it was null and void. The country was thoroughly dissatisfied with the rule of the Council during Edward VI.'s reign; Henry VIII., though tyrannical, had never lost the confidence of the nation; the Council composed of mean and selfish men never possessed it, and when they rebelled in an attempt to set Lady Jane Grey, who was married to the Duke of Northumberland's son, upon the throne, there was a general outburst of indignation. But Parliament proceeded cautiously in its first session; it merely repealed the whole of the Edwardian legislation (1 Mary, c. 2). Gardiner, Bonner, Tunstall, and Heath, who had naturally come out of prison and resumed their positions, had all been hand-in-glove with Henry VIII. in his policy of Church reform. They did what they could to persuade Mary to leave the legislation of Henry VIII. intact and to marry an Englishman. But considering the position of her birth, she naturally was not content, and further decided to marry Philip, King of Spain.

Thus the alternative was forced upon them of again submitting to the Pope or accepting the reform propounded by Geneva. The result was never in doubt; in November, 1554, the anti-Papal legislation of Henry VIII. was repealed, the Lollard heresy laws re-enacted (1 Phil. and M. c. 8), and the nation solemnly absolved and admitted to communion with the Church of Rome by Cardinal Pole, the Papal Legate. Cranmer had been enrolled as an adherent of Lady Jane Grey, and had he been executed as a traitor, nothing could have been said, but having regard to the part he had played in the divorce of Catherine of Aragon, Mary insisted on burning him as a heretic. The Lollard heresy laws were originally passed in defence of the Government, and Mary insisted in regarding all those who refused to accept the supremacy of the Pope as asserting a direct challenge to her title to the throne. Further, her unfortunate marriage and disappointment in having no issue who should succeed her seems to have intensified her desire to so stamp out the anti-Papists that even under Elizabeth they should never return to power.

An unfortunate war, wherein Calais was lost, and an incurable disease all tended to aggravate her desire for this policy of extermination. She was not content with eliminating those of importance, who might be likely to thwart her scheme, but plunged the whole country into a religious persecution which lasted for three years, wherein over 300 were sent to the stake. It is now generally conceded that this persecution was not the outcome of fanatical religious zeal or revenge on the part of those who had suffered imprisonment in the previous reign. Nor was it so much due to the anxiety of the prelates, who would have rather preferred a restoration of the policy of Henry VIII. to vindicate their doubtful acceptance of the Papacy, but rather the morbid anxiety of the Queen to suppress all those who were of the same opinions as those who had wrought injustice to her in her youth. For it was ever to this wrong that she attributed her subsequent misfortunes.

For the most part, the victims were of no political importance, and of such lack of learning, combined with such stubbornness of temper, that what efforts that were made to extricate them from the penal laws of heresy were of no avail.

During Mary's reign many of the reformers fled to the Continent, to Emden, Strasbourg, Zurich, and Geneva, but most went to Frankfort, where there was considerable strife, Knox and Whittingham wishing to completely conform with Geneva, whilst Dr. Cox and Horne wished to continue the use of the Prayer Book of 1552.

In order to gain Calvin's support, they wrote a long and violent tirade against the Prayer Book of 1552, in which they took exception to nearly everything it contained, and this in spite of the fact that it was more extreme than was ever used either before or since. Finally, however, Whittingham went to Basle, and Knox to Geneva, but even then peace does not appear to have reigned at Frankfort.

When Elizabeth succeeded Mary in 1558, the position was reversed. Unless the dispensation of the Pope for the marriage of her father Henry VIII. with Catherine of Aragon was invalid, then his marriage with her mother, Anne Boleyn, was invalid, and she was indeed illegitimate, apart from the fact that the Second Succession Act of 1536 (28 Hen. VIII. c. 7, s. 6) had expressly made her so.

Any thought of continuing in submission to the Papacy was out of the question. From the example of her father and brother, she had no wish to continue an Erastian exercise of royal prerogative in matters of religion to the extent of making the Church a department of the State. At the same time, she had no intention of allowing ecclesiastical power to assert authority over the State. For her, the object was to make the Church effective in administration and responsible for the welfare of the religion of the nation. Herself inclined to the older form of Catholicism; she was not attracted by Lutheranism nor Calvinism. What she decided was, that the Church should have national independence, without outside interference either from Rome or Geneva.

She would have liked to reintroduce the Prayer Book of 1549 as being the outcome of her father's efforts, but the difficulty with which she was confronted was that the men who should have been Bishops under such a regime were lacking. Those like Bonner, Heath and Tunstall had been forced, by the policy of her sister Mary, to adopt the Papacy whole-heartedly, and therefore were no longer available, whilst those who in the reign of her brother had superseded them were ardent supporters of the more advanced reformers, like Zwingli and Calvin, with whose connivance the Prayer Book of 1552 had been produced. These latter, during the Marian persecutions, had for the most part resided in Switzerland and had progressed in their desire for change, so that on their return they only regarded even the Prayer Book of 1552 as tolerable, from the point of view of treating it as a stepping-stone in the direction of their more extreme views.

She therefore accepted the inevitable, and decided to adopt the Prayer Book of 1552 with such alterations as would effectively clear it of any taint of heresy without offending the consciences of her bishops.

The alterations were important but few; the Black Rubric was deleted — it never had any ecclesiastical authority; the words of administration were made to include the old form, so that the present one, which combines the two, was evolved; the ornaments rubric authorized “such ornaments of the Church and of the ministers as were in use by the authority of Parliament in the second year of Edward VI.” until the Queen took further order.

With regard to the last, as has already been pointed out, the rubrics, in the absence of an authentic ordo or consuetudinary, are so meagre that it is impossible to construe them as only sanctioning what is mentioned, rather than sanctioning all things allowable previous to the enactment not expressly prohibited. Nevertheless, the judgements of the Privy Council in modern times seem to have been to the contrary. The only alteration in the new Ordinal was a change in the oath of supremacy. As the Ordinal was not mentioned in the Act of Uniformity, Bishop Bonner in 1564 objected that Bishop Horne, who had been ordained under it, was not a legal bishop, so in 1566 an indemnifying Act had to be passed.

Before the 1552 Prayer Book with these alterations was agreed to by Parliament, two or three other schemes had been submitted and discarded or rejected, whilst Convocation protested against any change from that of Mary's reign.

Accordingly, before proceeding with the Prayer Book, the Supremacy Act was introduced. It is of great importance. This Act became law in 1559, and is 1 Eliz. c. 1. Under it ten ecclesiastical statutes of Henry VIII. and one of Edward VI. (1 Edw. VI. c. 1), that against irreverent speaking of the Sacrament, were revived.

The Supreme Head Statute was not revived, but it was declared that the visitorial and reforming powers mentioned in that Statute should be exercised by the Court of High Commission. Heresy was to be decided by Scripture, the first four general councils, or by the decision of Convocation with the assent of Parliament. The election of bishops was restored to the old system of congé d'élire, and an oath of obedience to the crown as supreme governor in the realm over things ecclesiastical as well as civil was imposed on all clergy and public officials.

When this Supremacy Act had been passed, Parliament adopted by three votes the new Prayer Book (1 Eliz. c. 2), that is, the one of 1552 with the alterations already indicated. The Act of Uniformity contained provisions against both recusants and separatists. Convocation was not consulted, as it was composed of those who had been appointed in the previous reign; thirteen of the fourteen Marian Bishops refused to take the oath. However, Matthew Parker was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in December, 1559, by Barlow, formerly Bishop of Bath and Wells; Scory, formerly Bishop of Chichester; Coverdale, formerly Bishop of Exeter, and Hodgkin, Suffragan Bishop of Thetford. Of these Barlow and Hodgkin had been consecrated according to the Sarum Rite, and Scory and Coverdale according to the Ordinal of 1550. Shortly afterwards, Parker consecrated eleven new bishops to the vacant sees. Thus the continuity of episcopal succession was preserved.

The Prayer Book of 1549 had been translated into Latin and French and also that of 1552, a new Latin translation was produced in 1571; a translation into Welsh was made in 1567 and one into Irish in 1608. In 1568–1572 a new translation of the Bible, known as the Bishops' Bible,1 was brought out, and by the Articles of 1584 this was ordered to be used in the churches.

In 1571 the forty-two Articles were revised and reduced to thirty-nine, and a Second Book of Homilies was issued.

In the reign of Henry VIII., under the Supremacy Act, (28 Hen. VIII. c. 7 and 31 Hen. VIII. c. 8), the King was invested with the powers to make Proclamations about religion as Supreme Head of the Church, which were to have the same force as Acts of Parliament, and certainly the Royal Injunction of 1538 introduced the use of the Great Bible and abolished superstitious images and pilgrimages and the ‘knelling of the Aves’, and introduced parish registers.

The Council during the minority of Edward VI., in accordance with the will of Henry VIII., which was incorporated in the Statutes of 28 Hen. VIII. c. 7 and 35 Hen. VIII. c. 1, continued to exercise this function. But though there are many records, they are not complete, as with many others they were destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666. Thus, in 1547, we have an Injunction relieving from penalty those who did not use the ceremonies of bearing candles at Candlemas, ashes on Ash Wednesday, palms on Palm Sunday, creeping to the Cross on Good Friday, or holy bread or holy water; yet in the Articles of Visitation of Canterbury in 1549, these ceremonies are referred to as abuses and superstitions, though in point of fact they had never been condemned. From this it might appear that there was some other Injunction of which no record has come down to us, but on the other hand, at that period of transition, the method in which changes were introduced was often of a doubtful character, like the forty-two Articles referred to on p. 131, which were stated on the face of them to have been approved by Convocation without, in fact, having ever been submitted to it. Similarly, in Elizabeth's reign there was an enquiry whether rood lofts had been pulled down without there being any record of a direction to that effect.

This reference, then, in the Act of Uniformity of Elizabeth (1 Eliz. c. 2) to such ornaments of the Church and of the ministers as were in use by the authority of Parliament in the second year of Edward VI. until the Queen took further order, is therefore, for this reason alone, not very definite.

Further, we come to the various directions made in the time of Elizabeth, which were some fifty in number. These took different forms; some were Injunctions, some Proclamations, some Articles of Visitation, and some Advertisements. The latter were issued by the Archbishop alone, but were expressed to be in compliance with wishes set forth in letters from the Queen to him.2 Various attempts were made in Parliament to introduce amendments into the Book of Common Prayer itself, but the Queen would not allow this to be done.

However, we find certain Orders were agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops instead of being incorporated in an Act of Parliament: Archbishop Whitgift, writing to the Queen, said on one occasion, “If it is but as a Canon from or by your Majesty's authority, it may be observed or altered at your pleasure”.

In order to indicate the diversity of the subject-matters dealt with in this way, mention may be made of a few:

• Tables to be provided for Holy Communion in the place of stone altars.
• ‘Singing cakes’ which served for use at private Masses to be used at the Communion.
• The first Person of the Holy Trinity not to be represented as an old man, nor the Holy Ghost as a Dove.
• Against the removal of lead from the church roof or of the church bells.
• Readers in churches not to be mechanics.
• Wives not to reside in colleges.
• Aldermen to keep order in St. Paul's Cathedral, and against settling debts in churches.
• Licence to play games on Sunday.
• Table of Affinity.
• Canons of Ecclesiastical Law.

As to the last, Cranmer had codified the old Canon Law with the aid of a Commission of thirty-two under 3 and 4 Edw. VI. c. 11. This Commission had originally been arranged for by Henry VIII. (25 Hen. VIII. c. 20), and though it had never been officially appointed, no doubt the work was commenced by Cranmer then.

Finally, Cranmer produced his ‘Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum’, but it was neglected by Edward's last Parliament and rejected in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Archbishop Parker issued by Advertisement the existing Canons in 1564, and they were confirmed with but slight alteration by James I. in 1603. Further amendments were made only in 1865 and 1888 as to forms of oath under the Uniformity Act and as to a shortened form of Divine Service.

At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign those who had accepted the Papal Supremacy under Mary were deprived of their living, and the Church was filled with extremist reformers, some of whom, rather than accept the minimum of ceremonial which Archbishop Parker sought to enforce by his Advertisements of 1566, deemed it too great a burden, so that thirty-seven were deprived of their livings and about one hundred were punished for holding an illegal religious meeting under the pretence of a wedding. Proposals were introduced into Parliament in 1571 and 1572, but were stopped by the command of the Queen not to discuss bills concerning religion which had not received the approval of the Convocations.

The spread of Puritanism was, no doubt, to some extent fostered by the Romanists. By the Statutes of Supremacy of 1559 and 1562 Elizabeth had the Romanists at her mercy, but Cecil had strict orders not to enforce them, as she thought that in a generation they would become absorbed by the Church of England.

However, France combined with Spain to seek the establishment of the Papal Ascendancy, which involved the conspiracies centred round Mary, Queen of Scots, and at the same time English trade with the Netherlands urged an alliance with Protestant States on the Continent. Added to which Pius V. in 1570 issued his Bull of Excommunication against Elizabeth, and further, Gregory XIII. assisted the Irish in their revolt, and finally in 1588 Philip II. despatched his Armada. All these events drew upon the Romanists the series of penal Acts of 1576 to 1606 whereby they were treated as traitors, and no doubt, as they were already deemed to be such, they became as individuals more and more disposed to act accordingly. So, from their antipathy to the Romanists, the Puritans found numerous supporters, and they again sought to change the Government of the Church in 1584 and 1586. But in spite of the support lent them by the Queen's favourite, the Earl of Leicester, the three chief supporters were sent to the Tower by the Council.

With the destruction of the Armada on the one hand and the death of Leicester on the other, both of which occurred in 1588, the Puritans, who had had a set-back in 1586, steadily declined as a dominating force in the realm, so that Elizabeth and Archbishop Whitgift were enabled to enforce the recusancy laws more and more strictly. The scurrilous libels of the Martin Marprelate type which were put forth also, in addition to bringing their authors to the scaffold, did more than anything to render the success of the Puritans impossible. Thus in the end, Elizabeth was able to obtain the Act of 1593 directing the banishment of those who still refused to conform.

The separatists settled for the most part in Holland, where they were joined by some further 300 clergy, who refused to subscribe when the oath was presented to them at the beginning of the reign of James I., which they must have eluded during the changes in Elizabeth's reign.

Before that had occurred the Puritans had presented a petition to James I. immediately on his accession in 1603. This petition, which was called the Millenary, set forth their grievances concerning the Church service, ministers, livings, and discipline.

In order to deal with this, James held a Conference at Hampton Court at which four of the leading Puritans, nine Bishops and five Deans were summoned, besides the Lords of the Council. But it at once became clear that the Puritans were seeking to establish Presbyterianism in the Church, rather than to remove doubts and difficulties which gave rise to their objection to conforming. In this they were not successful, though certain alterations in the Prayer Book were agreed upon, to effect which the King issued his Letters Patent and Proclamation. Care was taken to call the alterations by the name of explanations to bring them within the clause in the Elizabethan Act of Uniformity (1 Eliz. c. 2) under which the Crown with the advice of the Commissioners had power to order further ceremonies.

The chief alterations were the abolition of lay baptism of infants and the addition of the portion about the Sacraments to the Catechism. Prayers for the Royal Family and Prayers and Thanksgivings on various occasions were also added. At the same time a commission was issued for a new translation of the Bible and for revision of the Canons.

The Canons, which are mostly those of 1564, were issued by Convocation in 1604, which by the direction of the use of the amended Prayer Book in Canon lxxx. gave the sanction of Convocation to the alterations which had been made. These Canons, as has just been mentioned, with but slight alterations in 1865 and 1888 as to the oath, are in force at the present time. The translation of the Bible was completed in 1611 and forms our present Authorized Version.

In the same year, 1611, Laud became president of St. John's College, Oxford, and in 1617 he went with King James to Scotland as his chaplain. It was in this way that Laud became specially involved in the attempts which James I. and Charles I. made to bring the Use of the Church in Scotland into line with that in England. In Scotland the English book had been in use from 1557 to 1564, but John Knox on his return in 1559 had brought over the Geneva book, the “Book of Common Order”, and this very soon ousted it. These endeavours of James and Charles failed, yet the Prayer Book of 1636, which was in fact promulgated by Act of the Scottish Privy Council, though rejected in Scotland, was largely used at the Revision of the English Book under Charles II., and gave rise to many of its improvements. Moreover, it has been largely used in the composition of the Use of the Episcopalians in the United States of America.

At the beginning of the reign of James I. Puritanism had been rife both at Oxford and Cambridge, but Laud rigorously maintained the continuity of the Church of England, in spite of the fact that it had reformed from the abuses which had grown up. In this he met with great opposition from those who were seeking to enforce Presbyterianism on the Church and who looked upon Calvin and the Geneva theologians as their only true guides.

Laud became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, but whatever may be thought of Laud as a statesman, there is no doubt that he was largely responsible for insisting upon the proper upkeep of the Church fabrics and for the proper employment of its ceremonies, and a further consequence of his labours was to be found in the exceptionally able body of bishops who survived to take part in the revision of the Prayer Book after the restoration of Charles II.

In the crash of the Rebellion in 1645, Laud was executed for High Treason, without trial, by an Act of Attainder. The Book of Common Prayer was abolished and in its stead the “Directory of the Public Worship of God in the Three Kingdoms” was established. Nevertheless it was of Laud that Gladstone wrote that “he prevented the English Church from being bound in the fetters of an iron system of compulsory Calvinistic belief”.

The Restoration

Restoration of Charles II. — Declaration of Breda — Savoy Conference — Baxter — Revised Prayer Book — Convocation — Act of Uniformity — Official translations.

With the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. in 1660, the Church came into its own again, and the general principle of the Restoration was applied to her, according to which, all that had occurred during the Rebellion was deemed illegal and void.

Now, Charles had by the Declaration of Breda on the eve of his return ‘declared a liberty to tender consciences’ in the matter of religion. A deputation of Puritans went to meet him at The Hague, but he replied that the extent of toleration must be decided by Parliament. At length they were told to submit their wishes in writing, which they did in a long address.

In this they assumed that there was no doctrinal difference, but only in some conceptions as to form of government and particulars about the Liturgy and ceremonial. To this the nine remaining bishops replied and yielded that the Liturgy should be revised.

Pending this, a Royal Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical affairs was issued in October 1660. The whole question was left for a lawful Parliamentary Conference and a decision of a lawful Parliament and Convocation. In March 1661 the warrant was issued for the Savoy Conference of twelve Bishops and twelve Presbyterians and nine other divines on either side, as assessors or assistants.

The special terms of the Commission were, inter alia, to advise upon and review the Book of Common Prayer, comparing the same with the most ancient Liturgies which have been used in the Church in the primitive and purest times, and, taking into consideration the several directions, rules, and forms of prayer and the several objections and exceptions which had been taken to them, to make such reasonable alterations, corrections, and amendments as should be agreed upon to be needful or expedient for giving satisfaction to tender consciences.

The Presbyterians presented their exceptions, over fifty in number, for Baxter had persuaded his colleagues to ask for everything that they thought desirable, without regard to the sentiments of others, so that amongst their exceptions, we find their desire “that it may be left to the discretion of the minister to omit any part of the Liturgy”.

The Bishops replied to these, and in addition to the adoption of the Authorized Version of the Bible for the Epistles and Gospels, agreed to some verbal alterations. Baxter then produced a new Directory under the title of Reformation of the Liturgy, as a suggestion for the additional forms mentioned in the Commission; this was with a few alterations presented with a Petition of Peace to the Bishops, with the suggestion that it should be used as an alternative to the Prayer Book. At the same time, Baxter compiled a rejoinder to the Bishops' reply, which was written rather by way of expressing his indignation, than of endeavouring to bring about any further concessions to tender consciences. After further discussions, which lasted for a week, and a final reply by Baxter, the Conference came to an end in July 1661.

The Puritans had shown, as at the Hampton Court Conference under James I., that what they aimed at was the ascendancy of their own opinions and their triumph over the Church, rather than such liberty to their tender consciences as would give them a place within its pale.

Convocation met on 21st November 1661 when the King's letters were read directing the revision of the Book of Common Prayer, and a Committee of Bishops was appointed for the purpose. They had, however, already undertaken the task, so that they were ready at once to report, and the book was delivered to the Lower House when a schedule of amendments was drawn up. The whole work was soon completed, and the Book was adopted by both Houses of Convocation and both provinces on 20th December.

It may be noted that the King's letter was sent to the Northern Convocation on November 22 and that the Lower House agreed to make their proctors transact the business with the province of Canterbury, but they sent up a separate list of suggestions. At the same time the Northern Bishops, who were in London, had already been sitting in consultation with the Southern Bishops.

A Bill of Uniformity had been introduced into Parliament in July with the Book of Common Prayer of 1604 attached, but the proceedings had been suspended pending the production of the New Book. This was then added to the Uniformity Bill in place of the Book of 1604 in February 1662, and though there was much discussion and amendment to the Bill of Uniformity, the Book of Common Prayer attached to it was passed without discussion, though the Commons claimed their right to do so. The Act finally received the Royal assent on 19th May 1662.

Amongst those upon whom the revision of the Prayer Book devolved, we find Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln, to whom is attributed the present preface. He it was of whom it was said that if Charles I. relied in matters of State upon Archbishop Laud, in matters of conscience he relied upon Bishop Sanderson. There was also Cosin who became Bishop of Durham. He had been Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge. He had produced a Book of Private Devotions in 1627, which contained the alternative rendering of the Veni Creator. Further, he had also been engaged with Archbishop Laud in the composition of the Scottish Prayer Book of 1636.

Having regard to the attitude adopted by the Puritans at the Savoy Conference, but little attention was paid to their objections, and amongst other things no heed was taken to their objections to infant baptism, the use of the cross at baptism and the ring at marriage, the Absolution for the sick or the form of the Litany.

The actual alterations are more particularly referred to in Book II. in connection with the different rites and also in the Appendix.

The new Book was translated into Welsh in 1665 by a Committee of Welsh Bishops, into French for the Chapel of Savoy and the Channel Islands by John Durel about 1662, and into Latin by the same author about 1670, but in the latter case the Scripture portions were taken from the old Sarum Missal and Breviary.

The Book was introduced but not used in Scotland, which, however, remained Episcopalian until 1689. In Ireland it was introduced in 1666. However, the Church was disestablished there in 1869, and likewise in Wales in 1914.