Their design was not, nor ought to have been, indiscriminately to abolish everything which had been in use whilst the Church groaned under the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome; or to introduce a new form of

of Rome were violent and extreme, some things they do, in that they are men; in that they are wise and Christian men, some things; some things in that they are misled and blinded with error. As far as they follow reason and truth, we fear not to tread the self-same steps wherein they have gone, and to be their followers. When Rome keepeth that which is ancienter and better, others whom we much more affect, leaving it for newer, and changing it for worse, we had rather follow the perfections of them whom we like not, than in defects resemble them whom we love."-HOOKER.

"Pure in its doctrine, apostolic in its discipline, and edifying in its ceremonies,-ceremonies which admitted of alteration according to the circumstances of time and place; we believe that the catholic and apostolic Church diffused its blessings, and preserved its orthodoxy for above four hundred years. In the dark ages of barbarism, which succeeded, we believe that it existed still*; existed, as the Church of God, adapted to the exigencies of the time-but overgrown with corruptions, and disfigured by superstition. In such a state, we believe that it remained, polluted, but not extinct; when, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the sun of learning having dawned upon Europe, its defects, which had been obscured under the cloud of darkness and ignorance, were brought to light, and betrayed themselves too obviously to be any longer tolerated. The bishops and governors of the Church of England gradually became sensible of these corruptions,

*

*

but

to ascertain and supply a proper remedy, was with them a work of deliberation, of labour, and of time. The rashness and presumption of other reformers both at home and abroad, in resolving at once to raze to the ground the venerable pile of their forefathers, and to build with the materials a new edifice of human invention, proved a warning to them, not afforded in vain. Venerating the fabric which had been reared by apostolic hands, they slowly and carefully removed the incrustations which disfigured it; and clearing the foundations of the rubbish which had choked them up, brought to light the great keystone of the corner, and displayed the real rock upon which it was built. Thus, the primitive and apostolic Church stood forth distinct and clear from out the ruins in which it had been long imbedded, in all the

"The Church seemed like the moon to be eclipsed, but was not eclipsed; it might be overshadowed, it could not be eclipsed." -AMBROSE.

worship, but to correct and amend the old; and by purging it from the corruptions which had gradually crept into it, to render the divine service more agreeable to the Scriptures, and to the doctrine and practice of the Church in the best and purest ages of Christianity. They retained, consequently, whatever was sound and valuable, enriching it with the noble materials furnished by antiquity.

The sources from which they chiefly derived their materials were the liturgies of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, and that of Lyons in France *, all of which can be traced back to a very early period, that of Lyons especially, its first bishop being Irenæus the disciple of Polycarp of Smyrna, which latter derived its ecclesiastical traditions from St. John. In selecting from these, our reformers omitted none of the offices wherein all these churches were agreed, but where they differed from the Roman, they followed not the Roman†, but the others. Besides these, a liturgy drawn up by Melancthon and Bucer, for the use of the archbishopric of Cologne, out of ancient devotional treasures, supplied them with

dignified simplicity and majestic plainness which had obtained for it in former times the respect of the heathen and the willing blood of martyrs."-Dr. Hook's Sermon at Bishop Luscomb's Consecration, as quoted by Bishop Jebb.

*From this church of Lyons, being the nearest Christian province, it seems probable that the British clergy derived their orders. It appears from BEDE's Ecclesiastical History, that the ancient British liturgies differed from the Roman, and we know that this of Lyons was introduced into England in the fifth century."-FRY's Church History.

+ STILLINGFLEET.-Dr. Bennet has computed that not more than one fourteenth of our prayers are to be found in the Romish Breviary and Missal, and that these were in ancienter offices before the Romish corruptions were introduced. The latter book, the Missal, was not drawn up in fact till after our liturgy was compiled; and not sanctioned or promulgated until A.D. 1570, by a bull of Pope Pius V.-See MENDHAM'S Life and Pontificate of Pius V.

some hints, and at the revision of our liturgy afterwards, some additions were made from Pollanus, Calvin's successor at Strasburg.

In the reign of Henry the Eighth, there were published some treatises in English, called The godly and pious Institution of a Christian Man, containing the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Commandments, and some Popish errors also, the Ave Maria, the Seven Sacraments, &c., which was afterwards revised under the title of A necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man. A few years afterwards, The King's Primer came out, containing the Lord's Prayer, Creed, Commandments, the hymns Venite and Te Deum, and other hymns and collects. Though Henry's resentment to the Bishop of Rome induced him to authorize these preparations of the public mind, yet being no sincere friend to the Reformation, nothing more was effected in his time; but Edward the Sixth, on his accession, being firmly attached to the principles of the true religion in which he had been educated, issued orders for composing "An uniform Order of Communion according to the Rules of Scripture, and the Use of the Primitive Church." This service was accordingly provided in English; and the communicants for the first time understood the words of the solemn ministration, and received the cup of the Lord. Shortly afterwards, by the addition of public offices for Sundays and holydays, for Baptism, Confirmation, Burial of the Dead, and other special occasions, the whole book was completed and approved by the convocations of the clergy, and set forth by the common and full assent both of them and of the Parliament.

An impression was abroad about this time, that the liturgy had not receded far enough from Popish error which had its source in the circumstances of

C

some pious and learned men having been invited over from the Continent during the troubles there at the time, to aid in its revision, who though they were the cause of alterations, some of which were improvements, yet were more actuated by prejudice in favour of certain reformed churches abroad, especially of the Calvinistic church of Geneva, than by the suggestions of a sound judgment or a sufficient knowledge of Christian antiquity. The alterations made were the omission of some rites and ceremonies, generally of little importance, and some useful matters added; such as prefixing the sentences, exhortation, confession, and absolution before the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of morning and evening service, the rubric, explaining the reason of kneeling at the Lord's Supper; the form of making, ordaining, and consecrating bishops, priests, and deacons. The book so altered was called the Second Book of Edward the Sixth.

It did not long, however, continue to be used without interruption. Queen Mary repealed the statutes which authorized it, and mercilessly persecuted Protestants of all ranks and conditions, deluging the country with blood. The liturgy was expelled indeed from the churches, but not from the thoughts and affections of the sufferers, (see note, p. 9,) who during this cloud had time and occasions to appreciate its worth, and fix their attention on its merits. The scourge however was soon removed, and Queen Elizabeth, who succeeded, showed prudence and wisdom in her measures to restore the Protestant worship, insomuch that the Romanists attended it for some years, until the pope finding the English church determined not to admit his supremacy, excommunicated her members; the Romanists then separated from her, and they have remained ever since in this state of schism. In the year 1558, the liturgy, after

an interval of seven years, underwent its third revision, under another commission of learned divines, consisting of Parker, Cox, May, Bill, Pilkington, Whitehead, Grindall, Sandys, and Guest; upon which it continued in use without further alteration, during a period of forty-five years*, until the reign of James the First.

At this time the Puritans, (a body of the clergy who had fled from the persecutions in Mary's reign to countries which conformed to the ecclesiastical establishment of Geneva, from whence they returned home, disaffected to the Church government, and dissatisfied with rites and ceremonies, and obtained their name from pretending to greater purity in the divine service,) petitioned for a reform of what they called abuses, objecting that the liturgy did not sufficiently express their doctrinal tenets, and that it contained some regulations not agreeable to their conscience; upon which the king appointed a conference at HAMPTON COURT between a select number of bishops and the principal leaders amongst the dissenters before himself as president. The demands of the latter were too unreasonable to be granted, but their objections may have caused some of the improvements which followed. In the succeeding reign, owing to the machinations of sectarians, descendants of the former Puritans, the use of the liturgy (which was represented a souldestroying compound of popery and heresy,) was prohibited under a penalty of fine and imprisonment, and a directory for worship substituted, by which the

* See WORDSWORTH's Ecclesiastical Sketches, art. "Reformers in Exile."

+ Much interesting information may be obtained by reading the account of this conference in SOUTHEY's Book of the Church, which showed the really trifling nature of the objections which the ablest Puritans could advance, as well as the learning and judgment of the king.