§. 283. At the end of the fifth chapter a brief account was given of those points wherein the church still needed reform, and it may be useful here to state some of the particulars in which the reformation had gone backward between the periods at which these two tracts were published. The advances which had been made may be seen, sect. 272. and note a

With regard to transubstantiation, the point introduced was the statement, that "the substance of the "bread and wine do not remain after consecration*:" a question of fact which, like the miracles performed by our Saviour, must be judged by the senses.

The cup, too, was denied to the laity †.

The expression of praying for the "quick and the "dead" is introduced; there was no change excepting in the use of the words.

Many ceremonies are specified, about which nothing is said in the Institution §. "As the hallowing "of the font, of the chalice, of the corporace, of the "altar, and other like exorcisms and benedictions." In speaking of justification by faith, the Erudition calls God "the principal cause and chief worker of "this justification in us ||," but, " it pleaseth the high "wisdom of God that man" shall be also" a worker by his free consent and obedience to the same." Expressions which are indeed afterwards qualified. To these we must add the compulsatory celibacy of the clergy.

66

* Form. 263.

|| Ibid. 364.

+ Ibid. 265.

Ibid. 375.

§ Ibid. 310.

Upon the whole, then, we must conclude, that in doctrinal points the church had gone backward, and that the discussions which had taken place, and the examinations of the several subjects, had been outbalanced by the influence of the Roman catholic party, and the passions and prejudices of the king.

called him to the throne, was by his father's will placed under the guidance of a council, the several members of which were vested with equal powers; but the preponderating influence of Edward Seymour, earl of Hartford, and maternal uncle to the king, soon enabled that nobleman to acquire a decided superiority over his colleagues, and to obtain for himself the chief authority in the kingdom under the title of protector. The retiring disposition of Cranmer made him less inclined to interfere in temporal affairs, and Wriothesley, by putting the court of chancery in commission, in order that he might attend to the concerns of the state, gave such an advantage to his political opponents, that they deprived him of the seals, and granted the protector letters patent, by which he afterwards held his office. This circumstance was favourable to the cause of the reformation, for the political connexions and interests of his family, as well as his own inclinations, led him to favour this side of the question, and to cooperate with Cranmer in promoting its advancement.

$. 302. The advocates of reform had at this moment to contend, not only against their open enemies, the friends of the old superstition, but were equally endangered by the injudicious zeal of their own hasty and unthinking allies; who, without waiting for authority, began to remove images, and make other alterations, which caused an unnecessary irritation among the Roman catholics, and were calculated to raise up a spirit of innovation in the re