viously put forth, and they began to enforce uniformity among the London clergy. (March 26.) Of 98 who appeared before the commissioners, 61 complied, and 37 refused, of which number, as Parker acknowledges, “were the best, and some preachers * ;" and contrary to the expectation of their judges, they shewed reasonable quietness and modesty. When the three months which the law allowed them for consideration had elapsed, they were ipso facto deprived of all their spiritual promotions; fand in the beginning of the next year began to separate from the church, by carrying on private meetings for devotions and worship, which were conducted chiefly after the formula of the church of Geneva. They alleged as their excuse, that in the Common Prayer Book " the ceremonies of antichrist were tied to “the service of God, so that no man might preach “ and administer the sacraments without them.” The government was alarmed at such a symptom of dissent, and the ecclesiastical commissioners were urged to exert themselves. During this period of schism, there were not wanting instances of men, who, though they disapproved of the habits, yet conformed to the established law, following the suggestions of Beza, who advised his friends modestly to protest against these proceedings f, but by no

clamation, as above; and the others seemed to have been used as if they were law. (Strype's Parker, i. 319.) A different copy of these is printed in Strype. (Strype's Parker, iii. 84. No. 28.)

*

Strype's Parker, i. 429. † Ibid. i. 478, ch.9. Ibid. i. 483.

do so on his own terms*. He required to know beforehand his opponents and his judges, meaning such judges as he himself should best like: but Whitgift, who had many private discourses with him, repeatedly offered to dispute with him, on condition that both parties should commit their arguments and positions to paper; a demand to which no reasonable disputant could object. This circumstance of being silenced by authority seems to have exalted Cartwright into a confessor in the cause of puritanism ; but if episcopacy were to be upheld at all, no gentler steps could have been adopted. If a government be strong, it need not persecute or punish every one who impugns its form or constitution; but how can it allow such a person to hold a situation of trust under it, particularly one which is likely to be influential in forming the sentiments of the rising generation ? Cartwright was subsequently deprived of his fellowship in Trinity college, (Sept. 1572,) in consequence of not taking orders, about which he felt some scruples, because he had experienced no call to the ministry through the invitation of some parish, a point which he deemed a necessary qualification; as if to educate the upper orders, and prepare young men for the church, were not as suitable an office for a minister of God's word as any other part of the ecclesiastical duties. This dispute created a kind of personal struggle between Whitgift and Cartwright; and when the one

In the convocation, the Articles of Religion were again subscribed; but any remarks on this event will more properly be introduced when we enter on the history of the Thirty-nine Articles, a subject so important as to require a distinct chapter *.

The establishment of a code of ecclesiastical law was also brought into consideration. In the convocation, a set of canons pertaining to discipline were framed, for the regulation of the officers of the church, and to declare the duties attached to bishops, deans, archdeacons, &c.; as well as to prevent the evils arising from non-residence, pluralities, and corrupt presentations. They are extant in Sparrow's Collection t, though they never received the sanction of the queen, who thought that the authority of the bishops, derived from her supremacy, was sufficient to enforce them. Yet Grindal justly observed, when Parker urged the adoption of them in the province of York, that the fine words of her majesty might fly away as the wind, and would little serve the bishops, if they were adjudged to have incurred the penalties of a præmunire, which could only be guarded against by a legal enactment of them, derived from the royal approbation in scriptis.

g. 435. The same subject was brought forward in the house of commons t, and reference was made to the “ Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum s,” a book drawn up chiefly by Cranmer ) ; but which was laid aside, and never legally enacted, in consequence of * $.485, &c.

Strype's Parker, ii. 62. Strype's Annals, iii. 93, &c. If $. 330.

+ P. 223