"It is inconceivable," says Dr. Nichols, "what difficulties the bishops had to contend with about making these alterations; they were not only to conquer their own former resentments, and the unreasonable demands of Presbyterians, but they had the court to deal with, who pushed them on to all acts of severity." Whereas, on the contrary, the tide was strong on their side; the bishops pushed on the court, who were willing to give them the reins, that when the breach was made as wide as possible, a door might be opened for the toleration of papists. The review of the Common Prayer Book engaged the Convocation a whole month; and on the 20th of December it was signed, and approved by all the members of both houses. The alterations were these :†

1. The rubric for singing of lessons, &c., was omitted, the distinct reading of them being thought more proper.

2. Several collects for Sundays and holydays complained of, were omitted, and others substituted in their room.

3. Communicants at the Lord's Supper were enjoined to signify their names to the curate some time the day before.

4. The preface to the Ten Commandments was restored.§

5. The exhortations to the holy communion were amended.

6. The general confession in the communion office was appointed to be read by one of the ministers.

7. In the office for Christmas Day the words "this day" were changed for "as at this time." 8. In the prayer of consecration the priest is directed to break the bread.

9. The rubric for explaining the reason of kneeling at the sacrament was restored.

10. Private baptism is not to be administered but by a lawful minister.

11. The answer to the question in the catechism, "Why, then, are children baptized?" is thus amended: "Because they promise them both by their sureties; which promise, when they come to age, themselves are bound to perform."

12. In the last rubric before the catechism these words are expunged, "And that no man shall think that any detriment shall come to children by deferring of their confirmation," &c. him all appeals from the ecclesiastical courts must be made." -A Treatise on Heresy, p. 73, 74.-ED. * Kennet's Chron.. p. 574. + Ibid., p. 585. The rubric in King James's Review directed, also, the two lessons to be distictly read, but added, "To the end the people may better hear, in such places where they do sing, there shall the lessons be sung in a plain tune, after the manner of distinct reading, and likewise the Epistle and Gospel."-Grey's Examination, p. 308.-ED.

"So, indeed, says Bishop Kennet," remarks Dr. Grey; "but they are both mistaken. The commandments were not in King Edward's first liturgy. but in King Edward's, 1552, and in the Reviews of Queen Elizabeth and King James."-Grey's Examination, p. 309.-ED

14. The rubric after confirmation was thus softened: "None shall be admitted to the communion till such time as he be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed."

15. In the form of matrimony, instead of, “tilk death us depart," it is, "till death us do part.” 16. In the rubrics after the form of matrimony, it is thus altered: "After which, if there be no sermon declaring the duties of man and wife, the minister shall read as followeth :" and instead of the second rubric, it is advised to be convenient, that the new-married persons should receive the communion at the time of marriage, or at the first opportunity afterward.

17. In the order for visitation of the sick it is thus amended: "Here the sick person shall be moved to make special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter; after which the priest shall absolve him, if he humbly and heartily desire it, after this sort."

18. In the communion for the sick the minister is not enjoined to administer the sacrament to every sick person that shall desire it, but only as he shall judge expedient.

19. In the order for the burial of the dead it is thus altered: The priests and clerks meeting the corpse at the entrance of the churchyard. and going before it either into the church, or towards the grave, shall say or sing, In the office itself, these words, "In sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life," are thus altered: "in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life;" and to lessen the objection of "God's taking to himself the soul of this our dear brother departed," &c., the following rubric is added: "Here is to be noted, that the office ensuing is not to be used for any that die unbaptized or excommunicate, or who have laid violent hands upon themselves."

20. In the churching of women, the new rubric directs that the woman, at the usual time after her delivery, shall come into the church decently apparelled, and there shall kneel down in some convenient place, as has been accustomed, or as the ordinary shall direct, and the hundred and sixteenth or hundred and seventeenth Psalm shall be read.

66

Dr. Tenison, afterward Archbishop of Canterbury, says, "They made about six hundred small alterations or additions;" but then adds, If there was reason for these changes, there was equal, if not greater reason for some farther improvements. If they had foreseen what is since come to pass, I charitably believe they would not have done all they did, and just so much and no more; and yet I also believe, if they had offered to move much farther, a stone would have been laid under their wheel, by a secret but powerful hand;' for the mystery of popery did even then work."* Bishop Burnet

confesses that no alterations were made in favour of the Presbyterians, for it was resolved to gratify them in nothing.

But besides the alterations and amendmentsalready mentioned, there were several addi

tional forms of prayer,* as for the 30th of January and the 29th of May; forms of prayer to be used at sea; and a new office for the administration of baptism to grown persons.† Some corrections were made in the calendar. Some new holydays were added, as the conversion of St. Paul and St. Barnabas.‡ More new lessons were taken out of the Apocrypha, as, the story of Bel and the Dragon, &c. But it was agreed that no Apocryphal lessons should be read on Sundays. These were all the concessions the Convocation would admit; and this was all the fruit of the conference at the Savoy, by which, according to Mr. Baxter and Bishop Burnet, the Common Prayer Book was rendered more exceptionable, and the terms of conformity much harder than before the civil

war.

The Common Prayer Book thus altered and amended was sent up to the king and council, and from thence transmitted to the House of Peers, February 24, with this message: That his majesty had duly considered of the alterations, and does, with the advice of his council, fully approve and allow the same; and doth recommend it to the House of Peers, that "the said books of Common Prayer, and of the forms of ordination, and consecration of bishops, priests, and deacons, with those additions and alterations that have been made, and presented to his majesty by the Convocation, be the book which in and by the intended Act of Uniformity shall be appointed to be used by all that officiate in all cathedral and collegiate churches and chapels, &c., and in all parish churches of England and Wales, under such sanctions or penalties as the Parliament shall think fit." When the Lords had gone through the book, the Lordchancellor Hyde, by order of the House, gave the bishops thanks, March 15, for their care in this business, and desired their lordships to give the like thanks to the lower house of convocation, and acquaint them that their amendments were well received and approved, though some of them met with a considerable opposition. From the Lords they were sent down to

* Besides the new forms specified by Mr. Neal, there were also added, Dr. Grey says, the prayer for the High Court of Parliament, the prayer for all conditions of men, and the general thanksgiving-Ex. amination, p. 310.-ED.

+ This service was added because, on account of the spread of Baptistical sentiments, there were now many grown up too old to be baptized as infants, whose duty it was to make a profession of their own faith-Wall's Hist. of Infant Baptism, vol. ii., p. 215. -ED.

These two holydays, though then first appointed by act of Parliament, were not now added to the calendar; for they stand in the liturgy of Edward VI. by Whitchurch, 1549; in his Review, 1552; in Queen Elizabeth's Review, 4to, 1601; in King James's Review, 1609; and in the Scotch liturgy at Edinburgh, folio, 1637.-Grey's Examination, p. 311. It may be added, they are, with suitable collects, in the liturgy printed by Bonham Norton and John Bill, 1629, penes me.-ED.

There is one alteration not mentioned by Mr. Neal. In the second collect, in the visitation of the sick, these words are omitted: "Visite him, O Lord, as thou didst Peter's wive's mother, and the captain's servant:" which were in King Edward's, Queen Elizabeth's, and King James's Review.-Id., p. 311. -ED. Kennet's Chronicle, p. 633.

Id., p. 642, 613. VOL. II.-Go

the Commons, and inserted in the Act of Uniformity, as will be seen under the next year.

But before this famous act had passed either house, the Presbyterians were reduced to the utmost distress. In the month of March, 1661-2, the grand jury at Exeter found above forty bills of indictment against some eminent Nonconformist ministers for not reading the Common Prayer according to law. They likewise presented the travelling about of divers itinerant preachers, ejected out of sequestered livings, as dangerous to the peace of the nation. They complained of their teaching sedition and rebellion in private houses, and other congregations, tending to foment a new war. They also presented such as neglected their own parish churches, and ran abroad to hear factious ministers; and such as walked in the churchyards, or other places, while Divine service was reading; all which were the certain forerunners of a general persecution.

In Scotland the court carried their measures with a high hand; for, having got a Parliament to their mind, the Earl of Middleton, a most notorious debauchee, opened it, with presenting a letter of his majesty's to the House; after which they passed an act, declaring all leagues not made with the king's authority illegal. This struck at the root of the covenant made with England in 1643. They passed another act rescinding all acts made since the late troubles, and another empowering the king to settle the government of the Church as he should please. It was a mad, roaring time, says the bishop, and no wonder it was so, when the men of affairs were almost perpetually drunk. The king hereupon directed that the Church should be governed by synods, presbyters, and kirksessions, till he should appoint another government, which he did by a letter to his council of Scotland, bearing date August 14, 1661, in which he recites the inconveniences which had attended the Presbyterian government for the last twenty-three years, and its inconsistency with monarchy. Therefore," says he, "from our respect to the glory of God, the good and interest of the Protestant religion, and the better harmony with the government of the Church of England, we declare our firm resolution to interpose our royal authority for restoring the Church of Scotland to its right government by bishops, as it was before the late troubles. And our will and pleasure is, that you take effectual care to restore the rents belonging to the several bishoprics; that you prohibit the assembling of ministers in their synodical meetings till our farther pleasure; and that you keep a watchful eye over those who, by discourse or preaching, endeavour to alienate the affections of our people from us or our government." Pursuant to these directions, the lords of the council ordered the heralds to make public proclamation at the market-cross in Edinburgh, September 6, of this his majesty's royal will and pleasure. In the month of December a Commission was issued out to the Bishops of London and Worcester to ordain and consecrate, according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, Mr. James Sharp, arch

Kennet's Chronicle, p. 647. + Burnet, vol. i., p. 161. Ibid., p. 133, 134.

Ibid., p. 166.

bishop of St. Andrew's, Mr. Andrew Fairfoul, archbishop of Glasgow, Mr. Robert Leighton, bishop of Dunblain, and Mr. James Hamilton, bishop of Galloway. A very bad choice, says Bishop Burnet. Sharp was one of the falsest and vilest dissemblers in the world. Fairfoul was next akin to a natural. Leighton was an excellent prelate; but Hamilton's life was scarce free from scandal. He had sworn to the Covenant, and when one objected to him, that it went against his conscience, he said, "Such medicines as could not be chewed must be swallowed whole." The English bishops insisted upon their renouncing their Presbyterian orders, which they consented to, and were, in one and the same day, ordained first deacons, then priests, and last of all bishops, according to the rites of the Church of England.

Bishop Burnet says, that though the king had a natural hatred to Presbytery, he went very coldly into this design; nay, that he had a visible reluctancy against it, because of the temper of the Scots nation, and his unwillingness to involve his government in new troubles; but the Earl of Clarendon‡ pushed it forward with great zeal; and the Duke of Ormond said that Episcopacy could not be established in Ireland, if Presbytery continued in Scotland. The Earls of Lauderdale and Crawford, indeed, opposed it, but the councils of Scotland not protesting, it was determined; but it was a large strain of the prerogative for a king by a royal proclamation to alter the government of a church established by law, without consent of Parliament, convocation, or synod, of any kind whatsoever for it was not until May the next year that this affair was decided in Parliament. Some of the Scots ministers preached boldly against this change of government; and, among others, Mr. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, for which, and some other things, he was convicted of sedition and treason. Bishop Burnet, who saw him suffer, says that he expressed a contempt of death; that he spoke an hour upon the ladder with the composure of a man that was delivering a sermon rather than his last words; that he justified all he had done, exhorting all people to adhere to the Covenant, which he magnified highly. He was executed June 14, 1661, and concluded his dying speech with these words: "I take God to record upon my soul, that I would not exchange this scaffold with the palace or mitre of the greatest prelate

* Burnet., p. 191, 192.

It is here, as Dr. Grey remarks, that Mr. Neal has strangely confounded two characters: ascribing to Bishop Hamilton what Bishop Burnet has applied to Bishop Fairfoul. It is singular that Dr. Grey has, in the next paragraph, committed a similar mistake; for, quoting Mr. Neal's account of the death of Mr. James Guthrie, who, on the authority of Burnet, he says, "spoke an hour before his execution with great composedness," he admits the correctness of this passage: but adds, that Burnet, but two pages before, said that Mr. Guthrie spoke for half an hour with great appearance of serenity; and observes, "so consistent was this great man with himself in the compass of two pages." Now the inconsistency is in Dr. Grey, and not Bishop Burnet, who speaks, in the first place, not of Mr. Guthrie, but of the Marquis of Argyle, vol. i., p. 179.-ED.

Hist., p. 130, 131. Kennet's Chron., p. 577.
Hist. of the Stuarts, p. 144.

Kennet's Chron., p. 459. Burnet, p. 181.

in Britain. Blessed be God, who hath showed mercy to such a wretch, and hath revealed his Son in me, and made me a minister of the everlasting Gospel; and that he has designed, in the midst of such contradiction from Satan and the world, to seal my ministry upon the hearts of not a few of this people, and especially in the congregation and presbytery of Stirling." There was with him on the same scaffold young Captain Govan, whose last words were these: "I bear witness with my blood to the persecuted government of this Church, by synods and presbyteries. I bear witness to the solemn League and Covenant, and seal it with my blood. I likewise testify against all popery, prelacy, idolatry, superstition, and the Service Book, which is no better than a relic of the Romish idolatry.” Soon after this the rights of patronages were restored, and all the Presbyterian ministers silenced, though the court had not a supply of men of any sort to fill up their vacancies.

The account that Bishop Burnet gives of the old Scots Presbyterian ministers, who were possessed of the church livings before the Restoration, is very remarkable, and deserves a place in this history. "They were," says he, "a brave and solemn people; their spirits were eager, and their tempers sour, but they had an appearance that created respect; they visited their parishes much, and were so full of Scripture, and so ready at extempore prayer, that from that they grew to practise sermons; for the custom in Scotland was, after dinner or supper, to read a chapter in the Bible, and when they happened to come in, if it was acceptable, they would on a sudden expound the chapter; by this means the people had such a vast degree of knowledge, that the poor cottagers could pray extempore. Their preachers went all in one track in their sermons, of doctrine, reason, and use; and this was so methodical, that the people could follow a sermon quite through every branch of it. It can hardly be imagined to what a degree these ministers were loved and reverenced by their people. They kept scandalous persons under severe discipline; for breach of the Sabbath, for an oath, or drunkenness, they were cited before the kirk-sessions, and solemnly rebuked for it; for fornication they stood on the stool of repentance in the Church, at the time of worship, for three days, receiving admonition, and making profession of repentance, which some did with many tears, and exhortations to others to take Warning by them; for adultery they sat in the same place six months covered with sackcloth. But with all this," says the bishop, "they had but a narrow compass of learning, were very affected in their deportment, and were apt in their sermons to make themselves popular by preaching against the sins of princes and courts, which the people delighted to hear, because they had no share in them."+

The bishops and clergy who succeeded the Presbyterians were of a quite different stamp; most of them were very mean divines, vicious in their morals, idle and negligent of their cures; by which means they became obnoxious to the whole nation, and were hardly capable of supporting their authority through the reign of King Charles II, even with the assistance of the * Burnet, p. 152, 153. † Ibid., p. 226, 227.

* Kennet's Chron., p. 498.

Among the following names, the reader will find some who have not been noticed in the preceding history, or in the notes. The mother of Oliver Cromwell was by no means deserving of the malevolence and indignity with which her memory was treated. For, though she lavished the greatest fondness on her only son, she was averse to his protectorate, seldom troubled him with her advice, and with reluctance partook of the pageantry of sover eignty. She was an amiable and prudent woman, who, to make up the deficiency of a narrow income, undertook and managed the brewing trade on her own account, and from the profits of it provided fortunes for her daughters sufficient to marry them into good families. Her anxiety for her son's safety kept her in such constant alarm, that she was discontented if she did not see him twice a day. The report of a gun was never heard by her without her crying out, "My son is shot." It ought to have softened the resentment of the Royalists against Mrs. Claypole, though the daughter of Cromwell, that she had importunately interceded for the life of Dr. Hewett; and the denial of her suit had so afflicted her, that it was reported to have been one cause of her death, and was the subject, of her exclamations to her father on her dying bed. Thomas May, Esq., whose name appears in the following list, was a polite and classical scholar, the intimate friend of the greatest wits of his time, and ranked in the first class of them. He was the author of several dra matic pieces, and of two historical poems of the reigns of Henry II. and Edward III. But his principal work was a "Translation of Lucan's Pharsalia," and a continuation of it. Colonel, or Sir John Meldrum, a Scotsman, displayed his military prowess in the west, defeated the Earl of Newcastle before Hull, with the assistance of Sir Thomas Fairfax took the strong town of Gainsborough and the isle of Axholm, conquered the forces of the Lords Byron and Molyneux, near Ormskirk, and took the

The body of Eliz. Cromwell, mother of Oliver, daughter of Sir Richard Stewart, who died November 18, 1654, and was buried in Henry VII.'s chapel.

The body of Eliz. Claypole, daughter of Oliver, who died August 7, 1658, and was buried in a vault made for her in Henry VII.'s chapel. The body of Robert Blake, the famous English admiral, who, after his victorious fight at Santa Cruz, died in Plymouth Sound, August 7, 1657, and was buried in Henry VII's chapel : a man whose great services to the English nation will be an everlasting monument of his re

nown.

The body of the famous Mr. John Pym, a Cornish gentleman, and member of the Long Parliament, who was buried in the year 1643, and attended to his grave by most of the Lords and Commons in Parliament.

The body of Dr. Dorislaus, employed as an assistant in drawing up the charge against the king, for which he was murdered by the Royalists, when he was ambassador to the States of Holland in 1649.

The body of Sir William Constable, one of the king's judges, governor of Gloucester, and colonel of a regiment of foot, who died 1655.

The body of Colonel Edward Popham, one of the admirals of the fleet, who died 1651. The body of William Stroud, Esq., one of the five members of Parliament demanded by King Charles I.

The body of Colonel Humphrey Mackworth, one of Oliver Cromwell's colonels, buried in Henry VII.'s chapel, 1654.

The body of Dennis Bond, Esq., one of the Council of State, who died August 8, 1658.

The body of Thomas May, Esq., who compiled the history of the Long Parliament with great integrity, and in a beautiful style. He died in the year 1650.

The body of Colonel John Meldrum, a Scotsman, who died in the wars.

The body of Colonel Boscawen, a Cornish man.

To these may be added several eminent Presbyterian divines; as,

The body of Dr. William Twisse, prolocutor of the Assembly of Divines, buried in the south cross of the Abbey Church, July 24, 1645.

The body of Mr. Stephen Marshall, buried in the south aisle, November 23, 1655.

The body of Mr. William Strong, preacher in the Abbey Church, and buried there July 4, 1654. These, with some others of lesser note, both men and women, were thrown together into one pit in St. Margaret's churchyard, near the back door of one of the prebendaries; but the work was so indecent, and drew such a general odium on the government, that a stop was put to any farther proceedings.

Among others who were obnoxious to the ministry, were the people called Quakers, who, having declared openly against the lawfulness of making use of carnal weapons, even in selfdefence, had the courage to petition the House of Lords for a toleration of their religion, and for a dispensation from taking the oaths, which town and castle of Scarborough.-Biogr. Britan., vol. iv., p. 517. Ludlow's Memoirs, 4to, p. 257. Granger's History of England, vol. iii., p. 94, and vol. ii., p. 265.-ED. * Kennet's Chron., p. 536