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in its consequences, to the ancient system. The spirit of inquiry thus powerfully excited was encouraged by the publication of a Book of Homilies, in which the great points of faith and justification were interpreted according to the new learning, and by the circulation of, Tracts translated from the principal works of the foreign reformers.

The communication with those eminent men, which had been opened in the first instance at the desire and for the private purposes of Henry, and had been discontinued, from a mutual feeling of distrust, during the latter portion of his reign, was resumed" at the death of that prince, and soon carried to the greatest possible extent. Hooper, Horne, Cox, Traheron, and others, who became conspicuous in the history of the English church, were frequent correspondents, and some of them intimate friends, of Bullinger" and the reformers of Zurich; Bucer wrote a

n For instance; Melancthon writes to Camerarius, Ep. 771. an. 1549, scripsi de Hispano nostro ad regem Anglicum et ad Cantuariensem. Ep. 780. an. 1550, ego rursus in Angliam vocor. Ep. 783. an. 1550, Alesii litteras scriptas ad regem Anglicum et ad Cantuariensem hodie trado nuncio, una cum meis perferendas. Ep. 813. an. 1553. regiis litteris vocor in Angliam, quæ scriptæ sunt mense Maio. Postea secuta est mors nobilissimi adolescentis.

o In the letters of the reformers preserved at Zurich is frequent mention of the accordance of the English with Bullinger in matters of doctrine. Traheron writes to him in Aug. 1548, de consensu Anglorum præcipuorum cum Tigurinis per omnia etiam in cœnæ causa. Hooper in Dec. 1549, de cœna omnes Angli recte sentiunt. Burcher in April 1550 says, salva erit Anglia ex obitu Fagii et Buceri: and again in Nov., rex avide Bullingeri litteras et librum sibi inscriptum recepit. Hooper says in Feb. 1550, Coxus Bullingerum magni facit. Micronius in May 1550, Cranmero Bullingeri nomen gratum. Cox himself in May 1551' writes, de consensu in Eucharistiæ negotio. Compare Strype, Mem. vol. II. part i. p. 534. and Burnet, Hist. Ref.

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gratulatory letter to the churchP of England, in praise of its Homilies, and with the view of recommending further alterations; Calvin dedicated a part of his Commentary to the protector Somerset, and urged him to carry on the great work in which he was engaged; Cranmer repeated his earnest invitations to Melancthon, Hardenberg, and other distinguished reformers; and John a Lasco, John ab Ulmis, Dryander, Utenhovius, Peter Alexander, Bernardin Ochin, Micronius, Valerandus Pollanus, the younger Justus Jonas, and others, together with Bucer, Peter Martyr, Fagius, and Tremellius, were received in England in the most favourable manner, and many of them placed in situations of trust and influence.

The spirit which these zealous foreigners were anxious to promote, was already in full activity in the minds of the English reformers, although, in their case, it was united with a clearer perception of the difficulties in their way. In the first year of Edward's reign the convocations inquired into the progress which had been made, at their desire, in examining, reforming, and publishing the divine service; and in the following year the king appointed the archbishop of Canterbury, with other learned and discreet bishops and divines, to draw an order of divine worship, having respect to the pure religion of Christ taught in the scripture, and to the practice of the primitive church." This "commission met at Windsor in

66

P Strype, Mem. vol. II. part i. p. 50.

¶ Dedication of the Ep. to Timothy.

r Cranmer's Works, vol. I. p. 331. Hess, Catal. vol. II.

S

Wilkins' Conc. vol. IV.

p.

Burn. Hist. Ref. vol. II.

p. 12.

15.

192.

p.

Strype, Cran. vol. I. p. 220. t Stat. at large, vol. II. p. 393. u "The archbishop of Canterbury is mentioned in the act of parliament, but none else. But the rest of them (if we may give credit

*May 1548, and drew up a Book of Common Prayer, which was approved by 'convocation, and finally ratified by act of parliament in the ensuing January. It was enjoined to be used for all divine offices from the feast of

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to Fuller's Church History, and what is commonly taken up and reported in our histories) were Day bishop of Chichester, Goodrich bishop of Ely, Skyp of Hereford, Holbeach of Lincoln, Ridley of Rochester, Thirlby of Westminster, May dean of St. Paul's, Taylor dean of Lincoln, Haines dean of Exeter, Robertson archdeacon of Leicester and prebendary of Sarum, Redman master of Trinity College Cambridge and prebendary of Westminster, and Cox almoner to the king and dean of Westminster and Christ Church, Oxon. Though I conjecture the main of the work went through some few of these men's hands. For three of those bishops, Thirlby, Skyp, and Day, protested against the bill for this liturgy when it passed their house ; and I believe Robertson and Redman liked it as little." Strype, Mem. vol. I. part i. p. 134. To this list Burnet (Hist. Ref. vol. II. pp. 126 and 147.) adds the archbishop of York, and the bishops of London, Durham, Worcester, Norwich, St. Asaph, Salisbury, Coventry and Lichfield, Carlisle, Bristol, and St. David's, and this larger number is approved by Collier (Hist. vol. ii. p. 243.) on the authority of some papers belonging to bishop Stillingfleet. It is not improbable that the larger number was appointed in the first instance, in the year 1547, when the Order of the communion was to be drawn up, and was afterwards reduced to the commission mentioned by Strype, when the object was to compose a Book of Common Prayer.

× Strype, Mem. vol. II. part i. p. 133.

y Strype, Mem. vol. II. part i. p. 137.

z Burnet says, (Hist. Ref. vol. II. p. 192.) “The next act that passed in this parliament was about the public service, which was put into the House of Commons on the 9th of December, and the next day was also put into the House of Lords: it lay long before them, and was not agreed on till the 15th of January; the earl of Derby, the bishops of London, Durham, Norwich, Carlisle, Hereford, Worcester, Westminster, and Chichester, and the lords Dacres and Windsor protesting." From the journals of the two houses it appears that the act in question was read the third time in the House of Lords on the 15th of January, and the third time in the House of Commons on the 21st of January, 1548.

Whitsunday following, and was published by Whitchurch on the 4th of May 1549.

But though this commission consisted entirely of English divines, and had completed their task before the most eminent of the foreign reformers had even arrived in England, the new Liturgy was greatly indebted, where

a It has been thought of some importance to shew that the foreign reformers had no share whatever in the composition of the first Liturgy; and Heylin (Hist. Ref. p. 65.) and Collier (Hist. vol. II. p. 253.) assert with much apparent satisfaction, that it was completed before Bucer and Martyr arrived in England. It cannot, I think, be proved that any foreign influence was exerted in this instance, and the presumption arising from the comparison of the actual liturgy with the general sentiments of the foreign reformers is strongly in the opposite direction. But foreigners had certainly arrived in England before the time when the convocation, which in the year 1548 met on the 24th of November (Wake, State of the Church, &c. p. 494.), entered upon the consideration of the new Liturgy. Strype (Mem. vol. I. part i. p. 123.) mentions several as settled at Canterbury in 1547. The three persons however of most importance, as being those who would have influence with Cranmer, are a Lasco, Martyr, and Bucer. Cranmer wrote to a Lasco on the 4th of July, 1548, (Works, vol. I. p. 329.) to remove a doubt still remaining in a Lasco's mind; and on the following 29th of October we find from a letter of Burcher to Bullinger (Hess, Catal. vol. II. p. 4.), that a Lasco was in England. On the 27th of November 1548, John ab Ulmis says in a letter to Bullinger (Hess, Cat. vol. II. p. 7.), Cranmerus ab J. a Lasco ad saniorem de cœna sententiam est adductus. (Comp. Strype, Cran. vol. I. p. 336.) Martyr arrived, as Simler and Sleidan state (Vit. Mart. p. 13. Sleid. de Sta. Rel. 1. 19. f. 280.), in November 1547; according to Wood (Ath. Ox. vol. I. col. 328.), in December 1547; and it is plain from a letter of his quoted by Strype (Mem. vol. II. part i. p. 123.), that in January 1548 he was residing with the primate at Lambeth. In the same year he became King's professor of Theology at Oxford. Cranmer wrote to Bucer (Works, vol. I. p. 335.) October 2, 1548, to urge his coming; and on the 26th of April, 1549, Bucer wrote from Lambeth (Hess, Catal. vol. II. p. 8.) to his friends at Strasburg, to inform them of his cordial reception by the primate (Strype, Cran. vol. I. p. 281.).

ever it deviated from the ancient breviaries, to the progress which had been made on the continent in the reformation of religious worship. One of the most remarkable occurrences, which the eventful history of the times has recorded of the state of Germany, is the attempt made by Herman, elector of Cologne, a Roman catholic archbishop, and a sovereign prince, to establish within his electorate a purer system of doctrine and discipline. His attempt was ultimately unsuccessful; but the zeal and energy of the venerable prelate, and the learning and prudence with which his measures were conducted, attracted the notice, and secured the respect and sympathy of all protestant churches. He resigned his see in the year 1547, but he had previously published a book, the composition of which had been entrusted to Melancthon and Bucer, containing his views of a "Christian reformation founded on God's word." This book was translated into English, and published in the year 1547, and this first edition was speedily followed by another, bearing testimony, as we may reasonably assume, to the great interest that was felt in England on the subject of it, and to

b Sleidan, de Statu Rel. 1. 15. f. 200. Seckendorf, Hist. Luth. 107. Strype, Cran. vol. I. p. 410. Mem. vol. II. part i. pp. 41 and 479. Burnet, Hist. Ref. vol. I. p. 105.

c Melancthon to Camerarius, Ep. 304. an. 1543, Bucerus et ego librum absolvimus: to Caspar Cruciger, Ep. 84. an. 1543, from Bonn. Tantum inchoatum est scriptum de forma rituum et doctrinæ, et sequitur formam Norimbergensem. Legi quædam, et ipse articulum intertextui περὶ τριῶν ὑποστάσιων τῆς θεότητος : to Luther, lib. I. ep. 74, Episcopum velle, ut forma doctrinæ et rituum ad exemplum Norimbergensis Ecclesiæ conscriberetur. See also Laurence, Bampt. Lect. p. 443.

d With the title, "A simple and religious consultation of us Herman, by the grace of God," &c. Imprinted by John Day, 1547 and 1548.

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