concurrence of Parliament. The Commons became suspicious. Action under the statute of Elizabeth was suspended by royal command, and the Convocations were proceeding as if it were no longer in force. On June 25, 1661, a committee of the House of Commons was appointed

to view the several laws for confirming the Liturgy of the Church of England, and to make search, whether the original Book of the Liturgy annexed to the Act passed in the fifth and sixth years of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, be yet extant; and to bring in a compendious Bill to supply any defect in the former laws, and to provide for an effectual conformity to the Liturgy of the Church, for the time to come. [27]

This resolution begins the history of the fourth and last Act of Uniformity, which deserves a detailed examination. A Bill was introduced on June 29, and since the original Book could not be found, a printed copy of the year 1604 was annexed. It was read a third time on July 9, and sent up to the Lords. [28] Nothing more was heard of it for several months. The object of the Commons was simply to enforce with greater efficacy the existing law. But this would have rendered futile the labours of Convocation in revising the Prayer-book. The use of the revised Book would be forbidden under penalty. The Lords therefore held their hand. The Bill sent up from the Commons was at length read the first time on January 14, 1662. Three days later it was read a second time and committed. [29] The committee met several times and adjourned, waiting until they might see the revised Book prepared by Convocation. [30] At length, on February 24, this Book, certified under the Great Seal, was sent by the King to the House of Lords. On March 13 the committee reported the Bill with several amendments and additions. Before these were considered, the alterations in the Book were read over to the House, but not in any way discussed, and a vote of thanks to the Convocation for the pains taken in the matter was adopted. [31] On April 9 the Bill passed the third reading, with the revised Book annexed in place of the former printed copy, and so was returned to the Commons. [32]

Meanwhile the Convocation had, on March 5, commissioned three bishops to watch any alterations which might be imported into the Book by either House of Parliament. [33] On April 15 the Commons appointed a committee to compare the revised Book with the copy of 1604, and on the following day, upon the report of the committee, resolved by a narrow majority not to allow any debate on the alterations made. They reserved, however, the right to do so had they wished. [34] The clauses of the Bill were carefully gone through; a proviso inserted by the Lords, that no man should be deprived for not using the surplice or the Cross in Baptism, was thrown out; [35] several amendments were carried, and a conference of the two Houses was held for their consideration. [36]

On this occasion occurred two most significant incidents. The first arose out of the wish of the Commons to insert a proviso for

reverend and uniform gestures and demeanours to be enjoined at the time of divine service.

It was agreed in Conference that this matter was more proper for Convocation than for Parliament, and, therefore, by a vote of the House of Lords, Convocation was requested

to prepare some canon or rule for that purpose, to be humbly presented unto his majesty for his assent. [37]

The other incident arose from the discovery of the Commons' committee that in one of the rubrics of the revised Book the word persons appeared to be written by mistake for children. On this

the Lord Bishop of Durham acquainted the House that himself, and the Lord Bishop of St. Asaph, and the Lord Bishop of Carlisle, had authority from the Convocation to mend the said word, averring it was only a mistake of the scribe, and accordingly they came to the clerk's table, and amended the same. [38]

In fact, on April 21, the bishops in Convocation had heard from the Chancellor of the mistake, and had taken measures accordingly, adding Cosin of Durham to their committee of March 5 appointed for such an emergency. [39]

The Act received the royal assent on May 19. I have dealt so fully with its course through Parliament because of the character of the incidents. In itself it does not contain much that is new as regards my subject. The preamble recites the statute of Elizabeth, and relates the fact of its non-observance, and the neglect of the Book of Common Prayer during the late troublous times; takes note of the King's commission for the review of the Book and its subsequent revision by Convocation; and records the message in which the King recommended to Parliament that the Book so revised should "be the Book" appointed to be used everywhere in the kingdom. This accordingly is enacted, and in the twenty-fourth section all the existing laws on the subject, including of course the statute of Elizabeth, are confirmed as referring to the revised Book and none other. The revised Book, as in 1552, is thus put in exactly the same legal position as the original, and the authentic copy, as on that occasion, is, for the purpose of reference, annexed and joined to the Act. The other lengthy clauses of the Act contain elaborate provisions for preventing nonconformity, but with one exception they do not throw any further light on the relation of the legislature to the Prayer-book. The exception is the fifteenth section, which provides

that the penalties in this Act shall not extend to the Foreiners or Aliens of the Forein Reformed Churches allowed, or to be allowed by the King's Majesty, his heirs and successors, in England.

An exception which had hitherto been made, as we have seen, by a stretch of prerogative, was now established by law. The exception illustrates the purpose of the Act. No sect or congregation of native-born dissenters was to be allowed any relief from the penalties imposed by law. The guarded promise of toleration made by the King before and after his restoration was ignored. The use of the forms of worship provided by the authorities of the Church was to be forced on the whole nation.

The conclusion that I would draw from this analysis of proceedings will be fairly obvious. The Prayer-book did not originate with Parliament, nor was it in any true sense authorized by the Crown in Parliament. The action of the legislature on the first and the last occasion is perfectly intelligible. A Book of Common Prayer was in existence, drawn up and approved by ecclesiastical authority, on the first occasion it is not quite clear after what fashion, on the last occasion by the unquestioned exercise of synodical powers. This Book, so approved, was then, by authority of Parliament, imposed upon the whole nation. This being clearly the case on the two occasions when the procedure is free from ambiguity, I think we may fairly argue for the same construction of those proceedings, on the other two occasions, which are more open to question. The policy of the Acts of Uniformity is to be taken as a whole. The writer of the paper in the Record Office to which I have referred, purporting to give an account of what was done in 1559, explains that parliamentary action is limited to enforcing the use of the Book by penalties. Further authority than this, he says emphatically, is not in the Parliament. Writing early in the seventeenth century he sets out exactly the procedure followed in 1662. He describes, in fact, the policy of Uniformity, which was, therefore, not peculiar to the last occasion. [40]

I shall describe it