The monarch's worse side was shown in his dis solution of the monasteries, and the squandering upon himself, the nobles, and the gentry of the larger part of the wealth which thug fell under his control. Hence, under bereavement of so many sources of charity, came those formidable risings of the people which more than once threatened the royal armies with defeat. Indeed, the Reformation was hindered more by the selfishness and treachery of its pretended friends than by the opposition of its enemies.
The reign of the youthful and pious Edward VI. (1547-53) was long enough to allow a vast amount of sacrilegious plunder. The first book of Homilies was set forth in 1547, and the next year an Order for the Communion in English. This was followed by the first English Liturgy, which was used for the first time on Whit-Sunday. 1549. The second book of Edward was issued in 1552. In the same year the Forty-two Articles of Religion were set forth, but they were not sanctioned by Convocation until 1563, when they were reduced. with sonic modifications. to thirty-nine. Parliament revoked the Six Articles of Henry, authorizing clerical mar riage, enjoining communion in both kinds. prohibiting solitary masses, and abolishing divers usages and ceremonies which were then believed to foster superstition and idolatry. The death of Edward, in 1553, put both the Refo•ma-• tion and the reformers to a severe test. Under Mary the Pope was once more acknowledged. and the peculiar doctrines of Rome were reinstated. Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, and many others sealed their convictions with their blood. Upon -E-14-6 beth's accession (1558) this work of reconstruc tion was continued under more favorable circum stances. The new Queen and her Parliament showed clearly enough their determination not to push ecclesiastical changes to the lengths some of the reformers demanded. She had no sym pathy with the eccentric course of the foreign reformations. Under their influence. some of t he English reformers began to look upon what, had already been completed as but partial. and intro ductory to other changes thought by them to be equally essential. From this source arose the pro lific evils belonging to that Puritanism which w nought as great damage as the Erastianism with which much of the preNious work had been accom panied. Elizabeth herself had little religious sen
timent, and questions of State determined her pol icy to abet and foster the Reformation movement. lint she had no liking for the Puritanical spirit, which boded a curtailment of the prerogatives of the throne and an assertion of rights. which might int reach upon the privileges of Tudor absolutism. \\ bile seeking to hold Puritanism in cheek, never theless, her minister understood its value to the Queen, and judiciously maintained a balance be tween the retroactive and extreme reforming par ties. There was still considerable religious eontro versy. in which 'the judicious Hooker' took a prom inent part. Archbishop Parker—a thoroughly loyal prelate, a scholarly man, and an etlieient or ganizer—belongs to this sante period. The almost unanimous conformity—only 200 clergymen quit ted their benefices at Elizabeth's aeeession—was, no doubt, due in part to the severe penal laws which the Queen enforced. There was no visible nor fornml sehism until the Pope, finding Elizabeth deaf to his appeals and determined in her refusal to acknowledge his supremacy, formally excomnm ideated her and absolved her subjects from alle gianee to her. Thus .meou•aged, the Papal adhe rents began to separate themselves into a distinct in the year 1571. They had, however. for nearly a century no bishops of their own. ex cept for six years, when a titular bishop, sent from Rome, resided in England.
The Puritans. failing to bring the Church to their way of thinking. eat themselves off from her communion, and set up communities of their own. llaving—notwithstanding Archbishop \\ hitgift's earnest struggle against them—se cured a majority in both Houses of Parliament. they passed an ordinance to establish a Presby terian form of government. The Prayer-Book :rod were practically :Ilion shed for a season, despite the brave and determined protests and opposition of non-eonforming churchmen. Convocation in 1563 settled and subscribed the Confession of Doctrine which has ever 'since remained an authoritative tetteltin_r of the English Church. It also set forth. with •.ynodieal authority, a second Book of Ho/nines.