were to go forth of England to general councils. It was also expressed, that the king and the realm did not mean to vary from the articles of the catholic faith in Christendom.

g

In 1534f the king was pronounced to be the authorized supreme head of the Church of England; the first-fruits of all dignities spiritual were to be paid to the king; and an act was passed for the nomination and consecration of suffragans.

i

In 1535 an act was passed, to surrender all monasteries to the king, which had not lands above two hundred pounds per annum.

In the injunctions sent to the clergy in 1536, the Feast of the Dedication of Churches was to be held every year, on the first Sunday in October; but the Feast of the Patron of the Church was to be no more observed. All the feasts, from the first of July to the twenty-ninth of September, and all the feasts in term time were not in future to be observed as holidays, except the Feasts of the Apostles, of the Virgin Mary, and of St. George, and those days on which the judges did not usually sit. But the four quarter-days were still to be offering-days. All persons were required to adhere to the Book of Articles, now first published. These injunctions, which were

f 26 Henry VIII. c. 1. g C. 3. h C. 14. * 27 Henry VIII. c. 28.

probably composed by Cranmer and Ridley, were published in the king's name by Cromwell. The clergy were required to provide a New Testament, in English or Latin, and to read in it and study it daily, as well as the book published by the king's authority, "Of the Institution of a Christen Man." They were, in the service of their churches, required to repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Ave-maria, in English; and, at other parts of the service, the Creed and the Ten Commandments, also in English; and that the people should repeat after them; and none to be admitted to the sacrament at Easter that could not repeat them. All parishes were to provide a great Bible, in Latin and English, to be chained and fixed in some open place in the church, that all persons might resort to it, and read it for their instruction. The clergy were required to read to their people the gospel and epistle in English; four sermons were to be preached every year, one in each quarter. They were not to worship any images or relics, nor kneel, nor offer any lights or gifts to them. But they might have lights in the rood-loft, and before the sacrament, and at the sepulchre, at Easter. All images, to which there was any resort, were to be taken away. They were to recommend that the money, in former instances expended in pilgrimages,

should be applied in charity to the poor. The ave and pardon-bell, which was accustomed to be tolled three times every day, was to be no more tolled. The clergy were to use decent apparel, that they might be known to be of the clergy. They were required to declare and explain the articles relating to ceremonies; to exhort the people to teach their children, in their vernacular language, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Commandments, and the general principles of religion. They were themselves to lead pious lives, to love their neighbour, and avoid dissention; and to teach that we are only saved by the mercy of God and the merits of Christ, and that our good works only from thence derive their virtue. The incumbents of greater livings were required to give an exhibition to a poor scholar, either at some grammar-school or at the university.

The Convocation appointed a committee to draw up a book, which was called "The Godly and Pious Institution of a Christen Man." It contained a declaration of the Lord's Prayer, the Ave-maria, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Seven Sacraments. It was again published in 1540 and 1543, with corrections and

k Strype's Life of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 52,

alterations, with the title of "A necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christen Man." It was ordered to be published by the king with the advice of the clergy, and approbation of both houses of parliament.

In 1539' an act was passed for the dissolution of monasteries and abbeys; and their lands given to the king.

In 1540 a committee of bishops and divines was appointed by the king to reform the rituals and offices of the church; and the convocation, in February, 1543, re-considered what had been done by that committee.

In 1543m an act was passed to have recourse to the catholic and apostolic church for the decision of controversies. All the books of the Old and New Testament, in English, "being of Tindal's false translation," or comprising any matter of the Christian religion, articles of the faith, or holy Scripture, set forth since 1540, were to be abolished. The Bible was not to be read in English in any church. No women, artificers, yeomen, and labourers, were to read the New Testament in English.

In 1545 prayers for processions and litanies were ordered to be rendered into English, and to

131 Henry VIII. c. 13. m 35 Henry VIII. c. 1.

be publicly used. This form of devotion was called "The Primer, set furth by the Kinges Majestie and his Clergie, to be taught, lerned, and red: and none other to be used thorowout all his Dominions." It begins with the Lord's Prayer; and, among other matters, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, Venite, Te Deum, and other hymns, and collects, in English. In the Litany, with suffrages to be said or sung, in the time of the processions, they invoked "the blessed Virgin, the angels, and arch-angels, and all holy orders of blessed spirits, all holy patriarchs and prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, and all the blessed company of heaven," to pray for them. After the word "conspiracy," was added, "from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enormities." The rest of the Litany is almost literally the same we still use in the Book of Common Prayer, except some collects at the end. It is a serious and impressive form of devotion, and, except the invocation of saints and angels, is a pious and edifying composition. The preface is an exhortation to prayer. The Primer was re-printed, in 1546, without any alteration.

n

In 1547 an act was passed for all chantries

1 Edward VI. c. 14.