to restore the service of the church to its primitive purity. For it was not the design of our ' reformers, nor indeed ought it to have been, to • introduce a new form of worship into the church, • but to correct and amend the old one; and to purge it from those gross corruptions which had gradually crept into it, and so to render the Di• vine service more agreeable to the scriptures, and to the doctrine and practice of the primitive church in the best and purest ages of Christianity. In which reformation they proceeded gradually, according as they were able.

And first, the convocation appointed a com'mittee A. D. 1537, to compose a book, which was called, the godly and pious institution of a Christian man; containing a declaration of the • Lord's prayer, the ave Maria, the creed, the • ten commandments, and the seven sacraments, • &c. which book was again published A. D. 1540, and 1543, with corrections and alterations, under the title of A necessary doctrine and erudition for any Chrysten man: And, as it is expressed in that preface, was set furthe by the King, with the advice of his clergy; the Lordes • bothe spirituall and temporall, with the nether house of Parliament, having both seen and liked it well.

Also in the year 1540, a committee of Bishops and Divines was appointed by King Henry • VIII. (at the petition of the convocation) to

reform the rituals and offices of the church. And what was done by this committee for re<forming the offices was reconsidered by the con• vocation itself two or three years afterwards, <viz. in February, 1542-3. And in the next year ⚫ the King and his clergy ordered the prayers for • processions, and litanies to be put into English, and to be publickly used. And finally, in the year 1545, the King's Primer came forth; wherein were contained not only the Lord's ́ prayer, creed, and ten commandments, but also the whole morning and evening prayer in English, not much different from what it is in our ❝ present common prayer; the venite, Te Deum, Lord's prayer, creed, &c. being in the same version in which we now use them. And this is all that appears to have been done in relation to liturgical matters in the reign of King Henry the Eighth.

In the year 1547, the first of Edward VI. December 2, the convocation declared their

• opinion, nullo reclamante, that the communion ought to be administered to all persons under both kinds. Whereupon an act of parliament • was made, ordering the communion to be so administered. And then a committee of Bishops, and other learned Divines, was appointed to compose an uniform order of communion, according to the rules of scripture, and the use of the ⚫ primitive church. In order to this, the commit

tee repaired to Windsor-Castle; and in that retirement, within a few days, drew up that form, which is printed in Bishop Sparrow's collection, 'p. 17. And this being immediately brought into • use the next year, the same persons being im'powered by a new commission, prepare them'selves to enter upon a yet nobler work; and in ' a few months' time finish the whole liturgy, by drawing up publick offices, not only for sundays and holidays, but for baptism, confirmation, matrimony, burial of the dead, and other 'special occasions; in which the forementioned office for the holy communion was inserted, with many alterations and amendments: and the • whole book being so framed, was set forth by the • common agreement and full consent both of the • Parliament and convocations Provincial; i. e. the two convocations of the provinces of Canterbury and York.

The committee appointed to compose this liturgy, were, 1. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury; who was the chief promoter of ' our excellent reformation; and had a principal • hand, not only in compiling the liturgy, but in all the steps made towards it. He died a martyr to the religion of the reformation, which 'principally by his means had been established in the church of England, being burnt at Oxford in the reign of Queen Mary, March 21, • 1556. 2. Thomas Goodrick, Bishop of Ely.

3. Henry Holbech, alias Randes, Bishop of Lincoln. 4. George Day, Bishop of Chiches⚫ter. 5. John Skip, Bishop of Hereford. 6. Thomas Thirlby, Bishop of Westminster. 7. Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of Rochester, and afterwards of London. He was esteemed the • ablest man of all that advanced the reformation, for piety, learning and solidity of judgment. • He died a martyr in Queen Mary's reign, being burnt at Oxford, October 16, 1555. 8. Dr. William May, Dean of St. Paul's, London, and af⚫terwards also Master of Trinity College in Cambridge. 9. Dr. John Taylor, Dean, afterwards • Bishop of Lincoln. He was deprived in the be'ginning of Queen Mary's reign, and died soon after. 10. Dr. Simon Hayns, Master of Queen's College in Cambridge, and Dean of Exeter. 11. Dr. John Redman, Master of Trinity College in Cambridge, and Dean of Westminster. • 12. Dr. Richard Cox, Dean of Christ-Church • in Oxford, Almoner and Privy-Councellor to • King Edward VI. He was deprived of all his • preferments in Queen Mary's reign, and fled to • Frankford: from whence returning in the reign ⚫ of Queen Elizabeth, he was consecrated Bishop of Ely. 13. Mr. Thos. Robinson, Archdeacon ⚫ of Leicester.

• Thus was our excellent liturgy compiled by martyrs and confessors, together with divers other learned Bishops and Divines; and being

́revised and approved by the Archbishops, Bish ops, and Clergy of both the provinces of Canterbury and York, was then confirmed by the King and three estates in Parliament, (A. D. • 1548, 2d. and 3d. of Edward VI. chap. 1.) who gave it this just encomium, viz. Which at this time by the aid of the Holy Ghost, with uniform • agreement is of them concluded, set forth, &c.

• But about the end of the year 1550, or the beginning of 1551, for the removal of some objec• tions, Archbishop Granmer proposed to have a new review; and to this end called in the assistance of Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr, two foreigners, whom he had invited over from the • troubles in Germany; who, not understanding the English tongue, had latin versions prepared for them. At this time the sentences, exhorta⚫tion, confession, and absolution were added, at the beginning of the morning and evening services; (which in the first common prayer book • began with the Lord's prayer) and the com• mandments at the beginning of the communionoffice. Some rites and ceremonies were also re'moved, such as the use of oil in confirmation, the unction of the sick, prayers for souls departed, both in the communion-office, and in that for the burial of the dead: the invocation of the Holy Ghost in the consecration of the Eucha'rist was omitted, and the prayer of oblation that • used to follow it; also the rubrick, that ordered