omened' idol, a silver crucifix, in her private chapel; and desired her clergy to be sumptuously attired. Cox, when commanded to administer the sacrament in her presence, tearfully appeals to her in the matter of the 'idol image'; but his appeal was in vain. Parker, her Archbishop, found it necessary to write her a brief treatise on idolatry. She loved magnificence in religion,' says old Echard, which made her inclinable to some former ornaments and even images in churches.' And in The difficulties of the situation were greatly complicated by the diplomatic use she made of the religious settlement of the country. This, and her own value as a marriageable party were her chief cards in the deep game she played with the two strong Catholic powers of France and Spain. her play she was at least as unscrupulous as her opponents. Her splendid mendacity almost wins from us a sinister admiration. Her difficulties were admittedly great. The Vatican, when it became convinced that its diplomats could not cajole her, for she beat them easily at their own game, excommunicated her; freed all Catholic subjects from the obligation of loyalty to her; and never ceased urging the combination of the Catholic powers to crush her as a heretic. Moreover there was another claimant to the English throne, a woman of great personal fascination, and possessing, for strict Catholic minds, a better title than Elizabeth's. For Henry's divorce of Katherine of Aragon and his marriage with Anne Boleyn never received Papal recognition. Mary Stuart was therefore a threatening personality for many years, especially during the life of her husband, the Dauphin of France. Elizabeth met the situation, first, by her assumed indecision in the matter of religion—a part which she was qualified to sustain by her natural dislike to come to a final decision upon any subject; then, in due time, by her long and discreditable trifling with her French suitors, the two sons of Katharine de Medici. When France threatened, she knew that her brother-in-law, Philip of Spain, had no wish to see his neighbour aggrandised by the possession of England. And she was able to deceive the wily Spanish ambassador by the assumed frankness with which she assured him that the Pope would not think so harshly of her, if only he knew her secret heart! When Spain threatened, at once her amours with the Duke of Anjou grew warmer, and the endless marriage negotiations were once more renewed. As a little by-play accompanying these diplomatic intrigues, the silver crucifix was introduced, or again banished, from her worship. She could even relight the altar candles to assist in a diplomatic deal. She had a deep political conviction that the strength of her kingdom depended upon the unity of all classes in the profession of religion. Was there an arrangement possible which would achieve that result? a modus vivendi which should include a break with the Papacy, and also satisfy the Protestant reaction following the cruelty and corruption of Mary's reign? an arrangement whereby men of intelligence might read the New Testament and yet worship side-by-side with pacified, but not converted, Catholics? Elizabeth, whose natural gifts of diplomacy and intrigue had been finely sharpened by her perilous experiences under the rule of Mary, thought it was a matter to be managed by a measure of compromise and astute arrangement. The Mass must, though with hesitation, go. The services must be in the mother tongue. Of her brother Edward's two Prayer Books, the later and more evangelical should supply the general liturgical forms and the articles of faith; the earlier and more Catholic, the ornaments,' including the vestments of the clergy. Let the Protestants reckon up their mercies, the real and substantial changes effected in the organisation of the Church. As for the Catholics, their attachment was to a form of worship. They had never been encouraged to think and argue; the Latin of the offices. meant little or nothing to them; their priests in many cases could not have construed the text of the creed. And when they saw their old parish priests, the majority of whom conformed and kept their benefices, going about their business in the old and accustomed garments, they would suffer no shock, and insensibly fall into the new order. Such was her reasoning. She had presently to learn that those of her subjects who, unlike herself, had a conscience in these things, were not to be so easily managed. 4. The Vestiarian Controversy.-The controversy upon the habits to be worn by the clergy, which raged throughout the early part of Elizabeth's reign, was no new issue. It was a legacy from the Protestant martyrs. John Hooper, one of the distinguished victims of the year 1555, when appointed under Edward to the See of Gloucester, spent some time in prison because he 'scrupled the vestments.'1 Ridley, the chief agent under Archbishop Cranmer in the persecution of Hooper, when he neared his martyrdom, changed his views and declared the priestly apparel to be 'foolish and abominable, yea too fond for a Vice in a play.' 2 Old Hugh Latimer, violently disrobed as part of his 'degradation,' said with a touch of his native humour, 'Now I can make no more holy water'; an adequate comment on the proceeding. Ferrar of St. David's openly showed his dislike of the Aaronic habits.' Rowland Taylor, the martyr of Hadley, vestured against his will that he might be officially degraded, 'set his hands to his side walking up and down'; then in his merry way, for he was a wit as well as a saint, said to Bonner, 'How say you, my Lord ? Am I not a godly fool? How say you, my Master? If I were in Cheap[side], should I not have boys enough to laugh at these apish toys and toying trumpery?' And of the same mind were Cranmer, John Rogers, Bradford, and others. It was inevitable, therefore, when Elizabeth determined to adopt the 'ornaments' as in the Prayer Book of 1549, that there should be a Vestiarian controversy. The possible difficulties were discussed by the Exiles before their return. During the early months of her reign, when the external forms of worship were still undetermined by Elizabeth-for the settlement,' whatever divine and authoritative value it may possess for ecclesiastical disputants to-day, was 1 Strype's Cranmer, i. 302 f. 2 Foxe, Acts and Mon. vii. 543, 544. 3 Ibid. vi. 691. the Queen's own settlement-strong hopes were entertained that a clean sweep would be made of these outward badges of the old persecuting and superstitious Church. That they should be swept away was probably the personal wish of all the bishops first appointed by Elizabeth; with the possible exception of Kitchen and Curwen, who had changed sides so often that they cannot be credited with having had any conscience in the matter. Miles Coverdale, the eminent translator of the Scriptures, an old Edwardian bishop, and for that reason one of those who took part in ordaining Archbishop Parker; John Foxe, the martyrologist, probably the most venerated man amongst all those who were eligible for high office in the Church; both lived in poverty and neglect because they demurred to the vestments. Cox, Grindal, Horne, Sandys, Parkhurst, Bentham, all about to be appointed to the Episcopate, exerted themselves to the utmost in the early days of the reign to exclude outright from the new ecclesiastical settlement all the Popish vestments and ceremonies. Even Matthew Parker, whose hand was heavy on those who refused the habits, had no love for them. John Jewell, writing to Peter Martyr, puts the matter vividly enough. He says, 'The scenic apparatus of divine worship is now under agitation; and those very things which you and I have so often laughed at are now seriously and solemnly entertained . . . as if Christ's religion could not exist without something tawdry. Our minds indeed are not sufficiently disengaged to make these fooleries of much importance.' Writing to Bullinger and Lavater as late as 1566, he expresses the wish that all even the slightest vestiges of Popery might be removed from our churches, and above all from our minds.' 2 , 1 5. The Advertisments.' For seven or eight years vestiarian conformity was not rigidly enforced. The difficulty of filling the vacant livings with suitable ministers was very great. Moreover those most opposed to the vestments were amongst the most earnest and successful of the clergy. Considerable irregularities, both in this respect and 2 Ibid. i. 148. 1 Zur. Lett. i. 23. also in regard to the sign of the cross, the interrogations and the answers of god-parents at baptism, and certain other matters prescribed in the Prayer Book, were expediently winked at. But towards the close of the year 1564 foreign affairs were once more becoming critical. Katharine de Medici had temporarily healed the internal dissensions in France, and a conference was held at Bayonne, whose real purpose was to afford an opportunity to the statesmen of France and Spain to devise means to crush the Protestant powers. Elizabeth, apprehensive of the result, and by no means averse to political intrigue, forthwith took her place in the game; choosing, as many times before, the old Spanish opening, with a variation which also was not new. She revived her interest in King Philip's cousin, the Archduke Charles of Austria. Guzman, the newly-appointed ambassador from Madrid, soon had a taste of her quality, for with an air of deep sincerity she confided to him that at heart she was a Catholic. So deep were the prejudices of her subjects, owing to the burnings during the late reign, that it was necessary to hide from them for the time the true state of affairs. Guzman, in reply, told her Majesty how the preachers' were slandering her on account of the silver crucifix. With considerable spirit she replied that she would have crosses that is crucifixes in all the churches. To keep up the game it was necessary, by suitable outward action, to disavow all sympathy with the growing demands of the reformers, and in this counsel she had evidently the support of Cecil. The results were serious enough to those who were to be her counters in the play. -- In the beginning of 1564-65 the Queen informs Parker she has determined upon strict uniformity in all public services in the churches. The Archbishop, in consultation with the Bishops and others, must ascertain the extent of the irregularities existing and take steps to remedy these defects. After some delay injunctions were prepared commanding strict adherence to the prescribed order of service. These were sent to Cecil for the Queen's signature. But |