Thirty-fourth Article was not much to the mind of the Nonconforming party, although they were able to evade its force, and to reconcile their conscience to the act of subscription to it by pleading that everything which they disliked was "repugnant to the word of God."1 This is not the place to enter into the history of the controversy, which is really chiefly important because it was the occasion of Hooker's magnificent work. Nor does it appear necessary to say more here than to remind the reader of the four propositions which Hooker claims to have granted "concerning matters of outward form in the exercise of true religion." "(1) In the external form of religion such things as are apparently or can be sufficiently proved, effectual and generally fit to set forward godliness, either as betokening the greatness of God, or as beseeming the dignity of religion, or as concurring with celestial impressions in the minds of men, may be reverently thought of; some few, rare, casual and tolerable, or otherwise curable, inconveniences notwithstanding. "(2) In things the fitness whereof is not of itself apparent, nor easy to be made sufficiently manifest unto all, yet the judgment of antiquity concurring with that which is received may induce them to think it not unfit "Some wth chalice, some wth a Co[mmun]ion Cuppe, others wth a como[n] Cuppe. "Some wth unlevened Bread, some wth leavened. "Receaving.-Some receave kneling, others standing, others sytting. Baptising.-Some baptise in a fount, some in a Bason. "Some signed wth ye signe of ye Crosse, others not signed. "Some minister in a surpless, others without. 'Apparell.-Some with a square Cappe, some with a round Capp. Some wth a Button Cappe, some wth a Hatte. "Some in Schols Clooke, some in others." The document is printed in full in Parker's Postscript to a Letter to Lord Selborne, p. 148. 1 See Hardwick, Articles, p. 110. who are not able to allege any known weighty inconvenience which it hath, or to take any strong objection against it. "(3) Where neither the evidence of any law Divine, nor the strength of any invincible argument otherwise found out by the light of reason, nor any notable public inconvenience, doth make against that which our own laws ecclesiastical have although but newly instituted for the ordering of these affairs, the very authority of the Church itself, at least in such cases, may give so much credit to her laws, as to make their sentence touching fitness and conveniency weightier than any bare and naked conceit to the contrary; especially in them who can owe no less than childlike obedience to her that hath more than motherly power. "(4) In cases of necessity, or for common utility's sake, certain profitable ordinances some time may be released, rather than all men always be strictly bound to the general rigour thereof."1 These propositions, Hooker fairly claims, are "such as no man of moderate judgment hath cause to think unjust or unreasonable"; and if they be admitted, they appear to be fully sufficient to establish the position taken up in the Article before us. 1 Ecclesiastical Polity, bk. V. c. vi.-ix. De digna corporis et sanguinis dominici in coena Domini participatione. De donis Spiritus Sancti. In diebus, qui vulgo Rogationum De otio seu socordia. De pœnitentia. 15. Of the worthy receiving of the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. 16. Of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. 18. Of the state of Matrimony. 20. Against idleness. 21. Against rebellion. SLIGHT verbal alterations of no importance were introduced into the English of this Article in 1571, when the mention of the twenty-first Homily "Against rebellion" (which had only just been issued), was added. But except for these the Article dates from 1563. The corresponding Article in the series of Edward's reign, of course, only referred to the first book, and without giving a list of them, merely stated that "The Homilies of late given, and set out by the King's authority, be godly and wholesome, containing doctrine to be received of all men, and therefore are to be read to the people diligently, distinctly, and plainly." In considering this Article it will be well to consider separately 1. The history of the Homilies. 2. The nature of the assent demanded to them. L The History of the Homilies. The earliest mention of the Homilies is in 1542, when a certain number of them were introduced in Convocation with the design of having them promulgated and set forth by authority.1 The design miscarried, and we hear nothing more of them until after the death of Henry VIII. But in the first year of Edward VI. the scheme was taken up again, and what is now known as 1 Strype's Cranmer, bk. II. c. iii, the first Book of the Homilies was printed and authorised by Royal authority, being ordered to be read in churches every Sunday after High Mass. The book contained twelve Homilies, with the following titles: (1) A fruitful Exhortation to the Reading of Holy (2) Of the Misery of all Mankind. (6) Of Christian Love and Charity. (9) An Exhortation against the Fear of Death. (10) An Exhortation to Obedience. (11) Against Whoredom and Adultery. (12) Against Strife and Contention. The authorship of the whole number has not been ascertained, but probably the first, on the Reading of Holy Scripture, and certainly the third, fourth, and fifth, of Salvation, of Faith, and of Good Works, come from the pen of Cranmer. The sixth, on Charity, is by Bonner; the second, on the Misery of Mankind, by his chaplain, Hartsfield; and it is said that the eleventh is by Becon. In 1549, in order to render them more acceptable to the people, they were subdivided into thirty-two parts, and the Prayer Book, which had just been published, directed that "after the Creed ended, shall follow the Sermon or Homily, or some portion of one of the Homilies, as they shall be hereafter divided." That the book was only intended as an instalment, is shown by the following note which stood at the close of it: "Hereafter shall follow Sermons of Fasting, Praying, Alms deeds; of the Nativity, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our |