We learn from Wilkins (_Concilia_, tom. iv. p. 566, ed. Lond. 1737),
also from Cardwell (_Synodal_. pp. 668. 677. 820. ed. Oxon. 1842), and
from some other writers, that the care of drawing up a Form of
Consecration of Churches, Chapels, and Burial-places, was committed to
Bishop Cosin by the Convocation of 1661; which form, when complete, is
stated to have been put into the hands of Robert, Bishop of Oxon,
Humphrey, Bishop of Sarum, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, and John, Bishop
of Coventry and Lichfield, for revision.
I should feel much obliged if (when you can find space) you would kindly
put the query to your correspondents--"What has become of this Form?"
There is at Durham a Form of Consecration of Churches, said to be in the
hand-writing of Basire; at the end of which the following notes are
written:
"This forme was used at the consecration of Christ's Church,
neare Tinmouth, by the Right Rev. Father in God, John, Lord
Bishop of Duresme, on Sunday, the 5th of July, 1668.
"Hæc forma Consecrationis consonant cum formâ Reverendi in
Christo Patris Lanceloti Andewes, edit. anno 1659.
"Deest Anathema, Signaculum in antiquis dedicationibus.
"Deest mentio (Nuptiarum.
(Purificationis Mulierum."
As this, however, can hardly be the missing Form of Consecration of
Churches, &c., which Cosin himself seems to have drawn up for the
Convocation of 1661, but which appears to have been no more heard of
from the time when it was referred to the four bishops for revision, the
question still remains to be answered--What has become of that Form? Can
the MS. by any chance have found its way into the Library of Peterhouse,
Cambridge, or into the Chapter Library at Peterborough--or is any other
unpublished MS. of Bishop Cosin's known to exist in either of these, or
in any other library?
J. Sansom.