15. That provision be made for the preservation of the Book in
Cathedrals and other places.
16. That the Thirty-sixth Article be understood as applying to the book
mentioned in this Act as it did heretofore to that of Edward VI.
17. That the form of prayer heretofore in use shall remain so until the
Feast of St. Bartholomew, 1662.
* * * * *
Now what is there in all this that is worth preserving? and what barrier
does it present against the inroads of error? The greater part was
intended only for the day, and had done its work before the close of the
year 1662. Of the remainder there is very little which has not long
since fallen into abeyance. Rectors are never fined 5_l._ if they fail
in reading prayers once a month. Tutors in private families never
subscribe any declaration against rebellion, and are never imprisoned for
teaching without the licence of the Bishop. Heads of Colleges are
neither suspended nor deprived if they fail to read prayers once a
quarter in their college chapels. Lecturers never repeat their
declaration of assent and consent on the first lecture day in each month,
and yet are never imprisoned. And the Litany is constantly used even by
our Bishops in the place of Evening Prayer. All that we want to preserve
as of present and practical importance is the adoption of the Liturgy as
revised in 1660, and the necessity of Episcopal ordination. For aught I
know these may be secured by other statutes; but if not, there would be
no difficulty in securing them, though the whole Act of Uniformity were
repealed. Or if it is thought desirable that so celebrated an Act of
Parliament ought to be preserved as a curious specimen of bygone
vindictive legislation, let an amendment be introduced substituting the
form of Subscription in the Canon for that required by the Act. If this
were done, the Church would be permitted to guard its ministry according
to its own principles; many tender consciences would be relieved, and an
important step would be taken towards the attainment of the great object
of Her Majesty’s Commission, viz., the simplification of Clerical
Subscription “consistently with due security for the declared agreement
of the clergy with the doctrines of the Church, and conformity to its
ritual.”
* * * * *
Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London.