The first sketch of the 42 Articles was prepared in the summer of 1551. It was mainly, if not wholly, the work of Cranmer, who had been ordered by the king and Privy Council 'to frame a book of articles of Religion for the preserving and maintaining peace and unity of doctrine in this Church, that being finished they might be set forth by public authority.'

The rough draught was sent to the rest of the bishops for criticism and correction.

On the 2nd of May, 1552, the archbishop was required to send to the Council the articles that had been submitted to the Bishops; and to signify whether the same were set forth by any public authority according to the minutes. He obeyed this order; the Articles were soon returned to him, and remained in his hands until Sept. 19.

He made revisions, added supplementary clauses and titles, then submitted them to Cecil and Sir J. Cheke for their consideration.

The Articles were next forwarded to the king with a request that they might be published and enforced upon the clergy. A fresh delay occurred: on 21st of Oct. the royal chaplains Harley, Bill, Horne, Grindal, Perne, and Knox, were requested to consider the Formulary and to report upon it.

On the 20th of Nov. it was remitted to the archbishop for the 'last corrections of his judgement and his pen on the 24th he returned it to the council with a schedule declaring his mind upon the Book, and entreating that the bishops might have authority from the king to require subscription from all their preachers, archdeacons, deans, prebendaries, parsons, vicars, curates, and all their clergy. By this means he trusted that such concord and quietness in religion should follow as else could not be expected for many years.

On the 19th of June, 1553, a royal mandate requiring subscription was directed to the officials of the archbishop of Canterbury. This was carried into effect in at least two or three dioceses.

The following title is prefixed: 'Articles agreed on by the bishops and other learned men in the synod at London in the year of our Lord God 1552 for the avoiding of controversy in opinions and the establishment of a godly concord in certain matters of religion. Published by the

king's majesty's commandment in the month of May, 1553. Rich. Graftonus typographus regius excudebat. Lond. mense Junii, 1553.' This work was in English. At the head of the Articles was placed the announcement, 'Articles published by the King's Majesty.' In another edition of the same year printed by Wolfe the articles in Latin are joined with the Catechism. The heading of the Articles in Wolfe's edition is ‘Articuli de quibus in synodo Londinensi, Anno Dom. M.D.LII. ad tollendam opinionum dissensionem, et consensum veræ religionis firmandum, inter Episcopos et alios eruditos viros convenerat: regia authoritate in lucem editi.'

Some doubt has been thrown on the statement that the Articles were submitted in their final form to convocation. From an excuse of Cranmer's, that he knew not of the title under which they had been published, it has been supposed that they were not submitted to the whole body of the clergy, upper and lower house. It is difficult to reconcile this disclaimer with the titles of Grafton's and Wolfe's editions. As the record of proceedings of Convocation in that year is lost, we cannot settle the question by an appeal to it.

The following account is given by Hardwick of the first formation and promulgation of the Articles:

Forty-two Articles were framed, principally by Cranmer, at the command of the king in the summer of 1551. The rough draught was revised by the Bishops, in whose hands it remained until the. spring of the following year. It was then returned to the archbishop and again revised by him. After this he sent the draught to Sir John Cheke and Cecil for their approbation. Subsequently a request was made to the king, that the formulary might be published and enforced upon the clergy by subscription.

In 1562 four new articles were added, viz.

v. On the Holy Ghost.
xii. On Good Works.

xxix. On the Participation of the Wicked in the Communion.

xxx. On Communion in Both Kinds. Additions were made to ii. iii. vi. x. xii. of our present series from a formulary presented by the Wirtemburg theologians to the Council of Trent, 1552.

To v. of 1552 was added the list of canonical books: ix. and x. of 1552 were amplified.

In xxvi. the number of sacraments was defined

In xxiv. the Homilies were specified. In xxiii. Errors of Schoolmen were called Errors of Rome.

In xxv. condemnation of foreign tongue was more emphatic.

Infant Baptism was more completely approved: Priests' Marriage was declared not only allowable but agreeable to Scrip

ture.

Transubstantiation was condemned and the mode of Christ's presence declared spiritual. Four articles were dropped:viz. x. On Grace. xvi. On Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. xix. On the ofligation of the moral law. xli. Against millenarians.

After being presented in convocation three more articles were erased, viz. xxxix. xl. and xlii. The quotation in iii. from St Peter was abandoned. A passage in the article concerning the Lord's Supper, which appeared to deny the presence of Christ in any way whatever, was omitted.

On the 12th of Feb. 1563, the signatures of convocation were all affixed. The Articles were then read and promulgated by the Queen's authority after that she had herself read and examined them.

The Articles of 1552 appeared almost simultaneously in English and in Latin in 1553: in both cases they are described as having been agreed to in the last convocation. Subsequently Waterland's verdict is as follows.

1st. The Articles were passed, recorded, and ratified in 1562, in Latin only.

2ndly. These Latin Articles were revised and corrected by the convocation of 1571.

3rdly. An authentic translation was made by the same convocation, and the Latin and English adjusted as nearly as possible.

4thly. The Articles, thus perfected in both languages, were set forth in the same year by Royal authority.

5thly. Subscription was required the same year to the English Articles by the Act of the 13th of Elizabeth.

Subscription to the Articles.

By the royal mandate of June 19th, 1553, actual Incumbents were required to subscribe on pain of deprivation; future Incumbents before admission. In two or three dioceses this measure seems to have been carried into effect. The death of King Edward in July interrupted the full execution of it. Gardiner profited by the change of monarch to enforce subscription to 15 articles of his own, before the admission of students to Degrees.

the Bishops, commonly subscribed 11 provisiohal articles of archbishop Paiker.

The convocation of Canterbury in 1571 unanimously resolved, "That when the book of articles touching doctrine shall be fully agreed upon, that then the same shall be put in print by the appointment of my lord of Sarum (Jewel), and a price rated for the same to be sold. Item, that, the same being printed, every bishop to have a convenient number thereof, to be published in their synods and to be read in every parish church four times every year.'

The Articles were then subscribed by both Houses of Convocation.

In 1571 an act of Parliament required subscription to the Articles before the ensuing Christmas and a certificate of such subscription. On some Sunday the testimonial and the Articles were to be publicly read.

The Articles which concern faith and doctrine are, according to Stephens, i. ii. iii. iv. v. ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. xvi. xvii. xviii. xxii. It is difficult however to decide, whether the words 'which only concern' were intended to limit the number of articles to which subscription was necessary, or merely to define the general nature of the articles. Convocation was more stringent, and required subscription to all the articles.

The Puritans were some of them deprived, and published a remonstrance. Grindal was lax in enforcing subscription, Whitgift severe; the year 1584 was called the woful year of subscription. At the Convocation of 1604, Bancroft presiding, all the clergy of the province of Canterbury subscribed. The test of subscription was required from students at the Universities before taking their Degrees.

In 1613 it appears that subscription had not been enforced at Cambridge, even from Bachelors and Doctors in Divinity. On July 7th of that year a Grace was passed (in compliance with the king's letter) requiring subscription from all Doctors and also from Bachelors in Divinity.

In 1616 the king's letter required that all who took any Degree in the Schools should subscribe. This was done by the University at once: but, on a petition from the Registrary of that date of the time and labour exacted from him in consequence, a definite time and place of subscription were appointed in 1623. The form was, 'We, whose names are here under written, do willingly and ex animo subscribe to the three articles above mentioned (the 3 arts. contained in the 36th Canon)and to all things in them contained.' At Oxford a Decree of Convocation in 1573 provided that students should subscribe before taking their Degrees, and in

During the early part of the reign of Elizabeth, the clergy, at the command of

1576 this requirement was extended to students above 16 years of age on their admission. In the case of Cambridge, the Committee of Religion in 1641 resolved that subscription was not to be exacted in future. By the Act of Uniformity, 13th and 14th Charles II., every Head of a College was required to subscribe and declare his unfeigned assent to the Articles.

The Act of Toleration William and Mary, in enjoining subscription on Dissenting Ministers, excepted arts. xxxiv. XXXV. xxxvi. the affirmative portions of xx. and a portion of xxvii.

In 1771 an attempt was made by a School of Arian and Socinian clergy to remove the test. Francis Blackburne, archdeacon of Cleveland, published his Proposals for an application to Parliament in the matter of subscription to the Liturgy and the 39 Articles of the Church of England, and in 1772 a Petition to that effect was accordingly presented. It was rejected in the House of Commons by a majority of 217 to 71.

In 1772 at Cambridge a Grace of the Senate altered subscription for Bachelors of Arts to the following form:

'I A.B. do declare that I am bona fide a member of the Church of England as by law established.'

In 1779 a similar grace passed in regard to Bachelors in Civil Law or Medicine

and Bachelors or Doctors in Music.

The Act of 19 and 20 Vict. c. 88, 29th July 1856, contains a clause stating that, from the 1st day of Michaelmas Term 1856, no person shall be required, upon matriculating or upon taking, or to enable him to take, any Degree in Arts, Law, Medicine, or Music, to take any oath or to make any declaration or subscription whatever; but such degree shall not, until the person obtaining the same shall, in such manner as the University may from time to time prescribe, have subscribed a declaration stating that he is bona fide a member of the Church of England, entitle him to be or to become a member of the Senate or constitute a qualification for the holding of any office, &c.

By the Universities Tests Act, 1871, no one, at Oxford, Cambridge or Durham, in order to take a degree, except in Divinity, or to exercise any right of graduates can be required to make any profession of faith. The 43rd and 44th clauses of the Oxford University Act (17 and 18 Vict. c. 81) declare that, from and after the 1st day of Michaelmas Term 1854, it shall not be necessary for any person, upon matriculating, or upon taking the degree of Bachelor in Arts, Law, Medicine, or Music, in the University of Oxford, to make or subscribe any declaration, or to take any

oath, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. At Oxford Masters of Arts, Doctors in Medicine and Civil Law, and Bachelors and Doctors in Divinity were still require 1 to subscribe to the 39 Articles and to the 3 Articles of the 36th canon: but see preceding paragraph.

The Declaration (p. 365) was the work of Laud. It was prefixed to an edition of the Articles issued in 1629. The object of it was to put a check upon Calvinistic preachers and speculators.

The term 'Fidei Defensor' was first conferred on Henry VIII. by Pope Leo X. for his book against Luther, quinto idus octobris 1521. It was confirmed by Clement VII., but on the suppression of the monasteries revoked. It was given to the king in the 35th year of his reign by act of Parliament. Elizabeth refused the title, Head of the Church; in 1559 the term supreme Governor was substituted.

In 24 Henry VIII. c. 12, the Royal Supremacy is thus recited: 'By sundry and authentic histories and chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this realm of England is an empire and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one supreme head and king, having dignity and royal estate of the imperial crown of the same, unto whom a body politic, compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of spirituality and temporality, were bound and owen to bear next unto God a natural and humble obedience; he being also furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary, whole and entire power, preeminence, authority and jurisdiction to render and yield justice and final determination to all manner of persons resiants within this realm in all cases, matters, debates and contentions without restraint or provocation to any foreign princes or potentates of the world; in causes spiritual by the judges of the spirituality and causes temporal by temporal judges.'

I

By 1 Eliz. c. 1. §§ 16, 17 the authority of all foreign princes, potentates and the like, in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical, is declared to be abolished; any jurisdiction or visitation for the correction or reformation of the ecclesiastical state or persons, aforetime exercised or lawfully to be exercised, is annexed to the crown.

Penalties are appointed to those who impugn the Royal supremacy in word or deed; for 1st offence, forfeiture of goods, or, if goods be under £20 value, imprisonment for a year; and in case of spiritual persons, avoidance of benefice: for 2nd offence, Præmunire: 3rd, penalty of high

treason.

In return for this power of governance

of the Church, the Sovereign by the I William III. c. 6, undertakes, in the Coronation oath, to maintain the legal rights and privileges of the bishops and clergy and of the churches committed to them. The 10 Articles of 1536 were the result of a compromise between the Romish and the Reforming party. They were probably prepared by a committee in frequent communication with the king through his Vicar General. They passed both houses of convocation, and were issued under the title Articles to stablish Christian quietness.'

The 6 Articles of 1539, the Whip with Six strings, were wholly Romish in doctrine. The Bill passed both Parliament and convocation and was enforced by the severest penalties.

The 13 Articles, contained in a document found among Cranmer's papers, are believed to be the basis of a confession of Faith for all Protestant Churches. Melanethon was invited to England to assist in framing such a confession. He did not come; others of less note took his place. The scheme was frustrated through the influence of Gardiner. It then became necessary for the English Church to frame a confession of its own. Hence the 42 Articles of 1552.

TheAugsburg Confession was roughly drawn by Melancthon and submitted to Luther, who thoroughly approved it. It was then revised by Melancthon and others, especially the Chancellor Pontanus; it was presented to the Emperor, June 23rd, 1530. The original draught was in Latin, but a German version was made likewise. The signatures appended to the confession were John, elector of Saxony; George, margrave of Brandenburg: Ernest, duke of Lüneburg; Philip, landgrave of Hesse; John Frederick, electoral prince of Saxony; Francis, duke of Lüneburg; Wolfgang, prince of Anhalt; the senate and magistracy of Nuremburg, and the senate of Reutlingen.

The Confession of Augsburg had been preceded by Articles of Union between the Lutherans and Zwinglians in the conference at Marburg. These articles, 15 in number, had been drawn by Luther himself after much controversy, and accepted by the opposite party on the 3rd of October, 1529. On the doctrine of the Trinity, the Incarnation, Original Sin, Justification by Faith, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, Baptism, Good Works, Confession, Civil Government, and Tradition, the two parties were at one. On the Eucharist spiritual participation was defined to be above all things necessary, but room was allowed for the divergence of the Lutheran and Zwinglian tenets. These articles were

signed by Ecolampadius, Zwingle, Bucer, and Hedion, on the one side; by Luther, Melancthon, Jonas, Osiander, Brentz, and Agricola, on the other. After a revision by Luther and some of his friends, they were presented as the basis of a Lutheran confession at Schwalbach shortly afterwards. These Confessions were in the hands of Melancthon when he prepared the Confession of Augsburg.

The Confession of Wirtemburg, containing 36 articles, was presented by the ambassadors of the Duke of Wirtemburg to the Council of Trent on the 24th of January, 1552. It was framed in accordance with the Confession of Augsburg, and furnished many hints for the alterations of the Edwardine articles in 1562. Hardwick refers to the 3rd of our articles, to the roth and 12th, to portions of the 2nd, 11th, and the disputed clause of the 20th, in illustration of this resemblance. See Table (p. 366).

The 19 Irish Articles, strongly Calvinistic in their tone, were framed by Arch bishop Usher, and appear to have obtained the sanction of a synod at Dublin in 1615. The Archbishop may have required them for a time from his clergy; they were however virtually, if not actually, abrogated by the acceptance of the English Articles in the Irish Convocation of 1635.

In the Greek Church the only systematic digest of articles of faith is the Nicene or Constantinopolitan Creed.

In the Roman Church the creed of Pope Pius IV, the result of the Council of Trent, is authoritative. The Bull of Pius, 9th Dec. 1564, imposed the following oath on Cathedral Clergy, Parish Priests and Regulars.

I, N, with firm faith believe and confess all and everything contained in the symbol of faith, which the holy Roman Church uses: viz. 'I believe, &c.' (as in Nicene Creed).

'I most firmly admit and embrace apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions and all other constitutions and observances of the same (i.e. Roman) Church.

'I also admit the Sacred Scriptures according to the sense which the holy mother Church has held and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures; nor will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.

'I profess also that there are truly and properly seven sacraments of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and for the salvation of mankind, though all are not necessary for every one; viz. baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, order, and matrimony, and that they confer grace; and of these, baptism, confirmation, and order, cannot be re-iterated without sacrilege.