VIII, of whom Heylin truly says, "he never spared woman in his lust, nor man in his anger," and whose character has been so ably delineated by Mackintosh, as the impersonation of evil,5 is compared to the noble and pious princes, whose names are recorded in the sacred pages with praise. "God did put light in the heart of his faithful and true minister, of most famous memory, King Henry VIII, and gave him the knowledge of his word, and an earnest affection to see his glory, &c., as he gave the like spirit unto the most noble and famous, Josaphat, Josias, and Ezechias." Can this be the character of him, whose name is allowed, at all hands, to be a blot on the page of history? Others have thought that the light which dazzled the monarch, emanated, not from heaven, but "from Anne Boleyn's eyes," and this conjecture is borne out by the whole tenor of Henry's life: the ray of light was earthly, it was meteoric; it was not heavenly. And indeed, if Henry received from God the knowledge of his word, then is the Anglican Church of the Homilies, whether it be the Church of Edward, or his sister Elizabeth, self-condemned. For did not Edward, as well as Elizabeth, repudiate the religion of their father, and each raise up a system of belief, wholly different from that which their parent had schemed? If Henry was inspired by God, then is Anglicanism, which disallows the real presence, denounces the Mass as a blasphemous fable, repudiates Penance as a sacrament, a heresy; for Henry believed in Christ in the Holy Mystery, and in the Mass, as a holy and propitiatory sacrifice, and in Penance as a sacrament by which sins were blotted out. If the Homilies contain 4 Heylin, Hist of Reform. p. 15. 5 English Hist. vol. ii. • Ibid. p. 151.

a true and godly doctrine on this point, Anglicanism should cease; if the doctrine they contain is false, then should the believers in the Thirty-nine Articles, the forty stripes less one, repudiate them:

Utrum horum mavis accipe.

In either case the present Church of England is proved to be a nullity.

Nor do the discrepancies between the Homilies and belief of Protestantism end here. I will content myself with giving another instance of these differences, in respect to a matter of great importance. Whilst some Anglicans are holding meetings against certain practices sanctioned by the Bishop of Exeter, relative to confession and absolution, and agitating the country about this important matter, the Homily of Common Prayer and Sacraments maintains, that "absolution," which must, as is well known and felt, be preceded by confession, "hath the promise of the forgiveness of sins." Again, the Homilies are at variance with one another. In the Homily just referred to, it is said, "As for the number of sacraments instituted by Christ, and expressly commanded in the New Testament, there be but two, namely, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord"; but the Homily against swearing distinctly speaks of "the sacrament of Matrimony," immediately after the sacrament of Baptism. If men, knowing the character of these discourses, hesitate about subscribing them, except in a qualified sense, no conscientious person will be surprised.1

The conclusions to be drawn from these remarks are

1 See Bennett and Burnet on the thirty-fifth Article, especially the former, who enters at length into this matter.

obvious. First, if the character of the compilers be considered, the Homilies are certainly of no authority; and secondly, if intrinsic evidence is to have any weight with the reader, in this point of view the Homilies are to be rejected as false and as contradictory; contradictory of one another, and contradictory of the Articles by which they are sanctioned.

G

122

Chapter the Fifth.

On the Anglican Liturgies.

CONTENTS.

History of the Liturgical changes.-Forms of prayer condemned, though previously ascribed to the Holy Ghost.-History of the Primer, &c. in Henry's time.-Edward's Liturgies.-Changes in them.-Authors of the changes.—Elizabeth's Liturgy.—Changes, and grounds of the alterations.—The Liturgy disapproved of formerly and now.—The objections raised against it.—Alterations suggested.—The changes in the Liturgy as well as in the Articles, prove the hollowness and worldliness of Anglicanism. Observations on the words "our Liturgy."-Whence did the Anglicans derive those prayers, of which they boast so much?

By a natural transition, we proceed to the examination of the Liturgy of the new creed. Lex orandi est lex credendi. According to this rule, we may easily infer, that a material alteration of prayer, involves a material alteration in belief, and that an uncertainty in the matter of prayer betrays an uncertainty of system. Now the Liturgy of the new Church, or its form of prayer, has changed, and materially. This has been cursorily shown already : it is now. our duty to dwell upon this point at some length. Prior to the Reformation, the Mass was considered to be the great, the all-important liturgical act. Each day it

1

was offered up before crowds of worshippers; but on the Sundays, the entire population deemed itself bound to assist at the solemn rite. And the language used during the Holy Sacrifice was not the vernacular of England: the sweet Latin language was the language of the Mass. This service Henry retained. He did more: he hoped to see all his followers retain it; and so little did he anticipate the cessation of this rite, that, as Burnet says, he "left by his will, to the Church at Windsor, £ 600 a year for ever, for two priests to say Mass at his tomb daily." Still, he commenced the work of innovation in the prayers of the Church, and those who came after him prosecuted it to the extent of excluding even the Mass from the Liturgy. He caused the Primer to be published in the vernacular tongue in 1535, and ten years afterwards a second Primer appeared by his authority. Edward improved on his father's example. Guided by the meteoric lights of Cranmer and Somerset, he wandered further from orthodoxy than Henry had done; and in 1549, was published a Liturgy in the English language, differing widely from that which had been used for nearly a thousand years in this kingdom. It need not be said that Cranmer, who was aided by Ridley and eleven other bishops and divines, was the framer of this Liturgy. This Liturgy which was approved of by the Parliament in 1548, was declared to have been drawn up by the special assistance of the Holy Spirit, and as such was thrust upon the acceptance of the nation in the following year. Still, as I have already noted, though much was changed, much too was retained which was Catholic. The Supper of the Lord, commonly called the Mass, was offered up at the altar;

1 Vol. ii, p. 13, Ed. 1683.