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 5l. 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by other statutes; but if not, there would be no difficulty in securing them, though the whole Act of Uniformity were repealed.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.