The Upper House appointed on the 21st of November, a Committee consisting of the Bishops of Durham, Ely, Oxford, Rochester, Sarum, Worcester, Lincoln, and Gloucester, most of whom had been Commissioners at the Savoy, to meet in the palace of the Bishop of Ely in Hatton Garden, at five o'clock in the afternoon of every day, except Sunday, until their work was finished. But when they had taken their walk as the evening drew in, they really found little to do. Their work had been anticipated; materials were ready to hand, The Prayer Book had been carefully studied and revised for a long time, by eminent Anglicans. MS. notes existed of great value, made or collected by Bishop Overall, Bishop Andrewes, and Bishop Cosin.[289] Those by the last, as we shall see, were largely used.
That the Bishops when they met had much of what they needed provided for them may be concluded from the fact that, on the 23rd of November, only the second day after the appointment of the Committee, a portion of the corrected copy was delivered to the Prolocutor of the Lower House.[290] Previous labours had almost superseded a discharge of the duties laid upon the newly-appointed Committee.[291] From day to day progress was made, until, within a month, the work was completed.
1661.
Forms of prayer which had been adopted by Convocation in the summer, were now inserted in the volume. So also were the General Thanksgiving, drawn up by Dr. Reynolds, and the Prayer for all sorts and conditions of men, composed by Dr. Gunning.[292] New collects were introduced, with occasional prayers in the visitation of the sick.[293] About 600 alterations were made in the body of the volume. Some of these were in accordance with suggestions made by the Puritans at the Savoy Conference, but they did not amount to important concessions. Others of them were adapted to render the Prayer Book more distasteful to that party than before. The word Priest was substituted for the word Minister in the Absolution; instead of Bishops, Pastors, and Ministers, were introduced Bishops, Priests, and Deacons; and the words rebellion and schism were added to the petition against sedition; but many of the alterations are unconnected with any theological or ecclesiastical controversy. There is a volume amongst the Tennison MSS., Lambeth, which contains The Differences of the Old Common Prayer Book and the New, being a copy of the edition, printed in 1663, with the variations written upon the margins and upon the paper interleaved; at the beginning, are the words, "This is the publique Liturgy revised and rectified. Ao 1662." The notes which had been collected or composed by Cosin seem to have been largely used throughout the revision.[294]
CONVOCATION.
The Bishops came to an unanimous vote in favour of a form of prayer before and after sermon; thus cutting off all liberty to introduce extempore devotion, and extinguishing one of the last hopes of the Puritan party: but this design was afterwards dropped "upon prudential reasons."[295] Pell,[296] assisted by Sancroft, revised the Calendar, and with the Calendar was connected the arrangement of daily lessons. Should the Apocrypha be read as before in the Church Service? The Puritans deemed it a profanation to read uninspired and, in some respects, superstitious books, as if they formed part of Holy Scripture. A severe battle seems to have been fought on this vital question. One can imagine how feelings would be excited to the highest pitch, how the question would be canvassed in different circles, how people would watch for tidings of the debate, how the History of Susanna and the Elders would be like a standard wrestled for in the tug of war; and very probable is Andrew Marvell's story of a jolly doctor, coming out with a face full of joy, shouting "We have carried it for Bel and the Dragon!"[297]
1661.
We learn that during the later Sessions of the Convocation, Herbert Thorndike "constantly attended and had a hand more than ordinary in the business"—a piece of information which rests upon the authority of Sancroft. Both Sancroft and his friend were in favour of such alterations as have been sometimes called Laudian, and they were anxious (especially the latter of these Divines) to proceed further in that direction. Thorndike, there is reason to believe, regarded as imperfections the omission of all intercession for departed souls, and of the prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the elements used at the communion.[298] Perhaps some others sympathized with these eminent persons in this respect, but they found their tendencies checked by the decided Protestantism of the larger portion of the clergy, and by a regard to expediency in some who had no decided convictions on the subject.
Upon the 19th of December—a day on which complaints were made to the House of Lords to the effect that many disaffected persons, both on political and ecclesiastical grounds, existed in the realm—the Upper House committed the preparing of a form of subscription to Cosin and Henchman, Bishops of Durham and Salisbury, who, in the discharge of this duty, were to receive assistance from Drs. Chaworth and Burrett. This small Committee met the same afternoon, when they came to an agreement respecting the mode of expressing approval of the revised formularies of the Church of England.[299]
CONVOCATION.