4. By his will Henry limited the crown, in default of issue of his daughters, to the heirs of the body of lady Frances, the eldest daughter of his sister Mary, and failing such issue, to the heirs of the body of Eleanor, the second daughter of his sister Mary.

5. On the accession of Mary, her title to the throne was recognised by a legislative act, (1 M. and P. 2, c. 2); and the same was done on the accession of Elizabeth, (1 Eliz. ch. 2.)

6. On the death of queen Elizabeth, without issue, the line of Henry the eighth became extinct.

CHAP. XIII.

EDWARD THE SIXTH.

1547.

EDWARD the sixth came to the throne at the age of nine years; he had been educated by doctor Cox, who favoured the Reformation. The majority of the bishops, and the chief part of the clergy, were on the side of the catholic religion, or of the old learning, as it was then usually termed. But the majority of the government were favourers of the Reformation; these carried the king with them, and soon obtained the ascendancy. The principal ecclesiastical occurrences in the reign of Edward the

sixth, are, I. The regulations respecting the election of bishops, and the new admissions of the actual bishops to their sees: II. The new visitation: III. The publication of the Book of Homilies: IV. The forty-two Articles: V. The book of Common Prayer: VI. The further suppression of colleges, hospitals and chauntries, and the general destruction of their libraries, and of the articles for sacred or secular use, or ornament, belonging to them: VII. And the religious persecution which took place during this reign.

XIII. 1.

The regulations respecting the election of Bishops, and the new admission of the actual Bishops to their sees.

By the charter of king John, recognised and confirmed by his great charter, and by the 25th of Edward the third, stat. 6, sect. 3, the chapters had the free right of electing their prelates. But this statute was virtually repealed by the 25th Henry the eighth, ch. 7, by which the chapters, if they did not elect the person recommended by the king's letters missive, became subject to the penalties of præmunire. In the first year of the reign of Edward the sixth, a new act was passed for the election of bishops. After reciting that the manner of electing bishops by a congé d'elire was but the shadow of an election, it enacted, that, in future, all bishops should be appointed by the king's letters patent only, and should continue the exercise of their ju risdiction during their natural lives, if they should

behave well. In the passing of this act, archbishop Cranmer was principally concerned. It was his opinion, that the exercise of all episcopal jurisdiction depended upon the prince. Consistently with this principle, he thought that his own right to exercise the episcopal authority ended with the life of the late king; nor would he act as archbishop till he had received a new commission from Edward the sixth. On the same grounds, most of the other prelates obtained fresh commissions for the exercise of their episcopal authority.

XIII. 2.

The New Visitation.

IMMEDIATELY after the ceremony of the king's coronation, the regents appointed a royal visitation, and commanded the clergy to preach no where, except in their parish churches, without license, till the visitation was concluded. For this purpose they divided the kingdom into six districts, assigning to each, as visitors, two gentlemen, a civilian, a divine, and a registrar. These were directed to proclaim and publish forty-nine injunctions, and to give orders that they should be published, once at least, in every quarter of a year. The spiritual supremacy of the monarch was the leading article; the gospels and epistles were to be read in English; mass, and praying for the dead, were discontinued: processions, and some ornaments and ceremonies, were set aside. It is observable that, on the death of Francis the first, which happened on the 22nd

March 1547, a solemn mass, and funeral service, were sung for him in all the churches in London; the choir of St. Paul's was hung in mourning; Cranmer, the archbishop, with eight other bishops, in their richest habits, sung a mass ad requiem animæ: and a sermon was preached by Dr. Ridley, bishop elect of Rochester *.

XIII. 3.

The Book of Homilies.

AMONG the injunctions of the visitors there was a direction that they should leave, in every parish, the Book of Homilies. It consisted of twelve discourses upon the principal points of the christian faith; and was directed to be left with every parish priest. The discourses are believed to have been composed by archbishop Cranmer, Bishop Ridley, and Bishop Latimer. Bishop Gardiner declined giving them his approbation. A second volume of the Homilies was published in the reign of queen Elizabeth.

XIII. 4.

The Forty-two Articles.

In the fourth year of the reign of Edward, it was resolved in council to reform, once more, the doctrine of the church. In pursuance of this order, Archbishop Cranmer, and Bishop Ridley, framed

*Coll. Eccles. Hist. vol. 2, page 449.

forty-two articles of christian doctrine. Copies of them were sent to several bishops, and to other divines, for their consideration. Being returned by them, the articles were approved in council, and had the royal sanction. In the title-page they were styled, "Articles agreed upon by the bishops, and "other learned men, in the convocation held at "London in the year 1522, for avoiding diversity

of opinion, and establishing consent touching "true religion, published by the king's authority." But by Cranmer's own admission, in the subsequent reign, it is certain, that these articles never were submitted, either to the parliament or to the convocation. They are, in substance, very nearly the same as the thirty-nine articles.

XIII. 2.

The Book of Common Prayer.

THAT the Jews had set forms of prayer, which they used in their synagogues, has been satisfactorily shown by doctor Lightfoot. That the earliest christians joined in the use of the Lord's prayer, and of the psalms, appears from several passages in the Acts of the Apostles, and from the apostolic epistles. That, at an early period of christianity, liturgies were in use, may be justly inferred from those ascribed to St. Peter, St. Mark, and St. James, "which," says Mr. Wheately, in a work of real learning, his Rational Illustration of the Common Prayer, introduction, p. 13, "are doubtless of high antiquity." In the course of time, there was a