in with them in their proposed action, which led to
those unfortunate disputes, chronicled at length in the 'Troubles at
Frankfort,' and to the departure of a large number of the English exiles
to Geneva, where through the kindness of Calvin a hospitable reception
was promised them, and the Church of Marie la Neuve was assigned for
their services and those of the Italian exiles, but without any
hampering clause about identity of ceremonies or Confession of Faith.
The congregation which shared with the English exiles the church of "the
white ladies," or Cistercian nuns, at Frankfort, consisted chiefly of
the company of French-speaking exiles which had been originally gathered
at Strassburg by Farel, tended for several years by Calvin, and then by
Poullain, or Pollanus, under whom, when the Interim was imposed on the
city, they had to seek a new home. This they ultimately found in
England, to which Bucer and Martyr from the same city had already been
invited and had gone. Glastonbury Abbey was assigned for their residence
by the king and council, and there they lived in peace and quiet till
the close of the reign of Edward VI. In 1551 Pollanus published the
first edition of his 'Liturgia Sacra seu Ritus ministerii in ecclesia
peregrinorum profugorum propter Evangelium Christi Argentinae.' No doubt
he had heard that the favour shown to Alasco and his congregations of
French and Flemings in London was intended to help on further
reformation in the Church of England also, and so in a lengthy
dedication to the king he bespeaks his favour not only to his
congregation but also to their book, affirming "ut in cultu Dei externo
ita etiam in disciplina morum nullam esse puriorem aut quae propius
accedat ad illam quae fuit temporibus Apostolorum." No doubt it was in a
similar spirit and in similar terms that he pressed the forms of his
book on the acceptance of the English exiles at Frankfort, and to a
great extent with success. Their Book of Common Order is founded on
Farel's and Calvin's services, but is so after these services have
passed through the alembic of Pollanus and been modified and
supplemented by him. This will appear from several of the notes
subjoined, and will be more fully shown in the Appendix.[149]

[Sidenote: Its Authority.]

The exclusive authority of this book--previously drafted but first used
in Knox's congregation at Geneva--was not asserted by the General
Assembly till 1564: nevertheless, even in 1560, t