aking in derogation of the Book, or
interrupting its use, or causing a minister to use any
other form, is for the first offence to forfeit ten pounds,
for a second offence twenty pounds; on a third
occasion he is to forfeit all his goods and chattels and
suffer imprisonment for life. These penalties are to
be enforced by judges of assize, proceeding in the
manner customary on indictment for trespass.

What have we here? A purely penal statute,
imposing the crushing penalties usual at the time.
My purpose is to show the relation of the statute to
the Book of Common Prayer. I observe, then, that
the Book did not originate with the Act. It was
already in existence, the fruit of the work of certain
divines, which is spoken of in the preamble as concluded.
The book was not authorized or brought
into use by the Act. It was already in use, though
by no means in general use. This fact is illustrated
by the title of the Book itself, which sets forth the
contents with some audacity as being _After the Use
of the Church of England_. I am not here concerned
with the question--the very difficult question--of the
authority by which the Book came into existence and
into use. I am only concerned to show that the
authority in question was not the authority of Parliament.
The Act of Uniformity did not authorize the
use of the forms contained in the Prayer-book, for
that was needless; it forbade the use of any other
forms. It did not bring the Book into use, for that
was already done; it brought it into exclusive use,
which is not the same thing. It was not an enabling
Act, but a prohibitory Act. It did not propose or
command a reform; it found the reform already
made. It did not purport to set forth an order of
divine service; it found an order already in existence,
and forbade the use of any other. It was frankly
a persecuting law, and as such may fairly be compared
with the statute of the Six Articles. In that case the
doctrinal articles, as in this case the forms of worship,
were not invented or introduced by authority of
Parliament; the statute in each case merely imposed
a penalty on all who impugned or refused them. The
purpose of the Act was to secure by temporal penalties
an uniformity which the ecclesiastical authorities of
the time were unable to compass, and which it is
possible they did not greatly desire.

I shall not deal with the fortunes of the Prayerbook
under the Act, or with the violent changes
effected ap