am
to their committee of March 5 appointed for such
an emergency. [39]

The Act received the royal assent on May 19.
I have dealt so fully with its course through Parliament
because of the character of the incidents. In
itself it does not contain much that is new as regards
my subject. The preamble recites the statute of
Elizabeth, and relates the fact of its non-observance,
and the neglect of the Book of Common Prayer during
the late troublous times; takes note of the King's
commission for the review of the Book and its subsequent
revision by Convocation; and records the
message in which the King recommended to Parliament
that the Book so revised should "be the Book"
appointed to be used everywhere in the kingdom.
This accordingly is enacted, and in the twenty-fourth
section all the existing laws on the subject, including
of course the statute of Elizabeth, are confirmed as
referring to the revised Book and none other. The
revised Book, as in 1552, is thus put in exactly the
same legal position as the original, and the authentic
copy, as on that occasion, is, for the purpose of
reference, annexed and joined to the Act. The other
lengthy clauses of the Act contain elaborate provisions
for preventing nonconformity, but with one exception
they do not throw any further light on the relation of
the legislature to the Prayer-book. The exception is
the fifteenth section, which provides

that the penalties in this Act shall not extend to the
Foreiners or Aliens of the Forein Reformed Churches
allowed, or to be allowed by the King's Majesty, his
heirs and successors, in England.

An exception which had hitherto been made, as we have
seen, by a stretch of prerogative, was now established
by law. The exception illustrates the purpose of the
Act. No sect or congregation of native-born dissenters
was to be allowed any relief from the penalties imposed
by law. The guarded promise of toleration made by
the King before and after his restoration was ignored.
The use of the forms of worship provided by the
authorities of the Church was to be forced on the
whole nation.

The conclusion that I would draw from this
analysis of proceedings will be fairly obvious. The
Prayer-book did not originate with Parliament, nor
was it in any true sense authorized by the Crown in
Parliament. The action of the legislature on the first
and the last occasion is perfectly intelligible. A Book
of Common Prayer was in existence, drawn