[282]

Copes worn at the Consecration of Bishops Scory and Coverdale at Croydon.

1551.]"John Scory (Ponet being translated to Winchester,) was consecrated Bishop of Rochester at Croydon, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by Nicholas, Bishop of London, and John, Suffragan of Bedford. Miles Coverdale was, at the same time and place, consecrated Bishop of Exon, all with surplices and copes, and Coverdale so habited also."-Cranmer's Register. Ibid. p. 271.

[283]

Copes, Chasubles, &c. enjoined by the Act of Uniformity, and by Rubrick, on the Accession of Elizabeth.

1558. 1 Eliz.] "Provided always and be it enacted, that such ornaments of the church, and of the ministers thereof, shall be retained and be in use as was in this Church of England, by authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward VI., until other order* shall be therein taken by the authority of the Queen's majesty, with the advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorized under the great seal of England for causes ecclesiastical, or of the Metropolitan of this realm."-Act of Uniformity, cap. 2. [284]

1559 and 1604.] "And here it is to be noted that the minister, at the time of the Communion, and at all other times in his ministration, shall use such ornaments in the church as were in use, by authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, according to the Act of Parliament set in the beginning of this Book."-Rubrick in the Book of Common Prayer.

[285]

Circa 1636.] "Such ornaments, &c. The particulars of these ornaments (both of the church and of the ministers thereof, as in the end of the Act of Uniformity) are referred not to the fifth of

"Which other order (at least in the method prescribed by this Act) was never yet made; and therefore, legally, the ornaments of ministers in performing divine service are the same now as they were in 2 Edw. v1. Pursuant to the foregoing clause (though not by authority of Parliament) a rubrick was prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer in the first year of Queen Elizabeth, and continued till 1661... which clause, somewhat altered, did, in 13 & 14 Car. 11., become part of the Book of Common Prayer, by authority of Parliament."-Note by Bishop Gibson in his Codex, p. 363. vol. 1. fol. 1713. See antè, p. 104.-EDD.

Edward vi...but to the second year of that king, when his first Service-book and Injunctions were in force by authority of Parliament. And in those books many other ornaments are appointed, as two lights to be set upon the altar or Communion-table, a cope or restment for the priest and for the bishop, besides their albs, surplices, and rochets, the bishop's crosier-staff to be holden by him at his ministration and ordinations, and those ornaments of the church, which by former laws not then abrogated, were in use by virtue of the statute 25 Henry VIII.; and for them the Provincial Constitutions are to be consulted, such as have not been repealed, standing then in the second year of King Edward VI., and being still in force by virtue of this rubrick and Act of Parliament. That which is said for the vestures and ornaments in solemnizing the service of GOD is, that they were appointed for inward reverence to that work, which they make outwardly solemn. All the actions of esteem in the world are so set forth, and the world hath had trial enough, that those who have made it a part of their religion to fasten scorn upon such circumstances, have made no less to deface and disgrace the substance of God's public worship......These ornaments and vestures of the ministers were so displeasing to Calvin and Bucer, that the one in his letters to the Protector, and the other in his censure of the liturgy, sent to Archbishop Cranmer, urged very vehemently to have them taken away, not thinking it tolerable that we should have any thing common with the Papists, but shew forth our Christian liberty in the simplicity of the Gospel. Hereupon, when a Parliament was called in the fifth year of King Edward, they altered the former Book, and made another order, for vestments, copes, and albs not to be worn at all; allowing an archbishop and bishop a rochet only, and a priest and deacon to wear nothing but a surplice. By the Act of Uniformity [1 Eliz. c. 2.] the Parliament thought fit not to continue this last order, but to restore the first again; which since that time was never altered by any law, and therefore it is still in force at this day. And both bishops, priests, and deacons, that knowingly and willingly break this order, are as hardly censured in the Preface to this Book, concerning ceremonies, as ever Calvin and Bucer censured the ceremonies themselves."-Bishop Cosin's Notes on the Prayer-book, in Nicholls' Commentary, p. 17.

L

166

[286]

Circa 1619.] As were in use. And then were in use, not a surplice and hood, as we now use, but a plain white alb, with a vestment or cope over it; and therefore, according to this rubrick, we are all still bound to wear albs and vestments, as have been so long time worn in the Church of GOD, howsoever it is neglected. For the disuse of these ornaments we may thank them that came from Geneva, and in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, being set in places of government, suffered every negligent priest to do what him listed, so he would but profess indifference and opposition in all things (though never so lawful otherwise) against the Church of Rome, and the ceremonies therein used. If any man shall answer, that now the 58th canon hath appointed it otherwise, and that these things are alterable by the discretion of the Church wherein we live; I answer, that such matters are to be altered by the same authority wherewith they were established; and that if that authority be the Convocation of the clergy, as I think it is (only that) that the 14th canon commands us, to observe all the ceremonies prescribed in this book, I would fain know how we should observe both canons ?"-Bishop Overall's Notes on the Prayer-book. Ibid. p. 18.

[287]

Circa 1636.]" By authority of Parliament in the first year of Queen Elizabeth......for the ornaments of the church and of the ministers thereof, the order appointed in the second year of his [Edward VI.] reign was retained; and the same we are bound still to observe, which is a note wherewith those men are not so well acquainted as they should be, who inveigh against our present ornaments in the church, and think them to be innovations, introduced lately by an arbitrary power against law, whereas indeed they are appointed by the law itself. And this Judge Yelverton acknowledged and confessed to me (when I had declared the matter to him as I here set it forth) in his circuit at Durham, not long before his death, having been of another mind before."-Notes by Bishop Cosin. Ibid. p. 18.

[288]

Copes and Mitres worn at Queen Elizabeth's Coronation.

1558.] "On the 15th day [of January] she was crowned with the usual ceremonies at Westminster Abbey. She first came to Westminster Hall......then her Grace's apparel was changed. In

the hall they met the bishop that was to perform the ceremony, and all the chapel, with three crosses borne before them in their copes, the bishop mitred; and singing as they passed, Salve festa dies."— Strype's Annals, p. 29.

[289]

Copes worn at the Obsequies of Henry XX. of France in S. Paul's Cathedral.

1559. 2 Eliz.] "A royal obsequy on the king deceased...... was performed in most solemn manner, with a rich hearse made like an imperial crown, sustained with eight pillars, and covered with black velvet with a valence fringed with gold, and richly hanged with scutcheons, pennons, and banners of the French king's arms. The principal mourner for the first day was the Lord Treasurer Paulet, Marquis of Winchester, assisted with ten other Lords, mourners, with all the heralds in black, and their coat-armours uppermost. The divine offices performed by Doctor Matthew Parker, Lord elect of Canterbury, Doctor William Barlow, Lord elect of Chichester, and Doctor John Scory, Lord elect of Hereford, all sitting in the throne of the Bishop of London, no otherwise at that time than in hoods and surplices; by whom the dirge was executed at that time in the English tongue: the funeral sermon preached the next morning by the Lord of Hereford, and a Communion celebrated by the bishops then attired in copes upon their surplices.”—Heylyn's History of the Reformation, p. 119.

[290]

"Saturday, the 9th of September, about the hour assigned, they met together at the Bishop's palace. And about nine of the clock they proceeded up to the hearse, as the day before, the three Bishops elect in copes, and the two Prebendaries in grey amices came forth from the vestry unto the Table of Administration.”—Strype's Annals, p. 128.

[291]

Copes worn at Archbishop Parker's Consecration.

1559.] "The chapel [of Lambeth palace] on the east part was adorned with tapestry, and the floor being spread with red cloth, and the Table used for the celebration of the Holy Sacrament, being adorned with a carpet and cushion, was placed at the East. Moreover, four chairs were set to the south of the east part of the chapel, for the Bishops, to whom the office of consecrating the Archbishop

was committed. There was also a bench placed before the chairs, spread with a carpet and cushions, on which the Bishops kneeled. And in like manner a chair, and a bench furnished with a carpet and a cushion, was set for the Archbishop on the north side of the east part of the same chapel. These things being thus in their order prepared, about five or six in the morning the Archbishop entereth the chapel by the west door, having on a long scarlet gown and a hood, with four torches carried before him, and accompanied with four Bishops who were to consecrate him......Sermon being done, the Archbishop, together with the four Bishops, go out of the chapel to prepare themselves for the Holy Communion; and without any stay, they come in again at the north door thus clad: the Archbishop had on a linen surplice, the elect of Chichester used a silk cope, being to administer the Sacrament, on whom attended and yielded their service the Archbishop's two chaplains, Nicholas Bullingham and Edmund Gest, the one Archdeacon of Lincoln, and the other of Canterbury, having on likewise silk copes.”—Strype's Life of Parker, p. 57.*

[292]

Copes worn by the Bishops.

1560.] "These Bishops [Parker, &c.] never appearing publickly but in their rochets, nor officiating otherwise than in copes at the holy altar."-Heylyn's History of the Reformation, p. 123.

[293]

Copes worn in Queen Elizabeth's Chapel.

Ibid.] "The liturgy was celebrated every day in the chapel with organs and other musical instruments, and the most excellent voices, both of men and children, that could be got in all the kingdom. The gentlemen and children in their surplices, and the priests in copes as often as they attended divine service at the holy altar."Ibid. p. 124.

*Thomas Sampson, in a letter to Peter Martyr, dated Jan. 6, 1560, makes the following allusion to Parker's consecration: "The consecration of some bishops has already taken place. I mention, as being known to you by name, Dr. Parker of Canterbury, Cox of Ely, Grindal of London, Sandys of Worcester." The Zurich Letters, p. 63.-EDD.