The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio…

THE time of Mr. Jewel's arrival in England, ¹is no where expressed that I can find,² but he being then at Zurick in all probability, was for that cause none of the first that returned; so that when he came back, he had the comfort to find all things well disposed, for the reception of the Reformation: for the Queen had by a Proclamation of the thirtieth of December 1558. ordered that no man, of what quality soever he were, should presume to alter any thing in the State of Religion, or innovate in any of the Rites and Ceremonies thereunto belonging, &c. until some further order should be taken therein. Only it was permitted, and with all required, that the Litany, the Lords-Prayer, the Creed and the Ten Commandments, should be said in the English Tongue, and that the Epistle and Gospel should be read in English at the time of the High Mass, which was done (saith Dr. Heylyn) in all the Churches of London, on the next Sunday after being New-Years-day; and by degrees in all the other Churches of the Kingdom: Further than this, she thought it not convenient to proceed at the present, only she prohibited the Elevation of the Sacrament at the Altar of the Chapel Royal: Which was likewise forborne in all other Churches: and she set at liberty all that had been imprisoned for Religion in her Sisters time, and ordered the Liturgy to be revised with great care, and that a Parliament should be summoned to sit at West-minster the 25th of January 1559.

THE time of Mr. Jewel's arrival in England, ¹is no where expressed that I can find,² but he being then at Zurick in all probability, was for that cause none of the first that returned; so that when he came back, he had the comfort to find all things well disposed, for the reception of the Reformation: for the Queen had by a Proclamation of the thirtieth of December 1558. ordered that no man, of what quality soever he were, should presume to alter any thing in the State of Religion, or innovate in any of the Rites and Ceremonies thereunto belonging, &c. until some further order should be taken therein. Only it was permitted, and with all required, that the Litany, the Lords-Prayer, the Creed and the Ten Commandments, should be said in the English Tongue, and that the Epistle and Gospel should be read in English at the time of the High Mass, which was done (saith Dr. Heylyn) in all the Churches of London, on the next Sunday after being New-Years-day; and by degrees in all the other Churches of the Kingdom: Further than this, she thought it not convenient to proceed at the present, only she prohibited the Elevation of the Sacrament at the Altar of the Chappel Royal: Which was likewise forborn in all other Churches: and she set at liberty all that had been imprisoned for Religion in her Sisters time, and ordered the Liturgy to be revised with great care, and that a Parliament should be summoned to sit at West-minster the 25th of January 1559.