The Convocation contemporary with this Parliament, besides agreeing to the resolution above mentioned, presented several petitions of more or less importance,[1] viz. (1) for the reformation of the canon law according to the Acts framed under the late King; (2) that the inferior clergy might sit in the House of Commons, which they affirmed to have been the ancient custom of the nation, or else that no Acts concerning religion might pass without the sight and assent of the clergy; (3) that the work of the bishops and others appointed in the late King's time to alter the services of the Church 'might be brought to its full perfection' (Burnet), or (a somewhat different thing) 'might be produced and laid before the Lower House' (Lathbury); and another (4) regarding the maintenance of the clergy during the first year of their incumbency, in which they were charged with firstfruits. To this they added a desire to know whether they might safely speak their minds about religion without the danger of any law; a request which shows how vivid was their remembrance of the Præmunire. They also carried a vote in favour of removing all restrictions on the marriage of the clergy by a majority of fifty-three to twenty-two.[2]
The year 1549 is famous, amongst other things, as the year which saw the authoritative issue of the first English Book of Common Prayer. Of the significance of this act Mr. Green gives the following striking and accurate account: 'The old tongue of the Church was now to be disused in public worship. The universal use of Latin had marked the catholic and European
- ↑ Burnet, vol. ii. p. 103 (47); also Lathbury, Hist. of Convocation, pp. 134-5.
- ↑ Lathbury, op. cit. p. 135.
