The VII. Article.

Furthermore I do graunt and cōfesse, that the boke of cōmon prayer and administration of the holye Sacramentes, set foorth by the aucthoritie of Parlyament, is agreable to the Scriptures, and that it is Catholyke, Apostolyke, and most for the advauncynge of Gods glorye and the edifiynge of Gods people, both for yt it is in a touge, yt may be understaded by ye people, and also for the doctrine and forme of ministration conteyned in the same.

The VIII. Article.

And although in the administration of Baptisme, ther is neither exorcisme, oyle, salte, spittil, or halowynge of the water now used: and for yt they were of late yeres abused and esteemed necessary, where they pertaine not to ye substaunce and necessitie of the Sacramēt ful and perfectly ministred to al intētes and purposes agreable to the institutio of our Saviour Christe.

The IX. Article.

Moreover I do not only acknowledg that privat Masses were never used amōgest the Fathers of the primitive Churche, I meane publique ministration and receavinge of ye Sacramet by the Prieste alone without a iust number of cōmunicates, accordynge to Christes saying, Take ye and eate ye, &c., but also that the doctrine which maynteinith the Masse to be a propiciatory sacrifice for the quicke and the dead, and a meane to delyver soules out of purgatorye, is neyther agreable to Christes ordynaunce nor grounded upon doctrine Apostolycke, but contrarywise most ungodlye and most iniurious to the precious redemptio of our Saviour

Christ and his onely sufficient sacrifise offered once for ever upon the alter of the Crosse.

The X. Article.

I am of that mynde also, that the holy Comunion or Sacramēt of the body and bloude of Christ, for the due obediece to Christes institution, and, to expresse the vertue of the same, ought to be mynistred unto the people under both kyndes, and that it is avouched by certaine fathers of the Church to be a playne sacriledge to robbe them of the misticall cup, for whom Christ hath shed his moste precious bloud: Seyinge he him selfe hath saied, drinke ye all of this. Consyderynge also that in the tyme of the auncyent doctours of the Church, as Ciprian, Jerome, Augustine, Gelasius, and others, vi. hundreth yeares after Christ and more, both the partes of the Sacramente were mynistred unto the people.

The XI. Article.

Last of al, as I do utterly disalowe the extollynge of Images, Relicks, and fayned Miracles, and also all kynde of expressinge God invisible in the forme of an olde man, or the holye ghoste in forme of a dove, and all other vayne worshippynge of God devised by mans fantasie, besydes or contrarye to the Scriptures: As wandrynge on pilgrimages, settynge upe of Candels, prayinge upō beades, and such lyke supersticion, which kynde of woorkes have no promyse of rewarde in Scripture, but cōtrary wise, threatnynges and maladictions: So I do exhorte all men to the obedyence of Godes lawe, and to the workes of fayght: As charytie, mercy, pitye, almes, devout and fervent prayer, with thaffection of the hart, and not with the mouth only, godly

abstinence and fastynge, chastitie, obedyence to the rulers and superyour powers, with such lyke workes and godlynes of lyfe commaunded by God in his worde, which as Sainte Paule saith, hath promises both of this lyfe, and of the lyfe to come, and are workes only acceptable in Godes syght. The XII. Article.

These thynges above rehearsed, though they be appoynted by common order, yet do I without all compulsion, with fredome of mynde and conscience, frome the bottome of my hart and upon most sure perswasion, acknowledge to be truc and agreable to Godes worde, And therfore I exhort you al, of whom I have cure, hartelye and obedientlye to embrace and receave the same, that we all ioyning together in unitie of spirit, fayth and charytie, may also at leangth be joyned together in the kyngdome of God, that through the merites and deathe of our Saviour Jesus Christe: to whom, with the Father and the holy Ghost be all glory and empyre now and for ever. Amen.*

Imprynted at Dublin in Saint Nycolas Stret, by Humfrey Powell, Prynter appoynted for the Realme of Irelande.

Bishop Mant (1 Hist. Church of Ireland, 275.) states, that "This declaration appears to be the same [it is verbatim the same] as one, of which a summary is given by Strype, in his Life of Archbishop Parker (i. 182, 183.), and which was put out in England in the year 1561, under the general name of the Metropolitans and Bishops, but seeming to have been chiefly the work of the Archbishop."

The principal Ecclesiastical Statutes that were enacted for Ireland during the reign of Elizabeth, besides stat. 2 Eliz. c. 2., were stat. 2 Eliz. c. 1. (Ir.)* (restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolishing all foreign power repugnant to the same), stat. 2 Eliz. c. 3. (Ir.) (for the restitution of the first-fruits and twentieth part and rents reserved, nomine tenth or twentieth, and of parsonages impropriate to the Imperial crown), stat. 2 Eliz. c. 4. (Ir.) (for the confirming and consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops), stat. 5 Eliz. c. 1. (Ir.) (for the assurance of the Queen's power over all estates and subjects within her dominions), and stat. 13 Eliz. c. 2. (Ir.) (against the bringing in, and putting in execution of bulls, writings, or instruments, and other superstitious things, from the see of Rome).†

Bishop Mant sums up the state of the Church in Ireland, during the reign of Elizabeth, in the following language: "On the 24th of March, 1603, Queen Elizabeth died, after a reign of more than forty-four years, productive of less religious improvement in her Irish dominions, and of less accession to the well-being of the Church of Ireland, than piety might have reasonably anticipated. Over what portions of the country, and to what amount of its population, the Church had been during that interval extended, it were difficult to affirm; probably her influence was not great beyond the most cultivated and civilised parts, and even in those not entirely predominant. The royal

* Vide stat. 9 & 10 Vict. c. 59.

+ Vide 1 Stephens, Ecclesiastical Statutes, 385-420.

supremacy, indeed, was established; and wholesome laws had been enacted for the celebration of her pure worship of God, and for sound religious instruction: and many efforts were made, sometimes of a public and at others of a private kind, sometimes by constraint and at others by persuasion, to bring the professors of a corrupt faith and idolatrous worship into her fold. But these were strenuously counteracted by the edicts and emissaries of the Bishop of Rome; by the perseverance of the native Romish priesthood, and their associates from abroad; by the rebellious spirit of the Irish chieftains, which kept the kingdom in a state of constant commotion; and by the absence of social good order, and habits of moral culture in the people. That at the head of the Church, and in the offices of her ministry, had been placed men of distinguished zeal, ability, and knowledge, suited to the exigency of the times, may have been the fact, but it does not satisfactorily appear. Ossory, indeed, may mention among its bishops the name of Nicholas Walsh, in honourable competition with that of Bale, his more renowned predecessor: but I know not that Dublin can produce a candidate to rival the professional devotion and energy of Archbishop Browne. Meanwhile, notwithstanding partial efforts for the supply of the defect, an avenue to the understanding of the great mass of the population was needed through the medium of a common language in the Church and the people; and from the indisputable evidence of Sir Henry Sidney, about the middle of the queen's reign, and from that of Spenser and Sir Francis Bacon towards the close of it, we learn how deficient was the Church in material buildings for the