f subordination was
retained in discipline, as well as some pomp, order, and ceremony in
public worship.

The protector, in his schemes for advancing the reformation, had always
recourse to the counsels of Cranmer, who, being a man of moderation and
prudence, was averse to all violent changes, and determined to bring
over the people, by insensible innovations, to that system of doctrine
and discipline which he deemed the most pure and perfect. He probably
also foresaw, that a system which carefully avoided the extremes of
reformation, was likely to be most lasting; and that a devotion, merely
spiritual, was fitted only for the first fervors of a new sect, and
upon the relaxation of these naturally gave place to the inroads of
superstition. He seems therefore to have intended the establishment of a
hierarchy, which, being suited to a great and settled government,
might stand as a perpetual barrier against Rome, and might retain
the reverence of the people, even after their enthusiastic zeal was
diminished, or entirely evaporated.

The person who opposed with greatest authority any further advances
towards reformation, was Gardiner, bishop of Winchester; who, though he
had not obtained a place in the council of regency, on account of
late disgusts which he had given to Henry, was entitled, by his age,
experience, and capacity, to the highest trust and confidence of his
party. This prelate still continued to magnify the great wisdom and
learning of the late king, which, indeed, were generally and sincerely
revered by the nation; and he insisted on the prudence, of persevering,
at least till the young king's majority, in the ecclesiastical model
established by that great monarch. He defended the use of images, which
were now openly attacked by the Protestants; and he represented them
as serviceable in maintaining a sense of religion among the illiterate
multitude.[*] He even deigned to write an apology for "holy water,"
which Bishop Ridley had decried in a sermon; and he maintained that, by
the power of the Almighty, it might be rendered an instrument of doing
good, as much as the shadow of St. Peter, the hem of Christ's garment,
or the spittle and clay laid upon the eyes of the blind.[**] Above all,
he insisted that the laws ought to be observed, that the constitution
ought to be preserved inviolate, and that it was dangerous to follow the
will of the sovereign, in opposition to an act of parliament.[***]

But though th