of lords, or rather the
bishops, who had a seat in that house, and from whom alone they were
willing to receive all advances towards reformation;[**] a strange
departure from what we now apprehend to be the dignity of the commons!

* Besides the petition after mentioned, another proof of the
prevalency of the Puritans among the commons was, their
passing a bill for the reverent observance of Sunday, which
they termed the Sabbath, and the depriving the people of
those amusements which they were accustomed to take on that
day. D'Ewes, p. 335. It was a strong symptom of a contrary
spirit in the upper house, that they proposed to add
Wednesday to the fast days, and to prohibit entirely the
eating of flesh on that day. D'Ewes, p. 373.

* D'Ewes, p. 357

The commons desired, in their humble petition, that no bishop should
exercise his function of ordination but with the consent and concurrence
of six presbyters: but this demand, as it really introduced a change
of ecclesiastical government, was firmly rejected by the prelates.
They desired, that no clergyman should be instituted into any benefice
without previous notice being given to the parish, that they might
examine whether there lay any objection to his life or doctrine; an
attempt towards a popular model, which naturally met with the same fate.
In another article of the petition, they prayed that the bishops should
not insist upon every ceremony, or deprive incumbents for omitting
part of the service; as if uniformity in public worship had not been
established by law; or as if the prelates had been endowed with
a dispensing power. They complained of abuses which prevailed in
pronouncing the sentence of excommunication, and they entreated the
reverend fathers to think of some law for the remedy of these abuses:
implying that those matters were too high for the commons of themselves
to attempt.

But the most material article which the commons touched upon in their
petition, was the court of ecclesiastical commission, and the oath "ex
officio," as it was called, exacted by that court. This is a subject of
such importance as to merit some explanation.

The first primate after the queen's accession, was Parker; a man rigid
in exacting conformity to the established worship, and in punishing,
by fine or deprivation, all the Puritanical clergymen who attempted to
innovate any thing in the habits, ceremonies, or liturgy of