INFLU ENCE OF be allowed. One of his great works was a body of divinity in fifty sermons, of which each parcel was sent into England as FOREIGNsoon as published. This work was translated for the special benefit of the clergy in Q. Elizabeth's reign'. ERS. 7. Upon such a subject as the reformation of the Service- CALVIN. Book of a national Church, it cannot be doubted that Calvin would put forth all the influence which he had. Accordingly we find him endeavouring to guide those whom he conceived to be the leaders of the cause in this country. He wrote a long letter to the Protector Somerset (Oct. 22, 1548), introducing every subject which possibly might be debated; treating of forms of prayer, which he approves; of the Sacraments; of ceremonies; and of discipline. At the same time he wrote to Bucer, who had been invited by Cranmer to come to England, not to fail, through his well-known moderation, in urging a thorough removal of superstitious rites3. To the same effect he wrote to Cranmer himself. No part, however, of our formularies can be traced to his influence. He had prepared a directory for divine service in French, while he was at Strasburg. This he afterwards published in Latin with emendations, as the form of the church at Geneva, in 1545. It is quite certain that our Book of Common Prayer (1549) had not the most distant resemblance to this production3. 8. During the revisal of the Prayer-Book, the forms of Service VALERANwere published, which were used by the congregations of foreign VUS refugees in England. One of these was, in its original shape, the above-named French work of Calvin. He had been succeeded in the pastorship of the Church of Strangers at Strasburg by Pullain, who was obliged to flee from that city with his congregation, by reason of the publication of the Interim, an imperial manifesto adverse to the Reformers. These people were chiefly weavers of worsted; and on their arrival in England the Duke of DUS POLLA. INFLU FOREIGN- The Strasburg Li turgy. Somerset gave them a home in the abbey buildings at GlastonENCE OF bury, and provided them with the means of carrying on their manufacture1. In February, 1551, Pullain published their order of Service in Latin, with a dedication to K. Edward, to defend his Church from the slanders of the Romanists, who, as usual, had accused them of licentiousness3. This book has been supposed to have furnished hints to the revisers of the Book of Common Prayer in some additions which were made in 1552 to the ancient Services. The introductory sentences, with the Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution, which were then placed at the beginning of the Morning and Evening Prayer, and the Ten Commandments with the Responses, especially the last, subjoined to them, which were at the same time introduced at the beginning of the Communion Service, are supposed to be due in some degree to this publication of Pollanus. Possibly another source may be found for a part of these additions. It was only an idea, however, or an occasional allusion, which was borrowed: and in the above-mentioned particulars, where alone any resemblance can be traced, the similarity belongs to the work of Pollanus, not to Calvin's translation of the same original. The following is the passage referred to, being the commencement of the Sunday Service :— Est decalogus rithms redditus.' 'Die dominico mane hora octava, cum jam adest populus, Pastore accedente Choraules incipit clara voce, Leve le cvevr, ac populus accinit cum modestia et gravitate summa, ut ne quid voluptati aurium, sed serviant omnia reverentiæ Dei, et ædificationi tam canentium, quam audientium, si qui fortasse adsint non canentes. Cum absolverint primam tabulam, tum pastor mensæ astans versus ad populum sic incipit: Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini, qui fecit cœlum et terram. Amen. Deinde clara et distincta voce populum admonet de confessione peccatorum, hisque verbis præit: 1 Strype, Cranmer, II. 23. 26 Liturgia sacra, seu Ritus Ministerii in ecclesia peregrinorum profugorum propter Evangelium Christi Argentina. Adjecta est ad finem brevis Apologia pro hac Li turgia, per Valerandum Pollanum Flandrum. Lond. 23. Februar. Ann. 1551' 3 Strype, Mem. Eccles. Ed. VI. I. 29. 4 Laurence, Pampt. Lect. p. 210. Fratres, cogitet nunc vestrum unusquisque se coram Deo INFLU sisti, ut peccata et delicta sua omnia simplici animo confiteatur ENCE OF et agnoscat, atque apud vosmetipsos me præeuntem sequimini ERS. his verbis. FOREIGN Peccatorum: Minister. Domine Deus, Pater æterne et omnipotens, agnoscimus et Confessio fatemur ingenue apud sanctissimam Majestatem tuam, peccatores esse nos miseros, adeoque a prima origine, qua concepti et nati repeated sumus, tam ad omne malum esse pronos, quam ab omni bono after the alienos; quo vitio tuas leges sanctissimas assidue transgredimur, eoque nobis exitium justissimo tuo judicio conquirimus. Attamen, Domine Deus, pœnitet sic offendisse bonitatem tuam, proindeque nos et facta nostra omnia nimium scelerata damnamus, orantes ut tu pro tua clementia huic nostræ calamitati succurras. Miserere igitur nostri omnium, O Deus et Pater clementissime ac misericors, per nomen filii tui Jesu Christi Domini nostri te obtestamur; ac deletis vitiis, ablutisque sordibus cunctis, largire atque adauge indies Spiritus tui sancti vim et dona in nobis, quo vere et serio nostram miseriam intelligentes, nostramque injustitiam agnoscentes, veram pœnitentiam agamus: qua mortui peccato deinceps abundemus fructibus justitiæ ac innocentiæ quibus tibi placeamus per Jesum Christum filium tuum unicum redemptorem ac mediatorem nostrum. Amen. Hic pastor ex scriptura sacra sententiam aliquam remissionis Absolutio peccatorum populo recitat, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Ac toto hoc tempore populus magna cum reverentia vel astat, vel procumbit in genua, utut animus cujusque tulerit. Demum pronuntiato Evangelio hoc remissionis peccatorum a pastore, rursum populus præeunte Choraule totum decalogum absolvit, tum pastor ad orandum hortatus Ecclesiam his verbis ipse præit. Dominus adsit nobis, ut Deum oremus unanimes : 'Oratio. Command. Domine Deus, Pater misericors, qui hoc decalogo per servum The Praye tuum Mosen nos Legis tuæ justitiam docuisti; dignare cordibus after the nostris eam ita tuo spiritu inscribere, ut nequicquam deinceps in ments. vita magis optemus, aut velimus, quam tibi obedientia consummatissima placere in omnibus, per Jesum Christum filium tuum. Amen. Hic Ecclesia eandem orationem verbis prope iisdem Choraule præeunte succinit. Interea pastor suggestum conscendit ad concionandum..? INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN. ERS. JOHN A- dent f the foreign pro It will be seen from this extract that this service of Pollanus may have furnished the hint, that the decalogue should be repeated in the public Service. But in the English book the Commandments were to be plainly recited in the hearing of the people, instead of being sung by them in metre; and they were appointed to be said not in the Morning Prayer, but at the commencement of the Communion, or principal Service. The words, 'dignare cordibus nostris eam ita tuo Spiritu inscribere,' contain the subject of the petition which was placed as the concluding response after the Commandments, 'write all these thy laws in our hearts. Comparing this extract with the commencement of our Daily Prayer, we must observe that there is not one strictly parallel sentence, and Pollanus gives no form of Absolution at all. The truth respecting the very appropriate opening of our Service seems to be, that the hint was taken from two books of Service used by congregations of refugees in England, which were published about this time: the one being the version of Calvin's form, by Pollanus; and the other, that used by the Walloons under John Laski, or à-Lasco. 9. This truly influential person was a Polish noble, who left his country and his honours for the freer acknowledgment of the Gospel. His first visit to England was in September, 1548, when he resided six months with Cranmer. The introduction of the Interim into Friesland compelled him to seek a shelter in England Superinten in 15501. He was then appointed superintendent of the congregations of foreign protestants, German, Belgian, French and testant con- Italian, in London: and his personal character appears to have London. obtained for them the church of St. Augustine's Monastery, with permission to use their own ceremonies. He published in Latin His form of the service used by his Church3. His friendly intercourse with Cranmer would naturally lead to an inquiry as to the form of his worship; and that, not only with a reference to the English Service Book then under review, but that the English govern gregations in Service. 1 Orig. Lett. p. 483, Martyr to Bullinger (June 1, 1550). He was appointed superintendent by King Edward, on the 24th of July; ibid. note. Hardwick, Reformation, p. 219. 2 Now the Dutch church in Austin Friars. 3 Forma ac ratio tota eccle siastici ministerii, in peregrinorum, potissimum vero Germanorum ecclesia; instituta Londini in Anglia per Edvardum Sextum. Sine loco et anno. Laski published a second edition in Latin, and in French, in 1555, at Frankfort, after the expulsion of the protestants from England. INFLU FOREIGN contains a ment might know to what they were giving shelter and sanction. In this book there is a form of Confession and of Absolution, in ENCE OF which some phrases resemble the corresponding portions which ERS. were added to the second Book of Edward VI. '-Neque amplius velis mortem peccatoris, sed potius ut con- form of Con vertatur et vivat...omnibus vere pœnitentibus (qui videlicet ag- Absolution fession and nitis peccatis suis cum sui accusatione gratiam ipsius per nomen Christi Domini implorant) omnia ipsorum peccata prorsus condonet atque aboleat...omnibus, inquam, vobis qui ita affecti estis denuncio, fiducia promissionum Christi, vestra peccata omnia in cœlo a Deo Patre nostro modis plane omnibus remissa esse... opem tuam divinam per meritum Filii tui dilecti supplices imploramus...nobisque dones Spiritum Sanctum tuum...ut lex tua sancta illi [cordi] insculpi ac per nos demum...tota vita nostra exprimi ejus beneficio possit '' 1 Cardwell, Two Prayer-Books of Ed. VI. compared. Pref. p. xxxii. note. Hooper mentions à-Lasco as alone standing on his side of all the foreigners who had any influence; Orig. Lett. XL. He was named among the thirty-two commissioners to frame ecclesiastical laws; Ibid. ccxxxvI. He left England, Sept. 15, 1553. Ibid. CCXL. See Strype, Cranmer, II. 22. Laski took the Zwinglian, or Calvinistic, side of the reformation E |