The Acts of Uniformity

ine of one shilling for absence from church on Sundays or holy days, to be levied by the churchwardens of each parish. The Prayer-book is not said to be annexed to the Act, [19] but is identified by reference to the statute of the fifth and sixth of Edward VI., by which it is said to have been "authorized." Certain changes to be made in the Book so identified are specified: it is to be used

with one alteration, or addition of certain Lessons to be used on every Sunday in the year, and the form of the Litany altered and corrected, and two sentences only added in the delivery of the Sacrament to the communicants.

The alterations are said to be "appointed by this statute." I call attention to these points, because they seem to show that Elizabeth and her Parliament assumed the function of amending the Book, and claimed for it a purely statutory authority. Such an assumption is strangely inconsistent with the subsequent actions of the Queen, and we are the more struck by the contrast if we reflect t