54 The HISTORY of the PURITANS. Chap. II. King ment. He approved not of godfathers anfwering in the child's name, fo Edward VI. well as in their own. He reffes much the fan ification of the Lord's ......,1553. day; and that there might be many failings, but was againft the obfer- vation of Lent. He would have the pafloral funélion reftored to what it ought to be ; that bithops throwing off all fecular cares, fhould give themfelves to their fpiritual employments. He advifes that coadjutors might be given to fome, and a council of prefbyters appointed for them all. He would have rural bifhops let over 20 or 3o parifhes, who fhould ga- ther their clergy often together, and infpect themclofely; and that a provin- cial fynod fhould meet twice a year, when a fecular man in the king's name, fhould be appointed to obferve their proceedings. And Cran- Cranmer was of the fame mind. He diflik'd the prefent way of govern- mer's. ing the church, by convocations, as they are now form'd; in, which deans, archdeacons, and cathedrals, have an intereft far fuperior innumber, to thofe Ryi. Riff. eleeled to reprefent the clergy. Thefe (lays bifhop Burnet) can in no fort Vó1.111. pretend to be more than a part of our civil conftitution. They have no P. 214* foundation in fcripture, nor anywarrant from the firft ages of the church ; Original of but did arife from the model fet forth by Charles the great, and formed Englifh on- vocations. according to the feudal law, by which a right of giving fubfadies, was vefted in all, who were poffeffed of fuch tenures, as qualified them to contribute towards the fupport of the fiate. Nor was Cranmer fatisfied with the liturgy, though it had been twice reformed, if we may give L. of Cram credit to the learned Bullinger, who told the exiles at Frankfort, " That P* 266. " the archbifhop had drawn up a book of prayers an hundred times more 13 perfect, than that which was then in being ; but the fame could not take ennet's3 " place, for that he was matched with fuch a wicked clergy and con- Me= P. 52. a vocation, and other enemies." King's Death The king was of the fame fentiments ; but his untimely death, which and Charac- happen'd in the 16th year of his age, and 7th of his reign, put an end to ter all his noble defigns for perfecting the reformation. He was indeed an in- comparable prince, of mofi promifing expectations; and in the judgment of the moll impartial perfons, the phoenix of his age. It was more than whifpered, that he was poifon'd. But it is very furprizing that a proteftant divine [Heylin] in his hiftory of the reformation fhould fay, " That he was " ill principled ; that his reign was unfortunate; and that his death was not an infelicity to the church ;" only becaufe he was apprehenfive he would have reduced the hierarchy, toa more primitive ftandard. Withgood king Edward died all further advances of the reformation ; the alterations that were made afterwards by queen Elizabeth, hardly came up to his ftandard. We mayobferve from the hiftory of this reign, Prof. P. 4. Part VII. p. 141. a. That
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