york00orns

314 YORK.
worship should be in the vernacular.
Probably, after
a time, the men of the Old Learning withdrew themselves.
Their instmctions were to revise the old
services, purify and retrench them. The Missal of
Sarum, that of York and other Uses, the Consultation
of Herman, Archbishop of Cologne, the Breviary of
English Use, and, as there is reason to believe, the
reformed breviary of Cardinal Quignon, formed the
chief materials for their work. There seems to be
evidence that this first book of Edward VI. was
sanctioned by convocation. It was formally authorised
by an Act of Parliament in January, iS4g. This
was the first Act of Uniformity, and it provided that
the book should come into use on the Whit-sunday
following.
The form which it contained for the celebration of
the Holy Communion was evidently intended to provoke
as little as might be any antagonistic feeling. The
old name of "the Mass " was retained. The altars
and their furniture remained as they were, and the
priest who celebrated was to be apparelled in a cope
or vestment over his alb ; and his assistant ministers,
if such were present, were to be arrayed, as heretofore,
in albs with tunicles, thus presenting to the eye what
the worshipper had always been accustomed to see.
The service began, as we now have it, with the Lord's
Prayer and the Collect for Purity. An introit, or
psalm proper to the day was then sung, followed by
the Lesser Litan}-. After this came the Gloria in
excelsis, succeeded by collects, one for the day or
season, the other for the king, preceding the Epistle,
Gospel, and Nicene Creed. A sermon or homily