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ACT OF UNIFORMITY PASSED. 393
The Act of Uniformity was at this time under discussion
by the Lords/ and a copy of the book with
the Great Seal attached was dehvered to them with a
message from the king. The act received the royal
assent on the 19th May, 1662.
It is
needless to say that, with the sole exception of
the altered Table of Lessons, which in our own time
has taken the place of the former arrangement, the
Prayer-book of 1662 is identical with that now in use.
Those who withdrew themselves after the enactment
of this statute, or were turned out of the benefices
they occupied on the day of St. Bartholomew,
1662, were, for the most part, the best and most
conscientious of the Puritan party. This was conspicuously
the case in Yorkshire. Many who were
eminent in a very high degree for piety and learning
refused to conform. A few may be mentioned. The
foremost on the list is undoubtedly Mr. Edward Bowles.
He was the recognised leader of the Nonconformists,
but was universally esteemed, even by those who most
If the Lords had had their own way, the provisions of the
Act of Uniformity would have been far less stringent than those
finally passed. A letter from Afr. R. Neile to Bishop Cosin's
secretary (April 29, 1662) tells us this:— "The great divell
that scareth them is the Act of Uniformity, which is now in the
house of Commons, who liave thrown out botli the provisoes
whicli in one of yours you so rightly guessed. The Pu[ritan]
Lords are much troubled at it, but the Commons are resolute,
and will pass noe Bills of concernment (as for money or the
like) till the Bill of Uniformity be passed." And he adds a
postscript :— " Dr. Sand[croft] saith the Presbyterian ministers
in Suffolke now begin to say that the Lords' house is the house
of the Lord, and soe they pray for itt." (" Mickleton MSS.,"
A. Ixx.)