Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

that the heavenly rain of the evangelical doctrine
should not fall but according to her word;"[3] but
this is to forget the altogether exceptional condition
of England at that time. The pulpits were in the
possession of the Papists, and the use they would
have made of them would have been to defend the
doctrine of transubstantiation, and to excite popular
odium against the queen and the measures of her
Government. Instead of sermons, which would
have been only apologies for Popery, or
incitements to sedition, it was better surely to
restrict the preachers to the reading of the homilies,
by which a certain amount of much-needed
Scriptural knowledge would be diffused amongst
the people.
The same cautious policy governed Elizabeth
in her choice of councilors. She did not dismiss the
men who had served under her sister, but she
neutralized their influence by joining others with
them, favorable to the Reformation, and the
superiority of whose talents would secure their
ascendency at the council board. Especially she
called to her side William Cecil and Nicholas
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