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

Protestant faith.
Amid runny injunctions and ordinances that
halted between the two faiths, and which tended to
conserve the old superstition, several most
important practical steps were taken to diffuse a
knowledge of Protestant truth amongst the people.
There was a scarcity of both books and preachers,
and the efforts of the queen and her wise ministers
were directed to the object of remedying that
deficiency. The preacher was even more necessary
than the book, for in those days few people could
read, and the pulpit was the one great vehicle for
the diffusion of intelligence. At St. Paul's Cross
stood a stone pulpit, which was a center of
attraction in Popish times, being occupied every
Sunday by a priest who descanted on the virtue of
relics and the legends of the saints. After the
Reformation this powerful engine was seized and
worked in the interests of Protestantism.
The weekly assemblies around it continued,
and increased, but now the crowd gathered to listen
to the exposition of the Scriptures, or the exposure
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