Supper, the last, was it Paschal or no? Syrian church, philosophical questions Syriac Psalms translated, 269. T Te Deum, the, 174, 266; in Latin, Texts, exegesis of difficult, Mark xv. Trench on Epistles to seven churches of Tribes, the ten, 195. U Uniformity, Act of, 1. V. Vatican records, illustrating the eccle- Vaudois version, 64. Vows in the evangelical sense, 246. W Wratislaw, adventures of Baron, 475. THE JOURNAL OF SACRED LITERATURE AND BIBLICAL RECORD. No. I.-APRIL, 1862. THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY: 1662. WE can readily imagine that some of our readers will question the propriety of introducing into these pages what is, and will be, a party question. To this we should answer, that it is not our intention to make of it a party question, nor in any way to depart from that neutrality to which we have been pledged, and have adhered from the beginning. This Act of Uniformity, moreover, involves some interesting historical problems and researches in ecclesiastical literature, which is in our province. It may also be added that our treatment of this matter will be exceptional, and will not lead us into conflict with any of those who are or may be discussing it. To this end we shall not have much recourse to well known authorities, nor shall we attempt to give a detailed history of the affair, but we shall throw together a few quotations and facts, with which we shall intermingle such observations as may seem not out of place. Our friends may range us on which side they choose. So far as we speak we shall endeavour to be strictly impartial, and shall only speak of the facts as they appear to us. The civil war involved a struggle respecting royal prerogatives and episcopal supremacy. Its result was the abolition of both. The republic was followed by the return of monarchy in 1660, when Charles II. promised toleration and indulgence. An outbreak of the fifth monarchy men, under the leadership of Venner, was unfavourable to the dissenters generally, although they were NEW SERIES.-VOL. I., NO. I. B almost unanimous in rebuking and condemning it. This was in January, 1661; and was immediately followed by a proclamation prohibiting all meetings for public worship except in the parish churches. It is a document which cannot be justified. We copy a portion of it as we find it in a manuscript of the period. The latter part of the Proclamation against Conventicles. "In our late declaration, we have thought fit by these presents to publish and declare our royal will and pleasure, that no meeting whatsoever of the persons aforesaid, under pretence of worshipping God, shall at any time hereafter be permitted, or allowed, unless it be in some parochial church or chapel in this realm, or in private houses by the persons there inhabiting, and that all meetings and assemblies whatsoever, in order to any spiritual exercise or serving of God by the persons aforesaid, shall be esteemed, and are hereby declared to be unlawful assemblies, and shall be prosecuted accordingly, and the persons therein assembled shall be proceeded against as persons riotously and unlawfully assembled; and for the better execution of this proclamation, and the prevention of all illegal and seditious meetings and Conventicles, we do hereby straightly charge and command, all mayors, sheriffs and justices of peace, constables, headboroughs, commanders, and other officers and ministers whom it may concern, that they cause diligent search to be made from time to time, in all and every the places where any such meetings or conventicles as aforesaid shall or may be suspected, and that they cause all and every the persons therein assembled to be apprehended and brought before one or more justices of the peace, to be bound over to appear at the next sessions within their respective precincts, and in the meantime to find sureties for good behaviour, or in default thereof to be committed to the next gaol: and further, we do will and command the justices of peace, that they cause the oath of allegiance to be tendered to every person so brought before them, and upon his or their refusal, to proceed according to the statute made in the seventh year of the reign of our royal grandfather of ever blessed memory: they are directed and commanded. . . . Given January 10, 1660.” The Independent ministers at once took the alarm, and issued "a Renuntiation and declaration of the ministers of Congregational Churches and public preachers of the same judgment, living in and about the city of London, against the late Horrid Insurrection and Rebellion acted in the said city." This pamphlet is dated in January 1660 (1661), and besides repudiat |