avowal of "unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything contained
and prescribed in and by the Book of Common Prayer, and administrations
of the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies of the Church according
to the use of the Church of England, together with the Psalter, and the
form of manner of making, ordaining, and consecrating Bishops, Priests,
and Deacons" to be made after the service upon "some Lord's day" before
the Feast of St. Bartholomew, _i.e._ the 24th of August 1662. The Act
also required subscription within the same time-limit to a declaration
of (_inter alia_) uniformity to the Liturgy of the Church of England "as
it is now by law established."

That this haste was indecent no layman is likely to dispute, but that it
wrought practical wrong is doubtful. The Vicar of Bray needed no time to
read his new Folio to enable him to make whatever avowal concerning it
the law demanded; and as for signing the declaration, all he required
for that purpose was pen and ink. Neither had the incumbent, who was a
good churchman at heart, any doubts to settle. He rejoiced to know that
his side was once more uppermost, and that it would be no longer
necessary for him, in order to retain his living, to pretend to tolerate
a Presbyterian, or to submit to read in his church the Directory of
Public Worship. Convocation had approved the new Prayer Book, which was
in substance the old one, and what more did any churchman require? As
for the Presbyterians and others who were in possession of livings, the
failure of the Savoy Conference must have made it plain to them that the
Church of England had not allowed the king to keep his word, that
compromise and comprehension had failed, and that if they were to remain
where they were, it could only be on terms of completely severing
themselves from all other Protestant bodies in the world, and becoming
thorough Episcopalians. No Presbyterian of any eminence was prepared to
make the statutory avowal. Painful as it always must be to give up any