Beyond this the altar-stones, which by solemn rites and the unction of Holy Oil had been consecrated to God for the Sacrifice of the Mass, and upon which the Body and Blood of Christ had been offered daily for the living and the dead, were not only pulled down, cast out of the church and defaced, but were out of derision and contempt set in the floor or the doorway that the passer-by might tread them under foot; or were turned to other still more debased uses. To us Catholics the consecrated altar, with its relics of the saints and the memories of its hallowed consecration, is the most sacred thing, set apart to God's service, together with the chalice and the paten in which and upon which the mystery of the sacramental renewal of Christ's Passion is effected by the words of the priest. It was this hallowed stone which was treated with disdain and dishonour. To those who would have us think that the whole of the changes made at the time of the Reformation were mere protests, against what they please to call the abuse of the Mass, in the multiplication of Masses for the living and the dead, the fact of the contemptuous and wholesale destruction of the ancient altars and the substitution of a moveable table, should be sufficient to show that it was no abuse that was thought of, or aimed at, but the abolition of the Sacrifice altogether. But there were other indications that this abolition of the Mass and priesthood was the set policy of the men in power at this time. A more advanced Calvinist than even Ridley urged the party forward on the down grade of Catholic doctrine. In 1550 John Hooper was offered the bishopric of Gloucester, but refused it, partly because of the mention of Saints in the New Ordinal, but mainly because of the vestments, which he would be called upon to wear and which he regarded as aaronic abominations. "You have got rid of the Mass," he said, "then rid yourselves of the feathers of the Mass also." Later, however, when in doctrinal principle Cranmer and others had advanced further in the direction of Calvin, Hooper was consecrated according to the new Ordinal on his own terms. The Mass was gone; the priesthood had passed away; the altars were pulled down in the sanctuaries; the consecrated stones were broken and dishonoured, and why should not the Vestments--Aaronic abominations--indicative of the sacrificial character of the priest be dispensed with also?