The time was propitious for Cranmer to take measures for the final destruction of the old order. Since the imposition of the First Book of Common Prayer he had had time to grow out of his previous Lutheranism and had come under the spell of Calvin and his adherents in Geneva. The Reformer had written to Cranmer a personal letter urging him to be more active and hasten on the movement of Reform. The Archbishop of Canterbury had replied begging Calvin to ply King Edward with letters urging him to eradicate the last vestiges of the old superstition. This was the spirit which presided at the composition of the Second Book of Edward VI. It was issued in 1552, and before this commissions were dispatched throughout the country to seize in the King's name all church plate and vestments. I have already spoken a word about this final recension of the Liturgy of Edward VI. It is here sufficient to say that it was Calvinistic in its conception and doctrine. In the First Prayer Book there was some slight outward resemblance to the Mass. This was swept away, and, to use the expression of one who lived at the time, this new liturgy "had made a very hay of the Mass." Of the ancient _Canon_, which the Apostolic See had possessed from the earliest ages and had kept inviolate, nothing was allowed to survive, even as to form. Great Popes like St. Leo and St. Gregory had inserted a few words into this inheritance of the Church with fear and reverence. Such men would have considered it sacrilegious and impious to alter or reject any part of it. Cranmer and his followers felt no such scruples. They first mutilated it and altered it to their heart's content and finally got rid of nearly every word of it altogether. The outcome of their work may be studied in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer to-day, where the Communion Service is substantially that of the Book of 1552. IV IV THE CHURCH BY LAW ESTABLISHED BEARING in mind what the Catholic teaching was and is in regard to the Supremacy of the Pope, the Holy Mass and the sacrificial character of the priesthood, we can understand how far away from these teachings the legislation of King Edward's reign had carried England. To our Catholic forefathers in the beginning of the 16th Century, as to us to-day, the Pope was the Supreme Head of the Christian Church and the foundation of Christian unity. The Mass was the great Christian Sacrifice in which the bread and wine were substantially changed into the very Body and Blood of our Blessed Lord. The priest at his Ordination was given a sacrificial character, expressed clearly in the rite, empowering him to offer up the Eucharistic Sacrifice upon the Christian altar. In the second quarter of the 16th Century all these points of belief were changed by a small but determined band of English Reformers.