[156] Elizabeth ascended the throne November 17, 1558. On the 5th of December Mary was buried; and on this occasion White, bishop of Winchester, in preaching her funeral sermon, spoke with virulence against the protestant exiles, and expressed apprehension of their return. Burnet, iii. 272. Directions to read part of the service in English, and forbidding the elevation of the host, were issued prior to the proclamation of December 27, against innovations without authority. The great seal was taken from Archbishop Heath early in January, and given to Sir Nicholas Bacon. Parker was pitched upon to succeed Pole at Canterbury in the preceding month. From the dates of these and other facts, it may be fairly inferred that Elizabeth's resolution was formed independently of the pope's behaviour towards Sir Edward Karn; though that might probably exasperate her against the adherents of the Roman see, and make their religion appear more inconsistent with their civil allegiance. If, indeed, the refusal of the bishops to officiate at her coronation (January 14, 1558-9) were founded in any degree on Paul IV.'s denial of her title, it must have seemed in that age within a hair's-breadth of high treason. But it more probably arose from her order that the host should not be elevated, which in truth was not legally to be justified. Mass was said, however, at her coronation; so that she seems to have dispensed with this prohibition. [157] See a paper by Cecil on the best means of reforming religion, written at this time with all his cautious wisdom, in Burnet, or in Strype's _Annals of the Reformation_, or in the _Somers Tracts_. [158] _Parl. Hist._ vol. i. p. 394. In the reign of Edward, a prayer had been inserted in the liturgy to deliver us "from the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities." This was now struck out; and, what was more acceptable to the nation, the words used in distributing the elements were so contrived by blending the two forms successively adopted under Edward, as neither to offend the popish or Lutheran, nor the Zuinglian communicant. A rubric directed against the doctrine of the real or corporal presence was omitted. This was replaced after the restoration. Burnet owns that the greater part of the nation still adhered to this tenet though it was not the opinion of the rulers of the church. ii. 390, 406.