The ceremony of the Coronation, according to immemorial usage, was to be an Episcopalian ceremony. Of course no part could be assigned to Presbyterians, unless--as in the case of the Bishop of Norwich--Presbyterianism clothed itself in the robes of Prelacy. Presbyterians, _as such_, had been appointed Chaplains and preached before the King; but, _as such_, they were passed by in the gorgeous ceremonies of Westminster. This fact is very significant, and it bore immediately upon the nature, and on the probable issues of the Conference. It has often been said, that the Presbyterians were in the saddle at the time of the Restoration; it is as plain that the Episcopalians were in the saddle at the time of the Coronation and the Conference. A meeting at the Savoy, between Divines of the two schools, to consult respecting a revision of the Prayer Book, in the spring of 1660, would have been a perfectly different affair from such a meeting in the spring of 1661. Something at least like equal terms might at the former date have been secured, although Presbyters were then beginning to give way to Priests; but it is plain that at the later date the men of Geneva stood no chance with those of Canterbury. Episcopacy and the Liturgy were in possession. Presbyterianism had no chance of displacing or even modifying either. According to the terms of the Commission, all the members stood on an equality, but their positions in point of fact differed exceedingly. [Sidenote: 1661.] Nor must it be imagined that the hopelessness of the scheme arose entirely from the fact of political and social superiority on one side: it sprung also from causes at work on the other side. Without repeating what has been already said, I would remark that a gulf had yawned between them ever since the opening of the Civil Wars. They had been placed in strong mutual antagonism by the revolutionary ecclesiastical changes effected by the Long Parliament. Besides this, the doctrinal differences between the Anglicans and the Puritans so sharply defined, and so resolutely maintained, still kept them wide asunder. Moreover, their opposite modes of expressing devotion, the love of litanies with their responses, and of collects with their brevity, on the one hand, and the love of prayers vocally offered by the minister, and running into great length, on the other, served effectually to strengthen and to heighten the dividing barrier. The results which ensued fulfilled this reasonable anticipation of failure.