Is it possible to suppose that Dr. STANLEY means this for a fair representation of the spirit and design of the Church of England, from the beginning of the Reformation to the 12th year of Elizabeth? He writes as though the Articles were all really to be signed, and the Prayer-book all settled, and that the Church during all that time deliberately intended to leave her members such freedom of opinion as he and others would now restore. If he does not mean this, his argument falls to the ground. But what are the facts of the case? Elizabeth ascended the throne at the close of the year 1558. Every position of trust throughout the country was then held by Roman Catholics. The bishops and the clergy were generally devoted to Rome. The Convocation met, in two months, and drew up Articles presented to Parliament, which are described as “flat against Reformation, and _subscribed_ by most of the University.” Even Cambridge is said to have given her approval. At such a crisis, it was evident that some years must elapse before any such Revision of Edward VI.’s Articles could be hoped for, as would obtain general consent. But to represent this pause as a kind of freedom from “Subscription” enjoyed in earlier and more liberal times, to say that “the Church,” at least, was ignorant of this device, when “Subscription” to certain “Articles” was the first step which the Convocation and the Universities naturally took, immediately Elizabeth came to the throne, surprises me beyond what I like to express. The “general reader” is entirely at the mercy of so eloquent a writer as Dr. STANLEY, and it is not too much to ask that he use his power with a little generosity; or if he will not, it becomes imperative that his representations be translated into a humbler style, that the world may judge how they look. The facts of the case are, in truth, opposed to all that Dr. STANLEY’S argument requires. Instead of the twenty years and more, which preceded Elizabeth’s 12th year, being years in which the Church of the Reformation adopted laxity as its principle, the whole of the period, from the beginning of the reign of Edward to the year 1571 (with the exception of the brief interval of Mary’s government), was occupied in a careful effort on the part of the Reformers to tie down both clergy and laity by the strictest body of ecclesiastical law, perhaps, ever attempted to be enacted in the Christian world. The Reformatio Legum. I refer, of course, to the “Reformatio Legum.” The Archbishop of Canterbury, the subsequently-elect Archbishop of York, and certain suffragans; great Reformers, such as Peter Martyr and Rowland Taylour; known scholars, such as Sir John Cheke and Dr. Haddon, were engaged in this business, which was looked to as the crowning act of the Reformation of Religion. Archbishop Parker took up the work which Cranmer had begun, and even pressed it on the reluctant Queen as far as he dared. Subscription demanded in 1553.