These “ales,” and other similar merrymakings, to which distance lends such enchantment in the eyes of many Englishmen, soon became a public nuisance, and they were conducted in such an unruly manner as to cause great uneasiness to the civil authorities. Two of the most objectionable features were, that they were often held in and about churches, as already stated, and also that Sundays and feast-days were usually selected for their celebration. Whatever has been said to the contrary, it was the Church that encouraged them; not only the Roman Catholic clergy,[241] but, for some time after the Reformation, the High Church dignitaries of the Established Church, and chief amongst them was Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. They were the cause of bitter strife at the period referred to. At first they were denounced by Puritan ministers of all religions, and then, as the period of the Reformation approached, efforts were made to suppress them. To those efforts Queen Elizabeth lent her sanction, and in the 38th year of her reign the justices assembled at Bridgewater ordered the total suppression of “church-ales,” “clerk-ales,” and “bid-ales,” and the decree was signed by the Lord Chief-Justice. Similar orders were issued and enforced in the reign of James I.; but in the following reign, when Chief-Justice Richardson and Baron Denham published an order to suppress Sunday revels, the former was told in the most insulting manner by Laud, the Primate, that the justices had exceeded their duties; that wakes and ales were religious institutions; and that although some correction of their abuses might be required, the lay tribunals had nothing to do with the matter, which was one of spiritual jurisdiction.[242] A violent controversy followed between the Puritans and the clergy of the Church of England; and so long as they were allowed to last, the terrors of the Star Chamber and High Commission were employed by the latter to counteract any efforts that were made to suppress the scandalous desecration of sacred days and sacred places. But the Commonwealth, which purged the country of many abuses, at least corrected that one. An Act of Parliament was passed forbidding the holding of “ales” and merrymakings within the precincts of places of worship or on the Sabbaths, and from that time they gradually lost their importance. Although the divorce between religion and beer was not then completely effected, the open recognition and support of the Church has not since been extended to the liquor traffic.