Page:Church and State under the Tudors.djvu/161

 passed—1 Mary, Sess. 1, c. i., repealing some of the recent extensions of the Treason-felony and Præmunire Acts; 1 Mary, Sess. 2, c. i., declaring the Queen's legitimacy and repealing any Acts in a contrary sense; and, lastly, 1 Mary, Sess. 2, c. ii., the famous Act which repealed almost the whole of Edward VI.'s ecclesiastical legislation and re-established Divine service and the administration of the Sacraments as they existed in the last years of Henry VIII.

To this point it seems likely that the Queen carried the general feeling of the country with her. Though the reformed religion had progressed since Henry's death, it is probable that the majority of the nation still retained their j^reference, if not for the old faith, at least for the old ritual and ceremonies. It is certain, in fact, that they did so in most parts of the country, though apparently not in London nor in the eastern counties. Moreover, the outrageous proceedings of Edward's Council had for the moment alienated very many who, left to themselves, would have taken the side of the Reformation, and made them look back upon the later years of Henry's reign as a time of moderation and comparative tranquillity. But indications were early given, though not so early generally understood, that Mary did not intend to rest in this illogical though generally acceptable position; for in the inhibition from preaching, published on August 18, she speaks of herself as 'of that religion which she had professed from her infancy,' and limits her previously-promised toleration of other opinions 'till public order should be taken of it by common assent.' The expulsion of the Edwardine bishops from the sees whose previous occupants had been removed to make room for them,