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 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY opening of Convocation on 7 October the Mass of the Holy Ghost was sung at the high altar in St. Paul's ; ''' but the new Communion Office was still in use in some churches.'*" An Act was now passed repealing all the statutes of Edward VI with regard to religion, and restoring the status quo at the time of the death of Henry VIH. The old service was to be used on and after 20 December 1553.^" On I 5 September the commissioners for London who had removed the Church goods in the previous reign were ordered to return them to the parish churches from which they had been taken ; '*- and in the course of the next two years the old condition of things was rapidly restored in the London churches."'* The altars were replaced ; new Latin books, vestments, and ornaments "* purchased ; texts of Scripture erased from the walls ; '*^ and images of the patron saints set up.'" The roods were not restored until a special order for their erection had been given in 1555.'" The churches were once more decorated at the great festivals. The royal arms, which in some cases had been set up on the rood-loft '*' or over the altar,"' were effaced. In every church the ceremony of watching the sepulchre was resumed, and in some cases the morrow mass was restored.'^" There are instances of gifts of vestments and ornaments made to churches at this period ; '" and the copes of cloth of gold which had been seized by Edward VI were as far as possible restored by Queen Mary to their respective parishes.'*^ The church- wardens of St. Stephen Walbrook '" and St. Margaret Westminster "* sold their Communion tables, but instances of the sale of Church goods purchased during the reign of Edward VI are very rare. It seems probable that the citizens took into account the possibility of yet further changes in religion, and thought it wiser to retain the ' new service-books,' which in any case would not have sold for much. Processions were resumed, and the ancient ceremonies were once more used at funerals instead of the sermon which for some time past had taken their place.'" Meanwhile, even before the royal Injunctions to that effect were issued in March 1553-4, steps were being taken in London to deal with the married clergy. In December 1553 they were forbidden to minister or to say mass ; '** and in the latter part of the following February Bishop Bonner deprived all those within his diocese of their livings.'" All the great ^^Monum. Franc, loc. cit. ^^ 'Narratives of the Reform. (Camd. Soc), 178. "' I Mary, Stat. 2, cap. 2, printed in Gee and Hardy, Documents, 377; Machyn, Diary, 50; Corp. Rec. Repert. xiii, fol. 105^; Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 105. '" Acts ofP.C. iv, 348. '" Par. Rec. '" Generally not very valuable. '"The sixth chapter of St. John on the high-altar ' table ' at St. Margaret Westm. was replaced by a painting of the Crucifixion ; Accts. 1554-6. ""^ See Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 134. '"Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 131. See St. Pancras Soper Lane Reg. 1555 ; St. Martin Orgar Vest. Min. 1555. The cost was very considerable, especially in cases where the rood-loft itself had been destroyed ; hence possib'y the delay. "* St. Margaret Westm. Accts. 1556-8. '"St. Mary Magd. Milk Street Accts. 1553-4. ''"St. Olave Southwark Vest. Min. Dec. 1553; St. Stephen Walbrook Accts. 1556; St. Botolph Aldersgate Accts. 1555-6 ; St. Andrew Holborn Rec. Bk. 1557-8. '^'St. Martin Orgar Accts. 1554-5 ; St. Botolph Aldersgate Accts. 1555-8. '"Machyn, Diary, 165. '"Accts. 1554-5. They had already sold the Communion cup ; Accts. 1553-4. '"Accts. 1554-6. '" Machyn, Diary, 46-50 ; Monum. Franc, ii, 248, &c. "' Machyn, Diary, 50. '" Cardwell, Doe. Annals, i, 109 n. ; Wriothesley, Chron. ii, 1 13. 299