o be the common law of the church; intimating, that the use of several services in the same province, which was the case in England, was not to be warranted but by long custom. The liturgy of the church of England was composed in the year 1547, and established in the second year of King Edward VI. Stat. 2. and 3 Ed. VI. cap. 1.

In the fifth year of this king it was reviewed; because some things were contained in that liturgy which showed a compliance with the superstition of those times, and some exceptions were taken against it by some learned men at home, and by Calvin abroad. Some alterations were made in it, which consisted in adding the general confession and absolution, and the communion to begin with the ten commandments. The use of oil in confirmation and extreme unction were left out, and also prayers for souls departed, and what tended to a belief of Christ's real presence in the eucharist. This liturgy, so reformed, was established by the act of 5 and 6 Ed. VI. cap. 1. However, it was abolished by Queen Mary, who enacted, that the service should stand as it was most commonly used in the last year of the reign of King Henry VIII. The liturgy of 5 and 6 Ed. VI. was re-established with some few alterations and additions, by 1 Eliz. cap. 2. Some farther alterations were introduced, in consequence of the review of the common prayer-book, by order of King James, in the first year of his reign; particularly in the office of private baptism, in several rubrics and other passages, with the addition of five or six new prayers and thanksgivings, and all that part of the catechism which contains the doctrine of the sacraments. The book of common-prayer, so altered, remained in force from the first year of King James to the fourteenth of Charles II. But the last review of the liturgy was in the year 1661, and the last act of uniformity enjoining the observance of it is 13 and 14 Car. II. cap. 4. See COMMON-PRAYER. Many applications have been since made for a review, but hitherto without success.