Queen Elizabeth |
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| During Mary's reign, Elizabeth had lived in some danger. She was accused of talking to Mary's enemies, and therefore suspected of treason. She learned to be cautious, and consider her plans carefully. | |
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When she became Queen, her Parliament was in a hurry to undo the religious changes Mary had made. Within one session of Parliament, the church was returned almost to where it had been in Edward's day. Elizabeth did, however, leave her own mark on the church's life and worship. The form of worship and government of the Church of England was laid down in ways that remain the general pattern today. Elizabeth liked elaborate vestments and ritual. She did not like saying too much about what people ought to believe. Some freedom of belief was good. If people went along to the church services, she did not want anyone to ask too much about their private beliefs. She said she "did not wish to make a window into men's souls". Her main advisors agreed. So the result was a policy that was a "middle way" between the church of the time before Henry VIII, and the church the more extreme reformers wanted to see. |
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Queen Elizabeth |
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So the Prayer Book and Articles of Religion that laid down the beliefs and practices of the Church were almost as in Edward VI's time. The Church kept its Bishops, which some of the Reformers had wanted to replace with a different system of church government. Some of the ceremonial that Elizabeth loved found its way back. Words were sometimes used that could be taken in different ways, as the reader preferred. For example,some phrases in the Communion service could be understood in a Catholic sense, others in a clearly Protestant way. |
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