To allow more than one form of
public worship would have led in the heated temper of men's minds to
quarrels and civil wars. But conscience might be left free under outward
conformity, and those whom the Liturgy did not suit might use their own
ritual in their private houses. Elizabeth and her wise advisers believed
that if her subjects could be kept from fighting and killing one
another, and were not exasperated by outward displays of difference,
they would learn that righteousness of life was more important than
orthodoxy, and to estimate at their real value the rival dogmas of
theology. Had time permitted the experiment to have a fair trial, it
would perhaps have succeeded, but, unhappily for the Queen and for
England, the fire of controversy was still too hot under the ashes.
Protestants and Catholics had been taught to look on one another as
enemies of God, and were still reluctant to take each other's hands at
the bidding of an Act of Parliament. The more moderate of the Catholic
laity saw no difference so great between the English service and the
Mass as to force them to desert the churches where their fathers had
worshipped for centuries. They petitioned the Council of Trent for
permission to use the English Prayer Book; and had the Council
consented, religious dissension would have dissolved at last into an
innocent difference of opinion.
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