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Vol. II.] JUNE, 1869. [No. 6. THE CARDIFF CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. CHURCH AND STATE—Continued. On the 17th November, 1558, Elizabeth was proclaimed Q,ueen of England, and once more Religion was established on a Protestant basis. From this point the Puritan and Nonconformist controversy may be said to have arisen. The seeds of purer truth that had been germinating since the days of Wicliff began to appear above ground. The yearning of many noble spirits for a complete religious freedom became more intense ; and the conflict grew more decided and resolute, as well as more general. Let us understand, as clearly as we can, the real position of affairs. Queen Elizabeth appears to have had some scruples at first about assuming so complete a spiritual authority over the Church as her father Henry had exercised. But she was a woman of too decided a character to allow things long to remain in an unsettled state, and too imperious a will to brook anything like resistance to her decrees. It was a great trouble to her that the ritualism of the Church should be in such utter confusion, and she at once set about rectifying that matter. The clergy should no longer be left at liberty to carry out their individual fancies in the order of worship, as, to a great extent, they had hitherto done. Strype, in his " Annals," tells us that some of them " fixed the Com¬ munion table in the Chancel, and some in other parts of the Church. Some dressed the table in one manner, and some in another. Some administered baptism from a font, and some from a basin. Some used the sign of the cross, others not. Some officiated in a surplice, some without; some with a square cap, some with a round cap, some with a button cap, some with a hat; some in scholar's clothes, some in others." The Queen could not endure such disorder as this ; she was determined that her policy should not be doubtfol, and that her will should be made distinctly known. In the early part of her reign the Statutes of Su-