Nonjurors adopted the Usages, and still later, when Deacon introduced ceremonies, which had never been recognized in the Anglican Church, the cry of Popery was raised even against some of the most excellent of the Clergy, while the laudable customs of the Church were neglected, lest, as it was ignorantly pretended, it should be supposed, that there was some foundation for such an unreasonable charge. To avoid the imputation of popery, some of the weak among the Clergy went into the other extreme, just as some in the present day, in their horror of Rome, rush into a state of schism and error not less dangerous than Popery. And it is well known how difficult it is to revive a practice after it has been discontinued. When, therefore, other Prelates, who were anxious to enforce conformity, came into dioceses in which inconformity had been permitted, they found it difficult to depart from the practice of their predecessors. Thus the irregularities became perpetuated; and though there ever were many Clergymen, who adhered to the Rubrics, yet compliance was by no means general.
These causes combined produced, by slow degrees, that state of things which at present exists. While some complied with the Rubrics, they were neglected by others. And as the Bishops, for some years after the Revolution, were selected from the school of Tillotson and Burnet, the Clergy who were irregular were as much countenanced as those who conformed in obedience to their vows. The result was a very extensive disuse of some of the Rubrics in the Book of Common Prayer.
At the last Review of the Liturgy in 1661 all the important directions of the previous Book were carefully considered. After all the objections alleged by
