ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



death of Dean Field he appointed William Laud, bidding him reform and set 

 in order what he found amiss. 1 In January, 1617, the dean and chapter 

 decreed ' that the communion table should be placed altarwise at the upper 

 end of the quire close to the east wall ... as was the custom in the royal 

 chapel and in most of the cathedral churches.' They subsequently assigned 

 60 a year for the repair of the fabric, and appealed to the gentry of the 

 county for their assistance towards the erection of a new organ. The moving 

 of the communion table gave great offence to Bishop Smith and to the 

 Puritan party in Gloucester.* The bishop protested that if any such inno- 

 vations were brought into that cathedral, he would never more come within 

 the walls, and is said to have adhered to his resolution. A libellous letter 

 about popish superstitions was cast into the pulpit of St. Michael's where the 

 sub-dean preached, but Jones, one of the aldermen, committed some of the 

 dispersers of the libel to prison. 



Goodman filled the see of Gloucester during the important years pre- 

 ceding the Great Rebellion. His sermons attracted the attention of Bishop 

 Andrewes and others of that school, who befriended him ; in 1617 he was 

 made a canon of Windsor, and in 1625 he became bishop of Gloucester with 

 licence to hold his canonry and other benefices in commendam? A sermon 

 which he preached before the king in 1626 on the Real Presence made 2 

 great stir both at the court and in the country, because he was supposed ' to 

 trench too near the borders of popery.' * The king referred the consideration 

 of it to Abbot, Andrewes, and Laud, who reported that though the words 

 were incautious they contained no innovation on the doctrine of the Church 

 of England. However, unlike Laud and other bishops of the same views, 

 Goodman was not a vigorous opponent of the teaching of the Roman Church, 

 and in 1635 his intercourse with certain Roman Catholics gave rise to a 

 suspicion that he was a secret member of their communion. It is certain 

 that as a bishop he was not loyal to his metropolitan. Yet in some directions 

 he exercised a strong influence over his diocese. In 1629 he wrote to inform 

 his clergy that he had lately erected a library at Gloucester for the use of his 

 brethren throughout the diocese, and for gentlemen and strangers who were 

 students. He urged them to give a book or the price of it, unless they were 

 hindered by their poverty. 1 In his visitation articles in 1634 and 1640 he 

 endeavoured to enforce obedience to the Canons of 1604, and inquired 

 whether the fabrics of churches were in good repair within and without, and 

 if there was * a convenient seat for the minister to read service in,' ' a comely 

 pulpit with a decent cloth or cushion and a cover for the same,' ' a comely 

 large surplice,' ' a decent communion table with a seemly carpet and a clothi 

 of fine linen to cover the same at the time of communion,' * a fair com- 

 munion cup of silver with a cover agreeable for the same ' and all other 

 necessary ornaments.' He asked if any of the parishioners omitted to kneel 

 in the prayers and stand in the creed, and if they wilfully refused to do ' some 

 humble and lowly reverence of body when the Lord Jesus is mentioned,' and 

 whether any resorted ' unto barns, fields, woods, or private houses to any 

 extraordinary exposition of Scripture or conferences together.' He inquired 



1 Laud" i Workt, iv, 233 ; vi, pt. i, 239 ; Heylin, Cjfrianiu Anglutu, 69. 



' Heylin, op. cit. 69, 70. * Diet. Nat. Biog. ii, 131. ' Heylin, op. cit. 



MS. Sloane, 1 199, fol. 92 J (B.M.). * Second Rep. of the Ritual Com. App. E, 542-7. 



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