The Lord’s Supper

Chapter 6 charts the hostility of the Reformed Conformists to the language and liturgical innovations, promoted by some Laudians, that supported the idea that the Eucharist might be understood as a real sacrifice. Drawing particularly on the writings of Williams and Morton, it shows that the Reformed Conformist understanding of Conformity was decisively shaped by their rejection of the Roman Catholic teaching on the sacrifice of the Mass. This rejection informed the Reformed Conformist reading of canon law and inspired their opposition to the erection of altars within English churches. The chapter also returns to Prideaux, whose 1631 Act Lecture on the Mass represented a very public attack on Laudian language and church furnishings at the heart of Laud’s own university.