XXIII. Try and Trust.

IT was wisely requested by the children of the captivity, Dan. i., and warily granted by the king’s chamberlain unto them, that, by way of trial, they should feed on pulse for ten days, and then an inspection to be made on their countenances, whether the lilies therein did look as white and roses as red as before, that so their bill of fare might be either changed or continued as they saw just occasion.

Let such new practices as are to be brought into our Church be for a time candidates and probationers on their good behaviour, to see how the temper of the people will fit them, and they fadge with it, before they be publicly enjoined.

Let them be like St. Paul’s deacons, 1 Tim. iii. 10, first be proved, then be used if found blameless. I cannot, therefore, but commend the discretion of such statesmen, who, knowing the Directory to be but a stranger, and considering the great inclination the generality of our nation had to the Common Prayer, made their temporary act to stand in force but for three years.