PERFORMING THE NATION

The Second Act of Uniformity's opening reference to the “godly order” suggests, in its multiple possibilities of meaning – is the “godly order” a liturgical form? a command? an ideal, stable socio-religious structure? – something important about liturgical form: it is, inherently and always, a form of order. It implicitly demands a highly regimented subordination of private to public (common prayer is, after all, that prayer which is shared by, or distributed to, or demanded of, all), and requires that individuals play closely and deliberately scripted roles within the larger structures it posits; it tells them what to say, and when to stand up, sit down, and kneel, and in those actions an entire ideological world is articulated, constructed, and perpetuated.