tioned, and having regard to the said statute made in the time of his said grandfather, and by so much as he is bounden by his oath to cause the same to be kept as the law of the realm, though that by sufferance and negligence it hath been sithence attempted to the contrary, also having regard to the grievous complaints made to him by his people in divers his parliaments holden heretofore, willing to ordain remedy for the great damages and mischiefs which have happened and daily do happen to the Church of England by the said cause, by the assent of all the great men and the commonalty of the said realm to the honour of God and profit of the said Church of England and of all his realm, hath ordered and established that the free elections of archbishops, bishops, and all other dignities and benefices elective in England shall hold from henceforth in the manner as they were granted by the king's progenitors and the ancestors of other lords, founders of the said dignities and other benefices. Statute of Provisors, 25 Ed. III. stat. 6. Our sovereign lord the king, at his Parliament holden at Westminster, in the Utas of St. Hillarie, the thirty-eighth year of his reign, having a regard to the quietness of his people, which he chiefly desireth to sustain in tranquillity and peace, to govern according to the laws, usages, and franchises of his land, as he is bound by his oath made at his coronation, following the ways of his progenitors, which for their time, made certain good ordinances and provisions against the said grievances and perils. Stat. 38 Ed. III. c. 1. "For they that consult Magna Charta shall find, that as all your predecessors were at their coronation, so you also were sworn before all the nobility and bishops then present, and in the presence of God, and in his stead to him that anointed you, 'to maintain the Church lands, and the rights belonging to it; and this you yourself have testified openly to God at the holy altar, by laying your hands on the Bible then lying upon it. And not only Magna Charta, but many modern statutes have denounced a curse upon those that break Magna Charta; a curse like the leprosy that was entailed on the Jews; for as that, so these curses have and will cleave to the very stones of those buildings that have been consecrated to God; and the father's sin of sacrilege hath and will prove to be entailed on his son and family. And now, Madam, what account can be given for the breach of this oath at the last great day, either by your Majesty, or by me, if it be wilfully, or but negligently violated, I know not." Archbishop Whitgift's Address to Queen Elizabeth on the intended sale of Church lands. Walton's Life of Hooker, prefixed to his works, vol. i. page 54, ed. Keble. THE END. GILBERT & RIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London. AN APPEAL ADDRESSED TO THE LAY MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, POINTING OUT THE IMMINENT DANGERS TO WHICH THE CHURCH IS EXPOSED FROM THE TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT; FROM TESTIMONIES DERIVED FROM THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY; WITH A PROPOSITION FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A SCRIPTURE READERS' SOCIETY. ACCOMPANIED BY A LETTER TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD ASHLEY, M. P. BY G. ATKINSON, ESQ., R.N., TORQUAY. It seems impossible to read the works of the Oxford Divines, and especially to follow them chronologically, without discovering a daily approach to our holy Church, both in doctrine and affectionate feeling." DR. WISEMAN. LONDON: W. H. DALTON, COCKSPUR STREET. TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD ASHLEY, M.P. deem MY LORD, I AM not at all aware that your Lordship will any apology necessary for my thus addressing you on the present occasion. If I were called upon to explain the grounds for my doing so, I would at once say, that your Lordship's own stirring appeals, at various times, have had no small share in urging me to the step I am taking-I mean, that of calling the attention of the lay members of the Church of England to the great and imminent dangers to which we are exposed from the Tractarian movement, and the consequent duty devolving upon us, if we would save the Church from impending and irretrievable ruin, to adopt such remedial measurés as, with God's blessing, may be likely to stem the torrent which bearing down upon us. Your Lordship's own addresses upon this subject, to which I have already alluded, might be quoted, in addition to B those I have brought forward in my Appeal, to strengthen the testimonies therein adduced, as to the dangers which encompass us on every side. This is, however, unnecessary. I had intended to do so, but it would have unduly extended the length of the letter. I My Lord, had I observed any proposition emanating from yourself, or from any other quarter, calculated to meet the evils which in common we deplore, I should readily have fallen in with it; but, as year after year has rolled on, and every succeeding year has but tended to increase our danger, without any remedy being proposed, I do feel that I shall stand acquitted of the charge of precipitancy, in again bringing before the public the consideration of this important subject. would remind your Lordship, that no society exists in the Church which can reach the evil. The Church Pastoral Aid Society, as also the Scripture Readers' Association, are both precluded, by their restricted regulations, from entering upon such an undertaking. In short, nothing but an unfettered and an aggressive movement can possibly meet the case. We may continue to protest against the errors, as we have done for years past, but without the least effect. Agreeing then, as I do, with the Bishop of Calcutta, that the dangers which beset the Church are imminent, I feel persuaded that, if the laity, as a body, much longer remain unmoved |