Lord, his heirs, or successors, requiring and commanding the said Archbishop and Bishops, with all speed and celerity, to confirm the said election, and to invest and consecrate the said person so elected to the office and dignity of an Archbishop that he is elected unto, and to give and use to him Pall, and all other benedictions, ceremonies, and things requisite for the same, without suing, procuring, or obtaining any Bulls or other things at the see of Rome, for any such office or dignity of an Archbishop in that behalf

"VI. And be it farther enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that if the Prior's Convent of any monastery, or the Dean and Chapter of any cathedral church where the see of an Archbishop or Bishop is, within any of the King's dominions, after any such licence as is aforesaid rehearsed shall be delivered to them, proceed not to election, and signify the same according to the tenor of this Act, within the space of twenty days next after such licence shall come to their hands: or else if any Archbishop or Bishop within any of the King's dominions, after such election, nomination, or presentation, shall be signified unto them by the King's Letters Patent, shall refuse, and do not confirm, invest, and consecrate with all due circumstance as is aforesaid, every such person as shall be so elected, nominated, or presented, and to them signified as is above mentioned, within twenty days next after the King's Letters Patent of such signification or presentation. shall come into their hands, or else if any of them,

or any other person or persons admit, maintain, allow, obey, do, or execute any censures, excommunications, interdicts, inhibitions, or any other process or act, of whatever nature, name, or quality soever it be, to the contrary or lett of the due execution of this Act, that then every Prior and particular person of his Convent, and every Dean and particular person of the Chapter, and every Archbishop and Bishop, and all other persons offending and doing contrary to this Act, or any part thereof, and their aiders, councellors, abettors, shall run in the dangers, and pains, and penalties of the Statute of Provision and Præmunire, made in the 25th year of the reign of King Edward III., and in the 16th year of King Richard II.”

Such is the Act under which the Bishops of the Church of England are at this day appointed. The following is an analysis of it :

1. It apportions severally to the laity, the clergy, and the Archbishop of the province, their respective shares in an appointment which was anciently their joint right. To lay hands it consigns the right of nomination, to clergymen that of election, and to the Archbishop confirmation.

2. It constitutes the King the representative of the laity, by vesting the entire right of nomination in his hands.

3. As it makes over to the King the entire rights of the laity, so it enables him to controul the clergy in the exercise of theirs, by enforcing their acqui

escence in his wishes, under certain pains and penalties.

4. In case these pains and penalties should prove insufficient, it enables him to supersede elections and confirmation by a third process, presentation, to which he may have recourse at pleasure.

5. And as, over and above nomination, election, and confirmation, which are human institutions, and may be superseded by the authority that enacted them, there remains a fourth process, consecration, of divine institution, and consequently indispensable, those whom God has empowered to use or refuse it, are commanded by this Act to employ their great trust at the King's pleasure, under the pains and penalties aforesaid.

Thus the rights of the whole Church of England, and of every individual member of it, laity, clergy, and Bishops, are surrendered unconditionally to one person, the King. It is for us to consider, laity as well as clergy and Bishops, whether this is any longer to be tolerated. Whether the crown, ex

posed as it has been, by recent changes in our constitution, to all sorts of influences, dissenting and latitudinarian, is any longer qualified to represent the entire Church of England.

This is the great question on which members of this Church must decide, each person for himself. And if, after due consideration, any individual sees reason to think that his own voice in the nomination of his spiritual rulers is still safely vested in the hands that are now intrusted with it, he, of

course, may still, with a safe conscience, acquiesce. If, after the events of May 1832, he still finds reason to hope the King's views and feelings, when opposed to those of ministers and parliament, will prevail,—if, with the scene of February 12, 1833, yet fresh in his memory, he is still able to suppose a parliament such as ours rightly impressed with the importance of the episcopal office, and good judges of the qualifications it requires,-lastly, if he feels that he can repose any great confidence in His Majesty's ministers, when he recollects the manner in which they have trifled with the King's coronation oath, even as interpreted by themselves,-if he sees fit to intrust his most sacred interests to such hands,-if so, well.

If not, the remedy is in his own hands. But the members of the Church of England are not the only persons who may be supposed to be compromised in the foregoing Act of Parliament. There are some of its provisions which concern all British subjects alike.

2. To the People of England.

A growing feeling has for a long time prevailed against all legislative interference with the freedom of conscience, and that more particularly on the subject of religion. This feeling may or may not be correct, but it is certainly general, and has been a principal instrument in effecting most of the great changes which have lately been brought about in our constitution. It is a feeling which has been

avowed over and over again by almost all who now take a lead in public affairs; and, doubtless, after their successful labours on former occasions, they will be interested in finding a fresh field open for its exertion. All those who feel sincere sympathy for an honest conscience restrained by legislative enactments in the discharge of its religious duties; all that numerous and powerful class by whose influence the Test Act was repealed and the Catholic claims conceded, will do well to look into the penal provisions of the foregoing Act.

Penalties, it will be remembered, are there enacted, (1.) against Dean and Chapter who fail to elect within. twenty days the person nominated by the crown for their future Bishop; (2.) against any Archbishop who fails, within the said time, to confirm such election, if duly made, or, in case the Dean and Chapter hesitate to elect, who refuses to consecrate on the King's presentation. In these cases, the recusant Archbishop, or Dean and Chapter, are liable to the pains and penalties of the Statutes of Provision and Præmunire, made in the 25th year of the reign of Edward III., and in the 16th year of the reign of Richard II. Now, whatever these penalties may be, be they nominal or real, little or great, as far as they are penalties at all, they must be perceived to interfere with freedom of conscience. For any one, even slightly acquainted with the present state of the Church of England, must be aware, that there exist among its nominal members some whose general reputation makes it at least supposable that