The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-09 00:00:00

The Lay Address to the Archbishops.

Yesterday afternoon a large number of laymen, members
of the Church of England, attended at Lambeth Palace, for
the purpose of presenting to the Archbishops of Canterbury
and York the address which has been EO numerously signed,
thanking their Graces for their recent pastoral letters on
matters which have recently been productive of some agita-
tion in the Church.

The Earl of ROMNEY read the following addrees,which had
been signed by 137,000 persons :—" To his Grace the Lord
Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England and Me-
tropolitan ; to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of York,
Primate of England and Metropolitan,—We, the under-
signed laymen of the several provinces of England and
Ireland, hereby acknowledge with deep gratitude the pas-
torals lately issued by your graces to the two provinces
of Canterbury and York. Our fervent prayer is that your
graces may be richly endowed with wisdom from on high,
and may be enabled, with the other primates and bishops
of the United Church of England and Ireland, to take
effectual counsel for upholding, amid the peculiar dangers
of the present times, the Divine authority of Holy Scripture,
and the integrity of the faith, so that the Gospel of our Lord
and Saviour may bo taught in all its purity among our •
selves and handed on, without diminution or addition, to
our children's children."

The Arohbishop of CANTERBURY read the following
reply;:—" I accept
_with cordial satisfaction the expression
of your gratitude for the pastoral letter which I recently
addressed to the clergy and laity of my province under cir-
cumstances of no ordinary gravity. Articles of belief, which
had ever been held by the Church catholic and by all its
several branches, seemed to be impugned, and deep anxiety
pervaded the minds of a large proportion of the members of
our Church. I thus felt myself called upon to give my res.
sons for having dissented from the recent judgment of the
Privy Council, The principle on which I proceeded is the
very principle laid down and recognised by that judgment
itself, namely, that such rule or teaching only is to be as-
cribed to the Church as we find to be expressly stated in
her Articles and formularies, or which are plainly in-
volved in or to be collected from that which is written.
The doctrines in question seem to me to be so
' plainly involved in or to be collected from' the
Articles and the formularies of our Church that I had no
alternative but to dissent from a judgment which affirmed
the contrary ; and it is most gratifying to me to find that
the course I then pursued is so consonant with the views
and feelings of the large and important body of Churchmen
whom you represent, and that there is so resolute a deter-
mination on their part to maintain and uphold the cardinal
doctrines of our Church."

The Archbishop of YORK said—l thank you most sin-
cerely for the address that has just been read, so far as it
relates to myself. I thank you for the support which it
gives to me whose experience in the episcopal office has
been short, and who would gladly have left the leading
part of these discussions entirely to older and wiser prelates.
Nothing but a strong sense of duty would have drawn
from me the pastoral letter to which the address is a reply.
I do not conceal from myself that these are times of severe
trial. The person of our Lord himself, and the divine doc-
trines that fell from His own lips, will hardly escape the
criticism which has begun with the book that reveals
them; but, on the other hand, past ages have seen the
same sort of storm cloud the sky, and the storm has passed,
and the Son of Righteousness shines still unchanged in the
heavens, author of life and light to them that turn towards
Him. I am persuaded that this will be the issue now, even if
the storm be long, and many hearts fail because of it. The
duty of Christian teachers at this time is not difficult to see.
The Church of England is founded on the Word of God—
that is her law and her doctrine. She has no other weapon
against sin and evil in the world. Our duty is to be more
and more active in preaching the Word—more earnest in
the study of it, and of all that can throw light upon it—
more sedulous in presenting its warnings and consolations
convincingly to our people—more diligent in instructing our
children—more careful that our preaching shall not be an
echo of some past generation, but an application of eternal
truths to the needs of men and women in this somewhat
luxurious and self-indulgent, but intellectual age. If this
is the effect of our present troubles the :Church of Christ
may emerge from them chastened and strengthened for her
work of turning souls to Christ.
The proceedings then terminated.