Download or read book The Ingoldsby Letters (1858-1878), Vol. 2 written by James Hildyard and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-12 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Ingoldsby Letters (1858-1878), Vol. 2: In Reply to the Bishops in Convocation, the House of Lords and Elsewhere, on the Revision of the Book of Common Prayer Why, but that the trumpet which should marshal all her troops in battle array against the common enemy, is found to give an uncertain sound, and the soldiers of Christ are consequently at fault, and unprepared for the battle. Instead of an united army, they more nearly represent the condition of the rabble rout in the camp of Midian, with every man's sword against his fellow, rejoicing chiefly when they can say or report some hard or spiteful thing one of another. The object accordingly of the present re-publication, (and notably of this Second Volume), is, to point out how this distraction in our own camp arises from an irreconcilable difference of opinion on certain controverted points in the Prayer-book, which all the practised casuistry of Divines, and all the hired sophistry of the Law, have been unable to harmonise or explain away. What, then, is the natural and unavoidable conclusion, but that the origin of the evil must be removed? The axe must be laid to the root of the tree of discord, before we can have any hope of permanent peace and quietness in the Church. It is not seemly, - it is not right, - that this deadly cancer should be allowed to go on for ever, from year to year, fermenting and spreading its roots in the very vitals of the Church. No one can deny its existence; yet all seem to lack the courage necessary to attack the enemy in his stronghold - "that jewel the Prayer-book" - that is to say, that Half-Reformed Prayer-book, which has retained the seeds and germs of a suppressed, not extinguished, Popery for upwards of three hundred years. Is it laziness? is it selfishness? is it cowardice? - or, if not these, What is it - the Author (now in his seventieth year) asks fearlessly - which causes this shrinking from an undoubted duty? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.