Page:The History of the Church & Manor of Wigan part 2.djvu/125

304 Hee said [hee] came with a message of peace, and with an intent to settle the same in the p'ish for the glory of god and the good of their soules, for the effecting whereof he was to make two p'posic'ons. 1. The first was that, for as much as Mr. Recorder had affirmed that the said p'ish church was noe p't of the cathedrall, that the p'ish should acknowledge that p'ish to bee p't of the cathedrall, & that the deane & chapter had like authority there as in any other p't of the cathedrall. 2. The second was that the pulpit should be removed to the place where it stood before. And in both these they must then suddenly att that present give their acknowledgmt & consent." With respect to their return to St. Oswald's, however, a contemporary writer, quoted in King's Vale Royal, seems to have taken a different view of the matter. In speaking of Chester Cathedral, he says, "Lately the lower end of that Ile" (the broad Ile) "is graced with the beginning of such a monument as may, to our posterity, be of more fame and worth then all the rest of this ancient Fabric, if either the Right Reverend Father, Doctor John Bridgeman, the now Lord Bishop, or his successors, do finish that Preaching Place which his Lordship hath already begun with the erection of as fair a Pulpit of carved work in Wainstcot as I have anywhere seen: & if ever it be accomplished with convenient pews and provision [made] for the auditors, as is already for the preacher, it is like to be a most stately place for the publike sermons of the city, and an ornament to the whole diocess. And as no doubt his Lordship was moved to this intendment by beholding the frequent & great concurrence of people to the publike sermons here, and how they be straightened in the churches in our great assemblies, so the after ages shall have cause to praise the God of Heaven for his Lordship's godly care, who, it seems, is persuaded such goodly spacious buildings of our forefathers should not serve only for idle walks for our feet, & gazing objects for our