The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-10-26 00:00:00

bise to be confined

t be considered and settled : Witt

r, is th
d four

or stipendiary curs

n to be uniform, or to vary, as at p
s—London, Salisbury, and
ode of election ?

completely in the
test, how is the I
be determined,

clergy to be preserved as now ? If so, will this be sub-
mitted to by the parochial clergy ? Are canons to be
enacted by both houses, as is asserted, or by the upper
house alone, as is asserted also ? Are the two Convoca-
tions of York and Canterbury to remain distinct, as now, •
or to be merged ? If distinct, is York, with its one house
of bishops and clergy, united to remain as it is ? Is the
Irish branch of the united church to send representatives ?
Are the colonial dioceses to send representatives ? And,
though last not least, are the laity to be admitted ? This
is perhaps the most important of all the important ques-
tions that will present themselves for settlement in the
reform of Convocation ; and it seems to be admitted by
the highest authorities that the laity cannot be excluded. '
He proceeds to argue upon the difficulties which would
beset any attempt of Convocation to enforce its decrees
upon questions of doctrine and discipline, and illustrates
his position by a reference to the Gorham controversy.
He then argues the question as to the State patronage of
Church livings ; and with referenceto the assumed hostility
of the House of Commons to the Church, says :
" As for a hostile legislature and a hostile ministry, the
simple truth is, that when a majority of the legislature is
hostile to the church, the church must cease to be estab-
lished as the church in Scotland is, and it is our business
to take care that the legislature does not become hostile
to us ; and I think our difficulties in this respect arise
somewhat from the habit of thinking and speaking of the
church as a kind of abstraction consisting of the clergy
alone. The people of England are the Church of England,
at least ostensibly so '• in theory at least, if not in fact. 1
wish it were more a fact than it is. But still, great and
lamentable es the prevalence of dissent is, it is not so pre-
valent as to destroy the coincidence of church and state.
'lhe saving of Burke still stands good, that in a Christian
commonwealth the church and state are one and the same
thing ; and, although it is perfectly true that the House
of Commons is a mixed multitude, with many professed
enemies, and perhaps more cold-hearted nominal friends,
still it is not only in theory,but in fact, a church assembly
by a great majority, and, so long as that majority remains,
is entitled, so far as any body of laymen can he entitled,
to its legitimate share in the rule, order, and government
of the church. Nor must we be alarmed or offended if
some of its members, neglecting Burke's advice, approach
the church without the reverence due to a parent, and
treat her faults with rash and irreverent hands."

Approaching the subject of the demand for synodical

action in the Church, I

e thus suggests a mode for meeting

it. He says

" But then, it will be said, are we to have no power of
synodical action ? To which I reply, that we have already
sufficient power of synodical action, without any alteration
of the law. We have the power of solemn common public
deliberation in diocesan synods, as has been recently
proved ; and, as the Bishop of St. David's justly argues,
nothing would be more easy than to enlarge the meetings
of the rural deans, and dignify them with the title of a
diocesan synod. But then, it may be said, cannot we have
a national elected synod also to represent the whole body
of the church ? I will not undertake to affirm that no
form of national elected synod could possibly be devised,
which might safely meet for purposes of solemn common
deliberation, to act as a sort of privy council to the bishops
fer the good of the church."

Referring to the objections raised by many to the sub-
jection of the Church to the civil power, he recites the ad-
vantages enjoyed by the Church as follows :

" We have a standard of doctrine faithfully embodied in
our three creeds—our Articles, Liturgy, and Catechism—
enshrined therein as in a sanctuary, from whence it cannot.
be dragged by the power of man. We have a Book of
Common Prayer so admirably complete, that, a revision of
it would be perilous in the extreme. We have a Christian
ministry in succession from the Apostles, rightly,orderly,
and lawfully consecrated.' We have above 15,000 churches
and chapels for divine service, an independent revenue for
the support of many thousand parochial clergy, and a
provision for a hierarchy to associate with the higher
gentry and nobility of the land, so as to leaven with a
wholesome spiritual influence the whole mass of society;
and, in addition to all this, we have, thank God, a clergy

and laity animated generally wit

a spirit a

hristign

energy capable ofapplying all these privileges to a Christian
over, we have that freedom of thought and
very branch of the Catholic Church must
claim when emancipated from the anti-Catholic Church
of Rome ; and, to adapt the language of Archdeact,n Wil-
berforce, we need not wish to ' contract-those limits which
our fathers erected, still less to demolish them.' "
He concludes with an urgent appeal both to clergy and
laity ; and few will dispute that in this able pamphlet the
Rev. Rector Campbell has done good service to the Church
of which he is so able a minister, though he has left out of

action whict

view that portion of the duties of Convocation whist

applied to minor details, are altogether irrespective of

questions of doctrine or discipline

OPERATIONS POP

HORTICULTURE

Stove, C

ervalory, Greenhouse, &7c.—lt is a proof
ement if the gardener can now shew a good
stock of healthy plants of the sorts which flower
throuzh the winter. Flowers are at all times acceptable,

of good mans