The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-03-22 00:00:00

EXTINCTION OF THE SEE OF BRISTOL.

A public meeting, numerously attended by the most influen
"al merchants and other citizens, was held on Tuesday last at
ristol for the purpose of addressing the King and petitioning
both houses of parliament -against the proposed extinction of
tthhaatirb.ishoprick: I-lis' worship the Mayor of Bristol took the
Mr. P. F. AIKEN, in a speech of greatforce, urged as reasons
why that episcopal see should not be suppressed, that it was
coeval with the reformation, and with which the distinguished
ziarnes of Seeker, and Newton. and Butler, and Warburton are
asseciated, should not he expunged with the stroke of a diplomatic
pen, from the ecclesiastical records of the kingdom. lie said the
'Tint to which I shall chiefly confine my attention is the strong
ground for remonstrance, to be derived from the principles of the
'ePort of ate commissioner; itself. There is much that is valuable
and worthy of admiration in that report. Every sincere friend
of the established church will rejoice to see a better distribution
,
its revenues, the removal of ever y abuse that has weakened
Lia„(l, impaired it, the addition of whatever may increase its sta-
y and usefulness, and seat it more firmly in the affections of
`"e people. Accordingly, the following futiclatneptal principles
et the report merit our highest approbation. " 1 hat in order to
give increased efficiency and usefulness to the established
church, it is obviously necessary that we should attempt the
accomplishment of two objects, *Which are indispensible to the
complete attainment of that end. One is to improve the condi-
tion, of those benefices, the population of which is of considera-
ule amount, but which are so scantily endowed as not to yield a
competent maintenance for a clergyman ; the other is to add to
the number of clergymen and churches, and so to make a more
4ctequate provision for the • cligious instruction of a raPidly in-
creased and increasing population." Now, a fair application
of the rules here laid down to the case of the proposed annihila-
y"n of the see of Bristol would lead to the very opposite result.
ts revenues are Small, its population is great and rapidly in-
creasing„ The legitimate inference from the commissioners'
wise and equitable principles therefore is—that its condi jon
-"alit be improved—that its scanty endowments" should be
Vgineuted from the superanous•revennes of Canterbury, Dur-
ham Ely, and Worcester—that in all its parts it should he ren-
V..ed more efficient—but not aholished. (Cheers.) The second
13..1ect contemplated in the report is the remedy of one Of the
fiost serious evils connected with the established church and the
natthe Population has in times past got so far in advance of
e means of religious instruction provided by the state, that
12aultitudes have been utterly neglected; many are alienated
from the church to' which they might have been attached. In
tr late admirable charge of the Bishop of Chester. it is stated
e such is the increase of population in his diocese, during
every ten years, that fifty additional churches and their clergy-
na would be requisite to keep pace with it. These facts being
the number
and the suilable remedy of a large addition to
number of churches and clergy being seriously intended, is
this a time to abolish an ancient bishopric in the midst of an
immense population ?
u.,,Ye subjoin the resolutions upon which an address to the
;.'"eg, and petitions to the two houses of parliament, were
9unded and agrebd to by the meeting.
bist.—That this Meeting has heard with dismay and regret,
t
At the commissioners appointed to consider the state of the
established church in England and Wales, have, in their second
report, recommended that the See of Bristol should be sup;
Is/Psseil and its jurisdiction transferred to the adjoining bi-
-I,"Prics of Gloucester, and Bath and M' ells; a measnre which,
siS' degrading this City from its rank and station in the empire,
could, not fail in its consequences to he most injurious to our se-
Tllar interests, but, which is still more to he deprecated, in re-
"ellc.e. to its effects on the spiritual welfare on the numerous
Laoalritants of the City, and its Subnrban Dependencies, em-
14„,aett)g a population of at least 1.50,000 souls.
...49,77-That to deprive so ancient and populous a city of its ec-
clesiastical privileges, at the same time that it is proposed to
erect Manchester into a bishopric, solely on account of its po-
PWati
on, would, not only be a poor return for our well-known
itchment to the church-establishment, and zeal in support of
acrights, hut an act of manifest arid gross injustice ; tending
I)Ve to strengthen the hands of the enemies of episcopacy,
'0
and to weaken the defence"of our national institutions: