The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-01-11 00:00:00

THE ECCLESIASTICAL POWER

" It will scarcely be denied that this great institution—
the Church of England—is part of the British Constitu-
tion. As a national Establishment, it is a bulwark of no

a creature of the State, or mere engine for carrying o❑
the purposes of Government. It is as much a part or the
Constitution as the House of Lords or Commons, or even
the Monarchy itself. It has been said that the State
could go on without it : so it undoubtedly would—so it
would without the House of Lords or even the Monarchy.
It would go on, because the course of society ►rust pro-
ceed. But the question is—how would it go on ? The
Constitution of England would have lost an integral part
of its subsistence. If it be enquired what part in the
Constitution it sustains it be answered, the most
beneficial, the most beneVolent, the most powerful. The
legislative po er acts for the general welfare, by the
enactment of beneficial laws ; the judicial power, by the

just application of them ; the.executive,hydu!y and im-

partially enforci

them • but th
rstanding, enl.

mass of the citiz,

I training them as candidates for

It is impossibl

to calculate the influer.

consoling pr
of the body politi
stitution. If God be th

it binds together the chtferent parts
f the Con-
and pre-
e temple

of society, it is the altar t

social sistem : it str

the arm of the magistrate, supports tl
the people.. It has been said t
the State—an expressic
tion. It is allied to th
Monarchy is allied to t
mons : it is one of the elements of the Constitution. It
has been argued, that her churches and emoluments be-
long of right to the Romanists, by whom they were built
and endowed. With as much truth :night it be said, that
the Throne belongs to them, St. Stephen's Chapel, and
the House of Lords. All have passed through their
hands, and for each we have had equally to contend. It
has also been asked why the present Church, to the ex-
clusion of all others, has been chosen to fill up this part
of our Constitution ? It is answered—the present Church
has not been chosen : it is the oldest institution of the
country : it existed before the Monarchy, or the Lords,
or Commons, or the Popish Church : it is nearly coeval
with Christianity itself. The Church of England we may
consider as the true apostolical episcopacy, which has
devolved to us through successive generations, delivered,
at the Reformation, from the abuses imposed upon it
during a long season of darkness, and, in a great mea-
sure, restored to its pristine excellence and beauty. The
present ecclesiastical establishment is, therefore, in its
OWN PROPER PLACE in the Constitution. It is not there
by preference : it has usurped no other Church : it is not
there by permission nor by compulsion : it is its own
witness—its own legitimatizer: it has fulfilled and is now
fulfilling the duties of its function in the Constitution, if
not with all the efficiency which might be expected from
its resources, yet with admirable consistency and advan-
tage to the community."

and blesses
llied to
reflec-
y that the
Com-

i too often used withou
State in th

State, or t

Sermons by the late Rev. Thos. Tattershall, D.D.,
F.C.P.S.. are Sre , late Incumbent of St. Augubtine's,
in this town ; with Memoir, by the Rev. Thos. Byrth
D.D.. F.A.S

Seldom has a volume been laid up'on our table for which
we could at once anticipate a circulation so rapid and ex-
tensive as this, whose title we have prefixed. So many

causes concur to warrant our opinion, and to bestow upon
the volume before us an interest far beyond what is ordi-

The deserved estimation in which the pious and
ed minister of St. Augustines wasuniforn-dy and uni-
versally held, the fragrance of his memory amongst all
classes up to this moment, the affectionate and confiden-
tial iAtimacy known to subsist between his erudite editor
and himself for so many years, and the consequent cor-
diality with which Dr. Byrth may be supposed to have
given himself to the task, dipping his pen into his heart,

- . .
and suffering it to overflow, as it—were, upon the page of
his memoir—and his eminent fitness, from a thorough ac-
quaintance with the sentiments of his author, to send
forth to the public his deliberate opinions, admitting no-

thing save what was perfectly in accordant
known sentiments of his friend : these conside

with the

it will be ob.erved they are all wholly independent of the
intrinsic value either of the memoir or the sermons, mu 4
needs secure for any work so recommended a most favour-
able reception from the public of Liverpool and of the
kingdom in general ; nor w,ll this interest be lessened
when it is known that the profits of the publication belong
to the bereaved widow, the person of all others best enti-
tled to reap the harvest, since be who laboured has not
been permitted to enjoy himself the fruits of his labour.
laterwoven through the history of Dr. Tattershall's pa-
rentage and early as well as academic life, will be found
several original letters from the celebrated John Wesley,

as also some from Dean Milner, Bishop Ryder and other

witness to that eminent p'e y ,nd intellectual'
ther with tirot meek spirit, which signally c
tie departed suhject of this friendly hut accuri

acteriied

. .It is neither our desire or our purpose to anticipate, by
an attempted outline, the pit asure reserved for our readers
in the perusal of the memoir itself, which has but one
. _

t, viz. t

being too short.

so jus/, and so profound