The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-02-19 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY AND CLERICAL NEWS.

CAMBRIDGE, FEB. 13.—At a congregation holden this
day the undermentioned degrees were conferred :—Bache-
lors of Arts.—W. H. Hawker, G. Meek, and C. L. Pem-
berton, Trinity College; H. L. Harkness, C. A. Jenkins,
R. C. R. Owen, and D. Smith, St. John's College ; and
E. W. Gilbert, Jesus College.
The Bishop of Oxford presided at the annual meeting
of the Oxford Church Missionary Society on Monday.
The Kent Herald states that upwards of £5OO has been
subscribed in support of Mr. Whiston, in his struggle
with the Dean and Chapter of Rochester.
Mrs. Elizabeth Frank, an aged lady, well known as a
liberal contributor to charitable societies, died a short
time ago at York. The bulk of her property, exceeding
£lO,OOO, is left to the Pastoral Aid and Church Mission-
ary Societies. No other society is mentioned in her will,
except the Clergy Daughters' School, at Casterton, to
which a reversionary legacy is left, exceeding £l,OOO. _

BENEFICES IN PLURALITY.—Bv a bill in the House of
Commons, which was on Friday printed, it is proposed
that spiritual persons shall not hold benefices in plurality,
unless they are actually contiguous to each other, and the
population of the two shall not exceed 600. The act is
not to affect benefices under £lOO, and not to apply to
preferments to which persons are admittesl. The act is
to apply to Ireland as well as to England.
DR. Hook.—This reverend gentleman has denied that
his principles have undergone any change. He adds at
the conclusion of a long letter : Although I have not
left any party, or joined any party, but remained station-
ary, I cannot be blind to the fact that many who are now
reputed Low Churchmen, are, what would have been
called thirty years ago, High Churchmen : and I do
heartily wish that these, and all who are really High
Churchmen, would forget past differences and bygone
controversies, and combine to resist the aggression of
Romanisers on one side and of Rationalists on the other.
The only bond of union that can be formed is that which
rests on the principles of the English Reformation and
the doctrine of justification by faith only."
THE EPISCOPAL FUND.—In the House of Lords on
Monday, the Marquis of Lansdowne, explained the
mature of this bill, which provides a new paid ecclesiastical
commission, to manage property, yielding annually
£16,000 from one source, and £136,000 from another, the
latter shortly to be augmented to £300,000, so that ere
long the commission will have to manage property yield-
ing the annual sum of £316,000. The Archbishop of
Canterbury made a few remarks, but the debate was
brief. The see of London has hitherto been worth
£14,000. Why not at once bring in a bill to provide,
that on the next vacancy two bishops shall be appointed,
one to have his seat in St. Paul's, the other in West-
minster Abbey,—the one taking the eastern part of the
diocese, the other the western, and the income of each to
be £6,000 per annum ? There are residences for each,—
one at Fulham, the other in
,St. James's-square. Surrey
and Hampshire might be reformed with ease. The re-
venues of Winchester, with judicious management, would
supply two prelates with £4,000 or even £5,000 each.
And why do we wait for these reforms to execute them-
selves ? Of Durham it is needless to speak. Every one
knows that the possessions of that see would well provide
for two or even three prelates. There would remain such
cases as the dioceses of Exeter and Norwich. These
would need assistance from the Episcopal Fund.
CHURCH AND STATE.—The London correspondent of
the Oxford Herald gives a description of a second sermon
by the Rev. W. J. Bennett, at St. Paul's, Knightsbridge,
on the royal supremacy, which he is stated to have de-
clared no longer existed in the sovereign, but de facto in
the House of Commons, a body containing not only here-
tics, but infidels, and, consequently, intolerable to have
control over the church. If redress was unattainable,
" the post of honour is a private station." The writer
continues—" It was au extraordinary scene. You might
have heard a pin drop, so completely hushed into silence
was the crowded congregation—the most crowded, no
doubt, of any of the London churches of that day, great
numbers being obliged to stand all the time, and many
being unable to obtain standing room. It was composed
too of all classes—professional men, shopkeepers, and
others, formed a large proportion of those who occupied
the pews—and there was besides a very large attendance
of nobility and gentry of Belgravia. Two or more of the
cabinet ministers were present, including the premier
himself. Lord John Russell occupied his usual seat, ac-
companied by his brother, the Duke of Bedford : Lord
Campbell sat immediately under the pulpit. The Bishop
of Gloucester was also present. And all these great per- .
sonages were observed to pay the most marked attention
to the extraordinary discourse to which they listened.
Lord John appeared to labour under some emotion ; and
the Bishop of Gloucester seemed much affected. Evi-
dently a deep impression was produced. It was intimated
that a protest against the present connection of church
and state, and an address to the primate, would be ready
for signatures in the church porch on Wednesday morn-
ing."