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

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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
common power. It is worse than trifling to say that it is
a creature of the State, or mere engine for carrying on
the purposes of Government. It is as much a part of 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 must 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 ?—let 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, by duly and im-
partially enforcing them • but the ecclesiastical power, by
informing the understanding, enlightening the conscience,
infusing the moral vigour of Christianity amongst the
mass of the citizens, and training them as candidates for
immortality. It is impossible to calculate the influence
of such an institution upon all ranks of society : it acts as
a consoling principle : it binds together the different parts
of the body politic : it is, indeed, the citadel of the Con-
stitution. If God be the originater, founder, and pre-
server of society, it is the altar that sanctifies the temple
of the social system : it strengthens the throne, nerves
the arm of the magistrate, supports the laws, and blesses
the people. It has been said that the Church is allied to
the State—an expression too often used without reflec-
tion. It is allied to the State in the same way that the
Monarchy is allied to the State, or the House of Com-
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 Ronianists. by whom they were built
and endowed. With as much truth might 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 till 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 apostolieal episcopacy, which has
devolved to us through succe,sive 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
()wig 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."

Sermons by the late Rev. Thos. Tattershall, D.D.,
F.C.P.S., 8; c. B(c., late Incumbent of St. Auyustine's,
in this town; with Memoir, by the Rev. Thos. Byrth,
D.D., F.A.S., Rector of Wallasey. Webb : Castle-st.
Seldom has a volume been laid upon our table for which
we could at once anticipate a circulation so rapid and ex-
R.) many

tensive as this, whose- title we hay

)refixed

the volume before us an interest far beyond what is ordi-
nary. The deserved estimation in which the pious and
learned minister of St. Augustines was uniformly and uni-
versally held, the fragrance of his memory amongst all
classes up to this moment, the affectionate and confiden-
tial Litimacy 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 accordance with the
krawn ,ntiments of his friend : these considerations, and
ring. will :rved they are all wholly independent of the
intrinst slue either of the memoir or the sermons, must

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Interwoven throughthehi;iOrTWisr. Tattershall's pa-
rentage and early as well as academic life, will be found

several original letters from the celebrated John Wesley,

whose r

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It is neither our desire or our purpose

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