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    a much good sense and knowledge of mankind in such remarks as the following : they occur in a Consecration Sermon , which was preached in the Chapel of Lambeth , 1807 , by the Rev . Cliarles Barker , and published by command of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury . " They who

    talk of apostolical simplicity and lowliness , and contend that even now the same simplicity would best become the ministers of . Christianisty , forget , or conceal from view ,, the real state of the apostolical character . They conceal from view the high and unattainable superiority over other men with which at all times , and in all

    places the apostle was personally gifted ; his inspiration , his power of working miracles , and the immediate and irresistible operation of such endowments whether for the formation of a Christian church , or for its rule and governance when formed . In their day and for their purpose these were no defects ; or if they were ( while the choice of such men for such an office

    was designedly made to confoundthe pride of human wisdom ) they were amply compensated by the * constant and demonstrable interposition of God himself . With whatever rank and influence the incorporation of religion

    with the State , and with the order of society , has since invested the ministers of the gospel , the greatest and wealthiest , nay the best and wisest of those ministers possesses no sub * stitution for the decisive and

    commanding authority of the bumble fisherman who could heal the sick and raise the dead . " I shall add one more extract , which is in strong contrast with the

    spirit and doctrine of the last ; but which , while it breathes more of the spirit of primitive simplicity , betrays a want of that practical knowledge , which is not so well acquired within the inclosure of a sect : it is taken

    from a charge delivered to the clergy of the Episcopal Communion of Edinburgh , 1807 , by the Right Reverend Daniel Sandford , D . D . their bishop ; and consequently a Dissenter on that side of the Tweed ,

    " It has often afforded me , " says he , " great satisfaction to contemplate the resemblance , that the Christian society of which we are members bears , in its external condition , to the church of Chriat , as it existed every

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    where , before the conversion of the Emperor Coustantine . During that period , indeed , the Church was frequently exposed to secular persecution , from which , blessed be God , we , enjoy ing as we do , a free and perfect toleration from the state , ar ^ mercifully exempted . But , as far as can be intended by the comparison our case i& the same with that of our

    forefathers in the Christian faith , in ages which we are accustomed to consider with peculiar veneration . At that time the Church , unconnected with the State , subsisted by her own internal and inherent powers . Irenseus , Cyprian ,. Cornelius , and indeed all who held the office of a Bishop for the tbree first centuries , were

    possessed of no other authority , and probably encompassed with no more outward dignity than he who mow addresses you ; and this authority was preserved by the filial affection of the clergy , over whom they respectively presided . God forbid that I should ever have the presumption to compare my own talents , or my own zeal , to the talents or the zeal of those

    burning and shining lights , to which every succeeding age of the Church has looked back with reverence , inferior only to that which is due to the immediate apostles of our Lord . I mention them only because their

    history furnishes an incontrovertible proof that episcopacy can subsist , and bishops who are deserving of respect be highly respected , though destitute of the splendid but adventitious panoply of a legal establishment . "

    It appears from this passage , that the Bishop derived great pleasure from contemplating the episcopal communion over which he presided , as unconnected with the state ; though he might not , perhaps , think secular connexion a sufficient ground of dissent from an Episcopal Church . Indeed with the Protestant T 3 issenlers

    of England the incorporation of the Church with the State is neither the sole nor the ultimate ground of dissent . I suppose the greater part of them consider church-authority under every form as a usurpation : many

    of them are persuaded that it is the only enemy from which Christianity ever had or ever will have any thing to fear ; that it has acted like a poison , and not a very slow poison , wasting and corrupting , as it has circulated

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    2 > r , Morell on Church-Authority * \ 1

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1816, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2448/page/11/