OP FISHER, BISHOP OP ROCHESTER. 57 



claration. " To die shameful!;^ rich/* as Burnett phrases itj " was 

 an unholy wish," he tells us, " that possessed many a bishop in his 

 day," and which, no doubt, produced a most injurious effect upon 

 the best interests of our pure scriptural and apostolic church. 

 But in these times of strong political excitement, when the motives as 

 well as the actions of our mitred ecclesiastics are severely, minutely 

 criticised and examined, " when there is no charm in the name of a 

 bishop," when he is no longer regarded as a sacred abstraction — al- 

 though he is, according to the theory of certain of our clergy, from 

 his residence being a palace, his cathedral seat a throne, his crosier 

 a sceptre, his mitre a crown, to be invested with a sort of regal in- 

 accessible elevation of rank — the heavings of the public mind would 

 be so general, the tide of popular odium would run so strong, 

 against these money-amassing propensities, that no prelate, however 

 inordinate might be his affection of money, Avould venture to shock 

 our moral vision by giving to religion this hue and colour of earth- 

 liness. For he must know little of the signs and tokens of the 

 present age who could expect to find a due reverence paid to his 

 order, should he fail to carry into fckU efficiency any one of the con- 

 ditions on which the payment of that reverence is founded. These 

 are still truths of vital importance, though the "ecclesiastical com- 

 missioners of England," by so far equalizing the revenues of bishops 

 as almost to set aside the practice of translations from one diocese to 

 another, have contributed, in no small measure, to put an end to all 

 unhallowed strife for pelf. For performing this excellent service, 

 and for lessening the immoderate incomes of Canterbury, London, 

 and Durham, we fervently ejaculate, God speed their labours ! The 

 ecclesiastical commission, noisome as it has become to many of our 

 dignitaries, will, in the foregoing respect, be like the carcase of 

 Sampson's lion, the means of conveying much purifying and 

 strengthening aliment, not only to the church, but to Christianity 

 itself. 



In these remarks, the bigot may fancy that he espies the taint of 

 heresy. Be it enough, then^ to tell him, we hold as firmly as he 

 can the truth of the apostolical succession* and of primitive tradi- 



* The Epistles addressed by St. Paul to Timothy and Titus, are decisive 

 evidence of the apostolical sanction to the existence of a three-fold order of 

 the Ministers of the Gospel. " We may, I believe, state confidently" says 

 Dr. Shuttleworth, " that from the days of the Apostles until the early part 

 of the sixteenth century, notwithstanding the multitude of discussions which 

 took place on other points, no large community of Christians existed, in 

 which the respective grades of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons were not 

 VOL. VI. NO. XIX. H 



