the Rev. W. Turner , Jun. , MA., Lives of the eminent Unitarians

[401] king, or the queen, as the case may be, without even the concurrence of the parliament. There is nothing, for example, in the constitution of the church itself, to prevent Queen Victoria, the sovereign of these realms at nineteen, from issuing a commission, if so disposed, not only without the consent of the clergy, but in opposition to their unanimous protest against it, to change the entire ecclesiastical establishment of this country. It was the crown alone which originally established the present order of things, without asking for the concurrent authority, nay, in spite of the determined resistance, of the great body of the clergy; and whenever any alteration shall be thought desirable, the crown alone will be empowered to decide what it shall be, or in what way it shall be accomplished. The church of England is a parliamentary church, of which the sovereign is constituted the supreme head; and can alone decide, in the last resort, in matters spiritual or ecclesiastical. Without his or her sanction, the decisions of its highest dignitaries are altogether null and void. Who can wonder that the apparent absurdity of such a constitution should give the Catholic a prodigious advantage in his controversy with the churchman?

This work soon acquired a very extensive circulation, which it still continues to enjoy, and was the means of introducing its author to the acquaintance of persons of great literary eminence, both in this country and America. Many letters of thanks were sent him for the service he had done to the cause of religious liberty; particularly by Dr. Chauncy, of Boston, in New England, who became his frequent correspondent, and under