The Church has sustained a great loss this week. Canon
Liddon, who had for some time been ailing, but who was supposed to be on his way to recovery, expired suddenly on Tuesday at his sister's house at Weston-super-Mare. The son of a naval officer distinguished in Arctic exploration, Dr. Liddon, as Vice-Principal of Cuddesdon, was at twenty- five distinguished for religious zeal, and soon became the hope and pride of the High Church party. It was his destiny, however, to be a living force in the Church rather than one of those officially charged to guide its action. Though admired by all his order, honoured by Universities, and singularly reverenced by the Community, some prejudic,e in high places, and possibly some want of ambition in himself, kept him from reaching dignities which he would have illustrated. He remained " only a preacher ; " but as a preacher be was a genuine power, a man who ad- vanced piety, and who was felt, not only by his own party, but by the whole Church, and millions outside it, to be a reserved force for the defence of historic Christianity. He was a great religious influence, one of those men who keep Churches visible on earth, and whose opinions can neither be overlooked nor despised by those who claim a monopoly of intellectual clearness. He was as great in the ecclesiastical world as John Bright in the political, and for much the same reason, a conscientious unbendingness lending weight and impact to his great gift of persuasive eloquence.
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