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 CHARGE 
 
 TO THE CLERGY 
 
 DIOCESE OF SALISBURY, 
 
 AT HIS PRIMARY VISITATION, 
 
 IN AUGUST, 1855. 
 
 BY WALTER KERR, 
 
 BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 
 
 SALISBURY : 
 BROWN AND CO., CANAL. 
 
 LONDON : RIVTNGTONS. OXFORD .- PARKER.
 
 SALISBlIllY : 
 
 .lAMKS BKNNKTT, PRINTEK, 
 
 JOURNAL OFFICE.
 
 TO THE REVEREND THE 
 
 CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF SALISBURY, 
 THIS CHARGE 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATETA' AND EESPECTFULLT 
 
 DEDICATED, 
 
 BY THEIE FAITTIFTTL BBOTnER AND SERVANT, 
 
 W. K. SARUM. 
 
 Haiacb, Salisbcrt, 
 August 7, 1855.
 
 , UIUC ^
 
 C II A R G E, 
 
 My Reverend and Dear Brethren, 
 
 The Visitation I am now holding ought, in the 
 ordinary course of things, to have taken place last year, 
 but some of the reasons which may well determine a 
 Bishop to engage at once in this function, did not 
 apply to me. By my long and intimate acquaintance 
 and feUowship with so many of you, I already pos- 
 sessed, to some extent at any rate, that which others 
 are generally obliged to seek through their public 
 ministrations. 
 
 There were, moreover, in my case, special considera- 
 tions in favour of delay — I could not but shrink from 
 the appearance even, of unnecessarily exercising authority 
 over those to whom I had been so lately bound by 
 different ties, and I also felt disabled, by the pressure of 
 our common sorrow, from realising the true bearing 
 upon this Diocese and myself of that momentous 
 change which God had been pleased to bring so 
 suddenly upon us.
 
 6 
 
 I cannot say that the lapse of time has as yet much 
 lessened these difficulties. It is my infirmity, and one 
 I almost glory in, that my feelings for my Clergy are 
 still rather those of a Brother, than of a Spiritual Father, 
 and that I can still hardly believe that I am now 
 occupying the seat of him whom, according to my 
 office, I attended on a like occasion to the present just 
 sixteen years ago, and with whose life and labours of 
 love I have been so long trained to associate all my 
 best hopes, under God, for the Church of my country. 
 
 I need scarcely add, that the more intimate know- 
 ledge my daily ministrations have given me during the 
 past year both of his work, and of the manner in which 
 he effected it, has only deepened my conviction that my 
 hopes were not those merely of an attached, admiring, 
 and grateful friend, but such as could stand the test 
 of a cooler, less partial, more fairly balanced judgment 
 than mine could possibly be. It has, indeed, been to 
 me both a very grateful and a very profitable duty to 
 collect the evidence on which I make this statement, 
 and I am sure that you will only be the more ready to 
 accept and act upon any counsel I may have to give 
 you, if I first, by way of preface to it, present you with 
 some sketch of the results of the Ministry of our late 
 beloved Bishop, and give you proof that I know and 
 appreciate the principles by which those results were 
 reached. 
 
 My venerated friend and Father in God was called, 
 as many of you must remember, to the work and 
 ministry of a Bishop just at the season when the 
 strong yearnings felt by so many members of our
 
 Church after liigher attainments in grace required both 
 earnest sympathy and wise guidance. 
 
 There was at that time an unmistakeable rekindling 
 of the lire of Divine love in the hearts of men — a wide 
 spread re-awakening of a consciousness that the 
 limits of the claim of our Lord and Master had not 
 always been measured by the rule of Holy Scripture. 
 Multitudes (I may say) of devout people were be- 
 ginning to confess that the state of the Houses of God, 
 the provision for the Education of our poorer brethren, 
 the arrangements about Confirmations, all the minis- 
 trations of the Word and Sacraments in not a few of 
 our parishes — in fact, the whole offices of communion 
 between the people of God and their Lord and Saviour, 
 gave reason to fear that the inner life of the Church 
 had been somewhat waning away, or at any rate had 
 not been duly nurtured and carefully encreased. 
 
 The resolve of your Bishop was, I know, to endea- 
 vour to escape the guilt of not cherishing and fixing in 
 good works these gracious aspirations and purposes of 
 heart — and for nearly seventeen years he never ceased 
 his labour, care, and diligence to make good his vows, 
 and to execute his office to the glory of God and the 
 edifying of His Church. 
 
 But those seventeen years did not fulfil the i)romise 
 of that season when he resigned into my hands the care 
 of his parish, and came to preside over this Church and 
 Diocese. The times soon became perilous — many parts 
 of the Church were quickly troubled with strife and 
 anger, bitterness and wratii. llarsli judgments, false 
 witnessinos, indiscretion, insubordination, fallings hwmv
 
 began to disappoint tlie sanguine expectations which 
 had been so hopefully conceived. 
 
 Then, again, the State during that whole period was 
 engaged almost without intermission upon questions 
 more or less vitally aflfecting the well-being of the 
 Church of God ; — and to all these questions your 
 Bishop gave his very best attention. With regard to 
 many of them you must be aware that this was so, 
 for he explained to you at different times, with great 
 precision, both what course he had felt bound to adopt 
 about them when they were under discussion, and what 
 his judgment of them was when legislation had taken 
 effect. The subjects I am more particularly alluding to 
 are the Re-arrangement of Dioceses — the Appointment 
 of the Ecclesiastical Commission — the Alteration of 
 the Marriage Law — the Establishment of the Civil 
 Registration of Births and Deaths — the Commutation of 
 Tithes — the Amendment of the Law about Pluralities 
 and Non-Residence — the Cathedral Act — the Revival of 
 Convocation — the Minutes of Education — the Enlarge- 
 ment of the Episcopate — the Appointment of Bishops 
 in Communion with the See of Rome over English 
 Dioceses — and the whole question of the Constitution 
 of a Court of Appeal for the Settlement of Doctrine. 
 
 But time will not allow me on the present occasion 
 to do more than refer you to the Charges and pub- 
 lished Letters and Sermons of your late Bishop for the 
 exposition of his convictions and conduct about these 
 grave matters. There is indeed a modest reserve 
 about his statements, whicli would throw a veil over 
 the very prominent part he toek in all these difficult
 
 9 
 
 Discussions ; but that, 1 am sure, will only lead you to 
 accept with the more confidence the testimony of those 
 who could not but know what his work really was, 
 that there was not one who during those trying times 
 filled the responsible office that he did, to whom the 
 Church owes, if I may so speak, a greater debt of love 
 and oratitude for the faithfulness with which, throuojh 
 good report and evil report, he carried into all his 
 counsels the deep conviction of his soul, that, after all, 
 the real and absorbing duty of a Bishop is to keep safe 
 from all encroachment that sacred deposit which has 
 been committed to him — the whole Doctrine of Christ 
 and His Holy Church. 
 
 But with regard to that other })art of his work, the 
 results of which belong more entirely to us in this 
 Diocese, I must speak somewhat more in detail. 
 
 One of the last acts of the Episcopate of that gentle, 
 holy man, Bishop Burgess, was to found a Society 
 which had for its object " to assist in providing in- 
 creased Church Accommodation within the Diocese of 
 Salisbury, and to act in Union with and in Aid of the 
 Incorporated Society for promoting the Enlargement, 
 Building, and Repairing of Churches and Chapels." 
 The founder of this Association did not live to see the 
 success it has met with, but Bishop Denison at once 
 thankfully undertook to carry out the plans of his pre- 
 decessor, and the whole Diocese has now cause to 
 bless God that He put such counsels into the hearts 
 of His servants. 
 
 The means of grace have thus been brought within 
 the reach of thousands who eighteen years ago had no
 
 10 
 
 such privileges ; and as this has been effected both by 
 building new Churches, and by re-arranging old ones 
 after the model of what they once had been, not only 
 has the primary object of the Society been attained, 
 but, over and beyond this, genius and taste have 
 been enlisted on the side of our Holy Religion, and 
 the Houses of God have been made more expressive of 
 the reverence and love due to Him Who is pleased to 
 dwell in them. 
 
 I need not refer you to any special instances of this 
 — you must all know numerous cases of a great and 
 happy change in these things ; — but you may not all 
 have within easy access sucli proofs, as have been lying 
 before me, that we have cause both to thank God for 
 the past measure of success, and also to carry on the 
 work with all hope and diligence. 
 
 The proofs I allude to are these : — 
 
 From the foundation of the Diocesan Church 
 Building Society up to the time of the late Bishop's 
 death, the sum of £1^,000 had been placed at the 
 disposal of the Committee. Of these charitable gifts 
 142 parishes have been partakers, at an average ex- 
 penditure of about £1000 a year ; and this sum, so con- 
 tributed and apportioned, has called forth the further 
 expenditure of, a.t the very least, £9000 a year. I 
 say " at the very least," because this statement is made 
 upon the faith of the estimates, and in many, perhaps 
 in most cases the actual expenditure far exceeds the 
 estimated cost. Thus we directly connect with our 
 Society an expenditure of £10,000 a year upon its 
 immediate objects.
 
 11 
 
 But this sum is far from representing the amount 
 the members of this Diocese have devoted to such 
 pious and charitable uses. Great works of Church 
 Building and Restoration have been accomplished 
 without any aid from this Society. It has been cal- 
 culated that about £5000 a year, in addition to the 
 above named £10,000, have been given to these objects ; 
 and we may well believe that the example and labours 
 of this Association have not been wholly without their 
 effect in provoking the great and the good amongst us 
 to show this pious and charitable care for the House of 
 their God and its services — and so our Society has, either 
 directly or indirectly, been the blessed instrument of 
 causing to be expended, £270,000 on this holy work. 
 
 And here I must remind you, for if I did not do 
 so, I should certainly not be acting (as I desire in all 
 things to act) in the spirit and according to the mind 
 of the late beloved President of this Society, that a 
 brother is still amongst us (and may God in His mercy 
 long spare him to his family — to his parish — to our 
 Cathedral — to this Diocese — to his Bishop, who knows 
 how to value him), who by his diligence, his courtesy, 
 his punctuality, his patience, his condescension to every 
 detail connected with his office as Secretary, his taste, 
 and his love for all that is true and beautiful in art, has 
 enlisted the general good will of the members of the 
 Church on the side of the operations of our Society, 
 and made our meetings occasions only of blending 
 strong religious sympathies in brotherly love and unity 
 of heart and conduct. 
 
 But I am sure tliat I am only expressing liis own
 
 12 
 
 conviction, when I say that he would not have brought 
 to his charitable work such hearty zeal, or have carried 
 it on in any way with such success, had he been 
 without the constant and ready aid of the wisdom, the 
 pure taste, the energy, and the prudence which were 
 combined in such rare proportions in the character of 
 the chief Pastor of the Diocese. 
 
 I must add, that it was only natural that he who 
 had been so long a fellow worker with his Bishop 
 in the restoration of ecclesiastical buildings, im- 
 mediately determined for himself, and persuaded 
 others that his own feeling would be a general one, 
 that the restoration of our beautiful Chapter House 
 would be the fittest memorial the Diocese could raise 
 to one who had himself given without stint time, and 
 thought, and money to everything connected with the 
 ofiices of our Church, and who had fondly cherished 
 the hope that he might himself have been permitted to 
 perfect during his life the work which God had, it 
 would seem, purposed should be accomplished by his 
 death. 
 
 But if your late Bishop's care w^as thus very 
 great for these Temples of God which are made with 
 hands, this care was but one outacting of that grace 
 that comes from Him, Who will accept of none but a 
 spiritual service, and Who has already set His mark 
 upon the objects around which He would gather our 
 best affections. The souls of our brethren, as having 
 been bought by our blessed Lord and sprinkled with 
 His blood — yea and their bodies too, as the tabernacles 
 of these redeemed, justified, and sanctified spirits, are
 
 13 
 
 very precious — and good as it was to make the houses 
 of prayer tell out by their very form, and fashion, and 
 order the all blessed name of Jesus, it was better, he 
 knew, and a still more binding duty to see that all those 
 committed to his charge should have ready and frequent 
 access to those means, which our blessed Lord had 
 ordained for applying to the redeemed the benefits of 
 His one sacrifice. 
 
 There are abundant proofs from the Bishop's pub- 
 lished writings that his spiritual being was instinct 
 with this stirring thought ; but facts outweigh words, 
 and they are more than enough for my purpose. 
 
 The old custom in this Diocese before the present 
 century was, I believe, to confirm only at the few 
 places at which Visitations were held. This number 
 had been afterwards a little increased, but the very 
 year in which your late Bishop began his ministry 
 among you, he formed, with the assistance of the Arch- 
 deacons, a much enlarged scheme for holding 28 con- 
 firmations in Dorsetshire and 29 in Wilts. At his 
 last tour of confirmations this number was encreased 
 to 45 in Dorset and to 40 in Wilts. He also arrano-ed 
 that there should be an annual confirmation in the 
 chief towns of that part of the Diocese where the 
 general confirmation was not held, so that the Clergy 
 might feel themselves less embarrassed in exercising a 
 wise and considerate discretion in presenting can- 
 didates ; and those members of the Church whose cir- 
 cumstances made delay unadvisable, might obtain at 
 once the blessing of this ordinance. 
 
 And, certainly, the changes in this matter have not
 
 14 
 
 been confined to arrangements affecting mere external 
 order and convenience. I am myself able to give some 
 testimony on this subject. 
 
 It was my duty for the first years of my dear friend's 
 episcopate to attend him at his confirmations, and 
 there was then much even in the conduct of the cate- 
 chumens to excite anxiety and to create the suspicion 
 that they did not make their vows in sincerity and truth. 
 But some years have passed since my duties devolved 
 on another, and I can to my great comfort testify that 
 this year in almost every single case I had no cause to 
 doubt, but rather every reason to hope that the candi- 
 dates had received a preparation of heart which enabled 
 them to witness a good profession, and made them meet 
 recipients of the sevenfold gifts of God's most Holy Spirit. 
 
 I will now take another measure of the good that 
 has been effected in this Diocese during the seventeen 
 years on which I am dwelling. 
 
 There are in this whole Diocese 556 Churches and 
 Chapels, and out of this number there were, sixteen 
 years ago, two sermons on Sundays in only 143. There 
 are now two sermons or lectures in 426 — ^that is, in 212 
 out of the 258 Churches and Chapels in Wilts, and in 
 214 out of the 298 Churches and Chapels in Dorset. 
 
 Of the 84 Churches and Chapels in Dorset, and 46 
 Churches and Chapels in Wilts, where there are not 
 two services and two sermons, the account is as 
 follows : — In Dorset, in 16 parishes where there are 
 two Churches, there is only one service and one 
 sermon. In 33 parishes where there is one Church 
 there is one sermon, and in 24 only one service. In
 
 15 
 
 35 parishes held in plurality there is but one sermon, 
 and in 33 parishes similarly circumstanced one service. 
 
 In Wilts, in 18 parishes where there are two 
 Churches there is but one sermon, and in 17 parishes 
 one service. In parishes where there is but one Church 
 there are only 4 cases where there is but one service, 
 and 16 where there is but one sermon. In parishes 
 held in plurality there are 10 cases in which there is 
 but one service, and 12 where there is only one sermon. 
 
 In 1842, the Bishop spoke in his Charge of an im- 
 provement in the observance of Ash Wednesday and 
 Holy Thursday— " till of late (he said) almost universally 
 neglected ;" but by the returns I have lately received 
 from you, my Reverend Brethren, I find that in the 556 
 Churches and Chapels of this Diocese Ash Wednesday 
 is observed in 363, and Holy Thursday in 325 ; there 
 being 81 Churches in Wilts and 112 in Dorset where 
 Ash Wednesday is still, I regret to say, disregarded, 
 and 98 in Wilts and 133 in Dorset where the feast of 
 our Lord's ascension is still not kept. 
 
 And to give one more, and a much more important 
 instance of the increase in the ministrations of 
 the Word and Sacraments, I find that in 1841 the 
 Holy Communion was celebrated every month in only 
 35 parishes, and that it is now celebrated montldy in 
 181— in 102 in Wilts, and 79 in Dorset, I thankfully 
 recognise in this change the earnest purpose of my 
 Brethren, " ut quos tutos esse contra adversarium 
 volebant, munimento Dominicoe saturitatis armarent."" 
 
 * Cypr. Ep. .57.
 
 16 
 
 All these things sliew that we need not doubt that 
 the Spirit of our God has been pleased during the time 
 of which I have been specially speaking to carry 
 forward His gracious work in this Diocese ; for when 
 we see the means of grace used in a more trusting 
 and loving spirit, we must in faith and charity feel 
 assured that such hopes are not vain. 
 
 But other instruments besides those that I have 
 named have been also used during the same period. 
 Thus for example, the very first year after the Bishop 
 had been called to his ministry, he took steps to give 
 organic shape and system to the strong desires which 
 were shared by this Diocese with many other parts of our 
 country to extend and improve the education given to 
 our poorer brethren and to those of a higher class. In 
 1838 an Association was formed with this object, and 
 I believe that you, my Reverend Brethren, will agree 
 with me in thinking that the work it has accomplished 
 has not a little contributed to the marked improvement'' 
 you have been able to make in the whole preparation 
 of the candidates for confirmation. Little, indeed, has 
 been done by the Society to compass two of its objects, 
 namely, the assisting to build elementary schools, 
 and to improve the education of the middle classes. 
 The reason is this — the Board of Education have only 
 had at their disposal means just sufficient to do that 
 to which they attached the greatest importance, viz., 
 the establishment and carrying on of a Training School 
 for Mistresses. 
 
 " Charge of the Bishop of Salisbury, 1839, pp. 29, 30.
 
 17 
 
 That School was founded in 1841, on the principle 
 that the work of education is " a Christian calling, a 
 ministration in the Church of Christ;"* and I can con- 
 fidently say that this principle has never been forgotten, 
 and that upon the foundation thus so wisely laid, an 
 institution has grown up which is not only full of 
 promise, but has already supplied many of our parishes 
 with teachers trained to look to their Clergy as their 
 Spiritual Fathers, and to seek for tokens of success in 
 their calling, not so much in the intellectual attain- 
 ments of their pupils, as in the ornament of an obe- 
 dient loving spirit and pure life, and all the other 
 graces of the character of God's children. 
 
 The yearly Reports of the Association have already 
 given you much information about its receipts and ex- 
 penditure, and some other details ; but the following 
 statement will put you in possession of a general sum- 
 mary of facts connected with it : — 
 
 The Association had expended since the time of its 
 formation to the end of 1853, £21,767 10s. 2d. Of 
 this sum more than one half, namely, £11,935 16s. 7d. 
 has been contributed by the members of the Church in 
 this Diocese. Of the remainder, between five and six 
 thousand pounds have been paid by the pupils and 
 their friends. 
 
 The cost of the Training School, including the value 
 of the fee given by the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury, 
 was above £8000; and at the time of the Bishop's 
 death, 243 pupils and 41 existing mistresses had been 
 
 " Charge of the Bishop of Salisbury, 1845, p. 23. 
 B
 
 18 
 
 received into tlie School. That some of these 284 
 pupils and mistresses have not become efficient teachers, 
 and given proof that they had learnt what was the 
 blessedness of their calling, is of course what was to be 
 expected ; but I can still say that the excellent lady 
 who has for nearly fifteen years conducted the In- 
 stitution with such wisdom — such devotedness — such 
 gentleness — such a single eye to duty — such considera- 
 tion and patience, as to have drawn around her the 
 affections not only of her pupils but of all who have 
 been conversant with her work, has had in the change 
 of heart and character in some of her pupils, and the 
 growth in Christian stedfastness of others, good cause 
 to rejoice and take courage. She, too, like all others 
 who were, under our dear Bishop, carrying on any 
 part of the work of the Church, was ever supported 
 and cheered on by his earnest sympathy and encou- 
 raging counsels, and by the repeated assurances he was 
 ever giving her that her great influence over and suc- 
 cessful direction of the minds of her pupils had only 
 deepened the feelings which he thus expressed in 1845 : 
 — " There is no single thing since my connexion with 
 this Diocese which 1 look back upon with more satis- 
 faction than the having been in any degree instrumental 
 in the establishment of our Training School."* 
 
 I must not leave the subject of Education without 
 reminding you that he organised a system of Diocesan 
 Inspection, and that in his last Charge, after thanking 
 the Rural Deans and those who assisted them, he 
 
 • Charge of the Bishop of Salisbury, 1845, p. 23.
 
 19 
 
 reported to you that the plan had worked well ; " The 
 practical advantage," he said, " which is found to result 
 from the visits of the Inspectors commends them con- 
 tinually more and more to the managers of schools.'"" 
 
 Another Institution which was tenderly fostered by 
 his care, and to the spiritual charge of which he de- 
 voted during the last year of his life very much time, 
 is the Penitentiary. 
 
 It was mainly through his personal exertions that 
 funds were raised for the purchase, enlargement, and 
 re-arranging of the present house ; and it was through 
 his influence, and especially through the recollection of 
 what he had been as her Parish Priest, that the pre- 
 sent devoted lady was led to give our Institution her 
 gratuitous and invaluable services, and to take upon 
 herself the very trying yet noble office of ministering 
 to the spiritual necessities of penitent women, and of 
 seeking to re-establish them in the faith and love of 
 modest, industrious, gentle sisters in Christ. 
 
 Then again, they whose bodily diseases bring them 
 to our Hospital at Salisbury owe it to him that proper 
 provision has been made for giving effect to God's 
 purposes of mercy in visiting His children with the 
 sorrows and pains of sickness. 
 
 When he first became a subscriber to this excellent 
 charity, he found that there was no longer any House 
 of Prayer in which they whose sickness did not confine 
 them to their wards could join together to the comfort 
 of their souls in the ordinances of the Church ; and, 
 
 " Charge of the Bishop of Salisbuiy, 1851, p. 11, 
 
 b2
 
 20 
 
 wliat was of more importance, that the stipend of the 
 Chaplain was so small, that he was necessarily pre- 
 vented by other duties from giving to the sinner in the 
 hour of his trouble or to those whose hearts God had 
 opened by their affliction, the regular ministrations 
 they so much needed, and which were, he rightly con- 
 sidered, due to them from their richer brethren. 
 
 But these defects were, under the Bishop's influence, 
 removed in 1843 and the three following years. The 
 endowment of the Chaplaincy was raised from £40 to 
 £100 a year, and a rule was in consequence made that 
 the Chaplain should not in future hold with this office 
 any other chaplaincy, or any school or cure of souls. 
 A chapel was fitted up, and before the close of the year 
 1846 new wards had been built, and other arrrangements 
 made to secure for the patients the best treatment 
 which the skill and kindness of the medical officers 
 could apply to their case. The Governors have shewn 
 their sense how much the Hospital was indebted to 
 the Bishop by calling one of the new wards by his 
 honoured name. 
 
 And, indeed, my Reverend Brethren, wherever I go, 
 in the cathedral city, and, I might say, in almost every 
 parish of my Diocese, my mind traces the same in- 
 scription on schools and churches, — yea on every thing 
 which would persuade men so to live that they may die 
 with the hope of a Christian. My beloved friend and 
 Spiritual Father had been called of God to do the work 
 of a Bishop, and we are surrounded by tokens of what 
 was the measure he took of that work, and how, in 
 doing it, " he made full proof of his ministry."
 
 21 
 
 I have also had before me some details of the pro- 
 gress of one more Society, in which he took a very deep 
 interest, as being the means of making the dependencies 
 of this great Empire, which comprises at least 100 mil- 
 lions of heathen, partakers of the blessings of the Gos- 
 pel, and of keeping and building up in the true faith our 
 emigrant population ; and these details all go to prove 
 the same thing, that a great change for good has been 
 effected in this Diocese during his Episcopate. 
 
 In the year 1837 there were 13 District Associations 
 for collecting contributions for the Society for the Pro- 
 pagation of the Gospel, and these offerings amounted to 
 only £266.'' There are now, I am informed by our ex- 
 cellent Secretary, 26 District Associations and 342 
 Parochial Associations, and the sums remitted to the 
 Parent Society, in 1854, were as follow: — Donations 
 and Subscriptions for general objects, £1771 15s. 6d. ; 
 Donations for special objects, £60 4s. ; Collections 
 under the Queen's Letter, £703 ISs. Donations were 
 also, in the same year, promised to the Melanesian 
 Mission Fund to the amount of £1577 2s. 6d. 
 
 Some of you may remember his saying from this 
 place just ten years ago, that when he was harassed in 
 mind with reflections upon the condition and prospects 
 of the Church, that, as his own Diocese presented to 
 him " the signs of improvement in all those respects 
 in which inward life would outwardly develop itself, 
 he took courage, and was of good hope,'"' And sure am 
 
 •■' Bishop of Saliribui-j'-s Charge, 184.>, pp. oO, ol. 
 " 1845, p. i;].
 
 22 
 
 I, my Reverend Brethren, that if you and I had happily 
 any part or lot in this ministration to our Bishop of 
 courage and hope, he has well repaid us for that service 
 by bequeathing to us his work, and with it the marks of 
 blessing his God has impressed upon it, as a means of 
 stirring up our hearts to follow his faith, " considering 
 the end of his conversation, Jesus Christ, the same 
 yesterday, to day, and for ever." 
 
 And yet, perhaps, we have received from our Bishop 
 a still more precious legacy than even such fruits of 
 his faith and love as I have mentioned. 
 
 Having learnt to realize the true relation in which 
 the Church of God stands to her Head, and to His 
 all-gracious work, he had fixed before his mind a very 
 high standard by which to measure both the power 
 and the duty of the members of that body. He read 
 in the words of our blessed Lord, " All power is given 
 unto Me," the assurance that there was nothing which 
 came within the limits of the love of Christ that the 
 Church of which he was a chief Pastor could not effect. 
 His eye had discerned that the Bride of the Saviour 
 was " all glorious within," and so he was earnestly 
 purposed, that he would endeavour that in his Diocese 
 there should be nothing in her outward appearance — 
 in her services or in the life and conversation of her 
 clergy, wliich should throw doubt over the Psalmist's 
 prophecy, "the King shall have pleasure in thy beauty." 
 Then, again, he was not only a man of a most orderly 
 and regulated mind — ready himself to recognise the 
 claims of all rightful authority — punctually fulfilling 
 the rule of Holy Scripture to give honour to those who
 
 23 
 
 were set in authority over him, but he knew that the 
 appointed order of the ministry, and all Church ordi- 
 dinances were sure signs and tokens how our heavenly 
 Father purposed that His children should hold com- 
 munion with Him. He also felt that it was a primary 
 duty of one who filled his office to help to make any 
 changes which might bring the members of his Church 
 into closer communion with their Lord, and so enable 
 them to partake more frequently and with greater 
 delioht in the riches which were hid in Christ their 
 
 o 
 
 Saviour. 
 
 My reason, my Reverend Brethren, for reminding 
 you of these things, is that this sure belief that he had 
 received by the gift of Christ power, and the keen 
 sense of the responsibility which this gift brought with 
 it, co-existed with remarkable calmness of spirit — 
 prudence — consideration for others — gentleness in 
 pressing the weight of authority — a patient abiding of 
 times and seasons — a ready compliance with circum- 
 stances, if no principle was involved in it — a contented 
 acceptance of small improvements as an earnest of 
 greater ones, and a willing admission that the spirit of 
 the most loyal obedience may not always be able to 
 prove its sincerity by a rigid adherence to the strict 
 letter of law. 
 
 They who were in the habit of frequent intercourse 
 with him may well have drawn from his conversation 
 and counsels a store of principles of strong sense and 
 holy wisdom, which both opened to them some portion 
 of the inner part of his life, and explained to them the 
 secret of his steady and unvarying success. But very
 
 24 
 
 much of this instruction may be also gathered from his 
 writings. I will explain what I mean by quoting to 
 you a few of the maxims and principles by which he 
 governed his own words and deeds, and by which he 
 endeavoured to shape the conduct of others. 
 
 " Changes," the Bishop said, " should never be made 
 suddenly or without a consideration of circumstances."* 
 
 " The work of the Christian Ministry is in the hearts 
 of living men, who are to be acted upon not by naked 
 laws, but by moral influence."'' 
 
 " Outward observances are not to be forced as mere 
 duties on those who are incapable of receiving them, 
 but to be off'ered as means and opportunities of spiritual 
 edification to those whose hearts are prepared by Divine 
 grace to accept and profit by them."'' 
 
 " Every one who quietly and unobtrusively, in zeal 
 and love, does his proper work, is a real champion of 
 the Church, a true element of its strength, and a pledge 
 of its perpetuity."*^ 
 
 " No earnestness for truth can justify a spirit of 
 bitterness."^ 
 
 " Never sacrifice principles, because there are impe- 
 diments in the way of their practical development.^ 
 
 " The wounds of the Church are not to be healed by 
 any more stringent application of rules."^ 
 
 " Modifying influences must be allowed to long- 
 established custom."'' 
 
 ' Bishop of Salisbury's Clvarge, 1839, p. 11. 
 1815, p. 6. ' 1842, p. 13. " 1851, p. 42. " 1845, p. 5. 
 ' 1842, p. 31. " I84.>, p. 8. " 1845, p. 10.
 
 25 
 
 " They who deem lightly of the rightful organization 
 of our Church and its divine character, peril the main- 
 tenance of the faith entrusted to it."* 
 
 " In all increase of outward observances it is most 
 necessary watchfully to guard against the paralysing 
 influence of formality."'' 
 
 " Eschew party feelings and party appellations — 
 cleave to catholic truth, without arrogating any dis- 
 tinctive title as doing so."" 
 
 " All differences of opinion are not differences of faith, 
 or incompatible with unity both of faith and charity."*^ 
 
 " The principle of the Reformation was not the dis- 
 covery of a new doctrine, but the recovery of primitive 
 purity."^ 
 
 " Religious differences make it impossible for the 
 State to establish at the public expense any satisfactory 
 system of combined education."^ 
 
 " Never consent to separate the letter of God's word 
 from those doctrines which it is intended to convey."^ 
 
 " It is very unwise unnecessarily to increase the 
 difficulty of acting in a position you may be forced to 
 occupy : this is often done by intemperate language." 
 
 Take care to make a clear " distinction between the 
 imperfections and faults of the instruments, and the 
 effects wrought through them by the providence of 
 
 GOD."'^ 
 
 " The real springs alike of personal acceptance and 
 
 " Bishop of Salisbury's Cliarge, 1851, p. 24. 
 
 " 1842, p. 13. "^ 1842, p. 20. " lb., p. 21. " lb. 
 
 ' 184.5, p. 21. ''1851, p. 16. " 1845, p. 15.
 
 26 
 
 of ministerial usefulness are those which are hidden 
 from the eyes of men, and which centre in and issue 
 forth from our blessed Lord."* 
 
 " Religious unity being denied to us, it were unjust 
 and unwise to refuse to admit the consequences of our 
 divided state.'"' 
 
 " Parliament being a mixed assembly of all who 
 profess and call themselves Christians, it is, perhaps, 
 better to tolerate almost any amount of evil in the 
 Church than to seek the removal of it through legis- 
 lation, which may be exercised in a spirit not derived 
 from the Church.'"" 
 
 " I deeply share in the feeling of those of my 
 brethren who are anxious for more ready access to me 
 for counsel and encouragement. It is one which it has 
 been my desire to encourage ; and if in any degree, 
 either from natural defects or from other causes, I have 
 failed to go to the extent I could wish, it will be my 
 object to repair this deficiency ; and if life and health 
 be vouchsafed me to employ them, as it is my duty to 
 do, to this end.'"* 
 
 " The extension of the Episcopate should be made 
 on the principle of restoring a balance which has been 
 deranged by the increase of the other parts of our 
 social economy."® 
 
 " The character of an ordained servant of a heavenly 
 Master attaches to a clergyman under all circumstances 
 and wheresoever he is : there is a certain sacred so- 
 
 •^ Bishop of Salisbury's Cliarge, 1842, p. 7. 
 - 1851, p. 35. ^ lb., pp. 37, 38. ' 1848, p. 27. ' lb., p. 22.
 
 27 
 
 briety befitting it which is not only at variance with 
 whatever is vicious, but which makes occupations 
 unbecoming, and places and scenes and modes of 
 amusement altogether unsuitable for the clergyman, of 
 which, in other persons, the excessive use is, perhaps, 
 alone to be condemned."'' 
 
 " The co-operation of our lay brethren we should 
 be most eager to secure ; all we must require is, that 
 they should be persons of competent intelligence and of 
 approved attachment to the Doctrine and Order of our 
 Church."^ 
 
 " Any new arrangements about our Cathedrals 
 should be made upon different principles from those 
 embodied rn the Act of 1840. The changes then made 
 were not measures of Reform, properly so called. They 
 were directed merely to the abstraction from those 
 bodies of a portion of their revenues, to be employed 
 on other purposes which were deemed to be of greater 
 utility ; but they called forth in them no new powers 
 of usefulness, or effected any adaptation of their re- 
 sources to the altered state of the Church,'"' 
 
 " The improvement I have been anxious to promote 
 in my Diocese is that which shows itself in an increased 
 attention on the part of the Clercjy to the duties of 
 their sacred calling, and a fuller provision for the 
 spiritual wants of the people, and this effected with 
 calmness and consideration, without excitement or 
 extravagance.'"* 
 
 " Bishop of Salisbury's Charge, 1842, pp. 8, 9. 
 ^' 1848, p. 16. '■ lb., p. 34. " 1845, p. 8.
 
 2« 
 
 This last statement, which was a summary of all 
 your Bishop's endeavours to govern and feed the flock 
 of Christ committed to him with a true pastor's care 
 and love, was made ten years ago, but it tells you what 
 was the object he still had before him, when it pleased 
 God to take him from us and to commit the work he 
 had carried forward to the edification of the Church of our 
 country, and specially of this Diocese, to other hands. 
 
 It was, indeed, with fear and trembling, and with 
 an aching heart (God is my witness), that I allowed 
 myself to be persuaded that the lot had fallen upon 
 me by God's tv ill ; but all I will now say about 
 my conduct in that my day of trial is this — If the 
 training and discipline which I enjoyed through an 
 unbroken friendship with such a man for 23 years — if 
 the having been allowed to be oftentimes a sharer of his 
 counsels and a humble instrument of helping him in any 
 degree in some of his works — if the cherishing with the 
 feelings of the highest and most devoted admiration 
 the recollection of his life — as the example of a holy, 
 understanding, able, wise, prudent, humble, generous, 
 forgiving, considerate man, indefatigable in work, and 
 calmly patient about everything which was not within 
 the proper compass of his power and duty — if these 
 things be any qualification for the ofiice he held, then I 
 admit that I was aware that I had that qualification, 
 and that I allowed the sense of my having it, and the 
 knowledge what were his wishes on his death-bed about 
 his Diocese to give in some degree an answer to the 
 question — " Are you persuaded that you are truly called 
 to this Ministry ?"
 
 29 
 
 And now, my Reverend Brethren, as I have thus 
 taken upon myself this office, I must not allow my 
 feelings (however natural) to deter me from exercising 
 as on this day one of the proper functions of it — 
 which is to inform you of your duty, and to exhort you 
 to fulfil it. This I have already done to a great extent 
 through both the works and words of my prede- 
 cessor, and now only the less grateful part remains, 
 and I must leave the past, which has been so deeply 
 impressed with the footmarks of God's blessing, and 
 must advise you what is the work now set before you 
 and me, and seek to persuade you that I have by my 
 office a claim for the same sympathy and support you 
 so readily gave to him whose seat I now occupy, and 
 that my greater need of such aid gives only added 
 weight and sanction to my claim. 
 
 Great and successful endeavours have been made 
 during the last seventeen or eighteen years to engage the 
 members of our Church in works of Piety and Charity. 
 The Reports of our Church Building, Missionary, 
 and Education Societies — of our Penitentiary and 
 Hospital — supply, as I have already shewn you, plain 
 proofs that this Diocese has learnt to care for these 
 things. And well is it for us never to forget that such 
 progress has been made at the cost of much faith and 
 love, and through God's great goodness. But yet it is 
 also our part, not to be content with what has been thus 
 done, but with praises and thanksgivings to use the 
 labours of others as means to still greater, and more 
 wide spread results. 
 
 Many and many Churches have indeed been restored
 
 30 
 
 and new ones built, but there is a vast work still un- 
 done ; and who could venture to say that the sums 
 raised for Education, for restoring fallen women, for 
 Missions, and for Hospitals, prove that the sin of the 
 Pharisee, professing without doing, is not ours ? 
 
 Such a subject as this can never be out of season 
 when a Bishop is addressing his Clergy, but there are 
 special reasons for my pressing it upon you at this time. 
 
 Our Gracious Sovereign has been advised to break 
 through the custom of issuing each year a Royal Letter 
 in behalf of one of the three great Church Associa- 
 tions, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 in Foreign Parts, the Church Building Society, and 
 the National Society for Education. 
 
 I am not about to question the policy of such 
 advice, or even to urge you to try by petitions to get 
 such advice reconsidered ; but I would rather shew you 
 how we ought to meet this change, and how the with- 
 drawal of this aid may perhaps minister to a habit of 
 more abundant almsgiving, and the removal of some 
 causes of strife. 
 
 One of the effects of the suspension during so many 
 years of the Church's functions of deliberation has been 
 that many of her works have been left to the care 
 and voluntary efforts of self-constituted bodies of her 
 members. Great preferences, as was natural, have 
 been felt by different persons for different Associations, 
 and sometimes these preferences for one or more So- 
 cieties have rested upon grounds which seemed to them 
 to involve distrust of and opposition to other Societies. 
 I own that T do not see my way at present out of these
 
 31 
 
 difficulties of our position ; and although I have very de- 
 cided and, as I think, most reasonable preferences for 
 some Societies, I cannot claim an unwilling and sole sup- 
 port for them as long as the others are conducted on 
 principles not subversive of the order of the Church, 
 But if there are these difficulties about Societies and they 
 be such that I cannot speak, I feel, v^^ith authority about 
 them, I have no such embarrassment about the objects, 
 which those Societies are intended to further. On the 
 contrary, I feel that neither you nor I can be faithful to 
 bur ordination vows, if we do not our very utmost to 
 obtain for their support the alms of every widow and 
 every Dives — the mite of the one and the gold and silver 
 of the other; Of the objects of which I thus speak, I 
 would make a two-fold division — those which are con- 
 fined to this Diocese — and those which belong to our 
 whole Church. The former division would include 
 Hospitals — the Building and Restoration of Churches 
 in the Diocese — the Training of Teachers for Elemen- 
 tary Schools, and the Building of Schools — and the 
 Reformation of Sinners, whether male or female ; and 
 the latter division would consist of Home Missions 
 and Foreign Missions. 
 
 There is not, I am sure, one of these objects which 
 cannot lay its claim on every Churchman in the name 
 of our blessed Lord. Each one of them says, in 
 giving to me, you are giving to Christ, and each one 
 can also add, if you give to me for Christ's sake, your 
 gifts are fruits of faith and love which will abound to 
 your account. And so if we once thus realize the true 
 position that good works hold in the scheme of grace
 
 32 
 
 we shall not be afraid of pressing heavihj, as it is some- 
 times not rightly said, on the poor man, whose poverty 
 is not, according to the doctrine of Christ, to exclude 
 him from that loving service, which his heart delights 
 to pay to his Lord and Master. What then I desire 
 to impress upon you is, that persons ought to be trained 
 to look upon almsgiving, whether in aid of the poor 
 and needy, or in support of such pious and charitable 
 objects as 1 have mentioned, as a necessary expression of 
 the inner life, and that the faithful should have more 
 frequent opportunities of offering such sacrifices of 
 praise and thanksgiving. 
 
 I fully believe that hitherto we have not, as a Church, 
 thrown ourselves with proper trust and confidence on 
 the bountifulness of our Brethren. 
 
 But our circumstances will now make it more easy to 
 discharge this duty towards them, and you will, I know 
 from my own happy experience as a parish Priest, find in 
 your people a forwardness and a readiness of mind and 
 heart, which you may at present scarcely expect. 
 There is, however, one act of thoughtful consideration 
 which I think they may fairly expect of you. The 
 offerings should be collected in such a manner that no 
 one may know what his neighbour gives ; and so no 
 man may be tempted by wrong motives to give grud- 
 gingly, and the man of enlarged charity may not, from 
 different, but yet false motives, feel bound to straiten 
 his desire to give plenteously. I am quite aware that 
 such a system as I have spoken of cannot become 
 general at once, and I am far from wishing to disarrange 
 any good existing plans for fixing in works of piety
 
 and charity the earnest purposes of true Christian 
 hearts, and this feeling has made me welcome the 
 desire of the Archbishop of Canterbury that I should 
 request you to make a collection in your churches 
 before the end of next November, which will be given 
 in equal parts to the Incorporated and the Diocesan 
 Church Building Societies. A letter from me on this 
 subject to my clergy will reach you, my Reverend 
 Brethren, in a few days. 
 
 But if what has been already done about almsgiving 
 tells us that it is our duty and supplies us with a motive 
 to abound yet more and more in these good works, the 
 same lesson may be learnt, and in the same way, with 
 regard to every other function of our ministry ; and 
 though I can accept without the slightest misgiving the 
 witness of our late Spiritual Father, that in all his 
 doubts and perplexities, he found comfort in the belief 
 that his own clergy were executing their office to the 
 edifying of the Church, and to the honour and praise 
 of God, you would, I am sure, my Reverend 
 Brethren, be the last to deny that there was still room 
 for improvement, or to claim exemption from my 
 admonition on the ground that your ministry already 
 gave proof that you had exhausted the fulness of the 
 
 meaning of those sayings Tavra i^ieXera, ev tovtoiq UOi.^ 
 
 Nor will I try to set before you in any words of mine 
 the limits of this charge of the great Apostle. The 
 translators when they said "give thyself wholly to 
 them," did all that could be done to help each of you 
 
 " 1 TiiTi. iv. 15. 
 C
 
 34 
 
 to trace out those limits for himself. I will rather 
 confine myself to some special counsels about the 
 pastor's duties. 
 
 I shall not, I am sure, be misconstrued by you, if I say 
 that the burden that presses most heavily upon the heart 
 of a faithful and true pastor is the thought that his la- 
 bours bear such little fruit in the conversion and building 
 up of souls — the knowledge that even those whom God 
 has in his providence brought under his special care, 
 have not acquired a relish, so to speak, for the savour 
 of spiritual things — still neglect the means of grace — 
 or have given themselves to some superstition, or wrong 
 form of religious profession. It is not, maybe, that he 
 complainingly forgets that all is of God, but his con- 
 science is ever telling him that his heart has often been 
 at fault in the work — that the honour of that Name in 
 which he ministered, and the value of that soul to 
 which his Saviour had sent him for its healing, or 
 increase of health, had not laid their constraint upon 
 the best powers of the inner man. And, if this ac- 
 count, which our conscience gives, is the true one, the 
 evil is surely not beyond a remedy. Seek, my Reverend 
 Brethren, by prayer — by reading the Holy Scriptures, 
 and by such studies as help to the knowledge of the 
 same, to get a clearer and a steadier yieW of ycfur 
 own position in the Kingdom of Grace — to apprehend 
 with a more lively faith these two facts, first : — that 
 though Christ is the only ruler and priest of His 
 Church, we are His organs — shadows of Him — instru- 
 ments by which He works — He teaches — He bap- 
 tizes — He feeds with the bread of life — He blesses.
 
 35 
 
 Secondly : — that God has been pleased, though the 
 work is altogether His, to connect it with the moral 
 and intellectual fitness of His instruments — their gifts 
 and graces — and then, having this sense both of responsi- 
 bility and power, master the special circumstances of the 
 case which requires your treatment, make a particular 
 preparation for each separate ministration, and so pre- 
 pared, go to that soul which thus claims your services, 
 and address to it that message which has been com- 
 mitted to you, and to the truth and comfort of which 
 your own mind and heart should be able to witness as 
 you deliver it. The delivering such a message includes 
 instruction in that blessed book in which God shows 
 us how He works — direction about fixed habits of life 
 and devotion — the giving definite rules of guidance 
 to the cross of Jesus, through those outward means 
 which are the mysterious approaches to that one 
 standing place of the Redeemed — and you must further 
 gain access on your kness, through your Saviour, to 
 the deep-set convictions of him to whom you thus 
 minister. 
 
 " All things," we know, my Reverend Brethren, " are 
 possible to him that believeth," and I am not over bold 
 in saying that the salvation of that soul is within the 
 power of your faith. Determine to extricate that poor 
 brother from the power of Satan by the strength of 
 Christ, use that strength with an awful sense of the 
 preciousness of that gift, and so — humbly, courageously, 
 perseveringly — and you shall prevail. That brother shall 
 in his home, in his duties abroad, in the Church of God, 
 give proof that he has, by your means, been enabled to 
 
 c 2
 
 30 
 
 touch his Saviour, and has by that touch been made 
 whole — ^yea, and more, he will then be meet to under- 
 take himself a ministration of mercy towards his fellow 
 men. He will cause your heart to rejoice, not only by 
 his own walk as a child of light, but by his endeavours 
 to persuade others to forsake the ways of darkness. 
 Having had his ears opened by the spirit of truth to 
 receive sound doctrine and having the comfort and peace 
 of a heart reconciled with his God, he will not listen to 
 the extravagant and false promises of either mistaken, 
 self-willed, or deceiving men, and he will warn others 
 that their way is not the way marked out by our God 
 for His elect. 
 
 In this manner every Parish Priest may in time find 
 that God has supplied him with special aid in his work, 
 and that of a very influential kind. He will not only 
 have those as fellow workers who have gone on in- 
 creasing in favour with God as they have advanced 
 in years, but they " who have had much forgiven 
 them" will readily accept a mission at his hand, and 
 will gladly do their part in their parish, whether in 
 awakening those who seem all but dead in trespasses 
 and sin, or in comforting the afflicted, or in relieving 
 the poor, or in giving instruction to the ignorant, or in 
 assisting the dying. Only let him cast the principles 
 and feelings of his converts into the moulds of the 
 Church — ^^her forms of sound doctrine, and her holy 
 observances — and he will find that there will always be 
 those amongst them whose ministrations instead of 
 making or increasing confusion, will be very powerful 
 for good — for attaching to our holy Mother, the Church
 
 37 
 
 of our dear country, the hearts of all who have learnt 
 the doctrines of the Cross. Let us only use the plain 
 rules and teaching of our Church, and then we need 
 not be prevented from taking such advantage of our 
 liberty, from the fear of its abuse. 
 
 But if there is to be more vitality thus thrown into 
 our system, such life must be nurtured, developed, and 
 trained by a fuller use of the means of grace ; and it 
 was partly with such an object that the Church has 
 provided a daily order for Morning and Evening 
 Prayer. I say partly, because even if such a rule had no 
 such direct object, the form and fashion of a Body living 
 in habitual sympathy with the continual intercession of 
 our great High Priest, could not be other than that of 
 worship — and because it may be that changes must 
 take place in these Offices before many people can 
 assist at them. 
 
 What these changes ought to be I am at present 
 unable to say ; and I confess that I am, for many 
 reasons, glad that the subject is put off for at least a 
 year. 
 
 One of my reasons for approving of such delay is, 
 that whenever a change is made, it ought to be done so 
 advisedly, and on such acknowledged principles, that 
 the question of change may not soon arise again. There 
 is an instinctive feeling against changes in religion, and 
 such an instinct is most surely to be cherished, rather 
 than disregarded. It was the saying of St. Augustin 
 — " Mutatio consuetudinis etiam quae adjuvat utili- 
 tate, novitate perturbat ;"* — and it is to this general 
 
 ■■' Aug. T. ii. p. 126, D.
 
 38 
 
 principle that I am ready to trace the objections which 
 have reached me from a few parishes to the revival 
 of the practice of administering the Sacrament of 
 Baptism in the congregation. The rule of our Church 
 about it rests on such clear reasons of expediency 
 and charity, that Christian people would, I am sure, 
 desire to have the rule acted upon, at least under 
 the common restriction of once a month, had not a 
 long custom taken up in their convictions the place of 
 this law. 
 
 But to return to the proposed changes in the daily 
 order for Morning and Evening Prayer. I must 
 request my Clergy not to make, whilst these questions 
 are not settled, any unauthorised changes for themselves. 
 By so doing they would place me in the position, which 
 I hope never to occupy, of having either to cause them 
 to undo things wiiich may have been acceptable to 
 their parishioners, and may in themselves be working 
 for good, or to sanction what I have no right to do. 
 This remark does not apply to the use of the Litany 
 alone in the evening, in those places where, on the same 
 day, the Ojfice for the morning, and the Litany, and 
 the Order of the Holy Communion, and the Office 
 for the evening have been already used. However, a 
 little more patience, a little more training to use grate- 
 fully and well the instruments we already possess, will 
 do us all good, and prepare us for the better use of any 
 privileges which our Lord may be about to give us. 
 
 And, without entering upon the question of the obli- 
 gation to use the daily offices, I should, I feel, be guilty 
 of a want of loyal dutifulness to my Lord and His
 
 39 
 
 Church, if I did not here bear witness that I entirely ap- 
 prove the attempt some of you are making to aiford by 
 daily Offices and more open Churches " a calm retreat 
 from the bustle and cares of the world, and spiritual 
 refreshment for the wearied soul." 
 
 Certain is it, that we, the Clergy, cannot spend our 
 time more profitably than by going forth to meet our 
 Lord in such acts of faith and love. When we thus 
 testify with the Apostles " We will give ourselves con- 
 tinually to prayer and to the ministry of the word," we 
 may say, " Talia Christus videns et audiens gaudet."'' 
 Nor need such services (I speak only what I know) 
 withdraw, as some holy men fear, one moment of time 
 from the bed of sickness and other pastoral work ; 
 yea, rather, they will in some cases, by helping you to 
 systematise your time and to regulate godly purposes, 
 secure you more time, and will most surely enable you 
 to use all your time with the hope of a better result. 
 
 And here I cannot pass by the fact that the war in 
 which we are now engaged should, by its bitter sorrows 
 — its long and protracted trials, help us to bow our 
 hearts in prayer before Him, who holds in His hands 
 its issues, and should enable us to grasp with a firmer 
 faith, and to tise with a more practised mind and 
 heart, this most powerful instrument for turning aside 
 the evils of this visitation. God forbid that any man 
 should by habit become callous and indifferent to its 
 daily horrors; or that we, the Clergy, should forget 
 that it is our part, without entering upon the question 
 
 * Tertull. ad nx. Lib. ii.
 
 40 
 
 of its policy, to endeavour to chasten and bring into 
 subjection to higher principles all mere excited aspi- 
 rations after military glory. Rather, my Reverend 
 Brethren, we should act in the belief that there are 
 now, at any rate, some in our parishes who would in 
 this season of sore distress thankfully bring into the 
 courts of the Lord's House, day by day, the earnest inter- 
 cessions of a father, or a mother, or a wife, or a child, 
 or some dear familiar friend, that those they love may 
 be given to their prayers — that the nations of the 
 earth may be reconciled, and that so our homes may 
 no longer be filled by wars and rumours of wars, with 
 fears or lamentations. 
 
 It would be worse than idle to speculate what may 
 be our God's secret purpose in having permitted 
 Nation to rise against Nation ; but there can be no 
 doubt that He in this act of His Providence would 
 carry to every man's heart, whetlier in his chamber or 
 his family, the duty of prayer, and that He is by it 
 inscribing afresh on every house that is His, the words, 
 " My house shall be called the House of Prayer." And 
 well then may it happen, when God is thus teaching us 
 to pray, that if even only a very few are able to join in 
 the daily services of the Church by their bodily pre- 
 sence, many when they hear the Church bell, will gladly 
 welcome the sound as a notice to them of your charit- 
 able work, and an invitation to them to bring their 
 hearts into communion with yours at the throne of 
 srace, and that thus in due time the words of St. 
 Jerome may become true of our rural population — 
 " Quocuncpie te verteris, arator stivam tenons Alleluia
 
 41 
 
 decantat, sudans messor Psalm is se avocat, et curva 
 attondens falce vitem vinitor aliquid Davidicum canit."'* 
 
 I will only add one caution. The thought should have 
 its proper weight with you, for it is one of a very prac- 
 tical bearing, that all outward religion ought to be the 
 development of the grace within the heart, and that if 
 we would safely use more privileges ourselves, or supply 
 others with them without peril to their souls, we must 
 do so with " Godly fear." 
 
 And does not this caution easily pass into an ex- 
 hortation to brotherly love and Charity? It may be 
 that some of you may through such fear allow too 
 much weight to such a consideration, and that others, 
 not feeling its influence to a like extent, may act 
 without the same regard to the danger I have men- 
 tioned. And if on no other ground, yet at any rate 
 seeing that such differences even about the use of pri- 
 vileges are thus susceptible of a good construction, I 
 beseech you, my Reverend Brethren, let not brother 
 judge his brother, but let each man prove his own work ; 
 yea, and to extend the principle of this caution more 
 widely let each Parish Priest confine himself strictly 
 to his own appointed duties, and look upon his own 
 cure as the proper sphere for the exercise of his faith 
 and love. Small parishes have their difficulties as 
 well as large ones. It is no easy matter, even in 
 them, to do all that lieth in you to save souls ; and 
 no brother will at the day of account find that his 
 own special responsibilities have been too few. A 
 great Bishop said, " Detrahere aut detrahentem audire 
 
 " Jer. Ep. ad Mare.
 
 42 
 
 quid horum damnabilius sit non facile dixerim;"'* 
 and I beseech you, my Reverend Brethren, to use no 
 harsh or unkind words such as are sometimes uttered 
 about Honesty, Subtlety, and so on. Any charge of 
 dishonesty is most galling to an Englishman, and rash 
 words about subtlety may be used as arguments even 
 against that full confession of faith, which we all believe 
 was contained in the short confession the Eunuch made 
 to St. Philip. Be also, I pray you, \ery careful to avoid 
 the sin of bearing any false witness, and in those slight 
 and outward differences which often imply no real 
 difference of creed between members of the same 
 Church, act as far as you can possibly with a safe 
 conscience, on the advice of the great Latin Father — 
 " Nee disciplina uUa est in his melior gravi prudentique 
 Christiano, quam ut eo modo agat, quo agere viderit 
 ecclesiam, ad quam forte devenerit."'' 
 
 I am, indeed, persuaded that the more we all know 
 of one another, and the more our hearts are trained to 
 meet in that one centre, the work our blessed Lord 
 has committed to us, the more ready we shall be to 
 condescend to one another's infirmities, and so the more 
 uncalled for and aimless such counsels as these about 
 Brotherly love will become ; and I believe that an ar- 
 rangement I have lately made at a meeting of the 
 Archdeacons and Rural Deans, to revive the meetings 
 of the Clergy in their Rural Deaneries, will in no small 
 degree help to bring about this good result. Such 
 
 St. Bernard de consid., Lib. ii. 13, 
 " Auo. T. ii. 124 D. and 81 E.
 
 43 
 
 meetings will have no tendency to separate brother 
 from brother, or to exaggerate the importance of some 
 differences ; and they will give me many opportunities 
 of communicating freely with all the clergy on Dio- 
 cesan or Church Questions, and of ascertaining their 
 deliberate judgment about them. Then again, if Con- 
 vocation is ever to become in our generation a useful 
 assembly, it must be throagh the training the Clergy 
 receive in these smaller assemblies, and in them too 
 that the laity must be first at any rate brought to a 
 careful consideration of the true bearing of Church 
 questions, and Churchwardens confirmed, by their in- 
 tercourse with and free discussion with their clergy, in 
 their attachment to the doctrine and discipline of their 
 Church. 
 
 But I must not stay longer even on this great 
 subject — the means of our all living together in entire 
 brotherly love and unity — for I have still a few more 
 things to say to you which may, I trust, help us so to 
 raise the standard of faith and practice in our Church, 
 that we may be able to address in her name to all 
 gainsayers the words of Him who is her Head, " If I 
 had not done among them the works which none other 
 man did they had not had sin."** 
 
 One of wzy principal means of helping in any such work, 
 is by being very careful whom I admit to Holy orders, 
 and by exercising a watchful care about those Clergy 
 who seek to minister in my Diocese. And here I must 
 say, though very unwilling to piiblisli any such notice, 
 
 " John XV. 24.
 
 44 
 
 that I am resolved not to be in future content with the 
 very slender preparation which I have sometimes 
 allowed to qualify for ordination ; and that in every 
 case I shall require as a preliminary qualification for 
 examination in other things, good proof that the can- 
 didate is no novice in the study of Holy Scripture 
 and the Book of. Common Prayer. Unless I do at 
 least thus much, I shall fall into the sin of giving no 
 heed to the ghostly direction I have received from St. 
 Paul through St. Timothy — " The things that thou 
 hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same 
 commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach 
 others also."* 
 
 But I must also add to this notice, that my long 
 experience of these things enables me to acknowledge 
 with great thanks, that much has been already done by 
 King's College, London, and the Theological Colleges, 
 to lessen the great evil to which I have felt obliged to 
 allude. 
 
 With regard to the Clergy who have no cure of 
 souls in this Diocese, I must restrict the services of any 
 who have not first obtained either my leave or licence 
 to two Sundays ; and I request that before you enter 
 into permanent engagements with any Curate you will 
 first send me the name and testimonials of the Priest 
 or Deacon you may wish to appoint. Such a regula- 
 tion will not cause you, I trust, any inconvenience, and 
 will enable me to protect you all, as well as myself, 
 from the intrusion of those whom we are alike anxious 
 not to liavc among-st us. 
 
 » 2 Tim. ii. 2.
 
 45 
 
 But even if men are good and able ministers, they 
 may not be persuasive preachers; and such short- 
 comings as preachers are most striking in our minis- 
 trations to the ignorant, careless, and wilful sinners : 
 and this will become more apparent, should the prac- 
 tice become more general of going forth into the 
 streets and highways, and seeking by such functions 
 to snatch souls from the power and dominion of 
 Satan. Great improvements may, I question not, be 
 made by us in these things. Perhaps most of us, may 
 I not say all, might discharge this duty with more 
 power and a better hope of a blessing, if our care 
 about this most precious means of grace were more 
 commensurate with its end and object — the turning 
 souls to God, and the building up in their most holy 
 faith those who have already tasted of the heavenly 
 gift. Then again, more special training for the ministry 
 of the word and sacraments — the belief that prophesying 
 is a special gift of God's Holy Spirit — a deeper know- 
 ledge of the Word of God — a more entire dependance 
 on the assistance of the Holy Ghost — a more burning 
 love for Christ and so for the souls for whom He has 
 shed his most precious blood — such a lively faith — such 
 a realization in the preacher's ow^n soul of the blessed- 
 ness of which he is speaking, that he can with all the 
 power of a good conscience, and in words of sincerity 
 and truth say, " We speak that we do know, and tes- 
 tify that we have seen,"* these and such like things 
 will do very much to make our sermons carry home 
 
 " John iii. 2.
 
 46 
 
 conviction to the hearts of those who know not Christ 
 and His Salvation. 
 
 But still it is impossible to expect that all Parish 
 Priests can become qualified for the special work I have 
 alluded to, or for those stirring exhortations to which 
 particular seasons of the Church give such fitting occa- 
 sion, and I think that these things could only be done 
 by preachers selected for these Ministrations, and com- 
 missioned by their Bishop through some well constituted 
 Board for giving this effectual aid to the Parish Priests. 
 
 The subject is indeed full of difficulty, but a Bishop 
 and his Clergy should not desire to avoid it on this 
 account, but readily engage in the consideration of it 
 in the full assurance that they will be able to bring it to 
 its right conclusion. 
 
 Another want, and one of which the members of our 
 Church become more sensible every year, is of a good 
 Hymnal. Nothing, I believe, is a more powerful in- 
 strument for good than Music and Spiritual Songs. 
 We have in the Psalms of David and the authorised 
 Hymns of our Church, and in the music to which they 
 are sung, an inestimable treasure, but the richness of 
 this possession does not place us beyond the want of 
 that of which the Church of Christ has in some other 
 languages a much richer store. At present, there are 
 not, I believe, materials for any compilation to which 
 I should desire to see our Church fix her authority ; 
 but I hope that in the course of the year one will be 
 printed in this Diocese, which I shall be able to 
 recommend in preference to any I have yet met with. 
 I think you wnll find in the book I speak of, much
 
 47 
 
 lielp in both stirring up warm feelings of devotion, and 
 also in gathering them, when thus awakened, around 
 all the facts of our blessed Lord's Mediation and the 
 faith and love of those of His disciples whom His 
 Church has set before us to follow, and that by so 
 doing you will be only meeting a want felt by all 
 classes of your congregation. But sure I am that you 
 will, by so doing, enlist on your side the sympathies of 
 your poorer brethren ; and to you I need not say that 
 they are those for whose peace and joy, and strong 
 consolation, we must ever feel, for Jesu's sake, most 
 bound to care. 
 
 For myself, I must add, that one of my strongest 
 grounds of assurance that God is on our side, that 
 the spirit of Grace is quickening our Church, and that 
 the love of Christ is leavening and giving right objects 
 to our hearts, is that the minds of her members are 
 becoming more and more occupied with the thought 
 how they can secure more regular, and loving and per- 
 severing endeavours to relieve every want — to nurse the 
 sick, to educate the ignorant, to train up orphans, to 
 comfort the broken-hearted, and to recover the lapsed. 
 Such works cannot be lightly engaged in, and at first 
 many questions and doubts will arise to check the free 
 current of these purposes of love ; but good beginnings 
 have already been made, and these gladden my heart, 
 and make me bless my God that I have been called to 
 my ministry at a day when I can welcome all such self-de- 
 nying, hearty, well ordered outactings of faith and love ; 
 and I see in them sure tokens that our holy mother, 
 the Church of England, will be able in any hour of
 
 48 
 
 distress, to say in calm and gentle defiance of those 
 who would hurt her, " Habeo defensionem, sed in 
 orationibus pauperum. Cseci illi et claudi, debiles et 
 senes robustis bellatoribus fortiores sunt." ^ 
 
 St Ambrose is there speaking only of bodily infirmi- 
 ties, and the fruit of the charity exercised towards 
 them, but the same language is applicable to those 
 whom you educate to see with the organs of their 
 intellectual and moral being the objects of faith, and to 
 walk uprightly in the path of duty ; and certainly in 
 no way are the clergy of our church shewing more 
 clearly that the Spirit of Christ has set them apart for 
 their work, than in the sympathy they are manifesting 
 with the bearing of their Lord towards little children. 
 But because I praise you for this, my dear brethren, 
 because I rejoice to know that the schools of so many 
 Parish Priests witness to their faith and charity, am I 
 not to say, or rather should I not so much the more 
 say " let us go on unto perfection." Your Saviour, as 
 he takes these little ones into his arms, charges you to 
 keep His image before your hearts, and to carry into 
 all your education of children His tender love for them. 
 
 And I must add, though not to trammel the energy 
 of that free spirit of love with which I would have you 
 give Him this service, that humtinly speaking the well- 
 being, perhaps the very safety of our Church will turn 
 upon the condition of its schools. I earnestly hope that 
 no attempt to give the great blessing of education to all 
 who need it, by roughly removing those religious difii- 
 
 * Ambrose, Ep. 31.
 
 49 
 
 culties which are indeed in the way of any system of 
 national education, but which have been placed there by 
 God Himself, will ever be successful. I fully believe, 
 with our late beloved bishop, that there is no point 
 between the secular and denominational systems on 
 which the principle of education can safely rest. I 
 trust that the more the subject is discussed, the more 
 satisfied will people be that it will be an evil day for 
 our country when the State shall assist only those 
 schools from which the ivhole doctrine of Christ, and so 
 the formularies which enshrine that doctrine, are ex- 
 cluded. But sure I am that the probability of such an 
 event will be much lessened if the instruction and 
 training in our schools become, under your vigilant care, 
 and the effectual aid of certificated masters and mis- 
 tresses, and pupil teachers, of so high an order, that 
 should the principle of compulsory education be adopted 
 by the Legislature there will be no room for the objec- 
 tion that such education as the Church provides is inade- 
 quate, either in amount or quality, to the requirements 
 of the State, or to the just and proper expectations of 
 the parents of the children. 
 
 And now, my Reverend Brethren, before I conclude 
 this long address to you about your duties, I would 
 endeavour in a few words to witness before you that I 
 do not forget that the question has been put, or who 
 put it, " Thou that teachest another teachest thou not 
 thyself?" 
 
 I of course cannot contradict the fact that my place 
 in the Church of God is one of authority and power, 
 and that it was to a bishop that the charge was 
 
 D
 
 50 
 
 addressed " Let no man despise thee ;" but the truth 
 which I am still more anxious to master, and to make 
 a normal condition of every act, and thoiught, and feeling, 
 is that my office is "Ministratio non dominatio."* "That 
 I have not dominion of your faith, but am a helper of 
 your joy."^ Such maxims indeed carry me up to our 
 Lord's commission to his Apostles, and make me feel 
 that the blood of the Apostles (so to speak) is in my 
 veins, and that by it I have been ennobled. But they 
 also bring before me the person of him who having 
 taken " upon himself the form of a Servant, came not 
 to be ministered unto but to minister," and when I am 
 thus placed in that sacred presence I call to mind both 
 my Lord's words, " the servant must be as his master," 
 and the Apostle's profession, " I made myself servant 
 unto all that I might gain the more," and then I say to 
 myself in the language of a great bishop " Vindica tibi 
 nobile genus similibus moribus," " ut probes hseredem 
 evigila ad curam" "agnosce hsereditatem tuam in Christi 
 cruce, in laboribus plurimis."" And most surely in the 
 present day circumstances would seem to make com- 
 pliance with this last charge not very difficult, the 
 pressure of daily business upon a bishop makes a demand 
 on his time and thoughts he can hardly put aside, and 
 yet I read too in that same charge a warning to do 
 that which this very business may tempt me to neglect. 
 No duty can have so high a claim as that which St. 
 Paul enforced on the first bishop of Ephesus, — " Take 
 
 " St. Bernard de consid., Lib. ii. 12. '' 2 Cor. i. 24. 
 
 "■ St. Bernard dc consid., Lib. ii. 13, 9,
 
 51 
 
 heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, continue in 
 them, for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself 
 and them that hear thee.'"" 
 
 No proverb can carry with it more force of truth 
 than St. Bernard's question, " qui sibi nequam cui 
 bonus ?'"'' and a danger from w^hich we are none of us, 
 my dear brethren, free, is lest the claims this biisiness 
 makes upon us should lead us to act ill by ourselves, 
 to neglect the care of our own souls, and to forget that 
 we shall run in vain and labour in vain if we do not 
 daily replenish our hearts by prayer, by meditation, by 
 the study of Holy Scripture, with the pure invigorating 
 waters of life. 
 
 " Vereor," says the same Father from whom I last 
 quoted, " ne in mediis occupationibus, quoniam multae 
 sunt, frontem dures et patiare te trahi ab ipsis ad cor 
 durum ;"" and he afterwards adds this caution : " Quo- 
 niam dies mali, sufficit te admonitum esse non totum 
 te nee semper dare actioni — sed considerationi aliquid 
 tui et cordis, et temporis sequestrare."^ 
 
 A hard heart would, indeed, be a fearful termination 
 of my care of all the Churches of this Diocese ; and, as 
 I am in peril of this, I beseech you, my brethren, to 
 have remembrance of me in your prayers, and to ask 
 for me what St. Paul desired for Timothy, " Grace, 
 mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ 
 Jesus our Lord." 
 
 1 fear not to say, that I have, God be thanked, re- 
 
 ** 1 Tim. iv. 16. '' St. Bernard de consid., i. 5. 
 
 '■ St. Bernard de consid., i. 2. ' Id., c 7.
 
 52 
 
 ceived, by the putting on of Apostolic hands, " the 
 spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind ;"* but 
 those gifts will not profit rae unless I stir them up. 
 
 I have received in the Doctrine of our Church the 
 form of sound words ; but I can only " keep that good 
 thing which has been committed to me, by the Holy 
 Ghost,"^ He alone can give me a stedfast sense of my 
 duty as a keeper of God's truth, that "inflexibilis obsti- 
 natio" which characterised, in the eyes of a great Roman 
 citizen, the first Christians. 
 
 I have promised to be " gentle and merciful," but I 
 am very weak, and I may easily break my vow. 
 
 I have engaged to be to all men such an example of 
 good works, that " the adversary may be ashamed, 
 having nothing to say against me," but I already know 
 that I cannot on this ground claim your support and 
 sympathy, but only for my office sake. 
 
 I have been taught both by my beloved friend and 
 predecessor, whose teaching I desire to cherish as a 
 most sacred trust, and also by that man of gentle spirit, 
 who once filled one of the chief places in this Diocese, 
 and to whose memory I am bound by the ties of filial 
 affection, how your confidence, yea, your affections, my 
 Reverend Brethren, may be both gained and kept, — but 
 I may, I fear, carelessly forget these lessons, though 
 enforced upon me by such feelings of reverence and 
 affection. 
 
 I beseech you then, on all these accounts, to give me 
 your aid — support me by your prayers — remember your 
 
 » 2 Tim. i. 7. *" 2 Tim. 1. 13, 14.
 
 Bishop in your chambers, in the Offices of your Church 
 — in her Litany — and at that time specially when your 
 souls are brought by the commemoration of your Sa- 
 viour's death and passion, into closest communion with 
 the great Intercessor of the Church. 
 
 When, at the Ember seasons, you read over the Or- 
 dinal to deepen your sense of your own wants, and the 
 wants of those about to be ordained, read, too, the 
 record of my vows and promises, that my wants may 
 be blended with your own, and those of your younger 
 brethren. A^nd, God being my helper, I will not 
 neglect this part of my ministry towards you. Would 
 that I were in this respect and in all others less unfit 
 to assist you ; but at any rate distrust not my sym- 
 pathy, and be assured that all trustful, dutiful, aff'ec- 
 tionate bearing towards me will only deepen in my 
 heart the sense of my relation towards my brethren. 
 
 You have great power (you know not, perhaps, 
 how great) to reveal to me the real nature of that 
 mysterious relation, and to make me learn more per- 
 fectly the lesson what a Bishop may do for the souls 
 of those committed to him. You can constrain me 
 " with the cords of a man, and the bands of love" to 
 be to the flock of Christ as a Shepherd — to hold up the 
 weak — to heal the sick — to bind up the broken — to 
 bring again the outcasts — to seek the lost. You can 
 by your dealings with me, as well as by your prayers 
 for me, throw an influence around my heart, which will 
 make me " evermore ready to spread abroad the Gospel, 
 and to use the authority given to me, not to destruc- 
 tion, but to salvation — not to hurt, but to help ;" —
 
 54 
 
 and thus I may owe to you both the power of faithfully 
 fulfilling my course, and also the good hope, that when 
 the Chief Shepherd shall appear, I may " receive a 
 'Town of glory that fadeth not away." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 James Bennett, Printer, Journal Office, Salisluiry

 
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