LI B RAR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N I VLRSITY 
 
 or ILLl NOIS
 
 « 
 
 A CHARGE 
 
 DELIVERED BY THE 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF ST. ALBANS 
 
 AT HIS FIRST VISITATION OF HIS 
 DIOCESE. 
 
 OCTOBER, 1892. 
 
 PUBLISHED AT ST. ALBANS 
 BY RANDALL; 
 
 AND AT 
 
 CHELMSFORD 
 
 BY EDMUND DURRANT & CO. 
 
 1S92. 
 
 Price Sixpence.
 
 The Visitation was held at the twelve following 
 centres : — 
 
 Oct. 6th.— St. Albans. 
 
 7th.— Hertford, St. Andrew's, 
 loth. — Baldock. 
 
 nth. — Bishop's Stortford, St. Michael's. 
 13th. — Safifron Walden. 
 17th. — Colchester, St. Mary's at Walls. 
 19th. — Halstead, St. Andrew's. 
 2 1 St. — Brentwood. 
 
 24th. — Southend, St. John the Baptist's. 
 26th. — Chelmsford, St. Mary's. 
 27 th. — Witham. 
 31st. — Stratford, St. John's. 
 
 At each of these centres Holy Communion was celebrated at 
 II a.m., after which the names of the Clergy and Churchwardens 
 were called, and the Bishop delivered his Charge ; and at 2.30 p.m. 
 the Bishop held a private Conference with the Clergy.
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 
 
 My Brethren in the Lord, — 
 
 I feel deeply the solemnity of this occa- 
 sion. A Visitation of his Diocese must always, 
 I suppose, be an anxious time for a Bishop. It 
 cannot be otherwise, as the review of the condition 
 of the Diocese which a Visitation must mean, 
 compels him to think of himself and the charge 
 committed to him. A first Visitation certainly 
 brings anxious thoughts. And yet with such 
 there are many pleasant ones. It is a matter of 
 thankfulness to me that I should have such an 
 opportunity of learning more thoroughly about 
 the Diocese, and of meeting my brethren, and so 
 establishing, in some cases, or drawing closer, in 
 many others, those bonds of friendship which ought 
 to exist between the Bishop and his Clergy, and, 
 as far as is possible, the laity in his Diocese. 
 
 I do not forget what a Visitation is ; I do not a visitation is 
 
 a Court. 
 
 forget that it is a Court, and that its purpose is 
 that a Bishop should examine matters, and where 
 there is need, admonish, and, as far as he can, cor- 
 rect and amend whatever may be amiss. But on 
 this occasion I rather regard my Visitation as an 
 
 A 2
 
 4 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 
 
 attempt on my part to gain that more thorough 
 and perfect knowledge of the Diocese which I feel 
 is so necessary. 
 
 There are, however, some matters, as you may 
 well suppose, on which I think it is my duty to 
 speak to you. 
 Bishop Before I go further I must render a tribute of 
 
 Claughtoru 
 
 deep and hearty and affectionate respect to the 
 memory of my predecessor, the first Bishop of this 
 Diocese of St. Albans. It was no light thing to be 
 called upon to follow such an one, and to take up his 
 work ; but he made the burden as light as it could 
 be made by the ready sympathy and help he gave 
 me, and the real affection of his friendship. And he 
 gave me this help, as he has given help to so many 
 in this Diocese — to so many, indeed, throughout his 
 life — because he loved the work that his jMaster 
 had entrusted to him, and cared for it, and because 
 of that grace w^hich God had given him, and which, 
 as he used it throughout all his ministerial life, was 
 given more and more bountifully as life went on, 
 the grace of the loving heart of the true Pastor. 
 
 The name of St. Alban and the history of the 
 great Abbey Church which is our Cathedral Church, 
 suggest many thoughts as to the work and the for- 
 tunes of the Church which are and ever will be a 
 precious possession for this See ; but that the pas- 
 toral office should be so especially connected with 
 the memory of its first Bishop is a very happy thing. 
 Great men in the Church, theologians, historians, 
 orators, statesmen, have done good w^ork for the 
 
 1^ ^ 
 
 .UIUC 
 
 f
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 5 
 
 Church and Nation in the past, and we trust will 
 be raised up among us to do good work, each in his 
 special way, in the future. But it is in the faithful 
 exercise of the pastoral office that the life of the 
 Church really consists, and her true strength is 
 exhibited and maintained. 
 
 Others, too, have passed away, whose loss we Beneficed ciergy 
 feel, while we are thankful for what God gave to 
 us and to the Church in their lives. In the short 
 time (some two and a quarter years) that has 
 elapsed since my consecration, forty-six Clergy 
 in this Diocese have been called to their rest with 
 not a few laymen who took a prominent part 
 in furthering Church work in the Diocese. The 
 constant changing which marks this life of ours is 
 borne in forcibly upon us as we think of the many 
 taken from us. But the work of life continues un- 
 changed. It remains ; it has come down from the 
 past, it will be taken out of our hands in due time 
 and committed to others, and the thought of that 
 circumstance of change in human life should 
 quicken us by God's grace to do what we can 
 while our day lasts to meet the needs which come 
 down to us from the past, or are arising under our 
 eyes. 
 
 There are two schemes which have come to us cathedral Body 
 from the past which should certainly be mentioned 
 here. I do not see any immediate prospect of 
 their being carried out, but in any review of Dioce- 
 san needs we must always keep them before us as 
 matters which are of real importance, and which
 
 6 VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 
 
 must be dealt with some day. They are schemes 
 connected with our Cathedral Church. 
 
 In the first place, some Cathedral Chapter ought 
 to be instituted. There is no Cathedral body 
 legally constituted at present. There are, indeed, 
 Honorary Canons, but they do not constitute a 
 Cathedral body. They are recognised in the Clergy 
 Discipline Act of this year for certain purposes of 
 that Act, as "Members of the Cathedral Church." 
 The consequence is, if I read that Act rightly, that 
 for a particular purpose we have certain members 
 of the Cathedral Church recognised by law, among 
 whom the Archdeacons and the Rector of St. 
 Albans, who is really in charge of the Cathedral 
 Church, find no place. 
 
 We are in danger, therefore, of having an 
 irregular Cathedral body set up by law by a sort 
 of accident. 
 
 In considering what the Chapter of the Cathe- 
 dral Church should be, we shall do well to look 
 back to the old foundations, not for the sake of 
 servile and unreal imitation, but for the expression 
 of certain principles which are as full of life now 
 as they ever were. I do not enter into this 
 matter now. I only say that the fundamental idea 
 seems to me to be that the Chapter should not 
 consist only of those who are responsible for the 
 care of the Cathedral Church, and for the main- 
 tenance of the services, it should be Diocesan 
 in its character. The Bishop should be one of the 
 Chapter, " A Canon among the Canons ; first of
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 7 
 
 them, but always a Canon," to quote the late Mr. 
 Bradshaw's words about the old foundations in 
 the interesting and valuable volume lately pub- 
 Hshed containing the " Liber Niger " of Lincoln 
 Cathedral.* 
 
 For certain purposes no doubt we need endow- 
 ments. But I think some scheme might be devised 
 which would establish a Cathedral body at once, 
 using the materials we now have, while contem- 
 plating and providing for the possibility of extension 
 in certain ways as endowments may be provided 
 by the liberality of Churchmen in the future. 
 
 The other point connected with the Cathedral 
 Church is the need of provision for the Choir, and 
 the establishment of a daily Choral Service. 
 
 A great deal is done now with the small means 
 at the disposal of the authorities of the Abbey 
 Church, and the good service rendered by the 
 members of the present Choir deserves a hearty 
 and grateful recognition. But something more is 
 needed than a voluntary Choir can possibly be 
 expected to give. In the Mother Church of the 
 Diocese the service of God should be rendered as 
 perfectly as possible, and when we think of what 
 a building it is, and of the numbers that visit it 
 daily from all parts of the world, we feel that the 
 service of the Church is not presented before them 
 with that dignity which is her due. 
 
 These points connected with the Cathedral 
 
 * " Lincoln Cathedral Statutes," Part I. Cambridge University 
 Press.
 
 8 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 
 
 Church are matters connected with the proper 
 organisation of a Diocese, which we must keep 
 steadily before us, even if we do not see our way 
 to a perfect accomplishment at once. They must 
 not be lost sight of, though other matters may 
 imperiously demand more immediate attention. 
 Diocesan w^^d.^. There are such matters. In reviewing the 
 
 I ncrease of 
 
 Population. condition of a Diocese, one point which must pre- 
 sent itself at once for consideration is the num- 
 ber of the population within it, and whether that 
 population is increasing or not ; and if it is 
 increasing, how is the Church meeting the respon- 
 sibilities which such an increase of necessity casts 
 upon it. 
 
 Further, the nature of the increase, when there 
 is one, is a matter of the greatest importance. 
 For there may be increase of such a kind that 
 some adaptation or expansion of the parochial 
 machinery in certain parishes may provide what 
 is needed. Such provision w^ould of necessity make 
 some demand on the liberality of Church-people, 
 but it need not require any special organisation or 
 special effort. 
 
 But there may be an increase of such a kind 
 as to pass beyond all the powers of the existing 
 organisation and demand special treatment. 
 
 You know how it is in this Diocese. You 
 know what a great and rapid increase has taken 
 place and is taking place in one part of it. The 
 figures of the last Census disclose startling results 
 which demand most anxious consideration ; for
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 9 
 
 they show us, not something which is completed, 
 but something which is going on and will go on 
 for years, and as far as we can see, as long as 
 the life of London — and that means the life of the 
 nation — continues to flourish and expand. 
 
 The population of this Diocese, which was calcu- 
 lated to be about 733,000 in 1874, when the Diocese 
 was constituted, and which had risen to 778,584 
 in 1881, was 1,007,314 in 1891. At the present 
 time, allowing for increase at the same rate, the 
 population of the Diocese must be 1,025,540. 
 This is an increase of over 29 per cent, in ten 
 years, or to put it in another way, for every 100 
 people in the Diocese in 1881 there were ten 
 years afterwards more than 129. The increase in 
 Hertfordshire has been at the rate of nearly 9 per 
 cent., but the increase in Essex has been over 36 
 per cent., while the increase in that part of Essex 
 which lies within the metropolitan police area has 
 been 75 per cent., that is to say, that in the 
 fourteen parishes in that area where there were 
 100 people in 188 1, there were 175 people in 1891, 
 and allowing the same rate of increase, there are 
 182 people now. 
 
 But this statement is sufficient to show us what 
 a very serious state of things confronts us ; for this 
 great increase of population is not spread uniformly 
 over the Diocese, or even over a great part of it. 
 It is massed in one part, and that not a large one. 
 It is not a matter of the addition of some hundreds 
 of people, it is the addition of thousands, and tens of
 
 lo VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 
 
 thousands to parishes where already the parochial 
 machinery was insufficient for the existing needs. 
 It is the addition of a population of working people, 
 people never well off, and in many cases poor. 
 And in some of these parishes as the streets of small 
 houses spring up so the houses of well-to-do people 
 completely vanish. With the increase of popula- 
 tion there comes the complete loss of all those who 
 can give substantial support to Church work. 
 The Church's But thcse pcople there ; there are their souls for 
 
 duty to these ^ ^ 
 
 people. whom Christ died, and for whose salvation He 
 
 yearns with the yearning of Divine love. Can the 
 Church of Christ refuse to care for them 1 has she 
 no duty towards them ? Well, but what is the 
 Church ? Is it only the Incumbent of the parish 
 within whose territorial limits this multitude of 
 people is gathered together ? Is it enough to leave 
 him to face an impossible work ? Is it enough to 
 delude ourselves with words and say that these 
 people are in a certain parish, when we know that 
 all that spiritual care and teaching, all the spiritual 
 life that belongs to the word parish, if the word is 
 to mean anything at all, is a perfect impossibility 
 for them } 
 
 We speak of the Church as a Society, a Society 
 divinely constituted and ordered for the purpose of 
 setting forth the love of God for man, as shown in 
 Christ, and of carrying out Christ's work for man 
 in the world. We speak of ourselves as members 
 of this Society. Do we mean what we say ? Do 
 we realise these facts in ^ir lives ? Or is this
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, iS.<)2. n 
 
 divinely constituted Society something which exists 
 indeed in name, a beautiful idea to play with in 
 exciting the emotions, but something which for us 
 vanishes into air when work has to be done and 
 self-denial exercised ? 
 
 Is it not the truth that we have to accept the 
 fact that we are members of this Society, this 
 Society divinely constituted and ordered for a cer- 
 tain work in the world, and that this Society has to 
 act on the circumstances of life whatever they be, 
 through that worldly organisation with which it is 
 by God's providence endowed in any particular 
 place or time. 
 
 Now the Diocese is part of that organisation as The church's 
 well as the parish. And m some ways it is a the Diocese. 
 more important part. For the Diocese is the 
 sphere in which the Church presents itself with its 
 full and necessary spiritual equipment of the three 
 divinely instituted Orders of Ministers. Diocesan 
 life is (at least) as necessary for the well-being of 
 the Church as parochial life. Of course the area of 
 the Diocese does not exhaust our responsibilities 
 as members of the Church of Christ. The Church 
 — the Society to which we belong — has as a 
 Society duties and responsibilities to the whole 
 *of England, to the whole of England's empire, 
 and again beyond the limits of that empire to 
 God's world at large. But as we think of our 
 responsibilities as members of the Church of Christ 
 and of the ways in which we can discharge those 
 responsibilities, the Diocese rises up before us as
 
 Fund. 
 
 12 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 
 
 part of that worldly organisation which God's 
 providence has imposed upon the Church as a 
 means through which she is enabled and so is 
 called upon to deal with the spiritual needs of human 
 life. 
 
 When then the Church is manifestly called upon 
 to fulfil some duty, and when the fulfilment of that 
 duty cannot be left to the separate action of .certain 
 individual parishes, it is clear that there is a neces- 
 sity for diocesan action. It is the Diocese that 
 must face the necessity, and endeavour to deal 
 with it, and make an appeal to the Church at large 
 to assist it in its endeavour. 
 s?\njans^ °' Such a work, such a necessity rises up before us 
 
 in connection with the great increase of population 
 in this Diocese, and imperiously demands a great 
 endeavour to deal with it. This was recognised by 
 my revered predecessor some years ago when he 
 was Bishop of Rochester. It has been recognised 
 ever since the See of St. Albans was constituted in 
 the existence of the Bishop of St. Albans Fund. 
 
 It is to his wise zeal and to that of many good 
 supporters of the Fund, lay as well as clerical, that 
 so much has been done in the past and is being done 
 now to enable the Church to carry on her work in 
 these crowded districts. 
 
 There is much, indeed, to be thankful to God 
 for. He has blessed our efforts. But these efforts 
 cannot be relaxed. Nay, they greatly need to be 
 greatly increased. For the evil we attack is not 
 one that is stationary. As fast as we deal with
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 13 
 
 certain needs more new ones arise about us. 
 So it is that I appeal to the Diocese, to the laity 
 especially, to help forward with renewed zeal this 
 §reat work which God has laid upon us. I do 
 not say that it is to the Diocese alone that ap- 
 peals should be made for help in carrying on 
 this particular work. This great increase of popu- 
 lation is due not to the wants of Essex and Herts, 
 but to the wants for which the life of London and 
 in some points the life of the nation is respon- 
 sible. But for reasons which I have stated, the 
 Diocese must endeavour to deal with the need that 
 exists within its borders, and then it can and must 
 appeal to those outside. 
 
 There is one point connected with this Church Endowment of 
 
 new districts 
 
 Extension in what are called the Barking Deaneries ^ "^^^• 
 which I wish to notice. Certain new districts have 
 been formed ; it was a necessity they should be 
 formed ; but there is no endowment for them. It 
 will be a long time before their claims can be con- 
 sidered by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and, 
 as you know, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners are 
 not in a position to make the grants they once did. 
 At present the stipends for the Clergy in charge of 
 these districts is provided by the Bishop of St. 
 Albans Fund. It is a precarious provision, for 
 the Fund is entirely dependent on the annual sub- 
 scriptions and gifts it receives. I confess the matter 
 causes me considerable anxiety as I look forward. 
 
 Some endowment ought to be provided if it is 
 possible. I hope that some of the proceeds from
 
 14 VISITATION CHARGE, 1^92. 
 
 the City Charities Fund which the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners will receive, and which will be 
 applicable to the needs of this part of the Diocese, 
 may be utilised for this purpose. It will only be a 
 very small sum compared with what will be needed, 
 but it will be a small beginning which I trust the 
 liberality of Churchmen may make larger. 
 
 As I have said the precarious character of the 
 income, which is in itself a miserably small pittance, 
 in the case of these new districts is a matter of very 
 grave anxiety, and yet I am quite sure that we 
 must not stand still in our work, because we cannot 
 see our way to that stability in the future which we 
 should desire. Souls are living to-day, waiting to 
 be dealt with, who will not be touched by the most 
 stable institution in the years to come, for their day 
 of grace will have closed before that time. It is 
 the work itself, the work to-day^ and not its seeming 
 earthly permanence that touches their eternity. 
 We must do the best we can now, looking forward 
 indeed and providing what we can for the future, 
 but never letting that anxiety for the future 
 diminish our care for the present work which 
 God so plainly calls us to do. This is leaving 
 the future in the hands of Him Who alone can 
 order it. 
 
 You have seen from what I have said that I put 
 the extension of Church work in what is termed 
 " London over the border " as the most important 
 and most pressing need that the Diocese presents at 
 the present time. It is a need that will remain
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 15 
 
 with us for years to come. We have to brace our- 
 selves to meet this great and what some may 
 consider this wearisome demand upon us. But 
 think what it would be to neglect it. It would be 
 to proclaim that the Church denies in deed all that 
 she professes in word about the high duty and 
 the blessedness of doing the work of her Lord and 
 Master among the people to whom He has sent her. 
 Let her turn away from these tens of thousands 
 because she is weary of the work of providing for 
 their spiritual needs, and she not only forfeits the 
 title of the National Church, but she forfeits the 
 title of being the true representative of Him Who 
 gave up all, and endured all weariness that all men 
 might see and know the Salvation of God. 
 
 But while I so stronsrly urq-e this work upon the diocesan insti- 
 
 «='-'*=' •■ tutions. 
 
 Diocese I do not forget that there are other works 
 and other needs which have their claims upon the 
 Diocese. Our Diocesan Funds and Institutions all 
 need support 
 
 I am anxious that the many new interests 
 which continually spring up should not weaken 
 the support given to old established and necessary 
 work. Our Boards of Education, with their sys- 
 tems of examining the schools in religious know- 
 ledge, our Training College for Mistresses, our 
 Societies for Church Building, for Endowment of 
 poor livings, for giving aid to poor Clergy, our 
 Diocesan House of Mercy, with all the attendant 
 schemes for seeking out and reclaiming the fallen 
 — all require continued and increased support.
 
 1 6 VISITATION CHARGE, \%()2. 
 
 The returns which have been made to me show 
 that there was raised in the Diocese itself last year 
 for Diocesan Institutions, including the Bishop of St. 
 Albans Fund, about ^^ 10,000, and that the amount 
 raised — * 
 
 1. For General Maintenance of Church Work, was about ;^i40,ooo 
 
 2. For Church Building and Extensions, was about 79,coo 
 
 ;^2I9,000 
 
 It seems a large sum, but we want a good deal 
 more if we are to do all we ought to do. 
 
 sJdSL. But, as I have said, we must as members of the 
 
 great Society, the Church, look beyond Diocesan 
 interests as well as parochial interests. There are 
 great calls upon our sympathy and our help from 
 the needs of the Church at large in England, and 
 from the need of the Church as she betakes her- 
 self to fulfil her Lord's command to go forth into 
 all the world. 
 
 Missions. -pj^g gj.g^^ Church Societies which deal with 
 
 education, with the spread of religious knowledge, 
 with Church building, with the supply of assis- 
 tant Clergy, with the promotion of temperance, 
 with other good and needful works, should receive 
 our regular and hearty support ; especially should 
 Mission work receive our support. 
 
 Great opportunities are before our Church in 
 our colonies and dependencies, and in the heathen 
 countries beyond. And great work is really 
 being done by the Missionary Societies and Asso- 
 ciations in our Church. No doubt we have to be 
 patient. Things do not always work out as
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 
 
 17 
 
 quickly as we could wish, or in the ways that we 
 expect. The good seed only brings forth fruit with 
 patience. But the work is being done. And it is 
 a work which has a first claim on our attention, 
 our prayers, and on our almsgiving. Missionary 
 work is an essential part of the work of Christ's 
 Church. It is an essential part not only because 
 of our Lord's plain command, but because without 
 it the Church cannot realise in itself its true con- 
 dition as the Body of Christ. It is by God's ap- 
 pointment through the working of the Church 
 that His purpose for man is to be accomplished. \ 
 His purpose is that man, not one or two nations 
 only, but man, should be raised in Jesus Christ to 
 his right position. 
 
 As the Bishop of Chester well said in his 
 Charge (1891) : — | , 
 
 " St. Paul saw that Jews alone could not ade- 
 quately represent Humanity. In like manner it 
 cannot be limited to Englishmen. We need 
 Chinese, Africans, Hindoos — all, if the Church, the 
 Body of Christ, is to be ' full-grown.' " 
 
 " To be lukewarm in the cause of Missions 
 is alike for the Church, the parish, and the in- 
 dividual, to have a radically defective and mis- 
 shapen life." 
 
 This duty of helping the cause of Missions by Dutyofgivim 
 prayer and by almsgiving, must be treated by 
 us Clergy like other duties. We must put the 
 duty before our people. I know what is said by 
 some about the poverty of their parishes, about the 
 
 B
 
 i8 VISITATION CHARGE, \'$>^2. 
 
 impossibility of making frequent appeals, about the 
 insignificance of the sum which in some cases a 
 collection produces. I sympathise with much that 
 they say, and I certainly am of opinion that the 
 discretion of each parish priest in these matters 
 must be recognised and respected. But I think 
 there is unnecessary timidity at times about pressing 
 the claims of Church work on the people. I think 
 sometimes there is too great a disposition to settle 
 the question according to the exact amount of 
 shillings and pence in the collection, forgetting that 
 the amount of the gift is no measure of its power, 
 for it is God who gives the increase. But while 
 He gives the increase, He yet requires the prayer 
 V- and the alms, that there may be the germ for the 
 increase. He can and will make a very small thing 
 to increase, but if there is nothing at all to bless 
 there can be no increase at all. We must always 
 remember that when the poor widow cast into the 
 treasury of the Temple the two mites which were 
 all her Hving, our Lord's comment upon that act 
 was not that the gift of a farthing was too small to 
 be of any practical value ; nor was it that it was 
 a cruel thing, considering the woman's extreme 
 poverty, to give her the opportunity of giving and 
 seem to expect that she should give. 
 
 I think that those very poor parishes who have 
 given their little sums to Church work when they 
 seemed to have wanted every penny for themselves, 
 have not found that such liberality was an over- 
 whelming burden, but rather that in some mysterious
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1^92. ic) 
 
 way " the barrel of meal did not waste, neither the 
 cruse of oil fail." 
 
 From the returns that have been made, I find ?"ppp''' °f 
 
 ' Missions. 
 
 that out of the 624 parishes in the Diocese, in 1891, 
 
 422 contributed to Foreign Missions. 
 
 315 ,, Home Missions. 
 
 377 ,, Diocesan Institutions. 
 
 leaving 
 
 202 who made no contribution to Foreign Missions. 
 309 ,, ,, ,, Home Missions. 
 
 247 ., ,, ,, Diocesan Institutions. 
 
 I think that the number of parishes making no 
 contribution is much larger than it should be after 
 making every allowance. 
 
 I have just quoted from the returns made by Returns. 
 the Clergy in the course of this year. I have to 
 thank the Clergy very heartily for the way in 
 which they have made those returns, and also for 
 their return to my own Articles of Enquiry. Very 
 few Clergy have neglected to make the return. 
 
 I know that returns are troublesome things, 
 but they are useful, and nothing useful can be done 
 without causing some trouble. I do not wish to 
 attach too much importance to statistics. In the 
 first place it is very difficult to arrive at accuracy 
 in them, and in the second place there is a great 
 deal of work (and the best work) which cannot be 
 measured in any sense by figures. Still, it is well 
 that we should know what is being done, and that 
 we should see how we stand both as regards work 
 in former years and work in other places. 
 
 Through the great kindness of Canon Burnside 
 
 B 2
 
 20 VISITATION CHARGE, \Z^2. 
 
 the returns have been tabulated for me under 
 various headings. Some of the statements I hope 
 to publish for the information of the Diocese as 
 occasion may arise. I do not give them here but 
 I think it worth while bringing to your notice some 
 statistics with regard to the confirmations in the 
 Diocese which are of importance. 
 Confirmation In thc thrcc vcars endinc: 1881, the average 
 
 Statistics. ^ ^ . 
 
 number of confirmation candidates was 6,340. 
 Allowing for the increase of population at 29 per 
 cent, the average number for the three years 
 ending 1891 would be 8,179, t)ut the actual 
 average number was 8,536, so we see that the rate 
 of increase in the number of confirmation candidates 
 is higher than the rate of increase of population. 
 
 In 1 88 1 more than 41 per cent, of those con- 
 firmed were males ; in 1891 more than 43 per cent, 
 were males. To a certain extent these figures are 
 satisfactory, but we must not forget that while the 
 number of confirmation candidates in 1891 was the 
 highest on record in the Diocese, it only reached 
 9'59 for each 1,000 of the population, while it is 
 calculated that 20 persons in each 1,000 reach the 
 age of 14. 
 
 The form of enquiry that has been sent round 
 last year and this year is, as you know, the form 
 w^hich was drawn up at the instance of the Con- 
 vocations of Canterbury and York, primarily for 
 the purpose of obtaining information for the 
 Church's Year Book. It was thought that such a 
 return would make unnecessary many questions
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1^2. 21 
 
 which are now usually included in the Visitation 
 Articles of Enquiry. I have found this to be the 
 case, and accordingly I was enabled to issue a 
 very short form of enquiry. 
 
 As I am dealing with the subject of returns The Annur' 
 
 Returns under 
 
 before I pass on to some points which I wish par- ^^-1^'"'"'"^^ 
 ticularly to notice, I may be allowed to say a word 
 about the returns which are made every year 
 under the Act i and 2 Vict. cap. 106, Plurality and 
 Residence Act. Though they have to be sent in 
 to the Bishop they are not returns ordered by 
 him, nor can he alter the form in any way. But 
 I may point out to the Clergy that many of them 
 give themselves unnecessary trouble in entering 
 on those returns for the Privy Council more than 
 is required, while some few pass over the point 
 which it is the object of the return to bring out. 
 
 The return deals with these questions (i), resi- 
 dence ; (2), the provision of a curate with legal 
 stipend when the Incumbent is away from the 
 parish ; (3), the due performance of the ser\'ices 
 required by law ; (4), the insurance of the buildings 
 of the living. 
 
 Before I speak about the question of residence 
 I will point out with regard to the last two points 
 that it is here that some of the Clergy give them- 
 selves unnecessary trouble. Instead of trying to 
 crowd into the very small space given on the paper 
 a list of all the services in the church throuo-hout 
 the week, it is sufficient to state that there are 
 two or more full services on the Sunday at such
 
 22 
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 
 
 and such hours and at which of them a sermon is 
 given. This is the legal obligation with which the 
 return deals. 
 
 It is quite unnecessary to say anything about 
 the insurance of the church, except in the case of 
 Rectors who are responsible for the chancel, and who 
 should make a return about the insurance of the 
 chancel. 
 
 With regard to residence I found it necessary 
 to ask particular questions in my Visitation paper, 
 and I have to call the attention of the Clergy to 
 those two points. 
 
 1. Residence does not mean being in the parish 
 on the Sunday only. A clergyman who is away 
 from his parish from Sunday to Saturda}^, though 
 he may take all the services himself every Sun- 
 day, is not legally in residence, and can be dealt 
 with. 
 
 2. An Incumbent who does not reside in his 
 glebe house (when there is one), . must have the 
 Bishop's licence and not only a verbal permission 
 for residing elsewhere. 
 
 I must also point out to you that the licence 
 has to be renewed from time to time. It is 
 only in force to the end of the year following that 
 one in which it is issued. 
 
 The returns show how much the Clergy have 
 suffered and are suffering from the diminution 
 of their income through the present agricultural 
 depression. The present value of the tithe rent 
 charge is just a fraction more than three-fourths
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, \'$>c)2. 23 
 
 of the commuted value. I am afraid it will fall 
 lower. On this diminished income there are 
 heavy charges. Neglecting altogether the pay- 
 ment of curates' stipends, the average amount 
 of the charges on the stipends of the Incumbents 
 is 21 per cent, on their income. Those Clergy 
 whose income is derived from tithe therefore 
 receive on an average a little more than one-half 
 and a little less than three-fifths of the amount of 
 tithe at the commuted value. 
 
 I have excluded the payments to assistant gt^'^nds 
 curates in the statement I have just made ; but I 
 have a word to say about those payments. Out of 
 ;^ 20,892 raised within the Diocese for the stipends 
 of assistant curates in 1891 ;^I3,359 was paid by 
 the Incumbents themselves. I earnestly commend 
 this statement to the laity of the Diocese. 
 
 If an assistant curate always meant some one 
 who was doing the Incumbent's work so as to 
 relieve the Incumbent from the performance of his 
 duties, then it might be only fair that the payment 
 of the curate's stipend should be provided out of 
 the income of the living. But the number of 
 assistant Clergy who are doing the work of Incum- 
 bents who are infirm or are in bad health, or are 
 obliged to be absent from their cures is but small. 
 The main body are employed in places where the 
 increase of work makes an increase of workers a 
 necessity. It is the Church's needs and not the 
 Incumbent's personal needs that require the pay- 
 ment of the greater part of this ;^i 3,359. And
 
 24 VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 
 
 the laity are equally responsible with the Clergy 
 for making provision to meet the Church's needs. 
 
 It is a painful matter to beg for oneself or 
 one's order. Many Clergy shrink from pressing 
 on their people this duty of supporting their 
 ministers, because it looks so like begging for 
 themselves. Laymen should recognise this feeling 
 on the part of the Clergy, as indeed they do in 
 some places, taking upon themselves the burden 
 of raising a fund for the payment of assistant 
 Clergy 
 Easter Offering . But I also think that the Clergy may sometimes 
 make it easier for the laity to help them than 
 they do. I am glad to see that Easter offerings 
 are still the custom in some places. I think the 
 custom might be extended. I do not suppose it 
 can be made universal. I am not pressing it as a 
 panacea in all cases. Perhaps it may only be 
 possible in a comparatively few cases. It will be 
 worth while setting it on foot in those cases. 
 
 There are places where some of the laity see 
 that there is a pecuniary strain upon their Clergy, 
 and would be glad to help them. But delicacy of 
 feeling prevents their offering a few pounds to a 
 clergyman for his personal wants. It is easy to 
 make such a gift to a fund, or through the offertory. 
 I strongly recommend that the Church's teaching 
 in her selection of the Offertory Sentences be made 
 a practical matter wherever it can possibly be done. 
 " The Lord hath ordained that they v,ho preach 
 the gospel should live of the gospel." " Let him
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 25 
 
 that is taught in the Word, minister unto him that 
 teacheth in all good things." 
 
 If there cannot be a regular collection of Easter 
 offerings, I recommend that the offertory on Easter 
 Sunday be devoted to the maintenance of the 
 Clergy. If the custom of a parish has devoted 
 the offertory on that day to some other object and 
 a change is unadvisable, then the offertory on the 
 I St Sunday after Easter, or on Whit Sunday, might 
 be devoted to the Clergy Fund. 
 
 As I have said, what I suggest may only prove 
 to be applicable in a comparatively small number 
 of cases. Still I make the suggestion because I 
 wish to put before the Diocese, and especially before 
 the laity, with all the authority that a Bishop can 
 claim, the duty of the laity to support and to sup- 
 port freely their Clergy. 
 
 I may here say that I wish the Diocesan Fund 
 for augmenting small livings could meet with more 
 support. If it were better supported we should be 
 able to obtain certain grants from Queen Anne's 
 Bounty or the Ecclesiastical Commissioners which 
 at present are lost to the Diocese. I find from 
 returns that — 
 
 There are 14 livings with gross annual value under ;^ioo. 
 
 , 103 >> ;> 55 ■>■, £'2-00. 
 
 a 277 5» jj ?5 jj Aj3'~'^' 
 
 You will have noticed, my brethren, that I have Candidates for 
 
 Ordination and 
 
 inserted among the questions usually asked, a yo""s Curates. 
 question about the training that may be given in 
 the case of a young or inexperienced curate. 
 
 I have read the answers to that question with
 
 26 VISITATIO.V CHARGE, 1892. 
 
 very great interest, and on the whole with thankful- 
 ness. 
 
 The question applies of course to but few cases, 
 but I wished beside having information in these 
 cases to call the attention of all to a very important 
 matter. 
 
 The question of the supply of candidates for 
 Holy Orders is in every way a most important and 
 a most anxious one. On the one hand there is the 
 continual cry for more men, on the other there is the 
 warning voice which we hear now^from one quarter 
 now from another, against the danger of an illiterate 
 Clergy. 
 
 Piety and zeal are great qualifications and neces- 
 sary qualifications, but they do not exhaust the list 
 of the qualifications of a minister of Christ. It is the 
 whole man, with all the capabilities that God has en- 
 dowed him wdth that is needed for the service of God. 
 It is not given to every man to be what we call a 
 learned man. Men may do very good work for God 
 and His Church who are not learned men ; but God 
 does work in spiritual things through what we call 
 the natural powers of the man, and the more fully 
 a man's natural powers are developed the better 
 work he is enabled to do for God. God does use 
 man's knowledge and man's power, and knowledge 
 and power have to be gained and developed in God's 
 ways — that is, through study and careful training. 
 Some amount of knowledge is absolutely necessary 
 for a clergyman wherever he may be placed. It may 
 safely be said that unless he has a good ground-
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, iS()2. 27 
 
 work of knowledge before he is ordained he will 
 never acquire it afterwards. I do not wish to speak 
 to you at length on the subject of training for the 
 Ministry, but I think it right and necessary to 
 say this much, that I consider it absolutely neces- 
 sary that a candidate for Holy Orders should have 
 studied well before admission to Holy Orders, and 
 should show that he has studied by being able to 
 pass certain examinations. 
 
 Some good people are of opinion that work as 
 a layman in some parish is the best preparation. 
 I do not think so. I think it generally a very bad 
 preparation. Opportunities for learning the details 
 of active work come in profusion after a man is 
 ordained ; opportunities for reading and acquiring 
 certain indispensable knowledge do not come. The 
 lay worker in a large parish, with many things to 
 see to, his time continually broken up into shreds 
 by the activities of the parish, cannot find the time 
 and the freshness of mind that he ought for his 
 studies. I am sometimes asked to make allowances 
 for such men and relieve them from some part 
 of their examination. I cannot do so. I know 
 that what I say seems hard to some. I see and 
 I feel what the imperious demands of a parish 
 are. I sympathise with the parish clergyman 
 whose soul groans under the burden, the terrible 
 burden of the parish with all its work, with its 
 many dreadful evils to the combatted, with its small 
 resources. Yet I must not think of that parish alone. 
 A Bishop is trustee for the whole Church. I may
 
 28 VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 
 
 admit a man to Holy Orders for the sake of that 
 parish, but I cannot bind him to that parish and to 
 the work which he is doing just at that time. I 
 ordain him and he goes forth presumably qualified 
 to undertake the whole charge of any parish any- 
 where. I see, therefore, that my duty is to require 
 in this case what I consider the Church requires. 
 
 But I turn to my question about the curates. 
 If the number of candidates for ordination is small, 
 the more reason in some wa}'s that we should take 
 •care that they are made as efficient as possible for 
 their work. It was of Deacons that I was thinking 
 principally in framing my question, but not only 
 of them — young priests often require help and 
 guidance and correction. 
 
 I know this is not always easy work. I know 
 that there are faults in young men. Indeed, my 
 brethren, as each one of us older ones thinks of his 
 own youth, of his own commencemicnt of work, 
 who will not say, what young man has not his 
 faults ? Well for us if we can conscientiously say 
 that the faults of youth have not been allowed, by 
 God's grace, to deepen into something worse. And 
 so while I would urge the younger Clergy to be 
 modest and submissive and lo}'al — never indeed 
 sacrificing principle, but ever ready to sacrifice self 
 with self's tasks and self's opinions, even in the 
 most sacred things, if it be needful for the work. 
 I venture to ask you, the older ones, to be to 
 them fathers in Christ, caring for them, guiding 
 them, admonishing them with the love which true
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 29 
 
 devotion to the ]\Iaster will inspire, and the power 
 that the example of a consistent holy life must 
 ever be. 
 
 And I would dwell on this point a little more 
 to speak particularly of the Deacons. As I have 
 implied, one of the most serious responsibilities of 
 a Bishop is the admission of men to Holy Orders, 
 and the responsibility of a Bishop does not cease 
 when a candidate is admitted to the Diaconate. A 
 Bishop has to consider the position of a Deacon as 
 a candidate for the Priesthood. A Deacon is still 
 in the Bishop's hands in a way that a Priest is not. 
 I think that too much is sometimes expected of the 
 Deacons. They are looked upon as trained and 
 skilled workmen, instead of what they are — appren- 
 tices. The Diaconate is a time of trial, and a time 
 of training, and as such it must be recognised by 
 the Clergy, who have the charge of a Deacon as a 
 curate. 
 
 A Deacon should have time for reading, and 
 when possible should be helped in his reading, at 
 any rate real interest should be shown in this 
 portion of his work. 
 
 I am thankful to see (though it is only what I 
 expected) that many of the Clergy do show this 
 interest in the Deacons that are working with them, 
 and that they instruct them in points connected 
 with those most important parts of their ministerial 
 work — visiting and teaching in the school. 
 
 I am also thankful to see that many Incum- 
 bents %\y!^ particular attention to the sermons of
 
 30 VISITATION' CHARGE, 1^92. 
 
 their young assistants. Certainly an Incumbent 
 should hear a Deacon preach, and catechize, and 
 teach in school, and offer criticisms and make 
 suggestions. ]\Iany a man would be cured of 
 some unhappy trick, or helped in some way or 
 another to a more effective use of his powers if 
 this were done. 
 
 I do not lay down at present any rule about a 
 Deacon's preaching, but I give it as my opinion 
 that a Deacon should not preach very often. Cer- 
 tainly he ought not to have to compose more than 
 one sermon or address each week. 
 
 It will be gathered from what I have said that 
 I feel some difficulty sometimes about licensing a 
 Deacon to a curacy where there are two Churches, 
 and where he is the only curate. In such a case a 
 Deacon may continually say the prayers and 
 preach without the Incumbent hearing him. Indeed, 
 there have been some cases which were nothing 
 less than serious scandals. In one case in this 
 Diocese a Deacon never received Holy Communion 
 V throughout the whole year in either of the churches 
 which he served. He went to a neighbouring 
 parish where there was an early celebration of 
 Holy Communion. In another case the Deacon 
 was unable to receive Holy Communion at all on 
 Easter Day. 
 
 I have therefore found it necessary to require 
 that where there are t\\"o churches to be ser\-ed 
 a Deacon shall not be by himself at every ser- 
 vice on the Sunday, and that he shall receive
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 31 
 
 Holy Communion regularly in one of those 
 churches.* 
 
 I may very well introduce here what I wish to ^'J?'??^.'''' 
 
 •' ^ Officiating. 
 
 say about strangers officiating in the Church. I 
 deeply regret that I have to warn my brethren 
 against allowing anyone to officiate who is not 
 known to them personally and approved by them, 
 or who is not recommended to them by some one 
 of sufficient weight and authority. Of course I do 
 not ask you to report to me, or to obtain my leave 
 for, the ministrations of persons whom you know? 
 when they assist you on the occasion of a visit to 
 you or to your parish. Yet when such a person 
 takes charge of your parish in your absence for 
 any length of time, I should be informed of it. 
 
 But I must charge you not to allow any stranger 
 who cannot show my written permission to officiate 
 in the Diocese for the current year, to take any jv 
 duty for you, until you have satisfied yourself by 
 application to the Archdeacon or to me that I do 
 not object to his doing so. I regret to say that I 
 have very strong reasons for this caution. 
 
 There is another point connected with this Preacher's Book. 
 matter, which though of comparatively small im- 
 portance I cannot pass over. I gather from some 
 of the answers that have been returned to me, that 
 
 ^ The Church certainly does not contemplate, in the Ordination 
 Service, a Deacon officiating by himself in Church. His office 
 is " to assist the Priest in Divine Service, and specially where he 
 ministereth the Holy Communion, and to help him in the distribu- 
 tion thereof, and to read holy Scriptures and Homilies in the 
 Church."
 
 32 VISITATION CHARGE, 1^0,2. 
 
 in some churches no Preacher's Book is kept as 
 directed by the Canons, or that, if kept, entries 
 are not regularly made in it. 
 Duties of This is a point that should be looked to by the 
 
 Churchwardens. 
 
 Churchwardens, and during the vacancy of a living 
 they should be particularly careful that a due 
 record is kept both of the preachers and of the 
 services held in the church. 
 
 I have been speaking mainly to the Clergy in 
 this Charge, but I have now turned to some others 
 whom it is my duty to think of These are those 
 who fill an ancient and honourable office in the 
 Church of England, the office of churchwardens, and 
 who in discharging the duties of that office, can 
 render great service (as many of them indeed do) to 
 the cause of the Church, the cause of true religion, 
 the cause of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. 
 The Churchwardens in the exercise of their eccle- 
 siastical duties, act as the officers of the Bishop. 
 They are part of an organised system, they hold 
 office in the great Society of the Church, and like 
 all officers in a society, while they seek the welfare 
 of the society in all that they do, they cannot act 
 independently, or as they happen to think things 
 ought to be, but according to law. And so in the 
 exercise of their duties they are subject to the 
 control and correction of the Bishop's Court. It is 
 for this reason that they are summoned to a 
 Bishop's Visitation. 
 
 I do not purpose now to enter into a detailed 
 examination of your powers and duties, but there
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 33 
 
 are one or two points which I wish to notice. 
 Before I do so bear with me if I make a very 
 strong appeal to you to be ever ready to take your 
 part in the administration of the business of the 
 Church, and furthering its cause in the numberless 
 little ways which lie open to everyone outside the 
 limit of strictly legal duty, ever looking behind 
 the mere business details to the great interests 
 which are at stake. 
 
 The duties of the office, especially when treated 
 in a hearty and liberal spirit, are no doubt at times 
 troublesome and wearisome. But no good work is 
 done without trouble. And no good work is done 
 without a man being patient with the faults of 
 others and being ready to give up at times some 
 things which he likes. And surely if we realise 
 what the Church is — the Church of Christ — the 
 Church of our Lord and Saviour, the Church which 
 He bought with His precious blood that He might, 
 in it and through it, work out the purposes of God 
 for us sinful men, then we shall not grudge the 
 trouble we may be put to in helping forward in 
 any way the work of the Church, and doing service 
 for so good and loving a Master, Who looks for that 
 service. 
 
 One point on which I wish to speak to you is Faculties. 
 the necessity of obtaining a faculty when the fabric 
 of the Church is touched, or any change is made 
 in its internal fittings or decorations. Ordinary 
 repairs of course require no faculty, and it would 
 be absurd to require one for the introduction of 
 
 C
 
 34 VISITATION CHARGE, 18,2. 
 
 some of the usual smaller articles of furniture ; but 
 there should be no great change nor alteration 
 made, and certainly no alteration of the building, 
 no alteration of doors or windows, no removal of 
 monuments, without first obtaining a faculty. In 
 some cases changes have been made without a 
 faculty, and some objector comes forward after- 
 wards and has a position and a power which he 
 would not have had if the changes had been legally 
 authorised as they probably would have been if 
 application had been made. In some cases very 
 serious and irreparable mischief has been done to 
 architectural and historical features in a church 
 which might have been prevented if a faculty had 
 been applied for. I am not one of those who think 
 that the use of a church must be made entirely sub- 
 servient to considerations of art and historical 
 interest, but I do think that those considerations 
 deserve the greatest possible respect in the treat- 
 ment of our buildings. We are trustees for the 
 future as well as possessors in the present, and the 
 story of the past as it is to be read in so many of 
 our buildings, is a thing of real value which is not 
 to be lightly sacrificed. 
 Parish Terriers You should also carcfully prescrvc the terrier 
 showing the property of the church which is in 
 your hands. And this terrier should be carefully 
 corrected from time to time. It is very important 
 that there should be such a list of the possessions 
 of the church of whatever kind they be. Without 
 it a new Incumbent is often left in hopeless igno-
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 35 
 
 ranee about matters, and I believe that the loss of 
 property has sometimes been the consequence, as 
 well as the loss of ornaments, furniture, and so 
 forth. 
 
 Another point is even more 'important. It is The duty of 
 
 - Churchwardea 
 
 not for you to interefere with the services of the ^° make Pre- 
 
 J sentments. 
 
 Church, nor to take the law into your own hands 
 in any way, but it is your duty to make a present- 
 ment when anything illegal is done, or when the 
 duties of the benefice are not properly or adequately 
 discharged (you heard what I said about residence), 
 or when there is any cause of scandal. Presenta- 
 tion of offences is part of your duty. You will of 
 course shut your ears to mere gossip, you will be 
 very careful before you make any complaint, for 
 you will act as discreet men. But still you must 
 remember that it does rest with you as represent- 
 ing the laity, to take care that the Church does not 
 suffer from open scandals. 
 
 The cases of bad living among the Clergy are 
 rare, thank God, but the evil consequences of such 
 cases are so terrible that the importance of dealing 
 with them in no degree depends upon their number. 
 When there is a scandal, people often complain of 
 the authorities of the Church for not " doing some- 
 thing." The authorities cannot know about mat- 
 ters unless information is given to them. And 
 if they are to act, it must be such information as 
 can be acted upon. A Bishop can only deal with 
 such cases in an orderly and legal way. Even a 
 transgressor has his legal rights, and they must be 
 
 C 2
 
 36 VISITATION CHARGE, i^()2. 
 
 respected. But the laity and the churchwardens 
 as the representatives of the laity, should not shrink 
 from doing their duty, however painful it may be, 
 in these sad cases. The responsibility of dealing 
 with a scandal, or of supinely permitting it to 
 continue to the disgrace of the Church and the 
 dishonour of our Lord, sometimes rests far more on 
 the laity than on the Bishop. 
 
 With regard to the questions on the present- 
 ment paper, which the churchwardens were re- 
 quested to answer, and which I understand some 
 have objected to, I must point out that the law 
 requires the Bishop to make enquiry, and that the 
 questions are the-customary ones which are issued 
 by the Chancellor of the Diocese, the Judge in 
 the Bishop's Court. The law requires the Bishop 
 to make such enquiries, and it requires the church- 
 wardens to answer the questions which are thus 
 formally addressed to them. 
 Trusts, Vicars J mav pass on hcrc to call the attention both of 
 
 and church- ^ ■•■ 
 
 wardens. Clergy and churchwardens to a mistake which is 
 
 sometimes made, which may be fruitful of mischief 
 some day. It is sometimes supposed that the Incum- 
 bent and churchwardens can become trustees with 
 perpetual succession for all ecclesiastical or paro- 
 chial purposes. They can for a certain purpose under 
 the Schools Sites Act, but they cannot be made so 
 for any other purpose by any deed. Lands or 
 buildings have been transferred to such trustees 
 with this consequence, that where the present In- 
 cumbent and churchwardens have not been legally
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 37 
 
 made trustees in the place of the former ones they 
 have no more legal right to deal with the property 
 than any other three individuals, when no new 
 trustees have been appointed. The property is 
 held by those individuals who happened to fill 
 those offices of Incumbent and churchwarden at 
 the time the trust was created ; or by the survivor, 
 or by the survivor's legal representative, and it 
 may happen in the last case that the holders of 
 the property are not Church people. You will 
 see at once how important a matter this is. I 
 advise you in cases where any property is held in 
 this way, to have the case looked into, and I ad- 
 vise your not creating any trust for Church or 
 parochial property without being very sure of what 
 you are about. 
 
 I think it may be well for you always to refer 
 such a matter to me that I may obtain the opinion 
 of the Chancellor of the Diocese. 
 
 The answers to the question I asked of the schools. 
 Clergy about the state of our schools under the 
 working of the new Act, are interesting, and on the 
 whole hopeful. The more serious difficulties are 
 felt, as I should have expected, in the towns. In 
 the country districts the schools are so far gainers 
 by the fee grant as to be encouraged to make an 
 effort to meet satisfactorily the increased require- 
 ments of the Education Department. But it will 
 be a fatal mistake if our friends imagine that sub- 
 scriptions are no longer needed, because parents 
 have no longer in most schools to pay any fee for
 
 o 
 
 8 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 
 
 their children. A certain amount of support must 
 be forthcoming, either from voluntary subscriptions 
 or the rates, for the maintenance of any school in 
 a place. A large sum is needed, over ;^ 1 1 ,000, to 
 put the buildings of Church schools throughout the 
 Diocese into proper condition. But it is not a sum 
 which is larger than we can very well raise with the 
 help of the generous grants we may hope to receive 
 from the National Society and the Society for Pro- 
 moting Christian Knowledge, and we shall raise it 
 if only we recognise the importance of our Church 
 schools. I made a strong appeal for our Diocesan 
 Boards in the course of the present year, and a fair 
 response was made to that appeal, enabling those 
 Boards to render timely and efficient assistance in a 
 good many cases. 
 
 But we need more help, and I again make a 
 strong appeal to the laity in the Diocese to enable 
 us to meet the present emergency. The loss of 
 our schools would be a disaster in itself, and a 
 serious blow to the life and self-respect of the 
 Church. 
 
 But while it is very important that we should 
 put our schools in good order, and that the general 
 teaching and the training in them should be as 
 good as they possibly can be, the matter of chief 
 importance with us is the maintenance of the 
 religious teaching and training. Without this a 
 Church school is a fraud. Its reason for existence 
 is taken away. It has ceased to be the power in 
 the religious life of the place which it should be, and
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, i^<^2. 39 
 
 it is not too much to say that it makes for irreligion 
 rather than religion. 
 
 I urge you then very strongly, my brethren, to 
 give great attention to your schools. It is often 
 wearisome work and disappointing work, and little 
 seems to come of it at times. But I verily believe 
 that there is no time which the parish priest spends 
 better in the course of his work than that which he 
 spends in his schools. It gives him a knowledge 
 and an influence which is not confined within the 
 walls of the schools. He knows his whole parish 
 the better as well as the children. He knows 
 human nature the better. He knows his Bible the 
 better, and realises more clearly many a difficulty, 
 and finds his way to its solution as he teaches the 
 children. He learns much constantly which helps 
 him in preparing his sermons, in visiting cases in his 
 parish, in dealing with himself before God. 
 
 Visit your schools regularly, enter with real 
 sympathy into all that is going on there, and teach 
 some of the children every week. Some say they 
 are no teachers, and that trained teachers can teach 
 better than they do. This may be true, but cannot 
 they train themselves to teach so as to be able to 
 satisfy the requirement in a minister of God, which 
 the Bible puts before us " apt to teach " ? 
 
 I think it is better not to take the religious 
 teaching of any class altogether out of the hands of 
 the school teachers, but a clergyman should take 
 some part in the religious teaching in the school. 
 
 A clergyman teaching in his school, if only a
 
 40 VISITATION CHARGE, \^^2. 
 
 few children at a time, is a power and an influence 
 in it, and so in the parish, which he cannot be 
 without it. 
 
 And let me also urge you to look well to 
 your teachers as well as the children. A little 
 more real sympathy with teachers might well be 
 shown in some cases. A young teacher in coming 
 to a school is in a difficult position. It is a position 
 of some isolation, mentally and socially. Of course 
 teachers are not perfect ; no one is ; but England 
 and the Church owe a great deal to the teachers in 
 our schools. We Clergy should show them all the 
 sympathy and afford them all the help we can, and 
 we should always be careful to respect rightful 
 independence, and to remember that we must deal 
 with them as fellow workers who have quite 
 rightly opinions and ways of their own, and not as 
 machines to execute just that which we decree. 
 PupU Teachers. And particularly do I urge the Clergy to see to 
 
 the pupil teachers. The statements that are made 
 about the preparation of those who enter training 
 colleges show a neglect of the religious teaching of 
 pupil teachers by the Clergy which is amazing and 
 disastrous. 
 
 There is no work more interesting in some 
 ways than helping those who as a rule are in- 
 telligent and desirous of learning. And the 
 influence which such intercourse may exert on 
 the whole character and tone of mind is very 
 important. It is a great thing for young people 
 to be brought under the rightful influence of one
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, i^^2. 41 
 
 whose whole standard of life, not only as to 
 knowledge, but as to moral aim and purpose, and 
 true refinement of character, is higher than what 
 they would perhaps naturally meet with. 
 
 We are losing a great opportunity if we do 
 not interest ourselves most deeply in the education 
 of our pupil teachers, understanding that word 
 education in its fullest and most perfect sense 
 as dealing with the whole being. 
 
 I said at the beginning that a Visitation must Conclusion, 
 be the cause of many anxious thoughts to the 
 Bishop. It must, I think, call up very solemn 
 thoughts in the minds of us all. In the Bishop 
 meeting the Clergy and laity in this formal way 
 we have the Church in its divinely appointed 
 organisation before us, and of necessity the work 
 that the Church is set in the world to do. We 
 are called to think of our work in all its details. 
 We are recalled from all our schemings and many 
 anxieties to think again why it is we work at all, 
 and Whose will and purpose, and Whose strength 
 lie behind all our organisations and our activities. 
 
 It is the Church of Christ, " My Church " as 
 He called it, of which we are members and which 
 we serve. It is Christ's Society, the Society set 
 on foot, ordered, endued with grace and power, 
 preserved by Him, to set forth in the world the 
 love of God for man as shown in Him, Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 And as we think of this now in this holy place, 
 as it is borne in upon us, gathered together here
 
 42 VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 
 
 solemnly in Christ's name as His body, by the 
 working of the Holy Spirit in that body, the 
 reality, the greatness of the Divine Society that 
 we belong to and serve, and of its purpose and 
 its work, is again borne in upon our minds, and 
 we shall surely go forth with renewed purposes 
 of dealing faithfully with our faults, our short- 
 comings, our fears, our idleness ; we shall go 
 forth, too, with renewed courage and revived 
 hopes, with strengthened patience, with more 
 true humility, with deepened love, with more 
 trustful faith. 
 
 I have spoken before of some of the conse- 
 quences which must follow our realisation of our 
 place in a society. I wish now to touch upon one 
 or two others. 
 Prayer Book. One concems pubHc worship. The truth that 
 
 we do not stand alone, and that our congregation 
 does not stand alone is one that we should keep 
 before our minds. As long as we are members 
 of a body we shall have in the public actions of the 
 body to submit ourselves to the voice of the body 
 as expressed in certain rules and regulations, I 
 am not maintaining the necessity of an absolute 
 uniformity in worship and in everything else. Such 
 uniformity is impossible, but it does not follow 
 that the only alternative is unrestrained indivi- 
 dualism. And we have to beware in these days of 
 a tendency in the latter direction. 
 
 The point on which I wish particularly to speak 
 with regard to this is our treatment of the Prayer
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, \%^2. 43 
 
 Book. There we have the orders for and arrange- 
 ments of pubHc worship which the Society which 
 we serve has set forth. We are not to start with 
 our own ideas of what services should be and take 
 the Prayer Book as a sort of guide book giving us 
 hints which we may find useful or not in working 
 out our idea. The Prayer Book sets before us what 
 we are to do. And so I urgre a careful and faithful 
 adherence to the Prayer Book. 
 
 Recent legislation has authorised certain altera- 
 tions of the services as they stand in our Prayer 
 Books. But let us keep within these limits. We 
 may think that some other changes would be bene- 
 ficial. We had better sacrifice our opinions so that 
 we may show true obedience. Not only do I believe 
 such obedience to be right, but I believe that in 
 spite of its being a little hard at times, and perhaps 
 seemingly a little useless, it is more likely to bring 
 about the results we desire than that fretful varia- 
 tion which some incline to. 
 
 And here I cannot but recall to you that rubric 
 or rather that direction at the commencement of 
 the Prayer Book about Morning and Evening 
 Prayer, in which the Church does lay upon us 
 Clergy a certain rule of life. The duty of reading 
 Morning and Evening Prayer does not in the eyes 
 of the Church depend upon there being a congre- 
 gation. We are to say them either privately or 
 openly, not being let by sickness or some other 
 urgent cause. 
 
 Another point in which the thought of the Relations with 
 
 our People.
 
 44 VISITATION CHARGE, 1^92. 
 
 Society to which we belong must constantly 
 influence our conduct is in our relations with our 
 people — nay, perhaps a tenderer word than Society 
 must come into our thought, the word " family," — 
 as members of the body of Christ we are the 
 family of God. 
 
 And this idea of union, of close union, of tender 
 union, which belongs to the word family, must 
 show itself not only in using the word in certain 
 Collects in the Prayer Book, but in our dealings 
 with our people every day. 
 
 We must know them, we must desire and seek, 
 and work for their highest good, we must bear with 
 them as every member of a family has to bear 
 with others in the family at times. 
 
 We must cultivate most friendly relations with 
 our people, and in doing so we must be very for- 
 bearing, forbearing not only w^ith individuals on 
 account of individual peculiarities, but with classes, 
 especially in times of excitement or of popular 
 movement. 
 
 We are living no doubt in anxious days. Every 
 age and time has its anxieties. Our time does not 
 differ from any other. But great questions which 
 must affect the work of the Church, by touching 
 its position, seem to be coming into prominence. 
 
 There is a great change working itself out in 
 the social conditions of life, in the position which 
 what are called the working classes are taking in 
 the body politic. 
 
 There are great questions connected with the
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 45 
 
 social life confronting us all. They are continually- 
 being discussed and will be discussed more and 
 more by all classes. I do not enter upon any of 
 these questions. It is not my purpose, but I say 
 this, that in this great seething of life, which there 
 is and will be, it must happen that things will be 
 said and done, opinions will be thrust forward 
 and passionately advocated which will demand 
 forbearance on our part and calmness of judgment 
 and great patience. We must not lose our heads. 
 
 I do not think it necessary that we Clergy 
 should all of us take up these questions. We had 
 better not do so unless we are really masters of 
 them. What we have to look to is that we do not 
 fail in a steady, quiet, hopeful persistence in our 
 duty. We must hold fast to the true conception 
 of our position and our responsibilities. 
 
 It is not self-assertion that will help us. It is 
 not an appeal to our historical position that will 
 win the day. That appeal has much in it which 
 speaks quite rightly to us, which helps us arid 
 animates us ; but it is the work of the present day 
 and the spirit in which it is being done by us, 
 which is the life and the power of the Church in 
 the present day. 
 
 We must know our people and cultivate visiting. 
 friendly relations with them. For this as well as 
 for other reasons pastoral visitation is of such 
 great importance. I have been taken to task 
 for not having included among my Visitation 
 questions some dealing very closely with this
 
 46 VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 
 
 subject If I have not asked the Clergy such 
 direct questions about their daily life, they will, 
 I think, understand my motive, and that it is not 
 because I do not attach great importance to a 
 clergyman visiting regularly and constantly, and 
 from house to house when he can in his parish. 
 A clergyman who does not visit regularly fails 
 in the discharge of his duties. A man who fails 
 in discharging the duties belonging to his position 
 should seriously think whether he has any right 
 to hold that position. 
 
 I know how great the strain Is very often in 
 keeping up the habit of visiting. It seems at 
 times that we do so little good, and it is so easy 
 to slip out of a work which, especially in a small 
 parish, does not require constant attention, which 
 may be done so well either this hour or that, either 
 to-day or to-morrow, or next week, a \\'ork which 
 we have very often deliberately to set ourselves. 
 
 But, my brethren, bear with me if with all 
 the authority that a Father in God can assert 
 I exhort you to be very careful not to excuse 
 yourselves from the regular and constant discharge 
 of this duty. 
 
 Friendly Inter- And it is not onlv visitincr of which I would 
 
 speak. Really treat your parishioners as fellow- 
 members of a family, treat them as friends. It is 
 a small matter I own, but I think it is not an 
 unimportant one — see if sometimes you cannot 
 entertain them as friends. I think that if we some- 
 times took our Lord's words about entertaining 
 
 course.
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 47 
 
 those who cannot be expected to invite us to 
 their houses in a very much more literal sense 
 than is often given to them, we should find the 
 blessing in our life amid our people and on our work. 
 It is sometimes said that there is a growing separa- 
 tion between Clergy and people. I do not think 
 this is true everywhere, though it may be true in 
 some parts. But if we are conscious of it, let us 
 ask ourselves very strictly whether it is all the 
 fault of our people, whether there is any lack of 
 sympathy or care on our part, and if we can 
 honestly say it is their fault then let us set our- 
 selves to overcome that fault in them, and win 
 them in spite of themselves. 
 
 I do not think people, certainly not English 
 people, will hold out long against a man who they 
 see tries to do his duty, and who respecting them 
 and respecting himself, meets them on friendly 
 terms. They may be prejudiced against him by 
 things that are said, by the talk that may prevail 
 for a time, and where there is this prejudice, it is 
 very hard to bear, and we are tempted to believe 
 it hopeless work to overcome it, but the patience 
 of goodness and kindness and good work will win 
 them, or at least the best of them, in God's time. 
 
 My brethren, I have read with the deepest in- Difficultly 
 
 1 . (. • work. 
 
 terest the answers you nave so many of you given 
 to my questions about your difficulties in your work. 
 Those answers in what they say, sometimes in 
 what they do not say, bring up vividly before me 
 the very varied difficulties, the hopes, the dis-
 
 48 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 
 
 appointments, the sore and bitter trials from 
 without, aye and within, that must, not infre- 
 quently, attend a clergyman's work and life. 
 
 Some of those answers, coming from men of so 
 much experience, men older and so much better 
 than myself, have touched me deeply. I read 
 them with a certain reverence and awe. Let me 
 say that such answers, if they do nothing else, 
 must bind the Diocese still closer to the Bishop's 
 heart, and move him to more humble thoughts of 
 himself, and more earnest prayer. 
 
 There is much indeed to be thankful to God for 
 in the answers you have returned to me. IMuch 
 that gives good ground for hopefulness ; but bear 
 with me if I say that I think I detect in some 
 answers traces of a disappointment which may issue 
 in a flagging in work. 
 
 Now to be disheartened in our work is not only 
 a very probable trial for us Clerg}', but a very 
 certain one. To take but one point, how dis- 
 heartening is that falling off of our young com- 
 municants which ever}' parish Clerg}^man feels, at 
 any rate at times, so acutely — or another, how 
 disheartening that struggle against intemperance 
 with all the temptations of the too frequent public- 
 house among our people. 
 
 These trials are sure to come, and it is these 
 and such difficulties belonging to the actual life % 
 about us that we have to deal with, and not 
 imaginary difficulties. Here it is that we so 
 earnestly have to ask God to give us the grace of
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1892. 49 
 
 a brave patience, here as the weij^ht of disappoiiit- 
 ment or of the sameness of our work and its 
 difficulties, or of the sense of lonehness, press 
 upon us, we have to say to ourselves this is the 
 weight of the cross which the Master lays upon 
 us, but which He will help us to bear if we place 
 ourselves at His side. 
 
 And about this disappointment which some- 
 times comes from the failure of some good scheme, 
 let me say this : while constant change in our 
 plans may be bad, yet some change is very often 
 necessary. You start some class or some other 
 good work which succeeds for a time. You have 
 perhaps a generation of young people with you 
 just then for a year or two who take to it. The 
 next generation does not take to it. Then drop 
 it ; try something else, and take it up again when 
 the opportunity recurs. But if \'ou drop it don't 
 talk of it as a failure. It did its work for a time 
 and for certain people. 
 
 So with classes for those who have been con- 
 firmed. I am rather surprised at the comparative 
 fewness of such classes in the Diocese. They are 
 of great value and should certainly be tried. But 
 it is not easy, it is not possible in all cases to keep 
 them on throughout the whole year. They may 
 have to be given up. Still try them. Don't 
 despise an opportunity because it is not a perpetual 
 opportunity, nor despise an opportunity because 
 only a few seem to be touched. It is very dis- 
 appointing sometimes to find the two or three 
 
 D
 
 sioiier. 
 
 50 i^lSITATIuN LuARS^, 1892. 
 
 where we had looked for a fair number. But don't 
 despise the two or three. Our Lord did not 
 think that hour in I lis busy h'fe wasted because 
 only Mary sat at His feet and heard His Word. 
 
 So I strongly urge the beginning of such classes 
 where possible after a confirmation, and the re- 
 newal of them at times for some special season like 
 Advent or Lent. What if you are only able to 
 continue them for a few weeks, cannot good seed 
 be sown in some hearts in those few weeks ? 
 Diocesan Mis- No doubt in somc parislics at times some 
 
 special effort to awaken the spiritual life is needed. 
 I am very thankful that through the munificence 
 of some friends we have now been able to secure 
 the services of a Diocesan Missioner, and have 
 founded a Diocesan Mission Society. There are 
 times in the history of some parishes when a 
 parochial mission well prepared for in the parish, 
 well conducted, well followed up by subsequent 
 work, does promote, by God's blessing, the spiritual 
 life of the parish. From the numerous applications 
 which have been already received by the Diocesan 
 Missioner it is quite clear that his appointment has 
 met a want which had been felt in the Diocese. I 
 commend his work to your sympathy and your 
 prayers. 
 
 For in whatever way (and there are many and 
 various ways in which it may be done) the real 
 religious life of the Diocese and of the Church at 
 large can be extended, strengthened, deepened, 
 .there we have before us the work for which the
 
 VISITATION CHARGE, 1S92. 51 
 
 Church of Christ — the great Society which we serve 
 — was constituted. To show forth in Christ, in Him 
 as He is, in Him deahng now with sinful men, that 
 He may cleanse them from sin and make them meet 
 for the inheritance of the saints in light, to show 
 forth to man in Christ the love of God for man, this 
 is the Church's high office and wondrous honour. 
 In the careful, loving, faithful performance of this 
 work she ensures the protecting care of God. 
 
 Whatever worldly calamities befall her, what- 
 ever external changes pass over her, she will live in 
 the world to do God's work, and to be honoured by 
 Him, if only she guards and treasures, and as far as 
 in her lies, maintains the Divine life with which she 
 is endowed. 
 
 The grace of God — there — we know it well, there 
 is the secret of life and of power for ourselves and 
 for all our work. It is, my brethren, as we our- 
 selves live with God that we are either in His hands 
 the salt of the earth, or are salt without savour fit 
 only to be cast forth to the disgrace of a hopeless 
 corruption. And as we think of this the words 
 ring in our ears — 
 
 " Keep thy heart with all diligence." 
 "Take heed to thyself and thy teaching." 
 " Stir into flame the gift of God that is in thee by 
 the laying on of hands." 
 In the personal religion of the clergyman is the 
 secret of his work. 
 
 Brethren, I pray God that in His mercy He will 
 grant us grace never to fail in our service of Him.
 
 OBITUARY. 
 
 Between 24TH June, 1890, and ist October, 1892. 
 
 Baillie, J., D.D. ... 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Wyvenhoe, 
 
 Bennett, G. P. 
 
 . . Vicar . . 
 
 . Kelvedon. 
 
 Berkele)', G. C. 
 
 .. Vicar .. 
 
 . Southminster. 
 
 Brown, S. C. 
 
 . . Vicar . 
 
 Great Clacton. 
 
 Bull, H. D. E. 
 
 Rector . 
 
 . Borley. 
 
 Burmester, G. 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Little Oakley. 
 
 Buttanshaw, II. 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Caldecote. 
 
 Calvert, A 
 
 .. Rector , 
 
 . Moreton. 
 
 Cochrane, T. 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Stapleford Abbots 
 
 Dalton, S. N. 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Foulness. 
 
 Dansday, J. H. 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Kelshall. 
 
 13ay, H. J 
 
 .. V'icar . 
 
 . Cheshunt. 
 
 Donaldson, J. C. .., 
 
 .. Curate . 
 
 . Harold Wood. 
 
 Fenn, P 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Wrabness. 
 
 Ferguson, T. P. 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Shenfield. 
 
 Fort, R 
 
 . . Vicar . 
 
 . Coopersale. 
 
 Foster, J. 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Foxearth. 
 
 Fothergill, P. II. ... 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . South Fambridge. 
 
 Fowler, J. T. 
 
 Rector . 
 
 . East Hanningfield 
 
 Gaselee, J 
 
 ... Rector . 
 
 . Little Veldham. 
 
 Grey, F. T. ... Rector 
 
 and Vicar . 
 
 .. Wendens Ambo. 
 
 Guy, F. B., D.D. ... 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Great Leghs. 
 
 Harris, J. H. B. ... 
 
 .. Rector . 
 
 . Runwell. 
 
 Hill, R. H 
 
 Rector . 
 
 . . .Stanway. 
 
 Johnson, H. C. 
 
 .. Curate . 
 
 . Berkhampstead. 
 
 King, W. (Hon. Canon) 
 
 Rector . 
 
 . Leigh. 
 
 Mason, A. W. (Hon. Cano 
 
 n) - 
 
 —
 
 54 
 
 OBITUARY. 
 
 
 Newcome, E. W, .. 
 
 Vicar 
 
 Leavesdcn. 
 
 Nicholls, G. ... 
 
 — 
 
 Chaplain-District Schools, 
 Leavesden. 
 
 Pardee, J. ... 
 
 ... Rector ... 
 
 Graveley. 
 
 Tarkcr, W. R. 
 
 ... Rector ... 
 
 ^^'illingale Spain. 
 
 Parry, T 
 
 ... Vicar ... 
 
 Walthamstow. 
 
 Perry, R. E. 
 
 ... Rector ... 
 
 Aldham. 
 
 Perry, T. W. (lion. 
 
 Canon) Vicar ... 
 
 Ardleigh. 
 
 Skrimshire, II. 
 
 ... Curate ... 
 
 St. Andrew, Plaistow. 
 
 Thackeray, T, 
 
 Vicar 
 
 Shopland. 
 
 Thompson, J. 
 
 ... Rector ... 
 
 Fyfield. 
 
 Toke, R. R. 
 
 Rector .. 
 
 Barnston. 
 
 Tufnell. G. C. 
 
 ... Rector .. 
 
 Little Easton. 
 
 Tufnell, T. P. 
 
 ... Vicar .. 
 
 Wormingford. 
 
 Tugwell, F 
 
 ... Vicar .. 
 
 Havering-atte-Bower. 
 
 Wake, 11. A. 
 
 ... Rector .. 
 
 Netteswell. 
 
 Wetherall, IT. R. . 
 
 ... Vicar ... 
 
 Standon. 
 
 Wright, II. E. 
 
 ... Rector .. 
 
 Vange. 
 
 Wyld, F. A. Alban 
 
 ... Rector .. 
 
 . St. Andrew, Romford. 
 
 W>nne, E. B. P. . 
 
 ... Rector .. 
 
 . South Shoebury. 
 
 ilar) ison atid Sons, Priners in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St. Martin's Ln7ie.