«:^^K« ^eS ^■^^'^ 5:S i^r -i^ ^€-' s.~ «ts; -•^:i ;'■ •■ - ""*' ¥' •"sfi^w^ •-r-yl .-^^^ ^ l^^:^ -^^■■-M '^ i^-"'' f3<-'-' ' ^4di *cr -^jy .5^\_itJt«coquii buo I hardly apprehend that I shall be misunder- stood in what I have said, as though I either under- valued the importance of outward order, or were careless as to the rules by the due observance of which it is to be maintained, or were indisposed to the discussion of any questions which may arise respecting these, when it may seem expedient to consider them. I have now administered the affairs of this Diocese during eight years ; and whatever may have been my faihngs and shortcomings (and that these have been many and great I assure you I am deeply conscious), I am content in these respects, at least, to refer you to the experience you have had in past intercourse with me ; and to abide by the judgment which very ,jn^y ^WQi^g you have had opportunity to form. , n-n-rrrn-> n>fnl But if I should be unwilling, in any case, to enter upon a general discussion from which I could not hope that practical good would result, while it might give fresh occasion for controversial disputation, so am I thankful to say that I am not aware of any thing in the state of my Diocese which makes it necessary for me to follow a course to which my feelings and my judgment are ahke opposed. Often when harassed in mind with re- flections upon the condition and prospects of the Church, suggested by the bitterness of newspaper controversies, or by acts of individual indiscretion, or by the expression in one or another quarter of hasty or unwise opinion, I turn to my own Diocese, and look around me and enquire, " Where are the signs of this universal agitation and unsettlement of men's minds of which we hear so much ? where are the evidences of the weakened influence and impaired usefulness of the Church?" And then I say, " I will not judge of these things from the malignant misrepresentations of those who, whether members of the Church or not, do not love it, or from the alarmed apprehensions which disturb the judgments of some whose hearts are 13 rightly fixed ; but I will judge from that which I see and know, and am competent to form an opinion about. And if this presents to me the signs of improvement in all those respects in which inward life would outwardly develop itself, I will take courage, and be of good hope ; and if there be troubles, I will trust that through these, too, God in his providence will bring his Church, and perhaps will even purify and strengthen it by them." And in saying this, I am far from meaning that there is any especial difference between the state of my Diocese and that of others. On the contrary, I believe that the general aspect of the Church would justify the same conclusion ; and that if they who are apprehensive and alarmed, instead of drawing their ideas from such sources as I have referred to, would carefully enquire into the state of things around them in their own neighbourhood, and exercise a calm and impartial judgment upon the information they would thus obtain, many a disquieted mind would be comforted, and many a faithful but anxious spirit cheered. For myself, at least, while I see many deep- seated corruptions to mourn over, many weaknesses and imperfections which we must desire, rather than hope, to remove, many technical difficulties which may be magnified by scrupulosity into serious evils, and some grave, practical embarrassments and anomalies which w^e must, perhaps, under existing circumstances, be content, at least for a time, to m bear with, — I am yet bold to say, that in those; respects which are the present subjects of ap- prehension, I have good hope and confidence fort the Church, I have good hope, because I beheve that the members of the Church, and its ministers especially, will be true to it, and to that heavenly- Master who is its one supreme Head. I believe^ that they will not fail thankfully to remember what they have received, and what it is their bounden duty to preserve. They will recollect that, as members and ministers of the Church, they have received, as a deposit, the one Catho- lic faith, that faith which was once delivered to the saints, fully revealed in the holy Scriptures, the sole depository of all saving truth, and em^ bodied and set forth in the Creeds, the sure bulwarks against heretical innovation. They will recollect, that when this truth was obscured by corrupt additions, and overlaid with an excess of ceremonial observances, it was again, by God's good providence, brought forth fresh from the unsullied source of the revealed word, and disentangled from the perplexities in which it had been involved by the sophistries of men. Knowing this, they will be thankful for that Reformation to which they are indebted for this blessing, and will neither themselves speak disparagingly of it, nor sanction the use of such language in others. They will distinguish between the imperfections and faults of the instruments, and the effects wrought through 15 them by the providence of God ; and they will not undervalue the Reformation itself on account of the vices of sovereigns, or the rapacity of courtiers, or even the faults which may be noted in those of our own order, whom we may most wish had been free from all blemishes, knowing how much of evil is blended in all things done by the instru- mentality of men, and that it is the work of God to bring out good from mixed materials, and by erring instruments. They will, therefore, thankfully acknowledge that we are indebted to the Reformation for the clear declaration, when it was much needed, that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the one sole Mediator between God and man ; that his merits, and not our own works and deservings, are the only ground on which we can be accounted righte- ous before God ; and that lively faith is the ap- pointed means by which we are to appropriate to ourselves this justification. do iBmam9ie>'> They will recognize, as the fruit of the same Reformation, the establishment of the supremacy of the Word of God, and its free dissemination ; the vindication of their due honour to the Sacra- ments of our Lord, as the two only outward signs ordained by Him as means of inward and spiritual grace ; and the restoration to the laity, in its in- tegrity and purity, of that one which had been maimed and corrupted by the Church of Rome. They will count it good that the national inde- 16 pendence of the Church was successfully asserted ; that the use of a reformed Liturgy was secured to us in our native tongue ; and that the Clergy were restored to that Christian liberty in respect of the holy estate of matrimony, the undue and enforced restraint of which had been the source of great evils. And, lastly, they will remember that the Articles of our Church are the appointed safeguard to us of these and other blessings, and that any attempt to tamper with the plain meaning of these formularies, or w^ith the good faith in which they are subscribed, is alike to be condemned as dis- honest, and dreaded as dangerous. In speaking on this subject somewhat more than three years ago, in a Charge to the candidates at my Ordination, I laid down the rule that subscrip- tion to the Articles is to be made in the sense in- tended by the Church, w^hich is the party imposing the obligation, quoting the words of Waterland : " The Church requires subscription to her own interpretation of Scripture ; so the subscriber is bound, in virtue of his subscription, to that, and that only ;" and having made some remarks on the method of ascertaining what this sense is, I concluded by saying, "We are not at liberty to evade it by nice and subtle distinctions, or to ex- plain it away ; but are bound to receive and sub- scribe it in the sense which we believe to have been intended by the Church." I do not, on re- consideration, see any occasion to alter any thing 17 I then said. Nor would it appear needful to me, in the ahstract, to add any thing to it. But the extraordinary views on this subject which have of late been propounded with so much confidence in some quarters, seem to make it not unsuitable to say, that while I do not doubt that the parties who maintain such opinions think that they are jus- tified in conscience in doing so, the adoption of such a theory is a moral phenomenon which I am unable to comprehend, and that the views them- selves justly deserve the most distinct and unqua- lified condemnation. Slightly as I have touched these general topics, I have spoken rather more about them than I intended to do when I begun ; and I will not any longer occupy your attention with them ; for the thing really to be desired is for every man, as far as possible, to turn from general controversies to his own practical duties. By how much more there are storms abroad, by so much let each of us engage himself with all diligence in the immediate business of his own appointed sphere of action — I in my office, you in yours. It will not, I believe, be given to any man to do much towards the paci- fication of the Church by public discussion ; but every man, w^ho will give himself heartily to the quiet and earnest discharge of the w^ork imme- diately before him, will do much within the limits of this, and something too, perhaps, how much he B 18 cannot say, by a diffusive influence through a wider sphere. I will now, dismissing more general topics, make some practical remarks, with reference to my own Diocese, on the subjects which the particular in- quiries I have made suggest. I trust that I may believe that these indicate, on the whole, a steady progress of improvement, and of that kind which it has always been my aim to promote, that, namely, which shows itself in an increased attention on the part of the Clergy to the duties of their sacred calling, and a fuller provision for the spiritual wants of the people ; and this effected with calm- ness and consideration, without excitement or ex- travagance. Of course, in proportion as we approach to a satisfactory standard, each successive triennial period will give less room for alteration ; and in some respects I have less to note now than on former occasions. But still, comparing my present returns with those of my last visitation, I find a change for the better in many respects. For instance, there is an increase of duty on the Lord's- day by an additional service in sixty-two parishes : and, again, instruction from the pulpit is given at both services in fifty -seven instances, in which this was not the case three years ago. There is a dimi- nution of the number of places in which the Holy Communion is administered only four times a year, 19 as well as of those in which there is not any service on such days as Ascension-day, and the principal days of observance in the season of Lent. There is also a large increase in the number of places in which the Sacrament of Baptism is ad- ministered in the presence of the congregation. This is now stated to be done in nearly two-thirds of the parishes of the diocese, being an increase of fifty-seven in the course of the last three years. You are aware that I have always recommended this practice where circumstances would allow it to be adopted, as tending to a more correct estimate and reverential observance of the Sacrament of Baptism, and of all the duties connected with it. It can hardly be doubted that very low and careless views respecting this Sacrament have prevailed extensively among the people ; and, under these circumstances, some further occasion of misappre- hension has been given by the existing law for the civil registration of births. There is a tendency among the careless and ignorant to confound this secular enactment with the rule of the Church respecting the baptism of children. And I am afraid that this tendency is in some cases encou- raged by a practice among those who administer this law of pressing for a name to be given to children who are registered before baptism, and who, therefore, as being unbaptized, have not as yet any Christian name. You will, therefore, do well in such cases to explain that the Christian b2 20 name is that which is given when the child is born anew in Christ, and that the law does not re- quire the assignment of any name to unbaptized children, though it allows of it, if the parents please. But while I thus consider the public celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism highly desirable, (and the testimony of very many among yourselves who have adopted it abundantly confirms me in this belief,) I would not recommend that it should be enforced in all parishes as an universal rule with- out consideration of circumstances. In several instances satisfactory reasons have been assigned for following a different course ; and generally, in places where the population is very large, a modifi- cation of the strict rule appears desirable, by which the congregation is reminded from time to time, at stated periods, of the nature and character of this Sacrament by its celebration during the time of Divine Service on the Lord's-day ; and the danger of the office becoming wearisome by a too constant repetition is avoided. From the baptism of our children it is natural to pass on to that which engages the anxious atten- tion and continuous care of the parish priest who truly feels his responsibilities, and rightly under- stands how these are to be in any measure effec- tually discharged — I mean the endeavour to train up in Christian faith and holiness those children who in baptism are made members of Christ and 2t children of God, and as such are committed to the oversight and charge of his ministers. The more I consider the whole subject of the education of the poorer classes in this country, the more I see the difficulties which encompass it, inasmuch as we have not only to contend against the obstacles arising from the original corruption and indwelling sinfulness of our fallen nature, but also against those occasioned by existing evils in our social state, which are beyond our control — the deep poverty of the labouring class in our agricultural villages, which incapacitates them from providing for the education of their own children, and the unhappy religious differences which, by separating large bodies of people from the commu- nion of the Church, make it impossible for the State to establish, at the public expense, any sa- tisfactory system of combined education. I say " impossible," because I presume that the result of the attempt which was made two years ago to effect this object, as regards the manufacturing districts, has convinced most persons that no such endeavour is likely to be successful. The scheme in question was honestly intended ; it was carefully and consi- derately framed ; and it was as little open to objec- tion as any scheme can be, which attempts to unite in the same system of religious education two things, whichare in theirown nature irreconcileable, namely, free scope for the exposition of the truth as the Church must require it for her members, and satis- 22 factory security for the religious scruples of those who are unhappily separated from her communion, and reject her teaching. This, however, of good resulted from the attempt, that the real bearing of the question became better known ; a prejudice which existed in many quarters, that it was the Church which alone hindered, by needless objec- tions, a combined system of education, was exten- sively removed ; the necessity was more clearly shown for increased efforts of individual benevo- lence ; and the hearts of the members of the Church were stirred to strengthen the hands of the National Society for the Education of the Poor by an amount of pecuniary aid, which, though incon- siderable if compared either with the means of those from whom it was derived, or the necessity which it was designed to relieve, was nevertheless large in comparison with the ordinary measure of similar contributions, and has been productive of the greatest good in those districts for which it was specially designed. Our agricultural parishes have, however, derived from this source only an indirect and comparatively slight advantage. But I hope that, independent of this, some improvement has been made, and still is in progress, and that the foundations of its more extensive development are being laid. Especially, I regard with the greatest satisfaction, as a means of this, the permanent establishment of our training-school for mistresses by the purchase 23 of the lease of very commodious premises in the Close at Salisbury. And having now had a four years' experience of the working of this institution, I may say, that there is no single thing, since my connexion wdth this Diocese, which I look back upon with more satisfaction, than the having been in any degree instrumental in its establishment. I confidently hope that we are training up in it, under the judicious care of the excellent mistress, who has from the first conducted it, and the in- defatigable superintendence of the Secretary of our Board of Education, a class of mistresses in some measure at least quaUfied morally and intellectually for the difficult task of educating the young ; and herein especially, that they are taught that the work of instruction is not a mere hireling's task, but a Christian calling — a ministration in the Church of Christ, which, though a subordinate one, yet lays the foundation upon which the super- structure of faith and godly obedience is to be built. And I beseech you, my brethren, to look in this light upon the office of those who under you have the care of the Uttle ones of your flocks. Encourage them to feel that they are associated with you in a common work. Uphold their right- ful influence and authority, and they will the more readily strengthen yours. Teach them to place confidence in you, that so you may assist their judgments, and supply their deficiencies. Of those who have been regularly trained as pupils in our 24 training-school, twenty-six have been sent out to situations, and our accounts of nearly the whole of these are extremely satisfactory. Two more are appointed to schools, and are on the point of taking charge of them ; and there have been on an average during the last six months, twenty-eight pupils in the school. The above are in addition to those who have been received for shorter periods, as being either already mistresses of existing schools, or appointed to schools about to be established. Of this class of pupils we have had twenty, who we hope have profited by the instruction they have received, limited as this has necessarily been. Let me, however, take this opportunity of point- ing out how the successful working both of our training-school, and of the Diocesan Board of Education generally, must depend in great mea- sure upon the interest which is felt in these institu- tions throughout the Diocese, and the assistance which is given from all quarters. In the first place, as regards the supply of pupils, it is very much to be desired, that the Local Boards, the Clergy, and other members of the Church who are interested in the promotion of education, would ake any opportunity that may offer of facilitating the introduction of pupils to the school. And this not so much with reference to the advantage of the individuals (though of course this consideration need not be excluded) , as with a view to their qua- hfications for the office of teacher. It sometimes 25 happens, that those who from ill-health or any physical defect are unsuited for other pursuits, are led to turn their attention to tuition. And, no doubt, there are some cases in which persons in- capable of filhng other offices may be qualified for this. But it is of great importance to bear in mind, that short of positive sickness or infirmity, against which the medical certificates ought to be a more effectual safeguard than they have alw^ays proved, any state of health which indisposes to active exer- tion, or tends to dejection, or want of cheerful spirits and energy, incapacitates for a calling in which, perhaps more than in any other, that con- stant elasticity of the mind is required, without which the work of instruction will become a me- chanical routine. It is, therefore, of much im- portance that the physical temperament of those who are proposed as pupils be suitable ; as w^ell as that they should have, together wdth those religious principles that are the foundation of all that is good, and that degree of intellectual qualification and attainment which is required, the moral quali- ties of good temper, and love of order, and patient and quiet energy of character. Again, it is on the keeping up of local interest that we must rely for the necessary funds for the maintenance of the training-school, as w^ell as for the purposes of assisting local efforts in the erec- tion of schools, and in promoting their improve- ment in various modes, which we would i»;ladlv 26 adopt, did our means allow. I am sorry to say that the amount of the annual subscriptions to the Board of Education is not sufficient to enable the Committee to entertain any more applications for assistance, or to consider the desirableness of any other plans for the improvement of schools. I cannot, however, but hope, that as the practical usefulness of the efforts of the Board becomes more manifest, many of the laity especially will take more interest in its proceedings, and will evince this by a more general and liberal support than has hitherto been afforded to it. As regards the inspection of schools, you are aware how anxious I have been for the establish- ment of some general system which might give to all our schools the advantage of regular inspection on a satisfactory footing ; and how much disap- pointment I have felt at the failure of all the efforts I have made for this purpose. In consequence of this, and in compliance with a wish which has been expressed to me from various quarters, I have now turned my attention to the establishment of a system of local inspection, by the appointment of one or more inspectors for each educational dis- trict. The result of the enquiries which have been made on this subject by the Committee expressly appointed for this purpose, at the annual meeting of the Diocesan Board, encourages me to believe, that the work of inspection may be conducted on this plan, so as to be productive of much good. 27 and that such a mode of effecting this object would perhaps be more generally satisfactory than any other. But, after all, no system of inspection from without can supply the place of the constant superintendence and inspection of the Clergyman in his own parish school ; and where this is indeed regular and effective, all other inspection is of little moment. And for this, at least, the character of the great majority of the parishes of this Diocese gives much facility, if in some other respects it is little favourable to the establishment of good schools. In proportion as parishes are of small population, it will result both that the size of the school will allow the influence of the master or mistress to be brought to bear immediately upon each individual child to a much greater extent than in large schools, and also that the Clergyman will be at liberty to devote more attention to his school than is sometimes possible, amidst the perplexing multiplicity of demands upon his time, which overwhelm the Incumbent of a populous parish. And I doubt whether these two advantages ought not more than to compensate for all the deficiencies which commonly have to be put in the balance against them, at least, in respect of that moral and religious training which is the most important part of education. Great as is the interest I take (as indeed it is my bounden duty to do) in the improvement of our 2S schools, I am so conscious of my imperfect acquaint- ance with the practical details of education, that I have been very glad to be able, on some of the points on which I wish to observe, to confirm my own opinion by the far better authority of Mr. Allen, who, under the direction of the Committee of Privy Council, has inspected, in a portion of this Diocese, the schools which have been aided by the Parliamentaiy Grant, and has also done so more extensively in the neighbouring Diocese of Winchester. He says in his report for 1844, " In a widely-scattered and populous cure, the Clergy- man has not the leisure to undertake the school- master's office ; but in small parishes in the country, perhaps there are no means by which a pastor will more effectually influence his entire flock than by spending a considerable portion of time in his school, not as a superintendent merely, but a teacher. The instruction there given will be repeated in many ways at home, and the mental associations, formed by such intercourse in the case of the younger and more hopeful of those placed under his care, cannot but prove fruitful of good." Again, in his report for this year, he says, " My experience would lead me to make the statement, ' As are the pains bestowed therein by the Clergyman, so is the school.' " And it is plain from the general tenor of Mr. Allen's reports, as well as from some particular instances which he quotes, that in addition to the security which is 29 given against negligence and abuses of all kinds, by the habitual presence of the Clergyman, he looks also for the especial advantage of his immediate superintendence of the religious instruction ; and, indeed, as regards the elder pupils, that it may be given in great measure by himself. I suppose all serious observers will agree, that the amount of moral and religious influence exer- cised by our national schools, bears no due pro- portion to the measure of what is called religious instruction ; and that we see exemplified in them to a considerable extent that which is the most melan- choly of all things, the union of a very considerable acquaintance with the language, the facts, and doc- trines of Scripture, with a great deficiency in those fruits which it is the only real end of all education to produce. It would be in vain to hope altogether to do away with the grounds for such a remark. But whatever assists in substituting, in all instruc- tion that has any bearing upon religion, a practical character for dead mechanical forms, whatever gives a greater prominence to moral teaching, of a kind relating directly to the duties of children, tends immediately to such a result. And I cannot therefore but greatly desire, that, with a view to this, the religious instruction in all our schools should.be given, at least in some measure, by the Clergyman himself ; and that it should at all events be altogether taken out of the hands of monitors and pupil teachers, who, as a class, are clearly not 30 fitted to be trusted in this department, however useful their assistance may be in large schools, in the more elementary and mechanical parts of in- struction. Another point in which I am glad to see that Mr. Allen's authority confirms my own judgment, is that of the inexpediency of the use, as forms, of all broken catechisms, or explanations of the Catechism. He says, "I am unwilling to load their memories with any other catechism than that of the Church of England. The broken cate- chism, which might be useful if the questions were printed without the answers, should, in my judg- ment, be banished from our schools." He does not mean by this, that good works of this kind are not very useful, as helps to the teacher, showing him how to adapt and vary his questions, so as to call forth the intelligence of the learner on the subject of the lesson ; but that it is this, which is their use, and not that of being themselves learnt, as forms ; in which case they become mere forms, no better understood than that which they are intended to illustrate, and also are very apt to drive out or confuse the recollection of the precise words of the Catechism itself, which it is very desirable to retain accurately, as a form, in the explanation and illustration of which, all fuller knowledge on the subject may be employed. Another point of much importance to be at- tended to is the manner in which the devotional exercises are conducted in the school, and the 31 attention which is paid to the behaviour of the children at church. In the absence of the Clergy- man, the prayers ought always to be read by the master or mistress of the school ; and pains should be taken to avoid all appearance of haste or care- lessness in the performance of this exercise. If the Clergyman be present, he should himself do this office : and it would be well if he were to make a point of being present occasionally at the opening or closing of the school, with this express object. There are cases, in which the school being in the immediate vicinity of the Clergyman's house, he makes a regular practice of doing so every morn- ing. An excellent custom ; but one, of course, only practicable under such circumstances. But a greater influence is probably exerted upon the religious character of children by the beha- viour to which they are habituated at church than even by their devotions in the school-room. It is needless to point out how^ very great room there is for improvement in this respect ; and how im- portant an influence it would have in the formation of the whole religious character of the nation, if we could imbue the minds of the children in our schools with a due reverence for the house of God and his services ; and implant such feelings in their hearts as would develop themselves into an habi- tual devoutness in the house of prayer. I suppose few religious parents among the highly-educated classes have not considered with some doubt and 32 perplexity the question of the age at which it is desirahle to begin to take their children to church, and the degree in which it is fitting to aim at an intelligent attention to the service. The answer to these questions ought probably to vary considerably according to the individual character of children. But in our schools general rules must take the place of consideration for individuals ; and in ex- pressing my own apprehension that the children of our Sunday-schools are commonly taken to church at a more tender age than is desirable, considering the great length of the service, I am aware that I am pointing out an evil for which it is very diffi- cult to find a remedy. I have myself often wished that the circumstances of our Church were such as to allow, at least in our great towns, that the younger children should be collected to a shorter service apart from the general congregation, at which some brief instruction should be given them suitable to their tender years ; and that those only should be taken to church who were of an age to understand the service, and might be expected to attend to it. But whatever be the age at which children are taken to church, it is clearly most important that all temptations and opportunities to misconduct should be, as much as possible, removed, and every facility given for the formation of habits of attention and devotion. If children are crowded on inconvenient benches, with no room or provi- 33 sion for kneeling in an orderly manner ; or if, as I have sometimes seen, they are allowed or even required to sit during the whole service, because it is considered that in that attitude they are more easily seen and kept in order, how is it to be ex- pected that they should ever learn the idea that they are part of a congregation engaged in the worship of Almighty God? I know few things more deserving the attention of a Clergyman than to endeavour to obtain in his church good and convenient space and accommodation for the children of his school ; and such an arrangement of benches and means of kneeling, as may best conduce to form a habit of that only fitting atti- tude in prayer, in the use of which our congrega- tions in general are so sadly deficient, and the neglect of which so greatly tends to carelessness and irreverence in prayer itself. But whatever may be the pains taken in our schools, and should they even become, as regards teachers and means of instruction, all that we could desire, we must still sorrowfully confess that the education they can impart will be sadly defective. What should we say ourselves, if we were told that the education of our own children must terminate at eight, nine, or even ten years of age ? You all agree in stating that this is as late as boys can be retained at school in our agricultural parishes, though girls may perhaps remain a year or two later. It is useless to lament this, however much c 34 we may regret the pressure of that poverty which is its cause. It is useless to strive against it, or to blame parents for it, as if they were indifferent to the education of their children, because they are constrained by urgent necessity to avail themselves of whatever trifling assistance even little hands can give in providing a scanty supply for their bodily wants. Such a state of things, however, seems to sug- gest the duty of more carefully considering in what manner any influence can be retained over children after they have left our daily schools, and how any further process of education can be carried on. I am not ignorant of the great difficulty of doing this : and I am free to confess, that I have very little confidence in any personal experience of my own on this subject, or in any direct observations I have had the opportunity of making. I was, therefore, the more anxious to invite you, by the questions I addressed to you, to a free communica- tion of the results of your experience, or of the opinions you have formed, in the hope that by analysing and comparing these, I might be enabled to arrive at a sounder judgment, and to make the experience of some of you useful to others, who might not otherwise have access to it. And I take this opportunity of thanking those among you (and they are many) who have either given me the de- tails of their own experience, or have expressed to me their views on any subjects connected with their 35 ministerial duties, to which they wished to direct my attention more fully than by brief answers to the actual questions I put. I greatly wish that the circumstances of my position allowed me to have more frequent and familiar intercourse with the Clergy of my Diocese on the subjects in which we are alike interested. It might be advantageous to both of us. To myself, perhaps, not least. But faihng this, I feel it a great satisfaction on such an occasion as the present to learn, in reference to questions about which I am obliged to take a more abstract view, the sentiments of those whose opi- nions are the more valuable, in that they are formed in the discharge of their practical duties. In this instance my attention has been particularly directed to the means of carrying on education beyond the age at which the children of the labouring class commonly quit the daily school ; and I have re- ceived from many of you much information on the three points about which I made inquiry, viz., Sun- day-schools, Evening Schools, and Public Cate- chising. I have little to say about the first of these. Sunday-schools are now all but universal, and need no recommendation from me. And it is generally felt, that where there is a daily school, the value of the Sunday-school greatly depends upon the degree in which it is made the means of retaining under instruction older children, if possi- ble, up to the period of Confirmation. This may sometimes be done more successfully, if they are c2 36 not mixed up with those who are still daily scholars ; but are formed into a separate class, consisting alto- gether of those under the same circumstances. In cases in which the aid of voluntary teachers is called in, (and without these no large Sunday- school is likely to be effectively conducted,) it is very important that the Clergyman should exer- cise a close and careful superintendence over the instruction they give. This office is frequently undertaken, and necessarily must be, by persons whose own education has been very imperfect. Such persons are very apt to fall into a style of vague exhortation, very unsuited for children, rather than to give that sound catechetical in- struction which should be aimed at. It is an excellent plan when the Clergyman meets the teachers of his school on some evening in the week, and goes over with them the lesson which they are to give on the Lord's-day. Such a prac- tice greatly assists the teachers. It strengthens the connexion between them and the Clergyman, and tends to an uniformity of tone and spirit in the school, which, where there are many per- sons employed, will otherwise not always be pre- served. I referred to evening schools in my Charge three years ago, and expressed my hope that they might be made the means of much usefulness. I am obliged to say, that though there does not appear to have been any indisposition on the part of the 37 Clergy to try the experiment, the result cannot be described as satisfactory or encouraging. It seems that not much fewer than one hundred Clergy in this Diocese either now have, or within no great period of time have had, evening schools in their parishes ; but the very great majority of these have not found them succeed. In some cases the attendance is said to be good, but in general even this has fallen off after a little while ; and there are extremely few instances indeed in which such schools appear to be made the means of effective religious influence. In some places in which the Clergyman himself acts as schoolmaster to a limited class on one or two nights in the week, he is able to report favourably of the result ; and there are cases in which a master of a superior kind carries on an evening school successfully. But on the whole it must, I am afraid, be allowed, that under existing circumstances it is not to be hoped that evening schools can generally be made a means of completing the work wliich the daily school in our parishes fails to effect, of training up the young members of the Church in a manner suitable to their profession. In connexion with Sunday and evening schools, and as bearing on the same object, I referred to public catechising on the Lord's-day. On this head I have received a good deal of information, and the expression of some variety of opinion ; but the result of the whole is such as greatly to en- 38 courage me in recommending the subject to your best consideration, and in expressing my opinion that the practice in question may be productive of much advantage, if considerately introduced and efficiently followed up. It would, perhaps, be difficult to name any other subject on which a greater concurrence of high authority may be adduced than this, as any person will see at once, by referring to the " Documents and Authorities on Public Catechising," collected and published by the Rev. I. Ley. He will there find the most eminent divines of our Church, some by their practice upholding this duty, others lament- ing its disuse, and enjoining its revival, and ascrib- ing the imperfect knowledge and vagueness of views on religious subjects so common among the mem- bers of the Church, in no small degree to the dis- continuance of this exercise. But it would be unwise to overlook the fact, that the very general disuse of a practice so obviously good in itself, expressly directed by the rule of our Church, and enforced by such high authority, cannot but result from the existence of some considerable obstacles to its universal adoption. And I wish you fully to understand, that I do not desire to urge upon you the resumption of this practice as a matter of obli- gation, in compliance with the letter of the rule of the Church, and in disregard of these obstacles, but to invite you to consider in what manner and how far any attempt may best be made towards 39 attaining the advantages which the Church had in view in enjoining pubhc catechising. I find that at present there are about eighty parishes in my Diocese in which in some degree or other, and in some manner or other, something of this kind is carried on. But I should rather infer, from the answers I have received, that there are hardly so many as half of these places in which the exercise is conducted so as to be really profitable. Some Clergy again state that they have discon- tinued it after trial, not finding any advantage from it. Others, that they did think it advantageous, but that it was distasteful to their congregations. On the other hand, it has been satisfactory to me to observe, that in several cases, and those the very ones in which the exercise is performed in the manner most Ukely to be useful, the Clergy state that their congregations in general are much pleased with it, and are sensible of the advantage they derive from it. In order that this may be the case, it is clear that the catechising must not consist in the mere formal repetition of the words of the Catechism, but of a detailed and varied explanation and illus- tration of some small portion of it. A very few of the questions of the Catechism itself having been put and answered, a single one, or at most two or three, will supply materials for the whole examination, and a subject for development in a familiar practical lecture at the close. There are 40 cases in which this is stated to be done with much advantage every Sunday for half an hour before the afternoon service, the adult members of the con- gregation being invited and encouraged to attend. Many are said to do so, and to evince much inte- rest. One Clergyman states, that in this manner he goes regularly through the Catechism once in the course of the year. In other places certain times are fixed, as at the seasons of Advent and Lent, or one Sunday in each month, for catechising in the presence of the whole congregation, either after the second lesson or at the close of the ser- vice. One or other mode may be preferable, ac- cording to the circumstances of different places, I do not think that it would any where be found expedient to introduce catechising after the second lesson every Sunday, there being also a sermon. Nor would it probably prove advantageous in large parishes to replace the afternoon sermon altogether by catechising. But the extent of its introduction might rightly be measured by the degree in which it was found, in each particular case, to tend to edification, with reference not only to the catechu- mens, but to the congregation at large. It must, however, be borne in mind, that the success of such an experiment would probably in great measure depend upon the manner in which the exercise was performed. And the ofiice of Catechist is not to be discharged efficiently without forethought and preparation. It is not indeed the 41 case, as is frequently said, that it requires a pecu- liar gift. But it does require that previous consi- deration of the subject which will secure a lucid and simple order of questions, adapted to the capacity and information of those who are to answer them, and giving scope to the Catechist himself for such explanation and practical applica- tion of the matter in hand as may edify all. Much help in this exercise may, of course, be derived from books. Mr. Allen, in his recent report, says, that in questioning on the Catechism, he has found assistance from Bishop Nicholson's, Bishop Ken's, Bishop Wilson's, and Bishop Beveridge's exposi- tions of it. Of more recent publications, a Charge, by Archdeacon Bather, entitled, " Hints on Scrip- tural Education and Instruction by Catechising," contains the practical advice of one who has him- self proved in his own experience the utility of what he recommends, while Beaven's " Help to Cate- chising," and Archdeacon Sinclair's " Questions on the Church Catechism," have been found useful in suggesting a course of detailed examination. I am aware that I have already trespassed greatly on your patience ; and yet there are one or two other points which I should wish briefly to touch upon. In speaking of the difiiculty of retaining chil- dren at school, I referred to the pressure of poverty upon the parents as the cause of this ; with what justice, you are all aware. Now, I am not going to 42 enter upon any questions which belong to the poU- tical economist; but as the temporal condition of this, by far the largest and most important part of the community, bears immediately, in various ways, on their spiritual state, and that temporal condition is unhappily in this Diocese confessedly very different from what we could wish, and is indeed said to be inferior to what it is in almost any other part of England, I cannot abstain, in this rare opportunity which I have of speaking to you collectively, from in some measure adverting to it. I believe it to be unnecessary for me to urge upon you a tender compassion and a deep sympathy for the poor. No man can enter into the spirit of His ministry who, " though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor;" no man can know the Gospel, of which it is the characteristic that to the poor it is preached, or realize the hungry, and naked, and sick, as the very visible representatives and symbols of his absent Lord, who in them is fed, and clothed, and healed, without feeling for the poor a melting pity, and for the religious poor an almost reverential love, and counting the call to much intercourse with them one of the especial blessings of his pastoral charge, wherein in minis- tering to them his own spirit may be refreshed, and in imparting to them spiritual gifts, to the end that they may be established, he may be comforted together with them by the mutual faith of them and himself. 43 It is plain and easy to lay down in the abstract the duties of the parish priest ministering to a po- pulation, on a large part of which poverty presses, as it now does on our own, while the wealth of the more opulent class is collected into fewer hands, and is in them increased. It is both right and easy to say how earnest and faithful he should be in his exhortations to either class, bringing forth in his teaching the power of that doctrine, whereby " the brother of low degree may rejoice in that he is exalted ; but the rich in that he is made low ;" how he should preach to the poor contentment and hope in the prospect of "an inheritance incor- ruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them who are kept through faith unto salvation ;" while he holds up to the rich the dangerous downfall of those who trust in riches ; the deep responsibility of God's stewardship ; and the blessing and reward held out to those who, looking upon their poorer brethren as, together with themselves, members of that body of which, if one member suffer all the members suffer with it, delight to use whatever power and influence they possess to assist the industrious and encourage the deserving; and who, in regard to the necessitous, forget not to do good and to dis- tribute, knowing that " he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord : and look what he layeth out, it shall be paid him again." But easy as it is to say that he should do this, it is not easy 44 to do even this at once with faithfulness and tender- ness, with boldness and discretion. And that he may do so, he must bear in mind that the duty of the Christian teacher is not to proclaim mere abstract truth, but to give to each one of those committed to his charge his portion of meat in due season, that is, to teach truth as men can receive and bear it, and in such a manner as practically to influence them to good. He must remember, too, that in order to benefit the poor, it is of great importance to carry along with him, as far as pos- sible, the judgment and feelings of those by whose means and instrumentality the good must be done, and that it is sometimes very difficult to apply principles in detail, of the truth of which in the abstract there is no dispute. The Church, in its services of Ordination, expressly entrusts its ministers with the guardian- ship of the poor ; and the ancient state of the law, which committed the care of the destitute to the vestry of the parish over which the Clergyman presided, harmonized with this trust. The current of modern legislation has in a great degree run counter to this intention of the Church, and has interrupted the connexion between the parish priest and the most destitute members of his flock. Among other questions which have arisen from this, I believe that doubts have been entertained as to whether it be desirable that the Clergy should or should not take part in the administration of the 45 existing Poor Law. Many persons consider that it would be a great improvement in that law, if the Clerg^^man of each parish were, ex officio, a Guardian of the poor. He is indeed to be by his office, in one sense, a Guardian of the poor ; but (though I speak with hesitation on a subject with which I am not much conversant) the leaning of my own judgment is, that it is not desirable that he should be constrained by his office to take an active part in administering a law, of which we must at least confess, that it does not bear with it the gracefulness of charity, or have the character of the alms-giving of Christian men. The question whether it be fitting that the Clergyman should undertake the office of Guardian, if elected to it, is a diffisrent one ; and there may, no doubt, be cases in which it will be well that he should not refuse to do so, when he sees clearly in it the means of use- fulness ; but, generally speaking, I should be dis- posed to think it the wiser course not to undertake this office unnecessarily. Into one part of the administration of the Poor Law I have thought it desirable to make particular inquiry on the present occasion, viz. that of the Union Workhouses, in their bearing on the spiritual character of their inmates ; and it may not be un- interesting to you to know the results of this investigation. The Diocese of Salisbury is divided into twenty- five unions, each having its own workhouse, ex- 46 elusive of the city of Salisbury, the parishes of which are consolidated for the same purpose under a local act. The workhouses of these unions are calculated on an average to contain 228 persons, the largest being built to hold 318, and the smallest for 130. The average number of inmates in each is about 130, the largest average being 247, and the smallest 80. There does not therefore appear to be on the whole any deficiency of room ; and there is only one house in which any inconvenience of this kind is stated to be felt. As respects provision for the spiritual care of the inmates, there are paid chaplains in 22 out of the 25 unions ; and in one of the others, the wants of the inmates appear to be sufficiently attended to by the Clergyman of the parish in which the house is situated. In the two remaining unions the appointment of a chaplain is much required. The average stipend of the chaplain is about 40Z. per annum, the highest sum being 60/. and the lowest 20Z. Divine service is regularly performed on the Sunday, wherever there is a chaplain, except in four cases, in which the circumstances are such as to allow of the inmates conveniently attending the parish church, the chaplain being the Clergy- man of the parish. In these instances there is no service in the workhouse on Sunday, but a service is performed on some day in the week. The bodies of those who die in the workhouse are carried back to their own parishes for interment, in twenty out 47 of the twenty-five unions ; and, in general, I trust, in a decent and suitable manner. This is a great improvement over the former practice, of which I used to have frequent complaints, by which the poor, who died in these houses, were buried in the burial-ground of the parish in which the workhouse happened to be situated; a course alike painful to the feelings of their relatives, and unfairly bur- thensome to these parishes. It appears that, as near as possible, half the whole number of inmates are children ; the gross average number in each house being, as I said, 130, and the average number of children, 66. Due provision is stated to be made in almost all cases for their education ; and the answers I have received, in general, describe the children as improving greatly in character under the instruction given them. Such being the outline of the facts of the case, I am bound to say, that, as regards my Diocese, room as there is for improvement in various quarters, it does not appear that there prevails in general any great or grievous abuse or neglect in these establishments. The children, who are the most numerous class, appear to be well cared for ; nor has any complaint been made to me that the old and infirm are not treated with as much conside- ration as the principles of the law will allow. But while I gladly admit this, I must say, on the other hand, that there is that about the moral character of these establishments which obliges me 48 to look upon them with deep dissatisfaction and pain, considered as places to which, in the ordinary course of the dispensations of Providence, sickness, or accident, or want of employment, may compel almost any family among the labouring classes to have recourse, as the only alternative against the utmost extremity of want. It is necessarily the case that, speaking generally, they will be the idle, and careless, and profligate, who will be habitually inmates of these houses ; and it is a hard thing that, when the law says that virtuous poverty shall be supported in unavoidable misfortune, it should attach to this support the condition of an association with characters from which, while allowed to exercise free agency, it would recoil with disgust. I am aware that in some workhouses something is done in the way of classification ; but this is by no means universally the case, nor, where it is attempted, does it seem to be to any great extent successful ; nor is it probably capable of being carried out satisfactorily. The uniform testi- mony I have received on this subject leaves no room for doubt as to the pernicious and de- moralizing influence exercised upon the minds of the young from the contamination to which they are thus exposed. It may suffice to say, in proof of the nature of this association, that no incon- siderable portion of the inmates are the mothers of illegitimate children. I have not obtained the exact numbers, so as to state a certain average, 49 but from the general tenor of the answers I have re- ceived, and from some specific numbers which have been given, I have little doubt that five-sixths of all the children born in these establishments are ille- gitimate. And the same persons who testify to the improvement of the children, so long as they are within the age of childhood and separated from the adults, lament the rapid deterioration of their characters as soon as they are exposed to the pernicious influences which await them in the adult wards. Surely, then, it is not in accordance with the rule of Christian charity that the exposure of the young and innocent in distress to such demoralizing associations should be made the con- dition of the relief to which they are entitled : but if an effectual classification in the workhouses be impossible, there is in this a most cogent reason for the exercise of some further discretion in grant- ing out-door relief. There is only one other subject about which I must say something before I conclude, and which I am sure you would feel it to be a great omission, were I altogether to pass over ; I mean the building up of our Church in the colonies and dependencies of the British empire, and its ex- tension among the heathen. I need hardly say, that missionary effort is one of the essential proofs of healthful energ}' in the Church ; and that in an empire such as ours, the efficient establishment of the Church in dependencies which comprise D 50 a hundred million of heathen, is of all missionary work the most urgent and the most hopeful ; while a due provision for the spiritual wants of our own emigrant population in the same colonies is an obligation even yet more imperative. This is the especial work of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel ; and while, for its exertions in the general field of missionary labour, the Church Missionary Society also claims our support, I have always felt a peculiar interest in promoting to the best of my power the efficiency of that Society which is the instrument of the Church in this particular department, which has such especial claims upon us. I have also frequently expressed an opinion, that the only effectual means of doing this would be by some organized system pervading the whole body of our Church, through the agency of the parochial clergy, and offering to all classes the opportunity of contributing, each as God may enable him, to this work of duty and of love. I have had the satisfaction of seeing a similar feeling widely extend itself; and by your sympathy and co-operation some encouraging measure of progress towards this end has been made. It may be satisfactory to you in the first place very briefly to state the extent of this progress in this Diocese in the course of the last seven years, before I say what I wish about the present state of this most important Society. In the year 1837 the only contributions which were made to the Society for the Propagation of 51 the Gospel from the Diocese of Sahshury, were through the means of District Associations, of which thirteen existed in different locaUties ; and by their agency in that year the inconsiderable sum of 266/. was transmitted to the Parent Society. These associations received the contributions ex- clusively of the Clergy, and a few of the more wealthy laity, without at all comprehending the general body of the members of the Church, by whom indeed their very existence was unknown. This will be at once evident when I state that there were only 312 subscribers in the whole of these thirteen associations. In the following year an effort was made to call the attention of the members of the Church generally to the claims of the Society to their support ; and in the letter which I addressed to the Clergy of my Diocese in that year on the occasion of the Queen's Letter, I suggested that a permanent provision for the aid of the Church abroad would be more effectually made "by the quiet and continuous agency of parochial collections, than by raising large sums at uncertain intervals in any other way." In the autumn of that year, two Parochial Associations were formed, the first, I believe, which were esta- blished in any part of England in connexion with this Society; and the stimulus which was given began to show itself by a slight increase in the pecuniary remittances, which rose from 266/. to 330/. In the following year an extensive move- d2 52 ment was made. Ten new District Associations, and forty-two Parochial Associations, were formed ; and the amount of money remitted was raised from 330Z. to 850/. The next year again, sixty-seven ad- ditional Parochial Associations were organized in all parts of the Diocese ; and from that time the interest taken in this important Institution has progressively increased, each successive year hav- ing called into existence from ten to twenty new associations, or other regular and established modes of parochial agency ; so that in comparing the returns of the year 1 844 with those of 1837, 1 find that the number of District Associations has risen from thirteen to twenty-six ; the Parochial Asso- ciations, or other agencies, which did not exist in 1837, were in 1844 not less than 167; the num- ber of contributors had risen from 312 to 3446 ; and the amount remitted to the Parent Society, from 266/. to 1569/. I cannot but consider this account as very en- couraging, not only or chiefly because so consider- able an addition is made to the means of the Society, but because an interest in the spread of the Gospel and the well-being of the Church is thus called forth in so large a number of our parishes, and has continued year by year steadily to increase. And surely no one who has taken the trouble to make himself acquainted with the facts of the case can fail to desire to share in this work, whether with reference to our own colonists, or to the 53 heathen under our rule. On this latter branch of the subject, the accounts lately received from India are encouraging to a far greater extent than has ever been the case before. The last quarterly paper of the Society contains some most interest- ing statements with respect to the recent great movement in the Diocese of Madras, where, in one district, ninety-six villages have renounced idolatry, giving up their temples and idols, and placing themselves under Christian instruction. I cannot but most earnestly commend to your perusal the account of these things as contained in this quar- terly paper, and more fully developed in a series of short tracts entitled, "Missions to the Heathen \" and in a letter from Archdeacon Robinson to the Secretary of the Society. The perusal of these documents must excite a lively sympathy in the work in which we are thus invited to bear a part, while it will convince us of the urgent necessity for further exertions to supply the pecuniary means which are greatly needed ; and also that which is, I fear, more difficult, a body of labourers qualified to cultivate this difficult portion of the Lord's vineyard, and to gather in the produce of the fields which are indeed white unto the harvest, but where the labourers are few. If I were to pass on to consider this subject, the mode, I mean, of making a more effectual provision ' " Missions to the Heathen," Nos. 1 to 5, price threepence, sold by Rivingtons, Hatchards, and Burns. 54 for the ministry of our Church in the colonies, how far it is possible immediately to look to what must be ultimately aimed at, and towards which some pro- gress is already made, namely, a supply of Clergy reared and educated in the colonies themselves, and how far, even with a view to this, there is great need for the establishment of an institution in this country to meet the present necessity, and to act as a continual auxiliary, I should be entering upon a new and large subject, from which I must there- fore forbear. I must abstain also from speaking upon the corresponding question in relation to the Church at home. Here, too, a conviction which I have long entertained appears to be widely growing up, that the existing sources from which the ministry of our Church is drawn, are hardly adequate to meet the demands which the increasing wants of our population, and the extension of the Church occasion ; and that it would be well to con- sider whether the important changes which are in progress in the Church, viewed as an establish- ment, may not make it expedient to consider whether some mode may not be devised for pre- paring for the ministry an additional supply of candidates drawn from a class whose means will not enable them to defray the expenses of an education at our universities. , I must not, however, now enter upon these topics, nor on that of the anomalous and em- barrassing position in which the ecclesiastical juris- 55 diction continues to be left, the difficulties con- nected with which, in half my Diocese, have almost prevented my holding this visitatioft in those parts. Instead of dwelling on these, and other subjects to which I might refer, 1 have thought it best mainly to speak to you on points of a humble indeed and ordinary character, but which relate immediately to your own practical duties in the exercise of your ministry : and I will now conclude with the ex- pression of my earnest hope and prayer, that ye may be so guided in the discharge of that ministry, that it may be rendered effectual for the end for which it was ordained ; that ye may be enabled to fulfil it in a spirit of faithfulness towards God, whose word and whose sacraments you are com- missioned to dispense, in a spirit of submission to the Church, the doctrines of which you profess, and the authority of which you are pledged to obey, in love to the flock, whose servants ye are for Christ's sake ; and in cordial harmony, and brotherly co- operation among yourselves, as men who have the same end in view, and have drank into the same spirit, that, namely, of a ministry of peace and love, so that thus taking heed unto yourselves, and to the doctrine, you may continue in them ; for in doing this, you shall both save yourselves and them that hear you. THE END. [, N D N : GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. John's square. y^^^ .-^Jt \ •^'^^f'afeJ ns^^^^