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 L I E) RARY 
 
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 FEINTED BY SIMMONS & BOTTEN, 
 
 SHOE LANE, PLEET STEEET.
 
 This Report of tlie memorable address delivered by the late 
 Bishop of Winchester to the Rural Deans of the Diocese at 
 Winchester House, July 15, 1873, has been carefully prepared 
 by comparison of notes taken at the time. It is printed in 
 compliance with the earnest desire of many who were present, 
 and many more who were absent, that the last counsels of 
 Bishop Wilberforce should not be lost to the Church. 
 
 At the close of the conference, in reply to the unanimous and 
 earnest request of the assembled clergy, the Bishop consented 
 to write out and print what he had spoken, if while it was still 
 in his memory he could possibly find time for the purpose. 
 Four days afterwards the end came, and he rested from all his 
 labours. 
 
 It would have been more satisfactory if the Bishop's unful- 
 filled design could have been carried out by the issue of a more 
 authoritative record of his address. But as there seems to be 
 no such hope, the following report is now printed for private 
 circulation, as a substantially accurate representation of an 
 address, which is not more deeply interesting as the latest 
 utterance of our departed father in God, than it is valuable for 
 the wise and loving and loyal counsels which it gives for our 
 guidance in these perilous times. 
 
 It has been the aim throughout this report to preserve the 
 very words recorded in the notes, rather than to run the risk of 
 sacrificing accuracy by presenting them m a more studied form.
 
 I DO not doubt, my reverend brethren, that the 
 extreme views and extreme practices which are 
 springing up around us, are as much a source of 
 regret to you as to myself. In bringing the 
 subject before you to-day, I am acting against the 
 advice of some whom I greatly respect. But I 
 have thought it the most manly and straightforward 
 course, to face the question and take counsel with 
 you as to the mode in which it is most desirable to 
 deal with these things. 
 
 I. Great prominence is given to the subject of 
 Confession. The tendency of the doctrine now put 
 forward on this subject is to exalt the use of Con- 
 fession into a necessity of the Christian life. Now 
 I have no doubt in my own mind what is the true 
 teaching of the Church of England on this point. It 
 is that Christ has lods^ed with His Church the power 
 of absolution by the Word, the Sacraments, and the 
 Ministry : these are the ordinary means of relieving 
 the sins and sorrows of His people, and conveying 
 the assurance of pardon to the penitent. Then in
 
 particular cases, for souls specially burdened with 
 sin, besides tliis primary doctrine laid down and 
 insisted upon by our great Reformers, there is a 
 direction to make particular Confession, as the mode 
 of obtaining relief. 
 
 But this is an essentially different doctrine from 
 that which it is now sought to establish, viz., that 
 habitual Confession is almost necessary for the lead- 
 ing of the higher Christian life. This leads on 
 rapidly to the old habit of believing that private 
 Confession of sin before the great High Priest is 
 insufficient, and that without Confession to a priest 
 a man cannot be sure of pardon, and especially 
 cannot draw near to God in the Holy Sacrament. 
 
 Now of this I will say that this system of Con- 
 fession is one of the worst developments of Popery. 
 In the first place, as regards the jpenitent, it is a 
 system of unnatural excitement, a sort of spiritual 
 dram- drinking, fraught with evil to the whole 
 spiritual constitution. It is nothing short of the 
 renunciation of the great charge of a conscience 
 which God has committed to every man — the sub- 
 stitution of Confession to man for the opening of 
 the heart to God — the adopting in every case of a 
 remedy only adapted to extreme cases which can 
 find relief in no other way. 
 
 Then in families, it introduces untold mischief. 
 It supersedes God's appointment of intimacy between 
 husband and wife, father and children ; substituting 
 another influence for that which ought to be the 
 nearest and closest, and producing reserve and 
 
 z. UIUC ^
 
 estrangement where there ought to be perfect free- 
 dom and openness. 
 
 And lastly, as regards the person to whom Con- 
 fession is made, it brings in a wretched system of 
 casuistry. But far worse than this, it necessitates 
 the terrible evil of familiar dealing with sin, specially 
 with sins of uncleanness, thereby sometimes eveu 
 tending to their growth, by making the horrible 
 particulars known to those who have hitherto been 
 innocent of such fatal knowledge, and so poisoning 
 the mind of priest and people alike. A fact which 
 has of late been very painfully brought home to me. 
 
 II. To turn to Bitual. There is great danger in 
 men going on to add ceremony to ceremony, and 
 introducing, by little and little, practices which, 
 before the Eeformation, were connected with great 
 spiritual errors. This danger is, that the outcome 
 of errors cannot be restored without the errors 
 themselves coming in likewise. People can see this 
 readily enough, and therefore these things give great 
 offence. They alarm those who are jealous of our 
 position as a Church protesting against Eomish 
 corruptions. This offence is great and real. But 
 at the same time this seems a lower ground than we 
 ought to take in dealing with the question ; we are 
 not so much to consult the feelings of those who 
 take offence, as to regard the simple issue, " What is 
 the truth of God in this matter ? and how are we to 
 deal with those who take, as we beheve, distorted 
 views of it?" 
 
 III. Another great evil is the effect of these ex-
 
 treme views upon the tone of preaching. They tend 
 to produce a one-sided preaching: a preaching which 
 exalts the corporate religion of the Church, rather 
 than the individual life of each soul which desires to 
 draw near to God. The natural result is, to deaden 
 the internal and deeply spiritual part of the public 
 ministry. 
 
 These are, to my mind, manifest evils and dan- 
 gers. But, in dealing with them, be careful not to 
 be unfair. JSFothing is ever gained by unfairness. 
 There is no good in it, but much evil. There is this 
 evil, that it produces a reaction ; and, therefore, 
 using strong language just helps forward the cause 
 against which it is directed. Do not let us deal with 
 Confession as if there were no such thing as the 
 opening of a soul to a fellow- creature, or to a mi- 
 nister of the G-ospel, with a view to obtaining relief 
 under a special burden of sin, by a ministry specially 
 appointed for the purpose. Do not let us forget, in 
 dealing with extravagances of Ritual, that many of 
 these extreme practices have been developed out of 
 the depths of earnestness on the part of those who 
 have introduced them ; that this growth of error is 
 connected with a remarkable revival of religious life ; 
 that the men who have led the way in this movement 
 are living devoted lives, self-sacrificing lives, are 
 themselves living near to God ; and that the movement 
 is associated with the height and depth of their own 
 love. But, as a natural consequence, their lead has 
 been taken up and followed by lower men, catching 
 up the echoes of their holiness, and uttering a
 
 cuckoo cry for things which others have elaborated 
 out of their own spiritual experience. 
 
 [N'or, again, let us lose sight of the fact, that this 
 religious movement has been marked by a great 
 increase of public services, public prayers, and cele- 
 brations of the Holy Communion ; by greater reve- 
 rence for holy things, a stronger desire to realize the 
 presence of Christ in His Church, a fuller apprecia- 
 tion of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and a more 
 distinct belief in His work on earth — not, perhaps, 
 so much in His action upon individual souls, as in 
 His presence in His Church, acting through the 
 channel of its ordinances. 
 
 The whole subject which I have felt it my duty 
 to bring before you this day is one which costs me the 
 greatest anxiety, and gives me perpetual sorrow of 
 heart. The life of a Bishop in these days is embit- 
 tered by this question coming up again and again : 
 ''How to resist the rapid growth of these errors 
 without falling into the snare of putting back the 
 inner life which exists beneath?" 
 
 Eemember, that all errors which have spread and 
 become formidable rested upon some truth. If not, 
 they could not for a moment survive the hght of day 
 or the light of discussion. So the history of error 
 is always the same. First, the outcomlng of a truth ; 
 then, the exaggeration of that truth; lastly, the 
 distortion of that truth. If there were no truth 
 in it, no earnest man could be misled by it. But, 
 from the fact of a truth underlying the error, two 
 conclusions follow '.—First, there is a danger in
 
 8 
 
 receiving it, lest you encourage the error in clie- 
 risliing the truth. Secondly, there is a clanger in 
 resisting it, lest you resist the truth in discoun- 
 tenancing the error. 
 
 ]^ow, whenever there has been a development 
 of the spiritual life — frequently running on into 
 error, yet still a development of life — whenever 
 there has been a struggling after some truth which 
 has been left behind, and which is perceived in 
 the distance— men's minds will begin to be moved 
 towards it. And, in all such cases, the history of 
 the Church shows that simple repression has only 
 done harm. At one time it has checked the spi- 
 ritual life itself; at another time it has simply 
 alienated the people in whom that life was stirring. 
 Sometimes it has caused the loss of the great awaken- 
 ing ; sometimes it has hardened it into a heresy. 
 
 Take the history of Wesleyanism. In a day of 
 general languor and spiritual death, there was an 
 outbreak of life and zeal. What was the jDolicy 
 adopted by the Church in that great juncture and 
 crisis of her history ? Instead of welcoming and 
 guiding the movement}, as the awakening of a new 
 spiritual life within her own bosom, her policy was 
 that of simple repression. Extinguish Wesley- 
 anism ! It was from the first a hopeless effort ! It 
 just succeeded so far as to cut off from the Church 
 a great revival, and to deaden its own spiritual life ; 
 to lose an earnest protest against the dreary system 
 of wretched morality which was then set forth and 
 preached instead of the reality of gospel life.
 
 Well, tlien, if we are to profit at all by tlie 
 lessons of the past, this is the first warning. It 
 shows what is the duty of all thinking men in 
 reference to a new awakening of spiritual life. 
 Though the movement seem to be dangerous, do not 
 simply reiiress it, do not simply extinguish it : rather 
 ask how you may best keep alive the vitality which 
 is in it, and so guide and control it as to make 
 it help in raising the spiritual life of the whole 
 Church. 
 
 It is easy to say. Let there be an iron rule : use 
 no kindly words : put it down. This is the 
 language of the world. This is the language of the 
 ''Times." "Don't let us be troubled with such a 
 movement as this. Sit upon it : smother it : never 
 mind what hearts you may break in the process: 
 never mind what discouragement you may cast upon 
 some fallen woman struggling to rise into a better 
 life : some young man seeking the help of a wise 
 and loving hand to raise him from the gulf which 
 yawns before him. Never mind all this. Put it 
 down. Let us have a decent untroubling unity 
 which shall be diversified only by its intense 
 breadth. Let there be room for every sort of 
 negation. Let the laity believe in anything or 
 nothing, and let the services be such that none can 
 be offended." 
 
 This is the language of the world. But what is 
 the voice of Christ? What is the mind of his 
 Spirit? Surely, something very different from 
 this. Surely, it would bid us to deal tenderly with
 
 10 
 
 everything in which life is : to see where the error 
 Hes, where it begins, and to separate the error from 
 the truth. These men, loving Christ as they do, 
 cannot we draw them with us to see more as we 
 see ? to unite in a common acknowledgment of one 
 Lord, one faith ? 
 
 The first is an easy process, and the second is 
 hard. I have found it no easy matter to main- 
 tain this, which I hold to be the only unassailable 
 position in the present controversy. I am attacked 
 on all sides. On the one side I am called a false 
 friend, accused of betraying a cause which I once 
 upheld : on the other, I am said to be unfaithful 
 to my own church, and a concealed Papist. I 
 cannot say that I do not feel such attacks. It is 
 impossible not to be pained by them. Of course one 
 feels it, and cannot but feel it. It is hard to bear; 
 but after all it is nothing when weighed against 
 the testimony of one's own conscience; it is 
 nothing to make one recede from the course which 
 one believes to be right, or to shake one's resolu- 
 tion by God's help to maintain it. 
 
 Well then, if we ought to endeavour to draw 
 these men to us, and " lead them with us, instead 
 of repelling them from us and thereby confirming 
 their errors, my advice to you is this. 
 
 First, in regard to Confession. (1) Be distinct 
 in your declaration against enforced Confession to a 
 priest. Testify against it, whether as enforced by 
 rule or only by influence. 
 
 (2) Declare distinctly against the frequent
 
 repetition of Confession ; anything like the habit 
 of periodical Confession. 
 
 (3) Be distinct in repudiating the notion of 
 Confession as necessary : as if pardon is not as 
 complete and full to him who confesses to God, as 
 to him who confesses to man ; or as if there is not as 
 certain forgiveness to be found in the real and heart- 
 felt acknowledgments of the General Confession, 
 followed by the General Absolution, as in any 
 private confession and particular declaration of 
 pardon. 
 
 But, on the other hand, do not deny or ignore 
 the truth that the Reformers did maintain and hand 
 down to us the doctrine that there is a ministry of 
 reconciliation, specially committed by Christ Himself 
 to His ministers for such as cannot otherwise find 
 peace and comfort. That those who cannot quiet 
 their own conscience may come and open their grief 
 to the minister of the Word of Christ, believing that 
 the grace of the Holy Spirit will through that 
 ministry relieve and establish their burdened soul. 
 
 Secondly, in regard to Eitualistic observ- 
 ances. There is a growing desire to introduce 
 novelties, such as incense, a multitude of lights in 
 the chancel, and so on. Now these and such things 
 are honestly and truly alien to the Church of Eng- 
 land. Do not hesitate to treat them as such. All 
 this appears to me to indicate a fidgety anxiety to 
 make everything in our churches assimilate to a 
 foreign usage. There is a growing feeling, which 
 I can only describe as an '' ashamedness " of the
 
 12 
 
 Anglican Church, as if our grand old Anglican com- 
 munion contrasted unfavourably with the Church of 
 Rome. The habitual language held by many men 
 sounds as if they were ashamed of our Church and its 
 position ; it is a sort of apology for the Church of 
 England as compared with the Church of Home. 
 Why I would as soon think of apologizing for the 
 virtue of my mother to a harlot ! I have no sym- 
 pathy in the world with such a feeling. I abhor this 
 fidgety desire to make everything mi- Anglican. 
 This is not a grand development, as some seem to 
 think. It is a decrepitude. It is not something 
 very sublime and impressive, but something very 
 feeble and contemptible. 
 
 At the same time, there is such a thing as a 
 legitimate thirst and desire for a higher ritual and a 
 more majestic service. Do not ignore this. Let it 
 be seen that you know and understand what it is 
 that they want, and that if this is all they need not 
 go out of our own Church to get it. Do not aim at 
 carrying the opposite views to their extreme develop- 
 ment as a protest against the Romanizing views 
 which you condemn. Do not deny that which is 
 legitimate ; only deny the excess. 
 
 Remember that every development in the direc- 
 tion of Puritanism (I use the word not in an ofi'en- 
 sive sense, but only to designate a class of doctrines) 
 is playing the game of the ultra-Ritualists. I take 
 this opportunity of thanking the clergy for the 
 manner in which they have received my suggestion 
 with regard to the use of the surplice in the pulpit
 
 13 
 
 during the morning service. Their action in this 
 matter has been very general in the direction of my 
 advice, and has tended greatly to union. 
 
 One tiling more. Avoid all hitterness of language 
 or of spirit in dealing with those from whom you 
 differ. Remember that the one thing which helps 
 forward infidelity more than anything else is the 
 division which exists amongst believers, and the 
 bitterness which is often engendered by it. Men 
 are scandalized especially by the bitterness shown in 
 religious newspapers, and in speeches at religious 
 meetings. They say, " See how ready they all are 
 to tear one another to pieces. It is only the acci- 
 dent of the Establishment which keeps them to- 
 gether. Among all these conflicting views and sects 
 what are we to believe and follow ? " 
 
 Therefore my advice is — deal gently with your 
 opponents — try to understand them— raise the stan- 
 dard of worship — get rid of badges — let there be no 
 parties but the two ultimate extremes. 
 
 The remainder of tliis address ivas delivered in the 
 course of a free discussion of the various topics of 
 which it treats, hence it assumes a somewhat discursive 
 and parenthetical form. 
 
 With regard to the position of the celebrant at 
 the altar, the Bishop said : If a churchwarden pre- 
 sented his clergyman for consecrating with his back 
 to the people, he would obtain a conviction. What- 
 ever distinction may be alleged in the Purchas case, 
 between a decision ' in personam,^ and ' in rem,' I
 
 14 
 
 am persuaded that anyone brought before the Eccle- 
 siastical Courts for adopting this position would be 
 condemned. This being the only authoritative de- 
 cision that we have of the law on this question, it 
 appears to me to be worthy of serious consideration : 
 first, whether we are not bound to submit to this 
 declaration of the present state of the law ; and, 
 secondly, whether this is not one of those cases 
 in which we are called to make a sacrifice to secure 
 unity. 
 
 Fasting Communion. It is difficult to estimate 
 the mischief which is resulting from the action of 
 the High Ritualistic party in this matter. It is true 
 that nothing can be more important than coming to 
 the Holy Communion with the whole heart and soul 
 in a proper frame for giving undivided attention to 
 the services. Fatigue, distractions, fulness of food, 
 all tend to destroy the benefit of the ordinance. 
 
 This is one reason of the strong objection which 
 I feel to Evening Communion. But not the only 
 reason, for it appears to me that the will of God, as 
 laid down by St. Paul in writing to the Corinthian 
 Church, plainly condemns the practice. Since that 
 time it has never been heard of in the Christian 
 Church till within the last fifty years. With that 
 instinctive sense of what is right which often takes 
 the place of a written law, it has been practically 
 abandoned in every after age. This is a case in 
 which the exception proves the rule. In the Afi^ican 
 Church it was permitted on one day, and one only 
 — that was on the day of the institution of the Sacra-
 
 15 
 
 ment. But then, mark what was the preparation for 
 it — every one had to bring a certificate of having 
 fasted the whole day till evening. To make a 
 custom of coming to the Holy Communion satiated 
 with food, and distracted by the day's events, is one 
 of the most dangerous innovations on the rule of our 
 Church.. There is not one of our great Reformers 
 who does not witness against it either directly or 
 indirectly. I leave those who are already com- 
 promised in this matter to do what they feel to be 
 right ; but I beg of all in the diocese who have not 
 already committed themselves to this habit not to 
 begin it. 
 
 It is not in a light sense that I say this new doc- 
 trine of Fasting Communion is dangerous. (1.) The 
 practice is not advocated because a man comes in a 
 clearer spirit and less disturbed body and mind, able 
 to give himself entirely to prayer and communion 
 with his God ; but on a miserable degraded notion 
 that the consecrated elements will meet with other 
 food in the stomach. It is a detestable materialism. 
 Philosophically, it is a contradiction, because when 
 the celebration is over you may hurry away to a 
 meal, and the process about which you were so 
 scrupulous immediately follows. The whole notion is 
 simply disgusting. (2.) The Patristic quotations by 
 which the custom is supported are misquotations. 
 S. Chrysostom's saying on the subject applies to the 
 full mid- day meal, not to the light repast of our 
 ordinary breakfast. It is put on the moral grounds 
 that after a feast there will be fulness, and during a
 
 16 
 
 feast tliere will be jesting and talking, all wliicli con- 
 stitute a moral unfitness for so high a ceremonial. 
 (3.) Then what a dangerous consequence results in 
 non-communicating attendance. Pressed not even for 
 physical reasons, it brings us back to the great 
 abuse of coming to the sacrament to be spectators 
 instead of partakers, and so we have the con- 
 dition of things arising in our communion which 
 already prevails in the Church of Eome. I heard of 
 a Roman Catholic priest triumphing greatly in the 
 fact that he had tiuo male communicants. I went to 
 the Church of the Madeleine, in Paris, at 5.30 a.m., 
 several times, in order to observe what was the 
 practice. It was always the same thing, the priest 
 communicating alone, or one or two women occa- 
 sionally joining him — the whole attendant congrega- 
 tion satisfied to remain looking on. 
 
 That this custom is creeping into our Church is 
 not an accident ; neither is it brought in for the 
 purpose of making children better acquainted with 
 the service. That would be a great help. I have 
 found the benefit of it myself when my own father 
 used to take me to church and leave me in his seat 
 to read hymns which he had selected for me, while 
 he himself communicated. That, I say, was to me 
 a very great help. But this is recommended under 
 quite a different impression. It is under the idea 
 that prayer is more acceptable at this time of the 
 sacrifice ; that you can get benefit from being within 
 sight of the sacrament when it is being administered. 
 It is the substitution of a s ami-materialistic presence
 
 17 
 
 for the actual presence of Christ in the soul of the 
 faithful communicant. It is an abomination, this 
 teaching of non- communicating attendance as a 
 common habit. It is a corollary on the practice of 
 fasting communion. If you cannot fast till mid-day, 
 and must not communicate without fasting, then you 
 are to be present and expect the benefit, though you 
 do not comply with the conditions of the sacrament. 
 Thus the Roman theory is creeping in. The sacri- 
 ficing priest stands between your soul and your God, 
 and makes atonement for you. Fasting till the mid- 
 day communion is irritation of the nerves unfitting 
 you to partake in this holy office. Come to early 
 communion, as giving the first of the day, the fresh- 
 ness of the spirit, the unbrokenness of the heart to 
 that great service. But if you cannot come in the 
 morning, have no scruple about taking ordinary food 
 before you communicate. 
 
 Discussion arose, and the Bishop subsequently 
 said : 
 
 You will observe that I have not given any in- 
 struction to drop the custom of evening communion 
 where it has been already adopted. This shows that 
 I do not consider the matter a simple one ; but I do 
 think the practice highly inexpedient. If it is said 
 that some find it very salutary and helpful, I answer 
 that the same might be said of much of Popery. It 
 is not a question of the individual benefit which may 
 accrue in certain cases ; but the question is, what 
 will be the effect upon the Church if the custom be- 
 comes general ? What will be the state of things
 
 18 
 
 fifty years hence ? It is now said to be for the con- 
 venience of the poor, will it be for their convenience 
 then ? I think not. I think it will become the 
 resort of the indolent and self-indulgent. Half the 
 population will be choosing this as the convenient 
 time, and I believe that it will greatly lower the 
 reverence in which the Holy Sacrament is held. At 
 Peckham, evening communion was changed to early 
 communion, and in a year and a half not one com- 
 municant had been lost, and the whole number had 
 doubled itself. After stating my opinion on this 
 subject freely and openly, I leave my clergy to their 
 free action in this matter. With regard to non- 
 communicating attendance, I consider that when you 
 have partaken of an early morning communion, 
 there can be no danger or impropriety in your being 
 present at the later celebration without communi- 
 cating. 
 
 THE END.