A LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF COLOMBO TO THE MIEMBERS OF THE BRIGHTON : Printed by Eyles & Son, 77, North Street, \ TO THE MEMBEES OF THE Colombo, November i8, 1881. Dear Friends and Fellow-Workers in Christ, The past year has been an eventful one for this Diocese, in that it has seen the commencement of the gradual Disendowment, which has been decided upon for us, and the beginning of our attempts to meet the crisis. Some call what has happened to us Disestablishment, and some Disendowment. 1 dare say you will not be wearied if I explain briefly in what degree each word applies to it. Our Church has never been established here in the sense in which it is established in England. It lias never been assumed that every British subject in Ce}'lon be- longed to the Church of England unless the contrary were shown, as is the case, I believe, in England. The officers of the State have never been required to conform to the Church of England. The State has never defined parishes, or legislated in any way for the Church in general, in Ceylon. Formerly, however, the Colonial Government recognised the Church of England, and conferred on it A LETTF.K some advantages and privileges which other rehgious bodies had not. But of late years it has enjoyed no preference. The Government have been studious to avoid granting land, or any exemption to the Church of England, except on the same terms as to any other Christian body. So far, therefore, there has been no "establishment" to be undone. In regard to these matters the Church could not be dis- established, for it had not been established. But there is one class of matters in which our Church in Ceylon has received from State authority some of the consequences of Establishment. The Queen has hitherto granted Letters Patent to the Bishop of Colombo, and other Letters Patent have been and still are valid. (This being a Crown colony, the invalidity which was found to attach to Bishop Gray's Letters Patent in Cape Town does not attach to ours.) These Letteis Patent bind the Bishop to rule ac- cording to the ecclesiastical law of England, and, through him, virtually make the use of the Prayer-book of the Church of England binding on the clergy. Thus the Church in Ceylon is bound to English ecclesiastical law, so far as it is applicable here. This bond has made it hitherto unnecessary for us to have a system of Church laws of our own, and, indeed, has made it impossible for us to do so. Nor will this condition be altered by the withdrawal of pecuniary assistance. So long as I remain here, holding my Letters Patent, it is neither necessary nor possible for us to make or adopt laws of our own (except in those matters where English law is inapplicable). But on my demise, or if I resign my Letters Patent, the Church will no longer be bound to the laws of the home Church, and will have to adopt them, or some others, by her own act. I I- ROM THE BIS nor OK COLOMHO. 5 Therefore, at my demise, at the earliest, this change, which does, I think, deserve the name of Disestabhshment, will come into effect. And we feel that it is necessary to be prepared. Hence our endeavours to agree upon a Consti- tution, and upon the adoption of the body of Church law. Let me now explain in what degree we are being " disendowed." Hitherto a certain number of churches — not very many (only some five or six), but among the most important — have been altogether supported, repaired, lighted, and attended to by Government ; these churches will be left us, but the expenditure upon them will no longer be sup- plied. In these churches, and in two or three others, English clergymen or Native clergymen, alike called Chap- lains, have been supported by Government, and henceforth no more such will be appointed. Besides the chaplains, there are some ten or twelve Catechists supplied to other less important places. These, also, will no longer be ap- pointed. The chaplains and catechists now in office will continue in office, and continue to be paid, as long as they like to continue their services. While, therefore, disendow- ment, or, as you see it is more properly called, cessation of appointments, begins from this year for the Church gene- rally, it will fall upon each congregation only as each chap- lain or catechist dies or resigns, 'i'he condition, therefore, of most of the congregations is this : Their minister is not taken away from them, but they know not how soon he may be ; they are called upon, therefore, to prepare, and to be laying by for the time when the burden will rest on their own shoulders. And in order that a congregation, even if its minister should die very soon, may not be too suddenly brought face to face with the whole burden, it is provided A LETTER that, in cas-e of chaplains or catechists dying or resigning before the middle of 1886, the stipend will be supplied by Government till that time. But it is only to about one-third of our clergy and churches that this disendowment applies, for it is only about one-third that have been endowed. The remainder are supported either by local or diocesan contributions, or by one or other of the missionary Societies. But it must be remembered that the most important and largest churches are among those which disendowment touches. Thus we have to meet two things, Disendowment, beginning in 1886, and Quasi-Disestablishment, beginning when the present Bishop's Letters Patent come to an end. Our case differs largely from that of some Colonies in which, before Disendowment, all the churches and all the clergy (or nearly all) were supported by Government. In such colonies the whole Church was pecuniarily affected ; but with us, only a part of the Church is affected pecuniarily, though the whole will be affected constitutionally. This complicates our problem, for it is not quite clear that the financial affairs of a portion need be put under the con- trol of the whole. The financial affairs of other portions, for instance of that connected with the Church Missionary Society, will of course not come under the control of the whole. Why then should it be so with the finances of the hitherto endowed churches? On the other hand, it is extremely undesirable that separate interests should be multiplied. For my own part, I have been anxious throughout to keep apart as much as possible (it cannot be done entirely) the two subjects of finance and of constitu- tion ; to deal with the finance, and, if it might be, to let the FROM THE BISHOP OF COLOMBO. 7 constitution stand over a little, till we are all more closely agreed. By " constitution " we mean such matters as these : — Union with the Mother Church, allegiance to the Metro- politan See of Calcutta, election or convocation of a Synod in such and such a way, Courts of Judgment, Terms of Commission, and the like. It is obvious that in connec- tion with these things, very difficult questions, and questions on which it may be difficult to agree, are likely to arise. We have not yet been informed what shape the legislation proposed by Government will take, or whether it will in any way affect the above questions. We know that Government will interfere with them as little as possible. The State is no more anxious, happily, to dictate to us, than we are to be dictated to. But while things are in suspense, I cannot tell what course we may take, or what eifect will be given to what has been already done. In this letter I have indicated our questions, the answer, I hope, may be stated in the next. Among the events of the past year which may interest the members of the Association is the Consecration of Kurena Church, which took place on St. Luke's Day. The Httle Church to which you have contributed looked extremely pretty, and was well, even beautifully furnished ; and good old Mr. Christian's heart was gladdened by the accomplishment of what has been his work for so many years. There was a large congregation, and some sixty Communicants. One could not but feel, seeing the ignorant, though not irreverent behaviour of the worship- pers, how much a well ordered church, in which alone really well ordered services are possible, will benefit these poor people, who, I suppose, had never before seen the worship of the Church conducted with any approach to dignity. Honesty obliges me to say that, in my late visit to Batticaloa, I found the state of things in Navatcudar very bad ; the people are much discouraged ; partly by temporal distresses over which we have no control, but partly also by what they feel to be neglect on the part of those who should have i)rovided for their spiritual wants ; and they are returning to some extent to their former way of living, which was, not to live together in one village, but to wander about, and be scattered in the places in which their work of collecting toddy might lie. I did my best to draw them together and make a fresh start, but I am not very sanguine of success, until I can provide more effective supervision than is yet possible. Under these circumstances the Navatcudar Fund, which amounts to about ^60, remains, of course, in the Savings Bank. The Sinhalese work is everywhere, I think, flourishing, and adult Baptisms are constantly reported from the different churches. I have lately visited, with Mr. Dowbiggin, of the C.M.S., a village in which his efforts have borne remarkable fruit. It is a very out of-the-way village, some twenty miles from Colombo ; but he has a congregation of forty, of whom I confirmed twenty-three, nearly all converts baptized by him. Mr. Dowbiggin will be in England during next year. A practice to which I attach much value is that of the formal admission of candidates for Baptism to the rank of Catechumens. They remain for some months, at least, in this rank, and are thus under a much more effective I IROM THE mSHOP Ol" COLOMKO. probation, as well as under more regular tuition, than would otherwise be the case. I am glad to see in the report of the Cambridge Delhi Mission a testimony to the value of this system. It is rapidly gaining ground here, and will soon, I hope, be the rule throughout the Diocese. The Church Missionary Clergy use less formality than others, and call their Catechumens generally Enquirers, but I see a growing tendency to recognize the rank. The name is of less importance. People in the position of Catechumens often show great steadfastness, and perhaps it is during that period of probation that they have most to bear, and I am often reminded, and find myself reminding others, that in early times the ranks of Catechumens supplied many martyrs to the Church. INIr. Dowbiggin gave me two curious instances, which occurred in the village I have spoken of, or near it. In one instance two young women, whose relations were trying to compel them to work in the fields on Sunday, fled to the schoolroom, which was also the Chapel, and hid themselves behind the reading desk, a very clumsy piece of Church furniture thus proving unex- pectedly useful. The other case was that of a boy who was taken very ill, and, while he was unconscious, his heathen friends tied a string round his arm, in token of his being thereby supposed to participate in some devil rites performed on his behalf On his recovering consciousness he took off the string, and forwarded it, with a letter explaining what had happened, to the Catechist. Even in that out-of-the- way neighbourhood the revived energy of Buddhism has shown itself, as encouraged by the Theosophists, in the violence with which a young Buddhist priest has been denouncing the Christians. This angry antagonism to Christianity is increasing everywhere. Little tracts, full of lO A LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF COLOMBO. profane and foolish objections against the Bible, are freely circulated. A Buddhist Catechism, compiled by Colonel Olcott, the Theosophist leader, has been issued ; but, while we regret the blasphemy, there is little doubt that the antagonism serves to advance our cause- But one thing I notice as very significant, and as serving to impress on the mind a fact on which I have before insisted. Colonel Olcott's information, and the orderly arrangement and favour- able selection of Buddhist teachings which his Catechism contains, is derived entirely from the writings of Europeans, most of them Missionaries. Buddhists would never have taken so favourable a view of their own superstition as Christians have suggested to them. I had hoped to have written much more, but press of work, increased by the absence of the Archdeacon on leave, and the recent death of a clergyman in Colombo, for whose work I am mainly responsible, added to the weakness of my eyes, which have not entirely recovered from an attack of ophthalmia, obliges me to break off abruptly. The approach of Disendowment considerably diminishes my own resources, and I shall be obliged to look to my friends at home for increased assistance, unless work is to be abandoned. Earnestly asking your prayers for my work and myself, I remain, Yours gratefully in Christ, R. S. COLOMBO. An account of the Bishop of Colombo's Special Fund for the year 1881 shall be sent to each subscriber, as soon as the items of expenditure have been received from Ceylon. It is at present impossible to draw up a balance sheet. Further Subscriptions or Donations to this Fund will be most gladly received by Miss Cople- STON, 16, Denmark Terrace, Brighton.