L I B R.ARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N 1 V LRS ITY 
 
 or ILLl NOIS
 
 . 10 
 
 [copyright.] 
 
 A CHARGE 
 
 DELIVERED TO THE 
 
 CLERGY & CHURCHWARDENS 
 OF THE DIOCESE, 
 
 BY 
 
 MANDELL CREIGHTON, D.D., 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH, 
 AT 
 
 HIS FIRST VISITATION, 
 May a7id jMiie, 1894. 
 
 Ifcierboroiigh : 
 
 GEO. C. CASTER, MARKET PLACE. 
 
 London : 
 ',*..- .f-glMf'KIjr^-jlkfctRSHAEEjJlAJftl.TOX, KEXT, & Co., Ld. 
 
 -^
 
 PETERBOROUGH : 
 
 PRISTKT) nV GEO. C. CASTEB, 
 
 MARKET PLACE.
 
 The Cathedral and the Diocese, 
 
 I. 
 
 Mr. Dean, Canons, and other Members op the Foundation 
 • of this Cathedral Church. 
 
 In commencing a survey of the progress of my Diocese during 
 the past three years, it is a great encouragement to me to begin 
 with my Cathedral Church. I trust that I may take it as a 
 symbol of much else that has been done ; and that the visible 
 growth which it has manifested in all the outward requisites for 
 the performance of Divine Service, may be regarded as an 
 illustration of the activity which has prevailed, in less tangible, 
 forms, throughout the rest of the Diocese. 
 
 I have been privileged to see this noble building, which we 
 have inherited as a mighty memorial of the aspirations of 
 previous ages, endowed with offerings which tell no less distinctly 
 of the aspirations of our own time. Twice during the last three 
 years have we dedicated to the service of Ahnighty God, with 
 prayer and thanksgiving, splendid additions to its beauty and 
 usefulness. The noble shell, which has been restored with loving 
 care, has gradually been adorned with all that is needful for that 
 dignity of Public Worship which befit the Mother Church of a 
 Diocese. This has been done cheerfully and willingly, as a thank- 
 offering for spiritual blessings received within these walls, as a 
 memorial of characters moulded into saintliness by the lessons of 
 worship which this Church has taught. But the rapid progress 
 made in this great work is largely due to the impulse given by the 
 example of the late Dean Argles, whose life was an embodiment 
 of christian zeal and liberality. The conspicuous simplicity and 
 loftiness of his own motives were admirably fitted to inspire 
 others. Though many have contributed to produce the result 
 which now fills us with thankfulness, they would all gladly 
 recognise in him the representative and exponent of their own 
 leelings. j^ memoria eterna eritjtistus ; 
 
 Ab atiditu mali non timebit. 
 
 The name of Marsham Argles will ever be associated with tb§ 
 Church which he loved.
 
 4 The meaning of a Charge, 
 
 This increase of internal beauty is gratifying in itself ; but it 
 is doubly gratifying when it is regarded as the sign of increasing 
 activity. The sense of the needs of this Church has not only 
 called forth munificence, but has endeared it to the Diocese at 
 large. Its position, as regards the large centres of population, 
 places it at some disadvantage as a convenient centre of Diocesan 
 life. But recent years have undoubtedly seen that difficulty 
 greatly diminished by the interest which has been taken in its 
 progressive adornment. Many notable gatherings for Diocesan 
 purposes have been held within its walls, of which the most 
 important was the Retreat for the Diocesan Clergy in July last. 
 I trust that this may continue every year, and become increasingly 
 useful. I may say that I have received many testimonies to the 
 inestimable value of those few days, spent in quiet meditation, 
 with helpful direction of the mind to subjects of spiritual profit. 
 For such a purpose, the Cathedral Church and its surroundings 
 offer unique advantages, which were greatly appreciated, and added 
 to that sense of corporate unity for God's service, which must 
 always be the foundation of Diocesan loyalty and activity. 
 
 To you, Mr. Dean, personally above all others, and to every 
 member of the Cathedral body, my warmest thanks are due for 
 readiness to make this Church useful for every good work. I 
 know that you are anxious to welcome every form of Diocesan 
 organisation within these walls, and to make intelligible to all 
 the great lessons which they teach. This Cathedral Church is, 
 in a greater degree than most others, the Bishop's Church. This 
 is to me a source of unmixed pleasure. 
 
 I know from experience the care which is taken, and the taste 
 which is displayed, in the rendering of the Services. In the Dean 
 and Canons Residentiary, I have a body of advisers, to whose 
 counsel and help I much owe. I know that your aid is always 
 willingly rendered, and you are anxious to co-operate in every 
 good and useful work. I can only again thank you all for much 
 that has been done in the past, and I look forward with increasing 
 hope for the future. 
 
 My Brethren of the Clergy, and Churchwardens of the 
 Deaneries of Peterborough and Oundle, 
 
 The custom of Episcopal Visitations is of great antiquity, and 
 like ancient customs, has lost, through social changes, much of its 
 original usefulness. In times when communications were difficult, 
 it was of necessity that the Bishop of a Diocese should afford, at 
 stated intervals, an opportunity for appeals to his jurisdiction. 
 The form of a Visitation still remains unchanged. The Bishop 
 technically holds a Court, and, with his Chancellor, is prepared to 
 
 \ uiuc '
 
 Local Progress. 5 
 
 administer justice. The Churchwardens are summoned, as repre- 
 sentatives of the Parish, to bring to his notice any irregularities 
 which need correction. They are a kind of jury of presentment, 
 empannelled to report upon the condition of their Parish. A 
 Bishop's charge is in its origin of the same nature as a Judge's 
 charge to a Grand Jury ; and, in strict propriety, ought to be 
 confined to a reminder of the matters which a jury ought to lay 
 before him. This form of address has long been discontinued. 
 Luckily for himself, a Bishop's judicial authority has retired into 
 the background. His knowledge of his Diocese is not confined to 
 formal Visitations, but is gained by continuous correspondence 
 and equally continuous travelling. The testimony of the Church- 
 wardens, and the reports of the Clergy are obtained in writing 
 before the day of Visitation. His charge can no longer take the 
 form of an instruction about the information to be furnished. It 
 can only be of the nature of an address on some topics of interest, 
 either in his Diocese, or in the Church at large. 
 
 Moreover, in the present day, the significance of any particular 
 opportunity for expressing opinions has passed away. Advice is 
 sought when it is needed, and opinions have to be uttered as they 
 are formed. Their necessity is dictated by current events ; and 
 wherever or however they are expressed, they are rapidly circulated 
 amongst all who are interested to know them. The time is past 
 when it is profitable to attempt, in aw Episcopal Charge, a massive 
 survey of important questions, or to influence opinion by learned 
 investigations which are more fitted for reading at leisure than for 
 apprehending at the moment. I was at one time disposed to omit 
 a formal Charge altogether as an unnecessary tax on my own time, 
 and on your patience. Bat second thoughts led me to the con- 
 clusion that on an occasion when the Clergy and Churchwardens 
 were assembled together, there was at least an opportunity when 
 some simple words of advice might be of service. The mere fact 
 of such an assemblage is at least a sign of Diocesan organisation, 
 and such organisation must be strengthened and increased. The 
 very fact that opinions have to be formed and expressed under 
 daily pressure, makes it useful to record, from time to time, de- 
 liberate convictions, to separate the greater issues from the smaller, 
 to attempt to view things in their relative proportions, and above 
 all else to pursue the eternal principles on which all opinions 
 must rest. 
 
 Before entering on any general questions, I would briefly call 
 your attention to some points relating to the Deaneries which you 
 represent. Any retrospect supplies material both for con- 
 gratulation and regret. Many changes are noticeable amongst the 
 Clergy, but I am glad to think there are few which have been 
 occasioned by the hand of death. I would, however, pay a passing 
 tribute to the work dune, with rare constancy, for a long period of
 
 6 Local Progress. 
 
 years, by Mr. Thomas, in the Parish of S. Mary's, Peterborough. 
 I know also that the retirement of Mr. Molesworth from the charge 
 of S. Mark's, Peterborough, has occasioned universal regret. His 
 diligent discharge of his duties, his readiness to help in every use- 
 ful work, were the result of a high standard of conscientious 
 endeavour. When he felt that his physical power was no longer 
 equal to the continuous strain, he felt it his duty to seek relief, 
 for a time, from work, which he loved only too well. He carries 
 with him the sincere prayers of all who knew him, that he may be 
 restored to health and strength, which will always be devoted, 
 wherever he may be, to God's service. 
 
 If I turn to the fabric of churches, I find a most encouraging 
 record of work done to maintain and beautify those precious 
 buildings, of which we are trustees. The Churches of Longthorpe, 
 Etton, and Harringworth, have all been put into substantial 
 repair. The Churches of Yarwell and Northborough have had 
 enough done to them to make them suitable for their purposes, 
 and to encourage further efforts. The splendid tower of Oundle 
 Church, one of the finest landmarks in a district where all is 
 worthy of admiration, has been restored with scrupulous care, 
 through the liberality and energy of Canon Hopkins. In the one 
 centre of increasing population, the City of Peterborough, I have 
 been much cheered by the zeal which has been displayed to pro- 
 vide additional Churches. One of my earliest acts was to Con- 
 secrate the Church of All Saints, which had reached a point when 
 it was fit for Divine Service. It is now in the course of com- 
 pletion, and will soon be finished. It will be a lasting memorial 
 of the devoted service of Canon Ball to the cause of God. There 
 is also a project for a new Church in the Parish of S. Mark's, 
 where the present accommodation is insufficient for the needs of 
 a somewhat scattered population. I trust that when this plan 
 has been carried out, the needs of Peterborough will have been 
 adequately supplied for some time to come. Moreover, Peter- 
 borough has shown a good example in its readiness to provide 
 additional buildings for Voluntary Schools. The pressure has 
 been severe, and the difficulties considerable. There is still much 
 to be done. But on all sides there is a good will to do it, and I 
 am hopeful that all difficulties will be overcome. There is only 
 one Church to which my attention has been called as needing 
 immediate repair. That is the Church of Fotheringhay, alike 
 conspicuous for its architectural beauty, and rich in its historical 
 associations. It is a building which holds the rank of an historical 
 monument ; and I regret to find that the fabric is reputed to be 
 in a dangerous condition. It is impossible for the inhabitants to 
 undertake the work themselves ; but I would express my hope 
 that some steps may be taken quickly to avert ^further damage, 
 and preserve a building of such exceptional interest.
 
 Church and State. 7 
 
 Church and State. 
 
 The nature and scope of the general remarks, which I make to 
 yon, will be best understood if they are arranged with reference 
 to an intelligible principle. "We are all deeply interested in the 
 work of Christ's Church, and are desirous to promote it by all 
 means in our power. Of the general nature of that work we are 
 assured ; it is to set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. The means 
 whereby this is to be done, He has Himself appointed. But the 
 conditions, under which His Work has to be accomplished, change 
 from time to time ; and our duty, as Christians, is to try and 
 grasp their full significance. For the ordering of the world is 
 from God, and the changes of human affairs depend upon the 
 operation of His Laws. It is useless to crave for other conditions 
 than those which lie before us : it is vain to construct for ourselves 
 an ideal of what the world ought to be for us to labour at our 
 best: it is foolish to picture some state of things which we fondly 
 think existed in some previous age, and act with reference to it, 
 in the hope that by our action we may tend to realise it at present. 
 It is the claim of the Gospel of Christ that its message is of 
 eternal significance, that its appeal is to man as man, and that it 
 is independent of outward surroundings. The Church must take 
 its stand in the actual world, and must consider its relations to 
 things as they are. Whatever may be the features of the present 
 time, we have to look in them, not for hindrances, but for oppor- 
 tunities. It is to no purpose to deplore what we cannot do : it 
 is for us to discover in what way our energy may be most profitably 
 apphed. 
 
 Now, if we consider the fortunes of the Church throughout 
 Christendom in recent times, we see everywhere the same tenden- 
 cies at work. The formula which is generally used to explain 
 them is, that the political power of the Church has been steadily 
 declining. I am not concerned with other branches of the 
 Catholic Church, in whose history this is conspicuously true. 
 But as regards the Church of England, we must admit that such 
 has undoubtedly been the case ; and it is worth while to appre- 
 ciate the meaning of this fact. 
 
 First of all, I would point out that it is by no means a special 
 result of forces which are working only in our own time, but is 
 the result of a continuous process. The Christian Church was 
 organised, from the beginning, as a Catholic, or Universal 
 Church. There was no such organisation of civil society. When 
 our forefathers in this Island became Christians, they entered in- 
 to an organisation which existed independently of them, and 
 moulded their institutions into some semblance of accordance 
 with its principles. The Church had rules for its children, long 
 before the State had laws for its subjects, and the officials of the
 
 8 Church and State. 
 
 Church gave eflPecfc to the needs of a developing civilization before 
 the State had any means of dealing with them. The English 
 Nation was formed under the fostering care of the Church, which 
 at first gave meaning to the State. But as its lessons were 
 learned, it was natural, and it was right, that the organism of the 
 State should grow as an expression of that natural life, and should 
 develop capacities for dealing with its problems. I need not 
 follow the details of this process, which consisted in transferring 
 to the State work which had once been done by the Church ; and 
 this inevitable transferrence led to collisions between what is 
 called Church and State, but would be more accurately described 
 as collisions between Churchmen and Statesmen. It is enough to 
 say that the excessive centralization of the Church under the 
 Papal monarchy, put the Church at a disadvantage, in comparison 
 with the State, as an organ of national life. The organisation of 
 the Church was broken down by Papal aggression on Episcopal 
 authority; the jurisdiction of the Church was upset by appeals to 
 Rome; the whole mechanism of the Church was made cumbrous 
 and inflexible by the paralysing influence of the Papal Court; 
 and theological studies were restrained within the limits of pro- 
 viding arguments for that system of which the Papacy approved. 
 Hence the Church seemed not only cumbrous, but alien, and 
 greatly lost its spiritual force- The Reformation of the sixteenth 
 century was an attempt to remedy a state of things which every- 
 one deplored. 
 
 The consequence of the changes then made— a consequence 
 entirely unforeseen — was a rapid advance in national self-con- 
 sciousness. I have spoken of Church and State, and the terms 
 are generally used as though between them they comprehended all 
 the forces which are at work on Society. Really behind them 
 both lies the Nation. The Nation means the people as a whole, 
 with all their desires and aspirations ; and by reference to their 
 capacity for developing and expressing these desires and aspira- 
 tions, the institutions, both of Church and State, may fairly be 
 judged. The changes of the sixteenth century were due to the 
 fact that the Church had largely ceased to be an adequate organ 
 of the Nation. The experience of the sixteenth century showed 
 that the State had equally failed. It has been frequently said 
 that the Church has never succeeded in representing the Nation 
 as a whole, and that Nonconformity has become a permanent 
 factor of English hfe. The first part of this statement is un- 
 doubtedly true ; the second part partakes of the nature of a 
 prophecy, which it is our desire to prove untrue. But it is not 
 equally recognised that the State also has failed, since the seven- 
 teenth century, to be an exponent of the wishes of the Nation as 
 a whole. We may glorify Party Government as we please : we 
 may explain it as the supreme discovery of English intelligence to
 
 Church and State. 9 
 
 promote full discussion, and secure universal satisfaction. But 
 the fact remains that no Government professes to give effect to 
 the unanimous wishes of the Nation. With the growth of a 
 higher sense of individual liberty, unanimity has ceased to be 
 possible, and all that we can hope for in politics is the discovery 
 of a workable basis. 
 
 I have made these obvious remarks, because their significance 
 is frequently overlooked. It is an inevitable result of freedom 
 that men should not all think alike ; or wish for the same thing, 
 or pursue the same methods. The State is a necessary organ of 
 the Nation, and has to accept these facts. Its action is the 
 resultant of the organised forces which are, from time to time, 
 brought to bear upon it. I say "of the organised forces;" and I 
 have no doubt that the most widely-felt wishes and opinions are 
 generally those which are best organised. But no one, conversant 
 with the complexity of human life, would regard the results of 
 organisation, at any particular period, as undoubtedly expressing 
 an irresistible desire. The most abiding portions of national life 
 are coo fine and delicate to be brought within the wide meshes of 
 political programmes. Combinations are frequently temporary, 
 and cries disappear as quickly as they are raised. A man is 
 not necessarily resisting the national will, or impeding national 
 progress, if he hesitates to accept an issue in the coarse form in 
 which it is put before him in practical politics. 
 
 I said that the State was a necessary organ of the Nation for 
 the arrangement of common life. It is so ordered amongst us 
 that every man has an opportunity for expressing his opinions, 
 and ventilating his grievances. Having done so, he must abide 
 by the decision of the majority. All political machinery is an 
 attempt to reach the justice and good sense which is contained 
 in the breast of every man. To this we appeal, as the nearest 
 approach to the voice of God, which can be heard amid the 
 tumult and temptations of life. We trust it as being, in the long 
 run, more unselfish than any other utterance which can be made. 
 
 But if the State is a necessary organ of the Nation, so also is 
 the Church, for its object is to keep alive, and educate into 
 increasing sensitiveness, that sense of righteousness which alone 
 exalteth a Nation. It is only apparently, and not really true, 
 that the Church is declined in political importance. There was 
 a time when the Church competed with the State as the director 
 and executor of the Nation's wishes. The State is now the sole 
 executor, but it has become so by ceasing to be the director. 
 It is avowedly the exponent, rather than the educator, of the 
 national will. The modern State has maintained its supremacy 
 by largely abandoning any responsibility for its contents. Its 
 main concern is with mechanism rather than with principles.
 
 to Church and State. 
 
 This is a position which the Church could not assume. It is 
 concerned with principles and with princij)]es only. So long as 
 the Nation, in a rudimentary stage of its existance, was agreed, 
 not only about Christian principles, but about the modes of their 
 application, the Church was entrusted with power. It is sadly 
 true that the Church did not escape from the corrupting influence 
 which always attaches in some degree to the possession of power. 
 There was a period when it resisted the transference of its power 
 to the State, which it had gradually educated to be a more 
 suitable organ of the national will. There was a period when 
 the State used the Church for its own purposes, to keep down a 
 troublesome but sturdy minority which expressed some of the 
 noblest principles of national life. There were times when the 
 Church was so much engaged in outward things that she was, 
 to some degree, forgetful of her great primary duty, and her 
 spiritual activities were crippled amid political and religious 
 controversy. All this, in God's good Providence, has now passed 
 away. The Church of England has learned the lessou which God 
 has taught. She is conscious that she is but an instrument in^ 
 His Hand, and that He who has entrusted to her the truth which 
 she has to teach, and has appointed the means whereby she is to 
 teach it — He, I say, has also prescribed the conditions within 
 which His Work has to be done. 
 
 What then is the result of His Teaching ? What are the con- 
 ditions which He has prescribed ? God's Teaching in history is 
 not the enunciation of new principles, but is a forcible reminder 
 of truths which human frailty has thrust into the background. 
 Man's weakness is shown not so much in his sins of ignorance or 
 incapacity, as in his presumption, his arrogance, his conceit. He 
 is always tempted to limit, for his own purposes of temporary con- 
 venience, the fulness of the Gospel of God's grace. He is tempted 
 to improve, by human wisdom, upon God's methods. He strives 
 to achieve outward success, and to imprison the spirit within the 
 bonds of the letter. What the Church has been taught is briefly 
 this, — that God works by influence not by power. The institutions 
 of the Church were given her that she might bear a consistent 
 testimony to the truth, that so her influence on the world might 
 be steady and intelligible. Those institutions were permanent ; 
 they were raised above the changes and chances of this mortal life. 
 But when they were invested with merely worldly sanctions, when 
 they were allied with any of the fleeting forms of human devising, 
 they were exposed to the same dangers as their allies. The Church 
 of England has at present neither the power, nor the wish, to 
 impose her institutions on any unwilling mind, or to exercise any 
 other influence than that which arises from persuasion and zeal in 
 good works. Such a position, clearly understood and frankly 
 accepted, seems to me to be the noblest and highest which any 
 organised body could assume.
 
 Disestablishment. 1 1 
 
 Disestablishment. 
 
 It seems strange that, just when this result has been attained, 
 there should still exist a desire that the Nation should repudiate 
 any organ for the futherance and expression of the principles of 
 national life. Yet this is what the cry for Disestablishment really 
 means ; and this is the main aspect of a question which concerns 
 us as citizens even more than as Churchmen. As Churchmen, we 
 can only demand that the matter should be thoroughly considered, 
 and can only resolve to do our duty to the utmost as trustees to 
 the great heritage which we think to be wrongfully attacked. But 
 as Englishmen we feel a passionate desire to uphold the dignity of 
 our national life, and prevent an immeasurable degradation of its 
 ideal. That an ancient Nation like England should deliberately 
 repudiate any organic connexion between the basis of its national 
 life and the profession of the Christian Faith seems to me to be a 
 calamity which could never be repaired. 
 
 The main argument on which such a proposal rests is that no 
 one religious organisation expresses exactly what everybody desires. 
 I have already pointed out that this argument would be fatal to 
 any form of the State. Men never did agree entirely. There was 
 a time when disagreement was inarticulate : there was a time when 
 it was suppressed. It is now seen that diverging opinions are 
 harmless and even advantageous about the arrangement of common 
 life, so long as there is a fundamental trustfulness in the general 
 desire for order and justice. On this trustfulness our poHtical 
 system rests ; on the belief that there are great principles of mutual 
 goodwill which underlie definite proposals for altering the 
 machinery of social order, and indeed give that machinery its 
 motive power. Those principles are largely due to the operation 
 of the Christian religion ; and its truths must always supply the 
 nourishment of national activity. About these principles, in their 
 bearing upon the formation of character, there is not much 
 difference between Christian people. The differences arise con- 
 cerning the method of expressing the truths on which these 
 principles rest, of setting them forth to the world, and of applying 
 them to the individual soul. I do not underestimate the extent of 
 these differences, nor do I forget the historical causes from which 
 they sprung. The differences are real, and their causes have created 
 antagonisms which have penetrated men's modes of thought and 
 feehng, and have forced them into an attitude of partisanship. 
 But one thing is clear, that the differences themselves are about 
 questions which can only be settled by patient enquiry and 
 research, to which the spirit of partisanship presents the most 
 serious obstacles. No one can maintain that that spirit of partisan- 
 ship will be diminished by any action that can be taken by the State. 
 The intellectual causes which keep men asunder would not be re-
 
 i i Disestablishment. 
 
 moved by Disestablishment ; the causes which depend on sentiment 
 would be indefinitely intensified. If Nonconformists at present 
 are influenced by a sense of wrong done to them in the past, I do 
 not see what would be the gain of extending a corresponding sense 
 of wrong to Churchmen in the future. It would be a step back- 
 wards from that better understanding which ought to be the object 
 of our common endeavour. 
 
 It is a misfortune, inherent in all human afi'airs, that political 
 questions are rarely raised with reference to things as they are, 
 but as they have been. Forces, which have suffered from un- 
 equal treatment in the past, are liberated, and are desirous of 
 pursuing their victory to some logical conclusion. There was a 
 time in England when the State decided that national unity was 
 only possible on the basis of Religious uniformity. The State 
 failed to secure uniformity, but discovered that outward uniformity 
 was no longer necessary for political security, and consequently 
 withdrew from the attempt to secure it. The Nonconformists, 
 finding themselves driven by the State in a direction in which they 
 conscientiously objected to go, raised a cry that the State ought 
 not to meddle with Religion. Their contention was absolutely 
 true, so far as it meant that the State ought not to exercise any 
 coercive power over the consciences of its subjects. It is abso- 
 lutely untrue when it is pressed to the conclusion, that, to secure 
 this result, the State should be stripped of all connexion with the 
 religious life of the Nation. Yet this is the logical extreme which 
 is being pursued. It is even erected into an axiom. 
 
 There is no political axiom which is, to me, more repugnant, 
 because it degrades the conception of the State, which I, for one, 
 wish to uphold at all costs. I know the axiom in its mediaeval 
 form, when Pope Gregory VII. laid down that Temporal authority 
 had its origin in the instigation of the devil, and drew the con- 
 clusion that Spiritual authority was of necessity its master and 
 director. I regard with suspicion any form in which such an 
 opinion is revived. To me the institutions by which my country 
 is governed are precious, and I should sorely grieve to see their 
 claims on my allegiance diminished. I think that every man 
 ought to be taught to regard his citizenship as something to be 
 prized and exercised with a full sense of conscientious responsi- 
 bility. I can think of nothing so tending to debase the ideal of the 
 State as talk about " freeing the Church from the bondage of the 
 State." This representation of the State as something inherently 
 unholy, something stifling to Spiritual aspirations, something 
 from which the high minded man longs to be delivered, is very 
 dangerous teaching, and indeed is not seriously meant. But Dis- 
 establishment, or, as I prefer to call it, the repudiation of a 
 Christian basis of the State, would go far to give real vitality to 
 such opinions. Deplorable as this result would be, I do not see
 
 Disestablishment. 13 
 
 on what grounds it could be deprecated by those who rashly raise 
 so large an issue to gain such a trivial advantage. 
 
 For it is a large issue which is raised when it is purposed that 
 the English State should divest itself of its religious character. 
 Eeligion will and must hold the chief place in the direction of the 
 aspirations on which national life is founded. It seems to rae 
 supremely unwise, for any motives of temporary convenience, to 
 limit permanently the sphere of the State. It seems to me 
 dangerous to insist that the State shall know nothing of principles 
 but shall only be concerned with machinery. I believe that, even 
 amid present difficulties, English politics gain enormously from 
 the existence of a National Church ; and that the change in the 
 discussion of important questions, and in the methods of govern- 
 ment, which would follow on its removal, would be very large and 
 far-reaching in its consequences. The tone and temper engendered 
 by a body which feels that it is the guardian and representative of 
 Religion, and feels also its responsibility to the Nation, as a whole, 
 is a very calculable element at the present day, is increasingly 
 necessary as a moderating and soothing influence, and is daily 
 developing into greater consciousness of its national mission. After 
 all, our English institutions depend more upon tone and temper in 
 their use than upon their inherent merits. Disestablishment 
 would work a more abrupt change in the principles on which 
 national cohesion rests than any other alteration in our political 
 system. 
 
 The existing state of things in England may be logically 
 anomalous, but corresponds with the English conception of liberty. 
 There is a National Church recognised by the State, and by its 
 side stand a number of Voluntary Organisations. Every man's 
 liberty is respected ; and though each may wish that all were of 
 his own way of thinking, he would be wise, in my opinion, if he 
 recognised that that result can best be pursued by discussion and 
 persuasion rather than by endeavours for external change. I 
 believe that a recognition of this truth is quite possible, and that 
 it would correspond to all that is best in the new aspirations on 
 which the England of the future will be built. At present I am 
 thankfully conscious of the removal of many barriers to a better 
 understanding among different Christian bodies. I think that we, 
 on our side, are free from any feelings of ill will, and are ready to 
 co-operate with all for purposes which we have in common. The 
 chief obstacle to a more rapid progress in friendliness lies in the 
 fact that the question of Disestablishment has entered into an 
 acute political stage. But I remember that many political cries 
 have exhausted themselves in one last shout, and have remained 
 only as feeble echoes. I have every confidence in the good sense 
 and justice of Englishmen, when it is directly applied to any 
 particular question. The only danger at present is that the
 
 14 The Welsh Bill. 
 
 importance of this particular question should be obscured, that it 
 should not be definitely submitted for decision on its own merits, 
 but should, in a limited form, appear as one element in a com- 
 bination which has other and less important ends in view. 
 
 The Welsh Bill. 
 
 The proposal to disestablish the Church in the four Dioceses of 
 "Wales raises a large question in a very unfortunate way. The 
 issue is complicated by the existence of motives which it is difficult 
 to discuss. The desire to revive Nationality as a basis for local 
 government, the desire for social changes which are ill-defined, 
 the wish to lay hands on some funds which may be used for 
 experimental purposes — these are all of them powerful motives 
 which lie behind the specious demand for religious equality. 
 With these desires we are not concerned. They can all be gratified 
 at a less cost than an organic change of the English State. In 
 secular politics this would at once be urged ; but there is a danger 
 that the significance of an ecclesiastical change should be over- 
 looked. But it is obvious that the Disestablishment of the Church 
 in Wales must carry with it the whole question of the existence 
 of a National Church. It is useless to say that the Church of 
 England is not menaced, that it stands upon a different footing, 
 and is not affected by the complications which arise from 
 differences of race and language. If the Church in Wales is 
 disestablished, there is no longer any basis of principle left ; the 
 existence of a National Church is left as a matter to be settled by 
 local convenience. An agitation in any group of counties might 
 lead to a similar demand in other parts of England ; and if the 
 question was skilfully combined with other points of immediate 
 political interest, its importance might be obscured. 
 
 We have a right to demand that so large a question should not 
 be approached piece-meal, and should not be discussed in relation 
 to merely local and temporary conditions. There is no ground on 
 which the Church in Wales can be separated from the rest of the 
 English Church. It has had no separate history since the eighth 
 century. Long before Wales was politicaly united with England 
 it was united ecclesiastically. There has been no breach in the 
 continuity of that connexion. The attempt to represent the 
 Church in Wales as " an alien Church," imposed upon a reluctant 
 people, has no warrant in the facts of history. Welsh Noncon- 
 formity is largely a creation of the early years of this century ; 
 and the ground of its present animosity against the Church is not 
 that it is negligent of the needs of the Welsh speaking population, 
 but that it is too active. That there was a period of such negli- 
 gence cannot be denied. And it is sadly true, in history that the 
 children bear the burdea of the carelessness of their father^.
 
 The Duty of Churchmen. 15 
 
 Institutions are challenged, not when they are at their worst, but 
 when they are putting forth new vigour. The reproach of the 
 past is fixed upon them lest it be forgotten. Haste is made to 
 demand their condemnation, on evidence which is no longer true, 
 but is still specious. 
 
 I have made these remarks to you, because 1 think you would 
 all wish to have clearly before you the grounds on which you 
 stand as regards this question. If the Nation wishes to consider 
 whether or no it shall continue to possess a religious basis for its 
 national life, we Churchmen do not deprecate the discussion. Let 
 the question be clearly stated on its own merits, and let a due 
 measure of time be devoted to setting the matter on its real basis. 
 But we resolutely object to confusing the question of the existence 
 of a National Church with that of the desirability of a larger 
 measure of local self government in a particular district. The 
 unity of the English Church, established or disestablished, is to us 
 a matter of supreme importance. It is useless to tell us that we in 
 England might leave Wales to settle its own affairs. We cannot 
 remain unconcerned when a proposal is made to dismember the 
 National Church. We urge, and we are entitled to urge, that this 
 is a question with which everyone is concerned. I have already 
 referred incidentally to the great moral principle on which popular 
 government must rest: that is, on the appeal to the sense of justice 
 and righteousness which God has implanted in the heart of every 
 man. But the appeal must be made, if the rightness of the answer 
 is to be recognised, on a clear and definite issue. Discussion and 
 delay are of service only as they procure that result. We are justified 
 in this matter in striving our utmost to see that the question is 
 fairly put. To endeaver to procure this is an end in itself, which 
 lies outside party politics. The practical politician would be the 
 first to own his dissatisfaction at the form in which many ques- 
 tions come within the province of his activity. We who feel 
 strongly that a great principle is at stake need have no scruple in 
 urging our conviction, and can appeal to all parties to sympathize 
 with our endeavour to set that principle in the first place. 
 
 It is with a sense of sadness that I close my remarks on this 
 subject. Very willingly would you and I pursue our work for 
 Christ in peace, undisturbed by such controversy. There is 
 perhaps no greater trial to our faith than that which comes when 
 we realise that our attempts to do God's Work in what we believe 
 to be God's Way, expose us to the animosity not of the unbelieving 
 and the ungodly, but of those who call themselves by the name of 
 Christ. We are tempted to say " Let us, at any cost, be free from 
 this antagonism : let us abandon anything that stands in the way 
 of godly union and concord." A moment's reflection shows us 
 that such a course is impossible, and that it would be delusory. 
 We cannot abandon our responsibilities as trustees of a great in-
 
 1 6 The Duty of CJmrchmen. 
 
 sfcitution, intimately associated with our national life, unless we 
 are convinced that the change is in itself wise and right. Nor 
 can we hope that any outward change would extinguish animosity, 
 or that the removal of one alleged grievance would bring lasting 
 peace. Many more questions would be raised by disestablishment 
 than would be settled by it ; we should still be left with many 
 positions to defend, and grounds for misunderstanding would be 
 indefinitely increased. The search for grounds of agreement would 
 retire into the background before the perpetually increasing need 
 for organised resistance. It is our duty amid the complications 
 of this world's affairs, to accept humbly the task which God has 
 given us for our probation. In upholding the Church, we are 
 not striving for ourselves, nor need we be too anxious to commend 
 ourselves to the fleeting fashions of this world's thought or en- 
 deavour. We are upholding the framework of a divinely ordered 
 institution, which in itself can admit of no change, but is 
 endowed with endless adaptability, because it has the promise of 
 the abiding presence of its Lord and Master. We must admit the 
 shortcomings of our forefathers, and must deplore our own. We 
 must learn to labour in such a way that men may see " what 
 manner of spirit we are of." We must strive to remove every 
 pretext for misunderstanding, and approve ourselves as being, in 
 very truth, the Ministers of God. We must be quick to discern 
 all that is good and noble in current objects of endeavour. We 
 must be superior to prejudice, and when " reviled, revile not 
 again." We must carry with us into every field of our activity 
 the fruits of the Spirit " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentle- 
 ness, and goodness " — for these are the witnesses to the truth of 
 our message. 
 
 Any survey of the past, however slight, ought to convince us of 
 human frailty, and of the wrongs which it has done to the Gospel 
 of God's grace. Most grievous is it to see in the past how human 
 arrogance, or selfishness, has found its way into the Church, and 
 has wrought immeasurable ill. Let us give humble thanks that 
 we are free from the temptations which marred so many lofty 
 characters in the past. Let us rejoice that the weapons of our war- 
 fare are those of earnest sympathy and kindly persuasion. It would 
 be a worthy object of our endeavour to change the sense which 
 attaches in current literature to the phrase " the ecclesiastical 
 temper." Surely we know no temper, save the temper of our 
 Lord. It is because I fervently believe that the present position 
 of the Church of England, in its relation to the State and to 
 Society, affords a splendid opportunity for bringing Eeligion to 
 bear upon every relation in life, that I deplore the possibility of 
 any change. The influence of the Church, its responsibility, its 
 sense of a mission — these are inherent in its own nature. Nothing 
 can either add to or take from them, But the sphere and method
 
 The Duty of Churchmen. 17 
 
 of its influence must depend upon the nature of its relationship to 
 the community in which it works. My contention is that the 
 relationship, which now exists in England, is practically in accord- 
 ance with the genius of English institutions, and is fruitful of 
 great promise for the future. 
 
 This truth must be embodied in our outward activity. Our in- 
 ward life is lived with God in the humble effort to engrave upon our 
 hearts the mark of the Lord Jesus. Our Services and our teach- 
 ing are directed to build up the members of Christ, committed to 
 our charge, into a consistent body of witnesses to the truth, " as 
 it is in Jesus." The world may go its way, and ring its changes ; 
 but the commission to Christ's people remains unaltered, — "Ye 
 are the light of the world : ye are the salt of the earth." It 
 is for us to make clear that illuminating power, to make vital 
 that cleansing activity. We can only ask God's forgiveness for 
 our past failures, and pray Him to send us forth again with a 
 deepened sense of our responsibility towards all men, as the 
 followers of Him who " took on Himself the form of a servant." 
 May He of His infinite mercy renew in us that Spirit of Service, 
 and use us for His blessed Will.
 
 1 8 Work in Leicester. 
 
 II. 
 
 Brethren of the Clergy and Churchwardens op the 
 
 Deaneries of Christianity, Akeley, Sparkenhoe, 
 
 AND Goscote. 
 
 It is natural for me in taking a survey of my diocese for the 
 first time to Qpnsider the changes which have taken place in the 
 clerical staff during the last three years. In so doing it is some- 
 what significant to note that during that time I have instituted 
 new incumbents in no fewer than thirteen of the twenty-seven 
 parishes contained in the Deanery of Christianity, while the 
 vacancies in the hundred and six parishes comprised in the other 
 deaneries have only amounted to eighteen. This fact is signifi- 
 cant of the pressure at which the work in Leicester is carried on, 
 and of the rapidity with which it exhausts physical power. Few 
 of the clergy in a large town are able to do what they feel ought 
 to be done for a long number of years in sucession. Few of 
 them are privileged to end their days in the place which they 
 loved so well, and in the discharge of that work to which they 
 had devoted their life's energies. The labour is so perpetual and 
 so exacting that it admits of little relaxation, and leaves no 
 margin for failing power. The sense of personal responsibility 
 does not diminish. No organisation can be so complete, no re- 
 lationship between pastor and people can be so perfect, that it 
 can long survive the withdrawal of actual presence and personal 
 supervision. A changing population, constantly increasing, 
 presents new problems, which have to be faced as they arise. One 
 who is not always seen is soon forgotten. The man who becomes 
 incapable of facing the daily strain is reluctantly driven to the 
 conclusion that he must make way for another. Constant effort 
 is required, and it is difiicult to accumulate a store of reserved 
 force. Such is the overwhelming nature of the work in a large 
 and increasing town. 
 
 I have dwelt upon this because it is a point worthy of atten- 
 tion, I know the regret with which many have severed their 
 connection with Leicester ; but they felt that the severance either
 
 The Church and Society. 19 
 
 was, or soon would be, inevitable. I would say, on their behalf, 
 what they would have wished to say for themselves, because I 
 think that Leicester may be proud of the devotion which it in- 
 spires in those who labour for its welfare ; and the sight of that 
 devotion has been full of deep pathos to myself. Canon Broughton 
 struggled against hope that he might be restored to work, and 
 only withdrew to end his days in peace. Nothing save the 
 sternest sense of duty compelled Canon Yaughan to sever his con- 
 nection with this noble Church, which has been so long identified 
 with his family, and where for years he devoted his great gifts to 
 everything that made for the true advancement of this town, with 
 all its manifold activities. It is not too much to say that his 
 latest volume of sermons is a faithful record of the intellectual 
 and spiritual progress of Leicester, I know how much it cost Mr. 
 Robinson to leave the parish of S. Peter's, which he had built up 
 with unfailing care, and whose ceaseless growth at last overtaxed 
 his strength. I can only rejoice that Dean Ingram was removed, 
 after a long period of splendid service, to a sphere where he can 
 still use his gifts of sympathy, which Leicester trained and quick- 
 ened, for the service of the whole diocese. I speak of these cases, 
 because I think them worthy of record ; and they are recorded in 
 many hearts and souls. I speak of them, not to the exclusion of 
 others, but as types and examples, which may recall to your minds 
 other work which you know to have been done, and which is still 
 being done among you. 
 
 It is natural that to-day I should have this town in my mind, 
 and its problems before me. My brethren from the country will 
 pardon me if I do not attempt a survey which the number of 
 parishes would render tedious, and if I address myself to some 
 considerations which, while they particularly concern great centres 
 of industrial life, should have an universal application. 
 
 The Church and Society. 
 
 The work which Christ committed to His Church was a spiritual 
 work. Its sphere was in the hearts and consciences of men. But 
 men live together in society ; and the individual life is closely 
 bound up with the lives of others. Men live a common life, and 
 the promptings of natural wisdom have always led mankind to 
 endeavour to arrange that common life according to some prin- 
 ciple of natural justice. All human laws and institutions are the 
 means whereby the ideas of justice prevalent in the community 
 are expressed and applied. It is obvious that any spiritual in- 
 fluence which profoundly affects the individual soul must deepen his 
 sense of justice, and make him increasingly sensible of the claims 
 of others. The religion of Jesus Christ from the beginning ex- 
 ercised this influence in a marked way, The Incarnation was felt
 
 20 The Church and Society, 
 
 to obliterate all arbitrary and conventional differences between 
 man and man. It was made known that " there cannot be Greek 
 and Jew, crcumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, 
 bondman, freeman ; but Christ is all and in all." This was the 
 eternal truth about human society. Distinctions were abolished ; 
 all men were equal in the equality of one all-embracing brother- 
 hood. 
 
 But though this was ideally true, it was hard to realise ; for the 
 mass of men were sunk in the selfishness of paganism, and the 
 Christian spirit could only work slowly on the hard and callous 
 world. But that spirit has always been working, with greater or 
 less power, as the testimony of the Church was strong or weak. 
 For there were times when the outward organisation of the Church 
 was incorporated with the world, and when its spiritual influence 
 consequently was small. There never was a time when the spirit 
 of Christian liberty did not speak through individuals and 
 societies, giving hope and encouragement, and pointing towards 
 the ideal end of aspiration. In Christian lands the individual 
 never lost the consciousness of his worth ; and the pressure upon 
 civil society to expand its conception of justice, and enlarge the 
 boundaries of its operation was steady and continuous. This 
 is the one great fruitful principle which can be recognised in the 
 history of Christian times. The true progress that can be traced 
 is a progress towards liberty. This lends dignity to many waste- 
 ful struggles. It compensates for many grievous losses. It 
 accounts for many melancholy failures. Ideals, institutions, 
 organisations perished ; but the sense of liberty grew stronger 
 through their downfall. Church and State alike suffered many 
 disasters. But Church and State alike were made for man ; 
 and mankind grew in dignity even by the misfortunes of its 
 natural protectors and guardians. 
 
 It is then a truth that all institutions must do their work in 
 accordance with the admitted needs of man. The Church of 
 Christ, possessing as it does an eternal comtnission, being witness 
 to the Person of the Lord, must set forth that Person as the one 
 answer to the questionings of man's heart. It is not without 
 God's will that these questionings arise. It is for us to deal with 
 them according to the wisdom and power which God has given 
 us. Let us see what is our position as Christians towards some 
 of the questions which now are uppermost. 
 
 Liberty is the inalienable possession of man ; liberty to express 
 himself, to speak out his thoughts, to become all that he can 
 become, to find scope for his powers, to develop his spiritual 
 capacities. But there is in actual practice the difficulty of ad- 
 justing each man's claim for himself with the equally valid claim 
 of every one of his fellows. This is the problem which society 
 has to solve, and on its solution social well-being depends,
 
 The Church and Society. ±t 
 
 Liberty is frequently regarded as if it were only a right ; but it 
 is also a serious responsibility. The great question for the 
 modern world to determine is, how men are to be fitted to bear 
 the heavy burden of liberty. When my place is allotted to me, 
 when I act under authority, discharge my appointed work and 
 receive my appointed reward, life is comparatively simple. But 
 when my place is left to be determined by my own efforts, when 
 I undertake to be arbiter of my own duties, when I decide how 
 much shall be my labour and what its recompense, I must care- 
 fully scan the conditions of Hfe as a whole, and must learn to 
 keep an open mind and a sensitive conscience. 
 
 Now, if we regard the results of the manifold variety of 
 suggestions, of schemes, of practical activity, and of definite 
 organisations which exist at the present day, we see that they all 
 spring from the consciousness of a liberation of human faculties, 
 from a keen desire to bring every man's life within the sphere of 
 the best influences which man's wit and man's wisdom have 
 discovered. It is true that there is a bewildering fertility of 
 suggestiveness. But this is no unwholesome sign. It is true 
 that some of the suggestions are crude. But Utopia has existed 
 at all times, and though it be not found, the attempts to find 
 it are fertile of results, as were the voyages to discover Cathay 
 and El Dorado. We need not be afraid of ideal systems. All 
 human efforts are conditioned by the imperfection of human 
 agents. It is easy, in the retirement of the study, to make the 
 small assumption that a change in the outward conditions of 
 human life will at once produce an increase of human capacity. 
 Alas, the first steps in actual practice shows us that change is 
 slow in coming, that human nature is stubborn and unyielding, 
 that it cannot be remodelled from without, but must develop from 
 within. Social progress is conditioned by moral progress. The 
 saying of Montesquieu "A Republic is founded on virtue," is 
 insuperably true ; and the virtue of a community rests upon its 
 religion. Law will never be welcomed, never be reverenced, 
 unless it is felt that " its seat is the bosom of God, and its voice 
 the harmony of the world." Proposals for amendment may 
 be made, are made in this imperfect world, in the form of attacks 
 on existing arrangements, and are often founded on claims which 
 may be urged in terms merely of class selfishness. It is the 
 function of the community to do its best to eliminate selfishness 
 from the arguments on both sides, to insist on the case being sub- 
 mitted on the ground of justice, and then to embody its decision 
 in an extended application of recognised principles. Only such a 
 decision will become binding on men's consciences and not merely 
 enlist for a time a reluctant submission to compulsion. 
 
 The organ of the community for this important purpose is the 
 Church, which must always be the guardian, the educator, and
 
 22 The Church and Society. 
 
 the exponent of the national conscience. This fact is being 
 increasingly recognised, and the opinion of Christians is more and 
 more required on all claims which are put forward, and all 
 schemes which are devised, for the amelioration of the conditions 
 of human life. 
 
 Now if we look at the past we see that in former times the 
 influence of the Church was steadily exercised in the form of 
 amending the inequalities of defective social arrangements. The 
 Church, possessing its own conception of the value of man, 
 strove to supplement the action of society, or redress its de- 
 ficiencies. It did so by providing what the State was unable to 
 provide — schools, universities, hospitals, almshouses, and the like. 
 In this way it gradually enforced upon the State a higher 
 conception of duty towards the community as a whole. Thus the 
 whole fabric of the Poor Laws grew up round the alms con- 
 tributed in Church by Christian men for the relief of the sick and 
 the indigent. The State took over this work of the Church, and 
 made binding on all by law the obligation which the Church had 
 enforced on the consciences of her children. But though the 
 State has undertaken some branches of this work, others are still 
 left to private and voluntary beneficence, which the Church must 
 always stimulate and direct. Moreover, new directions for 
 Christian activity are always being discovered, new lines of work 
 are continually being opened out. Efforts for redemption and 
 reclamation, for the removal of temptations and for the promotion 
 of orderly habits, carry on the pursuit of social welfare into regions 
 where the State is entirely unable to follow. The position of the 
 Church as a pioneer remains, and always must remain, unchanged. 
 It is in the very nature of things quite impossible to bring under 
 State regulation the manifold impulses of human nature, or to 
 make State provision for its various needs. 
 
 But though this part of the work of the Church still exists, as 
 pressing and as important as ever, we cannot rest content with 
 simply following on these old lines. The process of the liberation 
 of human faculties, which I have already explained, has made 
 society as a whole anxious to enter upon a larger heritage, of which 
 it has had the promise. The question is asked : "Why should not 
 many of these amending agencies of former times be rendered 
 necessary by their permanent incorporation into the social system? 
 Society has needed Christian charity to redress its inequalities in 
 the past; why should not society revise its system so as to take 
 that charity into its sphere ? Why should we amend from with- 
 out and not reorganise from within ?" With such a demand, 
 conceived in such a spirit, everyone must cordially sympathise. 
 There can be no nobler task, no more truly Christian task, than 
 to garner the results of Christian experience and incorporate 
 them into the system of our common life. It must, however, be
 
 Tlie Church and Society. 25 
 
 admitted that the process must be gradual, and that each step in 
 it requires discussion, which is sometimes carried on in terms of 
 struggle and conflict, by weapons which the Church cannot use, 
 and in a language which the Church cannot speak. 
 
 Let me explain my meaning more fully. The fabric of human 
 society has come into being slowly. It represents the best at- 
 tempts of man's wisdom to arrange the details of common life. 
 This wisdom is in each particular age scanty and limited. Some- 
 times it has been possessed only by a few, who have not always 
 proved superior to the temptation to use their gifts to some de- 
 gree for their own advantage. It has always been applied to the 
 solution of questions which were pressing. Any social system 
 changes only under pressure, for this obvious reason— so much 
 human energy is required to maintain what exists that, without 
 good cause shown, it is not easily diverted to make re-adjust- 
 ments. In fact, men are so occupied with life as it is that some 
 powerful impulse is necessary to direct their attention to what life 
 might be. A new impulse has been given in our day by a larger 
 diflFusion of knowledge, and the consequently increased power of 
 expression. I said that society was an'anged by the best of man's 
 wisdom. The number of those who can form and express opinions 
 has vastly increased. There are numerous demands, and still 
 more numerous suggestions of the means of satisfying them. 
 Great causes are pleaded at the bar of public opinion, and an im- 
 mediate verdict is required. Questions are raised which go to the 
 very foundation of social life, and seem to threaten sweeping 
 change with perilous rapidity. 
 
 It must be remembered that society is the product of man's 
 conscious or unconscious endeavour to provide for the needs of 
 common life. I do not know that change is more inevitable 
 because it is asked for, or that it is more dangerous because it is 
 made consciously. Change and adjustment there have always 
 been ; we sometimes speak as though nothing ever happens save 
 what is formally discussed and voted upon. The most important 
 changes which affect society are those which are unperceived and 
 unrecognised till tliey have been accomplished. Man can do 
 little more by his arrangements than take note of an accomplished 
 fact. Changes in the structure of society cannot be made 
 rapidly ; they are limited by the average capacity to discharge 
 the increased responsibility which they involve. They are tested 
 at every step by their immediate results, and slight mistakes 
 rapidly generate counteracting influences. The balance of forces in 
 human society is almost as delicace as the equilibrium established 
 in the realm of nature. It may be analysed and discussed, but 
 it cannot be summarily altered from outside. Proposals for 
 change may erect themselves into the dignity of systems ; they 
 are but expressions of tendencies, which will be powerful only so
 
 24 The C/mrch and Society, 
 
 far as they are willingly recognised and accepted by the conscience 
 of the community. There is, I think, no real ground for fear of 
 rash or precipitate change in the fabric of society. 
 
 I spoke of the pressure which was necessary to induce society 
 to discuss any question concerning its actual order. This pressure 
 can only come from the generation of new forces, or from the 
 collection and organisation of existing forces into definite activity. 
 The perception of such a pressure is rarely welcomed at once ; 
 for it calls to fresh exertion, and bids men look beyond the 
 maxims which have hitherto been enough to direct them. It is 
 a summons to think, and thinking is always painful. We are 
 always erecting barriers, and enclosing little spots, where we may 
 dwell in intellectual peace, masters of a little world which we 
 have thought out for ourselves. It may not be. The great 
 world surges outside, destroys our palings, breaks in upon our 
 quiet, and asserts that its claims alone are real. It is an accusa- 
 tion sometimes made against Christians that they are too much 
 immersed in the little sphere within which they are striving to 
 lead a protected life, that they are unduly heedless of the cries 
 which are raised around them, that they are indisposed towards 
 new movements, and are not quickly sympathetic with new 
 aspirations. 
 
 Now I am willing to make the greatest allowance for the 
 truth contained in this assertion, which I think needs careful 
 examination. First of all, I cannot deny that it is possible to be 
 selfish in religion ; that a man who has found peace for his 
 own soul wonders that everyone else does not follow his exact 
 example, sets a supreme value on his own experience, and 
 emphasises that as the solution for everyone's troubles. This 
 is a possibility which we have always to keep before us. The 
 richer we know the fruits of our own intellectual or spiritual 
 efforts to have been for ourselves, the more we are disposed to 
 offer them, and them only, as our contribution to the needs of 
 others. Yet we must remember that our own experience ought 
 to result in the possession of principles which are of infinite 
 power of application ; and we ought to be able to apply the love 
 of God, which we feel in our hearts, to any problem which is put 
 before us. A Christian is above all things bound to be studiously 
 humble. We can always learn from the world's criticism — it 
 may be severe, but is is to some extent just. We should have 
 some sort of answer to give to any question which is raised ; we 
 can only regret our own incompetence when we are silent. But, 
 in the next place, it must be admitted that several questions are 
 not always raised in the first instance in a form on which 
 conscience can decide. They appear in a controversial shape, 
 and the statements, it may be on both sides, are crude and 
 exaggerated. It is sometimes difiicult to find the exact principle
 
 Social Problems. 2^ 
 
 of justice, to disentangle the ultimate and the proximate aim. 
 Moreover, it is to be remembered that the Church is, in a special 
 sense, the guardian of all the good that already exists in society. 
 She knows with what difficulty our existing possessions have been 
 acquired, because she knows the extent of the dominion of sin. 
 She cannot put aside the truth about human nature and its 
 inherent frailty. She knows how much care is necessary to 
 maintain even the standard of moral and spiritual effort which 
 now prevails. She wishes to arrange new aspirations according 
 to possible principles of regular and orderly growth. She feels 
 bound to invite new ideas to put forward their best side, to 
 attach themselves to great and admitted truths, to submit to 
 the restraints which are necessary for youthful petulance in 
 individuals and systems alike. 
 
 Now, I believe that it is in steadfastly exercising this purifying 
 and sifting influence that the great work of the Church of Christ 
 for human society depends. Let all men think, and observe, and 
 speak. Let them consider it a duty to put forward for the 
 common good the best they know, the highest they think. But 
 let them do so with a sense of responsibility, and let them rest 
 their claims on demonstrable justice. This is the basis of our 
 political system ; the danger attaching to this system is that the 
 element of justice should be slurred over or assumed, and that 
 the decision should be made by a clash of contending interests. 
 The consciousness of the Christian Church stands between the 
 promulgation of schemes and their political accomplishment. It 
 calls upon " interests " on both sides to discard selfishness. It 
 endeavours to form a tribunal where the public conscience shall 
 sit as judge. The beneficence of this endeavour is obvious. No 
 legal decision is binding conclusively which does not carry with 
 it the approval of the common conscience. No system can 
 prevail which assumes that man is other than he is. No body 
 of men can be compelled to do what they do not think to be 
 right and acknowledge as such. 
 
 Social Prollems, 
 
 The social problems of the present day are in their nature 
 economic. They are concerned with the more equal distribution 
 of material advantages. On the general principle, that it is 
 desirable to distribute them as largely as possible, there is no 
 disagreement among right-minded men. The question is how 
 far it is possible to distribute them, and how experiments can 
 best be made to determine this point. It is obvious that wealth 
 must be produced before it can be distributed ; and experiments 
 in the mode of its distribution must not be such as to interfere 
 disastrously with its production. Hence experiments have to be 
 made cautiously, in detail, and with reference to particular facts.
 
 26 Social Problems. 
 
 These facts, moreover, are in their nature hard to determine ; 
 they are complicated ; they cannot be isolated, but are interwoven 
 with a huge and somewhat artificial system. None but those 
 who have ' given attention to the particular question which is 
 raised can justly venture to express a decided opinion. The 
 organisation of labour, or of capital, is for the purpose of 
 training expert opinion on one side, and of acting upon that 
 opinion. It sometimes happens that the conflict of opinion has 
 to be decided by a disastrous appeal to the power of endurance 
 on both sides. At such times we are all oppressed by the sense 
 of the limitations of human forethought ; our conscience is 
 shocked by the occurrence of strife. There is a temptation to 
 express a rash judgment on the points at issue. But a Christian 
 is not necessarily an economist ; if he were, he would probably 
 know that he was entirely incapable of judging in this particular 
 case ; that judgment required a mass of minute knowledge which 
 he did not possess and could not hastily acquire. 
 
 Has he, therefore, no part to play ? I venture to think that 
 there is much which he can do. He may not be able to help 
 intellectually in settling the dispute ; but he can greatly influence 
 the temper in which it is conducted. He can sympathise with 
 those who are concerned ; and I do not think that the sorrow 
 and suffering is entirely on one side. The dislocation of 
 human relationships is a severe trial. The sense of helplessness 
 before forces which seem as stern and unapproachable as are the 
 forces of inanimate nature, is hard to bear. The feeling of 
 individual sacrifice to maintain a principle with a resolute, 
 orderly, unimpassioned mind, is an enormous demand on human 
 nature. The voice which says " Sirs, ye are brethren," is a 
 grateful reminder of a necessary truth, which sometimes threatens 
 to escape. The pressure of the hand which recognises the gravity 
 of the situation carries sustainment. The sympathetic criticism 
 which pleads: "You struggle for a principle ; keep that principle 
 unsullied by passion ; I cannot say if you are intellectually right 
 in your end, but I can judge if you are morally right in your 
 means ; " this is the support which keeps men true to their best 
 selves, and makes for peace. It is the function of the Church to 
 turn men's hearts towards one another ; it is through the main- 
 tenance of an attitude of mutual good feeling that an agreement 
 can most surely be reached. What was impossible on the ground 
 of reason, operating only on the facts before it, becomes possible 
 under the stimulus of quickened sympathy. New hopefulness is 
 engendered; new conditions are discovered; new experiments 
 are worth trying because the germs of new capacities, hitherto 
 latent come into view. Surely this is the inner meaning which 
 we are justified in extracting from the melancholy process of a 
 strike. " We wish for a higher standard of life," is the claim of
 
 Social Problems. ±f 
 
 the worker. " It is impossible, as things are, to alter the con- 
 dition of labour," is the answer of the employer. The conflict 
 compels both sides to look deeper into things, to discover new 
 possibihties, to devise new adjustments, to develop a resourceful- 
 ness, an inventiveness, unknown before. The conclusion finally 
 arrived at is that which is dictated by actual facts ; but in the 
 process it may be that the facts have been modified by new 
 additions, or have assumed a new aspect by change of attitude 
 towards them. 
 
 Surely it is the duty of Christian men to seek out and to 
 manifest the permanent significance of passing events, to discover 
 their fruitful principles and to exhibit them in their inward and 
 abiding meaning. For this purpose the Christian must avoid 
 partisanship, and must seek for that quiet wisdom which comes 
 from the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit of God. In all 
 ages there is a desire for the "vir pietate gravis," whose utterance 
 may compose discord. It is true that in the heat of discussion 
 there are loud cries for active help instead of kindly sympathy. 
 Men need an ally, not a dispassionate adviser. They exclaim 
 "What is the Church doing?" They demand that the judgment 
 of conscience should be entirely on their side. But no fair 
 judgment can be given without a careful sifting of facts ; and it 
 is facts which are in dispute. When the cry is raised that the 
 Church should prononce an opinion, the term Church is generally 
 used to mean the clergy who, I need not remind you, are not the 
 Church, but merely its officers. Now, the clergy are as a rule, 
 from the mere nature of their vocations, the class in the com- 
 munity which is least versed in business affairs. They are little 
 suited, as a body, to decide economic questions. They have the 
 most ardent desire to promote the welfare of their people ; but 
 this desire does not enable them always to judge decisively that 
 any particular scheme for that purpose is immediately practicable. 
 I believe that this obvious truth is generally understood. I 
 believe that what men of all kinds of opinion would all join in 
 advising, is benevolent neutrality in trade disputes, constant 
 helpfulness in alleviating inevitable distress, outspoken criticism 
 of all unfairness, and unswerving maintenance of the great 
 principle of justice. 
 
 The Christian Church is the necessary link which binds men 
 together. It is the great guarantee for peaceful progress. I 
 would urge my brethren to learn all that they can of the actual 
 facts of the occupations of those amongst whom they labour ; to 
 discover their aims, and to apply to all impartially the tests of 
 Christian morality. The great need of our day is that all human 
 relationships should be first moralised and then spirtualised. 
 For this great end we need not only good intentions, but know- 
 ledge and wisdom. I hail with great satisfaction a project for
 
 28 Social Problems. 
 
 forming a Church Workers' Union, in this great town of 
 Leicester. I am convinced that what we need is greater 
 knowledge, and more thoughtfulness, to make zeal more effective. 
 As society becomes more complex every form of activity has to 
 be more specialised, and has to be founded upon a careful study of 
 details. Legislation can only follow slowly upon the develop- 
 ment of tLe national conscience. Christian zeal on the other 
 hand is always in the van, and is striving to occupy new regions. 
 Before society can turn its attention to subjects, religious minds 
 are slowly bringing them into prominence. When questions have 
 once entered within the sphere of politics, religion may leave 
 them to the conscience which she has educated. The Christian 
 claims no reward, not even that of recognition of his labours. 
 The practical intelligence of the world may shape them and may 
 glory in its cleverness. It may emphasise the difference between 
 the political deftness of humanitarian effort, and the long, obscure, 
 and bungling process of Christian charity. We neither murmur 
 nor repine. We only marvel to see in the world's progress new 
 opportunities for the Church, new calls to apply in new places the 
 healing power of the Redemption wrought for all men by the 
 Lord. The world is growing sadly conscious that it cannot cure 
 the wounds which it inflicts. Its eyes are more and more fixed 
 upon the Church, whose attitude and actions are closely scanned. 
 
 My brothers, can you walk in the streets of this great town and 
 not feel the burden of the work which is entrusted to you ? Few, 
 far too few, are the labourers : scanty are the means at their 
 command. I would that there were more clergy, and that they 
 were better supplied with equipment. I would that they were 
 freer from anxiety about material organisation. I would that the 
 laity relieved them more than at present. I know what good 
 service is rendered to good works by many busy men. I know 
 how much self-sacrifice is shown. But is there not room for 
 more ? Great is the labour, but it is blessed. It is God's work, 
 and He who gives us eyes to see it will give us power to perform 
 it. We can only commit ourselves entirely to Him, and so 
 take courage.
 
 The Church and Education. 29 
 
 III. 
 
 Brethren of the Clergy and Churchwardens of the 
 Deaneries of Guthlaxton, Gartree, and Framland. 
 
 I am glad to think that fewer changes have occurred in this 
 part of my diocese than in any other during the last three years. 
 Many of you will think of friends who have been removed, but 
 I will not pause to commemorate them now. I will only express 
 my satisfaction at the signs of vigorous life which have been 
 displayed in many quarters. The restoration of the Churches 
 of Great Bowden, Hallaton, and Freeby. has been successfully 
 accomplished. I am glad to know that the Church of Newtown 
 Linford will soon be put into good order. There are, moreover, 
 two works of great importance which have been achieved in 
 circumstances peculiarly gratifying. The restoration of Foxton 
 Church has been carried out under great difficulties, with a 
 display of energy, and a completeness of result, which far 
 surpassed anything that I could have hoped. The very interest- 
 ing Church of Long Clawson was in such a precarious condition, 
 that at one time it was proposed to remove it altogether and 
 build another in its stead. I am glad to say this course was 
 abandoned, and the old Church has been restored with scrupulous 
 care, to the great satisfaction of the parishioners. 
 
 There is yet another matter to which I could refer with 
 pleasure, — the building of a large and commodious School for 
 Market Harborough by voluntary contributions. This was 
 provided with such heartiness and good will that I cite it as 
 an example of what can be done by clear convictions. I will 
 take that particular instance as affording me a reason for explain- 
 ing what these convictions were and on what they were founded. 
 
 The Church and Education. 
 
 The question of Education is one in which the Church must 
 always have an abiding interest, not so much in particular 
 details as in its essential principles. There are many questions 
 which are questions of administrative detail ; but education is
 
 30 The Church and Edtication, 
 
 founded on principles, of which the Church is in a sense the 
 guardian. The Church, as soon as it was organised, made 
 education one of its chief aims ; and every branch of the existing 
 system of our national education grew up under the shadow of 
 the Church, and under her direction. The progress of society 
 has gone along the line of differentiation of functions. The work 
 of the Church has been to train the national conscience to an in- 
 creasingly high conception of its duties. When the nation has 
 been educated by the Church up to a sufficient point, it shows 
 its consciousness of the advance which it has made by taking 
 over from the Church the work which it has hitherto done and 
 transferring it to the State. This is a natural process, and one 
 which we as Churchmen gladly welcome. We are always ready 
 that any branch of our work for society should be taken over by 
 the great organ of the State, or by voluntary societies. Thus 
 the care of the poor, as a systematic obligation, passed three 
 centuries ago to the State ; and the care of the sick in Hospitals 
 has been taken over by voluntary bodies. 
 
 But these are matters of administrative detail, and raise no 
 difference of opinion about the methods to be followed or the 
 principles on which they rest. It is to be regretted that about 
 education there exists a difference of opinion, which was recognised 
 from the first. The first st«p in making education national was 
 that the Church, together with all other religious bodies, was 
 regarded as an agent of the State, and received subvention from 
 the State for educational purposes. The Act of 1870 proposed 
 that all existing schools should continue as they were, and that 
 the State should supplement them by providing means for the 
 compulsory supply of schools in districts where population was 
 rapidly increasing. 
 
 The Voluntary system and the State system were to exist side 
 by side, and were to influence one another beneficially. This to 
 a large extent has been the case. 
 
 The rapid development of general interest in education, 
 following upon the introduction of a universal system, is a matter 
 for thankfulness and pride. We rejoice that education has been 
 made compulsory and free of charge. We rejoice that England 
 has recognised the rudiments of education as necessary for every 
 member of the community, and has placed it at the disposal of all. 
 We regard such a result as a worthy token of enlightened con- 
 scientiousness, and a quickened sense of universal obligation. In 
 the next place, this general increase of interest in education has 
 produced greater attention to educational methods, and to the 
 conditions in which education can best be conducted. In this 
 also we rejoice, and our desire for educational efficiency is keen. 
 It is true that changes come quickly, that experiments are costly,
 
 The Church and Education, 31 
 
 But it cannot be too clearly stated that the managers of Voluntary 
 Schools are just as much interested in all that can promote educa- 
 tional progress as are the members of a School Board. It is, 
 however, obvious that members of a body which has behind it the 
 unlimited resources of the public purse are not likely to be so 
 critical of new experiments as are those who have to render an 
 account to voluntary subscribers. Men pay their rates in a total 
 sum and shrug their shoulders ; but they wish to know the reasons 
 of every part of a scheme for which they are required to give a 
 voluntary contribution. I may remark in passing, that this fact 
 alone seems to me to constitute one great reason for the mainten- 
 ance of voluntary schools. They not only diffuse, but create, an 
 interest in the progress of education, to a degree which no purely 
 official system could achieve. The members of a Board bow 
 before the decision of a central authority ; the managers of a 
 voluntary school sometimes criticise, not it may be the abstract 
 wisdom of its decree, but its applicability to the conditions of 
 their particular school. 
 
 It is quite natural and right that the large results gained by 
 observation and comparison all over the country should be 
 garnered by the central authority of the State, and that their 
 lessons should be applied. So far as this concerns educational 
 standards and methods no difficulty arises But the question of 
 the conditions under which education can best be carried on not 
 unnaturally raises differences of opinion. The new schools have 
 been built on better plans than those which are of older date. 
 School buildings are subjected to much wear and tear. The 
 majority of voluntary schools were built for a smaller number then 
 that which they now accommodate ; they have been extended to 
 meet increasing needs, till in some cases the capacities of their 
 site seem to be exhausted. It is always a difficult question to 
 decide when a building ought to be renewed ; it is natural that 
 official decisions are not always accepted without a murmur. But 
 I do not think it fair to represent these murmurs, which often 
 spring from local sentiment, as an opposition to educational pro- 
 gress on the part of the managers of Voluntary Schools. A parallel 
 instance occurs to my mind in a matter which is within the 
 experience of my brethren of the clergy. The Diocesan Surveyor 
 for dilapidations is elected by the votes of the clergy themselves ; 
 but his decisions are not on that account accepted without a 
 murmur. The opinion of an outgoing tenant about his house by 
 no means coincides with that of the incomer. In many cases 
 both sides feel just a little aggrieved, and express their grievance. 
 But I do not conclude from that that the clergy are indifferent to 
 the repair of ecclesiastical buildings. 
 
 In point of fact, many of the requirements made by the Educa- 
 tional Department are sanitary requirements ; and no subject
 
 ^2 The Church and Education. 
 
 admits of greater difference of opinion or invites more costly 
 experiments. Yet on the other hand, nothing is more important 
 for the well being of the race ; and I think that the educational 
 influence of school life passed under wholesome and carefully 
 selected conditions is of very great importance. If we look 
 forward, as we do, to education as a means of bringing home to 
 every family the best results of the common wisdom, then we must 
 consider that everything which is under the direction of the com- 
 munity should be above reproach. It is most important that 
 school buildings, their plant, and their arrangements should be 
 adapted to teach neatness, carefulness, and modesty. We cer- 
 tainly wish that our Voluntary Schools should be as good as 
 possible, and that every locality should have the right to be proud 
 of its school buildings. 
 
 We have arrived at a period when, owing to a number of causes 
 — the introduction of free education, the effect of time on our 
 buildings, the heightening of the standard of educational require- 
 ments — there is a decided pressure felt on the resources of Voluntaiy 
 Schools. It is unfortunate, though inevitable, that these causes 
 should have coincided, so that their joint pressure is felt at the 
 same time. This has given rise to an uneasy feeling about the 
 future, which I believe to be exaggerated. It is supposed that 
 this pressure will be continuous, whereas I hold that it has nearly 
 reached its highest point. Compulsory and free education has 
 exercised its full influence on the number of children to be 
 provided for. The requirements of building accommodation 
 must bear a relation to the actual facts of life ; and I think that 
 these requirements will not mount much higher. I do not regard 
 them as excessive at present ; and I entirely fail to see in the 
 desire expressed by the Education Department to make these re- 
 quirements universal, any trace of a policy to raise an undue 
 standard of efliciency. Again, I say it is unfortunate that so 
 much has to be done at once ; but if we set to work and do it, 
 I think that we shall soon settle down for a period of peaceful 
 work, during which I hope that something of the nature of a 
 sinking fund will be started in connection with every school. 
 
 At all events, I am quite sure that Voluntary Schools must be 
 above all suspicion of standing in the way of educational 
 efficiency. 
 
 I have spoken about this matter as far as regards the material 
 aspect. But there is no doubt that this continued pressure for 
 pecuniary support has fallen with such unequal incidence, 
 especially in places where a School Board rate is levied, that 
 there is some objection to the continued maintenance of two 
 systems, one voluntary and the other rate-supported. The 
 question is raised, Is it worth while ?
 
 The Church and Education. ^to 
 
 The reason why the Church has maintained her schools is 
 simply because she did not think herself justified in abandoning 
 her own view of education and of her duty towards it. Her view 
 was not, and could not be, quite identical with that of the State. 
 The State from its nature can go no farther than prescribe 
 such requirements as all are agreed upon as desirable for its 
 citizens. Now Englishmen are agreed that a knowledge of the 
 Christian religion is the chief of these requirements ; but un- 
 fortunately they are not agreed as to the exact form in which 
 Christianity shall be taught. This diflBculty was a real difficulty 
 which no one wished to extenuate. The Church continued her 
 own schools as a security for the religious teaching of her own 
 children. Was she right in so doing ? Has anything in the 
 experience of the last twenty years led us to think that we were 
 needlessly scrupulous and careful ? 
 
 Now in religion, education is more strongly marked off from 
 instruction than it is in secular subjects. Provided that a child 
 is taught to read and write, the mode by which the result is. 
 attained is of secondary importance. I do not say that the mode is 
 of 710 importance ; it may, of course, have great educational value, 
 and may carry with it lessons which go beyond its immediate 
 scope. But the instruction is of value in itself, however it is 
 obtained, and is a permanent possession which raises one who has 
 it to a higher level of capacity. The same cannot be said of the 
 contents of religious teaching. In religion instruction cannot well 
 be separated from education. Let me take an extreme case to 
 illustrate my meaning. I can conceive of religious topics being 
 taught in such a way as to produce excellent results in an ex- 
 amination, and yet to inspire repugnance in the mind of the 
 learner. This is an extreme and improbable case ; but it illustrates 
 the point which I wish to enforce. Religious teaching is not, and 
 cannot be, confined to some part of the instruction given in a 
 school. We all admit that the most important part of education 
 is the formation of character. Now character is only influenced 
 by character ; and the mode in which influence is exerted is by 
 the exhibition of principles operative in their application to 
 particular needs. The whole question of discipline depends on 
 the attitude of the teacher towards the children as human beings. 
 There is in every lesson, no matter what the subject may be, a 
 perpetual appeal, unconscious I admit, to some motive in the 
 child's mind. The appeal, I say, is unconscious, but its effect is 
 cumulative ; and the most important effect of any educational 
 system is the general attitude towards life which it has inculcated. 
 
 It may be said that this is over subtle ; that it is an application 
 of principles, which are true in the more advanced forms of 
 education, to the simpler forms where they cannot be sufficiently 
 developed to be powerful. The maxim '* De minimis non curat lex " 
 
 g
 
 34 l^he Church and Education, 
 
 is a statement of human limitations : if we said " De minimis non 
 curat Deus " we should be speaking blasphemy. Everything that 
 concerns the development of a child's mind and character is of 
 supreme importance ; and that character is undoubtedly the result 
 of all the influences to which it has been subjected. The outward 
 activities of life are constantly disguising the real meaning of 
 actions. There is a difference, which will not only be revealed 
 hereafter, but which works itself out in its effects here and now, 
 between the man whose life is built on a belief in the Lord Jesus, 
 and the man whose life is built on any other basis. The outward 
 aspect of the activity of the two men may be equally satisfactory ; 
 but their tendencies diverge, and they generate different forces. 
 Society, let us remember, is the crude expression of the forces 
 which are generated by its individual members. Every man, in 
 spite of outward agreement or disagreement, looks towards Christ, 
 or he does not. We may over-estimate, or we may under-estimate, 
 particular methods of so doing ; but the efforts of society depend 
 upon the goal of those who make them. 
 
 •This, then, is the reason why we wish to preserve education on 
 Christian principles, and see in it something more than a matter 
 to be decided by considerations of present convenience. We do 
 not overlook all that is said in favour of escaping from present 
 difficulties by accepting a universal system of secular education 
 from the State, to be supplemented by a religious education from 
 various Christian bodies. But we deprecate the separation between 
 religion and life which would thus be emphasised alike in the eyes 
 of teacher and taught. The method of dichotomy has always an 
 appearance of simple justice ; but the proposal of Solomon to 
 apply it to a living organism revealed the true parent. Doubtless 
 her preference for unity partook of the nature of obstruction. 
 The Church must run the same risk of misrepresentation in her 
 desire to be the true mother of her children. 
 
 So then, I am convinced that we are doing a real service to 
 the community by holding fast to our Church schools. The 
 pressure is severe ; the difficulties are many ; the labour is hard ; 
 the future is uncertain. But the object is worthy ; and we act 
 in a missionary spirit. We are not striving in the interests of 
 the Church as one out of many religious organisations ; but we 
 are struggling for Christianity and we are struggling for education. 
 We do not wish, if we can help it, to see the abiding interests of 
 either of these great causes sacrificed to temporary difficulties. I call 
 them temporary because no one can say that the existing situation 
 corresponds to the expectations or wishes of the community. It 
 has come about by a series of accidents ; and the only danger is 
 that the trouble of disentangUng complications should lead to a 
 desire to solve them in the simplest and shortest, rather than in 
 the wisest, way. At preseat the teaching of religion in Board
 
 The Church and Education. 35 
 
 Schools is a matter of frequent dispute. It is identified with 
 political questions, which have no real connection with it. It is 
 settled by reference to principles which are not related to religion. 
 Principles, in fact, have been turned upside down ; and at present 
 many who once maintained general principles in a too abstract 
 way, do not know how to escape from the unwelcome results which 
 they have brought. The desire to prevent any one Christian body 
 from being unduly favoured has practically led to the favouring of 
 the smallest and least Christian body ; and many earnest Christian 
 men still express themselves satisfied with this result, simply 
 because it is the logical conclusion of the principles which they 
 unwisely advocated. The pursuit of undenominationalism has 
 led to the omission of every truth about which there was a diflfer- 
 ence of opinion, till nothing is left but Unitarianism. Christian 
 men cannot long face this fact with any semblance of satisfaction. 
 It is diflficult to get rid of principles which have been proved 
 deceptive. No man likes to admit that he has made a mistake. 
 We stand at a point where obstinacy still conquers reason. But 
 in a little while it is to be hoped that reason will prevail ; and 
 that some more fruitful principle will gradually be substituted for 
 its barren predecessor. 
 
 For really the matter stands thus. The cry was raised, and 
 was at first accepted: "No religious teaching ought to be provided 
 at the public expense which any section of the community objects 
 to." This principle has been tried, and has not worked satis- 
 factorily. It is difficult to discover that to which no one objects ; 
 and when it is gradually discovered it does not correspond to the 
 expectations which were formed about it. This would not be a 
 convincing argument against the present system if no other 
 principle could be substituted. But there is another principle 
 which is more in accordance with our English conception of 
 liberty. It is this : " All religious teaching ought to be provided 
 at the pubHc expense which any section of the community desires." 
 We have tried the experiment of allowing every parent to say 
 what he does not wish his children to be taught : might we not 
 try a system which allows every parent to say what he does wish 
 his children to be taught ? Is it not better for the community to 
 give eflPect to the positive desires of its citizens rather than to 
 gratify their negative objections ? Surely true liberty consists in 
 everyone having his own way so far as is compatible with the well- 
 being of society as a whole. Where men are not agreed society 
 cannot enforce a general system ; if it tries to create a general 
 system by attempting to discover a residuum, after all disagree- 
 ments have been omitted, it is really doing a wrong to all positive 
 convictions, and is working in the interests of those whose 
 convictions are fewest. While professing to be neutral it is really 
 throwing the weight of its influence into the sc^le wbigh weighs
 
 o 
 
 6 The Church and Education. 
 
 the least. This fact is being gradually appreciated. When it is 
 more clearly seen its significance will be recognised. By main- 
 taining our Voluntary Schools, at a considerable cost of repeated 
 acts of self-sacrifice, we are afl'ording public opinion time to turn 
 round. We are not engaged in a hopeless struggle against a 
 system which satisfies everybody except ourselves. On the other 
 hand, we are maintaining a principle which makes for a larger 
 conception of individual liberty than that which at present 
 prevails. 
 
 We are, therefore, maintaining "Voluntary Schools not primarily 
 in the interests of the Church, but of the Christian religion. 
 We wish to make common cause with all Christians. The 
 issue is too serious to be confounded with any other ; and our 
 hopes for the future depend on our power of making clear the 
 absolute integrity of our intentions. Let us make it clear that 
 we ask nothing for ourselves which we do not ask for every other 
 religious body. We desire to see religious instruction given in a 
 religious spirit, and given intelligently. We value a knowledge 
 of the Bible, not only for its religious importance, but for its 
 educational importance. I think that this is apt to be under- 
 rated ; but to me it seems that the only instruction given in 
 elementary schools which tends to mental cultivation is that 
 which centres round the teaching of the Bible. The Bible 
 contains history, poetry, morality, as well as rehgion. It stimu- 
 lates fancy and developes thought, besides the spiritual influence 
 which it exercises. Any knowledge of Scripture is some founda- 
 tion on which the soul may one day be built up. It would be 
 grievous indeed if the jealousies of rival sects should imperil the 
 vast advantage to be obtained from every child knowing the 
 contents of Holy Writ. 
 
 I would, therefore, urge upon you to maintain all existing 
 provisions for religious teaching, and try to make them as ample 
 as can be. I would urge the recognition of all teachers as entrusted 
 with a religious mission, and entitled to sympathy and esteem. 
 The schoolmaster, whether he be the master of a Voluntary School 
 or of Board School, should be regarded by the clergyman as his 
 natural friend and helper. The school in like manner should be 
 the object of interest to all who are striving for the welfare of 
 the parish. We cannot think too much of it, nor of the young 
 ones who will soon grow old and form the England of the future. 
 
 These are general considerations, and perhaps do not help 
 directly to that "educational policy" which is so often demanded. 
 I do not think that opinion at present is ripe for a universal 
 agreement. But by maintaining our schools we maintain the 
 cause of religious education, which I believe the P]nghsh people 
 have sincerely at heart. We maintain them in the hope of a time 
 when all schools may be federated, and all children may receive
 
 Tlie Church and Education. 37 
 
 the religious teaching which their parents wish. As Churchmen, 
 we want nothing more than a guarantee that the children of 
 Church people may be taught what their parents wish them to 
 be taught. The same liberty which we ask for ourselves we ask 
 for all others. If this were to be achieved, we should have a 
 system of national education which corresponded to the facts of 
 national life ; and all financial diflBculties would be at an end. In 
 fact, the Church is not striving against a national system of educa- 
 tion, but is striving to discover one which will be national in 
 reality as well as name, in contents as well as in externals. 
 
 I have spoken hitherto of the religious side of elementary 
 education. It is deplorable that " the education question " should 
 at present mean this, and this only. This aspect is of primary, I 
 may say of vital, importance ; and when once raised must remain 
 in the first place till it is settled. But there are many other 
 questions connected with education in which the clergy should 
 be deeply interested. They ought from their position and their 
 opportunities to be the independent observers and critics of the 
 whole system of elementary education, which is still in a rudi- 
 mentary condition. No one can profess unmixed satisfaction with 
 its results in awakening intelligence and forming character. 
 Teachers, inspectors, and those who are called educationists, 
 all have their own proposals for amendment. But the clergy 
 ought to lead in creating a public interest in the contents of 
 education. It is uoj enough to build school buildings in 
 accordance with the last requirements of sanitary science, nor to 
 determine how much religion shall be taught in them. There 
 remains the abiding question, by what means, and in what sub- 
 jects the intelligence of the scholars can best be developed. I 
 incline to think that our present system errs on the side of 
 uniformity. It does not follow that all over England, in 
 towns and country, the subjects should be substantially the same. 
 There is need for greater latitude of experiment. But any relaxa- 
 tion of central control in this respect is only possible if local 
 interest be keen, and if there be an intelligent body to whom 
 some measure of responsibility may be delegated. I could 
 imagine a committee of the Town Council, or the District Council, 
 which stood between the schools and the Department. But the 
 existence of such a body would probably presuppose more general 
 interest in the nature and contents of education than already 
 exists. To quicken such interest is a worthy object, which ought 
 not, even among the pressure of other objects, to be forgotten. 
 Moreover it is becoming increasingly plain that an education, 
 which necessarily ceases at an early age, needs to be supplemented. 
 In the country no one ought to be so zealous as the clergyman in 
 organising and directing Continuation Classes, It ought to be a 
 natural and obvious thing for every child who leaves school to bo
 
 3^ The Church and Education. 
 
 drafted at once into such a class, and to continue a course of 
 regular study. The utility of such a proceeding should be 
 enforced from time to time on those who are about to leave 
 school ; and it ought to be possible to form a fairly accurate 
 idea of the sort of subject which would possess most interest for 
 them. A little care in combining a certain amount of recreation 
 with instruction would undoubtedly make the arrangement easier. 
 Every clergyman has some sort of organisation of his own for the 
 good of the young when they leave school. He would find this 
 organisation much more potent for good if it did not stand alone, 
 but comprised every agency which could help to form character. 
 Industry and application are habits which affect the whole of 
 life. Boys and girls would be more likely to be regular at 
 Sunday School, at Confirmation Classes, at Communicants Classes, 
 if they also attended Continuation Classes. The intellectual life 
 is closely connected with the spiritual life. Nothing would 
 be more likely to promote the welfare of the young than that 
 they should leave school with a workable scheme for disposing of 
 their leisure, with intelligible objects set before them for their 
 own welfare. Every child carries away from school at least a 
 sense of disciphne. With a little personal care this might be 
 maintained against the temptations of a precocious freedom. It 
 is the few weeks after leaving school which constitute the most 
 severe crisis of a young life. Care at such a time is most fruitful. 
 It is easier to keep the young in hand, than to recover a hold 
 which has been lost. But this can only be done by providing in 
 some degree for all the natural needs of developing character. 
 
 In the same way the clergy ought to be assiduous helpers in 
 the experiments which are now being made in the direction of 
 Technical Education. I think it most fortunate that one branch 
 of education has accidentally been left open for local experiments, 
 and I hope that this experimental stage will not be prematurely 
 checked. But this will undoubtedly depend upon the interest 
 which is taken in it. I]xperiment is of little value unless it is 
 accompanied by careful observation, and the clergy ought to form 
 a class of interested and capable observers. Organisers and 
 teachers alike have much to learn, and would be grateful for 
 unobtrusive hints founded on an appreciation of the difficulties 
 and on a desire to help. 
 
 I need not pursue this subject further. It is our boast in 
 England that education in the past has been almost entirely the 
 work of men animated by religious motives. It must always be 
 the work which comes next in importance to directly spiritual 
 work. I have given reasons why I think that the continued 
 interest of the Church in the matter is needful for some time to 
 come. The school must still hold its place as part of the 
 machinery of the parish. I can only say that it is more valuable
 
 TJie Church aftd Education. 39 
 
 than many objects on which money is freely spent, organs, 
 decorations of the Church, painted windows, and the like. 
 
 The great argument to be adduced for the maintenance of 
 Church Schools is the religious life which they develope. This 
 largely depends upon the zeal of the clergymen and his hearty 
 co-operation with the teachers. Interest in children is surely easy 
 to every one ; the bond of sympathy established in childhood 
 ought to grow steadily stronger as life goes on. All eflForts for 
 the good of man must begin at the beginning. Take care of 
 Christ's little ones ; they will teach you more than you can teach 
 them. The surest sign of social progress is increasing interest in 
 the generation that is to come. " When our sons are like plants 
 grown up in their youth, and our daughters like corner stones, 
 poHshed after the likeness of a temple " — this is the first step to 
 that sound national prosperity which leads to the glorious re- 
 cognition, *' Blessed are the people that is in such a case : Yea, 
 happy are the people whose God is the Lord."
 
 40 Work in Northampton. 
 
 T\r. 
 
 Brethren of the Clergy and Churchwardens op the 
 
 Deaneries of Northampton, Daventry, H addon, 
 
 Preston, Rothwell, and Weedon. 
 
 I must begin by expressing my satisfaction that I have no 
 melancholy losses to chronicle in the clerical staff of Northampton. 
 Despite the increasing pressure of work, the work has been done 
 cheerfully and well. Our losses have been in the country district. 
 We mourn the removal of Mr. Rigby and Mr. Longhirst, both of 
 them faithful workers in God's service ; and all who knew Mr. 
 Gilbertson must have felt the value of his example as a man of 
 wide learning and ready sympathy, who dwelt among his people 
 and made his life one with theirs : you will join with me in 
 praying that God's blessing may rest on his declining years. 
 There is much care needed to make provision for the needs 
 of the increasing population of Northampton ; but we have 
 been greatly cheered in our efforts by the splendid gift of the 
 Church of S. Matthew's, which has begun its career of usefulness 
 with a completeness of everything necessary to add dignity to the 
 service of God's House. Such an example will be powerful in 
 raising the standard of munificence and encouraging efforts on an 
 humbler scale. I need not remind you that these efforts cannot 
 be relaxed. We have seen the completion of the Church of S. 
 Edmund's ; but already the need is felt for another church to 
 relieve that parish and the adjacent parish of S. Michael's. I 
 trust that timely provision will be made for that purpose. 
 
 In the county the restoration of the Churches of Upton and 
 Everdon is a matter of much satisfaction ; while the Churches of 
 Maidwell and Draughton have been put into perfect order by the 
 munificence of one to whom the diocese owes a debt of lasting 
 gratitude.
 
 Biblical Criticism. 4I 
 
 Biblical Criticism. 
 
 I propose to speak to you to-day about the main aspect of some 
 intellectual questions which are agitating men's minds as 
 regards the Bible. It is a large subject, and I cannot hope to do 
 more than deal with its immediate and practical application to 
 ourselves and our teaching. 
 
 The Church of Christ stands in manifold relations to the 
 world, so manifold that we are constantly wishing to escape 
 from some of them, to reserve something as entirely our own, 
 entirely free from the changes and chances of this mortal Hfe. 
 God is always declaring to us that this may not be ; and we learn 
 His lessons with pain and with a rebellious sense of disappoint- 
 ment. Man is always wishing for something absolutely fixed. He 
 is constantly erecting barriers beyond which change may not pass : 
 he is constantly seeing those barriers swept away. It was the 
 work of the Middle Ages, amid the stress of war and the 
 pressure of political insecurity, to build up an inalterable system 
 in the organisation of the Christian Church. Oblivious of actual 
 fact, the Western Church claimed to be a universal and necessary 
 system, so constructed that its unity was beyond challenge. The 
 revolt of the sixteenth century against the arbitrary limitations 
 Vfhich this system imposed upon the spiritual life shattered for 
 ever its claim to universal allegiance. The Bible was then by 
 many of those who departed from the system of the Church clothed 
 with the same claims to infallibility which they denied to any 
 organisation. The result has been that the Bible, in its turn, has 
 been subjected to the same process of investigation as that which 
 was undergone by the system of the Church. This process has 
 been continuous ; but its results have been more rapid in recent 
 years, and have been communicated in a more out-spoken 
 manner. 
 
 Now the Church of England stands in a unique position as 
 regards the whole of this phase of religious development. It did 
 not, like other bodies, cast aside the ancient system of the Church. 
 It was not tempted into the paths of revolution, but followed the 
 safer course of reformation. It did not break the continuity of 
 the historic Church, but with sound learning and spiritual insight 
 proceeded gradually to disentangle what was primitive and Catholic 
 from later accretions, which might be useful or otherwise in them- 
 selves, but were to be judged in the first instance with reference, 
 not to their temporary usefulness, but to the standard of Scripture 
 as interpreted by primitive practice. The Church of England, in 
 fact, strove to distinguish between the authority which God for 
 His purposes had conferred on His Church, and that authority 
 which man for his purposes had claimed in God's name. This 
 process was the result of criticism, of careful investigation,
 
 42 Bihlicdl Criticism. 
 
 accurate inquiry, and impartial weighing of evidence. It did not 
 please enthusiasts on either side ; but it was a humble and 
 sincere attempt to learn the lesson which God had taught His 
 Church, and to submit human inventions, however veoerable, to 
 the test which God prescribed. 
 
 Hence it is that the Church of England stands in a remark- 
 ably free attitude towards the progress of human learning. It 
 has nothing to conceal, and shrinks from no enquiry. No religious 
 organisation attaches a higher importance to Holy Scripture, or 
 venerates more highly its authority ; but it has never committed 
 itself to any theory concerning the mode in which Scripture was 
 written, or the weight to be attached to it for any other purpose 
 than that of ascertaining all that is necessary to salvation. That 
 the Scriptures contain God's revelation to man there must be no 
 doubt ; but the Church of England has never erected any arti- 
 ficial barrier against enquiry into the mode in which that revelation 
 was made, into the method and degree in which God's Spirit made 
 use of human instruments, into the way in which national records 
 were penetrated with the sense of a Divine purpose. It is true 
 that assumptions have been made on these points, and also on 
 others. Men have always asked questions, and have given 
 themselves answers to the best of their capacity. Such answers 
 are of the nature of hypotheses, founded on the best knowledge 
 available, but capable of extension or alteration as knowledge 
 advances. Thus in former times men inferred the answer to 
 questions concerning the origin of the outward world and the 
 beginnings of life from the words of Scripture. When these 
 questions were investigated in reference to observed facts, the 
 results of enquiry did not correspond with the prevailing 
 hypothesis. The enquirers did not always content themselves 
 with putting aside these hypotheses, but unwarrantably attacked 
 the spiritual truths from which these hypotheses had been wrongly 
 inferred. While, on the other side, those who maintained the 
 spiritual truths showed undue reluctance to abandon hypotheses 
 which rested on speculative inference and not on the evidence of 
 observation and experiment. 
 
 In some sense, this is the case with Biblical Criticism. The 
 ordinary mind has accepted certain views about the authorship 
 and method of inspiration of the Bible, which were current 
 hypotheses, till the question was subjected to careful investiga- 
 tion. I am far from saying that these hypotheses are untenable ; 
 but everyone ought to be quite sure about the difference between 
 what is actually said in Scripture on those points, and what is 
 merely the view which he himself has been led to adopt. It is 
 obvious that the position of Scripture is not affected by anything 
 which only investigates the current opinion about it, and carefully 
 weighs the statements which it contains.
 
 Biblical Criticisvi. 43 
 
 Still, it is natural that many pious Christian minds should be 
 disquieted by the abundance of recent speculation on the author- 
 ship and mode of composition of many of the books contained in 
 the Bible, It must seem to them that such treatment introduces 
 uncertainty into God's Word as a whole. It is indeed sad, but 
 inevitable, that every intellectual process should be at first tenta- 
 tive. In our own day results are made known as they occur to 
 the explorer's mind, and are put forward in a form which can 
 never be considered final. There is a tendency to assign great 
 weight to particular theories, simply because they are put forward. 
 There is an uneasiness at knowing that on such points there can 
 be any difference of opinion. There is an uncomfortable feeling 
 of distrust in some minds. 
 
 My brethren, his faith must always be weak which rests upon 
 details, and not upon the apprehension of a spiritual principle of 
 life. The central object of the Christian faith is the Person of 
 the Lord Jesus, in whom was made the supreme revelation of 
 God's purpose to the world. No man's faith is secure unless it 
 rests on Him, and has become vital by spiritual experience. Let 
 us remember that the meaning of Christianity is this ; God mani- 
 fested in Christ Jesus, who is to us the Way, the Truth, and the 
 Life. 
 
 This is obvious enough in itself. But the appreciation of it 
 greatly affects our attitude towards intellectual questions when 
 they are raised. The Christian's belief is in a Person, Who is 
 ever present with him, in Whose presence his life is lived, and 
 by Whose aid his soul's activities are developed. The Bible is to 
 him the divinely ordered record of that Person. In other words, 
 we read our Bible that it may show us Christ, and that by prayer- 
 ful study and meditation Christ may grow in our hearts by faith. 
 
 The Book which is thus intimately associated with our life 
 and thought has an inherent sacredness. The Christian cannot 
 regard it as like any other book. He shrinks from subjecting it 
 to ordinary tests, or treating it in a cold and external manner. 
 Yet this is precisely what he has had to endure, and what he 
 cannot hope to escape. 
 
 If we ask how this situation comes about, we must answer that 
 the mind of man is perpetually curious, and through its growing 
 curiosity God trains us to a constant increase of knowledge. God 
 created man after His own image, and gave him his faculties of 
 body and mind that he should replenish the earth and subdue it. 
 Every increase of knowledge gives man greater power over hia 
 surroundings. It is made, we cannot doubt it, in accordance with 
 the will of God, and may be used for good or for evil. It is used 
 for good if it re-inforces the spiritual and moral perceptions of 
 man ; it is used for evil if it leads to arrogance and short*sighted
 
 44 I'h.e Old Testament, 
 
 denial of God and His relation to man. That relation is summed 
 up in the manifestation of the Lord Jesus ; and the Scriptures 
 show us that manifestation and the steps which prepare the 
 way for it. The contents of God's revelation made in the Bible 
 are briefly — the preparation for Christ, the Coming of Christ, and 
 the beginnings of Christ's Church ; or in other words, the history 
 of Israel, the life of Christ, the doings and writings of His 
 Apostles, 
 
 Now these are concerned with facts, facts which have a spiritual 
 significance to the believer, but which also stand in relation to 
 other facts of recorded history. Criticism is the attempt to 
 determine that relation ; and in so doing it examines the re- 
 cords in which these facts are contained. The value of such an 
 examination must always depend on the impartiahty with which it 
 is undertaken. Much of the criticism of the New Testament has 
 been animated by the desire to explain away the miraculous 
 element which it contains, by depriving the Gospels of the 
 authority of contemporary records and representing them as 
 the work of a later age with legendary accretions. Now if an 
 ingenious writer begins with that intention, it is comparatively 
 easy to put together a case. But the case only seems strong till 
 it is answered. It is only after a lengthened controversy, when 
 every available scrap of evidence has been carefully collected, 
 interpreted in every possible way, weighed and judged from every 
 side, that it is possible to determine the limits within which two 
 opinions are tenable. It is enough to say that as regards the 
 Gospels the controversy has driven their assailants nearer and 
 nearer to the date of the authors to whom they are ascribed by 
 tradition. 
 
 In recent years, however, criticism has been more busied with 
 the Old Testament than with the New. It is obvious that the 
 questions which may be raised concerning the Old Testament 
 cover a much larger area than those which can be raised concern- 
 ing the brief period which is covered by the New Testament. 
 The Old Testament in fact contains the whole history and 
 literature of a people. Those records and that literature possess 
 a remarkable unity. They show a consciousness of a divine 
 purpose running through human aflTairs and inspiring human 
 thought. It is this consciousness of a purpose, becoming more 
 and more definite in its expectation of a spiritual redemption, 
 which gives them their eternal value to the Christian. But we 
 must admit that, besides their religious significance, they possess 
 also a vast historical importance, and have a unique literary 
 value. They form a central point of interest for students of 
 ancient history, of early institutions, and of the development of 
 human thought. These are all studies which have an existence 
 independent of religion. AVe cannot feel surprised that students
 
 The Old Testament. 45 
 
 of these subjects sh ould apply to the records contained in the Old 
 Testament the same method of critical examination which they 
 believe to have been fruitful of results as regards the records of 
 the history of other nations. 
 
 But here I would say at once that all criticism is after all only 
 conjectural. It depends partly upon a careful comparison of the 
 written history with other similar records, with inscriptions, and 
 the like. But it depends also largely on the assumption of a 
 certain creative sympathy with past conditions, which enables the 
 critic to weave together scattered hints into a connected system. 
 His results can never be absolutely certain. They depend upon 
 a point of view which is only probable, and which can only prove 
 its probability by the ingenuity with which it weaves together 
 established facts and slight indications. It can never rise beyond 
 the level of a plausible hypothesis, liable to be upset by some new 
 discovery, or by a more plausible hypothesis. 
 
 Now the criticism of Hebrew documents is rendered difficult 
 by the absence of any data for comparison. We know the 
 development of the English language, and we could recognise 
 the arguments by which a particular document could be shown 
 to belong to a particular date. But in the Hebrew writings any 
 theory of literary development must depend on reasoning which 
 is rarely beyond dispute. There may be a temporary agreement 
 amongst scholars, but it rests upon too frail a foundation to 
 become absolutely permanent. There is a charm about a 
 luminous suggestion ; but its luminousness often disappears. 
 The human mind is hard to satisfy. One generation builds up 
 and another pulls down. There can be no finality where there is 
 no positive evidence available. No theory about the composition 
 of the books of the Old Testament can at present be accepted as 
 established. On some points I do not see how any theory can 
 hope to win its way to undoubted acceptance. For instance, no 
 evidence is available which will enable a decision about the 
 authorship of the Psalms, so as to supersede authoritatively the 
 traditional attribution. 
 
 Moreover, the important point about the history of Israel is its 
 exhibition of the national consciousness. The Jewish historians 
 set forth a Divine purpose running through human affairs. It is 
 this interpretation of God's purpose in events, not the events 
 themselves, which gives this record of a nation's life its religious 
 significance. This remains untouched, whatever theory be 
 adopted about the authorship and mode of composition of the 
 records. This is admitted on all hands. The critics of the Old 
 Testament do not attempt to deprive it of its religious importance 
 as a Divine revelation. They are merely engaged in investigating 
 the mode in which that revelation was made. Those who have
 
 46 The Old Testament. 
 
 not been accustomed to such iuvestigations shrink from them 
 •with a feeling of alarm at the audacity of the attempt. They 
 have received the Bible as the Word of God. They may take 
 courage by thinking that it will ever remain so. Analysis may, 
 or may not, succeed in establishing its results about the mode in 
 which the Old Testament came into its present shape. But it 
 cannot, and does not undertake to account for the spiritual 
 conceptions which it reveals. The Spirit of God spake to the 
 spirit of man, *' by divers portions and in divers manners." If 
 God chooses that men should meditate on these manners, and 
 endeavour to separate these portions, it is only the attempt to 
 express in organised form what was impUcitly felt by a writer 
 in apostolic times. 
 
 For my own part I feel that God calls man to exercise his mental 
 powers, and wills that we should " prove all things, and hold fast 
 to that which is good." I would not venture to check enquiry, 
 conducted in a reverent spirit, by rash assertion of its futility, or 
 by appeals to ulterior considerations. I think that it is dangerous 
 to maintain that we are bound to uphold the conception of the 
 authorship of the Old Testament prevalent amongst the Jews at 
 the time of our Lord, because on some occasions He spoke of it in 
 the only way which was intelligible to those whom He addressed. 
 This is a very large subject, requiring careful treatment, and 
 opening up theological questions which have never yet received 
 the judgment of the Church. The mystery of the Incarnation is 
 an eternal verity whose significance we must keep intact. The 
 records of past controversies show us the dangers which ensued 
 from attempting to discern too rashly between the '* very God and 
 very man " in the Person of the Lord. He bore witness of the 
 Scriptures that they testified of Him, that they constituted a 
 Divine revelation. Their words were in His heart and in His 
 mouth. His example forbids us from under-valuing their 
 sacredness. 
 
 But I own I shrink from interpreting His language with 
 reference to a question which is not religious, but scientific. If 
 the criticism of the Old Testament was directed to prove that it 
 was not the Word of God, that it contained no divine message 
 for mankind, then the authority of Jesus would be final against 
 such an attempt. But the criticism which we have in view aims 
 merely at deciding — in accordance with certain principles, whose 
 value has yet to be exactly determined — by what means and at 
 what time the Old Testament came into its present form. Such 
 an enquiry has only recently become possible. It seems to me 
 dangerous to construct logical dilemmas, and involve the great 
 doctrine of the Incarnation in passing controversy. 
 
 There are some minds which are impatient of anything that 
 resembles suspended judgment : indeed suspended judgment is
 
 The Old Testament. 47 
 
 impossible as regards vital principles. We must believe the Bible 
 to be the "Word of God, and Jesus to be the Word made flesh. 
 But the relation of God's revelation in Scripture to God's perpetual 
 revelation, which is being made in history and in life, is a matter 
 which may be considered. Scripture has been interpreted in the 
 past in various ways, and has been applied to the settlement of 
 current questions according to prevailing modes of thought. 
 Some of these modes of interpretation we now reject as unsound 
 or partial. As a matter of fact no one part of man's knowledge 
 can exist by itself. One truth is insensibly held in relation to 
 other truths, and derives its vital power from the questions to 
 which it is applied. These questions are raised for us. We are 
 none of us individually responsible for them. They are there and 
 must be answered. They are the heritage of our own age and of 
 the special conditions among which our life is cast. Are we to 
 say that this is accidental, or that it is God's purpose for us ? A 
 Christian cannot doubt about the answer to this question. He 
 must assume the responsibility which devolves upon him, and 
 submit to the discipline by which alone it can be discharged. 
 
 It is the temper of the present day to ask the question How ? 
 about all things. We can welcome such curiosity ; but the point 
 where we must be cautious is that the answer given to the question 
 Howl should not be confused with the answer to that other 
 question Why 'I No investigation how the Scriptures are the will 
 of God can answer the question ivhy they are the will of God. 
 That can be seen only by the spiritual consciousness, and the 
 continuous record of that spiritual consciousness constitutes the 
 authority of the Church. 
 
 That authority cannot be impaired unless the Church, on its 
 side, undertakes to answer the question How ? Such an attempt 
 has not been made by the Church of England. It has no utter- 
 ances to explain away, no positions which it is bound to maintain 
 at all hazards. Its great process of reformation was carried out 
 by the recognition of a growth of knowledge. It did not commit 
 the fatal error of erecting a system, strong in an appearance of 
 unchangeable organisation, possessed with an answer to every 
 question, and claiming infallible authority. It laid down decidedly 
 enough the truths of the Catholic faith, it retained every vestige 
 of primitive practice and of primitive organisation ; but it left 
 ample room for liberty, and did not pretend to remove from the 
 individual his due share of responsibility. The wisdom of that 
 decision has been abundantly proved by its results. Anglican 
 theology has been distinguished by its sound learning and its 
 penetrating insight. No branch of the Church has made such 
 weighty contributions to theological knowledge since the sixteenth 
 century as has the Church of England. The temper of that 
 Church is admirably adapted to foster theological developmeat
 
 48 The Duty of the Clergy. 
 
 on sound lines. I think that Biblical Criticism in England is 
 being conducted in a reverential spirit ; and though a [certain 
 amount of speculation must necesskrily be rash, I think that the 
 sense of responsibility is on the whole maintained. It is a subject 
 of sincere thankfulness that controversy is conducted in the spirit 
 of charity. 
 
 The Duty of the Clergy. 
 
 It is, I think, the duty of the clergy to attempt to estimate for 
 themselves the general principles on which such criticism is con- 
 ducted. If people are shocked and uneasy, it is because they are 
 aware that a controversy is going on and do not know its exact 
 bearings. The best answer to such uneasiness is an explanation 
 of the points at issue. Really every reader of the Bible, however 
 simple he may be, is an unconscious critic He has favourite 
 passages which seem to him to contain a special message for him- 
 self, special books which seem to him more luminous than others. 
 Criticism is an attempt to explain on general principles how this 
 comes to be the case. God's revelation was undoubtedly given in 
 reference to current events of a distant past. Christ was mani- 
 fested in a particular period of the world's history, and some of 
 His teaching had reference to the facts before Him. The writings 
 of the Apostles were called forth by the needs of the time in 
 which they wrote. We have to gain our knowledge of God's will 
 by its spirit, not by the letter. All Christian teaching involves a 
 certain amount of interpretation, of transference, of application, 
 which rests upon a basis of criticism. There is a sense in which 
 criticism always has been, and always must be. a function of the 
 Christian teacher ; for he " is like a householder, who brings out 
 of his treasures things new and old.*' He has to attach the 
 Gospel message to the definite and existing needs of men. He 
 has to show how it can answer their actual questions : he has to 
 reveal the spiritual principles which underly their particular 
 problems ; he has to trace God's eternal purpose working itself 
 out progressively in the apparently accidental circumstances of 
 human affairs. " The Church of God," it has been finely said, 
 " is mankind knowing and fulfilling its destiny." 
 
 Xow, as a matter of practical conclusion, I think that it is well 
 for the clergy to acquaint themselves with the methods pursued 
 by Biblical critics, and to appreciate once for all the limitations 
 inherent in the method itself. The true student knows how 
 tentative and uncertain arc his seeming conclusions : he does not 
 always succeed in stating them with becoming modesty. He is 
 habituated to the power of isolating a particular point : he is 
 solving a puzzle by trying all possible solutions, and he pubhshes 
 every ingenious attempt at a solution which occurs to him. Such 
 attempted solutions are meant for experts who are engaged in a
 
 Biblical Criticism. 49 
 
 similar process. The danger is that from time to time some of 
 the rashest of these suggestions are suddenly popularised, and 
 treated as though they were proved beyond doubt. The only 
 answer to questions is to have some knowledge of the general 
 method employed, so as to put the particular matter in its proper 
 place and reduce it to due proportions. 
 
 But I do not think that these discussions are fitted for the 
 pulpit : and I would dissuade my clergy from controversial 
 sermons. The ordinary services of the Church are not the place for 
 apologetics. Men come to Church that they may be built up in 
 the faith, that they may have God and His law, Christ and His 
 redemption, brought nearer to their souls by the Holy Spirit. 
 Strength comes to them through the simple and straightforward 
 utterances of a soul which is at peace with God, through the 
 manifestation of a personality which they have seen active during 
 the week, " coming in and going out among them," living in 
 sympathy with the lives of others, striving to remove temptations, 
 to console and uplift. They do not wish for discussions, however 
 clever, of the questions of the day. These are ever with them — 
 in the newspapers, in business, in talk. These are best treated in 
 free discussion ; for they present themselves differently to every 
 man, and do not admit of general answers. But all men long for 
 a firmer hold on great principles, for the assurance of spiritual 
 power, for warnings against temptation, for some spur to greater 
 efi'ort, for a higher and nobler view of life, its duties and its 
 possibilities. If you give them this, they will thank you. 
 
 There is a tendency at the present day to undervalue preaching, 
 and to substitute for it better music in Church, and greater zeal 
 for practical work outside it. These are very well in their way : 
 but they are not substitutes for preaching. Let sermons be 
 shorter by all means. Everything now-a-days is shorter. The 
 length of letters written twenty years ago fills us with amazement. 
 We have learned to say what we have to say more directly and 
 in fewer words. But brevity needs more careful preparation, 
 and men wish for something pointed which comes home to them. 
 There is much to be said if you would take pains in saying it. 
 What life is teacliiug yourself is of value to others. Try to 
 discover what that is and speak it out simply. 
 
 For assuredly " the Word of the Lord endureth for ever." His 
 message comes from on high, and His Spirit only can carry it to 
 men's hearts. It is yours to proclaim with human voice that 
 message, and show its unending fitness to the needs of every 
 soul.
 
 50 
 
 "V". 
 
 Brethren of the Clergy and Churchwardens of the 
 
 Deaneries of Rothwell, Higham Ferrers, 
 
 AND Weldon. 
 
 The Church in which we are met to-day reminds us of our gains 
 and of our losses. Since last you met within its walls it has been 
 restored wich exceptional thoroughness, and now stands in all its 
 original dignity and completeness. But Canon Lindsay, who gave 
 his energy to this work, and by his watchful care over the best 
 interests of the place erected this Church into a monument which 
 was intelligible to all who dwelt within its reach, was taken away 
 before he could see the work finally accomplished. Surely this is a 
 parable of much earnest work for God : it is done in singleness of 
 heart : it is done for no personal motive : it is done ungrudgingly 
 for the good of future generations. " If I can make life easier 
 and better for those who are to come after me," such is the 
 thought of many a faithful heart, "what matters my indi?idual 
 success ? The personal life is ever incomplete in its self-manifesta- 
 tion on earth. It is only lived in truth if it is freely given to 
 God, that it may be woven into the divine purpose which runs 
 through the world's activities." We think of other lives suddenly 
 cut short, and workers removed from their labours. I would 
 ppecially mention Sir Frederick Robinson, whose untimely loss we 
 all deplore. But the work of God goes on, and we can take note 
 of outward signs of its abiding power. Here in Kettering a 
 Mission Room has been built and is the centre of a new congrega- 
 tion ; while another Church, the munificent gift of an unknown 
 donor, is rapidly approaching completion. The Churches of 
 Sudborough and Gretton have been restored. The interesting 
 tower of Irthlingborough, which had to be taken down as a 
 matter of precaution, has been again erected, and tells its tale 
 of the love of the people for their parish Church and its 
 surroundings. All these things are signs of progress and sources 
 of encouragement.
 
 Changing Conditions of Rural England. 5 1 
 
 Brethren of the Clergy and Churchwardens of the 
 
 Deaneries of Towcester, Brackley, and 
 
 Preston. 
 
 In speaking to you who live in country parishes my mind is 
 carried to the conspicuous example which you long had before 
 you, of the various qualities for which the life of a country 
 clergyman can afford a scope. By the death of Mr. Buckley the 
 diocese lost its senior Rural Dean, and one of the most distinguished 
 of its clergy. This is not the place to commemorate Mr. Buckley's 
 learning, his eminent knowledge of books, and his vast store of 
 valuable information. Xot for these things do I bring him before 
 you, but for the way in which he could follow all these pursuits 
 and yet have leisure to interest himself in everything that con- 
 cerned his neighbour, and to identify himself with his parishioners. 
 It was because of his manifold interests that he was at home with 
 everyone, and exercised an influence in many spheres. No one 
 could know him without feeling better and wiser for it. He 
 carried with him the useful lesson that breadth as well as intensity 
 is necessary for the life and work of a clergyman ; that the soul 
 which is at one with God is by rirtue of that union at one with 
 all men ; and can carry a subtle and penetrating influence where- 
 ever he goes. I speak of him because such a combination of 
 qualities is growing rarer amongst us, and it is well that we should 
 remember its value. 
 
 Changing Conditions of Rural England. 
 
 The change which is passing over the conditions of English 
 life greatly affects the appearance of our rural parishes, and 
 causes some anxiety about their future. They have been 
 affected by economic changes of two kinds. One of these 
 causes of change, the falling prices for agricultural products, 
 is sufficiently recognised ; but the other cause, though less 
 spoken of, is equally serious — I mean the gradual extinction 
 of all home industries. Never till our own day was the dis- 
 tinction between town and country a distinction resting entirely 
 on the difference between industrial and agricultural employment : 
 never before was the country inhabited almost exclusively by those 
 engaged in tilling the soil. The development of machinery has 
 led to the factory system becoming almost universal. There are 
 very few occupations, except those concerned with agriculture,
 
 52 Changing Conditions of Rural England. 
 
 which can now be carried on save in considerable centres of 
 population. Industrial towns are everywhere growing : old 
 country towns are losing their importance because their market 
 is almost entirely for produce, and not for the results of local 
 industry. Some villages favourably situated for industrial develop- 
 ment are springing into towns ; those not so situated show a 
 declining population, and it is diflScult to determine how much 
 further that decline will go. 
 
 The prospect for the future which this state of things opens up 
 aflFords wide room for speculation, in which it is not for me to 
 indulge. I only wish to put before you the actual fact that 
 England, broadly speaking, is rapidly being resolved into a number 
 of larger and smaller industrial communities, for which the country 
 districts are partly purveyors, and partly supply a stream of 
 immigrants. The country is ceasing to have definite characteristics 
 of its own, and more and more is becoming dependent on the 
 towns. Consequently the nature of the duty and the aims of the 
 country clergyman is changing also. He must expect to see many 
 of his young men and women leave their homes and seek a career 
 elsewhere : his diminishing population tends to consist more and 
 more of the old and the young. 
 
 This fact points out that the great sphere of his activity must 
 be his school. The country clergyman has an opportunity, which 
 his brother in the town regretfully longs for, of knowing all his 
 children individually, and of becoming their personal friend. I 
 have met clergymen working in country parishes who lament that 
 they have not more to do : on the other hand, I have met clergy- 
 men, who have quitted large town parishes for work in the country, 
 who tell me that they have more to do in the country than they 
 ever had to do in the town. Really the nature of a clergyman's 
 work is boundless in its opportunities ; and any watchful mind 
 can find abundant scope for all its energies in carefully striving 
 to promote the highest interests of any number, however small, of 
 his fellows. Intimate knowledge develops sympathy and inspires 
 mutual confidence. Each year the bond grows stronger, trust- 
 fulness increases, and deeper lessons are learned on both sides. 
 No man can teach unless he also learns, and few opportunities are 
 afforded of learning the great lessons of life which are comparable 
 to those offered to the country clergyman. He has a great possi- 
 bility of influencing for good the character of everyone in his 
 parish, if only he will be patient and will persevere. He ought 
 to know each child in his school, which he ought to visit, if not 
 daily, yet at regular intervals in every week. He ought to be the 
 friend and adviser of everyone in his parish without distinction 
 of any kind. He ought to be ready and willing to be helpful for 
 every purpose. I will only give one instance : he ought to take 
 pleasure in furthering education such as is now offered by various
 
 The Local Government Bill. 53 
 
 schemes of the County Councils. He might himself attend such 
 lectures, and might be useful in giving hints to lecturers about 
 the best methods of interesting an audience, Tvhose peculiarities 
 he has studied. It must be remembered that the art of lecturing 
 to village audiences is yet in its infancy, and can only be developed 
 by actual experiments. In guiding such experiments the help of 
 the clergy may be invaluable. I certainly think that every 
 clergyman ought to consider it one of his chief duties to forward 
 in every way all attempts which are being made to widen popular 
 interests and to create an intelligent interest in practical pursuits. 
 
 The, Local Government Bill. 
 
 We all welcome the course of recent legislation which had for 
 its object the extension of local self-government, which is the 
 most primitive principle of English institutions. The simplifi- 
 cation of its forms, and their adaptation to the growth of our 
 parliamentary system, is a task which has just been accomplished. 
 I hope and trust that the new organisation, which is soon to come 
 into operation, will be successful in quickening interest in pubKc 
 affairs. It seems to me that the duties and obligations of citizen- 
 ship cannot be satisfactorily discharged as regards national questions 
 till the principles on which they rest have been learned in matters 
 which are within the ken of the individual. Government ought 
 not to be to any citizen something remote and inevitable. It 
 should appear to him as the natural expansion of something 
 which is already familiar to him on a small scale. He ought to 
 recognise close at hand the motives, the principles, the methods, 
 and the aims of those who claim to manage his affairs. He ought 
 to learn by experience how mistakes are made in public business ; 
 he ought to appreciate the complexity of existing conditions, the 
 emptiness of mere foraiula3, and the value of integrity of purpose 
 in administrative matters. Nothing has such a tendency to narrow 
 a man's power of thought as a blind behef in the actions of govern- 
 ment as being something inevitable, which are carried on auto- 
 matically, and are outside any control with which he is familiar. 
 We wish to moralise the action of the community. The first 
 step towards this is to humanise it ; and this can only be done by 
 teaching every man to recognise his own responsibility in his 
 own degree for the formation of that public opinion which is so 
 irresistible. Nothing is so likely to teach fairmindedness as open 
 discussion. Nothing is so sure to engender suspicion as a sense 
 of personal helplessness and irresponsibility for what actually 
 occurs. It is most necessary for political training that every 
 community, however small, should have the possibility of common 
 action within its power. There may, or may not be, much which 
 it can do ; but the whole community should know the reasons for
 
 54 Parochial Charities. 
 
 which what is done is done, and should recognise the justice of 
 the limitations on its activity. The parish meeting will bring 
 home to the mass of Englishmen the sense of responsibility, a 
 sense which we wish to see fully developed and recognised. 
 
 Parochial Charities. 
 
 I do not mean to imply that this sense has not hitherto existed. 
 It is, in fact, noticeable that the vestry meeting is a survival from 
 times when local government was vigorous. The concerns of the 
 parish Church were never removed from the control of the 
 parishioners. Governmental centralisation never attempted to 
 interfere with the local interest in the parish Church, which 
 always was entrusted to the safe keeping of those for whom it 
 was provided. Other local officials might be abolished, but 
 Churchwardens remained. As they were the sole representatives 
 of the parish, they had committed to them from time to time 
 duties and trusts which were intended for the general welfare. 
 Thus the office of overseers was conferred upon them by statute 
 when the Poor Law first grew up round the organisation of the 
 Church ; and the management of charitable funds, which were 
 intended to supplement the statutory provision, were naturally 
 entrusted to them in many cases. E'ow, when the State under- 
 took to reorganise and simplify local government, it was obvious 
 that it should withdraw from these ancient officers all the powers 
 which it had conferred on them, and everything which could fairly 
 be considered as having accrued round their position as representa- 
 tives of the parish. This was perfectly fair. But it was also 
 obvious that, while the Churchwardens were officers of the parish, 
 they were also officers of the Church : and while they were trustees 
 of some bequests made to the parish, they were also trustees of 
 other bequests which were made to the Church. It was necessary 
 that an attempt should be made to discriminate between these 
 two positions; and some consideration was requisite to prevent 
 confusion. It is always well to have such points clearly determined 
 beforehand, and a little care taken in time prevents misunder- 
 standing afterwards. The desire to make the Act as intelligible 
 as possible, and to free it from opportunities of contention, was 
 surely laudable, and cannot fairly be represented as implying any 
 opposition to the general principle on which it was framed. Of 
 this I am certain that, so far as the Church can be said to have had 
 any views of its own on this matter, its only desire was to have 
 a clear and fair definition which would prevent disputes. I hope 
 that the care which was bestowed on this point may prove to 
 have been successful. I trust that there may be no difference of 
 opinion in determining the division between parochial and ecclesi- 
 astical possessions in any of the parishes of this diocese. Of
 
 Parochial Charities. 55 
 
 course, trust deeds must be respected, and the duties of official 
 trustees must be discharged. But I think we are all agreed that 
 Pai'ochial Charities had best be administered by a body elected 
 with a view to that purpose. 
 
 I know that the clergy as a body are strongly of that opinion ; 
 because they know from sad experience how difficult it is to 
 distribute alms, however small, in a satisfactory manner. I do 
 not mean only the patent and notorious fact that the existence 
 of a Charity leads to exaggerated expectations, and that murmur- 
 ing and disappointment follows upon any mode of disposing of it. 
 In the earliest period of the Church, as soon as Christian charity 
 came into existence, there was such a murmuring among the 
 Christians of Jerusalem, that one body of the widows were 
 neglected in the daily ministration. The Apostles discovered 
 how great were the difficulties of satisfying everybody, and their 
 action pointed out a general principle which has been somewhat 
 forgotten. The moral which I draw from the appointment of 
 the first Deacons is that a clergyman is as a rule exceptionally ill 
 adapted to act as an almoner. The fact that he undertakes to 
 discharge such a function, disturbs those frank relations which 
 ought to exist between him and his people. I am not speaking 
 of course of that spontaneous benevolence which flows from the 
 sight of human misery, and stirs the beholder to do what he can 
 to remedy it. This is inherent in human nature, and must be 
 strong in every Christian lieart. But I mean the official obligation 
 to dispose of a certain sum, whether he thinks it needed or not, 
 in a mode which he may not consider wise. There is nothing 
 which requires more careful consideration, founded upon results 
 of experience and a knowledge of social conditions, than the 
 disposal of charitable funds in a really useful way. Their dis- 
 tribution by popularly-eleeted representatives will at all events 
 lead to a keen criticism of the methods adopted, and will probably 
 produce a wealth of suggestion on the part of those concerned. 
 
 We must recognise that charitable funds exist for the purpose of 
 supplementing other agencies which are at work for the ameliora- 
 tion of social conditions. There was a time when these agencies 
 were few, and were external to those who were affected by them. 
 These agencies are now numerous, and many of them are within 
 people's power to use. There are many Benefit Societies, and 
 other means of making provision against sickness or misfortune. 
 It is well that any distribution of charitable funds should be made 
 in view of all the possibilities which were open ; that it should 
 be made with a certain amount of publicity, and should be so made 
 as to strengthen, and not to weaken, every existing machinery and 
 every existing motive to self-help. The great object should be to 
 alleviate suffering without injuring the mainsprings of effort, to 
 succour the poor without promoting pauperism. This can best
 
 56 The Duty of the Clergy, 
 
 be done by an elected body representing the experience and the 
 sense of the community. I think that it is dangerous to trust 
 entirely to compassion, which may be skilfully aroused by an 
 unworthy person, and is gratified on the impulse of the moment. 
 I think that we need to be weighted by responsibihty in alms- 
 giving ; and that our personal feeling of compassion ought to be 
 satisfied at our own expense, and not out of funds of which we 
 are trustees. The educational advantage to be gained by experi- 
 ments in the distribution of charity on public grounds is very 
 large. The more the interest of the community is enlisted in the 
 matter the better. There is no more valuable lesson to learn than 
 the difficulty of doing good to others by means of money. It 
 enforces the great truth that " a man's life develops from within," 
 It brings home the fact that character is largely independent of 
 conditions. It teaches men to distrust panaceas and seek for 
 principles of social Hfe. This is the spirit which we wish to see 
 in all our villages. "We wish to see the whole community united 
 in the sense of a common life, eager to discover how that life can 
 best be lived, finding a voice to express its needs, and learning by 
 experience how they can best be supplied. 
 
 The Duty of the Clergy. 
 
 And in this movement and endeavour the people have a right, 
 which my brethren will fully recognise, to look to the clergyman 
 as their natural leader and adviser. He will always be ready to 
 talk over matters, to explain possibilities, to devise means for 
 gratifying every laudable desire, to compose little differences, to 
 make for godly union and concord. If proposals be sometimes 
 crude, he will seek out their real meaning and put it into form. 
 He will strip them of their accidental and temporary surroundings, 
 will sympathise with the thing aimed at, and will suggest some 
 means for an experiment, the result of which all may loyally accept. 
 The strength of a clergyman's position lies in the fact that he 
 belongs to no class and to no party. It is his duty to consider 
 only the general welfare, and seek out the principles on which it 
 rests. If questions are unfortunately entangled in the complica- 
 tions of politics or of local jealousies and misunderstandings, he 
 must be prepared patiently to unravel the real issues, and 
 quietly to put aside what is irrelevant. We all know that mis- 
 understandings generally arise from temper, and that in small 
 communities it is hard to undo the results of a quarrel. Need I 
 remind my brethren of their Ordination Vow, " to maintain and 
 set forwards, as much as lieth in you, peace and love amongst all 
 Christian people, and especially among them who are committed 
 to your charge ? " There is no reason why the pursuit of the 
 common welfare should be an occasion of discord. There may
 
 The Duty of the Clergy. 57 
 
 naturally be differences of opinion, but these can be composed by 
 discussion, and the clergyman can do much to make that discussion 
 assume a friendly form. 
 
 Much of the success of a new system depends on the way in 
 which it is begun. I think it would be well to prepare beforehand 
 for an administrative change of such importance. Acts of Parlia- 
 ment are not adapted for ordinary readers, and this particular Act 
 contains a mass of complicated detail. I notice that its provisions 
 have been explained in several Kuri-decanal Conferences, and some 
 people have tried to make themselves masters of them. It would 
 be a very useful step if the Act were explained to the people of 
 every village, before it actually comes into operation. I do not 
 say that the clergyman is in every case qualified for this task : 
 but there are many laymen who would be glad to devote an 
 evening to this purpose if asked ; and I recommend that where it 
 is possible, their services should be used for that purpose. The 
 audience should be encouraged to ask for explanations, and should 
 be provided with material which they might talk over among 
 themselves. I feel sure that such help would be greatly appreciated 
 and would be of much value. 
 
 I have been asked by several of the clergy if I advise them to 
 stand for election on the Parish or District Councils. I can only 
 answer that this depends on two things : first, on their capacity 
 for business. A clergyman may or may not be a man of business, 
 and the object of the Council is to transact business. I do not 
 think that an interest in the welfare of the parish is a suflBcient 
 qualification in itself, unless it is supported by some business 
 capacity. A man must expect to be chosen with reference to the 
 work which is to be done. But I think that every clergyman 
 ought to be willing to render every service which he can to the 
 community ; and if there is a widely-expressed desire that he 
 should serve, I think that he ought to do so, even if his personal 
 inclination is to abstain. If he declines, it ought to be on the 
 ground that he is keenly aware of his incapacity, and thinks that 
 there are others with greater qualifications than his own. 
 
 There is also another consideration which afi'ects this question. 
 It may be that an election is conducted on purely political lines. 
 I need not say that a clergyman ought not to identify himself 
 with either political party, and seem to be their nominee. As a 
 citizen he has a right to his own opinions ; but in his official 
 capacity he is bound to be impartial. He can only submit 
 himself to election on general grounds ; and if party politics run 
 so high that there is no room even for one independent candidate, 
 then he will refuse to offer himself for the present. I would, 
 however, point out that the Act enables the elected Council to 
 appoint a chairman, " either from their own body or from other
 
 5^ The Vestry. 
 
 persons qualified to be councillors of the parish." If the cir- 
 cumstances of the election are such that the clergyman cannot 
 ■well become a candidate, it is still in the power of the Council, 
 when the wave of excitement is over, to recognise his wisdom and 
 seek the assistance of one who has declared his impartiality. 
 But I would point out that, whether or no, the clergyman serves 
 on the Parish Council, is a matter of small moment, and does not 
 affect his responsibility to help in carrying out anything that is 
 for the welfare of his people. In some cases he may feel that 
 his influence for good is hkely to be greater if he does not meddle 
 with the actual details of administration. This must be left to 
 his own judgment, with just the warning that the aloofness of a 
 superior person is more apt to be misunderstood than anything 
 else, and is on that account hkely to be ineficctive. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Buildings. 
 
 There is a point of practical importance which I hope that this 
 new departure in local government will bring into prominence. 
 It is the obscure and uncertain tenure of many parochial buildings 
 and schools. I have already tried to call attention to this matter, 
 and to provide a simple means of remedying deficiencies. The 
 establishment of Diocesan Trustees was a matter of some 
 difficulty ; but I would remind you that the diocese now 
 possesses an organisation which can advise about trust deeds. 
 I hope that this organisation will be used, and that anomalies 
 will soon be rectified. A little care in time may prevent many 
 difficulties in the future. 
 
 The Veslry. 
 
 The old Vestry with its meeting of parishioners still remains 
 for the election of Churchwardens, and for the maintenance of 
 the fabric of the Church. I regret that its conscitution is not 
 the same as that of the parish meeting, that it is a meeting of 
 ratepayers, and not of those possessing parliamentary franchise, i.e. 
 householders. I do not know how far select vestries prevail in 
 this diocese. But I must own my own preference to see the 
 vestry meeting put on the same basis as the parish meeting, and 
 so enlist the sympathies of all in what concerns the Church. I 
 feel quite sure that only those would attend who were interested 
 in the business which was to be done, and that the election of the 
 parish Churchwardens might well be left to the good sense of all 
 the parishioners who were interested in it. I know what excellent 
 service is rendered by Churchwardens, and I am glad to think 
 that my personal acquaintance with them is constantly increasing. 
 It is gratifying to see many who have discharged the duties of
 
 Duty of the Clergy to Common Life. 59 
 
 that office for a long term of years, and are always ready to give 
 their time to any necessary work, and to manage the secular 
 business connected with the Church and its maintenance. That 
 honourable office still remains unchanged, and appeals to the 
 discretion and goodwill of faithful Churchmen. 
 
 Duty of the Clergy to Common Life. 
 
 I have spoken hitherto chiefly about the prospects of country 
 parishes ; but the principles which I have endeavoured to embody 
 in my remarks are of wider application. I have been setting 
 before you one aspect of the Church's activity, an activity which 
 has its field everywhere, that of promoting a vigorous and healthy 
 common life. For the Church of Christ is a spiritual society 
 planted amidst that natural society which has grown up in 
 response to man's requirements, and aims at a just and orderly 
 arrangement of human relationships. The wisdom by which this 
 is achieved is the gift of God : the impulses which direct our 
 common endeavour come also from God, and are largely due to 
 the testimony which is borne by the Church of Christ. God's 
 minister must not only declare that he is possessed of God's 
 truth, but must strive to apply that truth to the manifold needs 
 of men. The Gospel is a message of life, and life means conscious- 
 ness of power. Anything that quickens and invigorates is sure 
 in the long run to make for good. Nothing is so hopeless as the 
 torpor of indifference. Any interest, however trivial, is better 
 than no interest at all. " First that which is natural, and after- 
 wards that which is spiritual," is a principle of wide appHcation. 
 You are striving to lead those committed to your charge into the 
 high regions of spiritual freedom, into the conscious exercise of 
 those faculties of the soul wherewith God has endowed every man. 
 It is a hard task, and you are frequently disappointed at the 
 slowness of your progress. Think how God in His mercy dealt 
 with you. Think of the influences which led you to the knowledge 
 of His grace. You are the ministers of Him whose Spirit pleads 
 with man ; you can only work by pleading with like persistence 
 and humility. Regard all that happens as so many opportunities 
 which God opens out for you. Look on the actual life and needs 
 of men as divinely-ordered starting points for your endeavours. 
 The Gospel has its message for every man ; how are you to bring 
 it to him ? Not by starting from any system — which is the goal 
 to which you hope to lead him in the end — but from his life, hia 
 needs, and his capacities. Improve the best that is in him. Yon 
 will find that this is what God has done for you. Go with him 
 in any efl'ort to raise himself, to keep himself from temptation, to 
 develop his powers. Let him feel that you are there, sympathising 
 with all that is good in his endeavours, watching for the time
 
 6o Duty of the Clergy to Common Life. 
 
 ■when you may speak the words of that great reconciliation which 
 alone can give him peace. Christian love must be carried in 
 faithful hearts to the market-place, to the recreation ground, to 
 the home. If it is really within you it is always operative, always 
 exercising its attractive power, softening, restraining, purifying. 
 No part of your activity is needless ; no good object is without 
 its reward. Unexpected results flow from apparently trivial 
 causes. May I give one instance of my meaning ? It has been 
 found that teachiug factory girls gymnastics, and training them 
 in musical drill, has not only supplied them with healthy recreation, 
 but has been found most valuable in giving them a decided gait 
 and carriage, and so doing away with that listless and loitering 
 appearance which exposed them to the temptations of the streets. 
 
 Nothing is unimportant in God's eyes. Nothing that makes 
 for good should be unimportant in the eyes of God's minister. 
 He works through small things to great. If he does so, he has 
 his reward ; for he sees a perpetual revelation of God, and new 
 possibilities are continually opening before him of publishing 
 the mystery — or open secret — " which is Christ in you, the hope 
 of glory : whom we proclaim, admonishing every man, and 
 teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every 
 man perfect in Christ."
 
 6r 
 
 "VI. 
 
 My Brethren of the Clergy and Churchwardens of 
 THE Deaneries of Rutland. 
 
 It is somewhat surprising to me to reflect that during the three 
 years of my episcopate no fewer than thirteen of the forty-one 
 benefices which are contained in Rutland have changed hands, 
 and two of them twice. Several of these changes were due to 
 resignations, necessitated by infirmity. IMany of those who died 
 deeply regretted were called away in a ripe old age, Nevertheless 
 the neighbourhood feels the loss of such men as Mr. "Wingfield 
 and Mr. Knox. Bat Mr. Gibb was summoned from his labours 
 in the fulness of his vigour. Mr. Mangan passed away with 
 startling suddenness, and Mr. Hilton showed no signs of bodily 
 weakness when it pleased God to call him from his work. We 
 can but take note of these things, praying with all humility to 
 Almighty God that we may be able to tender an account of our 
 stewardship with the same clear conscience as we believe was 
 enjoyed by our brethren who have gone before. 
 
 The district which you represent has to face uo serious problems 
 arising from rapid increase of population. Your work is that of 
 steady building up the people committed to you, while you 
 maintain, and labour to increase, every agency for good. I am 
 glad to see that much has been done to repair and adorn the 
 fabric of the Churches in many parishes. The Chancel of 
 Hambledon Church has been rebuilt on a scale of magnificence 
 which we admire, and highly esteem the pious purpose which 
 prompted such an offering. It is a source of great satisfaction 
 to me to know that the fine Church of Empingham is to be 
 thoroughly restored largely by the generosity of one who has long 
 been intimately associated with the parish, and has its welfare 
 much at heart. I am glad to think that the project was no sooner 
 mooted than the necessary funds were forthcoming by the ready 
 co-operation of another who is connected with the parish. The 
 only Church which is reported to me as needing speedy repair is 
 that of Greetham,
 
 62 The Worship of God, 
 
 The Worship of God. 
 
 The main purpose for which the Church of Christ exists is the 
 worship of God. On this foundation every form of its external 
 activity must rest. We may discuss the relation of Christian 
 principles to various points of social organisation. We may 
 consider the intellectual questions which they raise. We may 
 measure their influence, and may meditate how that influence is 
 to be applied and intensified. But these after all are outlying 
 matters. The clergy may develop many forms of activity, but 
 the supreme duty which devolves upon them is to set forth the 
 worship of God. It is only with characters and tempers formed 
 under the purifying and sanctifying influence of worship that 
 they will affect society, and carry into the world the sense of 
 God's presence. Whatever a clergyman may find to do must 
 begin and end in the House of God and its offices. Thence flows 
 the Spirit which animates his work : thither he returns to offer 
 all that he has attempted to Him Who is the only source of all 
 his strength. 
 
 It cannot be too clearly understood in this day, when manifold 
 suggestions are rife, that it is the great duty of the Church to 
 uphold the worship of God, and to teach men to draw nigh to 
 Him through Jesus Christ. The Church is the witness to God's 
 presence in the world, and sets forth the means whereby He has 
 appointed that mankind should approach Him. Before men can 
 see God in the world, in society, in human life and character, 
 they must see Him in Himself. 
 
 The great duty of a minister of God is to set forth God, as the 
 object of men's devotion. What can we do to discharge that 
 duty more fully ? For it must be admitted that it is exceedingly 
 necessary in this our day to maintain the basis of religion in its 
 due place. There is a tendency in an age of rapid progress, to 
 dwell on the latest development of thought or feeling, to be 
 anxious about special problems, to be busy with particular forms 
 of the adaptation of truth. This is well enough ; but true 
 progress must ever carry with it all that it has gained. In the 
 complication of its ornamentation of the upper storeys, it must 
 not forget the care of the foundations on which all the fabric 
 stands. The quickening of human sympathies ought to go on 
 side by side with deepening awe and reverence for God. We 
 cannot afford to dwell on the love of God till we have steadied 
 our minds by the fear of God. The perception of man's true 
 place in the world, the very basis for an estimate of the force at 
 his disposal, the grounds of our judgments or of our hopes — all 
 these flow from the worship of God, and have their source in 
 the services of His House. The service of man without the 
 service of God becomes an intolerable burden. Hopefuhiess iu
 
 open CIni7'ches and Daily Services. 63 
 
 the long run is only possible for one who prays. The saying of 
 the Psalmist of old is profoundly true, and reproduces itself in 
 the consciousness of every thoughtful man who looks around 
 upon the world : " These things were too hard for me until I 
 went into the house of the Lord : then I understood." Again 
 I say, there can be no fruitful work which is not founded on the 
 sense of being somehow God's fellow-worker ; and this sense is 
 created and sustained by the power of worship, by the insight 
 which we gain into apparent contradictions as we submit our- 
 selves to God's Holy Spirit, by the extended outlook which we 
 win from the uplifting of our soul. 
 
 Open Churches and Daily Services. 
 
 So would I speak to you of what we can do to extend the spirit 
 of worship : to make it real and penetrating, a perpetual influence, 
 and a transforming power. Let me dwell on a few points of 
 practical importance which are within your power. First of all, 
 we possess a magnificent heritage, a deposit of the spiritual 
 aspirations of past generations, in the beautiful Churches, with 
 which England as a whole, and I may add this diocese in an 
 exceptional degree, is adorned. Those fabrics are messengers of 
 spiritual truth, perpetually set before the eyes of men. I am 
 glad to think that everywhere this truth is felt in more or less 
 degree. Men are always proud of their parish Church, and are 
 willing to make sacrifices for its sake. This feeling should be 
 carefully cherished, as a basis for further teaching. The Clergy- 
 man is the official guardian of the fabric of the Church ; and its 
 neatness witlu'n and without depend upon his carefulness. The 
 surroundings of the Church are as important as the structure 
 itself. A trim garden looks ill beside an ill-kept Churchyard. 
 I am glad to think that there are no remaining instances of a 
 comfortable parsonage beside a dilapidated Church. 
 
 If the Church itself be a perpetual sermon, you must do all 
 that you can to give it point and to enforce its application. 
 There are two ways in which this can be done, two plain methods 
 which I would like to think were universally adopted. The 
 Church must not only be cared for, but must be used. People 
 must be exhorted to feel that it is their Church, open always for 
 their use, ready with its suggestiveness at every crisis of their 
 life, having a message for all their needs. We are maiming the 
 meaning and usefulness of our Churches, if they are kept closed 
 from one Sunday night till the next Sunday morning. We are 
 directly teaching that religion is a matter for Sunday services, 
 and is not vitally connected with our week-day life, I am very 
 strongly of opinion that every Church should be open and 
 accessible to all at all times of every day. I know all that can be
 
 64 open Churches and Daily Services. 
 
 said against this suggestion. I know that people rarely use the 
 Church when it is open. Can it be expected that the habit will 
 grow up at once ? I know all that is said about inconveniences, 
 and dangers of loss, or of irreverence. My only answer is : You 
 may have some cases of foolish conduct sometimes ; but then 
 they give you an opportunity of speaking on the subject directly, 
 which may be of incalculable use. There is perhaps no point on 
 which you would be so sure of carrying everybody's sympathy 
 with you : and to fan men's latent feeling of reverence into 
 conscious expression is a most real advance. But I do not think 
 that there is any real danger to be apprehended, — and I speak 
 with some knowledge. For many years past I have been in the 
 habit of examining parish Churches in various parts of England. 
 I have gained considerable knowledge of the way in which they 
 are cared for, and used. In my experience I should say roughly 
 that about half the parish Churches stand open ; that those 
 which stand open are much better cared for than those which 
 do not ; that they are as a rule more highly decorated, and 
 might be supposed to have more to fear from mischief ; that I 
 can discover no peculiarities of position or of local conditions 
 which determines the matter, but apparently only the feeling of 
 the clergyman ; that where the Church is open, there is generally 
 affixed to the door a notice to that effect, with a request that 
 anyone entering the Church would pray for himself and for the 
 parish, I think that a mere notice on the Church door " This 
 Church is open for prayer and meditation " is of inestimable 
 value as asserting the place which these two things ought to 
 hold in the life of every Christian. Let me repeat ; the Church 
 itself is the first and most visible instrument of Christian teach- 
 ing : it ought to be used to the full, and its meaning emphasised 
 with all distinctness : let it be open at all times to all men. 
 
 But if the people are to be taught to use their Church, the 
 clergyman must not only aft'ord them opportunities, but must set 
 them an example. The daily saying of Morning and Evening 
 Prayer in Church is of great importance. Again I know all that 
 can be said by one who prefers to say them privately, because he 
 is hopeless of being joined by any of his parishioners in Church. 
 But the fact remains that you are directed to say them in Church, 
 unless you are reasonably let or hindered : and the absence of 
 others is certainly no hindrance to you. But I would call your 
 attention to some definite points of practical value. You are 
 trying to teach your people to pray : can you be doing your best 
 if you do not bring it before them as a privilege, which you 
 yourself enjoy to exercise ? You may go about your parish and 
 exhort to prayer : you may pray with the sick and those in 
 calamity ; but you will best enforce your lessons by your example. 
 The sound of the bell, especially when the listener knows that it
 
 The Clergyma7i as a Teacher. 65 
 
 is being rung by your own hands, if it does not operate as a 
 summons, is yet a reminder, and brings a message of consolation 
 and encouragement. It is well that you should pray with your 
 people ; it is well that they should know that you also pray for 
 them. And I think there are few cases in which daily prayers 
 are said in Church where a few pious souls do not gather 
 occasionally after a time. 
 
 There are also other reasons of much importance for daily 
 services — reasons which affect the usefulness of a country 
 clergyman. It is of great service to himself that he should 
 have some regular and fixed points in his daily work in 
 his parish. It is inevitable from the nature of a clergyman's 
 duties that they should be left to his own discretion, and that 
 the times of their performance should be at his own choice. 
 The first thing that every man ought to strive to do is to be a 
 law unto himself, and to economise his time by the formation of 
 habits for its allotment. The existence of fixed points for daily 
 Morning and Evening Prayer is a great help, and enables him to 
 adjust other things accordingly, A regular hour for Church leads 
 to a regular visit to the school. For the same reason it is a great 
 help to his people. It vastly increases his accessibility, which is 
 a matter of no little importance. Villagers are often shy ; and 
 many, who wish to see you, will not go so far as call upon you 
 through a dread of clothing their question with undue importance 
 in the eyes of others ; but if they know that you are almost 
 always at Church at fixed hours twice a day, they know where 
 and when you can easily be found and have a means of familiar 
 intercourse which nothing else can give. 
 
 Again, the fact that you show yourself to have definite duties 
 at definite hours assimilates your life to theirs, and makes the 
 nature and aim of your work much more comprehensible to their 
 minds. They can understand that a man is caring for them in 
 very deed when they see him daily going regularly to the Churcl> 
 and the school, so setting before them the unmistakable outlines 
 of a life devoted to prayer and teaching. 
 
 The, Clenjijman as a Teacher. 
 
 And the true teacher is also the constant learner. The life 
 which is built upon regular habits economises time and generates 
 energy which can be usefully applied in manifold ways. The 
 clergyman of a country parish has time to spare, which he can 
 devote to many profitable purposes. He may be interested in 
 affairs, local and diocesan, and may be able to lend practical help 
 to the vast machinery by which the world's business has perforce 
 to be carried on. He may be a student, and so able to carry far 
 beyond his immediate sphere the spirit of his desire to do goo^
 
 66 The Clergyman as a Teacher. 
 
 service. Some form of interest, profitable to ourselves and others, 
 it is well that all of us should strive to acquire, outside the work 
 immediately committed to us. No man should always harp upon 
 one string ; all should have a resource within themselves which is 
 sufficiently strong to prevent them from being entirely under the 
 influence of their daily work. The incumbent of a country parish 
 might well regard it as a positive duty to have a pursuit which 
 enabled him to serve the Church beyond the limits of his own 
 immediate sphere. 
 
 I need not remark on the inevitable inequality of population 
 between parishes, though this inequality is not so great as it seems 
 at first sight. In the dense population of a town the clergyman's 
 sphere of work is definitely limited. There are many agencies at 
 work : he has his own work to do, and can refer to other sources 
 for help in all save his spiritual functions. But in the country it is 
 otherwise : and the country clergyman, who will do his best, soon 
 learns that he must be resourceful, and that there is a steady demand 
 on his energies in unexpected ways. He should be ready to turn his 
 hand to anything that is needed, and should fit himself to be the 
 adviser of his people in the difficulties which are inherent in their 
 actual life. There is much which he ought to try and learn for 
 their sakes. But still, that demand is not continuous, and he 
 has leisure to devote to purposes of his own. 
 
 The pressure upon the town clergyman for active work, the 
 demand upon his time by the constant growth of new organisa- 
 tions, the constant discovery of new openings as life becomes 
 more complex, affect him perhaps in no way more injuriously 
 than by curtailing his time and his capacity for study. Yet study 
 is a definite part of a clergyman's duty, undertaken solemnly at 
 Ordination, and binding upon him as an obligation, I think that 
 in this matter he may fairly look to his brethren in the country 
 for help. There ought to be many of them who are practised 
 theologians, pursuing special branches of the subject, and able from 
 time to time to take a survey of some phase of modern thought. 
 I have endeavoured to put this object before you by suggesting 
 the delivery of theological lectures at convenient centres in the 
 diocese. T think that for the purpose of such lectures a diocese 
 might well become self-supporting, and that the ranks of the country 
 clergy ought to supply men who are able to bring the products 
 of their greater leisure to the use of their more busily-occupied 
 brethren. 
 
 There are, further, other purposes of a less ambitious kind to 
 which attention might be devoted. Popular lectures and addresses 
 of various kinds are needed in many parishes, and might be suppUed 
 by a little organisation. It is not a severe tax upon any man to 
 undertake one subject at least in the year, and offer his services
 
 Pa7'0chial History. 67 
 
 to his brethren. I would merely instance one subject on which 
 such labour would seem to me to be particularly profitable. The 
 subject of Foreign Missions seems to me to be one on which 
 people are very inadequately informed. It is generally left to 
 missionary meetings held under the auspices of a particular Society. 
 I do not undervalue such meetings or the impressions which they 
 produce. But their object is to awaken interest in the Society 
 rather than to give connected information. I do not propose to 
 meddle with them, but I would like to see them supplemented in 
 a systematic way. Why should not some of the clergy in each 
 Deanery undertake to study, each of them, the history of one 
 particular mission, so as to be able to give a consecutive account 
 of the country, the people, the nature of the missionary work, its 
 progress and its prospects ? In this way interest in missions would 
 be carried further than it is at present, and would rest upon a 
 more intelhgent basis. It would be associated with an amount of 
 geographical and ethnological information which would be greatly 
 appreciated. It would tend to put missionary enterprise in its 
 relation to the progress of civilisation, and might be used to teach 
 lessons of universal application. The lecturer himself would find 
 the advantage of having a definite object before him, and would 
 feel a stimulus to direct his general reading. An interchange of 
 such lectures would provide a ready means of supplying profitable 
 instruction for winter's evenings in adjoining parishes. 
 
 Parochial Hisfm'y. 
 
 There is another subject with which every clergyman who 
 enjoys leisure ought to try and make himself conversant — I mean 
 the history of his own parish and district. I speak as one who 
 remembers that one of my predecessors in this See — Bishop White 
 Kennett — was as a pai'isli priest, almost the founder of the study 
 of parochial antiquities, a subject which has owed much to the 
 industry and zeal of the clergy, and one which has been naturally 
 relegated to their care. It is a subject of great interest and of 
 great value for the increase of liistorical knowledge. But I am 
 not putting it before you on that ground, but on its utility for 
 the purpose of broadening the interests of your people. Interest 
 begins in that which is close at hand. Historic sites and land- 
 marks, the fortunes of families, the architectural growth of your 
 Parish Church, the ancient manor and its customs, the enclosure 
 of common lands, the traces of previous modes of cultivation — 
 anything which tells the story of the long process by which the 
 place in which they live came to be what it now is — appeals at 
 once to the mind. It is well that men should know the value of 
 the heritage which they now enjoy, and so should feel their 
 responsibility for its maintenance and improvement. It is well
 
 6S Clerical Incomes. 
 
 that they should know the influences which moulded the past, 
 and should be taught their abiding force. In a country village 
 especially, teaching cannot be confined to the pulpit, but must be 
 carried into every profitable sphere. Simple talk with simple folk 
 about things which interest yourself is always sure to be appreci- 
 ated, and will be profitable for good to yourself as well as to them. 
 Whatever your personal interests may be — and every man ought 
 to have some — make them available to those around you. A 
 country parish is only an extended family, and each should con- 
 tribute his best to the good of all. It is by identifying your life 
 with that of your people that you will best succeed in teaching 
 them the high truths entrusted to your care. To them all else 
 leads up, and by them everything is illumined. 
 
 Clerical Incomes. 
 
 There is one personal matter affecting the country clergy on 
 which I would wish to say a few words, the depreciation of clerical 
 incomes. Few parts of England have suffered more severely from 
 agricultural depression than this. Yet I must express my surprise 
 and admiration at the fortitude with which the result has been 
 borne by the clergy at large. Where all have suffered they have 
 been unwilling to urge any exceptional claims, though the loss has 
 undoubtedly weighed exceptionally on them. They have been 
 content to share without complaint the misfortunes of their 
 neighbours. I was of opinion that something should be done to 
 help cases of genuine hardship ; and the Diocesan Conference last 
 year agreed to the formation of a Sustentation Fund to aid im- 
 poverished benefices. It would seem, however, that there is not 
 much belief in the possibility of dealing with this matter by means 
 of a central fund. It is, I gather, judged more advisable to deal 
 with such cases either by the permanent augmentation of the 
 endowment of small benefices, or by the union of two when their 
 separate revenues are inadequate, or by providing for them by 
 local effort. Anyhow, the contributions which have been received 
 for the purpose are very slight, amounting only to £332, of which 
 £200 comes from one source. I notice also that only 12 Churches 
 in the Diocese have appropriated any part of their contributions 
 to the Diocesan Society towards this object. 
 
 I can only infer that the clergy as a body are unwilling to plead 
 exceptional poverty. I know that his clerical income rarely forms 
 the entire maintenance of the clergyman, who generally gives his 
 services without question of exact remuneration, I have been 
 cheered by many instances of unworldliness, and of a single- 
 hearted desire to find only a sphere for service. Men have told 
 me repeatedly of accessions to their private means as reasons why
 
 Clerical Incomes. 69 
 
 they could afford to go to ill-paid parishes. Curates have volun- 
 tarily waived their stipends that more workers might be supplied 
 in large parishes. Men labour on without repining, and ask for 
 no recognition for work, which is to a large extent voluntary. 
 
 My clerical brethren will not be surprised at this, and may 
 wonder why I mention it. I do so, because I think it is sometimes 
 well that such facts should be recorded — that men should know 
 how much quiet heroism is enlisted in the service of God's 
 Church. That service has lost none of its attraction and none 
 of its power ; for it brings the soul into constant intimacy with 
 other souls ; it deals not with what is superficial and transitory, 
 but what is eternal in the life of man. It reveals new signs of 
 God's purposes, and of the operations of His Spirit ; it shows the 
 dignity and splendour, if it also shows the littleness and misery, 
 of humanity. The smallest sphere is infinitely large ; and the 
 training of a few in an out-of-the way village ranks with God as 
 high and as holy as the wider activity of which the world takes 
 note. Happy is he who in his country parish never forgets this 
 truth, but strong in the simplicity which comes from communing 
 with God walks amongst his people, as in very truth a minister of 
 life, life which begins here but lasts for ever, life whose power is 
 increasingly perceived. 
 
 For be assured of this : a country parish is a severe test of a 
 man's absolute reality. Powers of eloquence, of organisation, of 
 business capacity, will avail nothing, unless they flow from a 
 heart devoted to God. Criticism is keener in a country village 
 than in a large town. Every part of your Hfe is lived in public, 
 is scanned and commented on. You belong entirely to your 
 people, and can win them only by your absolute sincerity. You 
 must be their friend before you can be their teacher. Such a 
 work requires your best energies constantly employed. "All 
 service ranks the same with God," and with Him " there is no 
 last nor first." May He of His mercy write this lesson on the 
 hearts of all us and enable us evermore to keep Him before our 
 eyes in all that we do and say.
 
 PETKRBORoUUli : 
 
 PRINTKI) BV UKO. C. CASTER. 
 
 MARKET PLACE.
 
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