FS^'. .^' Mz jm&m^^imr^ ^r); 1 M LIBRARY O F THE U N I VER5ITY or I LLl NOIS ^Ijt Jimctions of our Catijetrrals. A LETTER IN ANSWER TO AN ENttUIM ADDRESSED TO THE DEiNS OF CATHEDRAL CHUECHES BY THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF YORK. BY EDWARD MEYRICK GOULBURN, D.C.L., D.D. DEAN OF NORWICH. " Let my due feet never fail To walk the studious cloisters pale, And love the high embowed roof, With antique pillars massy proof, And storied windows, richly dight, Casting a dim religious light. There let the pealing organ blow To the full-voiced choir below. In service high or anthem clear, As may witu sweetness thro' mine ear, Dissolve me into e^^tasies, And bring all heaven before mine eyes." II Penseroso. SECOND EDITION. ©xforti atiti iLontion : JAMES PAEKER AND CO. 1869. ij* The ivriter of this Letter hopes shortly to have ready for the Press a series of Sermons, explaining in a popular form and vindicating the true position and work of our Cathedrals. ^\)t fxmttwm of mx Catljtbrab. Deakery, Norwich, Jm>c 7, 1869. My Lords Primates, — On returning home after an absence of two or three days, I find awaiting me a circular from your Lordships, which it will be best to give in cxtenso. It is to the following effect : — "Lambeth Palace, S.E. May 29, 1869. " Dear Mr. Dean, " Since we had the pleasure of receiving a large body of the Deans of our Cathedral Churches at a meeting called to consider what improvements could with ad- vantage be made in the Cathedral system, and what is the best mode of effecting such improvements, we have had the advantage of a further conference with the Com- mittee appointed at the first meeting. There seems to be a general impression, that, while some common prin- ciples of improvement may be laid down applicable to all Cathedrals, still each has peculiarities of its own, calling for separate treatment. " We shall esteem it a great favour, if j'ou can furnish us with a statement suggesting any change which you may consider as of great importance for the Cathedral over which you preside, and we should be very glad, if possible, to be also informed of the views of your brethren of the Chapter on the same subject. " We should also feel much obliged if you would state T> 9 4 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. whether any means at present exist in the regular system of your Cathedral Government for effecting such changes as you think desirable. " We remain, " Tours very faithfully, " A. C. CANTUAR. "W. EBOR. " The Very Rev. the Dean 0/ Norwich." I trust that your Lordships will excuse my an- swering the above circular before the public. At the meeting adverted to in the first paragraph (which I was, most unfortunately for myself, pre- vented from attending), the sentiments attributed by the press to some members of the Decanal Body were not only (it now appears) wdiat they did not express, but the very reverse of what they did. I should be sorry to be subject to misconstruction ; and it seems to me that the publication of what is to be said in favour of or against great institutions is in the long run conducive to fair play. I believe that in the Cathedral system of England the Church at large has great interests at stake ; and I should be unwilling, therefore, that so broad a question should be discussed only by a Cabinet Council, even should that Council consist (as your Lordships — no doubt with the most equitable and generous intentions — have proposed that it should) of the heads of the several Cathedral bodies. I am asked to "furnish" your Lordships "with a statement suggesting any change, which I may u,uc THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. consider as of great importance for the Cathedral over which I preside." As far as regards myself, I must decline this request, while professing the utmost veneration for the character and office of those who make it. I am not a reformer by in- stinct ; nor am I sure that in this case I am fully qualified to become one on principle. I have not held my present position for more than two years and a-half; and for more than half-a-year of that time I have been incapacitated (by an accident) for the fulfilment of active duties. For the time during which I have been competent to these duties, I have done my best to work under the conditions imposed upon me ; and I have always found more than abundant work made ready to my hand. But it has been my object rather to learn the use of my tools, and how to handle them skilfully, than to criticise their efficiency, and to ask how they might be improved. Complaint of the tools is said to be the characteristic of a bad workman. The maxim, I suppose, will not uniformly hold good; but for a man whose work is new and strange to him to begin by refashioning his tools, before he has tried to do what admits of being done with them, at least throws suspicion upon his modesty and pru- dence. I have had many advantages in this place, have met with invariable kindness and confidence, have to be thankful more especially for the bro- therly unity of feeling which subsists (even where there may be marked difi'erence of opinion) among members of our Body ; and not until I have made b THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. the most of these advantages, and have risen more fiill}^ up to the requirements of the sphere in which God's Providence has placed me, will I begin to sit in judgment upon my instruments, and pronounce that they may be improved. But it will be said, no doubt, and with great show of reason, that an emergency is about to arise which should induce every ecclesiastic to con- tribute his quota of advice to the common councils of the Church, on the measures which will shortly be required for her preservation. The cruel and unmerited fate of the Irish Church shews that our own is in imminent peril, at least as regards her worldly possessions and social status. And doubt- less the vessel of the English Church is at present in such danger of shipwreck, that those interested in her may well be excused for considering whether, by the sacrifice of some unessential part of her sys- tem, its more vital parts may not be secured; whe- ther by " throwing out with our own hands the tackling of the ship," and "casting" even ''the wheat into the sea," we may not contrive to ride over the threatening waves, and to '' escape all safe to land." But I would observe that the panic in- duced by the calamities of a near neighbour is by no means a safe state of mind in which to take counsel for our own deliverance. Men are apt in such a crisis to look about for some rough-and- ready means of immediate escape, which, if we contemplate the future of what they wish to save, is just the unwisest measure in the world, and THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. 7 which, when the crisis is past, they will rue most bitterly. Opportunities are apt to be lost in such an hour, which can never afterwards be retrieved. And it will often happen that the panic is a nine days' wonder, blows over at the appearance on the stage of public discussion of some more interesting and exciting topic, and leaves all thoughtful and right-minded men exclaiming, " How much have we parted with, in a moment of fright and unrea- son, which might have been of incalculable use in future emergencies, and which a little nerve and cool stedfastness might have retained!" Perhaps I may be allowed to ask your Lordships whether an exclamation to this effect has not been already vented by men, whose opinion is entitled to all respect, in reference to the reduction of our Cathe- dral establishments, which took place some years ago. Bishop Blomfield, by the lead which he took in that measure, in deference to a popular cry, is generally supposed by Churchmen to have plucked a laurel from the wreath, which his high character, masterly administration, and eminent services to the Church have so deservedly won for him. It is felt that in an evil hour our Cathedrals were crippled, instead of having their resources de- veloped. And now it is proposed, if what we hear is to be relied upon, that the crippling operation should be repeated. Probably it would be better to destroy the Cathedrals at once than to submit them to this process of lingering inanition. And ^^ h}^ should tliey not be destroyed ? Doubt- 8 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. less in the inner man of many a professing member of the Church, this question often rises up, — " Of what use are our Cathedrals, and the organizations of which they are the centre, as distinct from parish churches?" Of what use is any church, the staff of which is not bound to address itself immediately and directly to the care of men's souls ? It is the spirit of the age to reason thus ; and I will ask your Lordships to allow me, in as brief a space as suffices for the exhibition of the argument, to address myself to answer such reason- ing. If I do not " suggest any change, which I consider as of great importance for my own Cathe- dral," I shall at least give my opinion as to the principles on which all wholesome changes must be based. And I may add that though (as I have already expressed) not ''given to change," I am prepared to co-operate most heartily in any and every change which may travel in the groove I am about to indicate. May I say, then, as that which appears to me to lie at the foundation of the whole argument, that as the Christian Ministry, so every building appropriated to the worship of Christians, has a twofold aspect, — a face towards God and a face towards man. Human edification is not the sole (probably not the chief) end for which Christian ministers and Christian churches exist. They are destined in the first instancy for the glorification of Grod's Name, that primary object which is soli- cited in the first, and, under other forms, in the THE FUNCTIONS OP OUR CATHEDRALS. 9 second and third petitions of the Lord's Prayer. While no minister and no church can be exempted from contributing in a measure to both these ob- jects, it is natural and reasonable that there should be ministers and churches more particularly de- voted to the one, and also ministers and churches more particularly devoted to the other. Our paro- chial churches and ministers are intended mainly for man's good ; our Cathedral churches and cathe- dral bodies mainly for God's honour. Why should we not worship in barns, in buildings bare of all decoration, bleak, plain, slovenly, uncared for? Why should not our worship be confined to prayer (in its limited sense) and sermons, omitting praise and addresses of mere homage to the King of Kings? Why would not the ointment of the ala- baster box have been better bestowed upon the poor than upon the Sacred Person of the Saviour ? Why should a religious service be tolerated in which no attempt is made (except incidentally and indirectly) to benefit man, to awaken his con- science, to stir his affections, to rouse his will? The answer to all these questions is one and the same. The hallowing of the Name of the All-wise and All-loving One is the first and foremost of all religious objects. Dedicated primarily to this, and only subordinately to man's spiritual welfare, the churches which contain the thrones of our chief pastors, and the colleges of priests who serve them, are to be devoted to the cultivation of worship in its highest and most magnificent form; they arc b3 10 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. to lead the way to other churches in the service of song ; and to exhibit an exact and comely ad- herence to the appointed ritual. Other churches must often in the interests of their ministers (who have only limited strength), and of their congrega- tions (who need continual house-to-house visita- tion), omit that daily public service which is the Church's highest standard ; but in these the morn- ing and evening sacrifice of prayer and praise must be offered with a regularity as constant as that in which the seasons recur. Any suggestion which the ripe wisdom and experience of your Lordships may enable you to make as to the instilment of a deeper reverence into ourselves, our Minor Canons, our Yicars Choral, our Choristers, as to our deliverance and preservation from the great sin of formalism, as to the securing from all mem- bers of our Body a more regular non-official attend- ance upon the services, and a heartier delight in them ; as to the cultivation of a purer style of music, and a more punctual adherence to the Prayer-Book ; in short, as to the raising the tone of our Cathedral worship ; I for one, with I doubt not many others, shall welcome with all joy and thankfulness, and endeavour to carry into effect in my own sphere to the best of my ability. But it will be said (and truly) that the most persevering attendance on the services of the Ca- thedral, added to the care and direction which it is necessary to bestow upon them out of church, is, putting it at the outside, insufficient to fill up THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. 11 the time of members of Cathedral bodies. "What else can you shew for them to do, besides devoting themselves to the solemn celebration of public worship ? And in answering this question, let me observe that the idea of a Cathedral clergyman, as distinct from that of a parochial Pastor, is some- thing almost peculiar to ourselves among the Churches of the Eeformation. No doubt there are Cathedrals belonging to foreign Protestant com- munities (just as there are Cathedrals in the pos- session of the Scotch Kirk) ; and very possibly in some cases the names of the old dignities, con- nected formerly with those Churches, may be re- tained by their modern incumbents; but the name is nothing more than an association with the remote past, which lingers on still; the idea of a Priest bound to give himself to worship, meditation, and study, rather than to active ministrations among God's flock, has not been preserved. In the Church of England, however, by means of the Cathedral system, the idea has been theoretically preserved with however little fidelity (alas I) Cathedral digni- taries have represented it before the eyes of the public. Of course this is not a conclusive argu- ment in favour of the idea. I do not advance it as such. But I venture to submit that the fact of such an idea finding a place in the system of our Church, ought to make a wise man cautious about discarding or weakening it. Our Church notoriously holds a very peculiar and very interest- ing position in Christendom, as embracing and 12 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. proclaiming the doctrines of the Eeformation, while at the same time she maintains unbroken her his- torical connection with primitive Christianity. One of the ideas which we find wrought into her system is that of a body of ecclesiastics analogous to the regular clergy of the Unreformed Church, cloistered men (so far as Protestants may be cloistered) giving attendance on the great Temple which spreads its quiet shade over their dwellings, and spending a greater part of their time, than the parochial clergy can afford to spend, in the pursuits of learn- ing and devotion. Is it not too probable that if you obliterate or weaken this idea, you will be obliterating or weakening a feature of the National Church, and more or less changing its character ? No doubt there are Churchmen who hold that its character had better be changed, that what our Church retains of primitive and Catholic is a vi- cious element which had better be expunged ; but the Primates of England are hardly likely (from the position which they hold) to look with favour on such views, to say nothing of the deserved re- putation which both of them enjoy for enlightened views and large and liberal sympathies. But, my Lords, if the Cathedral clergy be indeed one of the elements of our Church system, is it an element which we can afford at this particular time to dispense with, and which may be superseded without detriment to the present interests of the community? Do we or do we not find in our Cathedral system, when justice is done to it, the THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. 13 exact preservative which we need against the dangerous tendencies of the day ? Let us take a rapid survey of these dangerous tendencies so far as they affect the state of religion amongst us. And first there is that indisposition to stand still, that morbid restlessness, which re- sults from the introduction of competition into every department of life, and which is bound up with our present state of high civilisation. It is an atmosphere which all inhale, laymen and clerics, and it insinuates itself into the moral system of all of us, while we are hardly conscious of being under its influence. Occasionally it takes good and useful forms which much conduce to the interests of society. There is no hive now-a-days in which drones are tolerated ; dull men and slow men are thrust to the wall; our youths are launched into life with an appetite for work, and are goaded on to under- take even more than is good for their health. This is the sunnier side of the picture. In the Church we see multiplied services, new agencies started for the evangelisation of the people, preaching made so abundant that it is fast becoming thin, and is in danger (like silver in the days of Solomon) of being nothing accounted of. Some part of this no doubt is due to Christian principle ; but part is the result of the high pressure which is placed upon men of all professions, and which stimulates every one of us to " keep pace with the times." My Lords, I am sometimes dumbfounded with the thought that men arc now-a-days too busy to save their own 14 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. souls ; that they are dispensing themselves from the higher duty of sitting at Jesus' feet by the ex- cuse that they are cumbered about much serving ; that at the end of this whirl of itinerant preaching, and letter writing, and rapid locomotion on nomi- nally philanthropic errands, many of us clerics will have to confess, as the dawn of eternity tames down and sobers in us the fever-fit of time, "Perdidi vitam operose nihil agendo." It is so easy to be busy without any moral progress, and full of ex- ternal activities (even for Christ) without any de- velopment of the inner life. But then one feels that there are two great safeguards against this miserable consummation — that each one of us should insist in his own case upon leisure for de- votion (even at the risk of leaving some portion of active duty unfulfilled) and upon leisure for study. It is exceeding hard to secure this leisure in this busy age, when one occupation treads so close upon the heels of the other ; but some amount of it we must obtain at any hazard if the one great concern of life, — '' the kingdom which cometh not with ob- servation," — is to be forwarded within us. ITow under circumstances such as these, have the Cathe- drals any part to play, any services to render, to the body politic of the Church ? I submit that the part which they might play, the services which they might render under a judicious administration of them, are just those which might hold in check the morbid tendencies of the age. Here are quiet shades, solemn cloisters, venerable temples, old THE FUNCTIONS OP OUR CATHEDRALS. 15 libraries, opportunities of seclusion, opportunities of (comparative) leisure, — advantages which, if thrown into the hands of unqualified persons, will of course be abused to the purposes of indolence and luxurious self- pleasing, but which surely may- be used (is it too much to say that often, even in times which we think dead ones, they have been used ?) for the cultivation of learning and devotion, and for the nursing of meditative spirits with high and holy thoughts. Is it too much to hope that here, by discreet management, amid the sequestered retirement of a beautiful precinct, and as secluded as may be from " the running to and fro," the rest- less toiling and moiling of the world, might be reared a class of men exactly such as the times on which we are fallen most require, men of prayer, contemplation, and sacred study ? Yes ; of sacred study. My Lords, suffer me to ask whether sacred study is not one of the most urgent needs of our times, whether in view of our present circumstances the Church does not require the cultivation of theological learning more urgently than she ever did ? Is not unbelief developing it- self in new forms, — forms, which cannot possibly be put down by a reference to the old apologies, which were addressed to far other phases of thought ? Is not our common Christianity in danger of being undermined by new and false philosophies, shallow and baseless no doubt when examined to the depth, but imposing in outward appearance, and insinu- ating themselves by means of current fallacies into 16 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. the minds of the half-educated and the would-be thinker ? Can these false philosophies be met and answered, these fallacies exposed, without thought, without real solid attainment in the way of learn- ing? Can this thought be pursued, this learning cultivated successfully, (m lionorem Dei atque in pro- fectum sacrosandce matris Ecclesics^) except in an atmosphere of devotion ? And do not both thought and learning require as a necessary condition some amount of leisure, and of opportunities ? Can they be cultivated, as a general rule, by hard-worked parish clergymen, who have great difficulty in find- ing time for the literary labour of a weekly sermon, and have often very insufficient access to books and libraries ? Our Cathedrals, then, seem to be eminently adapted to the present needs of our Church, and might be made a real safeguard against dangers which are imminent. And in view of such a state of things, what is it proposed (if the representa- tions of the Church journals be at all correct) to do with them? What method of bringing them into a state of efficiency is suggested by our Bi- shops, and (apparently) acquiesced in by our Deans ? " Weaken their staff very materially. Suppress two Canonries in each cathedral. Four Canons and a Dean cannot possibly be necessary to keep up Divine Service. You have redundant strength here ; you can afford to spare some of it." In other words : " The wisdom and piety of old kings and prelates endowed the Church with a THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDEALS. 17 certain number of positions for the maintenance among ecclesiastics of that devotion and learning which are the very stamina of the Church's life. We have already reduced this number very mate- rially, under the influence of a panic. And now, when we need more than ever a contemjDlative and learned body of divines, when tlie Church is growing in numbers, and making herself more and more a felt power in the nation, we propose to reduce once again our opportunities of rearing such men." As things are at present, when a Canonry or a Deanery falls, you have an opportimit>/ of ap- pointing a man (I by no means say a man is always appointed) who will devote himself to prayer, thought, and wa-iting for the benefit of the Church. You may, by a discreet administration of the pa- tronage, secure the services of one who shall prove a Dean Milman, or a Dean Hook, or a Canon Eobertson, or a Canon Evans, or a Canon Pusey, or a Canon Selwyn, or a Canon Cook, or a Canon Bright, or a Canon Sedgwick "". The advocate for the suppression of a certain number of Canonries in each Cathedral virtually says : "I think there ' I have introduced the name of my dear Brother (if he will permit me so to call him), Canon Sedgwick, and of my old and valued friend Canon Evans of Durham, to shew that I do not take a narrow view of sacred Study, as if no study were sacred, which is not directhj theological. He whose scientific abilities and attainments enable him to vindicate the perfect consistency of Science with God's Word, and he whose profound and exqui- site knowledge of Greek is devoted to the elucidation of the New Testament, are quite as much qualified to be Champions of the Paith as those who cultivate profoundly some Special Branch of Theology. 18 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. are too many openings of this sort already. We have more men of learning and devotion than we know what to do with. We need not encourage this kind of qualification so much." And here, my Lords, I come upon the great point, which seems to me to want reformation in our Cathedral system. It will be said that in many instances the members of Cathedral bodies are neither men of devotional habits of mind, nor gifted for study, nor men of learning, nor men of a contemplative turn, nor (in short) possessed of any of the qualifications above adverted to. It cannot indeed he denied that several of them have one or all of these qualifications ; but let us frankly grant that many, are found wanting in thera. How is this to be remedied ? Surely in no other way than by the right bestowal of the patronage. All your Eoyal Commissions, nay, all your legislation in Parliament, will not work a change for the better, unless you secure the right men to hold the Deaneries and the Canonries; and if you do se- cure the right men, probably your Eoyal Commis- sions and your legislation will be entirely super- fluous, (I mean by right men, men specially qualified for the duties of a Cathedral, gifted with the love of study, with the love of devotion — a quality which some even excellent Christians lack, — and with a contemplative turn of mind.) Take a parallel case. Suppose that the patrons of English livings usually presented men — amiable indeed and stainless in moral character — but noto- riously unfit for the pastoral ofiicc, men with no THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. 19 preaching power, with an aversion to book-learn- ing, with a distaste for the monotony and duhiess of the clerical life, and having never had any drawing of the mind towards the care of souls, or the least sympathy with any department of pas- toral work. To apply a remedy to such a state of things by any modification of the Church system would be out of the question. You might make a law that (under certain penalties) all Incumbents should have three sermons at their churches in- stead of two, that they should shut themselves up in their studies for two hours a-day, and for two should be found in the cottages of their people, that they should hold a weekly Cottage Lecture, and themselves teach in the Day and Sunday Schools ; but by all these enactments put together you would not touch the root of the evil. The remedy lies only with the patron, and with him only at the next avoidance. He must present to the Bishop a duly qualified Incumbent ; and then your extra sermons, and your house-to-house visi- tations, and your Cottage Lectures and your Night Schools will be secured without legislative enact- ment, and will meet with success, because they will have the heart of the minister thrown into them. Yet such enactments as the above, if they did not succeed in doing good, would at least do little harm, (except so far as they might inspire the Incumbent with additional disgust for his duties). But what would be said of a scheme for suppress- ing altogether two- fifths of the English incum- bencies, because so many of the present Incum- 20 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. bents (on the hypothesis) are unfitted for their duties, and confiscating the proceeds of these in- cumbencies to the use of the Christian Knowledge Society, and thus to the diffusion of good litera- ture? "Why, it is manifest to every one, on the mere statement of such a proposition, that you would suppress by such an arrangement not only indifi'erent pastors, hut the opjjortimities of obtain- ing good ones — that you would cripple the re- sources of the Church, and enfeeble her in her struggle with the misery and sin that is in the world. And why is not a parallel argument to apply to the proposed suppression of two stalls in each Cathedral? If indeed it can be shewn that we Cathedral clergy have no specific functions to discharge towards the Church, that the idea of a clergyman holding no cure of souls, but bound to devote himself to worship, study, and medita- tion, is an idea futile and impracticable, — then sign our death-warrant at once, turn us at the next avoidance into incumbents with cure of souls, ob- literate altogether this feature of the Eeformed Church of England. But if, on the other hand, you think we have distinct functions, which upon the whole it is well to preserve, — if you think that under present circumstances, it may be well to retain a provision for a learned and a contemplative clergy, do not suppress our places because some of us happen to be inefficient, but rather impress upon the holders of Cathedral patronage the abso- lute necessity of developing by suitable appoint- ments the resources of our Cathedral system. The THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATnEDRALS. 21 right men will do all you wish to see done ; and in the absence of tlie right men, even the Ilouse of Commons itself will prove powerless to effect a change for good. Any how, do not let the Cathe- drals linger on with a reduced staff, and that staff " utilized" according to the views of utility taken by the Public, who recognise no use in anything but external hard work, and alas ! attach no efficacy to study or to prayer. Our demolition is the logi- cal conclusion from one view of our position. Our being raised to greater efficiency, by an improved exercise of patronage, is the logical conclusion from another view. The suppression of stalls is a measure based upon no principle ; — it is a compromise which will satisfy neither the adversaries of the Cathedrals (who before long will press for further reductions), nor their friends, — which will not at all touch the root of the evil, and which it may be safely pre- dicted that in ten years' time (if the Established Church of England lasts so long) every one in- terested in her welfare will sigh and weep over. But lest, in tlius expressing my strong feeling against the change which is proposed, I should be thought to have no sympathy with real improve- ments of the Cathedral system, I will, before bring- ing my letter to a close, briefly state in what di- rection I think such improvements should run. I can here sketcli out only a few rough heads of the subject ; for, as I explained at the outset, I have hitherto engaged myself rather in trying to work the existing system, than in devising improvements of it. Nevertheless the following are points in 22 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDKALS. which I should gladly co-operate with any attempts to raise our actual standard more nearly up to the theory of what we ought to be. It will be under- stood that I am not suggesting alterations specially appropriate to my own Cathedral (those who know Norwich will see that some of them could have no application here), but tracing an outline to which it would be desirable that we should all conform, so far as our varieties of statutes and local circum- stances allow. 1. A more constant attendance on the Services of the Cathedral by resident members of the Body, not offidalhj hound to render it. 2. An improvement of the income and status of the Minor Canons, these being the regular minis- ■ters of the Choir, and the conductors of the daily worship. Duties might be assigned to them cor- responding to the increase in their remuneration, as Pastors of the Precinct, Preachers on Sundays or Festivals, Educators of the Choristers, &c. 3. Better payment of the Choristers. More at- tention to their general education, their religions training, and provision for them in after life. 4. The providing retiring pensions for Minor Canons and Lay- Clerks who are incapacitated for their duties bj^ age and inl&rmity. 5. The bringing into greater prominence the fea- ture attaching to Cathedrals of a School of Sacred Music for the Diocese. Could arrangements be made here for gratuitous instruction of the Clergy in the performance of the Choral Service, and in the best mode of teaching and superintending Parish Choirs? THE FUxNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. 23 6. The connexion of a Cathedral witli a Theologi- cal College, which the Dean and Canons might superintend and give Lectures to ^. 7. The emoluments of Canonries to be increased by at least one-fourth of their present income, (to enable the holders of them to maintain witliout other help their position as dignified Clergy meu,) and this being done, but not otherwise, 8. To enforce from each Canon, as at present from the Dean, a residence of eight months. These are the suggestions which now occur to me as to the line which improvements should take. But they are very crude, some of them probably impracticable. I have not yet read through the Eeport of the Cathedral Commission issued in 1852, and presented to Parliament in 1855 ; and no man ought to be very dogmatic in his scheme for Cathedral improvements, who has not weighed well a document which (whatever one may think of the practical recommendations made in it, — and I dissent from several of them) has so completely exhausted all the learning of the subject. My Lords Primates, I have answered your en- quiries so far as I have felt myself able to answer them. If I were writing a defence of the Cathe- drals, instead of tracing the outline of what is in my view their function, 1 could say much on other ^ I have omitted here, in deference to the opinion of friends wiser than myself, a suggestion in reference to Sacred Litera- ture. And yet I cannot but think that it would be wholesome if members of Capitular Bodies could in some way be made to feel that the Church expected from th(m (if disengaged from other duties) a contribution to the Sacred Literature of the day. 24 THE FUNCTIONS OF OUR CATHEDRALS. points, specially on the heavy loss which would be sustained by many a Cathedral city (ours among the rest) by the removal of a Canon who devotes himself energetically to the superintendence of all Local Charities. But I must not meddle with what lies outside my line of argument ; and, in con- clusion, I would only implore your Lordships to reconsider, in the light of the Church's present needs, the policy of further reducing our Cathedral establishments. Every good Churchman will thank and bless your Lordships for making an endeavour to increase the effi.ciency of our Cathedrals in promot- ing those objects tvhich they tvere designed to subserve. But the mere alienation of their revenues to other objects (however in themselves desirable), the res- toration of them after the modern architectural fashion, not by developing their original features, but by patching them with new pieces that agree not, nor can be made to agree, with the old, will only make them feebler exponents of the idea which they embody, while the good done with their re- venues in any other quarter of the Church's har- vest-field, will hardly countervail the damage which will accrue to the cause of devotion and learning. I remain, my Lords, Your Lordships' faithful servant, EDWAED MEYRICK GOULBURN. "^viutcS bn |;>mcs ^arlicv unb Co., Cofumnvhct, dovb. J4&^ x-^^m 2fr >SH