L I B R A FLY 
 
 OF THE 
 U N I VERS ITY 
 OF 1 LLI N O IS
 
 A PASTOIUt^fcMTM 
 
 ^fu styr 
 
 Diocese of liortjcstci* 
 
 ANTHONY W. THOROLD, 1U> 
 
 XIXETY-EIG IITII BISHOP 
 
 With the Bishop's Compliment*. 
 
 LONDON" 
 DALDY, ISBISTER & CO. 
 
 •56, LTJDGATE HILL 
 187S. . 

 
 Let not thy peace be iu the tongues of men." 
 
 Thomas a Kempis. 
 
 " For the world is not to be won by anything — by religion or 
 empire or thought — except on those conditions with which the 
 Kingdom of Heaven first came. What conquers must have those 
 who devote themselves to it ; who prefer it to all other things ; 
 who are proud to suffer for it ; who can bear anything so that it 
 goes forward."' 
 
 Dean Church.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAf. TAGE 
 
 I. The Diocese . . 1 
 
 II. First Year 1] 
 
 III. Work in Front 13 
 
 IV. Diocesan Arrangements ...... 80 
 
 V. The Present Distress ...... o3 
 
 VI. Our Duty 48
 
 
 WUC !
 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 the diocese. 
 
 Brethren of the Clergy and of the Laity, 
 
 Summoned last year to fill the chair of Gimclulph 
 and Eidley, I have constantly found myself falling 
 back on the Baptist's words, U A man can receive 
 nothing except it be given him from Heaven." But 
 with the Providence of God, goes His Righteousness, 
 and with His Righteousness His Power. Sure I am, 
 that whatever I need He is willing to give me. Would 
 that I were as sure of my own readiness to go to Him 
 for it. And because I trust Him I come to you ; not 
 only on account of the encouragement I feel from the 
 singular and gracious kindness you have already 
 shown me, but since there is no one to look to if 
 you fail me. Who else is there to strengthen my 
 hands, to make suitable provision for the spiritual 
 necessities of the Diocese, to cheer me with steady 
 and sagacious counsel, to fortify the Church in our 
 midst by faith and prayer ? Yet understand what I 
 ask for. Not for confidence, which .a stranger must 
 expect to win, not to find ; nor for affection, which, if 
 jauntily invited and lightly bestowed, may last no 
 
 D
 
 2 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 longer than an April summer, with a June frost in 
 front ; but for two things, which you in my place 
 would assuredly expect and frankly claim — justice 
 and sympathy. Public opinion in England, while 
 generous in starting men charged with great trusts on 
 their new career, is sometimes terribly severe on their 
 mistakes ; with Bishops, perhaps, more than with any. 
 I ask you to be slow to accuse us of a chauge of front, 
 or of levity of principle, because we mean to be fair 
 all round, and refuse to try to govern the great 
 Anglican Church as if she was but an obscure sect. 
 Do not blame us for not using an authority which we 
 do not happen to possess, or for declining to vindicate 
 one law by breaking another, or for hesitating to lay 
 a yoke on any particular section of the Church, which 
 the other sections, while welcoming it for the discom- 
 fiture of their neighbours, would bitterly resent if it 
 was laid upon themselves ; or for not doing what per- 
 haps we did long ago, but for obvious reasons did as 
 quietly as possible ; or for declining to interfere where 
 interference would be useless, and bring authority into 
 yet a worse contempt. Surely, until a Bishop becomes 
 a mere machine, working his Diocese with a metallic 
 exactness, some scope must be left to his discretion. 
 Also, give us sympathy : intelligent, kindly and firm, 
 which can reflect, and appreciate the difficulties of 
 thiugs, and which consents to feel the greatness of our 
 responsibility, and can wait for things to work them- 
 selves out into their results before condemning them 
 as wrong ; a sympathy which, at moments when stran- 
 gers roughly chide us, and even Mends half doubt us, 
 keeps us from a bitter despair. Assuredly it has been 
 my own ideal of the work in front that has daunted
 
 The Diocese. 3 
 
 me more than anything. Bishop Sclwyn was not 
 fairly chargeable with morbidness or affectation. But 
 a recently published letter describes him in his own 
 words as "never having had a glimpse of satisfaction 
 in any one part of his multifarious work — episcopal, 
 collegiate, missionary — but falling short in all of the 
 lowest ideal." This we may be quite clear about, 
 that if your Bishop is ever to accomplish one-twen- 
 tieth part of the noble task set before him, it can only 
 be by a greedy covetousness of time rigorously re- 
 served for duties proper to his office, and with steady 
 sivpport from you. 
 
 The one object of this letter is to place myself 
 unreservedly in communication with you about the 
 solemn interests we possess in common ; to explain 
 with sufficient detail the responsible functions and 
 delicate complications of my work ; by a frank state- 
 ment of the methods and principles I shall adopt in 
 the administration of the Diocese to engage your 
 interest, if I may not always win your approval ; and 
 to conciliate, if possible, your hearty and efficient 
 support. In my own judgment it is not of the first 
 consequence that we should be of one mind about 
 everything. Indeed, were this letter an attempt to 
 make things pleasant to everybody, it would be both 
 insipid and insincere, and would basely fail. 
 
 But it is of the utmost importance that we should 
 thoroughly understand each other; and if it is not 
 unbecoming in me, as primarily responsible for the 
 Church's work in the Diocese, to indicate the organi- 
 zation which seems indispensable for efficiently grap- 
 pling with it, no one can feel more strongly than I, 
 that without the cordial support of the Clergy, and 
 
 b2
 
 4 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 the steady co-operation of the Laity, the best plans in 
 the world would be but as a child's scrawl on the sand. 
 Shall yon think it quite ont of place if I state, for 
 the information of at least some of you, certain of the 
 main features of a Bishop's work ? His first great 
 function is to continue the transmission of the Apos- 
 tolic doctrine and fellowship by ordaining those whom, 
 after careful inquiry, and on the report of his respon- 
 sible advisers, he is satisfied will be efficient clergy- 
 men. In Confirmation he admits young people, 
 arrived at years of discretion, into the full privileges 
 of the Church's fellowship, and after exhortation and 
 prayer invokes on them the gifts of grace. He 
 preaches, as opportunity offers itself; and there are 
 many opportunities. He consecrates churches and 
 cemeteries, assists at meetings for all conceivable 
 objects within the scope of the national life, and 
 conducts, not without difficulties, an incessant and 
 onerous correspondence. Yet all this expresses a 
 very insignificant part indeed of that invisible but 
 continual administration which makes no show, wins 
 no praise, leaves no mark, but which includes plans to 
 be originated, organization to be sustained, judgments 
 to be matured, discipline to be administered, mis- 
 understandings to be arranged, claims to be adjudi- 
 cated, mistakes to be corrected, enterprises to be 
 pushed — in a word, the care of all the Churches. You 
 expect him to be a leader, well in advance of his 
 men (though not too much in front), with sufficient 
 elasticity of nature not to shrink from initiating new 
 schemes and agencies for the ever-changing time, yet 
 prudent enough, while he can stir enthusiasm, not to 
 lead his followers into a quicksand. He should be a
 
 
 The Diocese. 5 
 
 ruler, with a firm hand on the rudder and a clear 
 outlook on the sea; by kindness winning co-operation, 
 by justice inspiring confidence, by cheerfulness en- 
 couraging activity, by consistency inducing respect. 
 A friend to all, let him never forget the younger 
 Clergy, so fast coming up behind us, and the rulers of 
 the Church's future. A Pastor, too, he should try to 
 be, to whom the faithful in the Diocese can at all 
 times resort for guidance, comfort, and prayer. Not 
 least of all, he must be a keeper of Holy Writ, a 
 vigilant though not fretful guardian of the faith once 
 committed to the saints, and deposited in the Scrip- 
 tural formularies of our own Reformed Communion. 
 Distinctly recognising and honestly protecting those 
 reasonable diversities of faith and practice which are 
 essential to the existence of a national Church, and 
 manfully asserting his own liberty in holding and 
 declaring the truth, he must never press his personal 
 convictions as if they were articles of faith, or enforce 
 his individual preferences in ritual and ceremony as 
 if they had the weight of law. I might easily add 
 much more, but surely enough has been said to effect 
 the object in view : that of inducing you continually 
 to pray for us, that amid the heated controversies of 
 the time we may always give fair play and yet hold 
 fast the Catholic faith ; that our one end and aim may 
 be to exalt and proclaim the Lord Jesus ; that through 
 the rare but inestimable faculty of moral and intel- 
 lectual sympathy we may bo patient (even with those 
 whom we may never persuade), because through love 
 to the truth and to our neighbour we try to put our- 
 selves in his position, and finding out the truth he has 
 got, seize it and recognise it, and then try to pass on
 
 6 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 to him what we have got and he is missing ; that we 
 may have a bright and quiet courage, free on the one 
 hand from a shallow optimism, which because it does 
 not hate evil as it ought, fails to see it and to fear it — 
 on the other hand, lifted high up above that moaning 
 despair which, whatever else it may succeed in doing, 
 will never win recruits for the Church, and which 
 dishonours God as much as it depresses man. Most 
 of all, that we may live quite close to God, and make 
 Him our refuge and home, and when men outside 
 upbraid and misjudge us, take all to Him, and ask 
 Him, Whose right hand is full of righteousness, at 
 whatever cost to give us Light and Peace. Then we 
 shall have our reward, not in winning every man's 
 good word, nor in always escaping the solitariness that 
 is the sure penalty of independence, nor in frothy 
 ajyplause, nor in a feverish routine of popular and easy 
 activities that leave about as much mark on the 
 Church as the sob of a rising wave on the flood of the 
 Atlantic, but in the steady discharge of serious duties 
 which the judgment of conscience steadily indicates to 
 us ; in the quiet maturing of plans, which, to be worth 
 anything, must have time for ripening ; in occasional 
 leisure for study, if a Bishop, (in the pithy sentence of 
 one not in the least likely to be a case in point,) is not 
 soon to become "the most ignorant man in his 
 Diocese ; " in prized and fruitful occasion for personal 
 intercourse with the beloved labourers at his side; 
 best of all, in souls won to Christ by preaching that is 
 at once solid and faithful, and by a life about which 
 it can in some measure be said, in humble imitation of 
 our great Example, " There went virtue out of him, 
 and it healed them all."
 
 The Diocese, 7 
 
 There can be no advantage in now discussing the 
 expediency of the recent arrangements, by which 
 under the operation of the Bishopric of St. Alban's 
 Act, the territory of this ancient Diocese has been so 
 materially changed. It was not indeed to be expected 
 that such serious alterations could fail to excite some 
 reasonable disappointment, and a good deal of becom- 
 ing regret. But now that the settlement is perma- 
 nently effected, loyalty to the interests of the Church 
 —may I add, fairness towards him who will be held 
 chiefly rcsj^onsible for making it a success — justify the 
 expectation that we shall all combine to make the 
 best of it, and that by mutual confidence and goodwill 
 on the part of those now brought together, the Church 
 in a See founded by Augustine may make a great 
 spring. Perhaps no statement of what has been 
 effected can be fairer or clearer than that of the 
 Bishop of Winchester in his recent charge: "The 
 difficulties were great. No scheme could be quite 
 perfect. I much doubt whether a better could have 
 been devised, unless the funds could have been more 
 than doubled. As a matter of fact, the new Bishop 
 of Eoch ester will reside much nearer to his Cathedral 
 City than did the late Bishop of Rochester, much 
 nearer to South London than did former Bishops of 
 "Winchester. So he will be easily accessible from 
 both, will find easy access to both. The results are 
 that Winchester is relieved ; Bochester is far better 
 off than when its Bishops were living in Essex ; South 
 London has a Bishop almost for itself; and St. Alban's 
 is a thoroughly new see, compact and perfect." * 
 
 * It ought to be clearly understood that the Sec of Rochester has contri- 
 buted to the endowment of the new See of St. Alban's an income in
 
 8 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 The configuration of the Diocese represents roughly 
 the letter 8, and an island floating in space. A pro- 
 montory of Canterbury, running up to the Thames 
 between Eltham and Dartford, is undoubtedly an 
 awkward interruption of diocesan continuity. Its 
 area, which consists of the Eastern and Middle Par- 
 liamentary divisions of Surrey, with the Kent portion 
 of the old Diocese south of the river, includes the. 
 entire South Bank of the Thames (the aforesaid penin- 
 sula excepted), running west to east from Long Ditton 
 to the Nore ; north to south from London Bridge to 
 East Grinstead. The population, roughly calculated 
 from a recent census made by. the London School 
 Board for its own purposes, is at the very least 
 1,500,000; and at such places as Lewisham, Lee, 
 Hatcham, Camberwell, Peckham, Sydenham, Batter- 
 sea, Clapham, Surbiton, Sutton, Streatham, Charlton, 
 Plumstead, out of many others I might name, is 
 rapidly on the increase. It cannot be too extensively 
 understood (and my authority is that of Messrs. Wil- 
 liams and Shelford, C.E., Great George Street), that 
 while the area of the metropolis north of the Thames 
 covers 50 square miles, the area south of the river 
 covers 68 ; and that while the increase of the popula- 
 tion in the twenty j T ears from 1851-71 for the entire 
 metropolis was at the rate of 34 per cent., the increase 
 in the southern part of it has been at the rate of 57. 
 It should also be known that while the increase in 
 the rateable value in the metropolis may be calculated 
 to be three times greater than the increase of popula- 
 
 pcrmanence of £500 a-year, and an undefined portion of the proceeds of 
 Danbury. The territorial result is South London, instead of Hertfordshire 
 and Essex, with an additional population, sure to be continually augmented, 
 of at least 300,000 souls.
 
 The Diocese. 9 
 
 tion, in the south of London it is at the rate of 127 
 per cent, against 104 per cent, for the entire metro- 
 polis. 
 
 The accessibleness which the recent arrangements 
 ensure for those who have to meet each other for 
 diocesan business, is a very conspicuous advantage. 
 The Surrey portion of the diocese is simply grid- 
 ironed with railways ; and the residence near Croydon, 
 which I have hired for my personal use, is not only 
 within easy driving distance of every part of South 
 London, as well as such more remote localities as 
 Greenwich and Lewisham on the north-east, Godstone 
 and Eeigate on the south, Kingston and Wimbledon 
 on the west, but it has direct railway communication 
 with the Cathedral City, and is within twenty minutes 
 of a town from which there are 140 trains each way 
 daily to various parts of London. 
 
 Perhaps few dioceses have more points of interest 
 than our own. "We combine the lovely chalk hills of 
 Surrey with the cherry- orchards and hop-gardens of 
 Kent; Woolwich Arsenal and Chatham Dockyard; 
 Kew Gardens and Greenwich Hospital ; Ham House 
 and Cobham Hall ; Rochester and Cooling Castles ; the 
 Thames and the Medway ; the Collegiate Church of 
 St. Saviour's, Southwark ; Gundnlph's Cathedral, and 
 locally, though not ecclesiastically, the grey towers 
 and august traditions of Lambeth. As to the possi- 
 bility of reasonably overtaking the work, it is of little 
 use to hazard an opinion, when some of us, regarding 
 a Bishop as a sort of magnified Rural Dean, give him 
 his duties accordingly ; and others would envelop him 
 in a kind of misty grandeur, to be brought down 
 from the clouds and displayed to his brother Church-
 
 10 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 men on select and rare occasions. Good sense, how- 
 ever, always discovers a reasonable mean ; and there 
 can be no sort of advantage in multiplying Bishops if 
 their life is only to be passed on the railway, and their 
 strength wasted in a round of minor duties which pro- 
 bably most, if not all, of their clergy could perform 
 much better than they. At any rate, for some time 
 to come, we must be prepared to group much of the 
 work, rather than do it in detail ; and that self-acting 
 law, which always sooner or later asserts itself, will 
 presently make it plain both to me and to you by 
 what kind of duties we can best serve each other, and 
 build up the Church in our midst.
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 FIRST YEAE. 
 
 The work of our first year includes the ordinary 
 duties of regular administration in conjunction with 
 that labour of special organization which sprang out 
 of the reconstruction of the Diocese. I have held 4 
 ordinations, at which 33 priests and 33 deacons have 
 been ordained; 7 churches have been consecrated 
 (that of St. Michael and All Angels, Woolwich, under 
 my commission by the Bishop of St. Alban's), of which 
 2 had been previously licensed for Divine Service; 
 and 4 have been re-opened affcer.important repairs. I 
 have also held 73 confirmations, at which 8,100 persons 
 were confirmed. It so happened that this was the 
 year in which the bulk of country confirmations fell 
 due ; and it was a fortunate circumstance which en- 
 abled me at so early a period to penetrate into the 
 remotest corners of the Diocese, and gave me an op- 
 portunity of thankfully recognising the grave con- 
 scientiousness with which the Clergy, as a rule, prepare 
 their young people for the solemn rite. Last autumn, 
 when the vacation was over, I hastened to invite the 
 Clergy to meet me at the four centres of Eeigatc, 
 "Wimbledon, Southwark, and Eochcster, for devotion 
 and conference. To me, at least, these gatherings
 
 12 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 were full of profit and happiness ; I only wish the way 
 could be made plain to arrange similar gatherings for 
 my lay brethren. 
 
 Our special work has been that of reconstruction 
 and consolidation. The existing Diocese being com- 
 posed of three fragments of unequal size, taken from 
 London, Winchester, and Eochester, the first step 
 towards welding these fragments into a living and 
 organic unity was to re-adjust the machinery already 
 existing, so as to meet the altered conditions of the 
 case. This machinery was chiefly Evangelistic and 
 Educational. The Evangelistic agencies hitherto 
 occupying the ground were the Bishop of London's 
 Fund, the Surrey Church Association with its oflVpring 
 the South London Fund, and the Bishop of Eochester's 
 Fund ; and they have severally done important work 
 of permanent value. Immediately, however, on the 
 Bishopric of St. Alban's Act coming into operation, it 
 became desirable to form without further delay a single 
 organization for the spiritual necessities of the Diocese, 
 and after full and harmonious discussion of the whole 
 subject by a thoroughly representative Committee of 
 Clergy and Laity, a society was formally constituted 
 in January last, called the Eochester Diocesan Society, 
 to take up the work hitherto carried on by the above- 
 named agencies, now within our limits superseded ; and 
 (as it may not be presumptuous to hope) with even 
 an augmented success. This new organization in its 
 nature is a Society, not a Fund. Its area is the entire 
 Diocese. Its object is to initiate and sustain new 
 Church work of all kinds, (except school work other- 
 wise provided for), such as the employment of mis- 
 sionary curates, and other living agents, the erection
 
 First Year. 18 
 
 of churches, school churches, mission buildings, and 
 parsonage houses ; the purchase of sites for Church 
 purposes, and occasionally the assisting of Endowment 
 Funds. Its government is vested in a Council consist- 
 ing partly of official members, and partly of members 
 annually elected by subscribers of not less than 10s. 0(7. 
 per annum, to the extent of two out of each Deanery, 
 one at least of whom shall be a layman. Donations 
 can be applied by the donors (if specified at the time 
 of the donation) to any of the objects of the Society ; 
 and they can be paid by annual instalments. 
 
 This Society is now in full operation, and it has 
 been my duty to preside at eight meetings in diffe- 
 rent parts of the Diocese with the view of explaining 
 and advocating its claims, as well as to preach for its 
 funds in 15 pulpits. A few statistics will show the 
 gravity of the case, and that help cannot safely be 
 postponed. A population of at least 1,500,000 souls 
 is ecclesiastically distributed into no more than 300 
 parishes, with only 565 clergymen. To put it in an- 
 other way (leaving out of account the religious minis- 
 trations of other Communions *), in a Diocese where 
 there are no less than 41 country parishes with under 
 GOO inhabitants, the average population of each parish 
 is about 5,000 ; and each clergyman, beneficed or 
 licensed, has an average charge of over 2,000 souls. 
 In 1877 there were parishes of 33,000, one ; 30,000, 
 one; 25,000, two; 20,000, three; 15,000,^/^; 10,000, 
 seventeen; 7 ,000 j forty-four; 5,000, thirty-two. Already 
 a sum of £8,000 has been promised, but much of this 
 
 * These ministrations, it is but common justice to say, air in some casi 8 
 of quite exceptional value. May God bless them whenever and when v ;• 
 done fur the true glory of His name !
 
 14 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 is spread over a period of five years ; and if we are to 
 make any adequate impression on a deficiency of spiri- 
 tual provision, which, of course, is steadily growing 
 with the increase of population, we ought to have a 
 reliable annnal income of at least £10,000." It is 
 probable that the temporary assistance of an organizing 
 secretary will be indispensable in helping us to reach 
 the large resources within our boundaries ; it is hoped 
 that when it comes to be understood that we are really 
 pleading for a section of London, and for that section 
 perhaps least able to help itself, the consciences of our 
 brother Churchmen may be thoroughly stirred. 
 
 The Rochester Diocesan Board of Education, for some 
 years past in active operation for the Kent portion of 
 the existing Diocese, and supported there with a sin- 
 gular liberality, proved an excellent model for the 
 new Board to be constituted for the entire area. The 
 Council, which administers its affairs and dispenses 
 its finances, is, with the insignificant exception of a 
 few cx-officio members, and six appointed by the 
 Bishop, elected every three years by the entire body 
 of the subscribers. The Treasurers are elected by 
 the Council. The Hon. Secretaries, four in number, 
 two of whom are clerical and two lay, are nominated 
 by the Bishop. The Inspector is nominated by the 
 Bishop from names submitted to him by the Council. 
 The main object of the Board is to ensure and 
 encourage religious instruction in the Voluntary 
 Church Schools of the Diocese through a system of 
 periodical inspection by a responsible officer ; but 
 
 * IIow I wish some bountiful friend would guarantee for four years an 
 organizing secretary's stipend. It is not too much to say that it would result 
 in at least £10,000 to our funds, and thoroughly root the Society in the 
 Diocese. The very man for the weak is before me, and ready.
 
 First Year. 15 
 
 power is taken under the new constitution to extend 
 this inspection, when practicable, to secular subjects ; 
 and in exceptional cases building grants will be made 
 in rural districts. ~No subsidies arc contemplated for 
 maintenance purposes. Sunday Schools are included 
 within the area of the Board's operations. 
 
 I should like to add here, though it hardly comes 
 within the scope of this letter, that, so far from feeling 
 anything like despair as to the future of Church Day 
 Schools through the competition of the Board School 
 system, all that has happened since Mr. Forster's Act 
 came into operation encourages us to take a cheerful, 
 if not a sanguine, view of our position.* "Whether we 
 apply the test of the quality of the teaching, the 
 attainments of the children, the interest of the 
 parents, the earning of the State grants, or. the good- 
 will of the public, as evinced by their contributions, 
 we quite hold our ground. The Church, so far from 
 losing heart, is prudently erecting fresh Training 
 Colleges for Teachers, and our National School system 
 is likely to prove one of the deepest and strongest en- 
 trenchments of our citadel when the real battle comes. 
 
 Let us, moreover, clearly understand that a definite 
 and systematic method of Scriptural instruction is the 
 essential distinction between the religious teaching in 
 Board Schools (liable at any time to be altogether 
 discontinued at the pleasure of the managers) and the 
 syllabus of Church Schools ; and that since the only 
 certain method of ensuring that this teaching is 
 given is by competent examinations held at regular 
 intervals, it is of the first importance that sufficient 
 
 * Of course, in London and the suburbs, the competition of the Board 
 Schools most si riously :ifl'-«ts even the existence of many Voluntary Schools.
 
 16 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 funds should be subscribed for ensuring this inspec- 
 tion. I earnestly invite the liberal aid of Church 
 people to this indispensable object ; and I trust that 
 in every parish throughout the Diocese there will be 
 an annual offertory for the purpose. 
 
 Certain of the Eural Deaneries in the Metropolitan 
 part of the Diocese are of unwieldy proportions, and 
 a scheme which has been carefully considered by the 
 Eural Deans, and submitted to the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners, will shortly be laid before Her Majesty 
 in Council. The existing Deaneries of Ewell north-east 
 and Ewell south-west have been re-named respectively 
 the Deaneries of Beddington and Beigate ; and three 
 new Deaneries have been proposed : one out of the 
 Deanery of Greenwich, to be styled the Deanery of 
 Deptford; one out of the Deanery of Lambeth, to 
 be styled the Deanery of Kennington ; the other out 
 of the Deanery of Streatham to be called the Deanery 
 of Battersea. Possibly at some future time the 
 Deanery of Greenwich may be yet further relieved 
 by the formation of a Deanery of Lewisham. 
 
 It also became apparent, that the formation of a 
 new Archdeaconry for the Surrey part of the Diocese 
 was indispensable. The not unbecoming cause of hesi- 
 tation lay in the necessity it involved of the severance 
 of South London from the archidiaconal jurisdiction 
 of the much-respected Archdeacon of Surrey, whose 
 ripe experience, kindly administration, and indefa- 
 tigable labours as Suffragan Bishoj) of Guildford had 
 justly endeared him to all classes of Churchmen. 
 But the step was inevitable ; and when the order in 
 Council was gazetted erecting the Archdeaconry, I 
 had the satisfaction of appointing Canon Fisher, Yicar
 
 First Year. 17 
 
 of Kennington, to be the first Archdeacon of South- 
 ward 
 
 The Kent and Surrey Societies heretofore existing 
 for the relief of the "Widows and Families of Clergy- 
 men, will continue as before, without any attempt to 
 fuse them. Endowments which could neither be di- 
 verted nor divided, put insuperable difficulties in the 
 way of amalgamation, and but little would have been 
 gained by the attempt. 
 
 The want of a Diocesan Kalendar was much felt last 
 year, but it was postponed through financial consi- 
 derations. The liberality of a resident Churchman 
 having guaranteed the expense, a Committee (ap- 
 pointed to consider the details when the plan was 
 first talked of) will at once proceed to prepare it, and 
 I trust it will be ready by Christmas. It will be 
 published for 1-5., by Wells Gardner, Paternoster 
 Buildings ; and if every one who receives this Pastoral 
 will order a copy, it ought easily to pay its way. 
 
 The arrangement of the jurisdiction of the Ecclesi- 
 astical Officers in the parts of our newly constituted 
 territory, transferred from London and Winchester to 
 Rochester, in the absence of distinct instructions in the 
 Act has not proved easy of settlement. Guided by 
 legal advice, I have determined that the Rochester 
 officials shall be taken to be the officials for the 
 entire Diocese; but the question of compensation, 
 which of course ought to be arranged, if possible, to 
 the reasonable satisfaction of all concerned, is still in 
 suspense.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WORK IN FRONT. 
 
 All the plans which will now be proposed to you, I do 
 not, for obvious reasons, desire to start at once ; yet 
 I strongly feel that in their entirety they are essential 
 to any thorough mastery of the practical problems we 
 have sooner or later to face, and I quite expect to be 
 told that they by no means cover the entire area of 
 our duty. Some of them may rank first in order of 
 importance, others third; but just so far as they 
 express real wants, they will not suffer themselves to 
 be forgotten, but will work their way to the front. 
 
 I. First I must say a word on what is very near 
 my heart, and what all will feel to be of the deepest 
 importance, though there may be a difference of 
 opinion as to the best way of effecting it. The deep- 
 ening and invigorating the spiritual life of the Clergy, 
 especially of the younger clergy who are most likely 
 to value and accept such help, must ultimately tell on 
 their ministry and their flocks. It stands to reason that 
 they who are continually handling holy things are 
 exposed to the subtle peril of losing the vital impres- 
 sion of them. A conventional and artificial, and, 
 therefore, insincere way of uttering truth and pressing 
 holiness, is a temptation which no one can escape ;
 
 Work in Front. 19 
 
 when grown into a habit it acts like a paralysis. 
 Even apart from these perils, by no means rare, it is 
 a real refreshment for a tired clergyman to leave his 
 books and his duties, and even his family, for a couple 
 of days of spiritual companionship, honest searching 
 of his own heart, full review of his labours, sustained 
 iDrayer, and quiet reflection. The time is not lost to 
 his flock, for it is a kind of Sabbath to him, and his 
 people soon discover where he has been and what he 
 has received. Having already on six different occa- 
 sions conducted private devotional gatherings of my 
 brethren, I know from personal experience how such 
 seasons are valued; and one of the happiest and 
 holiest duties I set before myself in years to come is 
 enjoying the privilege of occasionally inviting my 
 brethren to come apart and rest awhile, in some quiet 
 place here and there through the Diocese, where, in 
 the presence of our common Master, we may take 
 counsel together about the Kingdom we serve and the 
 truths we love ; and then go home, with a holy 
 recollection for months. 
 
 II. Lay help in a Diocese such as ours cannot too 
 soon be considered and organized on a definite plan. 
 Organization, if not too complex and rigid, just 
 doubles working power. It is certain that not a few 
 laymen possess in a remarkable degree gifts of facile 
 and clear teaching, which should be of vast help to the 
 Church ; it is still more certain that if we are to 
 throw the Gospel net in any adequate way over the 
 masses of our urban population, other hands besides 
 clergymen's must cast it into the sea, and then bring 
 it to land. It is now far too late in the day to 
 discuss the propriety of lay agency. The exigencies 
 
 c2
 
 20 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 of the Church's duty and the vigorous good sense of 
 Christians settled that long ago. In fact, this is one 
 of those practical questions which is now removed 
 from the area of controversy, and the chief matter 
 about which Churchmen of solid experience and 
 active sympathy are most anxious, is that we should 
 lose no time. 
 
 The details of our scheme must be worked out by 
 a Committee, which will, I hope, be appointed before 
 this Pastoral is in youv hands ; but the main features of 
 the scheme to which I shall invite their consideration 
 will embody the institution of three orders of Lay 
 Helpers — Evangelists, Reader's, and Workers. Evan- 
 gelists, happy in possessing special qualifications for 
 initiating work, would be empowered to discharge 
 direct missionary duties, in the shape of preaching 
 and holding services in places where fallow ground 
 needs to be broken up for the parochial clergy to till. 
 Readers, without being invited to preach, would 
 conduct services in schoolrooms, visit the sick, and be 
 invaluable assistants on the regular staff. Workers 
 would include Sunday-School teachers, choirmen, 
 Church helpers of all sorts, especial] j those who 
 would immensely relieve the Clergy by undertaking 
 most of the work now connected with the Tem- 
 perance Movement, which probably will be much 
 better done by laymen. All these would be unpaid ; 
 they would be formally commissioned by the Bishop ; 
 they would never work without the Incumbent's 
 consent; in some cases, we hope, they would come 
 to us from across the water, and give their help, 
 where it is quite as sorely needed as in East London. 
 No doubt there are many working actively among us
 
 Work in Front. 21 
 
 who would not care for such a recognition if it were 
 offered them. Let them work as they will : anyhow 
 their assistance is welcome. But there are many 
 more than might be supposed who feel the disad- 
 vantage of isolated work; who value sympathy, and 
 fellowship, and the comfort of united prayer ; who 
 fight better in rank than when on patrol; whose 
 march fatigues them less when in company with 
 friends. To such we say, " Come and work with us, 
 and we shall do each other good, and both our use- 
 fulness and happiness will bo doubled." If we are 
 careful to give all needful liberty of action, and at 
 the same time to observe such precautions as may 
 ensure soundness of faith and prevent mortifying 
 failure, I am convinced we may, in course of time, 
 bring a great accession of strength to the Church, and 
 work a vein of ore which will be untold wealth to us. 
 The Church will have a kind of Kesurrectiou if we 
 can only learn to win, use, and trust our lay brethren. 
 Eecruited from all ranks, and in full possession of 
 what arc now unknown and wasted resources, she 
 will become, in fact as well as in name, the Church of 
 the People, and so deserve to keep what otherwise 
 she may irretrievably lose. I also propose to appoint 
 a Committee to consider the entire question of 
 Women's Church work in relation to this Diocese. 
 
 III. We must not suffer the winter to pass without 
 inaugurating, perhaps on the Oxford plan, a Central 
 Diocesan Branch of the Church, of England Temperance 
 Soeieii/, which, already locall} T planted in many parishes 
 of the Diocese, should be recognised and constituted 
 as an integral feature of our work. There can be no 
 need for me here to insist by arguments that arc
 
 22 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 happily common-place, and statistics that are mourn- 
 fully familiar, the pressing necessity of an intelligent, 
 systematic, determined Christian effort to diminish 
 intemperance. Also, it ought to be quite possible in 
 the handling of this question to combine a sincere 
 enthusiasm with a reasonable moderation ; and while 
 entrenching on no man's liberty, and intruding into 
 no man's conscience, to fight a fair, strong, and 
 winning battle for virtue. The Church of England 
 Temperance Society welcomes and enlists both those 
 who abstain from any use of alcoholic mixtures, and 
 those who, in the legitimate exercise of their un- 
 doubted liberty, use them, but with exemplary modera- 
 tion. We cannot do without each other ; and if 
 occasionally there is some apparent friction in the co- 
 operation of the allied forces, it is only to be expected, 
 and should not be made too much of. We shall all, 
 however, admit that for the effectual treatment of 
 confirmed drunkards, total abstinence is the only 
 remedy ; and if, in the exercise of what is also their 
 undoubted liberty, Christian men and women, for 
 example sake, consent to give up the use of alcohol, 
 not, indeed, asking to be either praised or pitied, but 
 to be left alone, I being one of them, say to such, "We 
 wish you good luck in the name of the Lord." In the 
 course of time, I hope we may see Euridecanal branches 
 planted everywhere, in villages quite as much as in 
 towns ; and I anticipate no invitations with more 
 sincere pleasure than those which will probably come, 
 in all good time, for occasionally distributing cards of 
 membership to juvenile associations. 
 
 IY. Among the increasing, and, perhaps, most 
 serious evils of the day, is the lack of theological
 
 Work in Front 23 
 
 study among the younger clergy, and, I instantly add, 
 often through no fault of theirs. I suppose there 
 never was a period in the history of the Church, when 
 in the face of a highly educated laity, and of the rapid 
 growth of the educational standard among all the 
 classes of the people, a corresponding advance in the 
 culture of the Anglican Clergy was more imperatively 
 demanded. Yet from causes, some of which are in- 
 telligible, some remediable, and some (to be perfectly 
 candid) without excuse, there is supposed now to bo 
 no leisure for cultivation and self-improvement. An 
 incessant round of absorbing and often insignificant 
 activities absorbs the time and strength which ought, 
 at least, to be shared with reading and devotion; 
 newspapers and reviews combine to produce what the 
 happy phrase of a living scholar calls a "superficial 
 mediocrity of erudition." But an ignorant clergy 
 inevitably becomes, sooner or later, a fanatical clergy ; 
 and it is a real cause of anxiety when the weekly 
 sermon, which in most cases is all that busy laymen can 
 procure in the shape of religious instruction, is but a 
 sort of waste basket of ponderous common-places, or a 
 long spasm of emotional rhetoric, which, if it occa- 
 sionally touches the conscience and moves the feelings, 
 cannot satisfy the understanding nor change the life. 
 Men expect to be taught when they come to Church, 
 and it is a reasonable expectation. In this Diocese, 
 much of which may accurately be described as London 
 out of doors, there is a special importance attached to 
 the function of preaching. But if our Clergy come in 
 any appreciable extent to abdicate their great duty of 
 Christian teaching, through ceasing to qualify them- 
 selves for it, their congregation will take their revenge
 
 24 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 citlier in keeping away or in going somewhere else. 
 "What shall we do to stimulate theological study, and 
 to induce incumbents of parishes who, with the best 
 possible intentions, ' are often chief offenders in the 
 matter, at once to make study possible for their 
 curates by contriving the leisure for it, and (what is 
 of equal importance) assisting them with their advice ? 
 Two methods occur to me, which, while quite inde- 
 dent of each other, may easily be combined with 
 considerable advantage. One is to form in every 
 Eural Deanery clerical societies for regular and collec- 
 tive theological reading ; the other is to organize a 
 system of prizes to be given for the best papers on 
 subjects announced beforehand ; the subjects to in- 
 clude Hebrew, a specified book of the New Testament, 
 both in Greek and English, a period of Church His- 
 tory, one work of a classical English Divine, some 
 physical science in its bearing on Eevelation, and a 
 practical subject of Pastoral Theology. The prizes, to 
 consist of a set of valuable divinity, would, I think, 
 be readily forthcoming. I gladly offer one to begin 
 with, of the value of ten guineas. I think also that 
 the Eural Deans in each Deanery, or some clergyman 
 in their stead, of standing and culture, would not be 
 indisposed to take the trouble of organizing and 
 superintending these gatherings. If my plan seems 
 chimerical, at any rate it is a step in the right direc- 
 tion, and in the South wark Eural Deanery the ex- 
 periment has already been commenced. Until it is 
 made clear that the plan must fail, and in the absence 
 of a better, it is unnecessary to be daunted by plausible 
 difficulties. At a convenient moment I propose to invite 
 the Dean and Chapter of Eochester, in conjunction
 
 Work in Front. 25 
 
 with my chaplains, to consider the whole subject ; and 
 the Diocese will feel that the task could not possibly 
 be entrusted to more competent hands. 
 
 V. In close connection with this scheme, it would 
 be a great advantage if we could presently set on foot 
 a well-considered system of Diocesan Bursaries, to 
 assist the University education of promising young 
 men proposing to take Holy Orders. This, I am 
 persuaded, is the right way of dealing with the im- 
 minent dearth of candidates for the Ministry, and far 
 preferable to the establishment of Theological Col- 
 leges, which, with all sincere respect for the good 
 men sometimes turned out of them, and the learned 
 divines who usually preside over them, are an unsatis- 
 factory substitute for the Universities. If the rulers of 
 11k 1 Church rule generously and trustfully, and if the 
 incumbents of parishes will kindly and conscientiously 
 train the youths to whom they give titles, the Church 
 will never want recruits for her work. But it is pro- 
 bable that we must henceforward look to a somewhat 
 lower social stratum from which to draw them ; and 
 this necessitates a subvention of funds. It will often 
 happen that a studious youth, anxious to proceed to 
 the University, and with the prospect ultimately of 
 taking Orders, obtains an exhibition, which, while a 
 substantial help, is totally inadequate for his mainte- 
 nance. But if he could be assisted by such a sum as 
 might be provided out of the source I suggest, he 
 would be able to complete his education, and enter on 
 his career. I want to raise a fund, out of which we 
 might assist young men of promise to qualify them- 
 selves for Holy Orders. Gladly I oiler a Bursary of 
 £50 a year for four years which shall be com-
 
 26 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 pcted for (if this seems the best way of doing it) by 
 scholars receiving, or having lately received, their 
 education at one of the admirable Grammar Schools 
 within our own boundaries, on the understanding that 
 I am personally satisfied with the candidate's religious 
 character, that if he ultimately declines to proceed to 
 Orders the money is returned, and that he serves his 
 apprenticeship in this Diocese. The management of 
 the funds will of course be entrusted to a suitable 
 Committee, who will also be invited to consider and 
 perfect the necessary details. 
 
 VI. A conspicuous want in South London is a 
 centre. This seems ready to our hand in the beautiful 
 Collegiate Church of St. Saviour's, Southwark, the 
 choir of which, if thoroughly restored and fitted, 
 would be specially convenient for Diocesan services ; 
 while the Lady Chapel, with its many interesting 
 associations, would be an admirable chamber for con- 
 ference. Is it quite vain to indulge the hope that if 
 a suitable scheme were proposed to the public for 
 thoroughly restoring this exquisite specimen of Early 
 English architecture, many friends from both sides of 
 the water would help us, and that even Churchmen in 
 other Dioceses might cheerfully give us their help ? 
 This we may be sure of, that no measure of an ex- 
 ternal character would go further to consolidate our 
 South London work, or to help to reconcile Surrey 
 Churchmen to our new arrangements, than this of 
 making St. Saviour's, Southwark, the pro-Cathedral 
 of the Diocese. 
 
 VII. To stimulate, maintain, and develope the 
 blessed work of Missions to the Heathen is my duty 
 and shall be my privilege. How this can best be done
 
 Work in Front. 27 
 
 is a matter for consideration. It is possible that if 
 laymen of leisure and well acquainted with the subject 
 could be found in both the Archdeaconries to watch 
 over the interests of our two great Missionary Socie- 
 ties, and with tact and diligence keep their great 
 claims constantly pressed on both Clergy and Laity, a 
 deeper interest in Mission work would be produced, 
 and as its reward, a happy reaction on our own work 
 at home. 
 
 VIII. One more remedial measure which we must 
 keep steadily in view, is a system of Book Colportage, 
 whereby through the means of hired colporteurs, whose 
 salaries would in great part be met out of the profits 
 of their book sales, sound and attractive publications, 
 both secular and religions, would be conveyed from 
 house to house, and room to room, systematically and 
 continuously. The public are very little aware of the 
 amount of loathsome and corrupting garbage constantly 
 being sold, and greedily read by the working classes 
 both in town and country ; and the only practical way 
 of counteracting the mischief, is not by feebly de- 
 ploring it, or pretentiously forbidding it, but by 
 promptly anticipating it, through providing in the 
 place of it what is quite as attractive, and far more 
 wholesome. In six cases out of ten, people read bad 
 books, not because they prefer the badness, but because 
 it is all they can get. Wisely meet the intellectual 
 craving by good food, and the carrion will be left in 
 the gutter. The arrangement of all this must be a 
 work of time. In no case, I conceive, should we supply 
 the entire deficiency wanted, but give aid towards it. 
 Obviously, also, there will be difficulties of detail in 
 working out the scheme. But the system of Bible
 
 28 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 selling to the poor of London, which for the last twenty 
 years I have watched with a thankful interest, has 
 made it clear to my mind that the very poorest classes 
 are great book-buyers, and also read what they buy. It 
 is, moreover, an encouragement to know that in both our 
 Archdeaconries we possess experienced men who are 
 thoroughly conversant with the general subject in its 
 practical form. In Surrey, Canon Erskine Clarke, Vicar 
 of Battersea, has laid the entire Church under a debt 
 of gratitude to him for his successful efforts towards 
 creating a pure popular literature for all classes and 
 ages ; at Blackheath we have Mr. John Macgregor, one 
 of the Hon. Secretaries of the Pure Literature Society, 
 and Mr. Bullock, the successful Editor of Hand and 
 Heart. 
 
 IX. When Hector of St. Giles' in the Fields, and 
 afterwards as Yicar of St. Pancras, I founded, used, 
 and bequeathed to my successors a fund designated 
 the Sector's Charitable Donation Fund, into which I 
 paid all sums sent to me to be used at my own absolute 
 personal discretion, and which I found of incalculable 
 service in administering the parish. But it appears to 
 me, from more than a year's experience, that if pos- 
 sible a Bishop would be assisted by such a fund even 
 more than a parochial clergyman. 
 
 He will be constantly made acquainted with cases of 
 grave necessity, in which, whether for some special 
 diocesan effort, or for the personal assistance of a good 
 and perhaps aged clergyman, or for sickness in a 
 struggling family, or for means to send a hard -worked 
 curate or invalid child to the sea, or for the comple- 
 tion of a Church scheme, by which the neighbours 
 are thoroughly exhausted, or for completing a boy's
 
 Work in Front 29 
 
 education, ten or twenty pounds would be an untold 
 blessing. Yet it is impossible for him to meet these 
 needs out of his own resources, nor has he assurance 
 or unreasonableness enough to be continually en- 
 croaching on the benevolence of private friends. Now 
 it is certain that there are to be found kind hearts 
 that would gladly help such cases if only they knew 
 of them ; there are also others, who, while slow to 
 entrust money to Committees, (which are usually 
 credited with only a dull conscience, and of which per- 
 sonally they know nothing,) are quite ready to entrust 
 their contributions to an individual who ought not to 
 feel troubled by being asked to take care of it, and 
 whose position of influence qualifies him to be an 
 efficient Trustee. With this view I intend to open a 
 fund, to be styled "The Bishop of Eochester's Cha- 
 ritable Donation Fund," into which I shall pay all 
 money placed at my personal discretion for the general 
 benefit of the Diocese, and of which I shall do my best 
 to be a judicious and thrifty steward. 
 
 X. The subject of a Diocesan Conference will be 
 considered as soon as the consolidation of our new area 
 seems sufficiently advanced to justify the experiment.
 
 CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 DIOCESAN ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 I. From November to the end of July (Christmas 
 and Easter and "Whitsuntide "Vacations excepted), I 
 attend every Monday morning at 28, Great George 
 Street, "Westminster, from eleven to one, for Diocesan 
 business. While a previous engagement is not indis- 
 pensable, it will ensure an interview. Special engage- 
 ments can of course be made for other times. 
 
 II. Twice a year, at Trinity and Advent, I hold 
 general Ordinations. Candidates must either be gra- 
 duates of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, London, or 
 Dublin, or have completed their course at King's Col- 
 lege, or the London College of Divinity at Highbury. 
 A short preliminary examination is required of can- 
 didates for Deacon's orders before they are finally 
 accepted, except in the case of those who have 
 passed the Cambridge Preliminary Examination in 
 Theology, or who have graduated in Theology at 
 Oxford. The Examination is held at the Charter- 
 house, about three weeks before the day of Ordination. 
 The three first papers are upon the Holy Scriptures; 
 and in the event of a candidate not obtaining a moiety 
 of the possible total of marks, he is relieved from the 
 remainder of the Examination, and invited to return
 
 Diocesan Arrangements. 31 
 
 to his studies. A full and exact conspectus of the 
 result iu marks of each man's work is registered, and 
 the proficiency of the candidates in each part of the 
 Examination set out for my own eye. The successful 
 candidates are assembled for two days before the 
 Ordination for instruction and devotion, and as they 
 are then free from all anxiety about the Examination, 
 it is their own fault if they do not profit by the oppor- 
 tunity. I do not grant Diniissory Letters, nor do I 
 give Priests' Orders, except under special circum- 
 stances, to those who have received the Diaconate in 
 other Dioceses. Deacons are expected to remain in 
 their first curacy at least two years. 
 
 III. For the convenience of the Clergy generally, I 
 issue in the autumn, after full consultation with the 
 Eural Deans, a list of the Confirmations which I pro- 
 pose to hold during the following year, and by this 
 list I am compelled to abide. While ready, as fre- 
 quently as is desirable, to hold Confirmations in 
 village churches, even where the numbers are small, 
 in town parishes I cannot promise Confirmations for less 
 than fifty candidates. For I have a strong conviction 
 that where the arrangements are well matured, and 
 the accommodation convenient, large Confirmations are 
 by far the most solemn and impressive. Also I confess 
 to a prejudice in favour of holding them, where prac- 
 ticable, in the central mother churches. Confirma- 
 tions on Sunday, and occasionally in the evening, I 
 find to be preferred by the Clergy iu South London, 
 and I am only too glad to meet their wishes. But it 
 is not quite so easy to ensure order and quietness on 
 a Sunday afternoon ; and of course Confirmations push 
 out sermons.
 
 32 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 IV. Previous to the Consecration of a church, my 
 Secretary issues a letter to the Incumbent designate, 
 inviting him to meet the Sural Dean, with the archi- 
 tect, and himself, at the church, to ascertain if the 
 furniture and ornaments of the church meet the 
 requirements of the law. Should alteration be neces- 
 sary, the Consecration is delayed until this is effected; 
 if all is in order, it goes on. Consequently, if after 
 Consecration illegal ornaments or furniture are intro- 
 duced, it can only happen through the negligence or 
 misconduct of the local authorities. Perhaps it is not 
 generally understood that, by a ruling of Sir E. Phil- 
 limore, which has never been set aside by a superior 
 court, any ornaments or furniture illegally introduced 
 after Consecration cannot legally be removed without a 
 faculty. 
 
 Y. Incumbents wishing for Curates — especially 
 those who are prepared to give a title — are at liberty 
 to state their wants to my Secretaries (Messrs. Day 
 and Hassard, 28, Great George Street, Westminster, 
 S.W.), who will send them such information as they 
 possess. Every particular should be communicated. 
 It should, however, be understood that no further 
 correspondence can be conducted by them. Appli- 
 cation can equally be made by others either for titles 
 or for curacies, provided that they are to be within 
 the Diocese. 
 
 YI. Clergymen from other Dioceses wishing to 
 officiate for more than three Sundays together in this 
 Diocese should apply to me for permission.
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE PRESENT DISTRESS. 
 
 Few will deny that ours are anxious times, and there 
 is no advantage in flippantly bidding men not be 
 scared, when we ought to feel alarm about the issue 
 of questions which go down to the roots of all that 
 touches our present duty and our unseen future — the 
 truths that give dignity to our life and illumine the 
 grave with the hope of immortality. One thing, how- 
 ever, is consoling in it all ; the fact that Eeligion is 
 still recognised as something worth contending about. 
 Let poets simper as they will, Christ can hardly be 
 said to be mouldering in His grave, when His claims 
 are more vehemently discussed, His character more 
 closely analyzed, His life more critically studied, His 
 person more ardently loved, than at any time since He 
 disappeared from among men. It is quite true that 
 the Church is distracted by hot dissension, but it is 
 only because men are so passionately in love with 
 Truth, as the supreme possession of their lives, that' 
 they defend and proclaim it at any risk. Though her 
 differences arc serious her activities are prodigious ; 
 if we must choose between fighting and sleeping, I for 
 one say let us be awake. 
 
 Tirst among the features of our present distress I 
 
 i)
 
 34 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 put unbelief, because it is the first and the greatest. 
 Who does not prefer even a grave superstition to a 
 dismal atheism? Thomas Aquinas, at least, adores 
 Jesus Christ. Comtc, in what he calls Humanity, 
 worships himself. Indisputably, unbelief is a wide 
 expression, since it begins where a subtle Arianism 
 almost imperceptibly parts company from the orthodox 
 formula, and ends by a blank abyss, where modern 
 thinkers blandly inform us that modern research gives 
 no glimpse of a Personal God, and where the human 
 spirit, with all its ineffable hopes, undeveloped powers, 
 and exquisite forces of joy and sorrow, faith and 
 hope, is austerely told that its short life, so full of 
 tragic interest, will be but as the brief sob of a wave 
 as it rises and falls on the shore. The outcome is, 
 that conscience becomes a lie, creation a misfortune, 
 existence a bubble, reason an enigma, and death — the 
 supreme end. No doubt the more prudent of our 
 sceptics do not exactly say that God cannot be ; 
 simply that He is unknowable and undiscoverablc. 
 But practically it comes to the same thing ; and since 
 God is the Keystone of a Eevealed Eeligion, if He 
 falls the Eeligion falls with Him — with its august 
 credentials, its accepted authorities, its blessed tra- 
 ditions, its glorious future. Also it is possible that the 
 number of those who hold and propagate these extreme 
 views is but small ; yet the area in which they are felt 
 is a very wide one ; and if the result is not, in the 
 majority of instances, absolutely destructive of faith, 
 it goes far to suspend, if not to paralyze it. When a 
 number of erudite and scientific men distinctly declare 
 that the reliable evidence for a God is not to be had, 
 aud that what professes to be a Eevelation of Him,
 
 The Present Distress. 35 
 
 must be judged by proofs of its own, not recognisable 
 by scientific thinkers, a great mass of men will be 
 tempted to treat it as hardly worthy of their serious 
 attention. A subtle, perhaps scornful, agnosticism will 
 rapidly percolate the surface of cultivated society, cor- 
 rupting morals, chilling goodness, and darkening life. 
 Now in the presence of this Unbelief, which we 
 must neither deny nor despise, there are three things 
 for us Christians to do. First, let us be careful how 
 we blame Physical Science for it, or in any way 
 underrate or discourage it, or suffer ourselves to use 
 language that might be interpreted into a weak fear 
 that God can ever deny Himself. The Church need 
 not dread Science as if it contradicted Revelation, and 
 sceptics must not welcome it as if it exiled God. Re- 
 ligion and Science move on different planes, and ap- 
 peal to different tribunals within us. Each reveals 
 God, though not the same side of Him ; each appeals 
 to its own evidence, of which the other, though not 
 immediately cognisant, need not on that account have 
 a jealous dislike. As Principal Tulloch has observed, 
 "There is no question of thought, of reasoning, or of 
 scholarship, which when fairly raised, Christian Pro- 
 testantism is not bound fairty to meet." The Church 
 fears nothing but ignorance, and impatience, and a 
 false dogmatism. Undoubtedly Science has no scalpel 
 wherewith to detect immortality; no telescope that 
 can reach beyond the stars to where an Incarnate God 
 is visibly adored by saints and angels. Yet it does 
 tell us of an order, and a progress, and a harmony, 
 which no hypothesis suits so well as the first sentence 
 of the Apostles' Creed. Next, let us be thankful for 
 the many learned and doughty champions of the faith 
 
 d2
 
 36 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 the Church possesses now; men who can meet her 
 enemies on their own ground, and grapple with them 
 over every foot of the controversy, and both by speech 
 and writing vindicate for the faith of Christ that it is 
 the noblest subject for study ever yet presented to 
 the spiritual nature of man ; and if not yet winners, 
 at least keeping the battle drawn. Let us, I say, 
 thank God for them, and comfort our own hearts, and 
 cheer our people on account of them, and stand by 
 them in their difficulties, and try to understand their 
 position ; and if occasionally (meaning the best) they 
 surrender ground they ought to hold, or make admis- 
 sions that do not strengthen their cause, but hurt it, 
 while loving truth more than its champions and conse- 
 quently unable to surrender it, we will not therefore 
 make them offenders for a word, nor summon to a stern 
 court-martial gallant but perhaps mistaken officers for 
 unavoidable errors of judgment. Let us close our 
 ranks and hold by each other, and if we differ, differ 
 in love. Also let us, who are the humble workers in 
 the Church, steadily work on. All the philosophers 
 under the sun will never rob us of the Character of 
 Christ ; of the stupendous marvel of the Church's life, 
 growth, and victory; of the gifts of grace, of the 
 assurance of the life to come. If we believe in God, 
 let us go on working as if we did, in spite of those 
 who tell us that we have no Master to work for, and 
 no tools to work with. We know better. If you want 
 a calm and strong faith in God, the best place to find 
 it is not always in gilded saloons, nor in clubs, nor even 
 among the folios of a library, nor in the coteries of 
 leisurely divines. Kather go to those whose blessed 
 duty it is to preach the Gospel to the poor, to take
 
 The Present Distress. 37 
 
 the message of Christus Consolator to the young, the 
 sick, the sorrowful, the dying ; whose best energies 
 are devoted in putting their belief into action ; who 
 feel that the surest evidence of a Living Saviour is to 
 represent His life among men. They will tell you 
 that Christ is still sought, welcomed, and worshipped 
 by countless human souls, of whom society is ignorant 
 and the world unworthy, but who are the salt that 
 keep it from corruption, the hope that saves it from 
 despair. The Church, alone, knows how truly and 
 strongly the life of Christ still beats and throbs in 
 the worship and adoration of His true disciples ; if 
 others lose heart it will never be they, who, putting 
 Eeligion to its most crucial and severe experiment 
 among people who most need it, and under circum- 
 stances that make its progress exceptionally difficult, 
 find and therefore proclaim it true. 
 
 At the opposite pole of thought, nay, in what some 
 affirm to be an intense and inevitable reaction from it, 
 we encounter what is popularly understood as Kitual- 
 ism ; and which for the sake both of fairness and 
 accuracy, it will be convenient to examine from the 
 stand-point of its own supporters. Ritualism, in its 
 intention, claims to be a return to " Catholic prin- 
 ciples." Eegarding rites and ceremonies as but insipid 
 and cumbrous accessories to worship, unless expressive 
 symbols of doctrine, it firmly contends for them as 
 •essential to the faith, and claims vestments, lights, 
 the mixed chalice, leavened bread, and incense, in 
 addition to the eastward position, as " main elements of 
 ritual," and as dating back to the fifth century, some 
 to the very beginning. Its main principles are " a deep- 
 ened sense of the presence of God in His Sanctuaries ;
 
 38 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 with, a higher estimate of Holy Orders and the Sacra- 
 mental Life." The specific doctrines and views that 
 characterize it are alleged to be in harmony with what 
 has been held from time to time by such men as 
 Andrewes and Bramhall, Thorndike and Ken. Their 
 Eucharistic doctrine is "that there is a mystical and 
 sacramental identity between the real Presence and 
 the consecrated elements, and that the act of conse- 
 cration is the turning point of the mystery — substan- 
 tially there is no difference at all between us and the 
 Church of Eome in regard to the Holy Eucharist ; 
 the only difference is as to the mode of the divine 
 Presence : not as to the Pes Sacramenti, but as to the 
 co-existence of the Sacramentum with the Pes Sacra- 
 menti." On confession, the points sought to be esta- 
 blished are these — "that confession, while no longer 
 compulsory, is yet freely offered to all who may feel the 
 need of it : that it is a help, though not a necessary 
 one, in the way of repentance at any time, especially 
 on the two occasions mentioned in the Prayer Book, 
 preparation for the Holy Communion and for death " — 
 that such freedom extends equally to use or disuse, 
 and if used, to the question of more or less frequency, 
 and the being occasional or periodical — that though 
 confession itself is not to be regarded as a sacrament, 
 and therefore not of obligation, yet that absolution 
 which is sought as the consequence is of sacramental 
 efficacy, "having," as the homily says, "the promise 
 of forgiveness of sins." In the attitude of this move- 
 ment towards Pome there has been of late a marked 
 change. Ten years ago, no scruple was felt in irri- 
 tating English Churchmen by coarse boasts about 
 educating a Protestant public into a speedy return to
 
 The Present Distress. 39 
 
 the Papacy. Now, all that is changed. The younger 
 men, and, notably, the more responsible members of the 
 school, repudiate, almost with indignation, any inten- 
 tions of the kind; and stoutly claim a place and a 
 liberty within the English boundaries. " To stigma- 
 tise Ritual development in its origin as Romanising is 
 not borne out by fact. Romanising is a trite and 
 easy reproach." For much of what I have here 
 written, I have borrowed the "ipsissima verba" of 
 Canon Carter, who will, I conceive, be generally 
 accepted as a reliable exponent of the views of this 
 school, and for whose erudition, sincerity, and lofty 
 character I entertain a deep respect. 
 
 In proceeding to make some observations on this 
 important matter (and the limits of this letter prevent 
 my developing them into a complete argument)," let 
 me first remark, that while there is indisputably a 
 growing preference for musical services, and for a 
 more elaborate ritual, and for grandiose architecture, 
 and any amount of flowers, there is no solid reason 
 for identifying it all with Romanism. They arc but 
 the phenomena of a high wave of ceremonialism, which 
 has washed on the shores of Nonconformist commu- 
 nions quite as much' as on our own, and probably 
 affected them more. While indisputably, sometimes, 
 accompanying a steady progress towards the Roman 
 corruption, they are not necessarily symptomatic of 
 it. This growing interest in the externals of religion, 
 while it has its unspiritual and dangerous side, is in 
 great measure owing to the influence of musical 
 taste, to more artistic cultivation, to what goes by the 
 name of a3sthcticism, and to our domestic and educa- 
 tional habits. To confound High Churchmen as a
 
 40 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 body with their extreme wing, is a ludicrous injus- 
 tice ; and if half the Church services in England were 
 choral to-morrow, I should be as confident as I am 
 now in the staunch loyalty of the great body of 
 English Churchmen to the doctrines and principles of 
 the Reformation. 
 
 The Eitualistic controversy immediately affects three 
 parties : the individuals who raise it; the Church from 
 which they invite liberty and recognition; the "Bishops 
 who are the heads of the spiritual society to which 
 they claim to belong. 
 
 Springing as I do from a school of Churchmen which 
 has had its full share of obloquy and neglect for the 
 sake of those fundamental truths of the Gospel which 
 are now loved and preached, almost as common-places, 
 by all our theological schools in turn, I hope to be in- 
 capable of easily misunderstanding or unjustly cen- 
 suring any man who honestly believing himself to be 
 in possession of truths, which others are missing, 
 had rather die than let them go. IS T or must we forget 
 that they were uncompromising Protestants, who in 
 Scotland more than forty years ago, went out of the 
 Church of their fathers in defence of what they 
 thought to be their spiritual liberty against the en- 
 croachments of the Civil Power. Nor, once more, 
 does anything justify the use of bitter and exasperating 
 language. Epithets are too often the rhetoric of 
 passion that has lost its head. This further may, I 
 honestly believe, be said, that not a few of our brethren 
 are somewhat dismayed to find themselves in an 
 attitude of uncompromising defiance to all authority, 
 except that of their own conscience, and would wel- 
 come a way of return consistent with honour.
 
 The Present Distress. 41 
 
 Of the personal goodness of many of these men I 
 say nothing, for it is not to the purpose. Nor of their 
 hard work, for others work hard, and obey as well. 
 Nor of the danger of exasperating large congregations, 
 for that is unworthy, if it is God and truth we consider. 
 Nor even of the soundness of their arguments, if I am 
 •correct in supposing that all such discussion is quite 
 outside the case. They arc either right or wrong. If 
 they are right, God must be on their side, and will 
 take their part : the Truth will sooner or later push 
 itself to the front and assert itself; the Church will 
 •slowly come round to them and thank them for what 
 they have done ; and what is vital in their teaching 
 will presently and finally be absorbed. If they arc 
 wrong, God will show it to those who are willing to 
 see it, and sooner or later the movement will pass away 
 and be forgotten. But to discover this, they should 
 have had patience, and given their system time to 
 approve itself, and had faith in the Lord of Truth, 
 that His wisdom would be justified by His children, 
 and manifested that humility which does not refuse to 
 confess its own fallibleness and that diitifulness, which 
 dares not scoff at authority and that meek Charity 
 which is the very beauty of Christ. Then none of these 
 hard things which are said, and so justly said now, 
 would have been possible. But, instead of this, they 
 have first of all anticipated what they thought the law 
 would be found to be, by putting their own interpreta- 
 tion of it into force, and then, when the law has de- 
 clared against them, they have not hesitated to discredit 
 it by the twofold method of attacking the constitution 
 of the tribunal, and depreciating the materials of the 
 judgment ; and when reminded that they have accepted
 
 42 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 duty and promised obedience under a spiritual society,, 
 to which, in the person of its chiefs, they owe allegiance, 
 either we are told that the Bishops are " creatures of 
 the State," which they were, neither less nor more when 
 they, our friends, first made their promises, or that it is 
 " quite impossible to suppose that such solemn words 
 imposed as a life-long obligation, a yow dating from 
 earliest times, and framed under constitutional prece- 
 dents, can be understood to cover by anticipation 
 whatever the State alone may impose upon the Priest, 
 or require the Bishop to enforce upon him." 
 
 It is certain that no civil society could hold together 
 on such conditions, and the Church, with all her 
 amazing tenacity, cannot long bear the strain. " A 
 house divided against itself cannot stand." A Church 
 with a foreign body inside it, such as the Eitual polity 
 declares itself to be, must very soon either absorb, 
 modify, or expel it. It comes to this, that what in the 
 army would be mutiny, and in the State outlawry, in 
 the Church is schism. My own course is clear. 
 
 With the full liberty of my Clergy, in all things 
 pertaining to their office, and right up to the very 
 border line of our authorised order, I have neither 
 the intention nor the desire to interfere. For twenty- 
 three years in the London Diocese I have gratefully 
 appreciated under three large-minded Bishops a very 
 ample liberty ; and my own brethren need never fear 
 from me a fretful or petty interference with their 
 proper liberty in the practical details of their work. 
 
 In the case of infringements of the law in relation 
 to Eitual, it is not generally understood that the 
 initiative of proceeding does not rest with the Bishop. 
 The official court of the Ordinary, while still in force
 
 The Present Distress. 43 
 
 for matters of doctrine and conduct, is held by com- 
 petent lawyers to be superseded in Eitual offences by 
 the machinery provided under the Public Worship 
 Regulation Act. All irregularities hitherto brought 
 under my notice, though in an informal way, have 
 had a full consideration ; and in every case, so far as 
 the law enabled, have terminated in a substantial 
 result. Jf it should happen, that as time goes on, 
 other and more formal proceedings are instituted, I 
 shall not shrink from the duties that my office imposes 
 on me; while not holding myself justified, as an im- 
 partial administrator of the law, in volunteering my 
 advice to others. It is certain, that in the event of 
 the circumstances of the case compelling me to let it 
 proceed, it would be with a real and sorrowful slowness 
 that I should use force, where a thousand times rather 
 I would win by charity. Still in my own view of 
 my function, for me to decline to administer the law, 
 when such administration was on sufficient grounds 
 proposed to me, would be to incur the risk, in the eyes 
 of my countrymen, of being a lawbreaker myself. 
 
 My individual method of personally and officially 
 dealing with those of the clergy who feel conscien- 
 tiously unable cither to obey the courts of the realm 
 or to accept the private monition of the Bishop, is 
 that of Isolation. These brethren of ours are outside 
 the law, and it is their own act that has placed them 
 there. Where I find them I leave them ; and what 
 they have made themselves, that I must recognise 
 them to be. Consequently, I am compelled to decline 
 cither to confirm, or preach, or perform any official 
 act in churches adopting an illegal Eitual, on the 
 .simple ground that, as one of the Church's rulers, I
 
 44 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 cannot even appear to condone, by my presence and 
 ministration, a distinct violation of the Church's 
 order. Deeply as I regret the necessity of such a rule, 
 I intend strictly to adhere to it. Though it of course 
 implies to several important congregations, the loss, 
 such as it is, of the aid and sympathy of their chief 
 pastor, I cannot admit that congregations are more at 
 liberty in this respect than individuals ; and they have 
 it in their own power, whenever they think proper, 
 to summon their Bishop to their side. 
 
 Coincident with the growth of Ritual, and in close 
 affinity with its doctrinal system, is the practice of 
 recommending Auricular Confession as essential to 
 holiness, if not as an absolute rule of life. In my 
 own judgment, this question is more vital to the 
 spiritual welfare of the Church than the shape of a 
 vestment, or even language more or less Roman in 
 the doctrine of the Eucharist. No words I can find 
 adequately express the seriousness with which I 
 regard it : you will pardon me for briefly intruding 
 on you my view of the case. 
 
 This practice of private Confession to a Priest 
 suggests, in the first instance, a careful reference to 
 the teaching of the Prayer Book. 
 
 The Prayer Book, as it now stands, sanctions 
 private absolution in two distinct instances. One of 
 these is in the case of mortal sickness, the other is 
 that of an individual who, before receiving Communion, 
 desires spiritual counsel for difficulties which he can- 
 not settle for himself. But there is a marked difference 
 between the treatment of these cases by the Prayer 
 Book. In the former case a special form of absolution 
 is provided — to be used only when the sick person
 
 The Present Distress. 45 
 
 shall himself desire it. In the other, no form of abso- 
 lution is provided; " Minister of God's word " is sub- 
 stituted for "priest;" the word confess is omitted, 
 and in its place is " open his grief;" and the Ministry 
 of God's Holy Word is indicated as the approved 
 instrument by which the benefit of absolution (accom- 
 panied with Ghostly counsel and advice) is to be 
 given. Each of these cases is, further, taken to be 
 occasional and exceptional ; and the expression u some 
 other discreet and learned Minister of God's Word" 
 clearly imposes an essential limitation on the exercise 
 of a most delicate function. • 
 
 The liberty of the Clergy is another important 
 feature in the case. 
 
 For a Bishop, indeed, to claim the power of 
 minutely defining or controlling spiritual intercourse 
 with individuals, would bo to assume an authority 
 which never has been entrusted to him — to show an 
 unworthy distrust of men who, whatever may be 
 their occasional indiscretions or shortcomings, are 
 beyond dispute the most experienced and diligent bodj^ 
 of Clergy the whole world can produce — to dis- 
 courage the exercise of a holy function, which the 
 indolent evade, the timid neglect, the worldly-minded 
 ignore, but which a true pastor of souls tenaciously 
 cherishes as the most solemn and tender, and indis- 
 pensable of all- his duties — would also be to rouse 
 against him (and justly to rouse) the united protest of 
 the godly Clergy of all schools to rebuke him to his 
 face. 
 
 But surely there is a vast and intelligible distinc- 
 tion between giving occasional help to anxious souls 
 and personally watching over, in all its minute vicis-
 
 46 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 situdes, the growth of the religious life ; between 
 putting into a soldier's hand the weapons with which 
 he is to learn henceforward to fight his own battles, 
 and encouraging him, whenever danger approaches, 
 to come to us to fight them for him ; between occa- 
 sionally pointing a troubled soul to the Saviour, at 
 Whose feet it may finally and trustfully abide, and 
 consenting to assume its responsibility for its ever- 
 recurring duties and sins. The edification of the 
 Church cannot healthily prosper if the habit of Con- 
 fession is to grow. Independently of the inevitable 
 injury to the soul of the individual confessor, whose 
 memory must soon become a kind of moral sewer, 
 steeped with the filth of sin, to the individual in 
 particular, and to the Church generally, grave 
 results must come. There may, indeed, be sometimes 
 fostered by it an erotic religiousness, full of effemi- 
 nate sensitiveness, and perilously dependent on others 
 for every breath it draws. But a hot-house religion 
 will not stand the free air of the outer world. For the 
 ordinary life of eA r ery-day Christians there must be a 
 robustness, and, in a good sense, a self-reliance of 
 character, which can stand chills, and brave storms, 
 and, most of all, endure solitariness. Granted that 
 there may be cases in which, under special circum- 
 stances, and for special characters, the precept of St. 
 James to " confess our faults one to another" may be 
 the humble, and wise, and cleansing, and invigorating 
 discipline which an experienced pastor would be 
 justified in commending to a burdened soul; he 
 should consider and treat such as exceptional cases. 
 Let us be careful to honour the Priesthood of Christ, 
 to vindicate the free access of the soul to a Eeconcilcd
 
 The Present Distress. 47 
 
 Father, to maintain the healthy independence of the 
 personal conscience, to shut, and keep shut, against 
 outside authority the privacy of domestic life. 
 
 Much has been urged about the duty of those in 
 authority to put down the practice of Confession, but 
 I have never yet seen any explanation of the manner 
 in which they are to do it, nor an indication of the 
 legal authority which would justify a formal attempt. 
 It is, however, hard to say where a more emphatic or 
 vigorous utterance on the subject can be found than 
 was made a few years ago by the English Bishops in 
 the Convocation of Canterbury ; and it is certain, that 
 it is privately and steadily discouraged far more than 
 the public are aware. My own course is to prevent 
 it as long as I can, and to diminish it as much as I 
 may. Consequently I give Holy Orders on the 
 understanding that, during the first curacy, all cases 
 of conscience are at once passed on to the discretion 
 of the Incumbent, whereby is ensured for a young 
 clergyman, who, however good he may be, can hardly 
 claim the Prayer Book's qualification of "learned and 
 discreet," a happy immunity from the most delicate 
 and difficult of sacred functions, and to the Church 
 .a desirable protection from serious but unavoidable 
 mistakes.
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 OUR DUTY. 
 
 It is always easier to indicate evils than to remedy 
 them — to criticize a neighbour's advice than to give- 
 better of our own. Some of us, moreover, feel it 
 wiser when we are in the dark as to our right con- 
 duct to sit still and do nothing, preferring to be 
 reproached for indecision or timidity rather than take 
 a false step, which it may be impossible to retrace. 
 Nevertheless there are some first principles which it 
 is always seasonable to recall and ponder, if we would 
 be ready to act when the moment comes. 
 
 My first plea is for kindly but firm patience. No one 
 can know better than I how much it is needed among 
 us. None will suffer more than you if we fail in se- 
 curing it. Of course we can have nothing to object to 
 that almost inevitable mental necessity, through which 
 a conscientious man will more or less attach himself" 
 to that school of thought with which he has most in 
 common. The human mind cannot grasp all truth 
 with equal coherence, nor succeed in holding it cither 
 in due proportion or exact relation to other truths. 
 Also, being naturally attracted to some truths more 
 than others, it apprehends such more clearly, and 
 uses them more readily. Nay, if it be apt to grow
 
 Our Duty. 49 
 
 into a kind of colour-blindness about them, and to 
 assert and defend them as if they were the only truths 
 really worth thinking about, it is an infirmity rather 
 than a fault ; we ought all to be indulgent to it, for 
 if only wo are in earnest enough, we are all of us 
 guilty of it in turn. Nay, possibly, on the whole, Truth 
 is a gainer by it, for thus each great doctrine in turn 
 comes to be valiantly garrisoned deep behind its own 
 entrenchments, and Divine wisdom turns to account 
 our very imperfections in accomplishing its own 
 designs. But I do lift up my heart and voice against 
 that bitter Party Spirit, which means an ineradicable 
 and insatiable love of fighting for fighting's sake, and 
 not for the Gospel ; which will not listen to an adver- 
 sary, except in the hope of crushing him ; which is con- 
 tent with nothing less than an absolute supremacy for 
 its own arguments; to which charity is an insipid 
 feebleness, and every attempt at reasoning treason to 
 the truth. Too often these fiery spirits gain a perni- 
 cious influence over really good men, whose imperfect 
 culture prevents their even understanding their oppo- 
 nent's position ; whose honest love of truth is in no 
 degree equipoised by the perception of its grand 
 many-sidedness ; whom we sincerely respect, heartily 
 esteem, and in a way secretly admire; but whoso 
 absolute impracticableness compels us sadly to leave 
 them with that Just and Wise Master, Who will teach 
 and use them as lie teaches and uses us, assured that 
 we shall receive at their hands, in the full light of the 
 Perfect Truth and Love, the recognition and welcome 
 that they refuse us here. Then, to my brethren of 
 the laity I would say (and I ask no indulgence for 
 saying it) it is the simple truth that we cannot do- 
 
 E
 
 50 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 without you. We desire your moral support, your 
 steady judgment, your kindly sympathy, your in- 
 stincts of practical life, and of course your material 
 aid. Occasionally, it may seem to you, that we do 
 not quite deserve them ; and it vexes you, and reason- 
 ably, if you do not appear to receive from your accre- 
 dited teachers what you yourselves feel to be the full 
 teaching of the Gospel; if the ritual used in the 
 church you frequent either offends you by its ornate- 
 ness, or chills you by its meagreness; worst of all, if the 
 shepherd neglects his flock, and only thinks of pleas- 
 ing himself. For this latter scandal I have no excuse 
 to make, except that it is surely a diminishing one ; 
 and that it in too many cases can be reached only 
 through the conscience, supposing there to be a con- 
 science to reach. As to the former difficulties, re- 
 member these two things : First, that the English 
 Church comprehends within her ample boundaries 
 many shades and phases of thought, both among clergy 
 and laity. Your brother laymen, who differ from you 
 about these things, have their rights as well as yon 
 have, and will be careful to assert them, if necessary. 
 Were the teaching and ritual of the Church ever to 
 be forcibly cramped into one uniform type, of any 
 sort or kind, there would be a disruption in a week. 
 Then remember the kind of men you have to deal 
 with, and that they are your brethren ; with your 
 faults, and your virtues. You would be the first to 
 despise them if they tried to preach a colourless doc- 
 trine to please everybody ; or if they ran from their 
 flag the moment that a hen behind the wall cackled its 
 shrill dismay. The English clergy are not to be driven 
 like a flock of sheep with a stick and a loud voice.
 
 Our Duty. 51 
 
 National history can tell ns that, if we want remind- 
 ing of it : but we do not want the lesson again. Any- 
 thing like real injustice will set the country in a flame, 
 and provoke a bitter reaction in favour of those who 
 have a wrong done them. In the sphere of religion, 
 passion soon rises to tropical heat, and angry men are 
 dangerous. There can be no doubt that the attitude 
 of those who have put themselves outside the law is 
 not only distressing, but even exasperating, to a great 
 body of lay churchmen. It weakens the influence of 
 religion, it menaces the nationality of the Church, 
 it sometimes shakes a red flag in men's faces, saying, 
 "Drive us out if you can;" and no doubt the longer 
 it is maintained, the more the popular mind becomes 
 habituated to it, until the mere flux of time seems to 
 claim toleration for it, and rebellion is condoned by 
 success. The public voice calls for vigorous treat- 
 ment ; in other words, prompt execution of the law. 
 Now it seems to me that there are two things to be 
 borne in mind here : the end to be reached, and the 
 best way of reaching it. As to the end — Peace, 
 through Truth — every English Churchman wants 
 that. But as to the best way of reaching it we are 
 all of us at sea. Independently of the fact, that 
 sometimes the weapon of the law in process of being 
 used turns right round and hits the wrong person (in 
 which case the scene is shifted, and a good cause 
 scandalized and impunity augmented), those who 
 watch the curious fluctuations of public opinion can- 
 not help seeing that many who condemn most loudly 
 the violation of the law hesitate about enforcing it ; 
 their conscience is shocked at sending a clergyman to 
 prison for " only an excess of ceremonial." The rea- 
 
 e2
 
 52 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 soning of course is bad ; but feeling is often a match 
 for logic ; and it is a question how far it is worth while 
 to go into court to obtain penalties which you are not 
 likely to claim. To which consideration may also be 
 added the present conflict of the jurisdiction of the 
 Courts, the experience of the little that has hitherto 
 been gained by formal prosecutions ; the notorious un- 
 certainty of all ecclesiastical procedures, the deep 
 burning and inflammation of hearts, that is the only 
 certain harvest. It does not, however, follow that 
 much may not be done in other ways of a permanent 
 and salutary character. Be quiet, and firm, and wise. 
 While careful to discourage innovations that smack of 
 Romanism, be sure to see the difference between what 
 is merely Anglican and what is more than Anglican, 
 and do not play your enemy's game by confounding 
 the two in an exaggeration that must damage your- 
 selves. To try to check Ritualism by discouraging a 
 bright and dignified service, is the wisdoin of a 
 mother, who to prevent her boy from being a sailor, 
 never lets him go near the sea. If you do not wish 
 to encourage illegal ritual, be careful how you your- 
 selves encourage it by constantly going to see what it 
 is like. If you fear harm to your families from going 
 there, use authority to prevent it — at least, with those 
 of tender years. And wait. No kind of good can be 
 done by hysterical alarm, or hasty violence, or bitter 
 invective. It is the quiet and watchful strength that 
 lasts and tells. Don't for one moment believe that 
 England is becoming Roman. Be slow even to think 
 or to say that this movement is on the increase. It 
 may be, but I doubt if facts prove it. This is quite 
 certain, that constantly to be talking about it, as if it 

 
 Our Duty. 53 
 
 was the only thing worth fearing, or fighting, gives 
 it a factitious and perilous importance ; and if you 
 want to rally the masses to the side of the Ritualists, 
 make martyrs of them. 
 
 Now these plain words will not, I feel sure, make 
 you for one moment doubt where I stand or what I 
 mean. Before all things, I am an English Church- 
 man ; and our English Communion, if she is not 
 Protestant, has no standing-place among the Churches. 
 But I do say let us be very careful about our Protes- 
 tantism, just because we are so much in love with it, 
 and let us see that it is consistent with its own essential 
 principles, and that it shall not stoop to soil its hands 
 with weapons which assuredly it does not need, and 
 which do it enormous harm; and that it does not 
 itself come presently to be protested against as a 
 coarse and brutal tyranny. Some of us who thank 
 God for the Eeformation from the bottom of our 
 hearts, are filled with shame and confusion of face at 
 the weapons and arguments with which those who 
 claim to serve the truth sometimes drag it through the 
 mire. If we stand true to the Church, loyal to our 
 faith, just to our brethren, most of all dutiful to our 
 Master and Head, in course of time things will right 
 themselves; mists will clear, the truth will vindi- 
 cate itself, passion will have time to cool, the really 
 good men among those now unhappily alienated from 
 us will have had time and patience to listen to the 
 counsel of God, the great middle body of the Clergy, 
 never more learned, or exemplary, or sagacious, or 
 devout than now, will have discovered some modus 
 vivendi for all who, because they love Christ, feel it a 
 grievous sin to wound the unity of His body ; and so
 
 54 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 a potent, though silent force of Christian opinion will 
 gradually shape itself, out of which shall eventually 
 emerge an honest way out of our present difficulties ; 
 and God in His goodness will have kept the Church 
 together to do yet more service for Him. 
 
 On my brethren the Clergy — many of whom I have 
 learned heartily to esteem, and whose ready and generous 
 sympathy has been of great value to me — I presume 
 solemnly to lay this one burden : that while with all 
 the strength we possess we intelligently defend, fear- 
 lessly proclaim, and consistently adorn the pure faith 
 of our Reformed Church as we severally understand 
 it, we also endeavour, in the language of the Apostle, 
 to be of one mind and one judgment, careful not so 
 much to exaggerate that in which we of necessity 
 differ, as to recognise that in which we substantially 
 agree. Do not, indeed, suppose me, in urging this, to 
 be advocating a hollow and insipid unity, or to desire 
 peace at the expense of truth, or to wish, by a cheap 
 civility, to blink real differences. Before everything 
 else, let us be straightforward, neither cowards about 
 our own opinions, nor intolerant towards those of our 
 brethren. But the great work we Clergymen in this 
 truly missionary Diocese have got to do, is to spread 
 and consolidate the Kingdom of Christ by the methods 
 and doctrines of the Church of England. Let us face 
 this task with a fresh courage, and a united front, and 
 a compact discipline, and a calm faith, and a real joy, 
 and a hope that shall not be ashamed. I do not 
 indeed advocate an unlimited interchange of pulpits. 
 To men who see clearly what God has taught them of 
 His truth, and are properly tenacious of it, there 
 would be a becoming distress in risking the contradic-
 
 Our Duty. 55 
 
 tion of their own teaching from a stranger's lips in 
 their own pulpits, to the confusion and bewilderment 
 of their flocks. But what we ought to aim at is a 
 thorough, willing, and unsuspicious co-operation in all 
 our Diocesan work, which, if there is any life in it, is 
 sure to grow, and in which we should all consent to 
 take our share. Most of all do I crave your help in 
 the vigorous promotion of our new Diocesan Society, 
 which, if it means anything, proposes no less a task 
 than the evangelization of the masses of South London ; 
 which w T e may do with no mean success if we consent 
 to do it all together, which must ignominiously fail 
 if grasped only by a few. " Woe unto the world 
 because of offences : " and what an offence it will be if 
 the love of Christ and the cause of Christ cannot suffi- 
 ciently unite us to labour together for Him. Forgive 
 what I am about to say (and I would specially say it^ 
 to those among you, many of them dear friends of my 
 own, who hitherto from reasons of conscience and 
 jealousy for the truth have unwillingly abstained from 
 active sympathy with Diocesan Evangelistic agencies 
 already existing), my anxiety on this point is greater 
 than I know how to put into words, and the shamed 
 disappointment that would come to me if this enter- 
 prise for the Gospel were to fall still-born, would 
 almost paralyze mc for the rest of our work. Cer- 
 tainly there are ample resources in the Diocese, and 
 for all our needs, if we can only reach them : but we 
 shall never reach them if it is felt that the clergy stand 
 aloof. Yet, why should you? The constitution of 
 the Society is essentially popular. The Council is 
 elected by a constituency of members, subscribing not 
 less than 10s. 6d. a year, and the Council distributes
 
 50 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 every shilling of the funds. My very heart burns at 
 the bare possibility of any good Christians among us 
 standing coldly aside, because now and then (and 
 in any case through the action of their own repre- 
 sentatives) an odd hundred pounds may go the wrong 
 way, when surely the risk on the other side is an 
 infinitely greater one of standing by and suffering 
 these starved and wounded souls to perish in their 
 sins. Our Lord has said, "Pray ye therefore the 
 Lord of the Harvest that He will send forth labourers 
 into his harvest." St. Paul has said that the Gospel 
 preached any way was to him a cause of joy. Why 
 should we gravely doubt the judicious expenditure of 
 the funds committed to us, if sound Churchmen will 
 but claim their share in the work of the Church ? As 
 for the people ! those toiling, sorrowful masses, what 
 do they think and feel about our unhappy divisions? 
 Sometimes, assuredly, we must appear to them like 
 the Pagan Gods in the clouds, contending over ques- 
 tions which they cannot comprehend, and neglecting 
 duties which they sorely desire, with one plain result 
 — " No man careth for my soul." To be visited, 
 taught, taken by the hand, brought face to face with 
 their Saviour, met in all their spiritual needs by 
 simple services and instructions which they can 
 understand and enjoy, gently lifted out of the mire, 
 patiently waited for, kindly made the best of, taught 
 to pray, encouraged to believe in the love of a recon- 
 ciled Father ; this is the spirit in which we desire to 
 approach them, this the method in which we intend to 
 instruct them, this good news of the free, present 
 gift of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in 
 Christ, the Gospel we propose to preach to them.
 
 Oar Duty. 57 
 
 Will you take your share, aud choose your task, and 
 till your place, as children of a Father who will have 
 all men to be saved : as members of a Church which, 
 if she does not justify her trust as the Church of the 
 nation by sending the Gospel to the poor, does not 
 deserve it for another hour ? 
 
 And will you tell me why we should not work to- 
 gether : we, I mean, who within the recognised lines 
 of our authorised formularies and Ritual, honestly join 
 hands in Christ? Of course in a body of independent 
 and educated men there will always be a certain pro- 
 portion who, from constitutional temperament, prefer 
 to work by themselves ; and perhaps the chief loss is 
 their own. There are also others who never can see 
 it right to co-operate with their brethren, unless it is 
 quite clear that their own views will be substantially 
 adopted ; and who, in an inflexible adherence to what 
 they think the cause of truth, and others mischievously 
 call the idolatry of their own opinions, feel the Gospel 
 compromised if they are left in a minority. But these 
 exceptions apart, surely there is enough of positive 
 and potent truth in those great doctrines of grace we 
 hold, and proclaim, and love in common, to make it 
 possible for us heartily to combine in working out the 
 organization of the Diocese. As to the Sacraments 
 generally, do we not all regard them not as mere naked 
 signs and emblems, but when rightly received as effec- 
 tual means of grace ? The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, 
 we believe, incorporates us into the Visible Body of 
 Christ, and into a fatherly covenant with God, and 
 into the forgiveness of our inherited guilt, and into the 
 full promise of the Holy Spirit. The Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper is not merely an act of grateful com-
 
 58 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 memoration, but to the Faithful into their hearts it 
 conveys, after a heavenly and spiritual manner, the 
 Body and Blood of Christ, for their strengthening and 
 refreshment. The Atonement is that sacrifice for sins 
 once offered, wherein the Lord Jesus Christ as our 
 Head, Eepresentative, and Surety, did in our nature, 
 and for us in His own Incarnate Person, bear our sins 
 with all their consequences, and perfectly expiated 
 them before God. We are counted righteous before 
 God by faith in Jesus Christ, and being in personal 
 spiritual union with Him, are righteous with His 
 righteousness before the Father. The Holy Ghost 
 dwelling in us, and communicating to us Eternal life, 
 builds us up in the image of Christ, and enables us to 
 restrain and overcome sin. The Church is a Super- 
 natural Society. Her charter and credentials are the 
 Holy Scriptures, which written by inspired men con- 
 tain all things necessary unto salvation. Her Three 
 Creeds are the depositories of the Primitive Faith. 
 Her traditional form of Government is that of Bishops, 
 Priests, and Deacons. Though Eeformed, she is 
 Catholic, and dates her birth not from Henry VIII., 
 but from a pure mother in a far back time. To 
 conclude this summary with two careful but most 
 important statements from a weighty letter issued by 
 the Bishops assembled at the Lambeth Conference 
 during the past summer : 
 
 "1. Considering unhappy disputes on questions of 
 Eitual, whereby divers congregations in the Church 
 of England and elsewhere have been seriously dis- 
 quieted, your Committee desire to affirm the principle 
 that no alteration from long accustomed Eitual should 
 be made contrary to the admonition of the Bishop
 
 Our Duty. 5$ 
 
 of the Diocese. 2. Further, having iu view certain 
 novel practices and teachings on the subject of Confes- 
 sion, your Committee desire to affirm that in the 
 matter of Confession, the Churches of the Anglican 
 Communion hold fast those principles which are set 
 forth in the Holy Scripture, which were professed by 
 the Primitive Church, and which were re-affirmed at 
 the English Reformation ; and it is their deliberate 
 opinion, that no Minister of the Church is authorised 
 to require from those who may resort to him to open 
 their grief, a particular and detailed enumeration of 
 all their sins ; or to require private confession previous 
 to receiving the Holy Communion; or to enjoin or even 
 encourage the practice of habitual confession to a 
 Priest; or to teach that such practice of habitual con- 
 fession, or the being subject to what has been termed 
 the direction of a Priest, is a condition of attaining 
 to the highest spiritual life. At the same time your 
 Committee is not to be understood as desiring to limit 
 in any way the proviso made in the Book of Common 
 Prayer for the relief of troubled consciences." 
 
 "Well, there is no need further to amplify this 
 statement. Friends on both sides will probably feel 
 that in what has just been sketched, either too much 
 is conceded, or too little defined. Some minds, how- 
 over, constitutionally require more evidence than 
 others do before they are honestly satisfied, and posi- 
 tions, however august to those who see foundation for 
 them, to those who fail to sec them proved are not 
 august at all. 
 
 But my point is, that if we would but candidly 
 consider it, we stand together on a sufficiently wide 
 basis to justify hearty and cordial co-operation.
 
 60 
 
 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 Certain I am that none of us can afford to do without 
 the other, and that if a wise and truth-loving God 
 has set us side by side in His Church, visibly using 
 and recognising us all in turn, it is not a godly 
 charity that would tempt us to wish to get rid of each 
 other, though, indeed, it is but a reasonable self- 
 respect that makes us prefer our own standing- 
 ground, and cherish the truth we love with a tena- 
 cious loyalty. The Committees that have hitherto 
 been associated in the formation of our new Societies 
 have laboured with a mutual respect and esteem that 
 seem a happy guarantee for the work of the future. 
 May God fulfil to me, however unworthy of it, the 
 deep and constant prayer of my heart, that without 
 compromise either of my own convictions or your 
 freedom, I may presently succeed in bringing together 
 as one man the Clergy of this Diocese to work side 
 by side for Christ, each recognising his gift, and 
 accepting his work, and holding what he ought to 
 keep, and yielding where he ought to surrender ; 
 conscious, all of us, that at the best we are but dull 
 scholars in the faith of the Gospel, and that if we 
 have each of us something to impart we have yet 
 more to receive. 
 
 "If Christian ministers, on one side or other, 
 cannot realise the possibility that they may be 
 mistaken, and that those who differ from them have a 
 right to their opinions and to follow out their own 
 ideals, so long as they can legally be held in consis- 
 tency with the common standard to which they 
 profess to adhere — then there is no alternative but 
 disruption." * 
 
 * Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
 
 Oar Duty. 61 
 
 Now may I add a word about wisdom — considerate, 
 kindly, and yet courageous wisdom. Two perils 
 threaten us at this moment, and they are serious. 
 One of them is not less so because it does not actually 
 transgress the prescribed order, though to ordinary 
 perception, it sometimes stands on the border line. 
 On the side of our brethren, the laity, confessedly we 
 sometimes encounter an impracticable intolerance, 
 which would forbid, even in a clergyman of mature 
 years, the exercise of his reasonable discretion, which 
 would sternly discourage the initiation of any change 
 whatever, unless it were certain that everybody would 
 agree with it, and which not only seriously impairs the 
 sense of responsibility, but imposes a fetter, be it 
 observed, on personal liberty, which would effectually 
 have stamped out Evangelical innovations fifty years 
 ago. How great that loss would have been all admit 
 now. 
 
 But this too often is occasioned by a vexatious 
 unwisdom among ourselves, which for prodigious 
 trifles of the weight of a gnat's wing weakens legiti- 
 mate influence, separates a congregation into two 
 hostile camps, fills meeting-houses with unsettled 
 worshippers, who when once they have taken root 
 there do not care to move, and by a precipitate and 
 autocratic conduct wastes a Bishop's precious hours in 
 settling disputes which never ought to have existed, 
 and fills thoughtful Churchmen with shame. Forgive 
 my candour; but when I hear of a congregation 
 going to pieces my first question is, What has the 
 clergyman been about ? My friends, by all that you 
 hold dear in your work and its great issues, I pray 
 you be careful how you make changes, even when it
 
 •02 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 is clear they ought presently to be made ; and instantly 
 take your people into your confidence when anything of 
 importance is to be done. There is enough miscon- 
 struction that we cannot avoid without creating what 
 we can. Give no occasion for suspicion or disturb- 
 ance. Many things are legitimate and excellent in 
 themselves, but done at a wrong moment or in a 
 wrong method they rub into a chronic sore. My own 
 experience is, that no men are so liberal, so reason- 
 able, so hearty as English Churchmen when properly 
 invited to rally round their clergymen ; and none are 
 so hard to win back when their confidence is gone. 
 To my brethren, the younger clergy, I feel bound, both 
 by duty and affection, to say a special word of counsel, 
 and if it is one of excessive frankness, it is because my 
 interest in them is so deep and so true. Three chief 
 gifts the younger clergy of our time should con- 
 tinually seek from God. They are diligence, and 
 patience, and humility. Be on your guard against 
 the numberless and plausible distractions that will 
 dissipate your energies for solid duty, rob you of the 
 time which God wants at your hands for your spiritual 
 work, cheat you without your knowing it of the mar- 
 gins of leisure to be devoted to prayer and Scripture, 
 and ultimately strand you for life as desultory and 
 useless men. Be methodical. Let no one waste your 
 time for you, and do not waste it for yourselves. Be 
 careful of details. Form the habit of doing everything 
 as well as you can do it ; and try never to be beaten. 
 Make the best of mortifications, and see what they 
 mean for you. Count the day lost in which no solid 
 addition has been made either to your stock of know- 
 ledge or your sum of duty. Failures are not always so
 
 Our Duty. 03 
 
 thorough, as we think them to be. Sometimes when we 
 think we have succeeded we are alone in thinking so. 
 Throw your strength into your humble duties and those 
 nearest you ; the others will take care of themselves. 
 Be diligent students of the "Word of God. Then be 
 prudent ; by which I do not at all mean merely the pru- 
 dence of this world ; of that sort of prudence let us all be 
 ashamed. Bather in the formation of opinion, in final 
 convictions about controversies, which for centuries 
 have vexed the heart of the Church, and will go on vex- 
 ing it to the end ; in hastily taking sides, as probably, 
 sooner or later, if you are clear and honest thinkers, 
 you must do ; anyhow, in pledging yourselves to 
 an extreme wing. Of course you will do as you 
 please, but if you really love the truth, and are 
 prepared to secure and follow it at any price, the 
 cloudless dogmatism of your early morning, as to deep 
 mysteries, will darken over by noon. Think, listen, 
 read, compare, weigh, and sometimes be content — 
 not to understand. There is much on which you 
 may and must make up your mind before you take 
 Orders at all, which will be quite sufficient for the 
 ordinary purposes of your Ministry, and which God 
 will readily bless in your efforts for Him. But on the 
 profounder questions give your mind time to mature. 
 No time will be lost, but much disappointment will 
 be spared : also, perhaps, no little amount of muddled 
 teaching, and your changing your front ten years 
 hence. And it is with the simple object of preventing 
 you from prematurely committing yourselves to what 
 you may hereafter come to view with very different 
 feelings, that very earnestly and seriously indeed f 
 distinctly caution you against joining those extreme
 
 64 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 religious associations which are now becoming so 
 common among us, and two of which — the Society of 
 the Holy Cross and the Confraternity of the Blessed 
 Sacrament — have lately superinduced much dismay 
 and serious apprehension to the Church. Quite apart 
 from the doctrinal specialities of these two societies, 
 I personally seem to discern in the general idea 
 features of- grave peril. They tend to separate the 
 Church into small sections instead of compacting the 
 unity of the whole. They attract vital heat from 
 the centre to the extremities, and keep it there. They 
 bring into an abnormal and exaggerated importance 
 particular verities or principles at the expense of the 
 comparative insignificance of those they leave behind. 
 They have also the result of manufacturing an un- 
 healthy and isolating cliqueism, which must, sooner or 
 later, seriously impair the corporate feeling of the 
 Church, and increasingly separate us from each other. 
 There were circumstances connected with the Society 
 of the Holy Cross, to which I need not recur now, 
 which gave a specially repulsive character to an 
 association which it is certain had been originally 
 started with a distinctly religious purpose. The 
 religious office in the Manual of the Confraternity 
 of the Blessed Sacrament, insidiously embedded in 
 the Communion Service of our own Prayer Book, is 
 barely distinguishable, except by critical theologians, 
 from the Eucharistic teaching of Borne. 
 
 People are apt to wonder why the Bishops do not 
 use their authority to put those associations down. To 
 my own mind there are two reasons against it, In 
 the first instance I am not aware of possessing the 
 power, and to stretch a prerogative which does not
 
 Our Buhi. 65 
 
 exist, would soon provoke a cheery defiance which 
 would further impair an authority not too much 
 respected now. Yet did we possess it, and put it into 
 force, one consequence would certainly be this : that 
 these societies would be henceforth formed and prac- 
 tised in secret, and thereby would be far more perilous 
 than open ones; and then what advantage would be 
 gained ? But if I cannot prevent, I do most earnestly 
 and seriously deprecate them, and while I see no advan- 
 tage in attempting other than moral persuasion in a 
 matter which must inevitably be left to individual 
 discretion, you know. my distinct mind, as I give it 
 you before God. 
 
 I named Humility, for indeed it seems to me 
 grievously lacking in these latter days of sturdy par- 
 tisanship. It was the first Beatitude, and it is the 
 supreme perfection. Is it too caustic, is it even 
 unjust to say that a predominant feature in some of 
 the very young clergy of our own time is a superb 
 self-conceit ? True, if it is nothing worse, it may soon 
 mend. Years, experience, the widening horizon of 
 knowledge, intercourse with other minds, enlarged 
 responsibility, and sometimes a little wholesome neg- 
 lect, all concur to cure a disease which your fathers 
 suffered from before you were born, and which you 
 will see and endure in your children. Still, make the 
 best of it as we may, it grieves Christ; it disturbs 
 the peace of the Church ; it interrupts useful work ; 
 it must blunt the sensibilities of conscience. Young 
 brethren in Christ, we cannot do without you, and in 
 many things you are not only a help but a blessing to 
 us. Generosity, sacrifice, courage, ardent hopefulness, 
 these are yours : yours for the Church of God. Keep 
 
 F-
 
 66 A Pastoral Letter. 
 
 them, and make the most of them before the heats of 
 noon are on. But as one who truly loves you, who 
 longs to understand you, and help you, and be a 
 father at your side — and, if God give him the occa- 
 sion, sometimes to ponder with you on your knees the 
 precious things of God — I do beg of you to disown 
 and discard that poor mongrel kind of independence 
 that finds a sorry satisfaction in pelting those in 
 authority with disrespect and scoffing; and which, 
 most certainly and swiftly re-acting in a hardening 
 and spoiling of your own best nature, on them if they 
 hear of it has no worse result than that of a sincere 
 regret for you. 
 
 Now I have done : and of the work we have to do 
 together, and of the spirit in which I propose to 
 initiate it, you know as much as I. It is a very vast 
 work ; one of which I feel utterly unworthy. The 
 more I look at it and touch it, the bigger and harder 
 it seems to grow ; and but for the generous and 
 kindly aid of the three eminent Bishops who have 
 preceded me in the Dioceses out of which my own is 
 constituted, my position in following them would be 
 more embarrassing still. But as I said in the begin- 
 ning, because I look to God I come to you. 
 
 Writing these lines under the lofty mountains that 
 shelter New England from the storms of the Atlantic, 
 I think of the Psalmist's figure of the mountains 
 about Jerusalem, and my heart goes forth over three 
 thousand miles of ocean to the dear English Church, 
 Queen among the islands of the sea. What a privi- 
 lege to own her ! What a trust to serve her ! What a 
 duty to protect her ! What an honour to rule her ! 
 Sure I am that I never loved her as I love her now.
 
 Our Duty. 07 
 
 Certainly, never till now have I had the full chance 
 of appreciating the influence she wields, the authority 
 she asserts, the force she uses, and the empire she 
 owns. Let us believe in her grand future. Let us 
 see her the Mother of yet many Churches all down 
 the coming time, who shall rise up to call her blessed 
 for the priceless heritage of Apostolic faith and order 
 which they have thankfully received at her hands. 
 Instead of magnifying her faults, and brooding over 
 her calamities, and bewailing with a doleful and mis- 
 chievous feebleness how her children wound her unity, 
 and strangers vex. her with scorn, let us cover her 
 faults by mending our own — let us secure her triumph 
 by each doing with his might his own task from 
 Christ. 
 
 In the words of almost the greatest of English 
 preachers, it is " the universal law, that for great 
 efforts and great works a proportionate self-dedication 
 is necessary : the single eye, the disengaged heart, 
 the direct purpose, and the concentrated will, the soul 
 on fire, the mind set on the invisible and the future, 
 in love with things great and pure and high. The 
 severe and awful words of the New Testament, as 
 laws of character and choice, are the key to all 
 triumphs that arc to be had in the time to come. 
 Those who shall catch their meaning most wisely, and 
 most deeply, and who are not afraid of what it in- 
 volves, will be the masters of the future." 
 I remain, 
 
 Your faithful friend and servant, 
 
 A. AY. Eoffen. 
 
 Selsdon Park, Croydon, 
 
 All Saints Dtn/, 1878.
 
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 PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. 
 
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 The Bishop has power to make additions to the aberve List from time to time, until 
 the Council is completely constituted under the Kules of the Society.
 
 fist of gonations auto Subscriptions of £10 anb itptoarbs nmbtb anb 
 
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 200 
 
 25 
 
 200 
 
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 26 5 
 
 100 o 
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 100 o 
 
 ,2 10 
 20 o 
 
 10 10 
 25 o 
 15 15 
 25 o 
 100 o 
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 20 
 
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 21 
 
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 I awrence, Sir Trevor, Bart., 
 M.P Vnn. 
 
 ! -in ( Jower, < iran\ ille, 
 
 Esq I Ion. 
 
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 Donations and Subscriptians for Sums less thin £10 amount to £456.
 
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