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A

CHARGE,

DELIVERED TO THE

CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF LLANDAFF,

TRIENNIAL VISITATION,

IN OCTOBER, 1845.

EDWARD, LORD BISHOP OF LLANDAFF.
A

PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CLERGY.

LONDON:
FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON,
st. Paul's church yard, and Waterloo place.
1845.

LONDON :
gilbert and rivington, printers,
st. John's square.

CHARGE,
Sfc.

Reverend Brethren,
The interval between this and our former meeting
has been marked by one lamentable event, which,
as it has long been a heavy burden on my thoughts,
it will be a relief to my mind to throw off thus early,
upon an occasion when I may anticipate universal
sympathy from my hearers, whether lay or clerical, —
the loss of our late excellent and beloved chancellor,
— a man whose praises I will not now enlarge upon;
for the time would fail me were I to attempt to
enumerate all the great and good qualities of his
character, or to describe the various services he has
rendered to the Church in this diocese. Suffice it
to say, that he was prompt, energetic, and judicious,
as well as persevering and indefatigable in the dis
charge of every duty belonging to the important
a2

offices he filled; and that his memory will live
among us as long as the love of what is pure, and
upright, and benevolent, and disinterested, shall
animate our bosoms.
That loss, indeed, would have been almost irre
parable, had not provision been made by law for the
restoration of the important office of Archdeacon,
upon which the discipline and the temporal welfare
of the Church mainly depend ; but which, through
some unaccountable carelessness, had, in this part of
the kingdom, been suffered to become a name and
shadow merely of authority, without any sign of life
or usefulness, ever since the period of the Reforma
tion. I may, then, congratulate you not only upon the
supply of this grievous want in our diocese, but
I hesitate not to say, upon the actual proof given,
how valuable that office is, when discharged, as it
has been during the last two years, with ability and
accurate knowledge, with unceasing vigilance and
untiring energy, tempered by discretion and by the
readiest disposition to assist, to advise, and to en
courage, as well as to regulate and improve our
parochial system in all its departments.
In all that concerns the exterior of religion, we
are then secure against a relapse into that dilapidated
condition, from which indeed our Church has been

progressively recovering, as opportunity was given,
during the last twenty years. Within that period,
poor as the benefices generally are, we have seen
appropriate houses provided for the residence of the
clergy in more than forty parishes, which before were
either wholly destitute of that advantage, or very
inadequately supplied ; and the same improvement
is steadily advancing, wherever the income of the
benefice is sufficient to raise funds for the purpose ;
while the enlargement and repair of churches, and the
restoration of them, both within and without, to that
decent and venerable character which once belonged
to them, is retarded only by the want of means,
not, I believe, by the want of will, on the part of
the clergy, or of the principal inhabitants of the re
spective parishes.
When I speak of the want of means, I speak
with mingled feelings of shame and sorrow. Is
there really a want of means in those who possess
the property in these parishes? Property, as is
often truly said, has its duties as well as its rights.
If the owners of that property be Christians, if they
be real members of the Church of Christ, is it not
one of their first duties to provide out of their
abundance for the spiritual wants of their poorer
brethren? Ought they not to prove the sincerity
of their faith and the reality of their love, by devot
ing voluntarily a part of their worldly goods to the
decent celebration of Divine service, to the erection

6

of churches where there are none, to the enlarge
ment of them where they are too small, to the
restoration of them where they are decayed, to their
reparation when defaced or mutilated, and to the
improvement of their general style and aspect,
wherever the meanness of the structure corresponds
but ill with the high and holy purposes to which
they are consecrated ?
The present wealth of the country surpasses incal
culably that of the times in which these edifices were
raised. It has been rapidly increasing from age to
age, I may add, almost from day to day; as is
evidenced by the growing stateliness and beauty of
private mansions, by the more commodious dwell
ings of the middle class, in all its gradations, whether
of town or country, by the superior style of farm
houses and even of cottages, compared with those of
former generations. Is it not, then, a standing re
proach, and an awakening call to conscience, when
the house of God presents itself alone exhibiting no
mark of participation in this general prosperity?
Nay, when, as is too often the case, while everything
else has been advancing, this has been, not by com
parison only, but absolutely and manifestly receding;
daily becoming meaner in its condition, more
sordid in the expedients used for preserving it from
entire ruin.
I dwell the more earnestly upon this branch of

the subject, because there is now an opportunity
given for directing any offering towards a correction
of this evil, which pious and liberal minds may be
disposed to make, in a safe channel. The association
planned and organised by our Archdeacons for this
express purpose, is languishing for want of support.
I do not mean that the laity have withheld their
names, or that they have left the whole charge to
the clergy ; which, had there been any superfluity of
wealth in that body, might have had some excuse ;
but, considering that the cause is common to the
whole Church, there has not yet been, I am bound
to say, that display of alacrity and generous disposi
tion on their part to share the burden equally with
ourselves, which might have been expected.
The resident proprietors have doubtless not been
backward each in his own parish ; but what is wanted,
and what I trust we shall soon rejoice in seeing,
is a spontaneous union with ourselves in this en
larged scheme of restoration, an open acknowledg
ment that the work belongs alike to all, and that
an absentee or a distant proprietor is more bound
than others to contribute, because he draws the
natural means away from the indigent district, and
thus leaves it unable to do what itself desires. The
practice of throwing all burdens of this kind upon
the occupier of the land is an unworthy evasion of
a sacred duty ; and although it cannot be controlled
by law, yet it ought to be modified and even super-

8

seded by voluntary interference on the part of the
proprietor, whenever an extraordinary outlay is re
quired, as well as by liberally supporting the general
institution to which I have just adverted.
In speaking of what we owe to the exertions of our
new ecclesiastical officers, I must not forget to mention
the Diocesan School Association, (established in one
county of our diocese, and which I hope to see
extended to the other,) which only requires the same
liberal support from the laity, in order to accomplish
its great object of uniting to the Church the rising
generation of all classes. The Rural Deans under
taking to inspect the schools of their own district,
and reporting to the society through the Archdeacons
the general conduct and state of each, there is little
need of that visitation from agents of a central
board, strangers to the habits and peculiarities of
the country, which often proceeds upon a wrong
principle according to my judgment, that of measur
ing all schools by the same standard, and reporting
their merits accordingly, without making allowance
for the wide difference there is between the educa
tion requisite in cities, towns, villages, and mere rural
parishes. Upon this subject I dwelt largely in a Charge
delivered in the year 1839; to which I would venture
to refer for a fuller statement of my opinions upon
this great branch of clerical duty, for so I consider

9

it may be called. I dismiss the subject, therefore,
now with this single remark, that, unless habitually
visited and superintended and guided by the pastor
of a parish, no system of rules, however wisely
framed, after the novelty is over, will ever be ef
fectual. There are, also, one or two other points peculiar to
this part of the United Kingdom, by which the
cause of the Church is powerfully affected, which
I cannot pass over in silence, but which I must, for
want of time, handle very briefly.
One of the disadvantages we labour under, tend
ing materially to disunion and dissent, is the use
among the people of two living languages, and those
most dissimilar and incongruous in their character.
This evil, in whatever countries it existed, it has been
the policy of all wise governments to obviate by en
couraging as much as possible the ascendancy of one,
and that the language of the larger part of the
nation, so as in process of time wholly to supersede
the other. The business of civil life, the adminis
tration of the laws, the intercourse of society, are all
aided and improved by the adoption of one medium
of communication among the inhabitants of the same
region ; and if all these interests require a sacrifice
of that natural partiality which attaches us to local
peculiarities, much more, infinitely more, is the
cause of true religion entitled to that sacrifice, for
the peace and the union of the Church is in a still

10
greater degree promoted by the same expedient.
The feelings and affections are influenced by idioms
and modes of speaking not easily transfused from
one language to another ; although external objects,
and mechanical operations, and the ordinary business
of life, may be sufficiently expressed in translated
words for all practical purposes. Now it is the former
class of ideas with which revealed religion is chiefly
conversant, and which the teacher of that religion
seeks to instil into the minds of his hearers. These
they imbibe most eagerly when clothed, not in an
acquired vocabulary, which serves well enough for the
common uses of life, but in their native tongue, long
associated as that is with all emotions of the imagina
tion and the heart. This is a quality not peculiar to
the Welsh language ; it is an incident common to
all languages. When, therefore, a population is in
that transition state, that a large portion have al
ready dropped the use of their own language for
that of another race, and the two races are become
not only intermixed in all conceivable proportions,
but their respective peculiarities are daily disap
pearing, it causes the greatest perplexity to the
pastor of a parish how best to carry on the religious
instruction of such a community ; and whereas union
is a vital principle of the Church, which it concerns
us all to cherish as much as possible, this mixture,
while it lasts, becomes a fatal source of discord and
disunion. All the expedients of alternate or occa
sional service in each language, according to the
relative numbers of the two portions, (which are be-

11

sides ever varying,) although the only remedies the
case admits, are inadequate and generally abortive.
The minor party draw off to that assembly, what
ever its denomination, in which their own language
exclusively prevails ; and separation soon ripens into
absolute schism, and even hostility.
When I reflect on the evils arising from this
state of things, and when I know by experience
that the only adequate remedy is the use of one
language, it grieves me to think that any among us
should, for the sake of indulging the love of anti
quarian lore, or a romantic feeling of local and partial
attachment, studiously endeavour to perpetuate the
mixture in those districts where it was fast dying
away, and thus purchase a pleasure of the imagina
tion to themselves by the surrender of sacred and
substantial good. If patriotism could be pleaded,
I might forgive, though I could not approve the
sacrifice. But it is an abuse of terms to call this
patriotism. Wales has no separate interest, civil,
social, or religious, from England. Wales is not
a subordinate, but an integral component part of
our common country. No rights are withheld, no
mortifying distinctions imposed. We seek to be
one with her in language, as we have for centuries
been one in religion, in laws, in the interchange of
all civil and social relations. The true patriot, then,
surely is he who consults the good of the whole
community, and does not suffer his local attach-

12

ments to arrest the amelioration of his country at
large. Let me add, however, for fear of being misunder
stood, that as far as the law empowers me, I carefully
require a knowledge of Welsh in every clergyman
entrusted with the cure of souls in a parish of this
description ; and that I do not fail to impress upon
patrons, when an opportunity is afforded me, the duty
of selecting clergymen so qualified, wherever the
Welsh language, though not much in use yet in any
degree prevails, because colloquial intercourse is the
only possible way of keeping that portion who still
prefer it within the pale of the Church, or of re
covering those who have wandered from us to join
dissenting congregations.
The allusion I have here made to the duty of
patrons, induces me to ask your attention for a few
moments to a topic, by no means foreign indeed to the
purpose of our present meeting, that of the Pastoral
Aid Society; for it is a society by whose kind and
liberal assistance this diocese has largely profited.
Having also derived much seasonable aid from the
Additional Curates' Society, which has more exten
sive means at its command, I should not have
thought it necessary to do more than make a thank
ful acknowledgment to each, had not a most unjust
imputation, as it seems to me, been cast upon the
former society, as if their method of proceeding

13

interfered with the constitution of our national
Church, and with the legitimate exercise of the
episcopal office. My experience for many years has
led me to form quite the opposite conclusion. Their
grants are made solely upon the application of
incumbents with the approval of their bishop. They
do indeed carefully inquire into the merits of the
individual who is to receive his salary from them
selves. They do not think themselves bound to be
satisfied with those formal documents merely, which
are in all cases indispensable. They wish to be
assured from the best sources of information, that
the person proposed is in every respect worthy
of the grant they make. There is no authority
of examination assumed, no inquisitorial process
attempted. They make their inquiries confidentially
of those in whom they have reason to place con
fidence, but the inquiry has no connexion with a
religious school or party, no design to promote or
encourage peculiar opinions, but simply to ascertain
the worthiness of the person who is to partake of the
funds entrusted to their management.
And, my reverend brethren, sincerely do I wish
that every Church patron in the kingdom acted upon
the same principle. Would to God, that all of them
carefully inquired into the character and fitness of
those whom they nominate to a vacant benefice ;
that they would regard themselves rather as the
patrons of the flock for whom they appoint a

14

minister, than as the benefactors merely of him
whom they nominate as minister ; and whom the
bishop cannot by law refuse to institute, unless he
judges him unworthy to exercise the ministry in any
parish whatsoever, however convinced he may be
that he is very ill-qualified for the particular charge
to which he is appointed !
But I pass on to matters more immediately re
lating to our own duties.
I will not indeed weary you with discussions about
disputed points of rubrical direction, or those frivolous
questions which have lately so much occupied the
public mind, and disturbed the harmony of many
parishes. Happily we have been free in this diocese
from such unprofitable dissensions. Neither do I
think that any disposition has been shown in the lay
members of our Church to interfere with the pro
vince of the minister, or to resist the higher autho
rities of the Church. Our difficulties are of another
kind. They proceed from those without, not from
those within our communion. Schism, which has
long ago struck deep root in this country, and has
borne bitter fruit, is still active, obstinate, contentious,
and envious ; withstanding to the utmost our teach
ing, vilifying our ordinances, and seeking to under
mine our credit with the people.
But against all the violence and all the arts of its

15

adversaries, the cause of the Church still advances.
Great indeed is the power of Truth. While stand
ing on this vantage ground, if we be not wanting to
ourselves, we must sooner or later prevail; and, I
speak it with confidence, we are now prevailing. In
the conduct of the parochial clergy ; in their more
constant residence each within his proper sphere of
duty ; in their improved performance of Divine ser
vice, not hastily or irreverently but with devout
solemnity ; in the additional frequency of that ser
vice, and especially of the Holy Communion ; in the
more earnest and affectionate tone of preaching;
in the attention paid to parochial schools ; and I
may add, in a mode of life more consonant with the
sacred character of their calling ; in being careful
not to give offence by impropriety of dress, or man
ners, or amusement ; in all these particulars I discern
the cause of that increased respect and influence the
Church has certainly acquired among us within the
last few years.
Under this head I have one point of advice to
give, and that more especially to my younger
brethren. Do not, I beseech you, while you most
laudably avoid secular habits and demeanour, do not
aim at singularity in any part of your ministerial
office. If you think anything has been hitherto
done in a slovenly or hasty manner, amend the fault
as quietly and unobtrusively as you can ; but be
careful how you lead weak brethren to attach

16

intrinsic virtue or importance to mere formalities.
If you make it appear that you are actuated solely
by a sense of decency and order, you will certainly
obtain the support of your congregations. There is
one defect in the usual performance of the Church
service, which might, I think, without difficulty be
corrected in every parish — the omission of the prayer
for the Church militant ; a beautiful, comprehensive,
and most affecting prayer, admirably fitted to close
the devotions of the congregation. The objection
commonly alleged, a very insufficient one in my
opinion, that it adds to the length of the service,
may easily be obviated, if need be, by proportionably
shortening the sermon ; and whenever there is but
one minister, I see not the slightest impropriety in
his performing the whole service, in the pulpit as
well as at the communion table, without any change
of dress.
While adverting to this subject, it is impossible
to pass over the agitation caused some years ago by
a party of religionists at Oxford, which still con
tinues, and is perhaps increasing in consequence of
the lenity with which some of the first movers have
been treated by that university, and of the counten
ance and favour they have received from persons
who yet profess adherence to our national Church.
For my own part, I am grieved and astonished at the
flagrant dishonesty of these men. Ordained in our
Church, having acquired and still enjoying all its

17

temporal advantages by professing to subscribe will
ingly and from their heart to our articles of religion,
articles which renounce altogether the authority of
the see of Rome, and expressly reject the doctrines
which distinguish it from our Church, they yet hold
and vindicate those very doctrines in the face of the
world. Out of this unlooked for, because unprecedented,
apostasy, as out of all moral evil, some good indeed
has sprung. It has led to a more accurate acquaint
ance with the origin and progress of the Reformation
in our own country, when having thrown off the
usurped authority of Rome, our Church purified
itself from those corruptions,, both in doctrine and
practice, which had been contracted in the course of
a thousand years, and restored both its profession of
faith and its polity to a conformity with the original
models, from which, under the papal government,
both had widely departed.
The single-hearted love of truth, the indefatigable
search after it, the fortitude in maintaining it, and
the zeal in propagating it, which are characteristic
of those pious and learned men, to whom we are
indebted for this blessed emancipation, are too well
known for me now to demonstrate, or even to detain
you by applauding them. But there is a quality in
their proceedings equally characteristic, and much
more rare, which I cannot pass by unnoticed ; the
B

18

temper, I mean, the prudence, the moderation, with
which this great work was carried on, and finally
accomplished. In this respect our Reformation stands
happily and honourably distinguished from most of
those religious changes which took place about the
same time on the continent of Europe. The Church
of this nation changed nothing for the sake of
change. It preserved unbroken and unimpaired its
original constitution, as being of Divine appointment.
It retained all that was decent and solemn and
decorous in the outward forms of religion, provided it
was also pure and edifying, and sanctioned by the
practice of the Church in its early and uncorrupted
state. This task, in fact, after the first fiery trial was
over, became their chief difficulty. To restrain the
passions of men, naturally excited by the detection
of fraud and profane artifice in the rulers and
ministers of Christ's Church, required more of the
real Christian spirit than to face persecution. It is
to this wisdom, displayed in meekness, that we owe
our freedom from the wild excesses which prevailed
elsewhere during the same period, and to which the
popular mind is ever prone under religious commo
tion. The rejection of all legitimate rule derived
from the Apostolic Church, which is the error of all
the various sects around us, still exposes them to the
same danger, and is the occasion of much natural
anxiety to all sober-minded members of the Church.

19

While they obstinately cling to this error, and spurn
authority, and refuse to hear the Church, however
near their doctrines may approach to those of the
Church, we cannot recognize them as sheep of the
same fold. We feel bound to warn them of their sin
and of their danger, although we dare not arrogantly
affirm that they have no share in Christ's redemption.
God grant that the signs of emancipation from the
spiritual tyranny of Rome, which now appear among
the nations of Europe, may be exempt from this
calamity, and may lead to a result similar in all
essential points to our own !
In the meantime, our chief anxiety is directed
towards the unsound members of our own com
munion ; especially those false brethren who poison
the very fountain of religious education, and insidi
ously seek to pervert the minds of the young and
the partially-informed members of their university,
under the specious disguise of superior sanctity and
devotion. Many, alas ! are from day to day made
victims of their dissimulation. Their mode of
writing is marked with all the characteristics of
Jesuitical subtlety. They insinuate rather than
assert. They elude the grasp of reason. They pro
fess to venerate antiquity, while they exalt the
authority of later ages over that of the first three
centuries of Christianity ; and under the miserable
pretence of development, impiously add to the book
b2

20

of life doctrines and traditions utterly at variance
with Divine revelation.
If you have perused the meagre and sickening-
pages of their later publications, you must have been
reminded of the day-dreams of monks, the workings
of moody abstraction in vacant minds, and the wire
drawn sophistries of schoolmen, which constituted
the theology of the middle ages; presenting an
intellectual phenomenon which no man could have
anticipated, even in imagination, as likely to be
revived in our own times.
Reverend brethren, my heart is full of grief when
I contemplate the melancholy change : and you will,
I trust, bear with me if I dwell too long or too
vehemently upon this topic, in consideration of my
own former connexion with that university, and will
permit me to indulge in some reflections arising out
of my own experience there.
More than thirty years of the most active part of
life I spent among them, filling almost every post
connected with the discipline and the studies of the
place. During that long period I witnessed a con
tinually growing improvement in both ; more espe
cially in all that concerned religion, in the perform
ance of its daily duties, and in the elementary in
struction which, both in public and private, young
men received. Together with this more enlarged

21

view of their Christian duty, and a much more
correct and serious sense of the clerical office, there
was a corresponding improvement in the tone of
manners and conversation, as compared with those
of the preceding age ; and still more, after the
system of public examination had been well esta
blished, a new life seemed to be infused into all
generous and well-disposed minds.
In this greatly improved state of the university
I was called away to other and more important
duties. And now, what a sad reverse do I behold !
A sect or school clandestinely formed, distinguished
by peculiarities in performing religious rites approxi
mating to those of Rome, straining all the formu
laries of our Church so as to make them consonant
with the Romish pattern, and indulging a sort of
yearning for a re-union to that corrupt branch, not
withstanding the fundamental and irreconcileable
differences existing, and which ever must exist
between us. All this partiality is by many of its
members more and more avowed, till at length some
of its boldest leaders aver, that the articles of our
Church may be subscribed without relinquishing a
single Romish tenet.
When matters had reached this crisis, there was
indeed a formal condemnation, by a large majority,
of this unblushing heresy ; but when it was proposed

22
to deprive the delinquent of honours and emolu
ments obtained by duplicity and prevarication, how
painful a defection was witnessed ! What numbers
were there who joined in condemning the heresy,
but refused to censure the convicted heretic ; and
were desirous of retaining the infected member in
close contact with the untainted but incautious and
unsettled youth whom he was endeavouring to lead
astray — although an act of this kind was unquestion
ably more within the province of academical disci
pline and duty, than to pass a vote against heterodox
publications ! It is an abuse of words to call this
moderation. It betrays a lukewarmness in the
cause of Gospel truth, which forces from us the
sentence pronounced from high authority against a
wavering Church, " I would thou wert hot or cold."
From this painful scene I turn to the more cheer
ing prospect which the character of my own clergy
places before me. Among them I rejoice to think
that not the slightest approach to this corruption is
perceptible. They will ever, I am confident, support
me in presenting an unequivocal, uncompromising
resistance to the Romish superstitions, under what
ever specious disguise they may covertly be introduced
among us. My only fear is, that the abhorrence we
justly feel of such treachery should lead some of us
to regard as suspicious the observance of our ritual
when carried to the full extent of its spirit and design :

23

since a narrow-minded scrupulousness on this sub
ject was an early characteristic of that party. There
may be danger, lest in our disgust at the conceits
and cavils which have recently disturbed the har
mony of so many parishes, and have drawn men's
minds away from the substance to the shadow, from
true devotion to mere ceremonies, there may, I say,
be danger lest we grow inattentive to external ordi
nances, and be unwilling to impart additional solem
nity, even in points altogether free from Romanism,
to the Church service. Some advice on this head
I have already ventured to offer. Let me add, what
in a former charge I earnestly recommended, that
the admirable chapter on ceremonies, in the preface
to our book of Common Prayer, should be pointed
out and explained to the people, as containing the
just doctrine upon that subject, and as sufficient to
reconcile any candid mind, not fond of doubtful
disputation, to the regular observance of prescribed
forms, however they may disregard minute varia
tions, when not the offspring of private conceit or
careless negligence.
On the use of the Offertory for collections among
the congregation at large, which has of late been
one fruitful source of discord, I wish to say a few
words. After an attentive perusal of the arguments for

24

and against the practice, I have come to the con
clusion, that as a question of law it is allowable to
make such collections, not for alms only, but for
church purposes of various kinds within the parish.
As a question of expediency, I would not recom
mend it to be resorted to, except after due notice,
and for special occasions. One of the most likely
to occur is when the solemnity, or decency, or edify
ing character of the service may be promoted by
some expenditure, which the law does not autho
rize to be raised by a rate. Many such cases arise,
according to the circumstances of each parish, par
ticularly under the head of church music ; to which
may be added methods for warming, or ventilating,
or lighting the church, or otherwise increasing the
comfort of the congregation, or for adding to the
beauty and propriety of the building. For purposes
of this kind, nothing appears to me more unob
jectionable than such voluntary gatherings, made at
the discretion of the minister and churchwardens.
They are, also, advisable as tending to lessen the
unpopularity of a levy by rate ; which even when
clearly warranted by law, and when strictly confined
to necessary works, yet always provokes the jealousy
and discontent of those who abstain from our
communion. And now, my reverend brethren, in addressing
you for the sixth time, and considering the ordinary

25

period of human life, not improbably for the last
time, permit me to take a freedom which may ex
pose me to the imputation of vanity from the world,
or of attributing too much weight to my own
opinions, but which you will, I trust, receive with
greater indulgence.
I would entreat you, then, to peruse with attention
the last charge I delivered in this diocese, written
about the time when these Oxford tracts began to
attract general attention. The occasion led me
to meditate deeply upon the causes of that hold
which papal corruptions and papal dominion still
retained, in an age when the wide range of intel
lectual pursuits had for centuries opened the minds
of all educated men, and had dislodged so many pre
judices and errors that had prevailed during the
middle ages. Why, it was natural to ask, amidst
the general advancement, has no progress been made
in subverting the false tenets and degrading super
stitions of Rome ?
And not only so, but, on the other hand, how comes
it that so large a portion of the Protestant world are
split into endless divisions and sects, many of them
agreeing in the fundamental truths of Christianity,
and rejecting like ourselves popish corruptions, and
yet, not like ourselves religiously preserving the
unity of the Church, as being a body constituted by
Christ Himself, and claiming allegiance and attach-

26

ment from every member, according to the earnest
and repeated injunctions of its Founder ?
The solution of both these difficulties appeared to
me to be the same ; and to be alike traceable to this
single error, slowly indeed and gradually formed, but
at length boldly professed and imperiously enjoined,
that the unity of the Church consisted in having one
visible head or governor of the whole upon earth.
Now this is a notion for which there is not the
slightest foundation in Scripture, nor the slightest
evidence in the history of the Church during, at the
very least, the first five centuries. Yet, during all that
period, as well as ever since, to maintain the unity of
the Church has been held to be a duty of sacred and
eternal obligation. In one of our own prayers we re
cognize it as stamping an inalienable character upon
the body, perfectly in unison with the whole economy
of the Gospel dispensation — that as there is " but one
" body and one spirit, and one hope of our calling, one
" Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
" of us all, so we may all be united in one holy bond
" of truth and peace, of faith and charity." How is it
that in all this enumeration of the elements and
principles of Unity, taken from Scripture and from
ancient liturgies, the government of the Church
throughout the world by one bishop, should never
even be hinted at, I do not say as essential, but as
forming any constituent part of this divinely com
missioned institution ? The claim indeed has long

27

been proudly and arbitrarily asserted. But it rests
on no evidence : it will bear no examination. It
was, however, in times of darkness and ignorance
blindly submitted to in the Western Church, as a
dogma involving the very essence of the faith ; and
to dispute it was thought equivalent to a denial of
our Redeemer. But that the pontifical supremacy
is an innovation, a creature of man's invention, all
history proclaims ; and this illusion being once dis
pelled, the whole fabric of superstitions and corrup
tions built upon it falls at once to the ground.
On the other hand, the overthrow of this imaginary
claim, which had so long held European Christendom
in subjection, led too many of the Protestants to
shut their eyes altogether to the real unity of the
Church. Thus the same confusion of thought be
came the source of pernicious error in each case.
The papist thought unity was destroyed, if the pope
ceased to govern. The Protestant held, that be
cause that dominion was usurped, there was no form
of Church government on earth which had Divine
authority, or to which the allegiance of Christians
was due.
The Church of Rome is chargeable with invent
ing, from motives of ambition and the love of
worldly greatness, this anti-christian doctrine. But
is it not marvellous that the world should have so
long been held and still continue to be held bound

28

under this spell ! That one prelate, whose claim is
universal empire, should be deemed the representa
tive and the vicegerent of Him whose memorable
saying is recorded in the everlasting Gospel, " My
kingdom is not of this world ! " This monstrous
imposture, prophetically shadowed out, as I firmly
believe it to be, in the writings of St. Paul, must be
regarded as the device of the enemy of the cross of
Christ; for it is the original germ of all spiritual
evils, — evils of the most opposite descriptions — evils
of fanaticism and disorder not less than of gross and
abject superstition — evils which, in the one form or
the other, will never perhaps wholly cease to afflict
the Church militant upon earth.
Be it our care, my reverend brethren, firmly to
unite and resolutely to persevere in counteracting
them all. The latter class, those of separation and
schism, predominate greatly in this diocese. It is
to these, therefore, that our endeavours ought
chiefly to be directed. We ought, indeed, to be
seconded and supported much more heartily than
we are, by those who derive their wealth out of
the vast and still increasing population, collected and
colonized by themselves in once desolate regions to
labour for their profit. I am not insensible to the
merit of those individuals who have set a noble
example in providing for these spiritual wants.
Benefactors such as these we esteem and honour
for the Lord's sake ; especially that recently formed

29

Company who have openly proclaimed what all are
bound to do in similar cases — and have themselves
done it; and who are already rewarded for their
munificence by witnessing the fulfilment of their
desires in the entire success of the Church minis
trations in that quarter '. To them, and to all who
1 The following extract from a Report of the Directors of the
Rhymney Iron Company to a General Meeting of the Proprietors
in the year 1838, will explain the allusion in the text.
" The Directors of the Rhymney Iron Company having taken
into their serious consideration the opinion expressed at the last
General Meeting of the Proprietors, That a Church, according
to the laws of the established Church of England, and Schools
for the education of the children of persons in the employ of the
company, should be provided : —
" Report, that they entirely concur in the opinion then ex
pressed, and that with a view to promote an object not less their
duty than their interest, they have had communications with the
Marquess of Bute, Mr. Stacey, the rector of Gellygaer, and
other parties interested, and after fully considering that the Com
pany having caused to locate on what were before barren moun
tains a population of 8000 souls, and that number increasing daily,
and nearly the whole of that population residing on the freehold
property of the Company, at a distance of nearly five miles from
the parish church, the Directors beg leave to express their unani
mous opinion, that the Company are, upon every principle,
moral and religious, bound to provide and endow a Church for
the use of the tenants of the Rhymney Iron Company and
others." They go on to recommend, that land be allotted also for a
minister's house and garden, and that schools should be built,
and a perpetual endowment provided, for the maintenance of the
minister and the repairs of the Church.
All this has been done. The whole establishment is in full

30

before them have in any degree succoured the same
holy course, my cordial thanks are given ; but on this
and on every suitable occasion, I shall not shrink
from declaring publicly, that those who upon every
account ought to have done the most have hitherto
done the least.
In speaking of the various sects which disturb
and assail the Church, it is usual to distinguish the
Wesleyans as least hostile, and as less actuated by
party spirit than the rest. In their origin, and
during the life-time of their founder, this may have
been the case ; but a manifest change is observable
at the present day. They are become not only an
organized body, but an independent sect, subject to
an internal rule, like one of the monastic orders, a
action. The Church will not hold the numbers who resort to it
three times a day on Sundays ; and a plan for providing a second
Church is now in forwardness.
This example has been followed by the Maesteg Company,
lately established in Glamorganshire : and if the hearts of those
wealthy iron masters, who have hitherto done little or nothing of
the kind, could be moved by any arguments or entreaties of
mine, they will no longer neglect this Christian duty, nor plead
the uncertainty of success as a reason for not attempting to
perform it.
The whole of the Rhymney Iron Company's Report is printed
in the Appendix to a Sermon preached by me at Usk, in the
year 1838, before the Monmouthshire District Committees for
Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Propagation of the
Gospel.

31

rule of human contrivance, having no pretension to
apostolic authority, a rule which is frequently
directed by a spirit of rivalry, seeking not to
supply spiritual wants in destitute or neglected
places, but to counteract and subvert the ministra
tion of the Church in places where it is most ably
and faithfully performed, and most effective. I
make not this charge lightly or without proof. In
one gross instance of the kind I went so far as to
expostulate with the rulers of that body on the in
tended erection of a building for their purposes in
a thinly peopled district, where a new church then
stood, remarkably well served, and fully attended.
I represented this as a notorious departure from the
principles of their founder, and as an avowed act of
opposition and schism; but my remonstrance was
wholly disregarded.
Let us not cease, however, to strive, whether they
will hear or whether they will forbear, and to pray
earnestly for the re-union of all wanderers from the
true fold. And may the Lord whom you serve bless
your labours, and support you under all discourage
ments and difficulties with the power of his grace,
and with the consolations of his Holy Spirit !

THE END.

LONDON :
gilbert & rivington, printers,
st. John's square.