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CHAPTER IV

Addresses at Diocesan Conferences-Confederation of Church Schools -Appointment of Diocesan Missioner-Liturgical Questions-Fasting Communion-Correspondence, 1878-1884.

IN the course of the difficult and anxious period which has been sketched in the foregoing chapter, the Bishop had won the respect and confidence of the diocese. He had held the balance between conflicting parties with firmness, tact, and strict fairness; he had infused new life into all the existing diocesan institutions, and had resuscitated some which had been nearly or altogether defunct. His ability consisted rather in sharpening and directing the use of instruments already existing and originated by others than in devising new ones himself. Every fresh project submitted to him was most carefully examined and criticised; he grasped all the details of any scheme with wonderful quickness, and was acute in detecting the weak points. Until he had thoroughly satisfied himself that it was sound and practicable, and likely to do real good, he would not commit himself to it; but once satisfied on these points, he would give it all the support in his power, grudging neither time nor pains to assist the executive body by his counsel and sympathy,

and commending it to the diocese by his written and spoken utterances on every possible occasion.

One institution which engaged his warmest sympathy and support was the Mothers' Guild, formed with the view of helping mothers by means of a few plain and simple rules, together with the benefits of mutual prayer and counsel, to understand and discharge their responsibilities to their children in training their characters and guiding their conduct.

He composed the prayers for the use of this Guild and carefully examined all the rules; and after the scheme was launched he commended it to the clergy of the diocese in his charge delivered in 1890, and in a circular letter issued in the following year.

One letter out of many to the Hon. Mrs. Campion, who was one of the most active originators of the Guild, will suffice to show the minute care which he bestowed upon every detail of its working.

Palace, Chichester: April 14, 1886.

My dear Mrs. Campion,-- I much approve of your service. In a very few instances I suggest an alternative word, chiefly from fear that the word in your text may not be generally understood. Titus ii. to verse 7 would supply a useful alternative lesson; the advice to keep at home is invaluable. I suppose it is not intended to go through the whole service always, but to select such parts as may be suitable. I dare say the 127th Psalm occurred to you. It is very applicable in its whole strain to such meetings as you have.

Perhaps you know that the word 'guild' in some quarters provokes suspicion. I know of no better word, and it certainly ought not to be suspected. Let me thank you for this as well as your other labours on behalf of those who greatly need guidance, counsel, and, above all, sympathy.

The following letter refers to a Training Home for workhouse girls which the same lady was instituting at Hurst:`

The proposal has my hearty approval and best wishes for its success. No class of girls can have a stronger claim on the G.F.S., for none are more friendless and none more helpless. They require, as all who know their case must allow, a special education to fit them for domestic service, the only occupation usually open to them. A workhouse school does not teach them habits of activity, industry, and self-reliance, and the atmosphere of a workhouse, however well conducted, is not favourable to vigour and independence of character. I look upon the (Training Home) as a means of weaning these young girls from workhouse associations and all pauperising influences, encouraging them in the desire and the purpose to earn an honest livelihood and enabling them to begin life hopefully and happily.

The letters to Mr. Wakeford, the Diocesan Missioner, which are appended to this chapter, evince the same solicitude concerning all the details of his work.

In the selection of subjects for discussion at the diocesan conferences he always advocated those

which directly affected the religious life of the diocese, in preference to larger and especially to controversial questions which might lead to heated debate without any useful practical result. He urged that the discussions should not be of an academical type, or made the occasion for oratorical display or for airing theories; but that they should be such as would stimulate interest in diocesan work and wants: devising new plans, calling attention to defects in existing agencies, and suggesting means for their improvement and extension. In these respects he considered a diocesan conference of greater value than a Church Congress. I am far,' he said, 'from underrating the importance of those periodical meetings, but they are open to the objection that they begin in talk, continue in talk, and end in talk. They decide nothing, they show no tangible result. A diocesan conference, with far more moderate pretensions, has a real and definite field of action as well as of discussion.'

Amongst the subjects debated in the conferences during his episcopate were the promotion of habits of temperance and thrift, parochial councils, parochial missions, Sunday schools, children's services, Church finance, parochial libraries, friendly societies, the boarding out of pauper children, a society for the promotion of religious study, a scheme for the confederation of Church schools.

Committees were appointed to inquire into these subjects, and their reports formed the basis of dis

cussions, which led in many instances to lasting practical results. Of course, a demand for the consideration of larger subjects, such as the constitution of ecclesiastical courts, or patronage, or what are commonly called 'burning questions,' could not always be resisted, but the Bishop only tolerated them as concessions to the temper of the times. 'I have no love,' he said, 'for what, in the language of the day, are called "burning questions." The smell of such fires, the fierceness of such flames, is hateful to men of peace and charity, and to all those who study to be quiet and to do their own business."

Nevertheless he admitted that good might arise from the occasional discussion of such subjects in a full and open assembly where arguments could be heard on both sides, and persons who were wont to read only such newspapers and pamphlets as supported their own opinions might discover that there was more to be said by their opponents than they had been willing to believe.

His opening addresses to the conferences, in which he touched upon the several questions about to be discussed, were remarkable for their practical wisdom, and for the concise, vigorous, scholarly English in which his opinions were expressed; but he intervened in the debates as little as possible, and refrained from obtruding his own views upon the assembly.

'I do not think,' he said, 'that it is my office (as president) to sum up each debate after the manner of a judge. If I had the ability to compress into a