wife's sister, and the issue of such a marriage is declared to be illegitimate. The law of God forbids a woman to marry the brother of her deceased husband, and by parity of reasoning forbids the husband to marry the sister of his deceased wife. The Table of Inhibited Degrees, to which I refer you, includes (No. 17) marriage with a deceased wife's sister. Therefore the person of whom you write cannot have been married by a minister of the Church of England, or with the service appointed for holy matrimony, unless the facts of the case have not been stated. Where and how the alleged marriage has been solemnised is uncertain, but neither the law of the land nor the law of the Church can have permitted its solemnisation in the form and under the conditions prescribed. For notice is given in the opening address of the minister to the parties presenting themselves to be married in these words: Be you well assured that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God's Word doth allow, are not joined together by God, neither is their matrimony lawful.' You gave notice before the marriage to the man that such a marriage as he intended to contract was not lawful, and of that warning he took no heed. It is a painful duty to refuse the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to a parishioner; but in this case you have no choice. This man and this woman have openly broken Y 2 the law of the Church, and are living together in what the Church declares to be a marriage not sanctioned by God nor lawful. I give this opinion, as you request it, and can give no other under the circumstances. Believe me sincerely yours. To the President of Magdalen Palace, Chichester: January 22, 1894. My dear President,-Two such good vicars as Tindall and Steward have rarely been appointed in succession to any parish, and both were taken away, we may not say ante diem, but after a very brief career of bright promise. The college has twice made an admirable choice, and I trust may be guided and enabled again to send the right man. The grief at Mr. Steward's death was very deep and general, and I am told the attendance at his funeral unexampled and the outward demonstration of sorrow on the part of his parishioners very striking. I claim the privilege of age and do not attend funerals. You may remember Juvenal's touching lines: " Hæc data pœna diu viventibus, ut renovata I have observed that full many owe their death to such ceremonies. Successive Vicars of New Shoreham. Sat. x. 243. The Bishop has substituted 'atque' for 'inque' at the end of the second line, and Sincerely yours. has inserted 'in' between 'nigra' and 'veste.' Little variations like these from the original show how entirely he quoted from memory On Sunday Golf-playing The Palace, Chichester: June 25, 1894. My dear Mr. A notice has been sent to me, or rather a sort of placard, of the Birling Gap Golf Club. The prominent feature in it, and that which alone can justify my drawing your attention to it, is the ostentatious manner in which Sunday golf-playing is advertised. Little is said about other days, but special inducements are held out for Sunday golf. I infer from the connexion of this placard with your 'Manor Office' that you are more or less concerned in the Golf Club, and if this be so, I desire to represent to you the desecration of the Sunday which this notice involves. People are invited, even tempted, to break what I am sure you hold sacred-the rest and the holiness of our Sunday. Attendants must be provided for the players, and this is promised, so that the country folk also who dwell near will be drawn in, and in many cases boys who ought to be in the Church or in the Sunday School. Some reverence for the Christian Sabbath still remains among the agricultural population of Sussex, and if this feeling be weakened a great blow to religion is given, and no one can foretell what ill consequences may follow. The upper classes, who have the least excuse, set the bad example, and the classes below them are but too likely to follow. I do hope that you, as a religious man, responsible not only for what you do but for what you countenance and allow to be done, will, if it be in your power, protest against and prohibit this Sunday sport. If you cannot do this entirely, you may, perhaps, limit the hours of play, and prevent the putting forth of placards so aggressive and so offensive as that which, undated, has reached me. In any case I trust you will excuse this representation on my part, and believe me Very truly yours. 327 CHAPTER VI Theological Position-Literary Taste-Favourite Authors-Ordination Charges-Examination of Candidates-Pastoral SympathiesLove of the Country-Knowledge of Botany-Of Architecture— The Palace Garden-Love of Animals-The Cat-Walking Powers -Reminiscences-Mr. A. Benson-The President of Magdalen. THE Bishop's theological position will have become evident to the reader from the whole tone of his correspondence and the general character of his administration. He was a High Churchman who had formed his opinions before the 'Oxford' or 'Tractarian movement,' as it came to be termed, had begun. He belonged to the old school of High Churchmen who derived their principles from a careful study of the Bible and Book of Common Prayer, together with the early fathers and the best divines of the reformed Church of England: Hooker, Andrewes, Bramhall, Laud, Pearson, Cosin, Bull, Waterland, Wilson, Butler, and William Law, the Nonjuror. Even in the dreariest and most torpid periods of the life of the English Church there had not been wanting a succession of good representatives of this school. Some of them, both lay and clerical, eminent for learning, piety, and activity in good works, were contemporary with the earlier portion of the Bishop's life. Such were Bishops Van Mildert, Lloyd, and Jebb, Mr. Alex |